With the impressive array of cosmetic products in the market today, we have also been witnessing an upsurge in the number of men who use cosmetics. Hazardous ingredients in cosmetic products are not something new, as this ugly side of cosmetics can be traced back to ancient civilizations. Recent studies have shown that consumers in Malaysia have a positive perception towards natural cosmetic products, compared with conventional cosmetic products. The ingredients in natural cosmetic products are beneficial, free of irritants, and essentially avoid the adverse effects caused by synthetic chemicals. Furthermore, the quality of natural cosmetic products gives them an edge over conventional cosmetics.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 3): Former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad has filed a RM5 million libel suit against former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak. The defamation suit was filed in the High Court here on Dec 31, 2021 by the firm of Messrs Farida & Company. Despite the denial, the former health minister said the posting made by Najib was still there as of November 2021. “That Facebook post was edited six times after that and this shows that he planned the publication in defaming me,” the former health minister said in his statement of claim. Najib's Facebook post had garnered 15,000 reactions, with 12,000 likes, followed by 2,400 (haha), 106 (wow), 65 (love), 25 (angry), four (sad) and 11 (care).

Overall, 2022 inflation would be close to 2% by the end of the year. If economic policy in 2022 is successful in relaunching the economy, we forecast economic growth could be around 3.5% for the year. However, even in this positive event, we expect underlying potential growth to be lower due to the structural damage caused by two years of lockdowns and recession. We estimate that underlying potential growth will fall to around 4.25%, compared to 4.75% in the pre-crisis period. The loss of growth potential has to be added to the lost income in the last two years.

(Reuters) - The holidays were a gift to Alphabet Inc's Google, quarterly results showed. That has been a concern for social media companies including Meta and Snap Inc. Alphabet's results drove a rally across internet advertising companies. In the fourth quarter, Alphabet's advertising revenue rose 32.5% to $61.2 billion, $4 billion above Wall Street targets, according to Refinitiv data. But with further inflation looming, Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, cautioned that shares of tech companies are "unlikely to have seen the worst of the pain."

That word crystallises much of the thinking circulating today about what saving Malaysia from bad leadership and waning nation-building ambitions entails. In fact, various attempts from members of Malaysian society to transform the political terrain have taken place. Another development that has captured the imagination of the wider Malaysian public is the formation of the Muda youth party under Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. The wish to “reset” Malaysia is set to grow stronger as 2022 advances. External dynamics have to be engaged and taken advantage of — for cultural, economic and political reasons.

"Having a safe and effective vaccine available for children in this age group is a priority," acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said. The move could speed up the inoculation timeline for this age group by months. In 6- month- to 24-month-old children, the vaccine generated an immune response in line with 16- to 25-year-olds. The vaccine is already approved for emergency use in children in the United States as young as 5. It gave the green light for a two-dose vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.

(Feb 1): Thailand is preparing rules for the setting up of virtual banks, set to join countries from Singapore to Malaysia in promoting financial technology to spur competition and wider access to banking services. The central bank also plans to scrap a limit on investment by commercial banks in financial technology, except digital assets, she said. While Thailand lacks independent virtual banks, local and foreign lenders do offer various digital services in the country, including payments. The BOT will also expand the business scope and flexibility of existing banks, it said. The central bank will also finalise guidelines to steer the financial sector to incorporate environmental risk assessment into business operations and support the transition of companies away from unsustainable activities.

This reduced his equity interest to 198.33 million shares, or direct and indirect stakes of 2.24% and 4.67% respectively. The shares were sold in a direct business transaction for RM14.63 million, leaving Lim with 52.65 million shares, or a 16.2% stake. Cheetah Holdings Bhd also upped its stake in Lambo, to 19.86% after acquiring 26.5 million shares on the open market. Koo Kien Yoon, executive director and a substantial shareholder of Lambo Group, is also a shareholder of Cheetah Holdings. During the week in review, H’ng Bok Chuan disposed of 83 million shares on the open market.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 1): The five richest individuals on the planet lost a collective US$108.9 billion in the first month of January 2022. In January, billionaires lost substantially, as everything from e-commerce to cryptocurrencies to online gaming tumbled. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Tesla co-founder and self-proclaimed “Technoking of Tesla” Elon Musk maintained his top spot with a total net worth of US$220 billion, despite losing US$50 billion. In the second spot is the world’s former richest man, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, with a wealth of US$169 billion, losing US$23.4 billion over the month. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people.

The big drop in tech stocks, including those listed on Bursa Malaysia, is a contrast to the rally over the past 18 months and the consensus buy calls made by investment analysts. Many local tech stocks have retreated at least 20% from their peaks. Wong noted that historical valuation might not be that good a yardstick for tech stocks. With the visible revenue and earnings growth at a much higher pace, current conventional metrics may not be a good measure,” he explained. And that will be the main fuel for the corporate earnings growth in the sector.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 31): Mykris International Bhd has changed its name to Zenworld Holdings Bhd. In a statement on Monday (Jan 31), Bursa Malaysia Bhd said the company's shares would be traded and quoted under the new name with effect from 9am on Feb 4. "The company’s short name will be changed to ZWORLD, while stock number (03010) remains unchanged," it said.

RAWANG-based snack and candy maker Cocoaland Holdings Bhd is said to be a takeover target of a European private equity (PE) firm and an Asian buyout firm, according to people familiar with the matter. “Two buyout giants, one from Europe, another from Asia, are eyeing a controlling stake in Cocoaland. That’s why we have seen some movements in Cocoaland’s share price recently,” one of the sources tells The Edge. Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd — controlled by Singapore-listed Fraser & Neave Ltd (F&N) — is the second largest shareholder of Cocoaland with a 27% stake. Interestingly, before establishing Cocoaland, the Liew brothers were small-time vendors for Apollo Food, Oriental Food Industries and Mamee-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd.

PUTRAJAYA (Jan 31): The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) has posted the latest indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the SDG Dashboard platform. This time, he said, the SDG Dashboard presented an additional 18 new indicators from 128 indicators in the previous year. The SDGs are a global commitment towards more sustainable, resilient and inclusive development with 17 goals and 169 targets. Mohd Uzir said the SDG Dashboard used the digital literacy approach and displayed the SDG indicators in an interactive way. The SDG Dashboard is accessible at http://mysdg.dosm.gov.my/.

THE letter 'E' is the most common letter in the English language, but there was an author in the late 1930's who wrote an entire book without using the letter. Verdict:TRUE“E” is the most commonly used letter in the English language, so it is no mean feat to write a novel in English, without using this letter. In 1939, American author Ernest Vincent Wright published Gadsby, a 50,000-word novel that ditched this vowel. This isn’t the only book that is a lipogram - a written work in which a particular letter is intentionally omitted. Partly inspired by Gadsby, the French novelist Georges Perec wrote La Disparition (in French) without using the letter "E", in 1969.

(Jan 30): Jerome Powell’s hawkish pivot makes it clear that a key crutch of support for the global economy is going to be pulled away sooner than financial markets had been betting. The Bank of Canada last week signalled it could tighten monetary policy in coming weeks having ended so-called quantitative easing in October. “If central bank rates alone were increasing [rates], but quantitative easing was staying in place, this would provide at least some liquidity support to asset prices,” said Freya Beamish, head of macro research at TS Lombard. While that’s a consolation, it hasn’t stopped financial markets from turning skittish about the pending withdrawal of liquidity. QT could be announced in July or even sooner and the central bank could eventually sell some of the mortgage-backed securities it owns, according to economists.