Governments grapple with coronavirus border closures and lockdowns
Governments around the globe grappled Wednesday with how to implement border closures, travel restrictions and lockdowns that have unleashed transportation chaos and imperiled economies, but which authorities say are needed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. European Union leaders agreed to shut down ...
Cruise ship turned away twice over COVID-19 fears to dock in Singapore
Singapore will allow cruise ship Costa Fortuna to dock in the city-state on Tuesday, authorities said, after it was turned away from ports in Malaysia and Thailand over coronavirus fears. Costa Fortuna departed from Singapore, where it is home-ported, on March 3. Italian cruise line Costa ...
Malaysian machinations: How Mahathir Mohamad lost the plot
In May 2018, Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad was in the grand ballroom of a Sheraton hotel near Kuala Lumpur, jubilantly announcing his return as prime minister after defeating an alliance that had run the country for 60 years. Less than two years later, the coalition assembled ...
Malaysian palace denies 'royal coup' in appointing new prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin
Malaysia's palace on Sunday denied allegations of a "royal coup" in appointing the country's prime minister after veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad resigned, saying the king used his discretionary powers prescribed in the constitution. The palace was responding to an editorial in the U.K. daily Guardian ...
Fresh out of power, 94-year-old Mahathir plots comeback in Malaysia
Mahathir Mohamad may be at least temporarily out of power, but the 94-year-old leader isn't going down without a fight. Mahathir's abrupt resignation last Monday kicked off a week of horse-trading that saw his fortunes rise and fall by the hour. On Saturday morning, he ...
Overlooked no more: 'Malay first' Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin takes the reins in Malaysia
Long overshadowed by colorful contemporaries, the man who emerged from a week of turmoil as Malaysia's new prime minister on Sunday is a publicity-shy picture of conservatism. When Muhyiddin Yassin, 72, heard news on Saturday that the king had picked him over 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, ...
Malaysia's Mahathir will run for prime minister again, with help of rival Anwar
Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad will run for prime minister on behalf of the former ruling coalition, he said on Saturday, less than a week after he quit and plunged the country into political turmoil. That meant that Mahathir, who as interim prime minister is the world's ...
From watches to lobsters, the new coronavirus is interrupting supply chains globally
A Hong Kong watchmaker who can't get coils or wheels. New Zealand lobsters released back into the wild. A San Diego game studio facing delays to its latest fantasy board games. The coronavirus outbreak that has hobbled China's economy is increasingly ricocheting through the world ...
Malaysia power struggle boils over with Mahathir Mohamad's resignation
A long-simmering power struggle in Malaysia boiled over on Monday, with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad kicking off a leadership race with his main coalition partner that could finally determine his successor. Mahathir abruptly submitted his resignation to the king on Monday and his party exited ...
With biryani and rice balls, Malaysia aims for halal Olympic gold
A small factory in Malaysia's capital is preparing thousands of ready-to-eat halal meals, from fried rice to chicken biryani, to be shipped off to Japan for 2020's biggest sporting event. Food firms from Muslim-majority Malaysia are expected to be big winners from a rush of ...
Machine lubricants leave bad taste for palm oil producers and buyers
The palm oil industry, long accused of large-scale deforestation, is bracing for another hit to its business: machinery lubricants seeping into the world's most consumed edible oil during processing. European food companies, including Nestle, have in recent months asked top palm oil producers in Indonesia ...
Malaysia never ruled out 'murder-suicide plot' by MH370 pilot, says former PM Najib
Malaysia has never ruled out the possibility that missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 could have been downed by a suicidal pilot, the country's former prime minister Najib Razak said on Wednesday. Najib, who was premier when MH370 vanished with 239 people on board nearly six ...
