Perak Ku Soo Shun Choon Hong (Restaurant and Chefs Association) secretary Chooi Chak Lim said this was the issue some of the association’s 400 members were facing. He said cooks here were usually paid RM3,000 per month, but they are offered RM6,500 (S$2,000) in Singapore. “So, many cooks are leaving Perak to seek greener pastures in Singapore. “It is usually the cooks below the chefs who are seeking greener pastures. Perak Coffeeshop Association deputy chairman Ooi Beng Yeaw said many eateries were facing a shortage of cooks.

RESIDENTS in a neighbourhood in Kuantan are fed up with the disturbance they are experiencing since a house in the area has been converted into a restaurant. “It is very noisy and as they operate past midnight, the noise keeps my family up till late at night. Then when the restaurant closes, there is the noise from all the clean-up work. The resident said the noise from the large number of patrons as well as the cacophony of clanging cooking utensils disturbed his family’s peace. Another resident said the restaurant patrons would frequently park their vehicles outside his house, encroaching into his property.

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) is placing out 32 million new shares to AHAM Asset Management, AIIMAN Asset Management and Lavin Group for RM50mil. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, AAX said the proposed placement, which represents 7.78% of the total number of issued AAX shares, will allow the company to raise funds expeditiously to fund the working capital requirements of the group. “It provides an avenue for the group to raise funds without having to incur interest costs or service principal repayments as opposed to bank borrowings or the issuance of debt securities, thereby allowing the group to preserve its cash flows for operational purposes.”

KUALA LUMPUR: A car saleswoman absconded with money meant to pay for a new car, leaving a customer with RM90,000 in losses. The incident was brought to light after a report was lodged with Brickfields police on May 12 by the 36-year-old victim. "However, on May 11, the complainant was informed via a telephone call that the management of the showroom had yet to receive his deposit. He was then told that the suspect was no longer employed by the company," he said in a statement on Sunday (May 21). ACP Amihizam said that the suspect has been identified and investigations are ongoing.

IT may seem like a negligible issue unworthy of the intervention of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar. But those who know the Johor Ruler can vouch that nothing escapes his attention, especially when a company pockets RM180mil to clean the state, and yet fails miserably.

GEORGE TOWN: Police have detained nine teenagers in connection with two fights that took place in a secondary school in Butterworth here. Penang police chief Comm Datuk Khaw Kok Chin said the suspects, all minors, were detained on Friday (May 19). He said eight suspects were students of the school while another was a dropout. He was commenting on a recent viral video of a bullying incident. Many who commented on the video urged police to detain those responsible.

CANNES, France (AP) — Appearing at the Cannes Film Festival the day after premiering his first film in three years, Johnny Depp said Wednesday that he has “no further need” for Hollywood. “I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood, because I don’t think about Hollywood. If you want to live that life, I wish you the best.”“Jeanne du Barry” opened Tuesday in French cinemas. The “Jeanne du Barry” press conference was among the most circus-like in recent years at Cannes. But I didn’t go nowhere.”___Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP___For more coverage of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festivalRead more about:SHARE:

JOHOR BARU: A 28-year-old man wanting to get a loan ended up losing more than RM50,000 after allegedly being duped by a bogus financial offer. Seri Alam OCPD Supt Mohd Sohaimi Ishak said the victim, a businessman, claimed he had been cheated by a syndicate offering loans. He was then instructed to contact another person about the loan process,” he said here on Wednesday (May 17). Supt Mohd Suhaimi said the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. Supt Mohd Suhaimi also reminded the public to always be vigilant especially when they were offered financial loans on social media.

A MAN in Tamil Nadu, India, who impregnated his teenage girlfriend, killed her and buried her body to avoid getting caught, Malaysia Nanban reported. The murder came to light when workers clearing an empty land near Villupuram district for a drainage project discovered the remains. It was also discovered that she was about three months’ pregnant at the time of death. The police investigation led to the body being identified as a 17-year-old student from a nearby town. He went into hiding in Chennai around the same time the girl went missing and was arrested following a manhunt.

MELAKA: A man has been sentenced to 263 years in prison and 20 lashes after pleading guilty at the Ayer Keroh Sessions Court to 32 charges of committing sexual crimes against his now 16-year-old stepdaughter. The court ordered the sentence against the 36-year-old accused to run concurrently for 35 years starting from the time of his arrest on April 8. The accused pleaded guilty to raping his stepdaughter involving 11 charges under Section 376(2)(D) of the Penal Code which provides for a prison sentence of up to 30 years and whipping. All the offences were committed between January 2020 and March 14, 2023, at their home in a housing estate in Jasin. The prosecution was handled separately by the Deputy Public Prosecutor N. Siva Shangari and Muhammad Nazrin Ali Rahim while the accused was not represented by a lawyer.

In the last year or so, virologists have been watching a deadly pandemic spread around the world, killing tens of millions. Her father tested positive for H5N1, but reassuringly, no one else did, and no human-to-human spread occurred, experts say. Some scientists question the theory that all the sea lions ate infected birds. That’s what happened in the worst pandemic in modern history, the 1918 influenza pandemic which killed as many as 50 million people; it was caused by avian flu, H1N1. Experts have long been preparing for a flu pandemic (rather than a coronavirus pandemic) – it’s a question of when, as WHO says.

THE best way to deal with the ludicrous call by PAS to cancel top British rock band Coldplay’s concert in Kuala Lumpur this November is this – simply ignore it. Give them the cold shoulder. How on earth could the concert promote hedonism and perverse culture, as claimed by a PAS politician? This is beyond logic. Hedonism basically means the pursuit of pleasure and sensual self-indulgence.

We had to fly for over 30 hours from Kuala Lumpur to Ushuaia in Argentina, just to board our cruise ship and set sail for Antarctica. Antarctica is twice the size of Australia and we were greeted with awesome glaciers and ice mountains when we arrived. But even with all that ice, the place is still a very dry place – drier than the Sahara Desert, in fact. We set out from the cruise ship in groups of 10 on a zodiac or small boat. The sheer isolation and lack of humans – except for the over 200 people in the cruise ship – turned us into a closely knit family for the duration of the cruise.

MELAKA: A 19-year-old has claimed trial to four charges at the Sessions and Magistrate's Court here for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl as well as possessing a video of the act. The accused was charged before Sessions Court Judge Dharmafikri Abu Adam here on Friday (May 12) with three counts of rape. The accused had allegedly raped the 15-year-old girl between September 2022 to May this year in Taman Limbongan Permai in the Melaka Tengah district. The charges were framed under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping upon conviction. The accused was represented by counsel Goh Chin HanHe was granted bail totalling RM14,000 by both courts.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 12): A federal grand jury has indicted Mo Shuyi, a citizen of China, for fraud by wire and conspiracy to commit offence to defraud the US. In a statement last week, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said a joint investigation between CBP San Juan Field Operations and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Juan Global Trade Investigations Group (GTIG) revealed an illegal transshipment of merchandise from China through Malaysia imported into the US. San Juan Field Operations director Roberto Vaquero said CBP remains vigilant on products produced in certain countries that are transshipped through third countries to evade detection and elude duties. The fraud scheme involved US-based entities that were importing Chinese ceramic tile transshipped through Malaysia into the US and misclassifying the merchandise to circumvent anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD). CBP said Mo was arrested on April 29 by HSI San Juan in coordination with HSI San Francisco prior to his departure to China via the San Francisco International Airport.