☕️ Only two states set Muslim minimum marriage age at 18

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

198.6 mi (319.6 km) – In 2022, Aleksandr Sorokin ran that distance in 24 hours, nearly eight marathons in a single day, to set a new world record for just how far a human can run in a day. According to Business Insider, there are six factors that have to be perfectly dialled in to break a distance-running world record. These are form, footwear, fuel, environment, the mind, and the maximum amount of oxygen a body can use during intense exercise or VO₂ max. The Business Insider team meets with various experts to learn more about how these six factors matter in the video. Learn: What is VO₂ max?

31,000 mi (49,889.66 km) – As of Oct 31, 57-year-old Karl Bushby has walked that distance in his journey to walk an unbroken path from Punta Arenas, Chile, to his home city of Hull in the UK. Bushby started his journey in 1998 when he was 29, with two self-imposed rules, which are to not use transport to advance, and to not return to the UK until he had completed his journey. Now, 28 years after he started, his journey nears its end. He will be met by his 36-year-old son, a 12-year-old granddaughter he has never met before, his father, and his brothers. His mother will be waiting at his childhood home. Fun fact: Bushby revealed that only about 15 of the 28 years were spent walking. He often retreated to Mexico, where costs are low, between walking stints. The rest of the time was spent applying for visas and “dealing with geopolitics”.

EUR15,000 (RM68,127) – In May 2021, 67-year-old Italian artist Salvatore Garau sold a sculpture for that amount at the Italian auction house Art-Rite. The piece was titled Io Sono or I Am. The twist? The sculpture was “immaterial”, as in, it does not exist. The buyer received a certificate and instructions on how to display an empty space about five feet by five feet. Garau framed the work as a concentration of thought and energy, citing the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to argue that the “vacuum” still has presence. He also drew a comparison between his work and how humanity shapes “a God we’ve never seen”. This was not the first immaterial art piece by Garau. His other works include Buddha in Contemplation in Milan, and Afrodite Cries in front of the New York City stock exchange. Sounds like a load of hot air, honestly. Learn: What is the Heisenberg uncertainty principle?

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Eight swept away at Lata Jebus
Five people died and three were still missing after a surge swept eight visitors downstream at Lata Jebus near Kuala Kubu Baru on Nov 9, 2026. A water surge is a sudden rush of water downstream that raises the river level and strengthens the current. At about 5.30pm, the water carried heavy logs and debris past the spot where visitors had gathered near the Sungai Pertak waterfall.

B. Partiban, 27, reached higher ground with three friends. Only later did he realise that the current had swept away his relative, V. Vijayan, 36. Muhammad, a 19-year-old Yemeni student, said he saw no sign of danger when he arrived with five friends. The water swept three of them off the riverbank. The eight people swept away were four Indian nationals and one person each from Malaysia, Yemen, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Parliament
Missed CP500 payments? No automatic travel ban: You can miss a CP500 tax instalment without automatically facing an overseas travel ban, Deputy Finance Minister Liew Chin Tong told the Dewan Rakyat. Under CP500, LHDN requires certain taxpayers, particularly those who earn income outside regular employment, to pay their estimated annual income tax in instalments. LHDN works out your final bill after you file your annual tax return and credits any instalments you’ve already paid.

Any balance you still owe after the payment deadline becomes tax arrears. Liew said individuals or company directors with outstanding income tax or real property gains tax can face travel restrictions. LHDN works with the Immigration Department to enforce them. If you’re planning a trip abroad, you can check how much tax you owe on the MyTax portal.

Only two states set Muslim minimum marriage age at 18: Selangor and Kedah are the only states where the minimum marriage age is 18 for both Muslim girls and boys. In the other 11 states and the federal territories, the minimum is 16 for Muslim girls and 18 for Muslim boys. A Syariah judge can give permission for someone to marry below those ages. Women, Family and Community Development Minister Nancy Shukri said her ministry is working with state governments to set the age at 18 nationwide. Each state must consider changes to its own laws because Islamic family law falls under state jurisdiction. Nancy said her ministry had raised concerns with state religious authorities about what early marriage can mean for a child’s education, health and safety.

Malaysia recorded 1,361 underage marriages in 2024, up from 923 in 2023 and below the 1,467 recorded in 2019. The figures cover marriages registered under civil, Syariah and customary laws. Nancy said more systematic record-keeping in Sarawak partly explained the rise in 2024.

AI & data centres
SoftBank, Grab and PETROS plan AI investment in Malaysia: SoftBank, Grab and Petroleum Sarawak Bhd (PETROS) have signed a joint development agreement that sets out plans for an initial USD1.85 bil (RM7.5 bil) investment in AI infrastructure across Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak would receive USD1 bil, with SoftBank contributing USD800 mil and Grab and PETROS putting in USD100 mil each. SoftBank is the majority shareholder in the Sarawak project. On the peninsula, Grab will lead the project and contribute USD650 mil of the planned USD850 mil, with SoftBank providing the remaining USD200 mil. The agreement builds on a deal the three companies signed in Kuching on Oct 8, 2026. Looking forward to the remaining announcement for the balance USD48.15 bil.

The partners have set a long-term target of five gigawatts of AI computing capacity. They plan to bring in more investors and are seeking customers among the global companies that run large cloud computing platforms. Grab Co-Founder and Chief Executive Anthony Tan is (he’s now a Datuk) expected to oversee both projects while continuing to lead Grab. Each project would have its own team to run day-to-day operations. In Sarawak, PETROS brings experience in developing energy infrastructure, while the state already has the power generation capacity that makes it attractive for large AI facilities.

Meanwhile, latuk bringing around Trevor Noah in Malaysia:

Malaysia plans new power market for data centres: Malaysia plans to set up a separate wholesale electricity market for its biggest power users, including data centre operators. Households, factories and commercial premises would continue to get their power through the existing single-buyer system. Rumaizi Abdul Halim, Director of Market Regulation and Planning at the Energy Commission, said one operator would run both markets. How the two would work together is still up for discussion.

The proposal comes as Malaysia seeks to become a regional hub for data centres and considers how to meet the industry’s power needs. Oracle and Amazon have already invested in AI in Malaysia. Google said last week that it plans to spend USD15 bil (RM61.12 bil) to expand its data centre and cloud operations in the country.

Man jailed over Facebook post targeting PM
The Sepang Sessions Court sentenced Mohamed Shazrin Jamil, 35, to three months in prison after he pleaded guilty to publishing an offensive Facebook post about the Prime Minister. According to the charge, he used the account ‘Shazrin Kedah’ to publish the post on Mar 12, 2026, intending to ‘annoy’ others. The charge fell under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. It carries a maximum fine of RM500,000, up to two years in prison, or both. The prosecution asked for a sentence that would deter others from committing similar offences.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Anthropic: Mega IPO and Microsoft for lunch

Anthropic to list at USD1.4 tril (RM5.7 tril) in valuation
Anthropic finally committed to a price for its listing - USD70 to USD78 per share. It intends to raise around USD56 bil to USD63 bil in proceeds and has also said that it has entered into an agreement with Broadcom, Google and Nvidia to purchase USD26 bil in shares at the IPO price. This brings its total proceeds to around USD90 bil and exceeds SpaceX’s USD85 bil raised from the markets.

If Anthropic lists at the top end of USD78 per share, this will bring its market valuation to USD1.4 tril on a fully diluted basis. Previously, it was aiming to list at USD2 tril, but investors quickly got cold feet in the recent AI sell-off triggered by the US Democratic Party victory in the mid-term elections. They are now using Anthropic as a gauge for future AI-related listings, and that leaves OpenAI’s listing an open question indeed.

Anthropic comes for Microsoft’s software throne
Could Anthropic succeed where Google could not? It just rolled out a suite of new AI tools such as Claude Sheets, Claude Whiteboards, and Claude Data to compete with Microsoft’s 365 software products. Its sweetener? Claude can help build spreadsheets, whiteboards and dashboards for teams, potentially reducing the time taken. For a long time, Microsoft had relied heavily on its software portion of the company to provide the cash flow needed to fund its AI ambitions. In 2026, Microsoft 365 commercial products made up 31% of its revenue.

The company seems to be losing some momentum recently. It has cut its AI capex forecast down slightly for 2026 after reporting that some of its GPUs are arriving late. Meanwhile, it has also declined its option to double its rental of data centre capacity in Texas from Nscale.

Indonesian lawmakers petition to impeach Vice President Gibran
The Game of Thrones drama thickens in Indonesia. 120 Indonesian lawmakers have submitted a petition, demanding the impeachment of Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka. He is the son of ex-President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). Before the 2024 elections, the Constitutional Court issued a decision to change election rules on age requirements, and Gibran was able to run for the Vice-President position. Jokowi was accused of breaching ethics and interfering in the process.

Now, Gibran is under scrutiny as the courts ruled against the educational equivalence certificate Gibran used to meet the election requirements. Indonesian law requires vice-presidential candidates to have completed senior high school or an equivalent level of education, but the courts found that the certificate did not prove Gibran, who studied abroad, had graduated.

President Prabowo had remained silent on this matter, as his presidency was secured by support from Jokowi’s people. But he seems content to let Gibran be removed as the rift between him and Jokowi widens.

Skydance ousts James Gunn and Peter Safran from DC
Skydance is cleaning house after finally acquiring Warner Bros. First, it booted out WB’s co-chairs, Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca. Now, it is replacing DC Studios’ co-presidents, James Gunn and Peter Safran, with former Marvel Studios producer Jeremy Latcham effective Dec 1. In his farewell Instagram post, he said that he ‘dislikes the at-times corporate nature of the job (thanks to Peter for taking the brunt of that)’. James Gunn and Peter Safran will continue on as pure Director and Producer for some of DC Studios’ movies, which include the Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow and The Batman Part II.

Latcham himself has a distinguished career, being an Associate Producer for the pivotal Iron Man (2008) movie, and then moving on to become the Executive Producer for Avengers (2012), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and the first Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) film.

Are we ready for the new age of climate extremes?
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, has warned that the world is entering the ‘age of climate extremes’ during the UN climate summit, COP31 in Turkiye. He called for world leaders to get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection that vulnerable countries need. The warning came as the World Meteorological Organization released a report showing that 2026 has continued a streak of exceptional global temperatures, melting ice and rising sea levels since the past 12 years, with this year expected to be among the hottest ever. The global average surface temperature between Jan and Sept this year was around 1.47 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average. Moreover, the currently occurring exceptionally strong El Niño is making it worse by unleashing more heat and extreme weather well into next year.

Shorts:

1. Measles is returning to the US
   It’s 2026, and the US is now on the brink of a return of measles. Following a review by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the US could lose its official measles elimination status, as more than 5,100 cases have been reported nationwide in 2026 as of Nov, which is double the 2,289 confirmed cases in 2025. So far, eight deaths associated with the disease have been confirmed. Johns Hopkins University researchers estimate a total economic loss of USD83 mil (RM338.08 mil) from the measles outbreaks in 2026. This is more than double the economic cost of USD37 mil in 2025. Learn more here.

2. Does Aerosmith make more from Guitar Hero?
   They are called “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band” and “The Bad Boys of Boston” and sold more than 150 mil records worldwide with four Grammy awards. But that might not be Aerosmith’s biggest revenue source. According to the head of Activision, the band has made more money licensing their songs and images for Guitar Hero, a highly popular music video game. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith went on sale and brought in over USD25 mil (RM101.83 mil) in the first week alone, with 600,000 copies. The video game has sold over 4 mil copies. Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision, said that Aerosmith’s version of Guitar Hero generated far more revenue than any Aerosmith album ever has. Today, Steven Tyler, the lead singer, reportedly has a net worth of USD150 mil. Let’s enjoy that music video of Aerosmith that we always sang in karaoke in our ‘teenage’ years:

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. The chair you are are sitting on now, most likely has 5, instead of 4 legs. Why?

2. Ray Dalio’s thoughts on the US mid-term elections.

3. The origins of these ‘Malaysian’ brands.