News In Brief

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Welcome to our ‘News In Brief’ column in which we digest all the news releases for you in no more than five paragraphs. Below are snippets of all the media releases that we received from Feb 7 till Feb 13. Please check back throughout the week for more updates.

Powerledger Receives World Summit Award 

Perth, Feb 7: The World Summit Awards (WSA) have presented technology company Powerledger with an award for their work in promoting distributed electricity in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The WSA scheme recognises digital applications that have a strong positive impact on society, and out of 8000 entries, the software company was singled out for its promise of bringing electricity to the largely unelectrified population in the rural Indian state.
The Australian software company picked up the gong in the ‘Environment and Green Energy’ category and their efforts have led to legislative change to allow peer-to-peer (P2P) trading. 
“The entire team at Powerledger is delighted with the award because it validates our blockchain-enabled technology,” Powerledger Executive Chairman and co-founder Dr Jemma Green said.
There were 40 winners across a range of categories and Powerledger was one of only two Australian businesses to receive the prestigious Diamond trophy.

AFC Requesting For Proposal 

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 7: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), through its exclusive commercial agency Football Marketing Asia (FMA), is seeking a master licensee for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Licensing & Merchandising Programme.
FMA has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Programme which focuses on the AFC Asian Cup China 2023, and includes the option for respondents to submit proposals for additional AFC national team and club competitions through to the end of 2024.
The AFC Asian Cup China 2023 will showcase the region’s best football talent on the biggest Continental stage and provide the selected partner with the exclusive opportunity to engage with the 121 million people across the 10 host cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi’an, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen and Suzhou) and a total of 489 million people across their wider provinces.
Internationally, the selected partner will also have exclusive rights (other than in Japan) to further leverage the programme with the AFC’s huge national team football fan base across Asia. 
The submission deadline is March 4 and any company wishing to participate or send responses can reach FMA at rfp@fmasia.com.

Yezza Selects Delyva Booking Platform

Petaling Jaya, Feb 7: Yezza, a  social commerce platform for micro and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) merchants has selected DelyvaNow as its online delivery booking platform.
Developed by  Delyva Sdn Bhd, Yezza has integrated DelyvaNow into its commerce system since the start of the year making it easier for merchants to access multiple on-demand and express courier services via a single platform.
“Having Delyva onboard helps strengthen Yezza as an emerging social commerce place, and it makes running an online business more efficient for our merchants,”  Yezza CEO Ammar Roslizar said.
Yezza social commerce is a place for micro and SME merchants to set up a store and sell a variety of goods such as foods and clothing, on WhatsApp application.
While DelyvaNow is an online delivery booking platform that helps e-commerce and q-commerce businesses save time and money on deliveries, retain more customers, and scale faster.

Fintel Most-Shorted Aussie Companies

New York, Feb 7: Fintel.io, a provider of advanced research tools for data-driven investors, has developed a mathematical model that provides investors and traders with data that identifies the most-shorted stocks by ranking companies on a number of factors such as relative short interest, borrow fee rates, trading volume, and others. 
The Australian Short Interest Leaderboard provides a leaderboard ranking of companies with the highest short interest so traders can easily identify companies with the highest negative sentiment by institutional investors.
The leaderboard is also useful for identifying potential short squeeze opportunities. Short Squeeze Scores scoring model ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 being most likely, relative to its peers.
The Australian Short Squeeze Leaderboard also compiles data like Short Interest % Float, Change in Volume, Change in Price, and Borrow Fee Rate into an easy-to-use leaderboard for investors to reference when making decisions. 
Below are the list of most-shorted Australian companies as of February 6, 2022 at 8:00pm ET:

• RRL / Regus Resources, Ltd. (97.21)
• CIA / Champion Iron, Ltd. (96.73)
• WEB / Webjet, Ltd. (96.26)
• FLT / Flight Centre Travel Group, Ltd. (96.05)
• OBL / Omni Bridgeway, Ltd. (96.00)

Helping The Public With Legal Advice

Sydney, Feb 7: The Law Society of NSW has launched a new website which connects members of the public with the right solicitor for their legal needs.
President of the Law Society of NSW, Joanne van der Plaat, said the website, Lawfully Explained, provides the public with guidance and information on some of the most common legal topics and issues.
The website features articles, podcasts and videos answering questions about everything from neighbour disputes to jury duty and what to expect when you attend court.
It also includes a new customised Find a Lawyer tool to help people connect with the right solicitor for their individual circumstances.
The Law Society of NSW has also launched a new podcast series, Lawfully Explained, on the LiSTNR app, featuring interviews with some of the legal industry’s top experts.

FedEx Malaysia Wins Triple Awards

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 7:  FedEx Express Malaysia, the Malaysian operation of FedEx Express (FedEx), a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and one of the world’s largest express transportation companies, recently received recognition from three awards, namely the ‘HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2021,’ the ‘WeCare: HR Asia Most Caring Companies Awards 2021’ and the ‘Sustainability & CSR Malaysia Awards 2021’.
For the ‘HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2021’ recognition, FedEx achieved 100 per cent employee response to the Total Engagement Assessment Model (TEAM) survey, an employee engagement survey that provides leaders and organizations insight into employee feedback on their working experience in a company through a series of in-depth questions.
FedEx Malaysia claimed its spot on the awards list given that the preliminary survey results were well above the industry average in all categories. This is a testament to the company’s active employee engagement and exceptional workplace culture founded on three main pillars – CORE (leadership and organisation), SELF (emotional engagement) and GROUP (team dynamics).
“At FedEx, we are committed to supporting our people in reaching their fullest potential at the workplace, while staying engaged, motivated and passionate,” FedEx Express Malaysia Managing Director SC Chong said. 
FedEx was also an awardee at the ‘Sustainability & CSR Malaysia Awards 2021,’ in recognition of its longstanding efforts in educating and inspiring young talent to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and creative thinking in international trade through its FedEx Express / JA International Trade Challenge (FedEx Express / JA ITC) and Young Enterprise (YE) Programmes with both programmes benefitting over 8,000 students in Malaysia. 

Sales Assistant Wins Thermomix 

Kuala Lumpur, Feb: A 29-year-old sales assistant from Pantai Dalam walked away with a brand new Thermomix TM6 after being named as the contest winner for the ‘MR. D.I.Y.’s P&G Beli & Menang competition.
The contest saw more than 500 lucky customers walk away with prizes worth over RM80,000.
Three second prize winners won an iPhone 13 Pro each, while the three third prize winners each received a 55-inch 4K Ultra HD smart television.
Three 4th prize winners took home a TTRacing SWIFT Gaming Chair each, while another 500 lucky shoppers were each awarded consolation prizes of RM100 in cash vouchers to shop for their favourite items at MR D.I.Y. and MR. DOLLAR stores.

Fortinet Appoints Dickson Woo As Country Manager  

Malaysia, Feb 9: Fortinet, a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, has announced the appointment of Dickson Woo as its Country Manager for Fortinet Malaysia.  
Woo brings three decades of extensive experience in large computing technologies and the services industry.
Woo will take responsibility for business operations across Malaysia and will help customers with the development of their cybersecurity strategies to protect against advanced threats and maintain business continuity. 
Woo is based in Kuala Lumpur, and has held senior roles in NTT, Microsoft, Dell, Oracle and IBM prior to his appointment in Fortinet. 

DOC2US Provides Free Virtual Health Advisory 

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 9: In view of the continuous rise in new daily COVID-19 cases reaching  above ten thousand, DOC2US, Malaysia’s first telemedicine provider that issues digitally signed e prescriptions in compliance with the Ministry of Health, reiterated its commitment to support Malaysians in fighting COVID-19 with the free Virtual Health Advisory via the MySejahtera and DOC2US app. 
The DOC2US COVID-19 Task Force is a voluntary telemedicine service to help the public gain adequate  information about the spread and the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce patient medical healthcare specialist contact. 
Currently manned by 125 volunteering doctors and healthcare  professionals, the Task Force has logged more than 2.2 million hours to date in providing medical advice  on COVID-19 and related health issues to the public since March 2020. 
To access the free Virtual Health Advisory through MySejahtera, log on to your MySejahtera App, click on Digital Healthcare under the expanded Menu tab, and click Virtual Health  Advisory.

MR D.I.Y. Spreads CNY Cheer 

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 9: It has been a roaring great start to the Year of the Tiger with MR D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad (“MR D.I.Y.”) for some of the nation’s less privileged. 
Malaysia’s largest home improvement retailer mobilised its resources across the country to bring joy to Malaysians young and old by ensuring they had the essentials they needed for the Chinese New Year celebrations.  
More than 400 residents from 15 care homes, including underprivileged children, the physically challenged and the elderly received care packages containing everyday essentials and household items.
In addition, each home also received household appliances like rice cookers and electric kettles, as well as personal hygiene items such as face masks and hand sanitisers.
For more information about MR D.I.Y., visit www.mrdiy.com, e-commerce platform, www.mrdiy.com.my, Facebook, and Instagram.

Kissflow Workflow Recognised By Gartner

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 9: Kissflow Inc’s flagship no-code workflow platform – Kissflow Workflow has been recognized in the 2021 Gartner market guide for Business Process Automation Tools as a Representative Vendor.
Kissflow Workflow was one of the 38 representative Vendor solutions in the report.
“We are proud to be recognized by Gartner in this report,” Kissflow CEO Dinesh Varadharajan said.
“We believe we have been recognised for our ability to provide end-to-end business process and workflow automation solutions.”
Kissflow Workflow is the only Unified Workflow platform in the world that supports all types of workflows from simple to comprehensive.

Enhancing Cross-Cultural Dialogues With AI

Melbourne, Feb 10: A new project, led by Monash University researchers, will develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-assisted application to help with real-time interpretations for diplomatic talks, international business and tourism. 
The US$5 million project, funded by the US Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), will develop a smart phone-based assistive dialogue system using smart glasses that will apply machine learning, speech recognition and vision technology to provide cross-cultural communication assistance in real-time. 
Project researchers from Monash University’s Vision and Language Group (VLG) at the Faculty of Information Technology (IT) said the goal of the program is to develop language processing technology that will recognise and adapt to the emotional, social, and cultural norms that differ across societies, languages, and communities.
Faculty of IT Deputy Dean (Research) Professor Maria Garcia de la Banda welcomed the support for research that will lead to innovation in the use of AI and data science for dialogue assistance technologies. 
The study will be conducted over the next three years in two phases with the first prototype to be released by March 2023. 

HWUM Celebrates #WattaDecade 

Putrajaya, Feb 10: Heriot-Watt University Malaysia (HWUM) celebrated a  decade of creating a positive impact in the country, beyond quality education, at its 10th  year  anniversary celebration, held at its green campus in Putrajaya today.
The UK University celebrated its #WattaDecade anniversary in an intimate ceremony with its  students, academic leaders, and staff members.
Also present were the University’s Pro Chancellor, Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood; the University’s Chair of the Board of Directors,  Datuk Yasmin Mahmood and its Board members. 
In line with Heriot-Watt’s ‘Strategy 2025’, the University continues to forge ahead with its  people at the heart of everything it does.  
“As we celebrate our 10th anniversary on this beautiful green campus Putrajaya and reflect on a decade of our impact, we are reliving an era of continual creation of positive impact in Malaysia, one that goes beyond quality education,” HWUM Provost and Chief Executive Officer Professor Mushtak Al-Atabi said.

Alliance Healthcare Reports Strong Results

Singapore, Feb 10: Alliance Healthcare Group Limited (SGX: MIJ), an integrated healthcare group leveraging the use of technology to provide an extensive suite of healthcare services primarily in Singapore, has announced an increase in revenue for the six months ending Dec 30 last year. 
The company’s revenue had risen by 23.8 per cent year-on-year to S$28.6 million in HY2022.
This is driven mainly by an increase in sales by the mobile and digital health services segment, GP clinic services segment and managed healthcare solutions segment.
These were partially offset by a decrease in revenue from the pharmaceutical services segment due to a reduced demand for medical supplies from certain hospitals.
Revenue from the specialist care services segment remained stable. With the increase in revenue, the Group’s net profit more than doubled to S$2.6 million along with an expansion in net profit margin from 5.0 per cent in HY2021 to 9.1 per cent in HY2022 with its net profit  also rising to S$1.7 million.

Bestinet Issues Letter Of Demand

Cyberjaya, Feb 11: A Letter of Demand (LOD) has been issued on behalf of Bestinet Sdn Bhd and Datuk Seri Mohd Amin Abdul Nor to Malaysiakini and two individuals for a Malay online article that appeared on the website on Feb 4 – on grounds that the article had contained several defamatory statements.
The LOD noted that the content of the defamatory statements in the article was malicious, untrue and unjustifiable, Bestinet said in a media statement issued on Friday.
“The defamatory statements are an attack on the integrity and reputation of the company and Mohd Amin, who have been brought into public scandal, ridicule and contempt.
“Bestinet and Mohd Amin are prepared to withhold civil action if the news portal and the two individuals refrain from the actions as set in the LOD.
“The company and Mohd Amin in the meantime reserve their rights and interest at law,” the company said in the statement.

Paessler Appoints Joachim Weber As CTO

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 11: Paessler, the monitoring experts has officially unveiled Joachim Weber as their Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Weber brings with him more than three decades of industry experience, holding various senior EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) roles to date and joins the business to support its continued growth and innovation trajectory.
Since 1997, Paessler has provided networking solutions to customers in all corners of the world.
Now, with more than 500,000 active users, Paessler is supporting enterprises across all sectors to monitor, streamline and run their IT, OT and IoT infrastructures.
As CTO, Weber will lead Paessler’s growing development team, oversee continued enhancements to the product portfolio and lead the charge in introducing new features, functionality, and offerings to customers.

Minister Officiates Back To School Programme

Kuala Kubu Bharu, Feb 11: The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (MARGMA), has again sponsored and launched its support on “Back To School 2022” programme organised by Pertubuhan Perkembangan Dan Evolusi Pendidikan India Selangor (PEPIS).
The event was officiated by Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon, Deputy Minister of Education 1.
The “Back to School 2022” programme is aimed at bringing children in the B40 category back to school by supporting them with schooling aids including uniforms, shoes, bags, stationery supplies and COVID-19 protective gears in line with school SOPs.
A total of 318 students of primary and secondary levels from 16 schools (refer appendix) under the Hulu Selangor district will benefit from this programme.
Each student will receive school stationery support materials worth RM400 with additional RM200 in cash allowance.

AFC President Congratulates Winners

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 13: Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman Ebrahim Al Khalifa has congratulated Asia’s representatives as well as the United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAE FA) and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and for their commendable efforts at the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021, which saw Chelsea claim the coveted club crown in Saturday’s final.
Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal SFC drew plaudits from football fans across the globe after their brave display in the semi-finals where the AFC Champions League 2021 winners were narrowly edged 1-0 by European and eventual champions Chelsea.
Despite their defeat to African champions Ah Ahly in the third-place playoff, the record four-time Asian club champions equalled their best performance at the global club showpiece in 2019 when they also finished fourth in their debut campaign after narrowly losing to Mexico’s CF Monterrey on penalties.
Asia’s proud tradition on the world stage was further underlined when the Australian trio of Referee Chris Beath and Assistant Referees Anton Shchetinin and Ashley Beecham were appointed to officiate Saturday’s final with Ammar Ali Aljneibi of the UAE also assisting as the Support Video Assistant Referee.
The achievement of the quartet marked the second time in three years that a team of AFC match officials were appointed to oversee the most significant club showdown in world football, following the appointment of Qatari trio Referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim and Assistant Referees Taleb Al Marri and Saoud Almaqaleh at the 2019 final between eventual winners Liverpool and Flamengo.

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