PM Anwar set to reshuffle Malaysian Cabinet on Tuesday: Reports

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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is expected to announce changes to his Cabinet on Tuesday (Dec 12) in his first leadership reshuffle since taking power a year ago, according to various reports by Malaysian media. 

The Star, citing “highly placed” sources, reported that the Cabinet reshuffle is likely to affect “several ministries” and could see the return of “several senior MPs who had previously served as ministers”. 

It added that a few MPs may make their debut as ministers. 

The report also said that new ministers will be informed of a rehearsal taking place at Istana Negara and that a swearing-ceremony will be held at 3pm. 

Moreover, Malaysiakini reported that news agency Bernama has issued a notice to the media that new Cabinet appointees will be sworn in around 2.30pm at Istana Negara on Tuesday. 

Broadcaster Astro Awani reported that the reshuffle will involve “more than six people” and that some ministers will be “swapping portfolios”. 

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New Zealand arrests 12 after museum exhibit defaced

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WELLINGTON: A dozen protestors from a Maori activist group were arrested on Monday (Dec 11) at New Zealand’s national museum after defacing an exhibit about the country’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi. Police said a man absailed from above the exhibit at the Te Papa museum in Wellington, beforeContinue Reading

‘We have to do something’: Philippine schools, students grapple with floods as climate change forces them to adapt

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PAMPANGA AND TARLAC, the Philippines: A loss and damage fund that attracted millions of dollars in pledges as the world came together for the COP28 summit in Dubai may benefit communities on the brink of being wiped out as sea levels rise.

The fund aims to provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.

But as advocates push to make polluters pay and phase out fossil fuel, climate change-induced woes are already lived realities in many Philippine communities, including children there.

In Macabebe town in Pampanga province, a riverside island-community northwest of capital Manila, for instance, families prepare their children for floods during high tide, and classrooms are visibly damaged by recurring floods.

The Philippines tops the 2023 World Risk Index, which ranks 193 countries in terms of their vulnerability to extreme natural events.

The country is also is Southeast Asia’s most typhoon-prone country, hit by a yearly average of 20 typhoons.

To have a direct hand in bringing about change for its people, the Philippines wants to host the fund, hoping to have a seat on the Loss and Damage Fund Board and calling for its immediate operationalisation.

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Philippines says military chief was aboard ship Chinese vessels rammed in South China Sea

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“DANGEROUS AND DESTABILISING” On Sunday, the US State Department called on China to halt its “dangerous and destabilising” actions in the sea, while foreign diplomats in Manila also criticised China’s behaviour. The confrontations at Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal were the most intense between Philippine and Chinese vessels inContinue Reading

Philippines summons Chinese envoy over sea confrontations

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China’s ramming and water cannoning of Filipino boats was a “serious escalation” of their tactics, Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the National Security Council, told reporters. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including waters and islands near the shores of its neighbours, and has ignored an internationalContinue Reading