At the end of last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded Malaysia’s sovereign rating from ‘A-’ to ‘BBB+’, with an improved outlook from negative to stable. Thomas Rookmaaker, Director of Sovereign Ratings at Fitch Ratings, gives us the details on the reasons for the downgrade and what would be required for the country to regain its A- rating.

Image Credit: Willy Barton / Shutterstock.com

Covid-19 has rent all manner of businesses asunder, and healthcare is no exception. But what does Malaysia's largest private healthcare group do to come back from a year when patients, treatments and healthcare tourism ground to a standstill? Ahmad Shahizam bin Mohd Shariff, President and Managing Director of KPJ Healthcare Bhd, discusses.

UMNO's engineering of a shakeup in the Perak state government has triggered a political crisis and raised questions over the ability of Perikatan Nasional to remain a coalition and whether there are wider repercussions for the upcoming national polls.

Image Credit: Khoe / Shutterstock.com

President-elect Joe Biden has already made overtures with regard to the Iran nuclear deal to restart negotiations, but has this ship sailed? Will the Iranian government be more amenable to deal after facing economic hardship since the imposition of the sanctions, made worse by Covid-19? Professor James Dorsey, Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, gives us his views.

Image Credit: saeediex / Shutterstock.com

The government's decision to extend the CMCO in most states until December 20th, and not till the end of this month as widely expected, has businesses and people cheering. But questions remain about the health of the economy, and its path to recovery. Firdaos Rosli, Senior Economist at the Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad (MARC), discusses.

Image Credit: Phoebe Teng / Shutterstock.com

The MSCI Asia Pacific index hit a record high for the year, even though economic recovery hasn’t been keeping pace with equity prices. Kingsley Jones, Chief Investment Officer at Jevons Global, tells us why markets continue to rally and what sectors should benefit from the ongoing rotation.

We get you out of bed, to your first cup of coffee or to your first destination of your day with thought-provoking discussions on ideas, people and events shaping all our lives.

2:33 : Has the pandemic been harder on managers and team leaders?

8:18 : Are experts and leaders allowed to make mistakes?

14:47 : International headlines

20:24 : Local headlines

Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

This week, Patrick Teoh takes you on another foot stomping, hand clapping ride down memory lane as he blows dust off his vinyl collection to bring you a selection of the biggest hits from the 1960s to 1980s.

Man Utd have it all to do in the champions League as PSG won at Old Trafford thanks to a Neymar brace. Olivier Giroud hit 4 goals as Chelsea qualified in style. Liverpool & Man City are also through thanks to a win and a draw respectively whilst there were mixed results in the Europa League. There is a preview of the weekend's EPL including the North London derby and more.

The Ministry of Communications and Multimedia will be working FINAS to train and upskill talent in digital arts, which includes 3D animation, visual effects for films and the like. We speak to Isazaly Mohamed Isa to understand the state of the industry and the gaps that will have to be addressed.

Image Source: Pontus Wellgraf, Unsplash