PETALING JAYA: The impending opening of interstate travel will be a good start to a much-awaited recovery for the airline industry that has been busy packaging offers for domestic destinations and services. “For Langkawi alone, AirAsia Malaysia sold over 260,000 seats in just over a week – a strong testament to the level of pent up demand for domestic travel,” he said. As vaccination rates across the globe continue to rise, AirAsia anticipates interstate leisure air travel will gradually continue to reopen first, potentially in the coming weeks. Until further announcement on interstate travel by the government, he said those going on essential travel must obtain valid approval from the authority before departure and comply with the specific entry requirements set by certain states. “We believe the reopening of more domestic destinations will further accelerate the recovery of the travel industry and country’s economy.

PETALING JAYA: The people should continue to remain cautious and adhere to strict SOP at all times when interstate travel is allowed, say health experts. Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman said the reopening of interstate travel is justified but people should continue to remain on high alert. “I think similar steps like the travel bubble to Langkawi should be imposed if interstate travel is allowed. “These states are not feasible to be allowed interstate travel,” she said when contacted. For interstate travel, Dr Sharifa said people should be tested negative within three days before being allowed to travel out and into the state again.

TUNIS (Reuters) -President Kais Saied named a geologist with little government experience as Tunisia's first woman prime minister on Wednesday amid a crisis following his seizure of powers and with public finances close to breaking point. In Tunisia, Saied has also appointed a woman, Nadia Akacha, as chief of staff, his closest and most powerful aide. Tunisia faces a looming crisis in public finances after years of economic stagnation were aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic and political infighting. There was no direct reaction from the labour union or political parties to Bouden's appointment. The statement underscores how parties in parliament may challenge the legality of any government appointed without the consent of the suspended chamber.

The Czech Republic holds a parliamentary election on Oct. 8-9. On the campaign trail, accompanied by Orban, Babis stressed how he and the Hungarian leader had blocked the European Commission's plan to distribute asylum seekers around the bloc under a quota system following Europe's 2015 migration crisis. Orban also praised their countries' close cooperation as well as the Czech Republic's economic success. One of the two main opposition coalitions contesting the Czech election, the Pirate Party/Mayors, attacked Babis over his ties with Orban. "Viktor Orban shifted Hungary from democracy to autocracy over the past 10 years," its chief Ivan Bartos said on Facebook.

ROME (Reuters) -Italian prime minister and current president of the G20 Mario Draghi will meet climate activist Greta Thunberg in Milan on Thursday, Draghi's office said. Thunberg is among thousands of young people who have gathered in Italy's financial capital to protest and meet policymakers, either remotely or in person, to hammer out proposals to tackle global warming. Fellow activists Vanessa Nakate, from Uganda, and Italian Martina Comparelli will also join the meeting with Draghi at 0730 GMT. Soon afterwards, Draghi is scheduled to speak at one of the many climate-related events going on in Milan this week. (Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Stephen Jewkes, writing by Giselda Vagnoni, editing by Gavin Jones)

Tellingly, Macron found few swift voices of support among European allies when Australia scrapped a mega defence deal for submarines from France. The silence pointed to deep opposition among central and European countries with Macron's vision of European defence autonomy and a reduced reliance on U.S. military protection from Russia. But she was always careful to avoid the kind of defiant rhetoric that Macron has been accustomed to, the diplomats said. All five senior diplomats Reuters spoke to said many EU countries were now coming round to Macron's ideas. Brexit too has shifted the dynamics within the bloc as France prepares to take up the rotating presidency of the EU in January.

CAIRO - (Reuters) - Qatar added a group that it described as a "terrorist entity" and seven people to its national sanctions list, the state news agency (QNA) reported on Wednesday. The decision taken by the attorney general comes in line with the cooperation with the united states, QNA added. The report did not add further details on the added entity or people. The United States and Qatar took coordinated action on Wednesday targeting a Hezbollah financial network in the Arabian Peninsula, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement earlier on Wednesday. (Reporting by Alaa Swilam)

KOTA KINABALU: People in Sabah who have only received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine can request to be exempted from the rule that requires a person to be fully vaccinated from Covid-19 before entering a premises. Sabah Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said they could make this exemption application so that they can visit premises, as well as go to work. Meanwhile, he also announced the extension of business hours for some premises starting Friday (Oct 1). "Groceries, convenience stores, mini markets and hypermarkets are allowed to operate from 6am until 10pm. "From the 146 individuals screened, the cluster has 94 cases cumulatively, including the 43 new cases reported today.

(Sept 29): YouTube will begin removing content questioning any approved medical vaccine, not just those for Covid-19, a departure from the video site’s historically hands-off approach. A year ago, YouTube banned certain videos critical of Covid-19 vaccines. Halperin said the company will allow “scientific discussion” — videos about vaccine trials, results and failures. The company also treats certain health videos as “borderline,” reducing their appearance in search results and recommendations. But the YouTube executives didn’t share traffic numbers for these videos or how often YouTube’s system have recommended them to viewers.

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Five gendarmes were killed and four were injured when a convoy they were escorting to an Australian-owned gold mine in southern Mali came under attack by militants, the army said. Armed attacks by Islamist militants and other groups are common across vast swathes of Mali and its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, despite a heavy presence of international troops. "We only have limited details at this early stage but we can confirm the convoy was transporting a supplier's equipment to Morila," Managing Director Michael Anderson said in an email. Earlier this month they ambushed convoys in Burkina Faso linked to Endeavor Mining and Iamgold Corp.At least 37 people were killed when gunmen in Burkina Faso ambushed a convoy from Canadian miner Semafo in 2019. (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo, Helen Reid and David Lewis; Writing by Cooper Inveen; Editing by Gareth Jones)

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) has denied allegations that there were data leaks involving business entities in Malaysia as reported by a portal on Wednesday. In a statement, SSM said it has conducted an internal investigation and assured that all corporate information submitted to SSM is safe and protected by several layers of certified information security technology. “SSM will work with the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) and the National Security Council (MKN) to conduct further investigations against this allegation. “In addition, SSM also provides information related to entities digitally certified business in Malaysia (Digital CTC) through the portals that can check the authenticity of the information received through a smartphone application provided by SSM, namely SSM DCTC QR Code Reader,” it said. On Tuesday, a local news portal reported that the database, believed to belong to SSM, was on sale at a well-known database market forum.

(Sept 29): Fumio Kishida secured Japan’s premiership by showing his strength among ruling party insiders. Kishida, 64, is set to become Japan’s prime minister after defeating a more popular reformer, Taro Kono, in an election Wednesday to lead the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party. While Kishida can all-but guarantee that the LDP will install him as premier at a special session Monday, keeping the job will require convincing a skeptical public he deserves it in a general election within weeks. “He’s managed to become a bit more appealing in the course of the leadership campaign, but it will remain an issue in the run-up to the general election. Kishida’s victory caps an unpredictable LDP election, in which two of the four candidates were female.

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): The National Registration Department (NRD) has confirmed that there was no data leakage from its personal database, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin. He said this is because the firewall of the data security control system is very secure and all information is protected. “My ministry would always ensure that the security and integrity of data on Malaysians is assured under the NRD. “Apart from that, the NRD confirmed that no such case happened before,” he said. According to the statement, the IRB is only a user and not the owner of the myiDENTITY system.

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): Energy stocks fell on profit taking on Wednesday as crude oil prices dipped. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said energy stocks fell on Wednesday because of overall market weakness and profit taking. “If crude oil prices can stay above US$80 (about RM334.68) for a longer time, we will still be buying in the midterm,” he told theedgemarkets.com. Reuters reported that oil prices fell for the second straight day on Wednesday as doubts re-emerged over demand, with Covid-19 cases continuing to rise worldwide and gasoline shortages in some regions. At the time of writing on Wednesday, Brent crude oil had declined by 1.72% to US$77.73 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude was 1.77% lower at US$73.96 per barrel.

GORDON has been living in Penang for the past eight years under the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme. Of late, however, the septuagenarian has been very worried about his future following news of revised criteria for both new and existing MM2H participants. Trevor, 57, is also a British national living in Penang under the MM2H programme. According to him, at the end of July, the total number of MM2H participants was 57,478, comprising 28,249 principal participants and their 28,229 dependents. Despite threats by existing MM2H participants that they will leave if the country’s policies are overly restrictive, MOHA has so far not changed its decision.