SHAH ALAM: The Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (Medac) Ministry, through Tekun Nasional, has allocated RM30mil as a post-flood relief initiative for informal and micro-entrepreneurs. He added that the financing scheme was open for application since early January and has to-date, received 14,906 applications totalling RM133.1mil in financing. This includes RM1.62mil of financing approved to 179 entrepreneurs affected by the floods,” he added. “Tekun Nasional has also taken the initiative to help existing Tekun entrepreneurs who have been affected by the floods. “I am confident in the initiatives and financial assistance channelled by the government to entrepreneurs affected by the floods, the economic sector will recover as usual gradually,” he said.

PORSCHE Club Malaysia (PCM) has reached a major milestone with the opening of a base at Porsche Centre Sungai Besi in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.All future activities will be planned and coordinated from this command centre. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the club organised frequent drives and social events throughout the year for members to get together to enjoy their passion. Over the years, the club also organised trips to overseas car shows and Germany. PCM president Datuk Derrick Lim said it was the only legitimate Porsche club in Malaysia, which had been recognised by Porsche AG since 2003. Globally, PCM is the 170th club to have earned the badge of honour from the German luxury high-performance carmaker.

WHEN politicians and public figures are in a spot, they’ll find ways to squirm their way out. SOPs are often not enforced at these events, exposing media personnel to politicians who meet over 100 people a day. The Jan 5 press conference had a 13-page statement, but it didn’t answer what the media wanted. Suddenly, they forget that they’re public figures and that there’s always a cost to the celebrity life they crave. These guys, who wax eloquent about algorithms, data and social media influencers’ impact, suddenly don’t know what to do for their clients.

JAKARTA (Jan 16): Indonesia's North Sulawesi province will export 10,000 tonnes of crude coconut oil worth US$17.27 million (RM72.17 million) to Malaysia early this year, a trade official said. Farmers and traders could take advantage of the country's demand to boost export, Antara news agency quoted head of provincial office of industry and trade, Darwin Muksin, as saying. Farmers are urged to maintain product quality to meet market needs, he said, adding that strong demand should be good news for them as it makes coconuts more profitable to grow. According to him, the government will continue to support the industry with export strategy and encourage industry players to grow. Coconut-based products hold the biggest share of North Sulawesi's total exports, Darwin said.

IT’S a big task, but the two types of Covid-19 vaccines currently being developed by Malaysian experts are on track. “These organisations will abide by standard protocols in conducting clinical trials which involve different phases,” he says. As Covid-19 will be around for a while, Dr Tahir says the need for vaccination against the coronavirus is necessary. “Usually, the water in swimming pools is treated using simple disinfectant and that is also good enough to deactivate the virus,” Dr Tahir says. However, this data is still preliminary and we need to evaluate data from other countries as well,” Dr Tahir adds.

According to CovidNow, most Sinovac doses were administered between June and August last year, indicating that most adults fully vaccinated with Sinovac should be eligible for their third shot. “The efficacy of Sinovac against new variants, especially Omicron, might be lower and therefore, opting for a higher efficacy booster shot is good. Dr Muhammad explained that the Sinovac vaccine is based on whole inactivated virions. “Booster doses in Sarawak have proven their effectiveness in preventing possible new clusters after the recent state election. “I urge those who have received Sinovac vaccines not to hesitate in taking Pfizer or AZ as their booster shots,” Dr Zainal said.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 15): The Ministry of Health (MOH) will open offers to pursue studies at the Master's degree, area of special interest (AOSI) and doctor of philosophy (PhD) to the ministry's permanent and contract officers, beginning Jan 28. Its Secretary-General, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafiq Abdullah, said the offer will be opened to the ministry’s permanent management and professional group officers as well as contract medical and dental officers. He said officers who meet the requirements can apply through the MOH's e-HLP system at http://ehlp.moh.gov.my. Mohd Syafiq said the move is in line with the government’s decision on July 14 for the MOH, together with other ministries and central agencies, to formulate a comprehensive and inclusive career pathway for contract medical and dental officers. “The MOH expresses its appreciation to the Ministry of Finance, the Public Service Department and the Ministry of Higher Education who, together, realised the government's intention to give new offers to contract medical and dental officers at the ministry.

BATU KAWAN (Jan 15): Tourism and property development outfit turned healthcare product manufacturer Iconic Worldwide Bhd, via its subsidiary Iconic Medicare Sdn Bhd, has launched a RM200 million glove and face mask manufacturing facility in Batu Kawan Industrial Park, Penang. “The factory, which is built on 5.5-acre land, is expected to yield a minimum production capacity of 3.3 billion pieces of gloves and 220 million pieces of disposable face masks per annum. Less than a month earlier, Iconic Worldwide secured a 510 (k) pre-market notification approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to distribute medical-grade gloves throughout the US. “We believe 30-40% will still be wearing face masks. On Saturday, Tan said there are no updates on whether Iconic Worldwide plans to venture into upstream operations, adding that the group will share future updates via filings to Bursa Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR: Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (pic) has proposed a white paper for the reformation of the country's health system, especially in ensuring that it is future proof. Khairy said the country's health system must be future-proof by ensuring that all public health needs were met through appropriate and adequate allocation to the Health Ministry. Adequate allocation for the Health Ministry through the national budget is crucial in ensuring the country was prepared to face any unforeseen situations, he added. He said reforms in the country’s health system should not only focus on the aspect of adequate allocation, but it should also involve healthcare financing on how the health burden could be shared with the people. Touching on the local medical industry, Khairy said the Health Ministry should also be involved in the development of the industry in a comprehensive and clear manner involving pharmaceuticals, devices and medical tourism.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry will open offers to pursue studies at the Master's degree, area of special interest (AOSI) and doctor of philosophy (PhD) to the ministry's permanent and contract officers, beginning Jan 28. Its secretary-general, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafiq Abdullah, said the offer would be opened to the ministry’s permanent management and professional group officers as well as contract medical and dental officers. He said officers who meet the requirements can apply through the Health Ministry's e-HLP system at http://ehlp.moh.gov.my. Mohd Syafiq said the move was in line with the government’s decision on July 14 for the Health Ministry, together with other ministries and central agencies, to formulate a comprehensive and inclusive career pathway for contract medical and dental officers. "The Health Ministry expresses its appreciation to the Ministry of Finance, the Public Service Department and the Ministry of Higher Education who, together, realised the government's intention to give new offers to contract medical and dental officers at the ministry," he added.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 15): Technology research and consulting firm Gartner Inc said that in the next three years alone, successful cryptocurrency thefts and ransomware payments will drop by 30%. Blockchains are more transparentGartner said transparent blockchains are much easier platforms on which to track criminal payments than siloed, legacy payment systems ever were. This means that effective anti-blockchain-fraud systems must integrate with just 23 totally transparent platforms rather than thousands of enterprise systems and payment networks, it said. Emerging blockchain intelligence marketThe firm said vendors like Chainalysis, CipherTrace (a Mastercard company), Elementus and TRM Labs provide insights to authorities who need forensics to investigate hacks. GovernmentsAside from increasing adoption of rapidly advancing blockchain intelligence and fraud prevention tools, governments are also stepping in to make it harder to use cryptocurrency for criminal purposes.

As the Fed increases short-term rates, investors will keep an eye on how high longer-term US Treasury yields rise. Higher yields more steeply discount the value of future profits, which can especially pressure growth stocks. Fourth-quarter results season kicks into high gear next week, with overall S&P 500 earnings expected to climb 23.1%, according to Refinitiv IBES. Technology sector earnings are expected to rise by 15.6%, as other groups have benefited more from the economy's rebound from pandemic lockdowns in 2020. The Wells Fargo institute has a favourable rating on the tech sector, along with communication services, industrials and financials.

PETALING JAYA: The imam allegedly involved in an incident where a teenager who had been caught stealing and was "bathed like a corpse", has resigned. "I have just spoken to the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) director, who told me that action has been taken. "I am not sure of the details, but I am told the imam has resigned," he was quoted as saying. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed that Daniel had damaged the donation box before taking it into the mosque's body bathing room. He was then taken to the mosque and washed like a corpse and footage of the incident was circulated on social media.

Since South Korea introduced drones as part of its disaster investigation equipment in 2013, the National Disaster Management Research Institute of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has been using drones to investigate damage caused by typhoons and torrential rains to enhance national disaster management capabilities. The government and private sector became partners for national disaster management, creating the “Emergency Drone Operation Team for Disaster Response”, composed of individual drone owners who hold official drone qualifications. The report noted that the active participation of the private sector in the disaster response process is not an option but a necessity in the governance of disaster management. The government should invite them to discuss new policies and regulations that may be needed to support and facilitate the use of drones in disaster management efforts. Disaster management personnel from the National Disaster Management Agency, police and the armed forces could identify a select number of personnel to undergo training on drones to enhance their skills in this technology with the aim of further strengthening the country’s emergency and disaster skills, competency, efforts and management.

PUTRAJAYA: The Supplementary Electoral Rolls for December 2021 (DPT BLN12/2021) is open for review for six months from Friday (Jan 14) to July 13 after being certified and gazetted today. Election Commission (EC) secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak said the electoral rolls contained the names of 5,718,760 Malaysian citizens, aged 18 and above, until Dec 31, 2021 who were automatically registered as new voters. "If their names are not listed in the DPT BLN12/2021, they can fill out Form C online at the link https://myspr.spr.gov.my or come personally to the nearest state election office," he said. Ikmalrudin said the EC had prepared four methods of review for the electoral rolls namely the EC portal at https://www.spr.gov.my or https://mysprsemak.spr.gov.my; MySPR Semak mobile application; the official portal of the state election offices at the link http://ppn.spr.gov.my and the EC hotline at 03-889 27018. For any inquiries on the DPT BLN12/2021 review, the public can browse the EC's official portal at https://www.spr.gov.my or call the EC hotline at 03-88927018 or any state election office.