General

The world’s largest annual shopping event, Singles’ Day will see its thirteenth iteration this Friday and has evolved into a multi-day extravaganza. Last year, over the 11-day sales period, Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com set new records, and racked up around USD115 billion in sales across their platforms. With a challenging economic environment and no end in sight for China’s zero covid policy, will the shine of the event this year be hampered by inflation and lockdowns? Catherine Lim of Bloomberg Intelligence weighs in.

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The S&P 500 is still closing at session highs despite the uncertainty over midterm elections and Fed pronouncements. Is this a sign that momentum is turning bullish? This is expected to also lift Asian equities. Should investors focus more on Asia given the strong current account surpluses and export oriented nature of most Asian countries? For insights, we speak to Paul Chew, Head of Research, Phillip Securities, a member of PhillipCapital.

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A music programme focusing on vintage big band and classic swing sounds from the yesteryears. Hosted by the dynamic duo Sean Ghazi & Ida Mariana. In this week's episode, we take you through the songs that inspire the repertoire of Sean & Ida's retro glam big band, Tarakucha!

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Tracklist:

Sean Ghazi - Hujan Di Tengah Hari

Pink Martini - Let's Never Stop Falling In Love

Anneke Grönloh - Bengawan Solo

Perry Como - Papa Loves Mambo

Anita Sarawak - Burung Kakak Tua

Saloma - Jelingan Manja

Elvis Presley - Surrender

Michael Feinstein & Pink Martini - How Long Will It Last?

Frank Sinatra & Nancy Sinatra - Something Stupid

Grace Change - Wo Yao Ni De Ai

With the theme, 'Taming The Wild', aiming to explore the 'complex relationship between Wilderness and Human Nature', the George Town Literary Festival 2022 is back in person for the first time since the pandemic began. We speak with the festival curator, Pauline Fan, about what's in store at GTLF and what she's looking forward to. 

Image source: George Town Literary Festival website

The latest installment in the MCU, Werewolf By Night is a lean, standalone take, exploring what happens when hunters gather in the wake of Ulysses Bloodstone's death, to participate in a hunt to see who will earn the right to hold the Bloodstone - but there are other players in the game, who have very different motivations. Directed by Michael Giacchino, and starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Laura Donnelly, and Harriet Sansom Harris, it was a TV special that was released in time for Halloween. We discuss whether it was worth a watch, and if we enjoyed it.

All the major parties have failed to hit the target of fielding 30% female candidates. We first look into what's behind this failure. Then, we speak to a female candidate about her experiences, and to get her take on this.

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The annual Enterprise 50 or E50 Award was established with the aim of recognising the contributions of local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) towards the growth of the nation, and to encourage them to assume a greater role in the economy. We speak to Encik Rizal Nainy, the CEO of SME Corp Malaysia about why this prestigious award was established, and how it successfully promotes and showcases competitive and resilient local SMEs. 

Which jobs and fields of work pay the least in Malaysia? We unpack some of the more surprising answers.

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Memes have always been a large part of our digital sphere, and this extends to our politics as well. We discuss the effectiveness of political memes, and the influence it has on political discourse.

For decades, dengue has been endemic in Malaysia and remains an ever-present threat all year long. But is it a threat that we still take seriously? We check in with Assoc Prof Dr Sharifah Faridah Syed Omar, infectious diseases physician with University Malaya Medical Centre on how we can ramp up public health measures to prevent surges in dengue cases, especially during the monsoon season.

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