Category Archives: Malaysia

Coronavirus live news: new French cases surpass 3,000 for second day; Italy hits record cases since May

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Italy closes all discos; Spain takes new measures as infections soar; New Zealand adds 13 infections to total

The UK government has said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Sunday, there were a further 1,040 lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Overall, a total of 318,484 cases have been confirmed in the UK.

As of Sunday, 41,366 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19. This was up by five from the day before.

Ireland’s health chiefs will meet on Monday to decide if further restrictions are needed to slow a sharp increase in the spread of coronavirus that the government and officials have described as deeply concerning.

Ireland has reopened its economy at a slower pace than most EU countries but that has not prevented a jump in cases over the last two weeks that led to the first localised reimposition of some restrictions last week.

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1MDB scandal: Najib Razak found guilty in first trial linked to vast fraud

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Former PM denied criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power over money transfers

1MDB scandal explained: a tale of Malaysia’s missing billions

Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak has been found guilty of all seven charges in his first trial linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal - a landmark conviction that could lead to decades in jail.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing in relation to what is one of the world’s biggest financial frauds, in which billions of dollars were allegedly looted from a state fund set up to promote development. The scandal shook Malaysian politics, led to the ousting of Najib’s Umno party after 61 years in power, and prompted a series of investigations in countries around the world.

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Rohingya face ‘cruel’ caning sentence in Malaysia as hostility to refugees grows

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Survivors of dangerous sea journey convicted amid a rise in hate speech and mass detentions in centres rife with Covid-19

A group of Rohingya refugees who survived a treacherous journey at sea now face caning and seven months in jail after they were convicted under the immigration act in Malaysia, where activists have warned of an alarming rise in xenophobia and inhumane treatment of the migrants.

Hundreds of arrests and a sharp rise in hate speech have shocked refugees and migrants who had seen Malaysia as a welcoming country, particularly for Muslims, despite not being signed up to the 1951 refugee convention.

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Police interrogate five Australian Al Jazeera journalists accused of sedition in Malaysia

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Journalists ordered to be questioned after broadcast of documentary about migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur during Covid-19 pandemic

Five Australian journalists are being interrogated by Malaysian authorities who have accused them of sedition and defamation after the broadcast of a documentary about migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur during Covid-19.

A week after the broadcast of the Al Jazeera English documentary in Malaysia, the journalists were ordered to attend the police station for questioning on Friday morning.

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Indonesian villagers defy Covid-19 warnings to rescue Rohingya refugees

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Governments across south-east Asia are turning away boats but in Aceh locals took matters into their own hands

On Thursday afternoon, residents of Aceh, Indonesia, waded back and forth in water helping Rohingya refugees clamber to safety. Exhausted children were passed between rescuers.

On Lancok beach, where survivors gathered, a man knelt with his head on the sand, thankful to be alive. Another embraced a member of the rescue team tightly.

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Global report: EU nations continue steady exits from lockdown

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Infections keep falling in EU but reports suggest Russian death toll much higher than official figures

France is to lift its state of emergency on 10 July, Denmark said opening its bars, restaurants and malls had not led to a rise in infections, and Austria will reopen its border with Italy next week as EU nations pursue their steady exits from lockdown.

However, Germany extended its coronavirus travel warnings for more than 160 countries outside Europe until the end of August and reports suggested that Moscow’s death toll may be twice as high as Russia’s official figures.

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Rohingya refugees sent to remote Bangladeshi island after weeks at sea

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Hundreds more refugees still stranded on boats after being turned away by Malaysia

Rohingya refugees believed to have spent weeks stranded on cramped boats at sea have been sent to a remote, uninhabited island by Bangladesh, while hundreds more remain adrift.

Dozens of Rohingya landed on the coast of southern Bangladesh on Saturday, an official said, with some sent to Bhasan Char, a silt island in the estuary of Bangladesh’s Meghna river.

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Malaysia cites Covid-19 for rounding up hundreds of migrants

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In move condemned by UN, refugees including Rohingya arrested amid rising climate of xenophobia

Malaysian authorities have rounded up and detained hundreds of undocumented migrants, including Rohingya refugees, as part of efforts to contain coronavirus, officials said.

Authorities said 586 undocumented migrants were arrested in a raid in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Friday. Armed police walked people through the city in a single file to a detention building, according to activists. The UN said the move could push vulnerable groups into hiding and prevent them from seeking treatment.

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‘Let the boats in’: Rohingya refugees plead for stranded relatives to be saved

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Two boats still stranded at sea as Malaysia accused of using Covid-19 as an excuse to turn them back

Rohingya refugees whose relatives, including children, have been stranded for weeks on cramped boats have urged international governments to act before they perish at sea.

Two boats carrying around 500 people were last spotted off Bangladesh about a week ago, but are believed to have returned to the high seas. The refugees on board, who were fleeing desperate conditions in camps in Bangladesh, had attempted to reach Malaysia but appear to have been turned away. Bangladesh has also said it will not allow the boats to dock.

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NHS urged to avoid PPE gloves made in ‘slave-like’ conditions

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In securing PPE for NHS staff working on coronavirus frontline, government must not ignore abuse of factory workers, warn activists

The government must not ignore the “slave-like” conditions of migrant workers making rubber medical gloves in Malaysia in its rush to source protective equipment to keep frontline NHS staff safe from coronavirus, human rights groups say.

Malaysia is the world’s largest producer of rubber gloves, but the industry has been accused of grossly exploiting its workforce, mostly impoverished migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal.

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Malaysia and Thailand urged to help stranded Rohingya refugees

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Amnesty International makes plea over hundreds of people stuck on as many as five boats

Hundreds more Rohingya refugees remain stranded at sea, rights groups have warned, just one day after it emerged that dozens of people died onboard a boat that was refused entry to Malaysia and left adrift for two months.

On Friday, Malaysia’s air force confirmed it had denied entry to a second boat carrying about 200 Rohingya people, claiming it had done so to prevent further spread of the coronavirus within the country, which remains under lockdown.

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Has Malaysia’s new PM inherited a poisoned chalice?

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Muhyiddin Yassin faces big challenges – and some say he may be bad news for minorities

When Malaysia’s government plunged into chaos last month, some believed the country’s veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad was likely to emerge an even more powerful political force. Instead, it was Muhyiddin Yassin, a much quieter figure, who was eventually appointed prime minister.

Muhyiddin, a conservative Malay nationalist, is a low-profile and cautious politician, say analysts.

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Muhyiddin Yassin named as Malaysian prime minister

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Appointment follows week of turmoil after collapse of Mahathir Mohamad government

Malaysia’s 94-year-old former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has lost a power struggle with an ex-interior minister in a shock twist that will return a scandal-plagued party to power.

Muhyiddin Yassin will be sworn as PM in on Sunday, royal officials said, after a week of turmoil that followed the collapse of a reformist government and Mahathir’s resignation as premier.

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Malaysia’s political turmoil: everything you need to know

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Prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation sets rival parties against each other and could result in a snap election

The country’s ruling alliance collapsed on Monday after the prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, the world’s oldest leader, shocked the nation by announcing that he would be stepping down. The king accepted his resignation but asked for him to stay on as interim leader. The country is now in limbo as rival parties rush to strike deals and form a government.

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Reform urged in Malaysia after disabled man is jailed for attempted suicide

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Campaign groups unite in condemnation of ‘grossly inhumane and incompassionate’ verdict

Human rights groups in Malaysia are calling for the repeal of a law that criminalises attempted suicide after a man with a physical disability was sentenced to six months in prison for trying to take his own life.

Malaysia is one of the few countries where attempting suicide is illegal. Under existing legislation, people found guilty can be punished by up to a year in prison, a fine, or both. But the Malaysian government is now considering a change to the law, which advocates say cannot come soon enough.

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Deaths of 16 Rohingya at sea raises fears trafficking ring has been revived

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Smugglers responsible for mass atrocities in Thailand may be linked to capsized boat carrying refugees from Bangladesh to Malaysia

Activists fear a dangerous transnational trafficking network is being revived after at least 16 Rohingya refugees drowned in the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday morning.

Bangladeshi officials said a wooden fishing boat carrying about 138 people capsized near Bangladesh’s St Martin’s island in the early hours.

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The Wolf of Wall Street’s Jordan Belfort sues film’s producers for $300m

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Former stockbroker sues scandal-hit production company Red Granite for fraud and breach of contract

Jordan Belfort, the former stockbroker whose story inspired the Martin Scorsese-directed hit The Wolf of Wall Street, is suing the film’s financiers for fraud and breach of contract, and claiming $300m in compensation.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Belfort’s legal action arises directly from the financial scandal surrounding Red Granite, the production company that put up the film’s $100m budget but was subsequently linked to a multimillion-dollar embezzlement in which huge sums were siphoned from 1MDB, a Malaysian state fund. Riza Aziz, Red Granite’s co-founder and stepson of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, is currently under arrest in Malaysia on money laundering charges.

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Sumatran rhinoceros now extinct in Malaysia, say zoologists

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Last of the species in country, a female rhino named Iman, ‘died sooner than expected’

The Sumatran rhinoceros has become extinct in Malaysia, zoologists have announced.

The last of the species in the country succumbed to cancer in the state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, it was revealed.

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Shock and gnaw: rat-eating macaques ‘stun’ scientists

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Animals act as natural pest control in Malaysia’s vast palm oil plantations, reducing crop losses from rodents

Scientists in Malaysia have said they were “stunned” to discover monkeys regularly killing and eating rats on palm oil plantations, providing a natural anti-pest measure in the country, which is responsible for 30% of the world’s palm oil production.

A report released in Current Biology on Monday, showed that southern pig-tailed macaques, generally thought to eat mainly fruit plus occasionally lizards and birds, foraged for rats on plantations. The authors said that the monkeys’ appetite for rodents showed that rather than being pests, as is commonly believed, the primates’ presence reduced crop losses.

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