June 5th is World Environment Day, the United Nations day for encouraging global awareness of and action to protect the environment. This year's theme is “Ecosystem Restoration” and the day will see the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. What small things can we do to help raise awareness?

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According to a survey conducted by Ipsos, Malaysians are far more worried about COVID-19 than the rest of the world. Locally, 74% of respondents named it their top worry, in comparison to the global country average of only 42%.

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With the eBelia programme officially launched, ShopeePay has recorded 500,000 claimants for the RM150 credit in only one day.

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With vaccinations being administered by the millions around the world, countries are starting to gear-up for a return to travel.The EU has launched its own COVID-19 Digital Vaccine Certificate that will act as a “passport” for those wishing to travel within approved nations. Could this be how other countries will adapt to safe travel in the coming years?

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With vaccine decentralization underway, the Malaysian government has announced that 7 million doses will be allocated to the private sector and state governments. The move hopes to speed up vaccine rollout in the country, which was off to a slow start but seems to be picking up momentum.

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On the first day of the total lockdown, the confusion and difficulties in obtaining the necessary approvals to operate left many in a quandary, say business stakeholders.

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With vaccination rates perhaps not rising fast enough and overloaded frontliners and ICUs, the President of the Malaysian Association of Hotels, Dato N Subramaniam, says that hotels in Malaysia are ready to act as low-risk COVID-19 quarantine and treatment centres.

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The National Security Council has confirmed all approvals for businesses and industries to operate during the nationwide lockdown will be issued through a one-stop centre manned by the International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI). The approval to operate will affect a workforce of 16 million people in the public and private sectors.

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As an additional funding aid, RM40 billion was announced last night as being allocated to Pemerkasa Plus, dedicated to supporting three key avenues in Malaysia for financial assistance. We cover what could be relevant for SMEs as well as what the rest of the funding will be used for.

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Many SMEs will take yet another hit as Malaysia heads into another full lockdown in June 2021. SME Association Malaysia president, Michael Kang, predicts that 40% of Malaysian SMEs will be financially affected and may have to cut jobs and overhead to reduce expenses.

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