MALAYSIA
Rail project postponed
The government has agreed with Singapore to postpone the development of a high-speed rail service by two years, as the nation looks to review mega projects to cut its massive debt. Business weekly the Edge on Saturday cited sources confirming both nations agreed to postpone the project to May 31, 2020, at no penalty to either, to allow the government time to review its finances. Minister of Economic Affairs Mohamed Azmin Ali yesterday confirmed that both sides had agreed to postpone the project at no penalty, and that details would be made clear when a new agreement is signed soon.
FRANCE
Phones banned in schools
Children who were going back to school yesterday after summer vacation would have to do so without their mobile phones. The government passed a law banning phone use in all primary and middle schools for the entire day, including during breaks — with exceptions in cases of emergency and for disabled children. Pupils are requested to shut down their mobiles or put them in a locker. High schools can also voluntarily implement the measure. Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer said it aims to help children focus on lessons, socialize better and reduce social media use.
ISRAEL
Man gets general’s number
A businessman said he received calls and messages from senior Israeli and foreign military officials after he was assigned the former phone number of the nation’s military chief of staff. A report yesterday by Israeli Army Radio identified the man only as Yossi. He said that when he began receiving messages, “a red light went on... if it got in the hands of another citizen I don’t know what would happen.” It was not entirely clear how Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot’s number was passed on to a private citizen. The report said military phone numbers are often reassigned for security reasons. It said the military returned the number to the mobile provider about a year ago. The provider said the number was not classified and was reassigned to another customer.
UAE
Da Vinci exhibit delayed
The unveiling of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Salvator Mundi at the Louvre Abu Dhabi has been indefinitely postponed. The Department of Culture and Tourism yesterday tweeted about the delay, saying: “More details will be announced soon.” It did not respond to a request for comment. The Renaissance oil painting of Christ sold for a record-breaking US$450 million at an auction in New York at Christie’s in November. It was to be displayed from Sept. 18.
UNITED STATES
Yakult soars on teen comedy
Dairy producer Yakult Honsha Co is finding that the power of product placement is so potent it works even when it is mistaken. Viewers of Netflix’s romantic comedy To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before have noticed the main character’s sister drinking a yogurt out of a distinctive little bottle and are talking about it on Twitter, said Mark Bachman, head of research firm M Science’s TickerTags. In the movie, the drink is called a “Korean yogurt smoothie,” but audiences have clearly spotted Yakult’s “distinct red foil top,” Bachman said in a note to clients on Friday. Shares of the stock, which have dropped about 6 percent this year amid slower sales growth, climbed more than 2.6 percent since the movie was released on Aug. 17.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing