☕️ Coming to you in Aug 2022 - Najib Razak's final appeal in apex court to overturn SRC International case conviction, jail sentence

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

An 8,000 sq-foot apartment on the 82nd floor at 432 Park Avenue in Manhattan was sold for USD70.5 million in April, the most expensive home sale since April 2021. That works out to USD8.8k per sq foot.

More than 800,000 people flocked to Airbnb’s careers page after the company announced that employees could live and work anywhere. Its employees are also permitted to work for up to 90 days a year overseas!

84 — the number of years Walter Orthmann of Brazil has worked in the textile company ReneauxView, earning him the Guinness world record for the longest time worked at one company. Many people these days can’t even last 84 days. Well deserved, Mr Orthmann!

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. The Federal Court has fixed 10 days in August (15-19, 22-26) to hear former PM Najib Razak's final bid to overturn his conviction and jail sentence for misappropriating RM42 mil of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds. The disgraced former PM was sentenced to a 12-year jail sentence and an RM210 mil fine by the High Court on 28 Jul 2020. The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision on 8 Dec 2021. Given how things are playing out, this wouldn’t be his ‘final’ chance. 

2. Details from Najib Razak’s 1MDB-Tanore trial:Najib is facing four counts of abuse of power in enriching himself with RM2.3 bil of 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering of the same amount.

   1. Najib’s former special officer Wan Ahmad Wan Shibab told the court that Jho Low seemed to have “excellent connections” with the Middle East and “easy access” to the “palaces of the Middle East”. Jho Low was able to confirm the PMO’s appointments with Middle East royals even before Malaysian ambassadors.

   2. Wan Ahmad added that Najib and his family, at the invitation of Middle Eastern royalty, yachted on the waters of France, Greece and Italy

   3. Former 1MDB chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh told the court that it was unusual for Najib not to reply to his SMS over some 1MDB concerns as Najib usually replied. From this, Mohd Bakke had a feeling Najib was involved and something wrong was happening, becoming one of the main reasons he decided to resign.

3. Have any of you suffered AirAsia’s flight delays during the Raya festive week? The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) together with the Transport Ministry (MOT) will conduct investigations into these delays involving various domestic destinations. MOT has urged affected passengers to submit their complaints in cases of unreasonable delays to the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) to take immediate action. You can file your complaint here.

4. The Malaysian men’s badminton team started off their 2022 Thomas Cup Finals campaign in Bangkok with a bang, tapao-ing England 5-0 in the opening fixture of Group D. Other nations in Group D includes the US and Japan. Likewise, Japan tapao-ed the US 5-0. Lee Zii Jia, world no.6 shuttler, said he can’t take Kento Momota (world No.2) “lightly” although he previously defeated Momota in the All England Championships 2022 as Momota’s “standard is still up there”. See Thomas & Uber Cup Finals results here.

5. Bangi and 2-time MP Ong Kian Ming will not offer himself as a candidate in GE15 and to take a break from politics. He said it’s time for the younger generation in the party to take the lead. Political analysts say Ong saw the “writing on the wall” due to backlash he received from certain party leaders and grassroots for his support of former PM Muhyiddin Yassin over the MoU between PH and PN.

6. Controversial political artist Fahmi Reza has successfully renewed his passport and was given the green light to travel abroad. On Apr 23, he revealed that he was blacklisted by the Immigration Department from leaving the country.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. The commanders of the Ukrainian forces in the besieged city of Mariupol are angry at the government in Kyiv for not doing enough to help them defend the city. Ilya Somoilenko, a lieutenant in the Azov regiment, said the “authorities have been sabotaging the defence of Ukraine for eight years.” And Russian President Vladimir Putin did not declare war on Ukraine during his “Victory Day” speech.

2. Microsoft is throwing its weight behind Epic Games in the fight against Apple — the good ol’ days — by bringing Fortnite back to iOS via its game streaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming. Epic Games’ Fortnite was kicked off of the Apple App Store back in 2020 for trying to skirt the company’s 30% cut of in-app purchases. To play Fortnite on iOS devices, you’ll need to hop onto Apple’s Safari browser and visit Xbox.com/play.

3. Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned following weeks of protests against the government after its failure to handle the economic crisis. The island was placed under curfew after violent clashes between Rajapksa supporters and anti-government protesters in Colombo.

4. Two of China’s biggest cities — Beijing and Shanghai — have tightened their curbs on their residents as authorities wrestle with China’s worst Covid outbreaks. The funny part? There is no official announcement from the authorities, but some residents received notices that they can no longer leave their homes or receive deliveries.

5. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has some 18 million votes against his rival's 8.5 million, an unofficial tally shows. The country has 67.5 million eligible voters. The process of tallying the votes could take days before a winner is officially announced, as was the case in 2016.

6. Crypto project Terra is buying billions in bitcoin to support UST, but the project is under strain as the controversial stablecoin struggles to maintain its USD1 peg. Thus far, it has bitcoin reserves worth USD3.5 bil. However, the Luna Foundation Guard, an organisation created by Terra’s inventor, said it will lend out USD750 million in bitcoin to trading firms to hold UST’s price peg. Not a great sign when you’re dipping into a huge chunk of the reserves, right?

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. The highest-ever grossing movie, Avatar, is now back with a sequel 13 years after its first movie. Avatar 2: The Way of The Water trailer below.

2. It’s looking like a terrible year for tech, e-commerce and media stocks.

3. Japan is known for many fine and artisanal things. But jeans? Meet the USD2k gold-label Momotaro jeans.