☕️ Syed Saddiq is finally free

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

97.3kg – According to the Department of Statistics, Malaysian households waste up to that much food per capita annually. This is based on the National Household Indicators Survey 2025, which also reported that food waste is more significant for processed or cooked food, as 94.1% of households reported throwing away such food. This is compared to raw food with 88.7%. The Chief Statistician said that these findings highlight the importance of better household practices in terms of meal planning, food preparation, and managing leftovers.

240 – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said that 240 alleged bribe givers were charged between 2019 and 2023, of whom 86 were convicted. The data was revealed in a bid to dispel perceptions that only bribe recipients are punished. The senior deputy director of the legal and prosecution division stressed that those offering bribes were not immune to the law, but there had to be sufficient evidence to charge and convict them in court. Someone found guilty of offering a bribe is punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of no less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

465 – Immigration depots nationwide recorded that many deaths between 2021 and 2025. With 349,856 detainees, this represented a mortality rate of 0.13%. According to the Home Minister, 393 of the deaths involved male detainees, 60 involved females, and the last 12 involved children – eight boys and four girls. The highest number of deaths involved Philippine citizens with 222 cases. The data was presented when a question was raised in Parliament about the welfare of detainees at immigration depots.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Syed Saddiq is officially a free man
Federal Court closes the case: Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman remains a free man after the Federal Court, in a 2 to 1 majority decision, dismissed the prosecution’s final appeal and upheld his acquittal on all four charges. Justices Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Collin Lawrence Sequerah formed the majority, while Court of Appeal President Abu Bakar Jais dissented in part. The majority ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the essential elements of the offences and found no appealable error in the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision.

Why the charges fell apart: For the RM1 mil criminal breach of trust charge, the court found that withdrawing the money did not itself amount to an offence, even though party rules required approval for spending above RM500,000. For the RM120,000 misappropriation charge, the majority ruled that the money had been raised for Syed Saddiq’s 2018 election campaign and that there was no evidence it belonged to Armada Bumi Bersatu Enterprise or any other party. With the misappropriation charge dismissed, the two related money laundering charges also fell. The court also found that concerns over a key witness’s testimony were supported by evidence presented during the trial.

Politics, Muar and wedding plans: With his legal battle over, Syed Saddiq said he will take some time before deciding his next political move. The Muar MP said he wants to spend time with his family, sort out his personal life and discuss future plans with Muda’s leadership. His immediate focus is returning to Muar to continue serving his constituents, while his long-term political role remains undecided. Outside politics, Syed Saddiq also confirmed that wedding plans with his fiancée, actress Bella Astillah, can now move forward after receiving approval from his parents.

PAS says deal, Umno says not yet
PAS signals possible cooperation: PAS president Hadi Awang said the party is in talks with Umno to form political cooperation ahead of the Aug 1 Negri Sembilan state election. He said the discussions have been positive and aim to ensure the state is led by a Malay-Muslim government after the polls. Under the proposed arrangement, Umno would retain the 14 seats it won in the Aug 2023 election, while PAS would keep its three existing seats. The remaining seats would be divided between the two parties, with Abdul Hadi saying PAS is not seeking the menteri besar position if the cooperation goes ahead, as Umno remains the dominant force in the state.

Umno says no deal yet: However, Umno president Zahid Hamidi said there is no final agreement with PAS on seat negotiations. He said discussions so far were only based on an understanding and had not resulted in a confirmed arrangement. Zahid also cautioned that PAS’ statements should not be treated as final, saying the party had changed its position during previous political negotiations. He said the situation would become clearer after both parties announce their candidates, with Barisan Nasional scheduled to reveal its lineup on Jul 15 and PAS on Jul 16. The Negri Sembilan state assembly has 36 seats, with Pakatan Harapan winning 17 seats, Barisan Nasional taking 14 seats and Perikatan Nasional securing five seats in the Aug 2023 election. Even if it was just a discussion of understanding, can’t help but perceive there’s a slightest element of betrayal towards PH.

Football critic attacked at petrol station
A football critic and YouTuber in his 40s suffered a fractured eye socket and multiple injuries after being attacked by two unidentified men at a petrol station near Bandar Sri Damansara. The incident happened while he was inflating his vehicle’s tyres, with police saying the suspects approached him on a Yamaha LC motorcycle before repeatedly assaulting him and recording the attack. The attackers later fled the scene, while police are investigating the case under Section 325 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing grievous hurt. The motive remains unknown, while efforts to identify the suspects are ongoing. Watch the video here. Warning: some viewers may find it disturbing.

Isolated incident, it is not: The incident comes amid growing attention on attacks involving people linked to Malaysian football. Last year, veteran sports journalist Haresh Deol was assaulted in Bangsar after reporting on a football document forgery scandal, with the attack also recorded by one of the assailants. Deol, who co-founded independent news site TwentyTwo13, said at the time that he was unsure whether the attack was linked to his reporting.

Malaysia’s EV push shifts up a gear
Local battery production takes shape: Malaysia is moving closer to producing its first home-grown electric vehicle battery, with Gigafactory Malaysia set to begin small-scale production this month. The RM20 mil project, developed by NanoMalaysia’s subsidiary, uses nickel-manganese-cobalt battery technology enhanced with graphene, which could triple storage capacity. NanoMalaysia chief executive officer Rezal Khairi Ahmad said the facility could become the first of its kind in Asean to produce home-grown battery technology, with megawatt-hour capacity expected to begin by Sept 2026. Gigafactory sounds too similar, just too similar to this car manufacturer called Tesla that coined this name in 2013 to refer to its first major manufacturing facility that cost USD5 bil (RM20.3 bil).

Perodua cuts QV-E prices: A bit late to this news, but thought it’s still worthwhile. Meanwhile, Perodua has lowered the price of its first electric vehicle, the QV-E, following improvements in localisation and manufacturing efficiency. The EV now starts from RM63,499 under a limited-time promotion, with the battery leasing fee reduced from RM275 to RM215 per month for nine years. Customers can also choose to own the vehicle and battery outright at RM87,499 under the promotion. Perodua said QV-E production has exceeded 500 units per month, while existing Battery-as-a-Service customers will also receive the lower subscription rate and a special refund. The company added that increased local production of parts will help strengthen supply chains and reduce reliance on foreign technology.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Bangkok pub fire tragedy kills 27 people
Beware the fire. For it burns, and it chokes. At least 27 people were killed in a huge fire that erupted at the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao pub. Initial assessments indicate that an air conditioner may have caused the fire. Authorities are awaiting the final report from forensic investigators. They are also investigating whether the emergency exits were obstructed as people were trying to evacuate the building.

Distraught family members arrived at the morgue to identify the bodies, while 22 other people are still in critical condition. This is Thailand's deadliest fire in several years. In 2022, 14 people were killed in a fire at a music pub east of Thailand. The owner of the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao pub was in the building when the fire broke out and is now being treated at the hospital.

Here’s what the fire looks like, as though a dragon within was spitting fire:

The Chinese fentanyl king in Mexico
It’s Breaking Bad in Mexico with Brother Wang playing Heisenberg. Real name, Zhang Zidong. He’s 39 years old, from China, and he is known as the ‘fentanyl king’ in Mexico. We’ll just call him Brother Wang. Brother Wang was a wide-eyed Chinese graduate who arrived in Mexico to work for a Chinese-owned oil mining company. He spoke fluent Spanish with a thick Beijing accent. He soon developed relationships with the Mexican underworld. After the Chinese company failed and left, he stayed. And boy, did he form a critical part of the drug supply chain. He was selling ‘precursors’ initially, the basic building blocks of fentanyl. Soon, he was cooking in the laboratory like Heisenberg did. He was the main man between the Mexican cartel and Chinese companies selling precursor chemicals. The ‘King’ was born. But his reign did not last long.

He was arrested in Mexico in 2024, then escaped. This already sounds like Breaking Bad and Prison Break had a crossover. He was recaptured in 2025 and extradited to the US. The US Deputy Attorney General described him as one of "the world's most dangerous traffickers". He is accused of "running a global enterprise that pumped massive quantities of cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine" into the US and laundering "millions in narcotics proceeds". Brother Wang pleaded not guilty to his drug charges.

Heatwaves hit women harder
Dr Cat Pinho-Gomes, an academic public health consultant at UCL's Institute for Global Health, said that women may be more vulnerable to heatwave-related death than men. Women sweat less and have a higher core body temperature than men. Furthermore, women are less able to regulate their temperature during the menstrual cycle, perimenopause, menopause, pregnancy and while breastfeeding. During the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, body temperatures rise due to higher progesterone. When the period hits, oestrogen drops to its lowest level, placing greater strain on the body's cooling mechanisms. For women in the menopause phase, hot flashes and night sweats become more common due to lower oestrogen as well. Heat exposure has been linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular illnesses.

Speaking of women’s health, this 66-year-old mak cik has gone viral for deadlifting 107.5 kg, nearly twice her body weight. Impressive; she’s aging healthily!

World Cup
64 teams for 2030 World Cup?
48 team$ are not enough - let’$ +26 team$. At least that’s what FIFA thinks. It is considering expanding the total number of World Cup teams to 64. FIFA has said that the current 48 team$ have been a succe$$, and that expanding it to 64 will allow more countrie$ to participate, citing “When organising a World Cup, ⁠⁠it’s important to organi$e it for the whole world”. But we all know what’s up - money. FIFA is projected to collect USD9 bil (RM36.64 bil) for the 2026 World Cup, and that, no doubt, was driven by more teams. 2026 was the first year FIFA had increased the total number of teams. Tasting the sweet nectar of increased revenue, it wants more.

Netflix, Disney, YouTube interested in 2030 World Cup
The cash just keeps rolling in. Netflix, Disney and YouTube have now expressed interest in bidding for FIFA’s US broadcast rights for the 2030 and 2034 World Cup. Fox currently holds the broadcast rights for the 2026 World Cup. Amazon and Apple could also join the fray. Discussions are expected to start in three months’ time between FIFA and potential broadcast partners. And these media companies are planning to submit bids that could range from USD1.5 bil (RM6.11 bil) to USD2.0 bil. This is significantly higher than Fox’s USD485 mil for the English-language rights, and it has seen very strong ratings for the year due to the World Cup. FIFA is planning to sell both the English and Spanish language rights as a bundle, believing the combined package will fetch a higher price. With the success of the US national team in the tournament, football (not soccer) viewership could trend higher in the next World Cups. And media companies want to get a slice of that.
Learn: Why do some people call football “soccer”?

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. What did the PMs study? Only Tun M studied STEM.

2. The world’s verified top speed record for a production car (top speed of 496.22 km/h, faster than a bullet train), BYD’s Yangwang, taking a ride up Genting. Apart from its impressive speed, this car can dance too.

3. Mark Wahlberg spotted filming in Penang with supporting actor Kelisa.