KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 — Pandan, lemongrass and Bentong ginger are staples of the Malaysian kitchen — not usually the gin glass.

That changed for one evening at 443 Bar Lounge in The Westin Kuala Lumpur, where an intimate masterclass traced how these familiar home flavours ended up in a bottle of craft gin.

Hosted by Gin Malaya co-founder Eu Jin Foong and brand ambassador Callan Green, the session walked guests through the spirit’s origins in 2022, when a shared love of food led its founders to ask what a gin inspired by Malaysia might actually taste like.

Two years of experimentation followed, translating ingredients deeply embedded in local cooking into a spirit that remains recognisably gin, yet distinctly its own.

“When we first started developing Gin Malaya, we kept coming back to flavours we knew — pandan, lemongrass, ginger — and asking how they can translate into a gin,” said Eu Jin in a statement. 

The gin itself brings together hand-foraged Highland juniper with lemongrass, pandan and Bentong ginger — a pairing of Scottish distilling tradition with a Malaysian botanical profile.

“There is something quite special about watching someone recognise those flavours in the glass. They are familiar, but presented in a way they may never have experienced before.”

The gin itself brings together hand-foraged Highland juniper with lemongrass, pandan and Bentong ginger — a pairing of Scottish distilling tradition with a Malaysian botanical profile.

Guests at the masterclass also worked through a line-up of signature cocktails built around those flavours: the Malaya Rock, a light, refreshing mix of pandan and coconut water served over ice; The Torch, combining muddled bunga kantan with Campari and lemon for a bittersweet sour; the Pandan Malaya, shaken with pandan and smoked ginger and tinted violet with butterfly pea; and the Kantan Fizz, a straightforward build of gin, lemon and soda.

The cocktail collection is now available at The Westin Kuala Lumpur, with drinks priced at RM45 nett.

Founded in 2022 and launched in Malaysia in 2024, Gin Malaya has since picked up international recognition, including a one-star Great Taste Award in 2025 — judged through blind tasting — and a Bronze Medal at the London Spirits Competition.

The brand is now sold in both Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

LONDON, Sept 23 — Four British novels will compete against a Jamaican epic and an American domestic drama for the prestigious Booker Prize, as the judges yesterday unveiled a shortlist of “idiosyncratic” stories.

As artists, politicians and tech leaders around the world sound the alarm about the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, judges of the annual award said they had selected a “very human” shortlist.

“These books, we truly believe, cannot be replicated by artificial intelligence. These are very human books,” said judge and poet Raymond Antrobus.

The six-strong shortlist includes two heavyweight entries by past Booker winners: John of John by Douglas Stuart and Marlon James’s The Disappearers.

Lauded by critics, the over 600-page epic by Caribbean author James follows the survivor of a brutal homophobic attack against a troupe of gay actors in 1980s Kingston.

Scottish-American writer Stuart—who won the Booker in 2020 for Shuggie Bain—returns to the shortlist with his poignant exploration of a father-son bond strained by shame and secrets, set on the far-flung Outer Hebrides in Scotland.

The other shortlisted books include American novelist Elizabeth Strout’s The Things We Never Say, and Brits Luke Kennard Black Bag, M. John Harrison The End of Everything and Rebecca Perry May We Feed the King.

“These novels range from the hilarious to the discomfiting, from the frighteningly strange to the alarmingly domestic,” chair of the judges, classicist Mary Beard said.

The prize was scooped last year by British-Hungarian writer David Szalay for Flesh, which explores themes of male alienation.

This year’s male-heavy shortlist also probes questions of gender roles and sexuality.

Variety

“Men are having to rethink their role, I suppose. And that’s reflected in the books that they’re writing,” judge Jarvis Cocker, frontman of the Britpop band Pulp, told reporters ahead of the shortlist announcement.

“When we first started reading, I think it’s fair to say that most of the books we were putting through were by women,” adding Cocker, only half-joking. “It took a while actually to get a book written by a man that seemed good.”

The finalists were selected from a longlist of 13 books, whittled down from 163 submissions for the prize, which celebrates the best long-form fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the last year.

The winner will be announced on November 9 in a London ceremony.

“We really wanted to build a list that was full of variety, that had lots of things that were idiosyncratic, that might not be universally loved, that might draw a strong opinion,” added Rebecca Liu, a writer and critic.

The End of Everything is an enigmatic, apocalyptic novel set on England’s windswept eastern coast and Strout’s tender Massachusetts-based novel offers a “calm antidote to contemporary events”, according to the Booker judges.

Kennard’s satire follows a struggling actor who gets paid to wear a black leather bag on his head by a psychology professor, while Perry turns to a reluctant medieval king in her debut novel. — AFP

CHILE, Sept 23 — A resplendent display of flowers has bloomed across Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on earth, after the El Nino climate phenomenon brought heavy rain to the region.

Underneath the normally parched earth, millions of seeds and bulbs from around 200 different species spend their days lying in wait for water.

Heavy rain caused by the El Nino weather pattern recently lashed northern Chile, prompting this abundant ensemble of living things to emerge from their hiding place.

Now, vast stretches of violet carpet the desert, and angelic white buds peek out from the cracked ground.

Dozens of tourists pull over to snap pictures of the breathtaking scenery that, with any luck, might even include a rainbow superimposed over a deep red sunset.

Seasonal rain of over 180 millimeters in some parts “had never been recorded before,” Cesar Pizarro, head of Atacama biodiversity for Chile’s forestry body CONAF, told AFP.

Rainfall seeped deeper than usual into the sand, giving a new lease on life to the nature reserve located about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Santiago.

The “flowering desert” phenomenon will peak in October, according to CONAF, which estimates that 15,000 hectares will blossom into a floral paradise.

The current iteration of El Nino is predicted to be the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago.

The phenomenon raises surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and causes global changes in winds and rainfall as well as erratic weather conditions.

The torrential rains that pounded Chile in July killed 13 people and destroyed or severely damaged around 4,000 homes.

Generates life

While acknowledging these devastating effects, Pizarro also highlights that nature can benefit from El Nino.

“Although there is great concern... about the impacts it is causing in many places, it also generates life,” he said.

Atacama is witnessing “more than flowers,” he added, explaining that insects, snails, birds, reptiles and mammals proliferate too.

Bees get busy with pollination, while beetles feast on their leftovers and fertilize the soil with their nitrogen-rich excrement ahead of the next rainfall.

Pizarro hopes that a massive influx of tourists won’t wreak too much damage on the natural haven, stressing the importance of using established footpaths and leaving pets at home.

“For our country, the flowering desert is a source of pride. It is part of our heritage,” he said, admiring the yellow beauties sprouting all around him.

“Although there are several deserts that bloom when it rains, the territorial extent and the diversity of species we have here are unique,” he said. — AFP

LOS ANGELES, Sept 23 — Star Wars superfans and art lovers alike descended on George Lucas’s long-awaited Museum of Narrative Art for its grand opening yesterday, lining up to experience the colossal structure that itself recalls a spaceship.

The Los Angeles museum built by the 82-year-old “Star Wars” franchise creator alongside his wife and business partner Mellody Hobson is intended to be a “people’s temple of art,” according to its creators.

The duo stood at the museum’s entrance as its first 100 visitors were invited in, shaking hands with each of them as they entered the biomorphic building.

Eric Cheung, a dentist and realtor who arrived in a Star Wars X-wing pilot costume—a get-up featuring a bright orange jumpsuit and distinct combat helmet, like that worn by Luke Skywalker himself—said he was quick to become a museum member and even trained as a volunteer.

“Each art piece tells a story,” he told AFP of the museum’s intentions. “Everybody can look at the same thing, and then we can create different stories.”

The museum was built on what used to be a parking lot next to the University of Southern California, the filmmaker’s alma mater.

For Brenda Chambliss, a resident of the area in south Los Angeles for more than a decade, it “means everything” that Lucas put the museum in the neighborhood.

The area can carry a “stigma” tied to crime or poverty she said, and the “breathtaking” building filled with art is a positive new attraction, not least for its surrounding park that’s open to the public without a ticket.

‘Help local artists’

At the entrance, visitors are greeted by the yellow Naboo N-1 starfighter from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace(1999), but with more than 9,300 square meters of exhibition space, the offerings go far beyond the beloved saga.

Its more than 30 galleries feature works by artists including Banksy, Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White and Robert Colescott; comics by Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby and Frank Frazetta; and illustrations by Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith and N.C. Wyeth.

“I really love that Lucas is using his platform to bring other artists together,” Sandi Granados told AFP in the gift shop, where she was purchasing a trippy, colorful print of a Darth Vader flanked by stormtroopers.

“It’s not just for him,” said the 30-year-old cosmetologist who works in the film industry. “He’s using his name to help local artists and big artists come together.” — AFP

HAVANA, Sept 23 — Every day, veterinarians and zookeepers make their way to Cuba’s National Zoo by whatever means they can, determined to not abandon the nearly 1,000 animals in their care and help save species at risk of extinction.

Their dedication and food donations are vital to keeping alive an array of rhinos, jaguars and tigers — including an extremely rare white tiger — in the midst of a severe crisis that has left many Cubans struggling to feed themselves.

Just getting to the reserve situated 20km from central Havana is a headache for staff, as public transportation has come to a near standstill nine months into a US fuel blockade.

“The workers come by bicycle, pedal scooter or electric motorbike to ensure the animals have food and water every day,” said Yoel Machado, the zoo’s animal welfare manager.

Their efforts are about more than keeping the animals fed.

The 345-hectare park serves as a genetic reserve of international conservation importance, housing breeding populations of vulnerable or endangered species, including black and white rhinos, hippos and jaguars.

Yet the same crisis that has left workers scrambling to source meat, medicine and water has forced the zoo to curb reproduction programmes and increasingly rely on handouts to sustain its animals.

A worker feeds white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum) at the National Zoo of Havana September 15, 2026. — AFP pic

During a recent visit by AFP, two Bengal tiger cubs, one an extremely rare white specimen, frolicked in their enclosure beneath the watchful gaze of their mother, oblivious to the strenuous efforts made to keep them alive.

AFP did not see any animals that appeared malnourished or ill, but Angel Cordero, the veterinarian in charge of big cats, said the tiger cubs “could be in better shape.”

He revealed he needed to ration their food to prevent it from running out.

“It’s no use giving them plenty if it only lasts three days,” he said.

Big cats need about seven kilograms of meat per day per adult, but such quantities are hard to come by.

Even when it is available, recurring blackouts of up to 30 hours at a stretch make it difficult to preserve.

With fuel extremely scarce, there’s also the issue of how to distribute food in a nature reserve the size of New York’s Central Park.

People observe zebras (Equus quagga) and water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) at the National Zoo of Havana September 16, 2026. — AFP pic

23 days without power

For now, private donors have come to the rescue for the zoo’s various needs.

Every Monday, Ana Fernandez, a Cuban-American woman born in Tennessee who has been living in Cuba for nine years, donates meat.

“The animals shouldn’t have to suffer,” the 50-year-old said, though she added that “some days it’s not enough for all of them.”

Recently, the reserve went 23 days without electricity, which meant it also lacked running water.

The staff “didn’t just sit around waiting for things to fall from the sky,” the zoo’s director Juan Carlos Corella said.

“We looked for solutions, water trucks were brought in, and we found food for the animals almost daily,” he said, while admitting that keeping the park open has become “very difficult.”

An exodus of vets has added to the zoo’s woes.

More than a third have left for better-paying jobs elsewhere, mostly in Cuba’s burgeoning private sector.

Some wait tables in cafes while others work for private veterinary clinics.

Limiting breeding programmes

The zoo is home to the only breeding group of black rhinos outside of Africa, as well as a large population of white rhinos, the largest herd of Grant’s zebras in the Americas and hippos that regularly bear calves.

“Here we have a high genetic value, and one of immense international importance,” Machado, the animal welfare manager, explained.

However, the crisis has forced the park to slow down its breeding programmes.

The reason is simple: each new offspring requires more food, medicine, and staff.

“We can’t keep increasing the number of animals,” Machado said, adding that he preferred to ensure the current population was “as well cared for as possible.”

And yet life keeps renewing itself, regardless.

In recent months the zoo has welcomed baby tigers, hyenas, jackals, and a black dromedary named Esperanza (Spanish for “Hope”), the first of its kind born in Cuba in three decades. — AFPp

NALBĀRI, Sept 22 — An infant lets out a feeble cry as a doctor administers a routine but vital injection aboard a mobile boat clinic, part of a network serving remote riverine communities in northeastern India.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Assam state, crisscrossed by the Brahmaputra river, live on “chars”, or temporary river islands and sandbars where access to even basic healthcare can be a challenge.

More than 2,000 such islands dot the state where there are limited health facilities, most “with little or no manpower”, according to the local government.

But the network of mobile boat clinics has brought doctors, medicines, vaccines and basic laboratory services to 13 districts across the state.

Women register their child for vaccination inside a mobile boat clinic in the Mukalmua village of Assam’s Nalbari district September 19, 2026. — AFP pic

For thousands of villagers on these remote islands — many prone to flooding and erosion — the clinics provide a vital link to healthcare.

“We are totally dependent on the boat clinic,” said Rekibul Amin, a resident of the Barballa river island in Nalbari district, which has no medical facilities at all.

“Whatever medicines people receive here, they get them through the boat clinic,” Amin said, adding that women in particular had “benefited greatly”.

An initiative of non-profit The Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, the “Akha” — Assamese for “hope” — boat network was launched in 2005.

A woman is being examined by a doctor inside a mobile boat clinic on the banks of the Brahmaputra River in the Mukalmua village of Assam’s Nalbari district September 19, 2026. — AFP pic

It has expanded to 15 boats, with support from authorities and Unicef, now serving roughly 20,000 people a month, according to the UN agency.

Maternal and infant health are the main areas of focus, in a bid to help reduce mortality rates that exceed that national average.

Despite significant gains in recent years, infant and maternal mortality rates continue to languish in Assam, a state of more than 30 million people.

According to official figures, the state has an average of 29 infant deaths and 34 under-five deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with national rates of 24 and 28 deaths, respectively.

A doctor examines a child inside a mobile boat clinic in the Mukalmua village of Assam’s Nalbari district September 19, 2026. — AFP pic

Maternal deaths in Assam stood at 125 per 100,000 live births as against 88 nationally.

“Mainly, we are targeting the pregnant women who need the antenatal care checkup and the newborn babies who need the routine immunisation,” said Habibul Hoque, medical officer at a boat clinic serving Nalbari.

“We are very happy to serve the people of these ‘char’ areas,” he said, where poverty and illiteracy are some of the barriers to healthcare access. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 — FWD Malaysia has announced a charitable grant to GivingHub that will support 170 low‑income families through health education, financial literacy workshops, and cancer screening sessions.

Empowering B40 families through health and financial resilience

The initiative, launched under Program SEDIABersedia: Hari Ini. Terlindung Esok, aims to help families build healthier and more financially secure futures. Participants will receive nutrition and healthy living education, attend financial literacy workshops, and undergo cancer screening and consultations to improve health awareness and preparedness for unexpected life events.

FWD Malaysia Country Chief Executive Officer Aman Chowla said the programme reflects the company’s commitment to creating meaningful impact beyond insurance protection.

“At FWD, we believe that creating meaningful impact goes beyond providing protection. It’s about helping people build healthier, more resilient and financially secure futures,” he said.

Partnership rooted in community impact

GivingHub Managing Director Chun Wah Hoo said the collaboration ensures that essential knowledge reaches those who need it most.

“Access to health knowledge and financial literacy shouldn’t be a privilege. It should be a foundation every family can build on,” he said, adding that the partnership will bring practical health screenings and financial planning skills directly to underserved communities.

Part of FWD’s regional anniversary initiative

The grant is part of FWD Group’s 13th‑anniversary commitment to support more than 13,000 people across Asia through charitable programmes. Established in 2013, FWD Group has grown into a pan‑Asian life and health insurer serving millions of customers across 10 markets, including Malaysia, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Thailand.

In July 2025, FWD Group marked another milestone with its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (1828.HK).

WELLINGTON, Sept 21 — A record number of New Zealanders turned out at the polls this month, not for national elections but to vote for their Bird of the Year — the critically endangered black robin.

The diminutive native lives on the remote Chatham Islands, 800 kilometres (500 miles) off the South Island’s east coast.

In 1980, only five of the birds remained, including a single breeding female. Now there are about 350.

The black robin topped the pecking order ahead of the famed flightless parrot, the kakapo, and the native karearea falcon, which came in second and third.

The annual Bird of the Year competition is run by independent conservation organisation Forest and Bird, and has been the subject of significant controversy in the past decade.

In 2019 there were accusations of Russian interference after hundreds of votes were registered from IP addresses in the country.

Forest and Bird deemed most of the votes were legitimate, and said it did not affect the victory of the hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin.

In 2023 the puteketeke won the title after receiving the celebrity backing of Last Week Tonight comedian John Oliver, who urged his viewers to vote for the lake dweller.

Forest and Bird’s Rebecca Hatch said voter numbers had soared this year, but not due to foreign interference.

“This year has seen record numbers of votes with 105,000 people choosing their favourite,” Hatch said.

“New Zealanders have really shown up for nature. Roughly one in every 50 Kiwis voted,” she said, referring to the country’s people and not the native, flightless birds.

The black robin received more than 26,000 votes.

The Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust ran the campaign for the black robin and is seeking to create a third habitat for the birds to expand their biodiversity. — AFP 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Khairul Aming may have travelled to London to give his mother the holiday she had long been asking for, but the popular entrepreneur and content creator has found himself facing an unexpected side effect of his latest Threads post — a flood of marriage proposals.

The 33-year-old recently posted a tongue-in-cheek “introduction” on Threads, listing his personal credentials as being able to cook, good with children, fond of business and having once caught anchovies, while also revealing that he is allergic to shrimp paste.

“Hello, nice to meet you. I’m 33, I can cook, I’m good at taking care of children, I like doing business, I’m allergic to shrimp paste, I’ve caught anchovies before, I’m always busy with work but I can make time for holidays,” he wrote.

He then added one important clarification for anyone getting ideas from the photograph accompanying his post: “The child in the picture is not my child.”

That was apparently all the invitation some Threads users needed.

One commenter responded with a mock introduction of her own, saying she was 31, could not cook but knew how to eat good food, liked talking and might be able to help with marketing, before getting straight to the important question: “How do I get a slot at Rembayung?”

Others were considerably more direct, with one woman introducing herself as a 38-year-old single mother of two who had been single for 10 years and held two master’s degrees.

She said she had put her career aside to focus on raising her children after her divorce before cheekily adding that she would like to get to know Khairul.

Another commenter offered up her 26-year-old daughter, describing her as a doctor who was hardworking, could cook, teach the Quran and loved travelling — but apparently had yet to find a partner.

“Would KA be willing to get to know her?” she asked.

There was even a self-described “green flag” applicant from Selangor who said she was 26 and single, could take care of children and loved mothers.

She said she wanted to work with Khairul and become his partner, adding: “If KA approves, just DM me.”

Khairul, however, has given no indication that he is actually conducting a recruitment drive for a future wife.

Instead, his London posts suggest the trip is very much about family.

Three days ago, he shared a photo from the British capital with the caption: “Greetings from the city of London”

“Mum has been asking to go on holiday for a long time, but her son never wants to take a break. This time, we cleared the calendar to take Mum travelling,” he wrote.

His friend Kemey also apparently had an important role to play in the expedition.

“Kemey said she had to come because she’s in charge of reading Google Maps,” Khairul joked.

So while Khairul may have escaped his famously packed work schedule for a few days in London, it appears his Threads followers have decided there is another item that could use some attention on his calendar: finding a partner.

For now, though, the Rembayung slots remain a mystery.

LILLE, Sept 21 — A group of masked robbers broke into the French home of a family and, during an overnight ordeal, forced them to transfer €40,000 (RM183,000) in cryptocurrency, a local prosecutor said Sunday.

The family – a couple and their two children, aged 8 and 12 – had to be treated by paramedics for shock after the robbers left their home in Vendin le Vieil, a village on the outskirts of the northern city of Lens.

Police were hunting the gang of four criminals who carried out the robbery, prosecutor Etienne Thieffry said.

The father in the family worked in the technology sector, the prosecutor said.

France has in the past couple of years experienced a wave of robberies targeting owners of cryptocurrency, which is stored digitally and whose ownership and transfer is difficult or impossible to trace.

In the first six months of this year, 77 such crimes were recorded, a significant jump on the same period last year.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez in June vowed to boost security for people working in the crypto sector. — AFP

ATHENS, Sept 21 — An 82-year-old man died Sunday after he got into a fight over a sun lounger on a beach in Greece near Athens, local media reported.

The octogenarian had a dispute with a 76-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman over the sun lounger, with the argument degenerating into a scuffle between the two men, according to police, the ANA news agency and ERT state television channel reported.

The 82-year-old, badly hurt, was transported to hospital from the Vouliagmeni beach resort area where the argument broke out. He was later declared dead at the hospital.

Both the 76-year-old man and the 21-year-old woman were arrested, ANA said, with police investigating what happened. — AFP

KOTA BHARU, Sept 21 — The influence of partners, be it husbands or boyfriends, is the main reason for the increase in the number of drug addicts among women in Kelantan last year, with 598 cases compared with 526 the previous year.

National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK) director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said a study found that life stress was the main factor acknowledged by all respondents, with most cases stemming from marital conflicts and husbands’ behaviour that frequently triggered problems.

“This situation pushes women to use drugs as a coping mechanism to forget their anxiety and emotional pain caused by their partners,” he told Bernama recently.

Ruslin said that apart from emotional stress, women were also often subjected to psychological manipulation by partners who normalised drug use on the grounds of enhancing beauty and productivity.

“They were also influenced by those closest to them to believe that stimulant-type drugs could help with weight management, flatten the stomach after childbirth and provide extra energy to complete household chores faster.

“The reality on the ground shows that women’s involvement in drug abuse in the state rarely occurs in isolation; on the contrary, the risk of involvement becomes significantly higher when they live in a family environment where a member, particularly a husband, is also a drug user,” he said.

He said this cycle was made worse by factors such as neglect and loneliness, especially following divorce or a breakdown in relationships, which caused women to seek temporary solace through illicit substances.

“Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS) were the most widely used illicit substances among women in Kelantan last year, with 557 people, while those aged 19 to 39 recorded the highest number of drug abuse cases, involving 409 individuals.

“In conclusion, drug addiction among women in Kelantan is often a manifestation of interpersonal stress and manipulation by partners in an unhealthy domestic ecosystem,” he said.

He said AADK also measured the effectiveness and achievements of its Community-Based Treatment and Rehabilitation (RPDK) programme based on the Client Recovery Index (IKK), with female clients in Kelantan recording an achievement rate of 76.4 per cent last year.

“Of the 55 female clients assessed, 42 achieved a level of recovery in the good and excellent categories. This figure reflects the effectiveness of the recovery centre’s support and the active involvement of families in helping female clients maintain their recovery in the community,” he added. — Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Nasi kandar with mixed curry gravies, fried cabbage and honey chicken paired with teh tarik are no longer impossible to enjoy in Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest island, which is increasingly attracting Malaysian tourists.

Mina Nasi Kandar Halal, situated in the island’s main town, is run by businessman Dr Nash Ramesh, 52, and a friend from Langkawi, Kedah.

They started the restaurant nearly three months ago after recognising the potential for a halal restaurant based on their own experiences holidaying there.

“After spending three days in Phu Quoc, we felt that the food options were rather limited, although there were several halal restaurants. So, we wanted to provide an alternative to tourists, especially those from Malaysia or who have previously visited our country and experienced Malaysian cuisine.

“As a Malaysian and someone with a Muslim business partner, I understand how important halal requirements are to Muslim tourists,” he said when met at his restaurant recently.

He said the chicken and meat used at the restaurant are purchased exclusively from Halal Mart, a member of Halal Vietnam that is recognised by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim), adding that the relevant authorities also conduct inspections almost every month to ensure compliance with halal certification requirements.

Nash, who hails from Taiping, Perak, said dry ingredients, particularly spices, are not a problem because he owns a logistics business in Ho Chi Minh City and is the sole distributor in Vietnam for a popular Malaysian spice brand.

“However, I still go back to Malaysia every few months to purchase items that are difficult to get here, such as belacan (shrimp paste), because we also prepare dishes using this ingredient, including sambal belacan served with ulam (vegetables) such as cucumber and salad, as well as boiled okra,” he said.

Nash said the restaurant, which began operations on July 28, is the first Malaysian restaurant in Phu Quoc and the first nasi kandar restaurant in Vietnam, adding that it has received a very positive response not only from Malaysian tourists, but also visitors from Brunei, Singapore, India, China and Arab countries.

Asked whether the food served at the restaurant tastes authentic like Malaysian cuisine, Nash said he brought with him four chefs from Malaysia, while his 37-year-old wife Van Anh, a Vietnamese national, has also learned various Malaysian recipes since they married 15 years ago.

The restaurant, which has 11 employees, also offers popular Vietnamese food such as pho and banh mi, as well as nasi lemak, fried noodles and roti canai as part of its breakfast buffet when catering to groups of tourists.

“We have also received a good response from the locals, especially for the roti canai, which is prepared in front of customers and sold from 30,000 Vietnamese dong (about RM4), with more people also becoming familiar with nasi kandar because they had visited Malaysia.

“For the selection of dishes, popular choices include ayam kicap (soy sauce chicken), honey chicken and ayam berempah (spiced chicken), while our speciality is daging kicap (soy sauce beef), and teh tarik, teh O, Nescafe and iced lime drinks are often the preferred choice of beverage.

“If customers request a particular dish or drink, we will do our best to fulfil their requests as long as the ingredients are readily available here,” said Nash, who also offers an a la carte menu featuring a variety of hot dishes starting from 85,000 Vietnamese dong (about RM13).

The restaurant, which operates daily from 8am to 10pm, also has a surau because the majority of its customers are Muslim.

“This restaurant also helps ease my longing to meet and chat with Malaysians, as more and more of them are choosing to holiday in Phu Quoc, especially as the halal restaurant scene here continues to grow,” said Nash, who has been living in Vietnam for the past 12 years. — Bernama

CAPAS (Philippines), Sept 20 — Tribal leader Petronila Munoz walked across the sweeping Philippine grasslands she has called home for generations, uncertain about its future, as a sprawling tech hub for a US-led initiative takes shape.

With little information and no prior consultation, the Indigenous chieftain said her Aeta Hungey tribe was uncertain how much of their land could be affected or what will become of the livelihood it provides.

“There’s still no clarity,” Munoz told AFP inside the tribe’s traditional meeting hall.

“What will happen to us? That’s our biggest question.”

In April, the United States announced that the Philippines had joined Pax Silica, a US-led effort to strengthen supply chains for semiconductors and rare earth elements and reduce participating countries’ dependence on China.

The Philippines has designated a 1,620-hectare (4,000-acre) site in New Clark City in Tarlac province, north of Manila, for a manufacturing hub aimed at producing high-end components for use in artificial intelligence data centres.

The government estimates the initiative could attract up to US$70 billion in investment and create about 190,000 jobs, a major boost to a country with more than three million unemployed people.

The project has a long timeline. No tenants have been confirmed.

Plans to domestically process the country’s mineral resources could be even further away.

For about 1,000 Aetas, however, the prospect of displacement is already here.

In July, they received a letter from the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) warning that the project “could affect your occupied lands”.

‘Money runs out’

Munoz said visiting BCDA employees told them to leave by December and relocate to an area about 16 kilometres (10 miles) from their current home, without providing a master plan showing which parts of their ancestral domains would be affected.

Munoz said the BCDA has offered them just 30 pesos (US$0.48) per square metre for their lands, an offer all declined.

“Our lives, our livelihood and our culture are tied to this ancestral land,” Munoz said.

“Land is more important. Money runs out.”

Residents looking at a map with proposed projects by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in Capas. — AFP pic

The BCDA declined to address specific questions about the Aetas’ situation and rejected a freedom of information request for the site’s official boundary map and geospatial data.

It said the information was being “withheld temporarily until the official action is finalized or published”.

At a Senate hearing last month, BCDA president Joshua Bingcang said the Aetas were living on government land. Like many Indigenous groups in the Philippines, they hold no land title.

Civic groups have also raised concerns about the project’s environmental impact, particularly the demand for water and electricity in a country plagued by droughts and rotational power outages.

The US Statement Department told AFP that “environmental, water, energy, and community-impact studies” would inform the project’s design.

“Before any major development happens, we expect rigorous stakeholder impact assessments will take place,” a spokesperson said.

Bingcang told the Senate that investors would be required to build their own power and water systems.

‘We have to open up’

Alvin Camba, research director at an AI firm focused on supply chains and risk assessment, said Manila’s close relationship with the United States could motivate investors to set up shop despite the power concerns.

Last month, reports said Washington planned to warn countries they could be excluded from Pax Silica if they joined a rival framework backed by Beijing.

“This is where the advantage of the Philippines comes in. The Philippines is the least affected by Chinese capital in South-east Asia,” Camba told AFP, saying the country would offer foreign companies the ability to “disentangle” from China.

For political economist Calixto Chikiamco, Pax Silica represents a “historic opportunity” for the Philippines to move beyond its traditional wheelhouse of microchip testing and packaging.

“We have to open up to foreign investment so that technology transfer (to the Philippines) will happen,” he told AFP.

Sacrifices

The BCDA has been conducting public consultations in Tarlac and nearby provinces, but the agency has yet to hold talks with her tribe, Munoz said.

The Aetas remain uncertain if the government would help them build new homes or provide land to cultivate for income if they are moved.

“I wish they would listen to us. They’re just talking among themselves,” she said, adding she worried her tribe would not be qualified for the sort of new jobs Pax Silica promised.

While a proponent of the initiative, Chikiamco said the government was doing “a terrible job” explaining the benefits and tradeoffs it represented.

Camba agreed: “I would actually advise the Philippine government to be very transparent about what’s happening. A big problem is transparency.”

Still, the benefits outweigh the risks, he said.

“Every country that has... jump-started development has had to make sacrifices,” Camba said.

But 63-year-old Munoz, who hopes to be buried in her tribe’s traditional burial ground, said she would not leave, even if a backhoe flattened her home.

“Why do we have to be the ones to sacrifice for the kind of development they want?” she asked. — AFP

LONDON, Sept 20 — The brother of princess Diana, Charles Spencer, on Sunday accused King Charles III of “gaslighting” him by querying his explosive account of events around her death in an upcoming memoir.

Spencer, whose book about his older sister, Swan Song, comes out Tuesday, told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: “It is not every day you wake up to find you’ve been gaslit by the King”, escalating a war of words after Buckingham Palace issued a rare statement.

A Palace spokesperson reacted to the memoir’s claims Thursday, saying the 77-year-old king “is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss”.

This came after a sensational claim in memoir excerpts serialised in the Daily Mail that Charles, then Prince of Wales, told Spencer in a phone call shortly after Diana’s death in 1997: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”

Spencer claimed Charles “sounded dizzily elated — like a lottery winner”.

The 62-year-old aristocrat told the Mail on Sunday the royal statement “was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I’d lied without the King being able to deny what I’d said”.

He also dubbed it a “rather poor imitation” of the Palace’s response to Prince Harry and his wife Meghan’s claims of royal racism in an interview with Oprah Winfrey five years ago — which was that “recollections may vary”.

Spencer formerly worked as a US television journalist and has written books about history and his school days. He inherited the family estate where Diana is buried.

After her death, he accused media of having “blood on their hands” and in a eulogy at her funeral, vowed always to look out for her two sons, William and Harry. — AFP

CAIRO, Sept 20 — Cairo’s omnipresent street kiosks, where commuters grab cigarettes, children buy sweets, and residents stop for cold drinks or phone credit, are set for a makeover that some fear could price many small operators out of business.

Authorities in the Egyptian capital this week launched a scheme to standardise thousands of licensed kiosks, giving existing operators three months to adopt a unified design costing between 50,000 and 60,000 Egyptian pounds (RM3,908-4,670), a hefty sum for many small business owners.

The overhaul is the latest in a series of projects reshaping Cairo’s urban landscape, which critics say have at times come at the expense of the city’s architectural heritage and historic character.

Beneath a clutter of snack packets, soft-drink adverts and hanging cigarette displays in Cairo’s leafy Heliopolis district, shopkeeper Moamen Hassan topped up a customer’s phone credit as he voiced support for the plan but concern over the price tag.

“We definitely want the city to look better,” the 27-year-old told AFP.

“But many kiosk owners in poorer areas won’t be able to afford the cost. Some will have no choice but to close.”

Cairo Governor Ibrahim Saber described the scheme as an effort to improve the city’s appearance and keep pavements clear, and a prototype unveiled downtown offers a glimpse of that vision.

With its cream-coloured exterior, gold lettering and neatly arranged shelves, it stands in stark contrast to the colourfully chaotic kiosks that line Cairo’s streets, their metal frames crowned with branded awnings and crammed with everyday goods.

A man walks past a traditional sidewalk kiosk in Cairo on September 18, 2026. Cairo's omnipresent street kiosks, where commuters grab cigarettes, children buy sweets, and residents stop for cold drinks or phone credit, are set for a makeover that some fear could price many small operators out of business. Authorities in the Egyptian capital this week launched a scheme to standardise thousands of licensed kiosks, giving existing operators three months to adopt a unified design costing between 50,000 and 60,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,000-$1,200), a hefty sum for many small business owners. — AFP pic

‘It makes life easier’ 

Known locally as the koshk, the compact structures have been part of Cairo’s streetscape for generations, tucked between ageing apartment blocks, transport hubs and busy intersections all across the sprawling city.

Often among the first businesses to open each morning and the last to close at night, many have become neighbourhood landmarks.

“I pass by the kiosk almost every day,” 19-year-old university student Sabrine Ahmed told AFP. “It makes life easier.”

Under the new scheme, kiosks will be fitted with QR codes allowing the public and authorities to access information including licence details and payment records.

The standardised structures, measuring either six or nine metres square, will also include fixtures like electricity meters and fire extinguishers.

The overhaul comes as many Egyptians are still struggling with the fallout from years of sharp currency devaluations and soaring prices.

To ease the burden, authorities say licensed kiosk owners can pay 25 percent upfront, or between 12,500 and 15,000 pounds, with the remainder spread over two years without interest.

maf/smw

PARIS, Sept 20 — He has arguably done more than any living painter to bring black figures into Western galleries, but Kerry James Marshall is still uncomfortable with being seen as a trailblazer on the eve of another major retrospective of his work.

“It’s not a reasonable assumption to believe that there were no black people in pictures before I had some kind of revelation that they should be there,” the Alabama-born American told AFP in Paris.

He cites the work of his American mentor Charles White (1918-1979) — a man he compares to some of the greatest figurative painters — as well as portraits by the 16th-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch or even the statues of Ancient Greece.

But few other contemporaries can compete with how Marshall has mainstreamed black portraiture: he counts stars from Sean Combs to Jay-Z as collectors, holds the auction record for a living black artist, and is now being honoured like never before outside his home country.

A travelling retrospective of his work named “The Histories” has won rave reviews at London’s Royal Academy of Art and Zurich’s Kunsthaus before arriving at the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris, where it opened on Friday.

It includes monumental works such as “De Style” (1993), depicting the clients of an African American hair salon who stare out at the viewer in front of a wall calendar showing the date of Rodney King’s beating by police officers in Los Angeles in 1991, which led to race riots.

In “Black Painting” (2003), another large-format work, a barely discernible couple embrace in a dark bedroom, with a book by Angela Davis, the African American activist and former member of the Black Panthers, on the bedside table.

“The first thing you see is that they’re black figures, but then you have to move on from that to everything else that’s happening in the picture,” Marshall told AFP.

‘Blackness’ 

But beyond the deliberate references to significant figures or dates in America’s violent history of race relations, much of Marshall’s work carries a simple, but powerful message about representation.

He spotlights black people in often banal, everyday settings — in a beauty salon, lying in a park — echoing the codes of classical European portraiture in which the black subjects, if painted at all, were usually either shown as servants or slaves.

In Marshall’s hands, the skin colour of his figures is rendered in jet-black.

The blackness is “a rhetorical device, not just as a marker of a certain kind of identity, but to create an aesthetic framework in which people can think about blackness as more than just a simple dead end.

“Blackness is not a dead end, it’s not a non-colour. It’s something that can be as complex and as rich as any other colour that one might use to make a painting,” he explained.

Difficult start 

Marshall, now aged 70, spent his early years in racially segregated Birmingham, Alabama, before his parents moved with him and his brother to Los Angeles in the 1960s in search of greater opportunities.

Living in predominantly black and poor South Central, Marshall witnessed the rise of organised gang violence there, with the rivalry between the Crips and the Bloods, as well as the 1965 Watts riots, a six-day uprising fuelled by racial tension.

He broke through as a major figure in the American art world relatively late, enjoying his first major retrospective only ten years ago at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

The massive Black Lives Matter protests that swept the United States and the world in 2020 have boosted interest and the prominence of a wide range of black American artists including Mark Bradford and Julie Mehretu.

Asked about the possible limiting of artistic freedom in the United States under President Donald Trump, Marshall said he was not worried.

“I’m driven by what I think is necessary to do myself. I’m not restrained by anybody. You can’t make me stop making pictures,” he told AFP.

“If you feel like somebody can stop you from doing something, you’re not doing your job.” — AFP

LONDON, Sept 20 — Fresh claims made by Charles Spencer, the younger brother of the late princess Diana, have been published as he doubled down on his allegation that King Charles III said “we’ll forget her soon enough” after Diana died, reported PA Media/dpa.

The earl has made a series of damning claims about the king in a new memoir chronicling the life of his sister Diana that prompted an “unprecedented” response from Buckingham Palace who said “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason.”

In an extract of a BBC interview released on Friday, the earl insisted he is “telling the truth” and described the king’s comments about his sister as “monstrous.”

Speaking about an alleged row over Diana’s funeral arrangements involving her sons, the earl said: “(The king) went ballistic, would be the right term, and started really going for my family as a whole, about their sense of duty, not being adequate enough, and ranted for a while, I have no idea how long, but it was a significant period, and I just listened.

“And then he stopped, and I thought, ‘Oh now he’s going to pull himself together and say something more appropriate.’

“And then he said, ‘We’ll forget her soon enough’.”

Asked whether he has “evidence” of the king’s comments, the earl told the BBC: “I told friends and family straight away, close friends and family, about what had been said, because it was so monstrous.”

He added: “I’m telling the truth.”

Charles is said to have made the comments about his ex-wife in a row with the earl over whether the then Prince William and Prince Harry should follow Diana’s funeral cortege.

In the latest extract of the earl’s book serialized in the Daily Mail, Earl Spencer told of his memories of the funeral, and his concern for Harry, after he observed a “lack of obvious care” for the then 12-year-old prince.

Spencer walked behind Diana’s coffin during the funeral procession on September 6, 1997, alongside Harry, William, then 15, Charles, and the late duke of Edinburgh.

Recounting the train journey from London to Althorp after the funeral, Spencer said: “My chief memory of that train journey is of being concerned at the lack of obvious care for Harry, as he decompressed from the ghastliness of the morning.

“He needed Diana’s hugs, of course, and they would forever be denied him.

“But instead of calm and nurture, he was allowed to spin out of control.”

Spencer said he could not get over how “tiny, and slight, and bereft” his nephew looked, adding he remembers thinking Harry was “too small to be doing this”.

In a previously published excerpt, Spencer claimed the then-prince Charles “went nuts” in a row over Diana’s funeral arrangements, after he told him she “never would have wanted” her sons to walk behind her coffin.

The earl claimed Charles told him: “That’s the problem with your family.

“They’ve got no bloody sense of duty.”

The earl further claimed that on that same train journey, he was told the late queen Elizabeth II had offered to restore Diana’s Her Royal Highness title.

Spencer said Elizabeth’s private secretary, Robert Fellowes, relayed the offer after the late queen phoned him.

The earl recounted telling Fellowes that while Elizabeth’s offer was “very kind”, he failed to see the point in restoring her title, adding: “I mean - Diana’s dead.”

Spencer further claimed Elizabeth reacted “tetchily” to news of his sister having been in a car accident.

He said: “When the queen had heard the first news of Diana’s being in a traffic accident, she had asked tetchily, ‘What is she up to now?’

“This, before the seriousness of it all became clear.” — Bernama-PA media/dpa

STOCKHOLM, Sept 19 — This year’s Nobel prize-winners, to be announced October 5-12, will receive 12 million kronor (RM5.2 million) per discipline, up from 11 million in 2025, the Nobel Foundation said yesterday.

The hike is equivalent to around US$101,500 (RM414,495), and the sum is shared if there is more than one laureate in any of the six prize categories.

“This year, we are celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Nobel Prize, and in connection with this, we are pleased to be able to increase the prize amount by one million (kronor),” the director of the Nobel Foundation, Hanna Stjarne, said in a statement.

“By increasing the prize amount, we uphold the long-term significance of the Nobel Prize and ensure that the financial part of the prize retains its value over time,” she said.

The first Nobel prizes were awarded in 1901, when the prize sum was 150,782 kronor per discipline.

The medicine prize will kick off this year’s Nobel week on October 5, followed each day by the prizes for physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize will wrap up the announcements on October 12. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 — Malaysia’s first international-class hotel, The Federal Kuala Lumpur, has unveiled new additions and several restored heritage features following its official reopening.

The historic landmark in the heart of Bukit Bintang first opened its doors just days before Merdeka, on August 28, 1957.

Following a carefully considered renovation process that began in 2024, the hotel has returned with a contemporary update while retaining elements of its original character.

The Federal Kuala Lumpur, which first opened on August 28, 1957, has reopened following the first phase of a major renovation. — Picture by Choo Choy May

Among the heritage features uncovered during renovation were exposed concrete beams bearing timber formwork imprints and a historic mosaic staircase dating from 1957.

The staircase was subsequently conserved, along with the hotel’s original gilded cast-iron entrance metalwork.

The renovation team also restored The Federal Kuala Lumpur’s signature circular Art Deco façade windows, while the guestrooms have been fully updated with clean lines and warm, natural materials.

Guestrooms at The Federal Kuala Lumpur have been updated with clean lines, warm natural materials and contemporary finishes. — Picture by Choo Choy May

New additions include a coffered ceiling, curved structural forms, terrazzo-inspired finishes and retro-influenced furnishings, as well as a dedicated art gallery and a social lounge designed as an informal living room overlooking Jalan Bukit Bintang.

“For decades, this landmark has stood as a living testament to Malaysia’s vibrant history and hospitality,” Low Yat Group executive director Datuk Low Gee Teong said.

“The Federal Hotel, or as it is affectionately known as the Hotel for Merdeka, was built specifically to serve the needs of our emerging nation.

“It is far more than a hotel; it is a living piece of Malaysian heritage.”

Speaking at the hotel’s official reopening ceremony yesterday, Gee Teong said that by revitalising the historic corner of Jalan Bukit Bintang, the group hoped not only to strengthen the local tourism ecosystem but also to drive digital and physical footfall in the area, supporting surrounding businesses and the community.

Low Yat Group business development manager Low Kian Leong pictured against an archival image of The Federal Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding Bukit Bintang neighbourhood. — Picture by Choo Choy May

Meanwhile, Low Yat Group business development manager Low Kian Leong said the renovation presented its own challenges, particularly given the age of the building.

“I was part of the project team from start to finish, and throughout the renovation, we continuously uncovered M&E (mechanical and electrical) issues that were not indicated in the original drawings from 69 years ago.

“There were pipes hidden in pillars that we didn’t know about, walls that turned out not to be where we expected them to be, pipes would burst and things like that, so the team had to constantly adapt to whatever we encountered. It was tough work for everyone.

“So throughout the renovation, our focus was on safety, quality and responsible delivery wherever possible,” he said.

The Federal Kuala Lumpur’s new dedicated art gallery traces the history of the Merdeka-era hotel through photographs, archival material and memorabilia. — Picture by Choo Choy May

Kian Leong said guests could expect more than updated interiors following the reopening.

“As we reopen The Federal, guests can expect refreshed surroundings, enhanced comfort and the service standards that define us.

“But our most important feature remains our people. We are here to welcome everyone, from business travellers and families to event guests and anyone else,” he said.

Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board chairman Datuk Manoharan Periasamy officiates the reopening of The Federal Kuala Lumpur on September 18, 2026. — Picture by Choo Choy May

He also revealed that the completed work represents only the first phase of plans for the building, with construction on phase two set to begin next year. An international brand is also expected to join the development.

The reopening ceremony was also attended by Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board chairman Datuk Manoharan Periasamy, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) Arts, Culture and Tourism director Faizal Mahmood and Tourism Malaysia deputy director-general (Planning) Wizani Rosmin.

OSLO, Sept 19 — Norway’s King Harald V has been entombed within a ship-shaped sarcophagus carved from a carbon dioxide-absorbing ancient rock, the palace revealed yesterday.

Next to no details of the late monarch’s final resting place had previously come to light in the wake of his funeral in Oslo on September 9 and death aged 89 on August 28.

Installed in the royal mausoleum at the Akershus fortress, the sarcophagus is fashioned from olivine, a greenish rock dating back some 400 million years mined in western Norway, the palace said in a statement.

The coffin’s shape nods both to ancient boat-burial traditions, such as those practised by the Vikings, and the late king’s love of the sea, the palace added.

A two-person design, the sarcophagus also has space for Harald’s widow, Queen Sonja.

“The greenish olivine stone can absorb and sequester carbon dioxide, a property that the designers chose as a symbol of King Harald and Queen Sonja’s love of nature and their concern for future generations,” the palace said.

In life, the late king was known to make light of what his coffin might look like.

“I hope it has good padding so that our stay will be comfortable. We’re going to be staying there for a while, after all,” Harald joked.

The 20-million-kroner (RM8.5 million) sarcophagus lies next to two others.

One, in white marble, holds the remains of the current ruling dynasty’s first king, Harald’s grandfather Haakon VII, and his wife Queen Maud. The other, in dark green bronze, houses Harald’s parents, King Olav V and Crown Princess Martha. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 — As mankind looks towards the wider solar system, Planetarium Negara is seeing renewed public interest in space exploration, with immersive exhibits and experiential programmes bringing a new generation closer to the final frontier, three decades after it first opened its doors.

The renewed interest comes as major global space initiatives, including plans to return humans to the Moon and eventually venture to Mars, bring space exploration closer to the public imagination.

For Planetarium Negara, these developments offer an opportunity to help Malaysians understand how they connect to and potentially contribute to humanity’s next journey beyond Earth.

Planetarium Negara director Mohd Zamri Shah Mastor said that while its core mission — to raise public awareness and spark interest in astronomy and space science — has remained unchanged since 1994, today’s visitors seek more engaging and experiential ways to connect with the subjects.

“Lately, the initiatives by major global space players are being heard by people in Malaysia.

“These include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s ongoing Artemis programme to return humans to the Moon by 2028, as well as its Mars Sample Return effort to bring Martian rock and soil samples back to Earth.

“In fact, Planetarium Negara itself hosted a programme in March focused on the Moon, while also marking Malaysia’s commitment to the Artemis Accords — a set of principles guiding the peaceful and sustainable exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond.

“So perhaps they see Planetarium Negara as the closest place where they can associate themselves with these initiatives and learn more about them.

“And we hope that we can fulfil the public’s interest or what they want to find out about space,” he told Malay Mail in a recent interview here.

Mohd Zamri Shah said Planetarium Negara also hopes to reach more students in higher learning institutions and encourage them to consider careers in the space sector.

Mohd Zamri Shah said the recent introduction of new immersive exhibits had helped drive a noticeable increase in visitors to the institution from the second half of 2025 through the first half of 2026, with roughly 300,000 people visiting annually.

“Maybe the exhibits we had in the past were not as immersive as they are now, and people started coming after we introduced something new here.

“We also started engaging people through social media, encouraging them to take part in activities like stargazing, which they really liked, with many asking questions and requesting more such programmes.

“So we found that experiential learning is highly requested by the general public,” he said.

Mohd Zamri Shah said schoolchildren in tour groups made up the overwhelming majority of visitors, accounting for roughly 80 per cent, followed by families and individuals.

Interesting exhibits

In an age where images and information about space are just a few clicks away, Mohd Zamri Shah said planetariums, including Planetarium Negara, still have a role to play in the digital age.

For starters, he pointed to Planetarium Negara’s space theatre, a dome-shaped cinema that seats up to 200 visitors and uses a fulldome digital system, 270° panoramic projection, six-channel surround sound and two fulldome immersive 4K projectors to recreate the night sky and universe in an immersive experience akin to that of an observatory.

Among the notable exhibits is a 10kg iron meteorite fragment from the Campo del Cielo meteorites, first discovered in a crater field in northern Argentina in 1576.

“You can touch it, it is the real thing — a 5,000-year-old meteorite fragment right here at Planetarium Negara that has been travelling in outer space for thousands of years, telling the story of our solar system’s early stages.”

A space rock recovered from the Campo del Cielo crater field on display at Planetarium Negara.

He also pointed to exhibits featuring fossils of prehistoric life, which tell the story of Earth’s evolution and its place in the cosmos.

Other exhibits include two real astronaut suits — the Russian-made Orlan and Sokol spacesuits — worn by Russian cosmonauts and Malaysia’s first astronaut, Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al Masrie, respectively.

“Visitors can see for themselves how they are made, what they are made of and the materials used.

“While they may not be able to touch the fabric, they can look closely at the suits, including their interiors, as we want visitors to feel that space technology is not something beyond their reach.

“By seeing the real thing up close, I hope they realise that we can do this too. That is important because it gives them the confidence to believe that Malaysians can go into space again,” he said.

Also on display is a real Viking rocket engine, alongside a replica cockpit of the Soyuz spacecraft used to dock with the International Space Station, an interactive Astronaut Working Environment Module and two Malaysian satellites — TiungSAT-1 (Malaysia’s first microsatellite) and RazakSAT, an Earth observation satellite.

The Viking, a liquid-fuelled rocket engine used on Europe’s Ariane rockets to power ascent into space, is on display here at Planetarium Negara.

More work to be done

Mohd Zamri Shah said efforts are currently underway to enhance the institution’s experiential learning exhibits, including offering more observation experiences and, if possible, future demonstrations to enhance the overall visitor experience.

“Rather than limiting these activities indoors, we want to demonstrate things outside as well, such as observing the surface of the Sun during the daytime.

“Perhaps we could have a simple rocket launch with a small rocket and parachute,” he said.

He added that rotating gallery content is also in the works, with plans to introduce changes gradually, including possible indoor demonstrations using available technologies to simulate aspects of space exploration on planets.

He said they are also considering extending operating hours into the early evening to allow visitors to observe planets visible in Kuala Lumpur’s night sky, as well as resuming direct communications with astronauts aboard the ISS when it passes over Malaysia — a programme that was halted several years ago.

Visitors experiencing the Spacepod, a two-seater cockpit simulator that provides screenings offering an exploration and flight experience into outer space, with three-axis movement and 360-degree freedom of movement.

With renewed interest in space, Mohd Zamri Shah said Planetarium Negara also hopes to reach more students in higher learning institutions and encourage them to consider careers in the space sector.

“People sometimes think that if you want to work in space, you have to study space.

“But that is not necessarily the case. Space needs people with many different skills and expertise from other fields can also contribute to space technology,” he said.

He also said plans are underway to replace the existing projection system in the dome-shaped cinema, which has been in place for more than 15 years and is nearing the end of its lifespan.

“It is a bit dated and I am very sorry about that but we are in the process of changing to a new system. Hopefully, within a year or two, we will have a new projection system with higher resolution and a better experience,” he said.

For Planetarium Negara, the goal is not simply to tell Malaysians about space, but to make them believe they can be part of its future, Mohd Zamri Shah said.

“Generation by generation, new visitors will always come.

“Even though the older generation has experienced Planetarium Negara, every new generation still needs that experience. So we are still here, and we will continue to welcome them,” he said.

NEW DELHI, Sept 19 — Five baby orangutans abandoned in an Indian forest have exposed a “massive” exotic wildlife trade, with traffickers smuggling increasingly rare species into the country, experts say.

They warn of a growing multi-million-dollar trade in endangered animals, including apes smuggled through war-torn Myanmar to feed demand among wealthy Indians seeking exotic status symbols to flaunt on social media.

“There have been several instances of exotic wild animals being found or seized across the country, said Sumanth Bindumadhav of Humane World for Animals India. “The scale is massive.”

Critically endangered orangutans are native only to Indonesia’s Sumatra island and Borneo, which it shares with Malaysia and Brunei.

Yet the five tiny orangutans were found by rangers in Balasore, in India’s eastern Odisha state.

Aged around one-and-a-half years old, they are being cared for at a zoo. Indonesia has requested their return.

Bindumadhav’s group, in a June 2026 report, detailed what it called a “rising trade in exotic wildlife”, demonstrated by a “steep increase in seizures” that reflected a “surge in illegal trade”.

The report estimated India’s exotic-pet market at US$42.6 million in 2024.

Orangutans and gibbons, small apes, were being “increasingly trafficked into India” from South-east Asia’s rainforests, it added.

‘Alarming scale’

A senior official at India’s Wildlife Crime Control Bureau said “thousands of social media influencers” were promoting exotic species as pets online, fuelling demand among followers.

“It is a huge market,” said the official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. “Rich people keep them in their homes.”

Under a government voluntary disclosure scheme, more than 40,000 people had registered exotic animals by February 2021, government data shows.

The figure is likely only a fraction of those in private hands, analysts say.

“This is a figure from only those who registered themselves, so the true volume of it is potentially much larger and remains unknown,” said Bindumadhav.

“The true scale of it is actually quite frightening.”

Former India head of global anti-wildlife-trade group TRAFFIC Shekhar Kumar Niraj said the surge in trafficking was also linked to a “rising number” of animals held in private hands.

“Private zoos have violated laws at a very alarming scale across the country,” said Niraj.

“Primates are very popular in zoos because they are very intelligent, like to interact with humans, the kind of thing zoos want.”

Indian federal authorities did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.

The World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) documented 56 seizures involving about 4,000 exotic animals in 2022 alone.

In October 2025, Mumbai customs officers arrested a passenger carrying two endangered gibbons stuffed inside a checked bag.

Other seizures in Mumbai last year included lizards, tree-climbing possums and dozens of venomous vipers.

In 2024, forest officials recovered a trafficked orangutan from a flat in Maharashtra state.

But such seizures represent only a fraction of the trade, experts warn.

‘Porous border’

“The scale of it is much, much bigger than what we see actually based on the seizure data,” said Jimmy Borah of the environmental advocacy group Aaranyak.

Experts have previously raised concerns over Vantara, a vast wildlife rescue and conservation centre in Gujarat founded by Anant Ambani, son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, over its intake of endangered species.

Vantara has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

In August, it said it was taking “bold steps to reset its operations”, had withdrawn all applications to import live animals, and named former head of the global wildlife watchdog CITES, John Scanlon, to chair its governing council.

Exactly how the orangutans were brought to Odisha — more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) by sea, and 7,000 kilometres by land (4,500 miles) — is not clear. Police have launched a criminal investigation.

Experts say that in addition to airports and formal cargo routes, the land border between Myanmar and India’s northeast is a key trafficking route.

“The northeast is important for seizures of live exotic animals, linked to cross-border movement from Southeast Asia,” said Dipankar Ghose of WWF-India.

Authorities have seized other exotic primates in the region in recent years, smuggled on jungle routes across the frontier.

“We are talking about miles and miles of a very porous border,” said Borah of Aaranyak. — AFP

AL-DAMER (Sudan), Sept 19 — Inside a beauty salon in northern Sudan, a woman in a striped dress sat patiently as henna artist Najwa Mubarak painted crimson floral patterns across her hands, preserving a cherished tradition that is under threat.

Water scarcity, climate change and three years of war have endangered the cultivation of henna, the plant used to produce the dye that has adorned Sudanese brides for centuries and features prominently in family gatherings, religious celebrations and other events across Sudan.

“Henna is both a hobby and a heritage for us,” Mubarak told AFP, delicately tracing another flower onto her client’s hand.

“I apply henna for brides as it is an integral part of the bride’s joy. For me, it is both a passion and a source of livelihood.”

Fragrant incense drifted through Mubarak’s salon in Al-Damer, the capital of River Nile state, as she used soft, fluid strokes to apply the paste across the woman’s skin, staining it a deep reddish-brown.

Beyond the salon, however, the pressures facing the crop are visible.

On his farm near Al-Damer, Abdallah Mohammed brushed his hand through rows of henna shrubs sagging in the heat.

For decades, the 57-year-old farmer has cultivated the plant whose leaves are dried and ground into powder.

Now he worries the land is slowly drying out.

“Water arrives at long intervals and cuts off just when we need it most,” he told AFP.

“Access to water is the biggest obstacle limiting our production and causing the land to go thirsty.”

Parched fields

Like many farmers in the region, Mohammed depends on Nile-fed irrigation canals. But sporadic supplies and neglected waterways have left fields parched at critical times, reducing both the quantity and quality of the harvest.

Sudan’s conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has crippled agriculture across the country.

The war, which erupted in April 2023, has damaged irrigation networks, leaving canals clogged, pumps idle and water management systems neglected.

Meanwhile, the El Nino climate pattern has disrupted weather systems, delaying seasonal rains and contributing to lower Nile water levels, depriving farms of a vital lifeline.

Agriculture provides livelihoods for roughly 65 per cent of Sudan’s population, according to data from the central bank.

Under a blazing sky, farmers wove their way through the waist-high shrubs, using sickles passed down through generations to cut the leaves. — AFP pic

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said rainfall across key agricultural regions between June and mid-August was up to 30 percent below the long-term average, worsening drought and raising risks to food production and rural livelihoods.

Around Al-Damer, islands of emerald-green henna fields emerge from a sea of ochre and brown.

Under a blazing sky, farmers wove their way through the waist-high shrubs, using sickles passed down through generations to cut the leaves.

The freshly harvested branches released an earthy scent as they were gathered into bundles and carried away for drying and milling.

Henna is “a crop of significant local economic importance”, environmental activist El-Rasheed Ali Mahdy told AFP.

Major exporter

Once one of Africa’s leading henna producers, Sudan built a thriving industry around the crop, according to FAO data, exporting its distinctive dye to consumers across the Gulf, Europe and North America.

In River Nile state, which the war has largely spared, henna remains one of the most valuable cash crops, supporting livelihoods from farms and processing plants to marketplaces and beauty salons.

The Sudanese government did not respond to an AFP request for updated production and export figures.

At one factory in Al-Damer, workers spread freshly picked henna leaves to dry before feeding them into grinding mills.

Nearby, men shovelled the fine green powder into large sacks before sealing it in plastic bags bound for domestic and overseas markets.

“Before the war, we used to export our produce from Omdurman (Khartoum’s twin city) to destinations all over the world,” factory owner Mohamed Ramadan told AFP.

Since fighting erupted, many exporters have rerouted shipments through neighbouring Egypt as traditional trade corridors, including those through Chad, have become increasingly difficult to use, he said.

Yet despite the mounting pressures on the industry, Omnia El-Sayed, 29, owner of the salon in Al-Damer, believes henna will endure: “It is a cultural staple.” — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — Bank Rakyat has launched its Mastercard Credit Card Spend Bonanza Campaign, offering customers the opportunity to win a holiday worth up to RM40,000, including business-class flights. The campaign, which is open to all Bank Rakyat Mastercard Credit Card-i cardholders, runs until 30 September 2026.

Bank Rakyat Group Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Shahril Mohd Shariff, said in a statement that the initiative aims to reward customers when they spend using their Bank Rakyat Mastercard Credit Card-i, while encouraging its use as a convenient and secure payment method.

“This campaign also reflects Bank Rakyat’s continued commitment to providing added value to customers through rewards that are relevant to modern lifestyles,” he added.

Under the campaign, cardholders stand a chance to win fully sponsored holidays for two to selected destinations, including Japan and Singapore, complete with premium travel experiences such as business-class flights. Each transaction made using the Bank Rakyat Mastercard Credit Card-i entitles customers to earn entries into the campaign.

Prizes include a grand prize of an eight-day, seven-night holiday to Japan, while monthly prizes include five-day, four-night holidays to Singapore. Customers also stand a chance to receive a special reward of a RM100 Shopee voucher, with a total of 1,350 winners.

To participate, cardholders only need to use their Credit Card-i for domestic, online or foreign currency transactions. Every RM100 spent on domestic transactions earns one entry, while every RM100 spent on online or foreign currency transactions earns 10 entries.

For the special reward, customers are required to register their Credit Card-i as the primary payment method on their preferred application or for subscription and recurring bill payments and spend at least RM100 per month for three consecutive months to receive a RM100 Shopee voucher.

For more information, customers may refer to the campaign’s terms and conditions on the Bank Rakyat website at www.bankrakyat.com.my, visit the nearest branch or call the Bank Rakyat Contact Centre at 1-300-80-5454.

LONDON, Sept 18 — Princess Diana’s brother has unleashed a string of criticism against King Charles III in his new book, alleging the monarch was “giddily elated” the night his ex-wife died in a car crash, as Buckingham Palace issued a rare rebuke of the startling claims.

Charles Spencer wrote that the then-prince “sounded giddily elated — like a lottery winner” on the night Diana died three decades ago, in the latest extract of his book published by the Daily Mail on Thursday.

In another extract released earlier, Spencer claims that days after her death, the future king told him: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”

Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of strongly pushing back against the allegations earlier Thursday, with UK newspapers splashing the war of words between Spencer and the king, who was married to Diana for 15 years.

“His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss,” a palace spokesperson said, adding that they do not normally comment on books.

Spencer’s book, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister and set to be published next week, is being serialised in the Daily Mail.

In the latest extracts, Spencer claims “there were others in the Palace, I already knew, who were relieved — indeed, pleased — that she had gone”.

He also alleges Charles subjected him to a “stream of anger” after he insisted Diana would not have wanted her sons, princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk in her funeral procession.

“He unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. ‘Rest assured’, he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!’,” Spencer writes.

Diana, who was hugely popular in the UK, died in Paris aged 36 after the car she was travelling in crashed as the driver tried to get away from paparazzi photographers.

Her death sparked an outpouring of grief in Britain and led to accusations that the monarchy failed to show the appropriate empathy.

Both heir-to-the-throne William and his brother Harry, who quit royal duties in 2020 but has just returned to Britain, have spoken previously about how difficult it was to walk behind her coffin.

‘Recollections may vary’ 

Julian Payne, who was communications secretary to Charles on the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2017, said he found it hard to believe his former boss had said what Spencer claims he did.

“It’s just not language that I recognise,” he told the BBC.

Royal watchers said Buckingham Palace’s quick response to Spencer’s allegation hinted at the anger felt within the monarchy at the claim.

“Sometimes the palace have to weigh up whether or not they want to just leave things and adopt the never complain, never explain mantra,” Sunday Times royal editor Roya Nikkhah told the BBC.

“But I don’t think that would have washed in this scenario.

“It’s too big a claim. And they know with the serialisation there are days more of this kind of stuff coming and so they’ll be braced.”

UK media also likened the language in the palace’s statement to the late Queen Elizabeth II’s response in 2021 to claims of racism in the royal family from Harry and his wife Meghan.

At the time, the queen said that “some recollections may vary”.

Charles and Diana’s tumultuous marriage between 1981 and 1996 was regularly featured in British newspapers and continues to fascinate.

Diana’s famous “revenge dress” that she wore on the evening in 1994 when Charles made a public admission of adultery is to be auctioned in New York in December. — AFP 

LONDON, Sept 18 — Prince Harry on Thursday made his first public appearance since his shock return to Britain from the United States with his family three weeks ago.

Harry, who quit Britain for California six years ago with his wife Meghan amid tensions with his family, attended a fundraising evening for his Invictus Games for wounded veterans in London.

Dressed in a smoking jacket adorned with his military decorations, the 42-year-old prince took selfies with injured former soldiers at the event. Meghan did not accompany him.

Along with their two children, Harry and Meghan landed back in the UK on August 26 and have kept a relatively low profile since.

Speculation abounds over the reasons for their return, given that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex left in the middle of a falling-out with his family, which only worsened after Harry published his tell-all memoir Spare.

His appearance at the event comes after the brother of Princess Diana, Harry’s mother, unleashed a barrage of stinging criticism against King Charles III’s behaviour towards his ex-wife.

In a memoir being serialised in the Daily Mail newspaper, Charles Spencer claimed that the then-prince Charles sounded “giddily elated” the night Diana died in a car crash in 1996.

The claims have prompted Buckingham Palace to issue an unusual rebuttal, insisting that Charles “is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory”. — AFP 

KAPUAS HULU, Sept 18 — Indonesian villager Octavius wades through the forest in rubber boots and tattered joggers, ears pricked, eyes peeled, a telephoto lens on his phone primed to capture orangutans, monkeys or birds.

The daily photo hunt earns Octavius and hundreds of others in Borneo cash as part of a conservation programme seeking to make animals worth more alive than dead.

Locals on the island have long made money from hunting wild songbirds and selling them, mainly to domestic customers.

The KehatiKu project aims to break that cycle by paying individuals in nine participating villages in West Kalimantan province for photos or recordings of animals instead.

Payments range from 5,000 rupiah (about US$0.30/RM1.26) for observing a common bird, to 130,000 rupiah (about RM32.80) for an endangered orangutan — the top prize.

The most successful observers earn up to 10 million rupiah a month — equivalent to about US$570 (RM2,410), several times an average farmworker’s income.

The extra cash “really helps, especially to pay for my children’s college”, said 50-year-old Octavius, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

Imam Mujiono, biodiversity field project coordinator for Borneo Future Indonesia, searches for targeted animals in West Kalimantan, Indonesia on September 2, 2026. — AFP pic

The programme, run by environmental consultancy Borneo Futures, began two years ago and produces data on wildlife distribution and population changes.

Most participants are small-scale farmers of rice, cacao, durian and the stimulant kratom.

Early signs suggest the scheme is working.

“People have started to realise that where previously they caught one bird and it was worth 50,000 rupiah, now they just need to take a photo, send it to us, and they can receive a payment of 5,000 to 10,000 rupiah,” Borneo Futures Indonesia director Nardiyono told AFP.

“If they take just five photos, they (may) earn 50,000 rupiah, and the bird is still in their environment, still observable, and still able to reproduce, so the potential income from observing birds is far greater than from hunting birds.”

Side-job 

That shifting logic has prompted two participating villages to voluntarily introduce hunting bans since the project started, added Nardiyono.

The programme is funded by philanthropic foundations and has received about US$300,000 (RM1.27 million) to date, according to Borneo Futures.

Half has gone towards development, including a mobile app for uploading animal sightings and an AI system that helps humans verify observations.

Borneo Future Indonesia wildlife observer Diyonisius receiving payment for observation activities in Labian village in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan. Indonesian as part of a conservation programme seeking to make animals worth more alive than dead. — AFP pic

So far, users have submitted over 350,000 observations, about half of which have been validated and paid for.

Invalid entries might include multiple observations of the same animal, or a species that is not on the programme’s list.

In September, Octavius and dozens of others gathered at the tiny office in Labian village – population 683 – for their monthly payments.

His share was four million rupiah, or nearly US$230 (RM970).

“This is a side-job; it doesn’t interfere” with farming, he told AFP as he showed off a patch where he grows kratom and cacao.

“Sometimes when we’re working, when everyone is gathered to collect kratom leaves, we hear birds calling, so we go over, observe them — if we can take a photo, we take a photo; if not, we just make a sound recording.”

The programme’s model is “likely better for both environmental and social impacts than an unincentivised, top-down conservation project design,” said researcher Paul Ferraro of the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The main challenge will be maintaining funding, he added.

“People may revert to their prior behavioural patterns because the incentive payments are insufficient when the enthusiasm has waned,” said Ferraro, an expert in human behaviour and public policy.

Sense of independence 

For now, Borneo Futures has funding secured through 2028, and two more villages will join next month.

It pays for observations of 73 species, including birds, monkeys, wild cats and deer.

Erik Meijaard (left), managing director of Borneo Future, and Nardiyono (right), director of Borneo Future Indonesia, talk about a new conservation programme to rope in local villagers during a session in Sungai Ajung village in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan on September 2, 2026. — AFP pic

Antonia Uneng says she never has to venture too far from her home in Sungai Ajung, a village of fewer than 400 people, for observations.

She bought her first fridge with her earnings, as well as a karaoke machine, complete with flashing lights and two microphones, that occupies pride of place in her living room.

The project has given women in the village a sense of independence, said the 36-year-old part-time nursing assistant, whose husband works abroad.

“I have my own income... so I am not dependent on my husband.”

Imelda, a farmer in Labian, goes into the forest daily with friends to record bird sounds and, if they are lucky, orangutans.

“It makes us healthier, walking in the forest,” said the 72-year-old.

In the past, some in the community considered wild boar and deer pests for damaging their gardens and crops, she said.

But now, “we really, really want to protect them”. — AFP

NEW YORK, Sept 18 — OpenAI has rattled the quiet world of mathematics by using artificial intelligence to solve a major, century-old problem, raising the question of what role mathematicians will play in scientific research going forward.

Earlier this month, thousands of its AI agents worked together to solve the Navier-Stokes equations — which generations of mathematicians have tried to tackle — in a matter of four days.

UCLA professor Terence Tao, who has won the elite Fields Medal recognising the world’s most esteemed mathematicians, told AFP: “I am currently completely overwhelmed with an existential crisis in my field.”

The recent shake-up to the field is the latest in a series of instances of AI making mathematical breakthroughs this year.

“If they did choose to study the questions that we find interesting in research, they would be very easy. They could solve those problems easily,” said Steven Strogatz, a Cornell University professor for the public understanding of science and mathematics.

Antonio Auffinger, a Northwestern University maths professor, said that just a year ago, “hallucinations were happening all the time,” but nowadays, “AI can produce long chain arguments,” without wandering off course.

In January, Elon Musk – the world’s richest man and an AI chief himself through SpaceXAI – predicted mathematics would be “crushed,” saying “math is going to be extremely trivial for AI” on a podcast.

Yet, while Northwestern University maths professor Benjamin Antieau said there is “awe and amazement” for the feat, “in this particular case, they were following in the footsteps of other mathematicians who’d been developing this programmatic approach to this particular class of problems for many, many years.”

In this case, the AI mainly followed two Spanish researchers, who were also the inspiration for mathematicians Tristan Buckmaster and Levent Alpoge — who claim they came close to the solution before OpenAI’s breakthrough and are now questioning if their work was plagiarised — a charge the AI tech giant denies.

‘Leaps of creativity’ 

That’s not the only issue with OpenAI’s calculations.

“The flag is captured, the goal scored, and the problem is solved; but at the cost of lessons learned, insights gained, collaborations formed, and new targets located,” Tao wrote on Mastodon.

UCLA mathematics professor Terence Tao, a Fields Medal winner, warns that recent advances in artificial intelligence are raising difficult questions about the future role of mathematicians. — AFP file pic

Tao was among 25 Fields Medal laureates who signed a letter last Friday to warn of a potential “destructive effect” by AI on the field of mathematics.

To boot, Stanford University professor Mohammed Abouzaid said the technology’s lack of imagination is apparent.

“We are still not seeing the kind of leaps of creativity that really involve creating new mathematics, and maybe the labs are going to make that their next target, and that would be very interesting to see,” Abouzaid said.

Anima Anandkumar, a Caltech professor working at the intersection of mathematics and AI, succeeded with her team in solving a simplified form of the Navier-Stokes equations (known as Euler equations) using an AI model that did not rely on prior works from researchers.

This AI was not like the ones powering ChatGPT or Claude, but rather a physics-informed neural network (PINN) model, which combines data with the laws of physics.

“So, you could think of OpenAI as being more reliant on humans than we are in some sense,” she said.

However, Anandkumar notes that the model still had to be designed and tested.

Auffinger said he does not foresee a time when AI tools “would be able to provide answers for any questions that you ask” and that human mathematicians will continue to “play a huge role because it’s not about how to go from point A to point B.”

“It’s about asking the questions that will help society as a whole,” he explained. — AFP

SUBANG JAYA, Sept 18 — Brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease were found to begin 15 to 20 years before the onset of noticeable memory loss, making long-term sleep hygiene a critical and early preventive measure.

Sunway Medical Centre, Sunway City Consultant Neurologist Dr Mohamad Imran Idris warned that while pulling occasional late nights might have seemed harmless, consistent poor sleep patterns over months and years compounded metabolic stress on the brain, accelerating neurodegenerative risks.

“Changes in the brain start 15 to 20 years before somebody actually develops dementia, meaning 20 years before they start having severe memory problems, you can already see microscopic changes occurring,” he told Bernama in an exclusive interview.

Addressing a widespread biological misconception, Dr Mohamad Imran emphasised that individuals could not compensate for or “buy back” lost weekday sleep by oversleeping during weekends.

“Sleep regularity is what matters because pulling four-hour nights and trying to compensate with 12-hour weekend sleep simply does not work biologically to clear accumulated brain inflammation,” he explained.

He noted that during deep sleep, the brain actively clears away metabolic waste, cellular debris and inflammation accumulated during waking hours.

Chronic sleep deprivation, he noted, deprives the brain of this essential recovery window, thereby increasing the risk of cognitive decline over time.

Dr Mohamad Imran highlighted a distinct U-shaped correlation between sleep duration and dementia risk, noting that the biological sweet spot for brain recovery was seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep per night.

“Too little sleep increases the risk of dementia, but too much sleep can also reflect that someone is already developing it, especially if someone who used to sleep normally suddenly begins sleeping for much longer hours or stays in bed all day,” he noted.

In terms of risk demographics, he pointed out that gender played a significant role, with statistics showing there were approximately twice as many women as men over the age of 65 living with Alzheimer’s disease.

Sunway Medical Centre neurologist Dr Mohamad Imran Idris says brain changes can begin 15 to 20 years before dementia symptoms appear. — Bernama pic

He further explained that up to a decade before a formal diagnosis, subtle non-cognitive indicators often emerged, including rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder.

He said this condition involved individuals lacking normal dream-state muscle paralysis, causing them to physically act out vivid dreams through shouting, punching or kicking in their sleep.

In Malaysia, dementia prevalence was shown to be escalating alongside an ageing demographic, with Health Ministry surveys indicating that approximately 10 per cent of Malaysians over 60 suffered from the condition, rising to 33 per cent among those aged 80 and above.

Despite these sobering figures, Dr Mohamad Imran stressed that modern diagnostics, such as blood-based biomarkers combined with newly approved disease-modifying therapies, now allow specialists to actively slow down the physical progression of the disease.

He said that healthier lifestyle changes, such as managing cardiovascular health, staying physically active, cognitive training with stimulation activities to challenge the brain, avoiding smoking, reducing exposure to air pollution, and maintaining social engagement with people around, help in delaying the early onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms.

“If you notice a persistent change in your sleeping patterns or are becoming unusually forgetful, see a doctor early, because waiting until memory problems prevent you from recognising family members is often too late,” he urged.

World Alzheimer’s Day, observed globally every year on Sept 21, continued to serve as a vital platform to raise international awareness and advocate for early medical intervention. — Bernama

HYDERABAD, Sept 18 — When transgender woman Kali Sidharth Medepalli began hormone replacement therapy in India, she expected to complete her medical transition and undergo surgery within a year.

But just months after she began treatment earlier this year, India’s parliament amended the country’s transgender law, and the clinic where she was receiving care stopped her medicines.

“Everything shut down,” the 23-year-old communications specialist and LGBTQ rights activist told AFP in the southern city of Hyderabad.

Kali said she went 10 days without a testosterone blocker, experiencing hot flushes and body aches.

The amendment introduced penalties for forcing someone to assume a transgender identity through surgical, chemical or hormonal procedures.

Authorities say the changes are meant to better protect vulnerable groups by strengthening penalties for exploitation, forced identity and trafficking.

The government said it does not criminalise consensual, medically supervised care, but activists and doctors say the amendment created uncertainty for thousands of people.

“The healthcare system is very fearful right now,” said transgender rights activist Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, a member of a Supreme Court advisory committee on transgender welfare.

The lack of clarity, she said, could “scare away even the ones who have the best interests for the trans people”.

Kali later managed to obtain her medicine using her existing prescription but was forced to self-medicate.

“Ideally, you should have a doctor doing this for you,” she said.

Doctor’s dilemma 

The case illustrates the dilemma facing transgender people seeking safe medical care, said Sanjay Sharma, head of the Association for Transgender Health in India.

Doctors face a choice. Continuing treatment could expose them to legal risk, but refusing care could conflict with their medical responsibilities.

“How can I refuse care? I took an oath that above all do no harm,” said Sharma, a doctor and retired airforce commodore.

Transgender rights activist Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli speaks to AFP in Hyderabad during an interview after the Indian parliament amended the country’s law and introduced penalties for forcing someone to assume a transgender identity through surgical, chemical or hormonal procedures while saying it does not criminalise consensual, medically supervised care. — AFP pic

Some private clinics have continued treatment but are taking extra precautions, including additional paperwork, consent forms and charging patients more.

“Private clinics will now give care, but they lawyer up,” Sharma said.

It is particularly difficult for people without supportive families, established doctors or money for private care.

Mumbai-based Meghna Kulkarni, who supports her child’s transition, said the amendment “immediately rang danger bells”, but unlike others, they had a support network.

“We already knew the doctors, the surgeon, the psychiatrist,” Kulkarni said.

There are no official figures for how many transgender people receive gender-affirming healthcare in India, making the scale of the disruption difficult to assess.

India does not have a current estimate of its transgender population.

While India’s official 2011 Census recorded roughly 488,000 transgender individuals, human rights groups and experts estimate that the actual population is between five and six million people.

Uneven access 

The uncertainty over the amendment also affects transgender identity certification.

Bhukya Ahalya, 21, who transitioned in 2025, wants regular employment but has struggled to update her identity documents, which still identify her as a man.

She now survives by begging at traffic signals.

“Everyone wants me to move on from this life,” she said. “But when I want to move on, when I want to earn a respectful life, I don’t get a TG (transgender) card.”

Transgender woman Bhukya Ahalya, 21, transitioned when she was 20 and struggles to update her identity documents, which still identify her as a man, making it difficult for her to get stable employment. — AFP pic

The government website for applying for a transgender identity card — the first step towards changing other key documents — has not functioned since the amendment came into force.

The amendment has added an extra layer of scrutiny to the process. Now a designated medical board must recommend certification, after which a magistrate can issue the identity certificate.

The amendment is being challenged in the Supreme Court. Petitioners cite constitutional protections including dignity, autonomy and privacy, as well as the right to self-identification.

AFP contacted the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for clarification on the amendment, its rules and the identity-card portal, but received no response.

For Kali, her carefully planned medical transition has become uncertain.

“I don’t know the future,” she said. “I can’t plan it anymore”. — AFP

MEXICO CITY, Sept 17 — A cherished 16th-century Mexican manuscript that tells the history of the Aztecs in pictograms goes on display Thursday in Mexico City, nearly two centuries after it was whisked off to France.

The Codex Azcatitlan recounts the history of the Aztec civilisation, from the creation of the Aztec Empire to its fall during the Spanish conquest, which ushered in Christianity.

Created shortly after the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, it is considered one of the most important accounts of Indigenous Mexica, or Aztec, history.

France’s National Library, which has had possession of it for over a century, loaned it to Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology to commemorate 200 years of relations between Mexico and France.

Its return to Mexico comes as successive left-wing Mexican governments step up efforts to recover colonial-era cultural objects held outside the country.

Since 2018, over 16,200 items have been repatriated from various countries, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said last year.

President Claudia Sheinbaum pressed her counterpart Emmanuel Macron to return the Codex Azcatitlan and another precious manuscript, the Codex Borbonicus, during a visit by the Frenchman to Mexico City last year.

Both are “very important to Mexico,” she said.

The Codex Azcatitlan narrates the Aztec migration from Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of Aztec civilisation, to the promised land of Tenochtitlan, the forerunner of Mexico City.

“It combines the pre-Hispanic drawing system, but already incorporates figures with a more realistic vision,” Diego Prieto, former director of the Institute of Anthropology, explained at an event in July.

Those figures, he said, “clearly refer to figures from the conquest and figures related to the cultural, urban, and architectural changes that occurred afterward.”

History of tensions 

The manuscript, which fills 25 sheets of parchment that were imported from Europe in the 16th century, was donated to the National Library of France in 1898 by the widow of the Franco-Mexican collector Eugene Goupil.

It was brought to France half a century earlier by Joseph Marius Alexis Aubin, a French researcher specialising in Indigenous American cultures.

The codex is one of two volumes illustrating Indigenous Mexica life that have been kept in France, to Mexico’s annoyance.

The other is the Codex Borbonicus, which represents the “divinatory and solar calendars” of the Mexica civilisation, according to the French culture ministry.

It is kept at the library of French parliament’s lower house, the National Assembly.

In 1982, the issue of colonial-era relics led to tensions between Mexico and France when a Mexican lawyer, Jose Luis Castaneda, stole another manuscript, the Codex Tonalamatl, from France’s National Library and brought it back to Mexico.

France expressed anger over what it described as theft but the codex remained in Mexico.

Both the National Assembly and National Library say their possession of the two other codices is legal and defend the principle of “inalienability of public collections” in France.

Neither work was included in a law adopted by the French parliament in May on returning stolen colonial-era artefacts. — AFP

GENEVA, Sept 17 — The planet’s water cycle is becoming increasingly erratic, swinging between too little and too much, the United Nations warned Thursday, with an unprecedented El Nino expected to exacerbate the long-term trend.

Last year was among the driest for the world’s rivers in over three decades, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said in a report.

In 2025 — one of the warmest years on record—glaciers also shrank across all regions, even as groundwater levels in many parts of the world are in multi-year decline, it found.

Overall, the WMO’s annual State of Global Water Resources report showed that the Earth’s freshwater storage—the total amount of water stored in groundwater, lakes and rivers, soil moisture, vegetation and ice and snow—continued a decade-long decline.

Some elements of the water cycle change rapidly—like precipitation, river flow and soil moisture, responding to weather within days or weeks.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo voiced particular concern about the decline in “slow reserves”, like groundwater and glaciers, which she said had traditionally served as the planet’s “savings account”.

They have served as “a buffer that absorbs bad years so that a single drought or a single dry season does not translate directly into a water crisis”, she told reporters.

Spending our reserves

Now, “we are depleting that savings account”, she warned. “We are spending our reserves.”

Glaciers have also been shrinking at a precipitous rate, with 2025 marking the fourth consecutive year where they shed significant ice mass across all regions.

Between 2023 and 2025, the report estimated that glaciers lost a cumulative global glacier mass of 1,400 gigatonnes of water—roughly equal to the water required to fill 560 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, or about a third of the world’s annual freshwater withdrawals.

“Groundwater tells a similar story: nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showed conditions outside the historical norm in 2025,” Saulo said.

She highlighted that this was happening in parallel with “more water-related disasters”.

In particular, she pointed to the current El Nino pattern, which is expected to be the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago.

El Nino is the warm phase of a natural climate cycle that occurs every two to seven years and is characterised by above average ocean temperatures across the Pacific, and brings worldwide changes in winds and rainfall patterns and erratic weather.

“The strengthening El Nino will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others,” Saulo cautioned.

Abnormal

Already before El Nino hit, rivers worldwide were showing “abnormal” flows, WMO said, with 2025 among the three driest years for rivers in 35 years.

For a seventh year in a row, the number of river basins globally experiencing “normal” conditions were in a clear minority in 2025.

Only around 36 per cent saw normal flows, while an equal percentage saw below-normal discharge conditions and 21 per cent were above normal, the report found.

The WMO stressed the importance of good data to map the developments in the water cycle, warning that significants gaps remained in hard-hit areas.

“Weather respects no borders, and this is especially true for water,” Saulo said, arguing for the importance of “shared data, shared standards and shared early warnings”.

“A river basin is fed by water upstream, often in another country,” she pointed out.

And “a glacier disaster in one country can lead to devastation in another as we saw with the recent tragedy of China and Nepal”. — AFP

LONDON, Sept 17 — Journalist and author Zeinab Badawi, whose history of Africa has sold more than 110,000 copies, is turning her attention to younger readers with a forthcoming children’s edition of the book.

Badawi, best known for her work as a broadcaster for the UK’s Channel 4 News and the BBC, was born in Sudan and brought up in England.

An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence was first published in 2024 and now she is working on a children’s version.

Like the adult volume, the adapted edition will trace the broad sweep of African history from the rise of powerful kingdoms, great trading centres and influential leaders, before charting the continent’s path towards independence in the modern era.

“Of course you have to engage the young reader through vivid illustrations and I have a wonderful illustrator who I think captures the essence of the characters I have focused on in the children’s book,” she told AFP.

“History is best understood if it is seared into the imagination and that is especially true for young readers,” she added.

Entitled Africa: History and Heroes, the new book will combine simple text with illustrations aimed at making Africa’s history come alive for younger readers.

No history ‘myth’ 

Badawi, 67, said she believed children should be introduced to African history at an early age to help them understand that it was “part of our global story”.

A French translation of Badawi’s original book is being published tomorrow in France which she hopes will reach new readers in francophone Africa.

France and Britain were the major colonial powers on the continent.

The book began life as a BBC series and has seen her travel to about 30 African countries to meet with historians, anthropologists and specialists in African culture.

“I wanted to dispel the myth that Africa had no history,” she said.

Badawi, the president of SOAS University of London, said Africa’s history had previously been largely seen through the European lens.

The extent to which it had been sidelined really hit home, she said, when a former African president admitted he was “better” at naming English medieval kings than kings and queens of Africa.

“If you ask most people ‘what do you know about Africa’s history?’ they know nothing, really, including on the continent itself,” she said.

“So I really wanted to tackle this ignorance, which, frankly, even I had in many ways.”

Steeped in culture 

Badawi, who left Sudan at the age of two, describes herself as merely a go-between helping the reader access the continent’s experts steeped in its languages and culture.

She said she hoped the book filled a gap that she had experienced herself.

“I’d go to a library or a bookshop and I could not find a book that conveyed the African perspective on Africa’s history, which gave me this kind of holistic overview.”

For now, she remains optimistic about Africa partly due to its youth. The average age is around 18 compared to 38 in the United States.

And she welcomed the United Nations’ vote earlier this month to adopt a new more accurate world map.

The new map replaces the traditional so-called Mercator projection, dating from 1569, which inflated the size of northern regions and compressed equatorial ones.

As a result it made Europe and North America appear much larger, while shrinking Africa and South America.

“I think we have to abandon the old thinking that made Africa look like it was tiny,” sh said.

“I really welcome the fact that that balance has been redressed.” — AFP

WASHINGTON, Sept 17 — A researcher at Nasa has found a massive, recently-formed crater on the Moon, a rare occurrence that only happens “once in a century or even longer,” according to scientists.

The crater, dubbed “McGetchin,” measures 730 feet (222 meters) wide, Nasa said in a blog post.

It is believed to have been created in the spring of 2024 from a comet or asteroid colliding with the Moon, with researchers describing the object that caused it to be the size of a building three-to-six stories high.

“Scientists estimate that an impact of this magnitude happens on the Moon about once in a century or even longer,” Nasa said in the blog post.

Although the crater had been there for years, it was not discovered until Robert Wagner, a researcher with Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), noticed it in a new scan of the Moon’s surface.

The crater appeared as a “large bright spot circled by a dark halo” by the LRO probe, which has been studying the Moon since 2009.

A study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances determined it was the largest new crater ever discovered in the solar system.

While the Moon has numerous craters, many of which are far bigger than McGetchin, researching a crater’s formation in real time can help build understanding of the Moon’s geology.

This in turn could better prepare future crewed missions to the Moon, which are currently planned by both the United States and China.

Unlike Earth, the Moon has virtually no atmospheric layer, so space debris does not slow down or burn up before colliding with the surface. — AFP

THIMPHU, Sept 17 — Engineer Rinzin Galley stands on a platform overlooking a former military shooting range on the edge of Bhutan’s capital Thimphu, now home to a gleaming field of solar panels.

With abundant waterways, Bhutan has long relied on hydroelectric power to meet its electricity needs and stay carbon negative — absorbing more planet-warming gases than it emits.

But demand is growing, and in winter, when rivers run low before the mountain melt arrives, Bhutan already relies on imported Indian electricity.

Climate change is also threatening the future of the glaciers that feed those rivers, adding impetus to a push for energy diversification.

“Solar projects are booming,” said Rinzin, senior engineer at Norion Renewable Energy.

This photograph taken on August 30, 2026 shows senior engineer Rinzin Galley standing next to solar inverters in a control room at the Norion Renewable Energy company compound in Bhutan's capital city of Thimphu. — AFP pic

The company’s biggest project to date is the Dechencholing solar farm on former military land, with an installed capacity of 4.45 megawatts (MW).

Dechencholing is one of several solar fields developed in recent years, including the country’s first mega project—Sephu, with over 22 MW capacity.

That is relatively modest, especially compared to the vast solar fields installed in neighbouring China.

But it represents a new direction for Bhutan, where hydropower exports account for up to 15 per cent of GDP, according to the World Bank.

“Our plans are to develop about 5,000 megawatts,” said Chhewang Rinzin, managing director of Druk Green Power Corporation, the country’s generation utility.

Bhutan can currently produce around 3,700 MW from hydro, but that capacity falls around 80 per cent during the winter, he said.

Winter demand has increased to 1,500 MW from 400 MW, creating a significant shortfall currently being met by electricity imports from India.

This photograph taken on September 4, 2026 shows solar panels on rooftops of buildings at Paro International Airport in Bhutan’s Paro city. — AFP pic

Finding space 

Officials attribute part of the growing demand to a construction boom, but Bhutan has also bet on bitcoin mining to boost revenue. A planned special economic zone known as the Gelephu Mindfulness City is expected to host energy-hungry data centres.

The problem was already clear back in 2008, when a goal of generating 10,000 MW from hydropower by 2020 was agreed. But the plan ran into a series of obstacles, including financing.

“When you’re looking at constructing 10,000 megawatts in hydropower capacity and each megawatt probably costs you about US$1.5 million (RM6.07 million)... for a small economy like ourselves, that’s quite difficult,” said Chhewang.

Solutions have included liberalising foreign investment rules and increasing solar targets in the energy mix.

The country now aims for 25,000 MW by 2040, with solar accounting for a fifth of that.

But finding sufficient space for projects is challenging given Bhutan’s largely mountainous terrain.

“When we do solar projects on the ground mount, it takes a huge amount of area to get certain capacity,” Norion’s Rinzin said.

The country’s high altitudes, circuitous routes and roads frequently damaged by landslides pose further problems.

Part of the push has involved training up a corps of solar engineers, including through the De-suung royal skilling initiative.

Norion has trained around 450 De-suung volunteers “to build in-house capacity in the country,” Rinzin said.

Several dozen now work at Norion, which has a goal of installing 30 MW of solar by 2027, much of it on rooftops.

Rooftop solar is now a common sight in Thimphu on government buildings and businesses, but the incentives for individual consumers are still slim.

Electricity is comparatively cheap in Bhutan, and installing solar remains expensive.

This photograph taken on August 30, 2026 shows solar panels on rooftops of buildings in Bhutan’s capital city of Thimphu. — AFP pic

Rooftop solar 

Om Pradhan, a former minister and ambassador, had long advocated for solar in Bhutan, and was keen to install panels at home.

“I thought that firstly it would benefit me personally, in the sense that my electricity bills would go down,” the 79-year-old former minister for trade and industries told AFP.

“The second thing is that I’ve always been an advocate for solar power,” he said.

But the 600,000 ngultrums (RM25,480) it cost him to install the system remains far out of reach for most Bhutanese.

“Many people calculate that if you put that money in the bank, the interest would pay your electricity bills,” he said.

For now, Bhutan’s solar targets do not depend on rooftop installation.

Energy demand is not the only driving factor.

“We are quite aware that climate change will affect us, that the glaciers will keep receding,” said Chhewang of Druk Green Power.

“So I think in the long-term, you will have to keep yourself open to other options.” — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — Meet the 24-year-old Subang Jaya native Hayley Nea Iauduray who recently came up with a kinetic device designed to alleviate hand tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease.

The Monash University Malaysia graduate was recently named the National Winner for Malaysia in the 2026 James Dyson Awards for her creation, ZeMor (short for ‘Zero Tremor’).

Iauduray is also set to join two other runner-up teams from Malaysia to progress to the next stage of the James Dyson Award, where they will stand a chance to receive RM162,999.

What is ZeMor?

So, what exactly is ZeMor? It is a tunable, battery-free wearable designed to reduce hand tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease.

Interestingly, its design was inspired by Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs)—the massive engineering systems used to stabilise skyscrapers during severe earthquakes and typhoons such as the one found inside the Taipei 101 building.

How does it work?

Beyond its compact design, ZeMor works like a traditional damper, but with one major edge: unlike fixed-mass passive devices, it can be customised to match individual tremor frequencies by adding or removing weights.

Built using readily available components like slotted weights, steel ball bearings, spring-based dampeners, and other off-the-shelf hardware, alongside a 3D-printed housing, ZeMor was designed to make tremor support more affordable and accessible, supporting broader access across different communities.

Over the course of a year, Iauduray developed and refined multiple prototypes, testing the concept using a custom-built rig that simulated Parkinsonian tremors.

Lauduray said that although she never had any experience with patients with Parkinson’s disease, her research has opened her eyes of on the stark reality of the condition. — Picture by Raymond Manuel 

The story behind ZeMor

Lauduray told Malay Mail that ZeMor originated as her Final Year Project and it was her supervisor who encouraged her to join the competition.

While she had no prior experience with Parkinson’s disease, her research exposed the stark reality of the condition.

She learned from World Health Organization (WHO) data that Parkinson’s is among the fastest-growing neurological disorders, with global cases projected to reach 25.2 million by 2050.

Locally, an estimated 20,000 Malaysians live with Parkinson’s—a figure expected to increase fivefold over the next two decades as the population ages.

“I’ve never had experience with any Parkinson’s disease patients before and I didn’t know how bad the situation was after I did my research.

“Hopefully this device could someday help them in the future,” she said.

Iauduray, who found her passion for engineering by playing with Legos while she was in secondary school also shared that she was also inspired by an online video of a boy building a wheelchair for his paralysed pet.

“That’s why for my device, I wanted to move away from electronics because nowadays everyone is using sensors to detect things and some use batteries.

“Are you going to put that amount of batteries on an old person? Old people are already struggling with using their phones and to put something complicated on them is just not ideal and practical.

“Which is why I wanted to make something using simple physics,” she said.

As the National Winner, Iauduray will receive RM27,160 from the James Dyson Foundation and she plans to use the funds to upgrade the current single-axis prototype into a multi-directional system that stabilises tremors from multiple angles.

Aside from that, her next phase will also involve working with medical professionals and research partners to evaluate the device with people living with Parkinson’s disease.

The winnner and runner-ups of the Dyson Malaysia Award 2026. — Picture by Raymond Manuel 

The runner ups and next stage

Aside from Iauduray, the Malaysia James Dyson Award also announced two other runner-ups who will be joining Iauduray at the next stage to showcase their inventions.

This includes the Solar Liquid Integration for Communities (SLIC) which is a portable, solar-powered water purification system that aims to improve access to safe drinking water for off-grid communities, developed by students from the University of Nottingham Malaysia in Semenyih.

The other runner-up is Pillay– a child-friendly, contactless screening device that measures vital signs while helping make health checks more comfortable for young children which was developed by students from Asia Pacific University in Kuala Lumpur.

ZeMor, alongside the two runner-ups, SLIC and Pillay will now progress to the next stage of the James Dyson Award, where they will stand a chance to receive RM162,999.

The international Top 20 shortlist will be announced on October 14, selected by a global team of Dyson engineers and the international winners will be announced on November 4, selected by Sir James Dyson himself.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — As Malaysia approaches the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2025, an important debate is emerging over the legislation’s age verification requirements.

The discussion centres on whether platforms should rely on government-issued identification such as MyKad and MyDigital ID, or adopt a multi-layered age assurance approach that prioritises user privacy while ensuring teen safety.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), received substantial feedback during public consultations, with industry and civil society stakeholders broadly advocating flexible, risk-based solutions rather than strict identification requirements.

The consultation received feedback from 21 respondents, including human rights and civil society organisations, such as CIJ and technology companies such as Meta, Google, TikTok Service Pte Ltd, X Corp., Roblox, and Redone, alongside telco providers including Maxis, CelcomDigi, Telekom Malaysia, Time dotCom, YTL Communications and Astro.

To better understand the limitations of such a proposal, Malay Mail spoke to several experts for their views on the legislation.

Potential cybersecurity risks

One of the major concerns surrounding such a rule requiring social media platforms to seek government-issued identification for age verification lies within cybersecurity risks, especially in the event of mass hacks.

United Youth Alliance exco member Na’im Brundage said, “Malaysia has had serious data-security problems, with repeated leaks and breaches involving personal information,” referring to recent hacking incidents of government websites being hacked.

In June, the Health Ministry confirmed its official website was hacked after the portal displayed a message believed to have been left by the attackers.

Na’im also expressed his concerns over censorship and freedom of expression should social media accounts be linked to the personal identity of the user.

“If every social media account can easily be linked to an individual’s identity, that infrastructure could potentially be abused against whistleblowers, journalists, activists or ordinary Malaysians who are critical of those in power.

“That is why I think a multi-layered age-assurance approach deserves serious consideration,” he said.

According to him, less intrusive methods, such as age estimation or account and device signals, could be used first, with stronger verification such as MyKad and MyDigital ID only where necessary.

The MCMC’s consultation report highlighted significant concerns over mandatory government verification, with many stakeholders worried that it could lead to the creation of centralised databases and increase the risk of security breaches. — Picture by Raymond Manue

Concerns over data breaches

The MCMC’s consultation report highlighted significant concerns over mandatory government verification, with many stakeholders worried that it could lead to the creation of centralised databases and increase the risk of security breaches.

Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) executive director Wathshlah G. Naidu expressed strong opposition to linking social media use with national identification documents.

“This should not be an ID verification approach but an age-assurance approach,” she said.

Wathshlah also raised concerns over how information would be protected, particularly in the event of a data breach.

“MyDigital ID sits in a vacuum of agencies not covered under the Personal Data Act,” she said.

While Wathshlah highlighted the potential drawbacks of mandatory verification, Children’s Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) Associate Professor Mohd Al Adib Samuri, highlighted that MyKad information could be leaked, stolen or misused.

Wathshlah pointed out that such requirements could exclude marginalised users, adding that the move could worsen digital exclusion and deepen existing divides.

“We will exclude a large number of users who don’t have national IDs, including stateless children, asylum seekers and refugees,” she said.

Privacy and surveillance issues

Wathshlah highlighted the risks of increased surveillance that could arise from linking social media accounts to national IDs.

“There is a huge potential for increased profiling based on who is using social media,” she said.

She cautioned that this profiling could lead to biases and increased governmental oversight of users’ online activities.

“Civil society organisations that rely on social media for advocacy would open themselves up to heightened surveillance,” she warned, highlighting potential implications for freedom of expression and censorship.

Wathshlah suggested a multi-layered approach, which begins with self-declarations and incorporates behavioural analysis for users who may misrepresent their ages. — Picture by Hari Anggara

Alternative rights-respecting and privacy-preserving approach

Wathshlah suggested a multi-layered approach, which begins with self-declarations and incorporates behavioural analysis for users who may misrepresent their ages.

“If that system fails, platforms could impose more stringent scrutiny,” she said, stressing that an inclusive age verification framework must balance safety with privacy.

Wathshlah also noted that any framework must be comprehensive, taking into account pre-implementation, execution and post-implementation stages to identify and address potential risks.

Echoing similar sentiments, Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) head of communications Shah Fariq Aizal Sha Ghazni emphasised the need to implement the most suitable solutions from the outset.

“We must be careful that in trying to solve one problem, we do not create another problem by normalising excessive collection of personal data,” he said.

Fariq also stressed the importance of prioritising privacy, urging the exploration of privacy-preserving approaches.

How are other countries doing it?

Singapore is planning new legislation for early 2027 that will mandate strict teen safeguards.

The country has so far avoided a blanket ban; instead, the government has introduced measures requiring major social media platforms to reduce children’s exposure to harmful online content and improve safety features.

Under the proposed rules, platforms would have to improve controls over how teenagers interact with strangers online.

In European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation requires platforms to obtain explicit consent before gathering data.

The law gives citizens the right to be forgotten, or better known as the “right to erasure”, forcing platforms to delete their data upon request and protecting against the unauthorised misuse of identity under certain conditions.

OTTERLO (Netherlands), Sept 16 — A Dutch museum yesterday put a collection of 88 paintings by Vincent van Gogh on display for the first time since 1984, in an exhibition featuring masterpieces such as “The Potato Eaters”.

The Kroller-Muller museum in the central Netherlands holds one of the world’s largest private collections of paintings by the 19th century Dutch master, but they are rarely displayed together.

“Seeing the work of Van Gogh is always special, but 88 together, I don’t think it has happened before in this century,” museum director Benno Tempel told AFP in an interview.

“The funny thing is with a museum collection is that you have a lot of paintings, you have a lot of artworks, but you don’t show all of them,” he said.

Usually many of the works are out on loan, undergoing restoration or research, or absent for education purposes, explained Tempel.

“So, in our case, it was a rare chance that all of a sudden all the 88 paintings by Van Gogh were in our house at the same time,” he told AFP.

Alongside “The Potato Eaters”, the artist’s world-famous depiction of peasant life from 1885, the exhibition includes “Terrace of a Cafe at Night” (1888) and “The Old Tower at Nuenen” (1884).

Even the staff at the museum had never seen all the paintings together, said Tempel.

“For us it’s an enormous, beautiful experience. It’s overwhelming,” said the 54-year-old.

‘Biggest stars’

The exhibition has been organised around the theme of the three divine virtues: faith, hope and love.

These themes “give you more insight not only into Van Gogh’s life, but also into his development as an artist,” curator Renske Cohen Tervaert told AFP.

The goal of the exhibition is not to repeat the myths about the famously tortured artist, she explained.

The museum aims to explore “more about the reason he wanted to become an artist... and how he managed to use his paintings as a message, as a method of compassion and trying to help other people.”

The post-Impressionist painter is among the most celebrated and prolific artists in history, having created around 900 paintings over a short career.

He produced many of his best-known works during his time in France, where he painted masterpieces including the famous “Sunflowers” series and a number of well-known self-portraits.

The artist died in 1890 at the age of 37, two days after shooting himself in the chest following well-documented mental health struggles.

Most of the works acquired in yesterday’s exhibition, entitled “Van Gogh, All Our Paintings”, were acquired by the museum’s founder Helene Kroller-Muller between 1908 and 1930.

Tervaert said she was honoured her museum was able to put on such an exhibit, which is roughly double the number of paintings normally on display there.

She said it was also an important event for the Netherlands, where she believes the artist achieves less fame than he does abroad.

“I mean, he’s one of our biggest stars,” said the 46-year-old.

German tourist Barbara Brandt, 73, was certainly impressed as she toured the museum.

“It’s extraordinary to look at all these pictures in one place,” she told AFP. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — So it’s Malaysia Day and you think your social media feed needs some local, or specifically East Malaysian flavour?

As the kids say these days, I got you fam.

Here’s our pick of some funny/insightful/just entertaining videos to add some Borneo fun to your feed.

Carl Devson sings about Sabah’s bane: terrible roads

If there’s one thing that Sabahans can unite in solidarity over is our terribly maintained roads.

Let’s not even talk about that highway that keeps getting delayed to the point I wonder if they’re building roads to Atlantis.

Influencer Carl Devson does what Sabahans do best — sing. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Carl Devson (@carldevstarr)

East meets West (Malaysia)

Thusna offers a unique perspective as a person of mixed Tamil-Iban heritage and a Bharathanatyam dancer.

When she isn’t dancing for the reels, she shares insight into her life working for an airline while also showcasing both of her cultures.

Here’s her sharing a reel about being in Sarawak for Hari Gawai.

Sarawakian gets culture shock in Sabah

Miri native Leong Jeen Jern found that running in Sabah was something to get used to — the locals were just too friendly.

I guess even close neighbours can have a lot to learn about each other.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by DBstory 逗比故事 (@dbstoryy)

Don’t play-play with Sabah women

Sabah women have a bit of a reputation... for having a temper.

I think it’s only if they’ve lived in KL too long (ask me how I know).

Content creator Amirul Hafiz made a hilarious video about what will happen if you come across that mythical being called the Angry Sabah Woman.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Thorusss (@thorusss)

Sometimes the anger is warranted

If you meet a pissy East Malaysian, it’s probably warranted as actress Sharmaine Alexander demonstrates.

She has a very nice comeback to someone saying they were “too scared” to court Sabahans as they were apparently masters of witchcraft.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Sharmaine Alexander (@sharmainealexxander)

‘Sabah and Sarawak samelah’

Influencer Lee Michelle’s hilarious reel is a perfect example of the daily microaggressions East Malaysians have to deal with from West Malaysia.

Please, never tell a Sarawakian their laksa is just fancy curry mee. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Lee MichelleTravel & Culture (@micnienie)

Sarawakian English

So we can all agree that Sarawakian Malay is a whole other language but how does a Sarawakian speak English.

TikTokker and psychology student Athalia demonstrates in this old-but-gold video.

Just so you know, Sarawakians use “bah” too. It’s just that Sabahans are more famous for it.

@officialathalia I don’t need hate on this cs its the way it is ily guys! #fyp #foryoupage #foryou #tiktokmalaysia #tiktoksarawak #raya2020 #lawakmalaysia original sound - Athalia - Athalia

BEIJING, Sept 16 — From a distance, it looks as though a giant spaceship has just landed in the palm tree-dotted streets near downtown Los Angeles.

It could also be a wide-canopied tree or a low passing cloud — but for its Chinese architect Ma Yansong, as long as the building “sparks curiosity”, he’s achieved his purpose.

Over the past two decades, Ma has created dozens of visually striking projects in his home country and abroad, integrating nature with sleek, modern designs.

In some ways, his seemingly sci-fi-inspired style is a perfect match for his newest project opening on September 22, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson.

“The building takes on a futuristic feel that generates excitement,” Ma told AFP at the Beijing office of MAD Architects, the firm he established in 2004.

“When people visit the Lucas Museum, they will each bring their own unique perspectives,” said the 50-year-old, who last year was included on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people.

Chinese architect and founder of MAD Architects Ma Yansong. — AFP pic

“They might catch a beam of light, see it cutting through the building, glimpse the clouds, the sky, or even the cosmos.

“This sparks curiosity and new ideas — and those diverse thoughts are incredibly valuable.”

Mountains and water

A Beijing native, he grew up in a courtyard house typical of the “hutong” alleyways that crisscross the historic centre of China’s capital city.

“There was a very close connection to nature,” he said, recalling the trees and small pockets of open space interspersed in hutong neighbourhoods.

Later, he went overseas to train as an architect, graduating from the Yale School of Architecture and working briefly at the studio of acclaimed Iraqi-British designer Zaha Hadid.

Ma and his firm have conceptualised landmark works all over China, including the Harbin Opera House, a vast, swooping structure perched dramatically on the banks of the frigid Songhua River.

A view of Chaoyang Park Plaza, designed by MAD Architects and inspired by traditional ‘shanshui’ Chinese landscape paintings. — AFP pic

Abroad, his notable projects include a pair of twisting residential buildings called the “Absolute Towers” near Toronto, Canada, and a migration-themed museum that opened last year in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Ma’s architectural vision draws inspiration from traditional Chinese paintings known as shanshui, or mountains and water, usually depicting natural scenery.

The Lucas Museum is closely interwoven with its external environment by lawns, trees, running water and a roof covered in vegetation and solar panels.

“If you look at a Chinese garden, it is a completely natural environment, even though it is artificially designed,” Ma told AFP.

“There is a global conversation (now) about ecology and how to bring people closer to nature, yet I find that traditional Eastern architecture mastered this long ago,” he said.

People-centred architecture

Ma told AFP that he embraces what he calls a “major shift” in architecture towards placing people, rather than the buildings themselves, at the centre of the design concept.

“We aren’t using architecture to flaunt wealth or power,” he said.

Although many of MAD’s clients wield significant financial resources, Ma said his focus is not merely to impress, but also to create “uniquely valuable space for people to enjoy”.

A view of the Baiziwan Social Housing project. — AFP pic

MAD’s Beijing office is located in the heart of a hutong neighbourhood near where Ma attended school in his youth.

“I like these small streets, with their trees, the people walking by and that certain atmosphere of everyday urban life,” he said.

Ma said when he designs a building he wants to make sure it gives “freedom of movement” to residents — a concept which drove his design of the Baiziwan Social Housing project in Beijing, a subsidised residential compound for low-income communities.

“Many low-income individuals feel they cannot integrate into the city,” said Ma.

“Often, such housing is walled off, isolating residents,” he said, adding: “It’s a psychological barrier — they feel the city doesn’t accept them.”

Unlike the closed, block-like apartments that have sprung up in Chinese cities during decades of rapid urbanisation, Baiziwan features an open layout with an elevated garden level and a design that optimises sunlight.

Ma said he doesn’t want his buildings “to be a palace or a temple-like structure that demands reverence”.

“I want it to be open, a place where everyone feels they are the masters of the city.” — AFP  

COLOMBO, Sept 16 — Sri Lanka’s famed seafood shack Beach Wadiya has hosted royalty including Britain’s Princess Anne and sporting legends such as cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, but now faces demolition under a government-ordered coastal clean-up.

The simple Colombo beach restaurant has welcomed a string of celebrities, featured in Madhur Jaffrey’s culinary travels and received rave reviews in international publications, including London’s Financial Times.

“Beach Wadiya comes with a lot of history,” said Suhara Chandrasekera, the founder’s granddaughter, now a director of the restaurant.

But more than half a century after it opened, the glamour is giving way to grief at Wadiya — which means “shack” in the island’s Sinhala language.

The government’s Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management Department gave Wadiya 10 days to pack up and leave — or face demolition.

That deadline expired on September 10, but the restaurant is resisting the order to leave.

Seven other beach properties were given extensions of about four days to salvage furniture and fittings.

A few shops near Wadiya were demolished last month as part of a broader government plan to remove businesses within 10 metres (33 feet) of the shoreline.

“There shouldn’t be any buildings within the 10-metre coastal reservation from the shoreline,” Environment Minister Dammika Patabendi told AFP.

“We have identified 82 such premises and we are taking steps to remove them.”

Co‑owner Suhara Chandrasekera shows a celebrity photo album at Colombo’s Beach Wadiya shack. — AFP pic

‘Sea erosion’

Beach Wadiya is the only establishment resisting the order and has taken the matter to court.

The family of its late founder, Olwyn Weerasekera, argues that the restaurant existed before the 1981 Coast Conservation Act being used to evict them.

“We built in 1974, which predates the law that they were talking about... We have permits dating all the way back to 1974,” 26-year-old Chandrasekera said.

“In addition to the appeal to the Coast Conservation Department, we also took the decision to file a writ,” she told AFP, referring to a case filed in the Court of Appeal.

The family has won a temporary reprieve, with the court ordering the department not to demolish the restaurant for two weeks pending a hearing.

When Wadiya was established, the beach was wider and cleaner, with rows of coconut trees, most of which have since been lost to sea erosion.

“Right now we have lost two of our huts... We’ve lost parts of our bathroom due to sea erosion,” Chandrasekera said.

She said Wadiya was the only restaurant on the beach before Sri Lanka’s tourism boom in the late 1970s.

Princess Anne had dinner at Wadiya in 1995. Nepali royals have also dined there.

British tycoon Richard Branson visited the restaurant during a family holiday in Sri Lanka in 1992, although the guestbook he signed was washed away in the December 2004 tsunami, according to the family.

Indian singing sensation Asha Bhosle, and cricket stars including India’s Rahul Dravid and former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram, have also dined there.

Seafood shack Beach Wadiya. — AFP pic

Singing lobster

One of the restaurant’s walls has a reproduction of a Financial Times cartoon of a guitar-playing lobster that accompanied a March 1994 food review headlined: “Cook me tender.”

The restaurant is best known for offering diners a platter of fresh seafood from which they can choose how it should be cooked.

There is no air conditioning and small tables are set up on the beach. An upper floor was added as the beachfront shrank over the years.

Experts blame worsening erosion on large-scale land reclamation farther north near Colombo port.

If the courts allow the restaurant to survive the government’s coastal clean-up, Chandrasekera says Wadiya will return to its roots.

“The only restaurant on the strip,” she said. — AFP

SRINAGAR, Sept 15 — A Kashmiri artisan is turning weeds pulled from Srinagar’s famous Dal Lake into a new ingredient for the centuries-old craft of papier-mache, one of Kashmir’s best-known traditional art forms.

Dal Lake is famed for its floating gardens and houseboats against a Himalayan backdrop.

Among its past visitors was Beatles guitarist George Harrison, who stayed on a houseboat in 1966 and met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.

But the lake has long struggled with heavy growth of aquatic weeds, which Indian authorities regularly remove to keep its waterways clear.

Simran Irshad, 35, began experimenting with weeds after the rising cost of paper made traditional papier-mache increasingly expensive.

With roots in Persian craftsmanship, Kashmir’s papier-mache is known for brightly painted boxes, trays and ornaments decorated with intricate floral, bird and paisley motifs — as well as Christmas ornaments exported worldwide.

A Kashmiri artisan uses dried aquatic weeds and grass collected from Dal Lake to create sustainable handcrafted papier-mache at a workshop in Srinagar on August 19, 2026. — AFP pic

‘Like a treasure’

Irshad searched for a cheaper, locally available material, and eventually turned to aquatic vegetation regularly cleared from the lake as waste.

After months of experimentation, she developed a technique using dried and pulverised weeds mixed with recycled paper pulp and a binding agent to create the material.

“For the past 100 years this craft has been done this way, using only paper,” Irshad told AFP.

“Why not use something that can increase production, make it durable and also make it cheaper?” she said.

Irshad collects the weeds by boat before drying and processing them at her workshop.

She tested different vegetation before finding the lake weeds most suitable because of their higher moisture content.

“Paper comes from trees, trees are cut down to make paper,” she said.

“What I am removing from the lake is like a treasure given to me by God.”

She has trained around 50 women to make paper products, with 15 currently working with her on the weed-based craft.

Irshad hopes to expand the initiative but said she needs more support to provide work for additional women. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 — Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and actress‑singer Bella Astillah made a heartwarming stop at the home of former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, presenting her with their wedding invitation and receiving nearly two hours of marital advice in return.

In an Instagram post, Syed Saddiq described the meeting as a chance to “berguru bab perkahwinan” with Wan Azizah, whom he called “Malaysia’s Compassionate Iron Lady.” He reflected on her decades of resilience — navigating political storms, family trials and public scrutiny — while remaining steadfast as a wife, mother and national figure. The former youth and sports minister also noted his personal honour of having served alongside her in Cabinet.

This time, however, the visit was far from political. The couple arrived with their wedding card, prompting laughter and warmth in the post’s caption. Syed Saddiq thanked Wan Azizah for her guidance, saying the advice would accompany them into married life.

The post quickly drew an outpouring of public affection. Commenters celebrated Bella’s journey, with many noting how far she has come and how her guest list now includes the country’s top leaders. Others praised Wan Azizah’s humility and quiet strength, calling her a model of integrity and compassion. Some joked that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim — fondly referred to as PMX — had finally received the wedding invitation he had been waiting for.

Many wished the couple ease in their preparations and prayed for a smooth path to their big day, with several expressing excitement to witness what is expected to be one of the year’s most anticipated celebrity‑political weddings.

LONDON, Sept 15 — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan changed their children’s school for security reasons, just days after the start of the school year in England where the pair recently resettled, British media outlets reported Monday.

The couple left Britain and quit royal duties in 2020 during a royal family feud and Harry subsequently waged a years-long, ultimately unsuccessful, legal battle to retain UK taxpayer-funded security while living in California.

Now back with their seven-year-old son, Prince Archie, and five-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet, he has reportedly been pushing for reinstated police protection.

The family have reportedly chosen to live in the Cotswolds, in central England popular with celebrities and enrolled both children into a private school whose name has not been disclosed.

According to Hello! magazine, the distance to the school and the heavy traffic on the route raised security concerns.

“The decision for the children to move school was taken following a discussion with the family’s security team about the practicalities of their current arrangements,” a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex told the magazine.

Harry and Meghan’s team did not respond on Monday to AFP’s request for comment.

Harry and his family are currently using private security guards, but the prince has asked the government to step in to provide police protection for him and his family, according to local media.

Britain’s Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec) responsible for the protection of public and royal figures met last week to discuss the protection of the prince’s family, as he celebrates his 42nd birthday on Tuesday.

Ravec will conduct a detailed review of the threats facing the Duke of Sussex and his wife, BBC reported.

King Charles III said his son Harry and the prince’s wife Meghan are not to be considered “working members of the royal family” after they moved back to Britain from the United States. — AFP 

STOCKHOLM, Sept 15 —“Mag-da-le-na!” The composer of legendary Swedish pop group ABBA on Sunday gave the band’s hit Mamma Mia a campaign makeover to rally support for left-wing opposition candidate Magdalena Andersson.

“I thought, why not come and play for Magdalena?” Benny Andersson said from a piano set up at the Social Democrats’ party headquarters, hours after polls opened.

The 79-year-old then launched into the melody of the famous song as supporters gathered in central Stockholm.

“Mag-da-le-na!” the crowd sang along, to the amusement of Andersson, leader of the opposition Social Democrats.

Swedes are voting in a tight race that will see either the left-wing opposition reclaim power or the far right enter government for the first time. — AFP

SUWON, Sept 15 — A little cheer rose for 79-year-old Hwang Sun-hee after she managed to place an online order at a training session in South Korea, which has one of the world’s starkest digital divides for seniors.

Age gaps in digital literacy are a global concern, yet the gulf has widened massively in the hyper-connected and fast-ageing country, prompting national campaigns to bridge it.

“You can’t do anything without smartphone apps or a kiosk machine… It’s too much for old folks,” Hwang said at a senior community centre in Suwon, south of Seoul, during government-organised digital survival training.

The so-called grey digital divide has provided some striking examples in the nation of about 52 million, home to world-leading smartphone and memory chipmakers.

Last year, several baseball clubs began reserving a small number of tickets for on-site sales after reports that older fans, cash in hand, approached younger people at stadiums and pleaded with them to buy tickets from machines.

Nearly 90 percent of taxi drivers use ride-hailing apps, yet more than 80 percent of South Koreans over 60 still hail cabs by hand, a survey showed.

A 71-year-old retired public servant at the same training session as Hwang recalled spending over 30 minutes trying to flag down a taxi on a busy Seoul street.

The cabs kept passing him to pick up younger riders just metres away who were using smartphone apps to hail their rides.

“I felt utterly useless,” the man, who gave only his surname, Park, told AFP.

This picture taken on August 13, 2026 shows elderly people playing a game of Gomoku, also called five in a row, with a robot during a government-organised digital survival training at a senior community centre in Suwon. Age gaps in digital literacy are a global concern, yet the gulf has widened massively in the hyper-connected and fast-aging country, prompting national campaigns to bridge it. — AFP pic

South Korea’s wide divide 

The digital divide can also pose a real threat, leaving older people vulnerable to high-tech crimes such as online scams or limiting their access to medical services, experts say.

A state survey last year found that 60 percent of South Koreans over 60 struggle to use public and commercial services due to lack of digital skills — compared with just six percent of those under 40.

“The intergenerational digital divide (in South Korea) appears wider than elsewhere,” said Kim Jeung-kun, professor of senior business at Kangnam University in Seoul.

He noted that the nation’s “intensely compressed” industrialisation happened in just a few decades, while it took centuries in many Western countries.

South Korea — which had a GDP per capita below $100 in the wake of its 1950-1953 war — is now the world’s 15th largest economy, according to the IMF.

“Many of our elderly grew up at a time when many had no electricity, landline phones or proper schooling,” Kim added.

The nation’s older cohort is massive — South Korea is what the UN calls a “super-aged society”, where more than 20 percent of the population is over 65.

In response, South Korea’s public tech training for the elderly began in 2020, when businesses and services turned online during the Covid-19 lockdown.

This picture taken on August 13, 2026 shows elderly people playing with a robot dog during a government-organised digital survival training at a senior community centre in Suwon. Age gaps in digital literacy are a global concern, yet the gulf has widened massively in the hyper-connected and fast-aging country, prompting national campaigns to bridge it. — AFP pic

A wish to be ‘born young’ 

Hwang, echoing others in the two-hour class, said she’s made it this far by relying on her children for daily tasks she once managed herself — including enrolling in her favourite dance class at the local community centre.

“Before, I could easily do all of these just by calling or showing up in person,” Hwang said.

Officials now provide nationwide training for the “digitally vulnerable” for using mobile devices, apps, and AI. Vans packed with tech devices and mock kiosks drive to community centres and regional festivals popular among the elderly.

In 2025, over 65,000 sessions were held for some 650,000 people over 60.

Hwang gathered along with 30 neighbours for a session in August, practising how to pay hospital bills at mock kiosks, patting a prancing robot dog, or asking their phones: “Gemini, tell me about tomorrow’s weather.”

She has undergone similar training several times — and said the lessons helped her confidence — but noted she was “so envious of young people who can do all this so easily”.

“I wish I had been born young in today’s world,” Hwang added. — AFP

BINTULU, Sept 14 — After more than a century of Iban settlement in Sera, Sebauh, Judy Stephen has become the first woman to take on the role of tuai rumah (longhouse chieftain), and she is the 10th to lead this community.

For her, the appointment is a special milestone.

“I feel that No 10 is a good number. I am also very grateful to be the first woman to take over the headship.

“I know it will not be easy, but I am ready to do my best.”

Judy, 60, was officially appointed the tuai rumah on July 1 this year, succeeding her uncle TR Jack Sigie.

Her appointment is significant not only because she is the first woman to lead her community, but also because her longhouse has a history stretching back more than 130 years.

A longhouse with a long history

Judy’s longhouse is located about 50km from Bintulu. It can be reached by both road and river, although the former can sometimes be a challenging journey.

Visitors travelling by car have to park near the Sera River and cross the river to reach the longhouse.

The present longhouse stands on the same general site where Judy’s ancestors settled after moving from Ulu Skrang during the time of the Second Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Brooke.

According to Judy, the first settlement was established sometime in the 1860s, when her great-great-grandfather Bulan Genaya was issued the “Internal Migration Permit” by the Rajah.

From Ulu Skrang, they landed at Nanga Sebauh River, where they built their temporary longhouse.

The original longhouse was a traditional structure, with belian (ironwood) used extensively for the roof, walls and floor.

Even the ruai, the common passage where longhouse residents gather and community life takes place, was made from belian.

Like many established longhouses, Judy’s has been rebuilt several times — the last reconstruction took place in 1989.

For Judy, seeing the longhouse continue to grow is something she looks forward to.

“I have inherited 18 doors, or families. Some families are still working elsewhere. It is exciting to think about how our longhouse can grow in the future,” she said.

(From right) Judy with her daughters, Charraine and Pheonnie, during the Gawai Dayak celebration at the longhouse. — The Borneo Post pic 

From Ulu Skrang to Sebauh

The story of the Sera settlement began with the early Iban pioneers who travelled from Ulu Skrang to this Bintulu area during the rule of Rajah Charles Brooke.

Judy’s family history is closely connected with this migration.

Her great-great-grandfather Bulan was among the early Iban migrants from Nanga Bunu in Ulu Skrang. The family history records that he had been involved in the struggles of the time before eventually choosing a more peaceful path.

His son, Jelani Rekan, later became a key figure of the community.

The early Iban settlers arrived in Bintulu, explored the Pandan, Ulu Kemena and Sera areas, where they sourced forest products such as rattan and wild rubber to be traded for cash.

Over time, these temporary camps became permanent settlements.

Judy said the original longhouse was much larger than it is today.

“The original longhouse had 56 bilik (household units). In those days, longhouses were really long,” she recalled.

Over the generations, some families eventually moved away and established new longhouses.

One of the closest breakaway communities is Rumah Tabor, located on the opposite bank of the Sera River.

However, not all of the Sera community joined the breakaway in 2009.

Many families, including Judy’s, continue living in the present longhouse.

For Judy, these movements are part of the natural history of Iban communities.

“It’s the people’s choice, and it cannot be prevented from happening.

“Families sometimes move away because of work, farming opportunities, or because of disputes or disagreements, or simply the desire to establish a new settlement.”

Judy’s uncle Jack was appointed the chieftain in 2009.

His predecessors were Tabor Lasah who led the longhouse from 1979 to 2009; Sigie Ugam (1971-1979); Anggot Manjan (1955-1971); Nilie Rurong (1933-1955); Akat Buja (1932-1933); Jalin Mambang (1913-1932); Bantin Apai Lingang (1896-1913); and Chaong Apai Tayok (1889-1895).

Judy now carries the responsibility of continuing that line of leadership.

Love for books

Judy grew up in a family where education was highly valued.

She is the daughter of Maria Abok and Stephen Randi Sekalai, two of the early educated Ibans from the Sebauh area.

Her father was a Bintulu Town Council officer before becoming involved in private construction.

He was among the early Iban intellectuals who studied at Batu Lintang School and College in Kuching.

Her mother was the daughter of Temenggong Datuk Abok Jalin, a paramount Iban community leader.

Such upbringing encouraged Judy to look beyond the immediate present.

As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a librarian because she loved books.

The first novel she read was Anne of Green Gables — a 1908 novel by the Canadian author, Lucy Maud Montgomery — which she borrowed from the then-Kuching State Library.

That love has never left her. Today, her home has a sizeable collection of books.

“You can see books everywhere in my home!” she said with a laugh.

Judy was educated at St Teresa’s School in Kuching and later attended Kolej Tun Haji Bujang in Miri for her Form 6 studies.

She furthered her studies in the UK, but was recalled because of the country’s economic downturn.

Nevertheless, she went on to develop a wide range of interests and skills.

She has training in banking, having worked in Bank Utama (the predecessor of today’s RHB Bank) for 10 years, but later resigned due to family commitment.

She is an artisan baker and runs FreyaCraft Bintulu, a business that reflects her interest in sewing and handicrafts.

She hopes to continue her sewing activities after having settled into her new responsibilities as tuai rumah.

Despite her busy schedule, Judy is currently studying law.

For her, learning is clearly a lifelong journey.

Life shaped by responsibility

Judy’s life has also not been without challenges.

She married Sudin Manja of Machan, Kanowit, in 1990, but he passed away in 2009.

She then raised her two daughters, Charraine and Pheonnie — both in their 30s now — on her own.

She and her daughters then relocated to Kuala Lumpur and stayed there for 15 years before returning home to take care of her elderly parents.

Her experience as a mother and widow has given her an understanding of the responsibilities that come with caring for a family.

Today, Judy brings that experience into her role as a community leader.

One of the things Judy is particularly proud of is the primary school located near her longhouse.

SK Hermanus Assan was established in 1963 after the then-Penghulu Abok Jalin appealed to the Sarawak government for a school to serve the children of the surrounding longhouses in Sera.

He then named the school after his brother, Hermanus Assan, the first Iban District Officer in Sarawak.

Judy holds her grandchild Elijah Yusuf, the son of her daughter Charraine and Mohd Yusri Mohd Yarabi. — The Borneo Post pic 

Before the school was built, the children had to travel to Central Upper Primary School in Sebauh, which was a difficult journey.

Some even gave up studying altogether.

The first school building was simple — a wooden structure accommodating 30 children from seven nearby longhouses.

Over the years, enrolment grew and today, the school has some 73 pupils.

For the community, the school is more than just a place of learning. It is part of the history of Sera and a reminder of the importance earlier generations placed on education.

Keeping community safe

Today, however, Judy has a grave concern — the crocodile-infested Sera River.

For families whose children have to cross the river by boat, this is a serious matter.

“Our greatest concern is the safety of our children when they cross the river. We have seen crocodiles during the day and at night,” she said.

Teachers and the security guard take precautions when the children travel by boat, but Judy believes the community should not have to live with this worrying concern.

She hopes the government would consider building a bridge across the river.

“It can be a simple bridge — a hanging bridge, a bailey bridge or even a basic wooden bridge.

“We will all feel much safer. It is never too late to build a bridge,” she said.

For Judy, this is one of the first issues she hopes to take up as a tuai rumah.

Being a longhouse chieftain is more than carrying a title.

She has to help maintain unity among the residents, ensure that the biliks are properly looked after, encourage residents to keep the longhouse safe and orderly, and ensure that the community continues to observe its adat (customary laws).

She also has to work closely with the relevant government agencies, especially the Sebauh District Office.

For Judy, good leadership means listening to people.

She wants to work together with the residents to improve the longhouse, keep proper records and strengthen communication with the district authorities.

Most importantly, she wants the people of Sera to remain united.

Protecting ancestral land

Another responsibility close to Judy’s heart is the ancestral land surrounding the longhouse and other plots belonging to the Sera communities from the time of their ancestors’ migration to Sebauh.

She regards land as “one of the greatest treasures” handed down by her ancestors.

“The early settlers were known as hardworking farmers, particularly rice growers.

“Their ability to cultivate the land was one of the reasons they were encouraged to settle in Sebauh.

“Today, the farming activities have changed with the times.

“Many families grow oil palms and rubber trees, while others maintain fish ponds, as well as pepper, fruit and vegetable farms.”

For Judy, development does not mean forgetting the land.

“It means finding ways for the community to continue benefitting from it, while ensuring that the next generation will still have something to inherit.”

Judy is particularly passionate about preserving the history of the Iban community in Sebauh.

She believes that history should not simply remain in people’s memories.

“It should also be recorded so that the young people can learn about their families and their origins.

“My family holds a remarkable connection with Sebauh: my great-grandfather was Penghulu Jalin; his sons, Hermanus Assan and my grandfather Temenggong Datuk Abok Jalin were prominent local leaders.

“Their stories are part of the wider story of how Iban communities developed in the Kemena and Sebauh areas.

“In this respect, I hope to help preserve these stories for future generations.”

Photo shows the original wooden classroom block of SK Hermanus Assan in Sera. — The Borneo Post pic 

Nevertheless, Judy understands that the world around the longhouse is changing rapidly.

Young people are studying, working in towns and cities across the globe, and finding opportunities far beyond their ancestral homes.

Still, she believes that embracing modern life does not mean abandoning one’s roots.

“I believe the two can go together.

“The law gives us the tools to protect our rights. Our culture reminds us who we are and where we belong.

“Still, we must embrace new opportunities and welcome changes that are beneficial to us.

“At the same time, we must keep our cultural identity and adapt to what is good for our community.”

This belief and her experience led her to pick up a course named “Adatology”, which was conducted by the Society for Rights of Indigenous People of Sarawak (SCRIPS) earlier this year, to further equip her role as tuai rumah.

New chapter for Sera

The history of Sera has never been completely still.

Longhouses have grown, families have moved, new settlements have emerged, and generations have come and gone.

That is part of the story of the Iban community.

Now a new chapter has begun, with Judy becoming the first woman longhouse chieftain of Sera.

This formidable woman knows that she has inherited a responsibility built on more than a century of history, and she also knows that she cannot do it alone.

“My success depends on the cooperation of the families in my longhouse and the support from the wider community.

“What I am sure of is that I am approaching responsibility with determination and hard work, and also I strive to embrace new opportunities and help my people to do well.” — The Borneo Post 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — When global supply chains come under strain, it is almost always the lowest-income households that feel it first and hardest.

A rise in the price of imported fertiliser or crude oil rarely stays confined to petrol pumps; it filters into bus fares, cooking oil, chicken, and the electricity bill — and for a household already spending most of its income on necessities, there is little room to absorb the shock.

In Malaysia, that shock has been real but comparatively contained.

Since April, the country has been navigating the fallout of the conflict in West Asia and the disruptions it triggered to global energy and shipping routes — yet unlike some nations forced into fuel rationing or emergency measures, Malaysian households have so far continued to buy petrol, cook meals and switch on the lights without major disruption.

Officials say that is the result of early, co-ordinated government intervention rather than chance.

Why the pressure hits harder, and how the government has cushioned it

Lower-income households typically spend a far larger share of their income on food, fuel and utilities than higher earners, leaving little flexibility when global costs rise.

A spike in shipping or crude prices raises the cost of transport; a jump in fertiliser prices raises the cost of growing food; a rise in feedstock prices raises the cost of manufacturing daily goods — and all of it eventually reaches the shelf.

Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican, chairman of the Crisis Management Task Force (PPPK) under the National Economic Action Council (MTEN), has cautioned against viewing the crisis narrowly as an oil price problem.

He told Bernama the disruption unfolds in stages, moving from fuel and logistics costs into petrochemical, feedstocks, plastics, fertilisers, manufacturing and construction before it reaches households.

“Eventually, it will reach households through broader cost-of-living pressures,” he said.

To soften that pass-through, the government has relied on targeted subsidies, price controls and direct assistance — including the Budi 95 and Budi Diesel schemes, the Subsidised Diesel Control System (SKDS), support for e-hailing drivers, fishermen, smallholders and agricultural producers, and retail-level measures such as anti-profiteering enforcement, Jualan Rahmah Madani and Jualan Agro Madani.

For example, eligible recipients can receive up to RM4,600 a year through the combined STR and monthly SARA programmes. The government has also introduced a RM15 billion intervention package to help micro, small and medium enterprises secure financing and remain operational.

Hassan Marican has described the underlying approach as balancing immediate relief for households with the need to preserve fiscal resources for the future, shifting policy away from blanket subsidies toward support that is more precisely targeted.

What analysts and consumer groups say

Independent economists broadly credit the measures with keeping costs stable, but flag gaps in how they are targeted.

Mohd Shukor Harun, a senior lecturer at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia’s Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, reportedly called the government’s continued subsidy commitment a responsible move that eases pressure on B40 and M40 households.

Consumer advocates point to more immediate relief.

On June 9, Dr Saravanan Thambirajah, chief executive officer of the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA), welcomed the government’s commitment to continue absorbing fuel subsidy costs.

He had said it eases pressure on transport and logistics costs that would otherwise flow into daily necessities — while cautioning that “fuel prices are not the only factor determining the prices of goods,” pointing to food costs, rents, energy bills and wages as pressures that persist regardless.

A buffer, not a cure

Taken together, the measures illustrate a tension officials themselves acknowledge: targeted support can meaningfully soften the blow of a prolonged global supply crisis, but cannot eliminate it.

Hassan Marican has cautioned that Malaysia’s relative stability should not be mistaken for an absence of risk, and that continued global pressure will require sustained vigilance from both the public and private sectors.

Officials say policy direction ahead will keep emphasising resilience, targeted assistance, fiscal discipline and strengthened buffers across energy, food security, logistics and industrial supply chains.

Authorities have urged households to treat the situation as a prolonged, structural disruption rather than a temporary spike: use fuel, electricity and other essentials more efficiently, spend more deliberately given that cost pressures extend well beyond fuel, and cut unnecessary waste in favour of more planned consumption.

As officials have noted, when millions of households make small daily adjustments, the cumulative effect on national resilience can be substantial.

Malaysians can track how global developments are affecting domestic prices via the government’s monitoring dashboard at pantaukrisis.gov.my, and follow updates from the National Economic Action Council on its official social media channels.

KOTA KINABALU, Sept 14 — For North Borneo stamp collector William Wang, 67, the hobby known as the “King of Hobbies” is more than collecting pieces of paper, offering a way to explore history, knowledge and the evolution of society.

His passion began at the age of 10, encouraged by his father, a school principal, as well as through exchanging stamps with school friends.

His main collection comprises North Borneo stamps issued from 1883 to 1963, alongside old envelopes, postcards, postmarks and a pre-stamp entire issued in 1845, before North Borneo produced its first stamps.

“There is something very therapeutic about this hobby in the 21st century because philately offers physical relief from constant digital fatigue.

“Sitting at a table with a stamp tweezer, a magnifying glass and a collection of historical envelopes requires focus, patience and curiosity, allowing us to study and delve into history without the distraction of digital screens,” he told Bernama.

William, who is also a member of the Malaysian Philatelic Society (PSM), said two-cent North Borneo stamps were used for sending letters throughout Sabah, including to Singapore, Malacca, Penang and Hong Kong, from 1883 to 1891.

For letters sent to the United Kingdom (UK), senders had to use Straits Settlements stamps, which could be purchased at post offices in Elopura, Kudat and Gaya.

“A stamp is not merely a receipt for postage; rather, it is a small window into the past, capturing art, history, geography and human stories on a small piece of paper,” he said.

His passion for philately has also taken him to exhibitions in countries including Indonesia, New Zealand, Uruguay, China, Brazil and Thailand, with him funding the trips himself.

In August last year, William received a Large Gold Medal for his exhibit, The Postal History of Labuan & North Borneo Before and Under Chartered Company Rule, at an exhibition in Bangkok, Thailand.

In February that same year, he also received a Large Gold and Special Award in Uruguay, making him the first Malaysian to receive the recognition under the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP).

Part of North Borneo stamp collector William Wang’s collection, spanning 1883 to 1963, with rare envelopes, postcards and postmarks. — Bernama pic

The achievement drew the attention of Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil, who conveyed his appreciation and congratulations in a 45-second video message.

William, who is a member of the Malaysian Philatelic Society (PSM), began exhibiting his stamps in 2013 and won a Large Gold and Special Prize at the Tri-Nation Stamp Exhibition Malaysia before becoming active on the international circuit.

After retiring from the private sector, he now focuses on writing, organising, studying and preserving his collection, while sharing information through the North Borneo Philately Facebook page, which has about 34,000 followers.

He said one of the basic ways to determine a stamp’s authenticity is by examining its colour and perforations, or “stamp teeth”, which are the protruding edges left after a stamp is separated from a sheet.

William said his North Borneo stamp collection had also been authenticated by The Royal Philatelic Society London, confirming its historical and philatelic provenance.

He obtains items for his collection not only while in the UK but also through auctions, where each piece must be carefully assessed for its condition, history and authenticity.

To preserve the collection and prevent its colours from being affected by weather conditions, he replaces the stamp hinges every 10 years.

William said fewer than 10 Malaysian collectors usually participate in international philatelic exhibitions, and expressed hope that more young people would discover philately as a hobby with historical value.

“This hobby adapts to whatever interests and arouses a person’s curiosity,” he said, expressing hope that more stamp exhibitions would be held in Sabah to revive the world of philately. — Bernama