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Malaysia’s parliament, sitting for the first time in eight months, descended into chaos on Monday as opposition lawmakers accused Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin of royal insult for disallowing a debate during the special five-day session.The sitting is being held after the king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, urged the government to convene the legislature urgently to debate Covid-19 policies, against Muhyiddin’s wishes for it to sit only after September.The 222-seat lower house, the Dewan…

Half of Malaysia’s 900,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which employ about 50 per cent of the country’s 15.9 million workers, could fold if the current Covid-19 national lockdown is extended beyond September, an industry group has warned.Since the pandemic broke out last year, at least 150,000 SMEs have shut, resulting in 1.2 million job losses, the Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) said.Malaysia’s parliament sitting in chaos as PM refuses to allow…

As Malaysia’s health system heaves under the weight of a Covid-19 daily caseload that remains stubbornly high, thousands of young contract doctors like Anthony John are volunteering at virus response centres to ease the pressure off counterparts with permanent jobs.The task at hand is grim, with these centres and hospitals operating at near capacity and doctors on some occasions required to triage patients based on their chances of survival.Despite anxieties about the future of his career…

Thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Sydney and other cities in Australia to protest Covid-19 lockdown restrictions amid another surge in cases, and police made several arrests after crowds broke through barriers and threw plastic bottles and plants.The unmasked participants marched from Sydney’s Victoria Park to Town Hall in the central business district, carrying signs calling for “freedom” and “the truth”.There was a heavy police presence in Sydney, including mounted police…

Some of Singapore’s top chefs are fed up with the government’s on-again, off-again measures to stop the spread of Covid-19, which include a temporary shutdown of in-person dining.Faced with a surge of cases from clusters related to karaoke lounges and a fishery port, authorities this week announced tighter controls, including a stoppage of eating at restaurants until August 18.The dine-in ban, which took effect on Thursday, comes just a month after it had been allowed again, dealing another…

A South Korean television network has apologised after using inappropriate images and captions to describe countries during the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony on Friday.The broadcaster, MBC, used images of pizza to describe Italy, an upheaval for Haiti, Chernobyl for Ukraine, salmon for Norway, when athletes from those countries entered the stadium for the opening ceremony.In its captions broadcasting the ceremony, the network referred to the Marshall Islands as “once a nuclear test site for the…

The UK government is pressing ahead with new rules requiring large businesses to report uncertain tax positions when they file their returns, despite many respondents to a recent consultation expressing concerns that the additional administrative burden will outweigh the anticipated growth in tax revenue.

The Dutch competition authority has fined pharmaceutical company Leadiant Biosciences almost €20 million after it found the company responsible forsetting excessive prices for the sale of one of its drugs.

Making changes to the built environment remains a critical part of reducing the UK’s carbon emissions and adapting to climate change, but plans are beginning to lag behind upcoming challenges.

Businesses active in the UK’s cryptoassets market can expect to see an increase in regulation in the months and years ahead, an expert has said.