Author: Press Room

Local parties also took the opportunity to drum up support, including Sabah’s main opposition leader Shafie Apdal of Warisan and the state’s Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, who leads the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah. The flurry of activity to woo voters in the Borneo state comes as no surprise, said Professor James Chin, an Asian Studies expert from the University of Tasmania, though it is unusual the parties are reaching out so early in the campaign. “What I’m surprised (about) is that they are all coming this particular weekend at the same time. Normally they will spread their visits because they…

HSBC has overhauled its leadership team as part of succession plans for boss Noel Quinn, while reporting higher than expected profits in the third quarter.The bank said on Tuesday that adjusted pre-tax profit was $6.5bn, compared with $5.5bn a year earlier, surpassing analyst estimates of $6bn as a global rise in interest rates helped spur higher returns.The solid quarterly results come despite recent turmoil in the UK’s foreign exchange and government bond markets, and will serve to bolster HSBC’s defence against calls from its largest shareholder, Ping An, to split its Asian and western operations.While it has repeatedly rebuffed Ping…

CNN  —  Russia is accusing Ukraine of planning to use a so-called dirty bomb, an allegation dismissed by Kyiv and its Western allies as a false-flag operation that Moscow could use as a pretext to escalate the Kremlin’s war against its neighbor. A dirty bomb is a weapon that combines conventional explosives like dynamite and radioactive material like uranium. It is often referred to as a weapon for terrorists, not countries, as it is designed to spread fear and panic more than eliminate any military target. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly denied Moscow’s accusations and Kyiv’s foreign minister has invited UN…

CNN  —  Federal investigators are asking the manufacturer of a seaplane that plunged into a Washington state bay last month to mandate inspections of the plane’s tail section, citing an issue that could potentially lead to a possible loss of airplane control. The request comes after a float plane carrying 10 people crashed into Mutiny Bay on the afternoon of September 4, killing everyone on board, including a child. The investigation into the crash by the National Transportation Safety Board found “a possible safety issue with a flight control” on the De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter after recovering 85% of…

UBS reported a 24 per cent fall in net profit, as its rich clients held back from turbulent markets and investment banking revenues shrank.The world’s biggest wealth manager generated $1.7bn of net profit in the third quarter, ahead of analyst estimates of $1.5bn, on $8.2bn of revenue.“Clients remain concerned about persistently high inflation, elevated energy prices, the war in Ukraine and residual effects of the pandemic,” said chief executive Ralph Hamers.“In Switzerland, many of our retail and small business clients will also be impacted by disruptions across the rest of Europe, and we are focused on supporting them through the…

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says he hopes Labor produces a budget that deals with the source of cost of living pressures and “not just the symptoms”. “If you have a responsible budget, you take pressure off the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates, you take pressure off inflationary pressures that are out there in the economy and any economists will tell you that’s a sensible way to go forward,” he told Sky News Australia. Source: Sky News

Source: YouTube

In a move widely lambasted by Republicans, President Biden recently sought to resume Venezuelan oil imports in exchange for a promise of free and fair elections in 2024, a move which critics argue would only strengthen the hand of the Nicolás Maduro dictatorship. The move comes at a time of closer relations between the two U.S. enemies.Iran and Venezeula, both petroleum-rich OPEC members with international pariah status, have recently found solidarity in coordinated geopolitical, economic, and military maneuvers against shared common enemy the United States, which has subjected them to a regimen of economic sanctions for years.Ties between the nations were close…

Crime in Illinois could “spiral out of control” after a new law overhauling the state’s criminal justice system goes into effect in January, the mayor of a Chicago suburb said.”When I said that this is the most dangerous law I’ve ever seen, I believe that,” said Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, who is running for Congress in Illinois’ 6th District.The Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act changes multiple parts of Illinois’ justice system with provisions like ending cash bail; limiting how flights determine whether defendants are flight risks; and allows defendants under electronic monitoring to leave home for…

Chinese stocks popular with big fund managers have been hammered by a dramatic sell-off following confirmation of President Xi Jinping’s third term in power, suggesting billions of dollars of losses for those who stuck by their portfolios.The Nasdaq Golden Dragon index, which tracks US-listed shares in Chinese companies, shed 14.4 per cent on Monday in its largest one-day fall on record, bringing its decline to about 50 per cent this year. Stocks such as Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo all tumbled.Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index suffered its biggest single-day drop since November 2008 on Monday. It declined as much as…