☕️ Penang to ban short-term rentals and homestay

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

1.2 mil accounts were suspended by Twitter in the first half of 2021. The presidency of Donald Trump and the covid-19 pandemic had shown the company (and most other social networks) that free speech had some drawbacks. The platform’s new potential owner, Elon Musk, thinks he has the magic number — 10%. He opined that as long as the most extreme 10% of the political left and right are equally unhappy, a social media platform is doing something right.

USD57.5 mil — the auction price of the De Beers’ Cullinan blue diamond at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. The 15.1-carat step-cut gem was sold to an unnamed buyer.

3. COVID-19 SUMMARY

• Denmark has paused its Covid-19 vaccination programme as the country thinks it has got the pandemic under control. However, the Danish Health and Medicines Authority said there would probably be a need to vaccinate against Covid-19 again in the fall as the virus continues to mutate.

4. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. MACC has defended its decision to initiate an investigation against a judge, saying that it has the authority to investigate “members of public bodies”, citing Section 3 of the MACC Act. In a rare rebuke over recent public disapproval against judges that had “gone overboard”, Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said although the judiciary is not beyond criticism, the public and politicians must not launch “unfounded and scurrilous attacks” against the judiciary and judges.

2. SC executive chairman Syed Zaid Albar has tendered his resignation just six months into his new term, which was extended for a 3-year period. He was leading the SC for the past four years. No reason was given for his resignation. His resignation coincided with the recent controversial settlement of troubled oil and gas company Serba Dinamik Bhd with the Attorney-General’s Chambers with no criminal charges (no public explanation by AGC so far). In his statement, Syed Zaid said the SC’s integrity, professionalism, and dedication were tested during his tenure. The Ministry of Finance has appointed Awang Adek Hussin as the new executive chairman of SC, effective Jun 1, 2022. He was formerly the Malaysian ambassador to the US, ex-deputy finance minister, former Bachok MP and UMNO member.

3. The new minimum wage of RM1.5k effective May 1, 2022, was officially gazetted yesterday. Details:

   1. Employees that are not paid basic wages but based on piece rate, tonnage, task, trip or commission, the monthly wage rate payable shall not be less than RM1.5k.

   2. The new min wage applies to employers with five or more employees. This includes employers who carry out professional activities defined by the Ministry of Human Resources regardless of the number of employees.

   3. The new min wage is exempted for employers with less than five employees and will only take effect from 1 Jan 2023.

4. In the typical government style, attention is only given after only it has gone viral. A video of students having to zipline to cross the river to attend school in Nangkawangan, Sabah, has gone viral. The suspension bridge previously used was destroyed by a flood - 2 months ago. PM Ismail Sabri has approved emergency funds to expedite the construction of the bridge.

5. Another Malaysian on death row for drug-related offences in Singapore, Datchinamurthy Kataiah, has been granted a stay of execution by the Singaporean High Court and will escape his scheduled execution today. Twitter user @aidil_khalid analysed the judgment of Singapore’s Court of Appeal in the case of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, that was hanged to death on Wednesday. The primary reason put up as a defence against his death sentence was his mental disability when the drug trafficking crime was committed. However, after being assessed by two psychiatrists and one psychologist, none could diagnose him as suffering any mental disability and he was aware of the crime he committed. Shorts:

6. Proton Holdings Bhd will start exporting cars to South Africa, making a return to the country after 10 years. The company aims to grow export sales in 2022 to 10,000 units.

7. LEAP Market-listed packaging solutions provider Jishan Bhd is being sued for IP infringement over the industrial design of egg trays.

8. The Penang government is to ban short-term rentals and homestays, but no date on the ban has been decided yet.

5. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. One of Germany's biggest energy firms, Uniper, has succumbed to Russia’s demands as it will pay for Russian gas in euros which will be converted into roubles, meeting a Kremlin demand for all transactions to be made in the Russian currency. The energy firm said it is impossible to do without Russian gas in the short term. The war in Ukraine is disrupting supply chains and roiled energy markets and causing headaches to policymakers in Germany as the country’s consumer prices jumped 7.8% in April.

2. During the meeting of the Council of Legislators at the Federal Assembly in Saint Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West that there would be a tough military response to any further attack on Russian territory. Russia is also accusing the United States and its key allies of undermining European security by openly inciting Ukraine to assault Russia.

3. Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. added more users than expected, surprising analysts. Facebook’s user base grew to 1.96 billion daily active users, up from 1.93 billion reported in February. Meta reported a net income of USD7.5 billion for the first quarter of the year. Meta’s Reality Labs is still haemorrhaging money, losing USD3 bil as it ramps up investments in VR headsets, AR glasses and virtual worlds — a.k.a metaverse.

4. Twitter admitted to overstating its audience figures by as many as 1.9 mil users for almost three years. Twitter’s monetisable daily active users, its unique metric for tracking its audience, came in better than investors expected at 229 mil. The social media platform did not provide any guidance for the rest of the year. It doesn’t need to do so anyway since it will be privatised soon unless the deal with Elon Musk falls through. 

5. Drone-maker DJI has suspended operations in both Ukraine and Russia. The world’s largest manufacturer of commercial drones said it was undergoing an internal compliance assessment and would temporarily halt activity in both countries pending an outcome. It was unclear what triggered the decision.

6. Singapore has legalised the freezing of eggs for non-medical reasons by single women from 2023 onwards. Single women between 21 to 35 years old would be allowed to freeze their eggs, but the eggs can only be used if and when they are legally married.

7. While we have been busy in the past couple of weeks following the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, Telsa has disclosed a revelation that went under our noses — half of the vehicles it produced in the first quarter were equipped with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. LFP battery is a cheaper rival to the nickel-and-cobalt based cells that dominate in the West. Why is it important? It paves the way for more affordable and reliable electric vehicles. Compared to nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cells, LFP cells pose a lower risk of fire and can be fully charged continually without losing as much performance over the life of the battery.

6. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. The Sun and planets in our solar system scale, rotation speed and tilt.

2. At what age do people experience depression for the first time?