Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Hard-pressed Malaysian emergency services, reinforced by civilian volunteers, on Sunday rescued 21,000 people displaced by flooding from torrential rain in seven states, officials and volunteers said.

More than 66,000 police, army and fire department personnel were mobilised to help pluck people from vehicles marooned in flood waters or from inundated streets outside their homes. 

State news agency Bernama reported that a total of 21,000 people had been evacuated nationwide to relief centres.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia’s relations with China and the United States (US) have continued to show positive developments in the economic, defence, manufacturing and cyber security fields, said Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Kamarudin Jaffar .

He said Malaysia had always taken the initiative to maintain good relations with China and the US through bilateral and multilateral relations platforms.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Malaysia reported 3,490 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight, bringing the national total to 2,691,639, according to the health ministry.

Fourteen of the new cases are imported, with 3,476 being local transmissions, data released on the ministry’s website showed.

Seventeen more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 30,879.

A total of 5,399 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 2,601,908.

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Dec 9 (NNN-Bernama) — Secretary of State of the United States (US) Antony Blinken will visit Malaysia from Dec 14 to 15.

Malaysian Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra) in a statement on Wednesday said Secretary Blinken, who is on his inaugural visit here, will be received by Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

He is scheduled to call on Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob during the visit.

International and regional issues of common concerns will also be addressed during the visit, the statement said.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia achieved a significant milestone in COVID-19 vaccination on Monday when 90 per cent of the adolescent population have received at least one dose of the vaccine, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.

“For seniors, get your booster as soon as it’s available,” he said in a Twitter post.

A total of 2,830,449 individuals or 90 per cent of adolescents aged between 12 and 17 have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of 11.59 pm Sunday.

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Dec 3 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia has recorded its first case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, involving a South African student studying at a private university in Ipoh city of Perak state.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told reporters Friday that the 19-year-old female student arrived from South Africa via Singapore on Nov 19 and had undergone a COVID-19 RT-PCR test upon entry at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 (NNN-Bernama) — The Balkan countries will be using Turkey as the gateway to import Malaysian palm oil, leveraging on Malaysia-Turkey free trade agreement (MTFTA) and close the gap through import duty advantage rendered by Turkey to the country’s palm oil, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) said.

Its Istanbul-based marketing executive Hakan Alkan said, during the pandemic period, freight cost had increased drastically by some 300 per cent, causing industrial players to purchase the vegetable oil from Europe rather than buying directly from Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Travel across the bridge connecting Malaysia and Singapore as well as an air corridor opened on Monday after disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bridge link, or causeway, was one of the busiest crossing points in the world with hundreds of thousands from both countries crossing the link daily before the pandemic.

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is on an official visit to Singapore, stopped by the causeway as part of a ceremony to mark its reopening under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL).

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob will make an official visit to Singapore on Monday, Malaysia's Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

The visit at the invitation of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be Ismail Sabri's first visit to the neighboring country since he assumed office in August.

The visit comes with the commencement of the air and land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Malaysia and Singapore beginning on Monday, the ministry said in a statement.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 (NNN-Bernama) — France strongly views Malaysia as its solid partner in the Southeast Asian region and wants to strengthen both countries’ connection, said Director for Asia and Oceania of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, M. Bertrand Lortholary.

The seasoned diplomat, who is on his working tour in this region, said there have been high level interactions between the two countries, including in the field of military equipment, which have been a significant base for building further trust between the two countries.