☕️ Do I look senile to you? - Tun Mahathir

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

10.1% — the overall annualised inflation rate in the UK for September, thanks to the rising food prices. Food costs jumped 14.6% in the year to September, with bread, cereal, meat and dairy prices all climbing. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that low-fat milk has gone up the most YoY — 42.1%. More headache for the already embattled UK PM Liz “Iceberg Lady” Truss fighting to keep her new job less than two months into it. 

Old is gold — a first-generation 8GB iPhone from 2007 still in its original box is currently on the auction block. The phone originally cost USD599 at release and is sold for USD39,339.60 at the auction — 66x its original price.

1.461 seconds, the time it took for a car built by students at the University of Stuttgart to hit 100 km/h from a standstill. It is now the fastest-accelerating electric car on Earth (certified by Guinness). The car weighs around 145kg and makes 241 horsepower, giving a power-to-weight ratio of 1,750 horsepower per ton.

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3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Tajuddin Abdul Rahman displayed his thuggish side once again

During Sinar Harian's “Wacana Sinar” on Monday night, Tajuddin accused former finance minister Lim Guan Eng of sidelining Malay staff in the ministry and bringing in his own team. Tajuddin further claimed the ministry’s officer was transformed to look like a Chinese temple. When the moderator interjected, Tajuddin said Lim turned it into a tanglung.

A former press secretary to Lim defended the former minister, saying, "There were many Malays, and during Hari Raya, every department will have an open house."

Let’s play a game: Spot the tanglung in the picture below.

Getting your refunds for flight disruptions will be easier in 2023

Say goodbye to getting credit refunds if your flights have been cancelled. Under amendments to the Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code (MACPC), which should be implemented in the first quarter of 2023, passengers will be able to get refunds in the original mode of payment for flight disruptions.

The MACPC applies to all local or international airlines and full-service or budget carriers operating into or out of Malaysia.

The group editor of NST summoned by the police

Farrah Naz Karim, the group editor of the New Straits Times, was asked to appear at the Dang Wangi police headquarters yesterday. She was questioned for four hours. When asked by the police how NST managed to get a detailed account of the abduction plot, she explained, “it is part and parcel of investigative journalism.”

Kudos to Farrah Naz!

On Tuesday, NST published a report on Israel’s intelligence agents hiring Malaysians for an abduction case — “Mossad used locals to kidnap Palestinian.”

How to prevent floods MY version: Dig deep

The Selangor government will deepen Sungai Klang by 2-3m and reinforce its banks to avert potential floods from Nov 1. The deepening works will span from the river’s boundary in Kuala Lumpur to Klang and will be completed in a year. The river will have the capacity to hold 40 per cent more water, with the expectation of lowering the risk of flood and faster flow.

GE15 News

1. MUDA’s deputy president, Amira Aisya Abd Aziz, has urged Pakatan Harapan (PH) to quickly hold formal discussions on seat allocation for the coming general election (GE15). She posted on Facebook saying people are asking, “Which seat will MUDA contest?”

2. Barisan Nasional’s chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi aims high for Kedah as he expects BN to secure 10 out of 15 parliamentary seats in GE15, including the Langkawi seat. BN’s tactic is to focus on young and also first-time voters.

3. At 97 years old, Tun Mahathir Mohamad dismissed calls asking for his retirement from politics. He hit back by asking, “Do I look senile to you?” The former PM will be defending his Langkawi parliamentary seat in the GE15. He added his coalition, Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA), is open to working with Perikatan Nasional.

4. FYI — the Election Commission’s special meeting to decide on the GE15 date is happening today. PH will launch its manifesto today as well.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Russian fighting jet crashes into a residential building

A Russian supersonic fighter jet Sukhoi Su-34 crashed into a residential building during a training flight in Yeysk, a Russian city near the border with Ukraine, caused by a fire in one of its engines during takeoff. Both pilots managed to successfully eject (this image captured one of them parachuting out) before the plane crashed, but a tragedy for the building’s residents — 13 people were killed. Russian authorities said the two pilots could face criminal charges for violation of flight preparation rules, where negligence resulted in death. 

Netflix subscribers growth - reversing course, finally up to the right

The streaming giant added 2.4 mil new subscribers worldwide in its third quarter, more than double Wall Street’s expectation after experiencing a sudden decline in the first half of the year. It now has a total of 223.1 mil subscribers globally and is optimistic of picking up 4.5 mil new subscribers by the fourth quarter. During Q3, Netflix released the final episodes of Season 4 of Stranger Things, the serial-killer series Dahmer Monster, which became Netflix’s most-watched series of all time. Netflix has a dashboard here where you can see the weekly top 10 list of the most-watched TV and movies by country.

The company reported USD7.92 bil in revenue and a net income of USD1.4 bil. Netflix estimated that its streaming competitors would end 2022 with combined operating losses of “well over USD10 bil” versus Netflix’s annual operating profit of USD5-6 bil. Click here to view its Q3 quarterly earnings. 

Indonesia — tragic football stadium to be demolished, syrup and liquid medicines ban after 99 child deaths

• The Indonesian football stadium where a stampede killed 133 people over two weeks ago will be torn down and rebuilt with proper facilities, according to President Joko Widodo after a meeting with Gianni Infantino, the head of FIFA. Indonesia will be hosting the Under-20 World Cup next year and Infantino said FIFA would work with the government to ensure it goes smoothly. 

• The government has banned all syrup and liquid medicine prescription and over-the-counter sales following the deaths of 99 children from acute kidney injury (AKI) this year due to unknown reasons. The Health Ministry has received 206 reported cases from 20 provinces that saw 99 deaths and typically saw 1-2 AKI cases per month. Officials said the cases are unrelated to the deaths of 70 children in Gambia due to AKI linked to Indian-made paracetamol syrups as they are not sold in Indonesia.  

Jeff Bezos addressed criticism over his space investment instead of solving Earth’s problems

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, has long been criticised for investing “so much into space” when there are so many problems to be solved on Earth. Bezos was awarded the Galileo Prophets of Philanthropy Award at the Vatican and responded to the criticisms during his acceptance speech, explaining that investing in spaces leads to preserving Earth. Some quotes:

Blue Origin is the aerospace company founded by Bezos in 2000 to make travelling to space cheaper, more frequent and more accessible. Bezos also set up the Bezos Earth Fund in 2020, which will disburse USD10 bil to tackle climate change and protect nature. Watch or read his acceptance speech here.

Shorts:

1. The Competition and Markets Authority, UK’s competition regulator, has ordered Facebook parent Meta to sell GIF database company, Giphy, which it acquired in March 2020 for a rumoured USD300-400 mil over monopoly concerns. This marks the first time a global regulator has forced a Big Tech firm to reverse a completed deal.

2. Microsoft announced another round of layoffs after an earlier one announced in July that affected less than 1% of its workforce of more than 200,00 people at that time. No figure on the number of layoffs was disclosed. 

3. The New York governor and the attorney general have called for a live stream of homicides to be made illegal and criminalised in all states in a report prompted by the 14 May mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket that was live-streamed via a GoPro.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Mt Kinabalu turns into a ‘waterfall’ during a downpour

2. Milo — pronounced as “Mai-lo” or “Mee-lo”? The mystery is now solved. Most seem to disagree with the answer — read the comments.