The Prime Minister said that the Government had to talk to Singapore about it and the compensation that needed to be paid.

“It’s not beneficial, it’s going to cost us a huge sum of money. We will make no money at all from the operation. It is just a short track,” he told reporters after the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia supreme council meeting here on Monday (May 28).

When questioned about the compensation that needed to be paid, he said he “supposed” it would be RM500mil.

Earlier, he told the Financial Times that there was a need to do away with some of the unnecessary projects.

He cited the example of the high-speed rail.

“We need to do away with some of the unnecessary projects, for example the high-speed rail, which is going to cost us RM110bil and will not earn us a single cent. That will be dropped.

“We have an agreement with Singapore. We have to talk with Singapore about dropping that project,” he said.

When Pakatan Harapan swept to power in the 14th General Elections on May 9, it announced that it would review mega projects initiated by the previous administration to save the country billions of ringgit.

These may include the HSR, Bandar Malaysia, Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and the Pan-Borneo Highway.

The HSR is a 350-km railway scheme linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and is expected to start operations from 2026.

The set of proposals are part of a growing EU drive to rid the environment of plastic waste which has begun showing up in the food chain.

“Plastic waste is undeniably a big issue and Europeans need to act together to tackle this problem,” EU First Vice President Frans Timmermans said.

“Today’s proposals will reduce single-use plastics on our supermarket shelves through a range of measures,” Timmermans added.

The proposals call for banning banning plastic cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws, drink stirrers and balloon sticks, but it did not set a deadline.

These items must all be made from sustainable materials instead, according to the plan which must be approved by the 28 EU member countries and the European Parliament.

Member states must reduce the use of plastic food containers and drinks cups, by promoting alternatives for sale or ensuring they are not offered free.

Under the plan, producers must contribute to the costs of waste management and will be offered incentives to develop less polluting alternatives.

For example, it calls for producers of plastic fishing gear to cover the cost of waste collection from port reception facilities.

Under the plan, member countries must collect 90 percent of single-use plastic drinks bottles by 2025, through deposit refund schemes, for example.

The plan calls for producers to clearly label products and inform consumers how the waste should be disposed of.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said businesses will benefit from one set of rules for an EU market of around 500 million people.

It said it will encourage EU companies to develop economies of scale and become more competitive in the “booming” global market for sustainable products.

The proposals, plus one in January for all plastic packaging in Europe to be recyclable by 2030, follows China’s decision to ban imports of foreign waste products for recycling.

The EU currently exports half of its collected and sorted plastics, 85 percent of which goes to China.//AFP

Without a thought for his own safety, Mamoudou Gassama took just seconds to reach the child in a spectacular rescue captured on film and viewed millions of times on social networks.

The incident took place at around 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Saturday in northern Paris.

Film of the rescue shows Gassama, 22, pulling himself up from balcony to balcony with his bare hands as a man on the fourth floor tries to hold on to the child by leaning across from a neighbouring balcony.

On reaching the fourth floor Gassama puts one leg over the balcony before reaching out with his right arm and grabbing the child.

Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the child had already been rescued.

“Luckily, there was someone who was physically fit and who had the courage to go and get the child,” a fire service spokesman told AFP.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo praised the young migrant on Twitter for his “act of bravery” as well as phoning him personally to “thank him warmly”.

“He explained to me that he had arrived from Mali a few months ago dreaming of building his life here.

“I told him that his heroic act is an example to all citizens and that the city of Paris will obviously be very keen to support him in his efforts to settle in France,” she added.

The young Malian will next be honoured for his brave rescue by French President Emmanuel Macron who has invited him to the Elysee Palace on Monday, his office told AFP.

Tracked down by reporters 24 hours after the heroic rescue, Gassama said he had acted without thinking.

“I saw all these people shouting, and cars sounding their horns. I climbed up like that and, thank God, I saved the child,” he said.

“I felt afraid  when I saved the child… (when) we went into the living room, I started to shake, I could hardly stand up, I had to sit down,” he added.

According to initial inquiries by the authorities, the child’s parents were not at home at the time.

The father was later held for questioning by police for having left his child unattended and was due in court later, a judicial source said. The child’s mother was not in Paris at the time.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s special envoy for interfaith and civilization dialogue and cooperation, Din Syamsuddin, who is also former Muhammadiyah chairman, said the world religious leaders met with Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw on Friday.

They include three Buddhist figures, including Supreme Patriachs from Sri Lanka and Cambodia and Risho Kosakai from Japan; Bishop Gunnar Stalsett from Norway; Vinu Aram from India and Rev. Koichi Sugino, the vice secretary-general of New York-based Religions for Peace International.

“The religious leaders called to the government and the people of Myanmar to resolve the religious and ethnic conflicts in Myanmar in the spirit of humanity, peace and reconciliation,” Din said in a statement on Monday.

Din further said Aung San Su Ki welcomed them in “an open and intimate dialogue” where she stated that Myanmar had adopted democracy and therefore highly respected human rights and democratic values. She said the problems in Rakhine province and other areas in Myanmar would be resolved with a spirit of peace and reconciliation.

Din said the latest developments in Myanmar, especially in Rakhine state had raised concerns in the region and needed to be addressed appropriately.

”There was no other way to do it except to develop peaceful coexistence and the recognition of common citizenship for all people,” he said, adding that he had asked for recognition and citizenship rights for Rohingyas “who happened to be Muslim.”

The religious figures also proposed an international conference on Myanmar in October. The conference is expected offer solutions to justice-related issues in Myanmar .

Known for boyish good looks, floppy haircuts and meticulously choreographed dance moves, the septet has become one of South Korea’s best known and most lucrative musical exports.

On Sunday, they passed a new milestone — becoming the first K-Pop group to top the Billboard 200 music charts which ranks albums via sales, downloads and streams.

“It’s the first No. 1 for the seven-member group, and the first K-pop album to lead the tally,” Billboard wrote in its online report detailing the latest chart ranking.

While plenty of older music listeners in the West might be asking “who?”, it’s hard to underestimate the popularity of BTS and their seven stars Suga, J-Hope, Rap Monster, Jimin, V, Jungkook and Jin.

According to one data analysis, they were they most talked about phenomenon on Twitter in 2017, with nearly double the number of mentions on the social media platform than US President Donald Trump and Canadian badboy heartthrob Justin Bieber combined.

Throw in their similarly massive appeal across the globe — they have huge social media followings in Japan, China, Southeast Asia and parts of Latin America — and you have a truly global supergroup.

Their new album “Love Yourself: Tear” toppled “Beerpong and Bentleys” by rising hip-hop star Post Malone, whose facial tattoos are the very antithesis of BTS’ wholesome, meticulously manicured image.

While BTS sing in Korean, their style successfully fuses the catchy earworms of K-Pop with hip-hop and R’n’B.

Last year, their previous release “Love Yourself: Her” became the first K-Pop album to make it into the top 10 US album charts, rising to number seven, and hit the number one spot on iTunes in more than 70 countries.//AFP

“The former president is awake and alert, and not in any discomfort,” Jim McGrath said on Twitter.

The 41st president will likely remain at Southern Maine Health Care, in the state of Maine, under observation for a few days, McGrath wrote.

Bush, 93, spent more than a week at a Houston, Texas, hospital in late April and early May, immediately after the funeral of his beloved wife Barbara Bush.

At that time, Bush contracted an infection that spread to his blood and initially left him in intensive care.

Bush, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and is wheelchair-bound, has been hospitalized on several occasions in recent years.

Bush is the father of George W. Bush, who served as president from 2001 to 2009.

The elder Bush was elected president in 1988 but served only one term, going down to defeat against Democrat Clinton in 1992.

Without a thought for his own safety, Mamoudou Gassama took just seconds to reach the child in a spectacular rescue captured on film and viewed millions of times on social networks.

The incident took place at around 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Saturday in northern Paris.

Film of the rescue shows Gassama, 22, pulling himself up from balcony to balcony with his bare hands as a man on the fourth floor tries to hold on to the child by leaning across from a neighbouring balcony.

On reaching the fourth floor Gassama puts one leg over the balcony before reaching out with his right arm and grabbing the child.

Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the child had already been rescued.

“Luckily, there was someone who was physically fit and who had the courage to go and get the child,” a fire service spokesman told AFP.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo praised the young migrant on Twitter for his “act of bravery” as well as phoning him personally to “thank him warmly”.

“He explained to me that he had arrived from Mali a few months ago dreaming of building his life here.

“I told him that his heroic act is an example to all citizens and that the city of Paris will obviously be very keen to support him in his efforts to settle in France,” she added.

The young Malian will next be honoured for his brave rescue by French President Emmanuel Macron who has invited him to the Elysee Palace on Monday, his office told AFP.

Tracked down by reporters 24 hours after the heroic rescue, Gassama said he had acted without thinking.

“I saw all these people shouting, and cars sounding their horns. I climbed up like that and, thank God, I saved the child,” he said.

“I felt afraid when I saved the child… (when) we went into the living room, I started to shake, I could hardly stand up, I had to sit down,” he added.

According to initial inquiries by the authorities, the child’s parents were not at home at the time.

The father was later held for questioning by police for having left his child unattended and was due in court later, a judicial source said. The child’s mother was not in Paris at the time.

A Change.org petition, comparing Dr Mahathir to anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, was launched on Saturday (May 26) and has since received over 26,300 signatures.

Started by Alexandria Abishegam, the petition which was addressed to the Nobel Foundation, wants Dr Mahathir to be nominated for The Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his determination to return to politics at age 92 and casting aside his political prejudices to work with his former detractors for the purpose of “saving our nation”.

“The fact that Dr Mahathir has also openly admitted his own faults and apologised for his mistakes of the past makes him truly a ‘Giant of a Man’ and a leader to emulate,” the petition read.

Empowered by their democratic right that saw the nation’s first transfer of power since gaining independence from the British in 1957, Malaysians have been taking to petitions to voice their thoughts on the new Government.

This is the fourth Change.org petition that has been launched since Pakatan formed the Government on May 10.

The first petition was launched on May 19 in response to dissatisfaction over the appointment of the new Education Minister.

One petition called for Dr Mahathir to retain his decision to helm the Education portfolio despite criticisms of him violating a clause in the Pakatan manifesto stating that the Prime Minister would not hold ministerial positions.

At the same time, a second petition was launched in support of Dr Maszlee Malik as the Education Minister.

On Monday (May 21), a third petition was launched asking for Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to ban controversial preacher Zakir Naik from Malaysia.

    The fluffy little cub was the second born to Liang Liang, who has been on loan to Malaysia since 2014, aong with a male panda, a rare success story for natural reproduction among giant pandas which are notoriously clumsy at mating on the rare occasions they are actually in the mood.

The family of three were in good health, said Mat Naim Ramli, director of the national zoo’s panda centre outside Kuala Lumpur.

“The cub weighs nine kilograms (20 pounds). She is so cute. Her growth is quite fast and she is already able to move slowly,” he told reporters.

The cub’s sister Nuan Nuan was born in August 2015 and sent to China in November last year as part of Beijing’s agreement with Malaysia that cubs born in captivity must go back at the age of two.

Mat Naim attributed the success of having two baby pandas born in Malaysia to having a healthy pair that “are able to accept each other”.

Inside a glass pen, the baby panda crawled slowly towards photographers but for most of the time was content to lie on her belly.

“I love pandas. They are so adorable. I want to cuddle the baby because it is so fluffy,” visitor Karene Lee, 25, a business consultant, told AFP.

Mat Daim said the only diet at the moment for the baby panda was its mother’s milk.

Chinese ambassador Bai Tian said he was pleased to see the cub was “comfortable and happy”.

“We will have an online competition to name the baby,” he said.

Liang Liang and the male, Xing Xing, came to Malaysia are on a 10year loan.

It costs zoo authorities some 56,000 ringgit ($14,000) a month to maintain the panda centre.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the giant panda as “vulnerable”. There are an estimated 2,000 left in the wild, in central China.//AFP

The moonwalker who went on to become a painter died Saturday in Houston after suddenly falling ill weeks before, the statement said.

He was among the elite group NASA chose for its third group of astronauts in 1963, having served as a test pilot in the US Navy.

He twice ventured into space, originally in 1969 on the Apollo 12 moon landing mission, and later as commander of the second crew to fly to the first US space station Skylab in 1973.

His second foray outside of Earth’s atmosphere saw Bean log a record-breaking 59-day, 24.4 million-mile flight (39.3 million kilometers).

He retired from NASA in 1981 to embark on a third career as an artist, creating Apollo-themed paintings textured with lunar boot prints or using acrylics infused with small bits of his mission patches sprinkled with moon dust.

Fellow astronaut Harrison Schmitt called Bean “one of the great renaissance men of his generation — engineer, fighter pilot, astronaut and artist.”

Born March 15, 1932 in Wheeler, Texas the future moonwalker earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas in 1955.

He is survived by his wife, sister and two children from a prior marriage.

Walt Cunningham, who flew on Apollo 7 and called Bean his best friend of 55 years, said “we are accustomed to losing friends in our business but this is a tough one.”

“Alan and I never missed a month where we did not have a cheeseburger.”

In 1994 Bean told The New York Times the otherworldly perspectives he got in space inspired him to devote the latter half of his life to art, to the surprise of many of his colleagues.

“Every artist has the Earth or their imaginations to inspire their paintings,” he said. “I’ve got the Earth and my imagination, and I’m the first to have the moon, too.”//AFP