RECIPIENTS of Covid-19 vaccination in a Tamil Nadu city were given a litre of free petrol each in a bid to encourage people to get the jab, Makkal Osai reported. The initiative was started by an association of driving schools in Tiruvannamalai city which had wanted to be part of the government’s effort to educate and encourage residents to get vaccinated. At least 100 people got the free petrol, earning praise for the association from district health officials. > A wife’s plea for funds led to donations of RM156,510 being raised within five days for her husband’s medical treatment, Makkal Osai reported. Kavitha said her husband’s condition is improving and he may be transferred to the non-ICU ward soon.

MANY factories are believed to be waiting for the monsoon season to dump industrial waste into drains, manholes and waterways, Kosmo reported. This is so they can avoid the cost of getting rid of industrial waste, the report said, quoting National Water Services Commission (SPAN) director of investigation and enforcement V. Kirupakaran. “They are believed to be waiting for the monsoon season to get rid of the waste so that they are not detected by the authorities. “These perpetrators think that industrial waste released during the monsoon season would not cause serious pollution,” he said. He added that they had identified eight hot spots where pollution had occurred following the dumping of waste that caused operations of four treatment plants to cease.

CLICK TO ENLARGEIT was with trepidation that I first walked into the sprawling grounds of the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac) in 2009. With hundreds of arts and culture performances under its belt since its grand opening on May 9, 2005, the performing arts venue continues to inspire a certain creative spirit. “We were in Tan Sri’s boardroom, armed with drawings and costings of what would be the ideal performing arts centre for The Actors Studio. There were three never to be forgotten words uttered by Tan Sri with a tear in his eye – ‘go for it.’ That was it. KLPac is expected to reopen to the public latest by early next month following the government’s announcement that theatre and performing arts venues are allowed to have a fully vaccinated audience.

KAJANG: Four Bangladeshis and a local woman were charged at the Magistrate’s Court with abducting a Bangladeshi male and demanding one million Bangladeshi taka (about RM50,000) ransom in August. Those charged were couple Josim, 32, and Faridah Jeya Sly Ramesh (local woman), Md Raihan Hosen, 28, Miah Soraf, 33, and Nusrat Jahan Bipasha, 26. They nodded when the charges were read out to them by a court interpreter before Magistrate Syahrul Sazly Md Sain. They were accused of kidnapping Md Sohel Rana, 39, in front of a supermarket in Jalan Damai Mewah 1A here at 8.30pm on Aug 27. The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Nurul Husna Amran while Md Raihan and Josim were represented by lawyer Tan Cheng Yee.

Johor Corp restructuringJOHOR Corp Bhd is said to be in the midst of a full-scale restructuring. Just this week JCorp increased its stake in Damansara Holdings Bhd after buying a 49.57% stake in the company for RM78.91mil. Reversing a boomTHE suspense of Top Glove Corp Bhd ’s financial results was not like what it was before when investors were wondering what the impact of the start of the pandemic was on the rubber glove industry. This time, investors were greeted with a more realistic set of financial results after understanding the shutdowns and the tapering prices of rubber gloves have had on the entire rubber glove industry. Top Glove HQInvestors have known about the decline in average selling prices of rubber gloves and that was to be expected.

PETALING JAYA: Ng Eain Yow has been given a quick chance to avenge his recent Egyptian Open defeat to Mohamed El-Shorbagy at the US Open. In Egypt, Eain Yow went down 2-11, 7-11, 8-11 to El-Shorbagy in the quarter-finals and it exposed some flaws in his game. En route to the clash with El-Shorbagy, world No. Eain Yow and El-Shorbagy have been training together in Bristol, England, for some time and the former can’t wait to shock his training buddy in the next meet. I still have a lot to work on,” admitted Eain Yow.

TELUK INTAN: A secondary school teacher was charged in the Sessions Court here with 32 counts of committing unnatural sex and sexual grooming of seven male students from July to September last year. Mohd Faizal Amir, 32, pleaded not guilty after all the charges were read out to him before judge Intan Nurul Farena Zainal Abidin. For the unnatural sex offences, the accused was charged under Section 377C of the Penal Code. And for the sexual grooming offences, the charges were framed under Section 14 (a) and Section 14 (d) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act which provides a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment with whipping, if convicted. The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Cheah Shuh Yuan while the accused was represented by counsel Muhammad Farid Wajdi Hanif.

It is the promise to waive accrued interest on loans under moratorium for three months for the B40 group. If banks are to waive interest payments, shareholders like me will have to bear the cost. You might say that banks earn billions every year, but these billions of ringgit are paid to thousands of other retirees and shareholders like me. The government must explain what powers it is using to expropriate what belongs to bank shareholders. We must not rob Peter to pay Paul.

The previous Anti-Corruption Act (ACA) 1997 carried a more severe punishment, namely a mandatory jail sentence of not less than 14 days and not exceeding 20 years and fines amounting to five times the bribe amount or RM10,000 (whichever is higher). In comparison, under Section 406 of the Penal Code, penalty for criminal breach of trust (CBT) is imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year and not more than 10 years and with whipping. For cheating, the penalty under Section 420 of the Penal Code is imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than 10 years and with whipping, and also a fine. Corruption is far more serious when compared with other offences such as CBT, cheating and even homicide because it has far-reaching consequences. The theory of deterrence developed by Hobbes, Beccaria and Bentham states that “the more severe a punishment, the more likely that offenders will desist from criminal acts.”Therefore, the one-day jail sentence for corruption cases should be scrapped.

PETALING JAYA: National junior shuttler Fazriq Razif has finally decided to follow the path taken by his legendary father by focusing on the men’s doubles. And the 17-year-old Fazriq has been given a new partner, Wong Vin Sean, to realise his dream. They will also compete in the Czech Republic International from Oct 21-24 in Brno and the Belgian International from Oct 27-30 in Leuven. Together with Justin, Fazriq had won the Bangladesh Junior International title, finished runners-up in the Malaysia Junior International and won several other local age-group titles. The junior singles players train under Hazwan Jamaluddin while the doubles players are handled by former international Vountus Indra Mawan.

Contrary to the belief, however, shop owners are not seeing the volume they expect at their outlets since the easing of restrictions. The reason behind this, they reckon, is that people have become extremely cautious despite being fully vaccinated as they know that vaccines are not 100% effective at preventing infection. In Kuala Lumpur, a carpet retail store worker, who only wanted to be known as Lim, said very few customers have visited the outlet since it resumed operations. In Klang, Sri Kumaran Textile managing director N. Ravichandran said shoppers were trickling in even though the Hindu marriage season is set to begin next month. Store manager, Lee Yat Seng said regular customers have contributed up to 40% of the sales since they reopened last month.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, and the Raja Permaisuri Agong, Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, are on a special visit to the United Kingdom. The King and Queen’s visit began yesterday and will officially end on Sept 27, after which Their Majesties will stay in London until the third week of October. Their Majesties, it said, had also consented to visit the Malaysian High Commission in London on Sept 24 for a meeting with Malaysians, including entrepreneurs, academicians, students and community leaders. Meanwhile, Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, who is Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong, will be performing the functions of the King during this time. The King, he added, was also scheduled to attend a reunion dinner at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where His Majesty studied between 1978 and 1979.

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 76.8% of the adult population or 17,973,545 people in Malaysia have been fully vaccinated. According to an infographic by the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV), 92.7% or 21,783,871 individuals of the adult population received at least one jab as of Thursday, including the single-dose CanSino vaccine. It also said that 202,298 doses of the vaccine of both the single-dose and double-dose regimens were administered on Thursday, bringing the number of jabs dispensed under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) to 39,685,414.

According to S&P Global, in 2020, ESG funds in the United States reached US$51bil (RM212.64bil) in assets under management, doubling from 2019 and a 10-fold jump from 2018. — BernamaIt is expected that ESG funds globally would surge to US$53 trillion (RM220.98 trillion) by 2035. The tobacco company also said it will be benchmarking itself against the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia ESG rating. Right now, there are only 76 companies listed in the index out of 933 listed companies on Bursa Malaysia. According to PwC Malaysia deals leader Victor Saw, at the onset of the pandemic, many companies in Malaysia adopted the “wait-and-see” approach believing that they had sufficient cash reserves to sustain themselves through the pandemic.

RISING global oil prices amidst increasing Covid-19 vaccination rates and anticipated higher world economic growth rates in 2022 are brightening the outlook for Malaysia’s oil and gas sector, say research analysts. This is compared against global oil demand in 2021, which is now projected to average 96.7 million b/d. Steady economic developments are expected to support the partially delayed recovery in oil demand in various sectors,” said the cartel. However, H2’21 global oil demand has been adjusted slightly lower, partially delaying the oil demand recovery into H1’22 due to the increased risk of Covid-19 cases primarily fuelled by the Delta variant, clouding oil demand prospects going into the final quarter of the year, resulting in downward adjustments to Q4’21 estimates. Meanwhile, KAF Equities’ research unit also maintains its “overweight” call on the oil and gas sector, and favours companies with exposure to the downstream and tanker businesses.