Here’s a quick look at some of the stories that made headlines today.

EVENING 5: Five things you need to know today

From the time of Malaysia’s formation 60 years ago, one quality that has characterised our country is its diversity. Starting with the colourful mix of Malaya’s three main ethnic groups at Independence, our founding fathers reached across the South China Sea to embrace the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in the fold of a new nation. Thus was forged Malaysia’s destiny.

The Edge says...Diversity is our nation’s lifeblood

A Singapore court has sentenced Malaysian John Soh Chee Wen — who was found guilty of masterminding the manipulation of three penny stocks that eventually collapsed and wiped off S$8 billion (RM26.23 billion) in market capitalisation in 2013 — to 36 years in jail. His main accomplice Quah Su Ling, another Malaysian, was given 20 years.

The Edge Says: Singapore gets it right — Severe punishment is the best deterrent against future commercial crimes

With less than a week before the nation goes to the polls, there are a few questions playing on the minds of those vested in its outcome: What will the voter turnout be? Who will they vote for? Who will form the government after the election?

The answer to the last question lies in the ...

The Edge Says: Go out and VOTE!

FINALLY, Malaysia has its 10th prime minister.

The Edge says… Politicians, unite and get to work!

THIS election was supposed to bring certainty back to government. Or so we thought.

The Edge says......Keep calm and carry on!

MALAYSIA has a tendency to create “national champions” or “national icons”. These are select groups of personalities or companies chosen to make the nation proud. They are often given a slew of preferential treatment, privatisations and incentives to shape Malaysia’s corporate sector — for better...

Cover Story:  The Edge Says: Should Sapura Energy be rescued, and by whom?

THE release of the Pandora Papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) made headlines for several days across the globe last week for exposing the world’s rich for having offshore accounts, companies and assets.

They were certainly a juicy read. After all,...

The Edge Says: Legitimate and illegitimate offshore bank accounts 

ALMOST everyone agrees that migrant workers, whether legal or otherwise, must be vaccinated, the same as all Malaysian adults. Indeed, this is the only rational conclusion — unless a large majority of the population is vaccinated, mitigating the Covid-19 outbreak through herd immunity will be difficult.

The Edge Says: Give amnesty and legalise undocumented foreign workers as carrot for them to come forward and be vaccinated

WHAT is Malaysia’s adult population? Official statistics put it at 23.48 million, or 72% of our total population of 32.65 million. These 23.48 million adults include 2.31 million documented non-Malaysians residing here (see table).

There is no official figure on undocumented foreigners ...

The Edge Says: If persuasion doesn’t work, we will have to mandate vaccination 

Yesterday, retail groups proposed that shops in retail centres should be allowed to serve fully-vaccinated customers if 70% of their front-facing staff have been completely inoculated against Covid-19.

The Edge Says: Vaccinating 70% of front-facing staff in malls is a good start — but patrons would be much more reassured if all workers were completely immunised

DON’T be obsessed with the high daily infections that are being reported. There is light on the horizon with vaccinations being administered in record numbers in the past one week.

Our initial calculation (see charts) — based on historical data points until July 12, and assuming from no...

The Edge Says: We are set to surpass target and fully vaccinate 50% of population by end-August, 70% by end-September

THE National Recovery Plan, which is essentially a roadmap to exit from dreaded Covid-19 lockdowns, announced by the prime minister, is hinged on three criteria: Number of positive cases; ICU utilisation; and percentage of population fully vaccinated.

Some have questioned why the govern...

The Edge Says: The only exit out of dreaded lockdowns is speedy vaccinations; and it is time Malaysians emit more positive energy and less toxicity

The decision announced yesterday that managers and supervisors of businesses in areas under the conditional movement control order (CMCO) must work from home, while other staff can work in the office but must pass a Covid-19 test, is both discriminatory and flawed.

The Edge says: Latest work-from-home order a flawed and discriminatory decision

Malaysia must accelerate the modernisation of its agricultural sector and improve production efficiency to strengthen food security amid growing challenges, said Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu.

Agricultural modernisation key to strengthening food security — Mohamad Sabu

Anthropic PBC’s initial public offering (IPO) plans ran into a punishing post-election selloff, prompting a rethink among prospective investors of the company’s expected valuation.

Anthropic IPO buyers see valuation as low as US$1.1 tril

A seafarer on a Greek-owned oil tanker was killed in an apparent missile attack in the Gulf, its owner said on Friday.

Company says sailor killed in Gulf tanker attack

Monster Beverage Corp shares fell as much as 8.2% on Friday, the biggest decline in over two years, after the energy drink giant’s weaker-than-expected margins underscored the impact of soaring costs in the beverage industry.

Monster shares fall as weaker margins highlight cost burden

Pakatan Harapan's (PH) track record as a key component of the federal government should serve as a yardstick for Melaka voters to assess the coalition's capabilities ahead of the 16th Melaka state election on Nov 14, said Pasir Gudang Member of Parliament Hassan Abdul Karim.

Melaka voters urged to judge PH by federal govt's performance — Hassan Karim

Collaboration between plantation companies and oil palm smallholders to increase both parties’ yields and income will be raised at the Cabinet meeting next week, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Plantation companies-oil palm smallholders collaboration to be raised in Cabinet next week — Anwar

US consumer sentiment rose in November to a three-month high, bolstered by modest improvements in Americans' views of their personal finances and the economic outlook.

US consumer sentiment unexpectedly rises, fuelled by independents

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose on Friday as chip stocks bounced off heavy losses posted in the previous session on fears that a Democratic-led Congress could result in tougher artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, even as the jobs report raised interest-rate hike concerns.

Nasdaq pares losses as chips recover, rate-hike fears linger

Treasuries dipped after an unexpected surge in US job growth led traders to add to wagers that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise interest rates when officials next meet in December.

US Treasuries stumble as strong jobs data backs Fed-hike bets

TikTok moved one step closer to a new European Union fine after regulators found its video-recommendation algorithm pushes users down “rabbit holes” of potentially harmful content, escalating an almost three-year probe into the video-sharing app.

EU escalates TikTok probe over algorithmic ‘rabbit holes’

The implementation of the conditional pardon granted to Datuk Seri Najib Razak, allowing the former prime minister to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, must be respected in keeping with the principles of constitutional monarchy and the rule of law.

King: Najib’s conditional pardon order must be respected

Real estate developers SKS Group and MB World Group Bhd have acquired the hotel block and four residential blocks situated above Capital City Mall in Tampoi, Johor Bahru, for approximately RM50 million, according to a press statement and supplementary comments on Friday.

SKS Group and MB World acquire hotel and serviced apartments above Capital City Mall in Johor for RM50m

While the public were focused on the plantation sector’s culpability in causing the haze hanging over the region in the last three months, Malaysian planters have been struggling with tight labour conditions in their estates, along with a high level of palm oil inventories.

Double cover: Malaysian planters brace for migrant worker shortage + Hong Leong Bank closes in on industry leadership across key metrics

Sarawak Premier&nbsp;Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg is looking beyond Malaysian shores and politics. He is mapping out strategies to make Sarawak an investment destination for technology-intensive industries.

Abang Jo on how clean energy will draw tech investments

Wall Street equities mostly rallied on Friday, reversing course after trillions of dollars of world stock market value were wiped out over fears that Democratic election victories this week would bring tighter US regulations for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

US stocks rally after heavy AI-related sell-off; oil steady

Months of unease over Wall Street’s artificial-intelligence (AI) boom erupted into a global market convulsion this week, opening a dangerous new chapter for the investment frenzy that has helped power stock prices, corporate spending and economic growth.

Wall Street grapples with US$5.7 tril rout as AI bets unwind

US intelligence officials told the Trump administration that a woman who had become close to Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang was working for a Chinese spy agency, which recruited her to collect information on him, The New York Times reported on Friday.&nbsp;

US believes woman close to Nvidia CEO a China spy — report

The Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) has denied challenging the validity of the conditional royal pardon granted to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, stressing that it is merely seeking legal clarity on the implementation of the pardon alongside existing court orders.

AGC denies defying King in clarifying Najib's conditional pardon

The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) on Saturday announced the transfer of 19 senior officers to several strategic positions at the state, departmental, and force levels.

PDRM shuffles 19 senior officers in major leadership changes

The Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) has imposed provisional anti-dumping duties ranging from 4.41% to 35.06% on imports of flat-rolled products&nbsp;from China, Taiwan and Vietnam, effective Saturday.

Miti imposes anti-dumping duties on flat-rolled imports from China, Taiwan, Vietnam

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is considering broadening its business to include advanced memory chip manufacturing, The Information reported, a move that would give the world’s largest chipmaker an even bigger share of the artificial intelligence (AI) hardware supply chain.

TSMC said to mull making advanced AI memory chips

Schroders plc is planning to sell off some of its real estate assets in Singapore, having appointed a pair of brokers to raise around S$220 million (US$172 million or RM697 million) from the sale of a mall, according to people familiar with the matter.

Schroders said to seek mall sale in bid to offload Singapore properties

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has taken enforcement action against Najmuldin Exchanger and Nusantara Global Network over suspected contraventions of the Financial Services Act 2013 (FSA).

Foreign currency services: BNM takes action against two entities for unapproved advertising

Much of the world has been bemused by US President Donald Trump’s expectation of the Nobel Peace Prize. While aggressive towards most of the world, friend and foe alike, he has treated hostile nuclear powers more respectfully.

<h3>War is peace!</h3>

One needs more than George Orwell ...

My Say: Why Trump expects the Nobel Peace Prize

The continuation of Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R&nbsp;Ramanan's appeal in the dispute between the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) and the Malaysian Commercial Banks’ Association (MCBA) is aimed at obtaining a Court of Appeal ruling on legal issues arising from the High Court's decision, the ministry said on Saturday.

NUBE-MCBA dispute: HR minister to continue appeal for court ruling on legal issues

The Gig Workers Tribunal (TPG) has ruled on three disputes involving e-hailing drivers and GrabCar Sdn Bhd, including awarding RM2,000 in compensation to one driver while upholding the deactivation of another driver's account over misconduct involving passengers.

HR Ministry: Gig Workers Tribunal has ruled on three disputes involving GrabCar

The number of flood victims in Selangor and Perak continued to rise on Saturday morning, with 1,404 people from 374 families housed at temporary relief centres (PPS) in the two states, compared with 1,269 people on Friday.

Flood victims in Selangor and Perak rise to over 1,400

A stronger-than-expected US jobs report bolstered the case for further Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate hikes, which had lost some momentum amid a post-election stock market sell-off and growing fears that weaker artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand could undercut the economy.

Fed policymakers consider rate hike after strong jobs report

OpenAI has closed on new funding of roughly US$11 billion (RM44.7 billion), the initial part of a round that values the company at US$1.25 trillion, according to people familiar with the matter.

OpenAI completes US$11 bil portion of funding at US$1.25 tril value

There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark. For Manchester United fans, the scale and all-encompassing nature of the club’s decline is becoming Shakespearean. For the rest of football, it may be a welcome diversion from the very different demise of neighbours, Manchester City, but for ABUs ...

The Edge Says

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