KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will always remember the contributions of its former governor Tun Sakaran Dandai who passed away early Monday (Aug 30) from Covid-19, says Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor (pic). He said Sakaran, 91 who was also a former chief minister, was a political icon and his contributions to the people of Sabah in were politics as well as in various government and religious aspects. Sakaran had been in the intensive care unit of Gleneagles Hospital after being warded for the virus on Aug 19. Sakaran was Umno's first chief minister in Sabah in 1994 and was the Yang di-Pertua Negeri from 1995-2003 before retiring. He was also awarded the national level 1439H Maal Hijrah icon and was the Semporna MP for a few terms.

However, increasing levels of heat do lead to heat stroke and dehydration, with resulting stress on our cardiovascular, respiratory and cerebrovascular systems. Air pollution is a huge contributor to climate change, and can also be worsened by climate change. Alongside a drop in crop output, undernutrition, malnutrition and higher food prices will likely lead to increasing food security concerns. It may seem that climate change is too large a problem for any one individual or nation. The Grantham Institute – Imperial College London’s hub for climate change and the environment – has advocated nine relatively simple things that we can do at an individual level to reduce the impact of climate change.

The revenue streams in question are central to profit growth for both Apple and Google. Sales of mobile apps and content were around 7.5 trillion won (RM26.86bil) last year and are projected to increase by 21% to 9.1 trillion won (RM34.38bil) this year, according to the Korea Mobile Internet Business Association. Google has described the legislative process in South Korea as rushed, while Apple has said the provisions will undermine parental controls, privacy and trust. Apple and Google have been lobbying politicians to block its passage in South Korea, which is an American ally and trading partner. “We are fully aware of the concerns of Apple and Google, so we will implement them in consideration of both industry stakeholders and users.” – Bloomberg

TOKYO (Aug 30): Moderna Inc's Covid-19 vaccine contamination woes in Japan widened after two regions put temporary holds on shots, following the discovery of foreign substances in more batches. The latest reports of vaccine contamination came from Gunma prefecture near Tokyo and the southern prefecture of Okinawa, prompting temporary holds on Sunday on shots from two new Moderna lots. The contamination cases come on the heels of a government report on Saturday that two people died after receiving Moderna shots that were among lots later suspended. Some 500,000 people received shots from those supplies, Taro Kono, the minister in charge of the vaccine push, has said. Rovi said, in a statement on Sunday, that an investigation was under way in coordination with Moderna, Takeda and the health authorities.

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign investors upped the ante in buying stocks listed on Bursa, acquiring RM964.33mil of local equities last week from RM6.71mil the previous week, according to MIDF Research. The research house said this was the third consecutive week of net buying by foreign investors. “Foreign investors were net buyers for every day of the week. Meanwhile, Top Glove registered the highest net money inflow of RM3.69mil last week followed by IHH with a net money inflow of RM3.62mil and Gamuda with a net money inflow of RM3.25mil. Petronas Chemicals recorded the second-largest net money outflow of RM5.81mil and Sime Darby registered the third-largest net money outflow of RM3.16mil last week.

PETALING JAYA: Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris (pic), also known as Papagomo, said his status as an Umno party member was still unclear as he has not received any official notice about his alleged suspension from the Umno Youth executive council. He said he had only received a message from a friend which stated that his party membership has been suspended for six years. He added that the message alleged that the Umno supreme council working committee came to that decision during a meeting on Aug 27. “I received this message from a friend, but personally I have not received any official information from Umno Youth Malaysia or from the Umno headquarters.To date, I have not received any (information) concerning the status of my suspension,” he said when contacted on Sunday (Aug 29). In April, a group of Umno members from the Wangsa Maju division lodged a report to the party’s disciplinary board, calling for Papagomo’s suspension from the party.

IPOH: It is hoped that incoming Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu will help the development of sports in Perak, says state Speaker Datuk Mohammad Zahir Abdul Khalid (pic). Mohammad Zahir said this when delivering the congratulations of the Perak state legislative assembly to the Chenderiang assemblyman. Mohammad Zahir also praised all Perak assemblymen for following all required standard operating procedures (SOPs) via the bubble concept. Mohammad Zahir also announced that the state assembly hall would be upgraded once the current sitting is over. He had said that the remaining 20 state assemblymen would be placed in four additional rooms.

Top Chinese actress Zheng Shuang was hit with a US$46mil tax evasion fine Friday (Aug 27) while references to film star Zhao Wei were wiped from video streaming sites as Beijing steps up its campaign against celebrity culture. Shanghai tax authorities on Friday fined Zheng 299 million yuan (RM194mil) for tax evasion and undeclared income between 2019 and 2020 while filming a TV series, according to an online statement. China's state broadcasting regulator also pulled Zheng's offending TV drama and ordered producers not to hire her for future shows. On Thursday (Aug 26) evening, search results for Zhao, an enormously popular actress also known as Vicky Zhao, were censored from major Chinese video streaming sites. China's cyber regulator released new regulations Friday that ban celebrity ranking lists and tighten control over "chaotic" celebrity fan clubs and management agencies.

HONG KONG: China’s artificial intelligence startup SenseTime Group has identified the mainland’s tightening technology regulatory regime as a key risk for investors in its proposed Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), according to its filings. SenseTime, which is also blacklisted in the United States, lodged its preliminary filings with the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing Ltd, operator of the city’s stock exchange. In the filings, SenseTime said China’s changing regulations, especially towards sensitive data handling, could impact its business but it was unable to quantify the effects of the new rules. SenseTime was among eight Chinese tech companies placed on the US Entity List in 2019 amid trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. SenseTime has not identified when it will list but applications to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange typically take three to four months from its first filings.

KUALA LUMPUR: Genting Bhd remains a recovery play on the back of relaxing restrictions in the UK and US, despite its recent earnings miss.According to Kenanga Research, the group's 1HFY21 core loss of RM111mil missed expectations against its and street's FY21 net profit estimates of of RM507.2mil and RM345.9mil due to the prolonged lockdown impacting local earnings while a one-month movement control softened Genting Singapore's profitability.However, the group's UK and North American units recorded a much narrower core net loss of RM516.6mil in 2Q following a 165% jump in revenue on the reopening of casino operations.In addition, plantation earnings jumped 152% on higher crude palm oil and palm kernel prices as well as fresh fruit bunch output. "A mixed outlook in the upcoming 3QFY21 given the prolonged lockdown in Malaysia but this should be mitigated by the improving situation in the UK and US, especially Resorts World Las Vegas. "Overall, business volume is likely to recover from 2HFY21 due to the vaccination deployment where positive development has been witnessed in the western countries with higher vaccination rates," said Kenanga.Post-2QFY21, the research house included Resorts World Las Vegas into its forecast and valuation, slashing FY21 earnings by 31% but raising FY22 earnings by 8%.It also reduced FY21 net dividend per share (NDPS) by half to 7.5 sen but kept FY22 NDPS at 15 sen.Kenanga kept its "outperform" call on Genting on the back of a pending recovery . "With the inclusion of Resorts World Las Vegas and post 2QFY21 results revision, our new target price is raised to RM6.47 from RM6.05 based on unchanged +1SD to 5-year mean at 41% discount to SoP valuation," it said.

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Police have arrested 13 people including a civil servant for violating the standard operating procedures (SOP) under the National Recovery Plan (NRP) and attending a private party at an apartment in Medini, here. “Investigations revealed that the party started at 9pm on Saturday (Aug 28) and all the suspects were invited through WhatsApp by the party organiser. “11 of the suspects were also tested positive for methamphetamine including the 27-year-old civil servant,” he said in a statement here on Monday (Aug 30). He added that a background check also revealed that two of the suspects are also wanted by the police for a drug-related case. The case is investigated under Section 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act for consumption of drugs.

FACE masks have become essential to daily life today, and it makes sense that consumers have become more discerning when it comes to their protection. With face masks certified by SIRIM, the public would not have to contend with substandard ones. The tests and inspections on face masks are carried out by SIRIM QAS International – a wholly-owned subsidiary of SIRIM Berhad – at its accredited and state-of-the-art testing laboratories in SIRIM Complex, Shah Alam. Substandard face masks carry the risk of poor filtration, allowing for viral particle penetration. For medical face masks, it tests them for their bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE), differential pressure, splash resistance pressure (synthetic blood) and microbial cleanliness (bioburden).

Committed towards positive educationCommitted to producing future-ready graduates who will go on to make an impact in the world, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia introduced a Positive Education approach in 2017. Positive Education does not only focus on academic excellence but also the holistic development of individuals. Start local, go globalAt Heriot-Watt, there is the opportunity to become a global student by taking part in an Inter-Campus Transfer under our Go Global programme. Heriot-Watt’s Go Global programme enables those who wish to study abroad the chance to do so whenever travel restrictions eases. Heriot-Watt University Malaysia is the exclusive Exabyte Partner of the upcoming Smart Gov & Public Services Live Virtual Conference on 7 & 8 September, held in commemoration of Star Media Group’s 50th anniversary.

AFTER bagging one film award after another for his film, Story of Southern Islet, Malaysian director Chong Keat Aun was struck by a piece of devastating news - that his film was being pirated in China, reports China Press. "It's a sad day indeed," he said recently after receiving news from friends in China that the international version of his film was made widely available on pirate websites. Chong, who hails from Kedah, believed that the bootlegged footage was secretly recorded during the 25th Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal recently, in which the film had won the AQCC-Camera Lucida Prize. The pirated footage appeared on various Chinese websites at 8am on Aug 28, two days after it was shown during the festival. The 43-year-old added that the bootlegging of Story of Southern Islet had disrupted the planned China premiere at the Beijing International Film Festival next month, as well as the original plan to release the film via a streaming platform year-end.

A TEENAGER lost her arm in a snatch theft in Kuala Lumpur, reported Utusan Malaysia. Siti Nur Azizah Syafriadi, 17, was warded at Kuala Lumpur Hospital after the amputation and may regain consciousness soon, said her cousin Muhammad Khairul Azhar. > Singer Fazli Zainal lost 10kg in his fight against Covid-19 but is otherwise recovering well after his discharge from hospital, Harian Metro reported. > Mussel breeders at Pangkalan Nelayan Telok Sinting in Pasir Panjang, Negri Sembilan, have had an unexpected harvest due to the change in weather, Utusan Malaysia also reported. If the weather is too hot, the growth of the mussels can be stunted," said Mohd Hairel Mohd Rashid, 29.