In the paper’s edition of May 29, the Star said its editor-in-chief Leanne Goh Lee Yen and executive editor Dorairaj Nadason will cease to function in their respective roles until further notice.

They have been suspended from their duties and an investigation into the matter will be conducted soon. Its Media Group managing director and chief executive officer Wong Chun Wai will oversee editorial operations during this period.

The editors involved and the Star Media Group will cooperate fully with the relevant authorities in investigating the issue, especially the Home Ministry and the police.

The Kuala Lumpur-based newspaper also published an apology on its website following wide criticism for the May 27 front page where it published a picture of Muslim praying with headline “Malaysian terrorist leader.”

It has been the practice of The Star to respect the first day of Ramadan every year and to place the picture of Muslims at the first terawih prayers on the front page of the paper. This has been done over the last decade or so.

“This year, there was an unfortunate coincidence of the lead story being of a terrorist leader that led to many linking the headline and the picture, which was never the intention of the newspaper.”

On hindsight, The Star should have been more discerning and sensitive to the feelings of our Muslim readers. We sincerely apologise for the error of judgment on our part, according to the statement.

The case had triggered criticisms from Netizens, social organisations and even political parties that described the cover as a “misleading visual representation” apart from being insensitive to Muslims. Calls were also made for action to be taken against the publication by the relevant authorities.

Malaysia’s Home Ministry has issued a letter to the daily over its front-page report, saying it is very disappointed with the headline and the front page picture which were unrelated.

“It was inappropriate as it is confusing and will lead to misunderstanding and prejudice against Muslims.

“This has inadvertently belittled the religion of Islam,” said the statement. It wanted the editor-in-chief to explain the incident.

The Star is a member of Asia News Network or ANN, one of the world’s biggest media alliances. ANN now comprises 21 leading media, mostly leading national English-language daily, from South, Southeast and Northeast Asia.

Interpol’s Singapore office, which said methamphetamine remains the region’s most trafficked substance,  highlighted the rising trend in a report on an international anti-drug operation in May.

The campaign, called Operation Lionfish – Asean, involved more than 2,000 police and customs officials in 14 countries, said a statement from the Interpol Global Complex in Singapore which coordinated it.

It focused on drug trafficking through airports while a second phase will target land and sea borders.

The operation “revealed a network of West African and Asian organised crime groups behind trafficking in methamphetamine — one of the most smuggled drugs in the region,” the statement said.

Of 59 seizures during the two-week period, nearly a quarter of the drugs confiscated was methamphetamine, of which nearly 80 per cent was in crystalline form known as  “ice”.

Cocaine, cannabis, heroin and amphetamine stimulants were also among the drugs seized, it said, adding that smugglers were becoming more innovative.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have identified a rising trend of liquid cocaine being trafficked, Interpol said.

“Smugglers would swallow condoms packed with liquid cocaine,” it said, adding that this type of concealment is harder to detect using traditional methods like X-rays.

Interpol said it identified a “cocaine trafficking route via Ethiopia to destinations in the Middle East, Asia and Pacific”.

    Such scenes may soon disappear from Manila’s gridlocked streets as authorities move to phase out the Philippines’ iconic World War II-era minibuses, citing pollution and safety concerns.

Dubbed ‘jeepneys’ and once hailed as the ‘King of the Road’ they are a cultural symbol in the Philippines to rival New York’s yellow taxis — and for decades they provided cheap and regular transport for millions.

But under a government modernisation programme, vehicles of this type that are aged 15 years or older will be taken off the streets by 2020 and replaced with a more environment-friendly version.

Dallos, 55, slaps the steering wheel as his slipper-clad foot stomps on the gas while he hands over change that is passed down a row of squished passengers fanning themselves in the summer heat.

“This is like my wife. My jeepney are I together every day. I know what ails it, what I need to do,” Dallos told AFP.

“I’m angry because I will lose my job. I will be forced to go home to my province, become a bystander and starve,” he added.

The government admits the plan will be hard to implement, affecting a micro-industry of poor drivers and owners.

Dallos has been working 14 hours a day for 20 years to provide for his jobless wife, seven kids and three grandchildren who live in an upland farming province where he has no land to till. He earns around 500 pesos ($10) a day.

– Dirty, inefficient, loved –

Taking inspiration from the American jeeps left behind after the war, the jeepney is a Filipino invention, where a roof has been added and inside there are two parallel benches.

They can carry more than 20 people at a time, but run on cheap diesel and are heavy polluters, while the drivers are notorious for violating traffic rules.

“Our inefficient dinosaur, the (jeepney), must now be relegated to the museum. It is dirty, inefficient, unhealthy,” said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez.

The government vows to help owners sell old jeepneys and access loans to buy new models while requiring drivers to undergo safety training, though critics question the cost of this.

Authorities say commuters deserve a better alternative. They are designing units with engines compliant with European emission standards or solar and electric vehicles with GPS and possibly a ride-hailing app.

But at eight pesos (16 cents) per journey, jeepneys are the sole affordable option for many.

“It’s the only and the most convenient way. I can’t ride a taxi because that’s super expensive,” medical student Maria Alcid said en route to school.

For low fares, passengers pay the price of bumping their heads on the ceiling, inching their buttocks into seats, and clinging to the roof while standing on the tiny step at the back.

And yet for those who grew up riding jeepneys, there is a lot of affection for the vehicles.

They are famed for their psychedelic designs featuring everything from Mickey Mouse to the Virgin Mary and in provinces even carry people, animals and crops on roofs.

“Look at my jeepney, its frame is about to fall off but people are still riding it,” says Dallos, caressing his rusting dashboard. He adds: “Is there any other choice?”//AFP

Mazhar Hossain stopped counting the number of copies of his curriculum vitae submitted seeking jobs since he completed his master’s degree five years ago.

The 32-year-old from Satkhira took several recruitment tests. In a number of cases, he made it through to viva but that was it. He is still unemployed.

“I’m really frustrated. It seems you either need good connections or some backing to get a job. Otherwise, you will remain unemployed like me for years,” said Mazhar who passed from a reputed institution in Jessore.

His story is shared by thousands others as the latest survey of the government has found 26 lakh unemployed people in the country.

The unemployment rate has slightly changed from 4.3 percent in 2013 to 4.2 percent last year though the government created massive job opportunities over the period. The report on the survey conducted between July 2015 and June 2016 will be released today.

According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey Bangladesh 2015-16 done by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, rural areas have 18.2 lakh unemployed people, more than double the number of those, 7.7 lakh, in urban areas.

The urban-rural population ratio is 30:70 in Bangladesh.

The BBS says it has followed the international standard definition of unemployment while conducting the survey on various aspects of people’s economic activity.

As defined by the International Labour Organisation, people who are out of work, want a job, have actively sought work in the previous four weeks and are available to start work within the next fortnight come under unemployed category.

Prof ATM Nurul Amin, chairman of the economics and social sciences department at Brac University, said the unemployed population should be higher than what was found in the survey.

The definition should be set considering local context, he said, adding that in Bangladesh people who are underemployed meaning they work less than 40 hours a week or earn less than the income required to meet basic needs or those who work at a lower tier compared to their skills and expertise should be considered unemployed.

Unlike many western economies where people get state benefits for periods of unemployment, people in Bangladesh are not entitled to such thing, Prof Nurul said.

“There are huge cases of underemployment here.”

The private sector creates more employment opportunities than the public sector in the country, but the investment in the private sector has been stalled for quite a long time, one of the major reasons behind the high unemployment rate, the Brac University teacher said.

According to the survey, unemployed male and female are equal in number — 13 lakh. The number of female unemployed population was higher three years ago.

An estimated 6.21 crore people aged 15 or above are now in the labour force, up from 6.07 crore population estimated in 2013.

Some 5.95 crore were found employed in 2015-16 survey, up from 5.81 crore in 2013. It means 14 lakh people entered the job market during the period.

An estimated 18 lakh of those having jobs of less than 40 hours a week were found looking for new or additional jobs. The latest survey also found 86.2 percent of the total employed population aged 15 or above in informal employment.

Between 2016 and 2013, non-agriculture sectors like industry, trade and other services absorbed a higher number of people than the farming sector. As a result, the proportion of jobs in the agriculture sector declined to 42.7 percent in 2016 from 45.1 percent in 2013.

In China, the market is estimated to grow between 600 billion yuan ($87 billion) and 800 billion yuan by 2020 from 400 billion yuan in 2015.

Diagnosing major health problems has been revolutionized by imaging technology, which creates a visual representation of the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention.

But the process is still suffering key problems, according to a report by Firestone Inventing, a consulting company specializing in the medical industry.

“China’s medical imaging sector is growing at a rate of 30 percent annually, but the demand for superior medical treatment can not be met at present,” said Ni Meng, founder and chief executive officer of Wingspan Technology Inc, a medical imaging company.

Long waiting times, poor diagnosis rates and data managing problems plague the industry here.

But the government is making inroads into tackling the challenges with policies that will open up new opportunities for the medical imaging sector.

One of the priorities will be to manufacture high-tech equipment in China by domestic companies as patients are demanding state-of-the-art treatment techniques.

“Home-made medical imaging equipment is going to be a future direction,” said Zhang Jiang, general manager of Ping An Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in various sectors including healthcare.

“Medical imaging is a core technology of diagnosis, especially for cases such as cancer screening. In fact, more foreign companies are investing in Chinese firms that make domestic medical imaging equipment.”

Still, problems persist. The Firestone Inventing report showed there were just 402 Chinese companies manufacturing the equipment, accounting for only 10 percent of the market.

In addition, the healthcare sector lacks imaging technology in ophthalmology and dentistry.

“The major breakthrough for China is to upgrade it by producing high-end products instead of mid－to low-end devices,” said Yang Hongfei, chief executive officer of Firestone Inventing in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

During the past five years, there has been a rapid growth of Chinese patents covering the sector. The country now ranks third in terms of the number of medical imaging patents filed behind Japan and the United States.

“Big data and artificial intelligence are going to lead the development of medical imaging sector,” the Firestone Inventing report highlighted. “Artificial intelligence provides medical imaging with intelligent analysis applications. As for big data, it offers detailed analysis into patients’ health.”

Last year, the State Council issued a guideline on promoting the application of medical big data in clinical diagnosis, and medical research and development.

Big data are a term used for crunching vast amounts of statistics to show trends and flaws in market information.

“From human body X-rays to telemedicine and medical imaging, we are on the brink of entering a new age of artificial intelligence,” said Mou Xiaoyong, president of United Imaging Healthcare.