Crypto markets are seeing major developments as the Singapore Exchange (SGX) launches perpetual futures for Bitcoin and Ethereum today. At the same time, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is easing its exam focus on crypto for 2026. We speak with Varun Mittal, Founder of Fintech Nation, on these developments and the outlook of cryptos.

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The structure and independence of Malaysia’s legal profession have come under renewed national attention as the government has proposed amendments to the Legal Profession Act that would give the Law Minister new powers over the Legal Profession Qualifying Board. Anand Raj, Vice President of the Malaysian Bar Council explains why there are concerns over this and also the lack of transparency over JAC appointments.

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The annual G20 Summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa over the weekend. The event, meant to be a gathering of the world's biggest economies, was boycotted by the United States. Bunn Nagara, Director and Senior Fellow at the Renaissance Strategic Research Institute and Honorary Fellow of the Perak Academy, walks us through the events of the summit

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The halfway mark for the Sabah polls has been crossed with 5 days left till polling day on 29 November. We check in with Dr Oh Ei Sun, Principal Adviser, Pacific Research Centre for an update on the campaign strategies of the different parties and if policies matter more than loyalties and familial ties.

This episode of The First Look was brought to you by Emirates. Fly better, fly Emirates

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Aluminum prices have surged to about 2,800 US dollars a ton since April, a 3-year high. What is driving prices and will this rally continue in 2026? For some insight into this metal, we speak to Michelle Leung, Head of Asia Metals & Mining, Bloomberg Intelligence

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COP30 is now entering its final stretch in Belém and while the summit remains anchored to the Paris goal like all previous COPs, this year’s summit has unfolded somewhat differently. We speak to Hong Jinghann, Adaptation Coordinator, Malaysian Youth Delegation on what is happening on ground and what the main points of contention are.

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Seven KL MPs have submitted a Private Members’ Bill to amend the Federal Capital Act 1960 to allow for councillors to be appointed by MPs to effectively manage the KL. We ask, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, MP for Setiawangsa and also sponsor of the bill as to why there should be a revamp and the benefits of the councillor system.

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All unclassified documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case are now awaiting President Donald Trump’s final approval for release, after both the Senate and Congress overwhelmingly voted in favour of making them public. Dr Kathryn Robison, a lecturer in American Studies at the United States Studies Centre shares her thoughts on the impact this has on the Republican party.

This episode of The First Look was brought to you by Emirates. Fly better, fly Emirates

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Deloitte’s latest report on Southeast Asia’s IPO markets shows that in the first 10.5 months of 2025, 102 IPOs across six exchanges have raised around US$5.6 billion. Wong Kar Choon, Capital Markets Services Partner, Deloitte Malaysia explains why capital markets were so active and if the pipeline remains strong in 2026.

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When cloud network services company, Cloudflare, crashed this week, there was a worldwide outage taking major websites offline and exposed the fragility of the internet. CF Fong, CEO of LGMS Berhad shares his view on what went wrong and how businesses can build stronger cybersecurity and infrastructure resilience.

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