Author: Press Room

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Prime Minister said on Sunday (May 4) he was confident that a dispute between energy company Petronas, owned by the federal government, and Petros, owned by the state of Sarawak, will be resolved through discussions with the Sarawak premier. The two companies’ long-running dispute over gas distribution rights escalated last week, with Petronas saying on Friday its Petronas Carigali subsidiary had received notices from the Sarawak state government about its activities there. Petronas gave no further details but local media said Sarawak authorities told the company’s Miri Crude Oil Terminal that it lacked a proper operating licence. Sarawak…

A missile launched from Yemen on Sunday struck central Israel near the main terminal of the international airport near Tel Aviv. The strike resulted in a temporary suspension of flights but no reports of fatalities.The Israeli military said that several efforts were made to intercept the missile and that an impact was identified in the area of Ben-Gurion Airport. The military added that the episode was under review.Israel’s emergency ambulance service said it was treating two people who were injured by the blast and a third person who was injured while running for shelter.Videos and images posted on social media…

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed a school choice bill into law on Saturday that will allocate $1 billion for a voucher program that allows parents to use public funds to pay for their child’s private school tuition.The program’s implementation caps off a yearslong effort by Republicans who have been advocating for school choice. Voucher supporters have long focused on Texas, where previous efforts failed amid resistance from Democrats and rural Republicans.Last month, President Donald Trump called on state lawmakers ahead of a key vote on the bill to finally send the measure to Abbott’s desk. The Texas Senate…

A U.S. lawful permanent resident was arrested on Wednesday after she allegedly attempted to smuggle a drugged child into the country through the Southern Border using a fake birth certificate, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Gloria Lopez-Corona, 24, from Mexico, attempted to enter the U.S. with a five-year-old boy through the San Luis port of entry in Arizona, where she presented a birth certificate that was revealed to be for a different child based on the age, as the birth certificate was for a two-year-old.The child was determined to be an unaccompanied child from Mexico who was sedated. The child…

“Oh, wow, this is really cool,” Flannery Johnston, 28, said as the chatbot came to life, offering a personalized hello from M3GAN, the diabolical A.I. doll at the center of the movie. Over the next 20 minutes, the chatbot served up about 10 messages. One was a question: “Do you think they’re inventing other dolls like me?” An affirmative reply prompted the response, “Don’t be delulu.”Ms. Johnston’s interest quickly faded, however.“I started to feel uncomfortable looking at my phone — I didn’t want to be obnoxious — and basically just waited until after the movie was over to read through…

Tom Goodwin, Folly Beach’s mayor, joked that he would love for the city to buy the cottage and relocate his office to Follywood. About a year ago, the city talked to Glick, he said, without hearing any numbers on what it would take to land the house. Glick said he departed the conversations with the belief that city did not have the budget to purchase the home.Now, Goodwin is interested to see what the preservationists will propose.“As far as the city goes, we’re really in the infant stages of talking about what we would do or not do or can…

The Greens are set to define Anthony Albanese’s second term, with the minor party firming as the key crossbench party in the Senate for the Government, despite going backwards in the Lower House.As counting continued on Sunday, Labor’s landslide victory was flowing through to the Senate, the Government was projected to win between 27 and 30 seats and were ahead in NSW, Victoria, WA and South Australia for three senators from each State.The Coalition was on track to win just two senators per State, bringing their numbers to 27. But a second in Tasmania — former minister Richard Colbeck —…

The pay stubs tell the story. Hefty deductions to help cover the cost of Kenya’s new funds for affordable housing and health insurance. More money subtracted for jacked-up contributions to the National Social Security Fund and an increase in the tax rate.In a matter of months, Kenyans with a 45,000-shilling-a-month salary — roughly $350 — saw their take-home pay shrink 9 percent, to $262.Pay stubs for an employee at Shining Hope for Communities, a nonprofit in Kenya:JUNE 2024“People who are salaried are crying,” said Kennedy Odede, the founder of a self-help association in Nairobi’s Kibera slum.The increased payroll taxes are…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Kids and adults alike love it; US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr calls it poison. For investors, too, sugar has proved more toxic than sweet: raw sugar prices have broadly drifted lower since a surge in the second half of 2023. But as commodities go, it’s a curious one. Like a toddler who has just demolished a packet of Skittles, this market doesn’t play by the rules.Decent weather and low oil prices, which discourage Brazilian mills from diverting a bigger share…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The European Central Bank, like most big central banks, generally does its best to be unexciting. But it has just rolled out a policy for most of its 5,200 staff that is not merely interesting but borderline adventurous.It requires its employees to think about doing something that some have failed to do for a decade and more: switch jobs. In a move aimed at boosting skills and broadening experience, the Frankfurt-based bank’s new “3-5-8” plan will encourage people to spend no more than…