Morning Brief

The United Nations has estimated that rebuilding Gaza will cost at least US$70 billion, which is now in ruins after Israel destroyed homes, schools, hospitals, and essential public services over the past 2 years. Dr Anas Iqtait, of the Middle Eastern & Central Asia Studies at Australian National University, shares his view on what reconstructing Gaza might entail.

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As Sabah goes to the polls this weekend, the focus is on ensuring a clean and fair election. From money politics to threats or misuse of government resources, what violations have emerged so far? We discuss this with Faisal Aziz, Bersih Chairman.

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Malaysia plans to ban children under 16 from signing up for social media accounts starting next year, using strict eKYC verification, hoping to address rising school violence. Dr Benjamin Loh, Course Director for the Bachelor of Digital Media and Communication, Monash University Malaysia, shares his take on this seemingly hurried put together legislation.

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

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Tensions in the Indo-Pacific have been rising steadily but in recent months, Taiwan has become the focal point of both geopolitical friction and economic concern. Dr. Adrian Ang, Research Fellow, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies tells us what the consequences of this is for Asia and if the rift between Japan and China will escalate.

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With Donald Trump back in power, broadcasting and publishing companies in the US are expecting a different environment next year, including a more deregulated landscape. We speak to Geetha Ranganathan, Senior Media Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence on what 2026 will look like for these companies.

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The Securities Commission has released a consultation paper proposing a major update to Malaysia’s listing requirements for both the Main and ACE Markets. We ask Pankaj Kumar, Managing Director of Datametrics Research & Information Centre as to what these revisions means for capital markets and if it enhances Malaysia as a destination for IPOs.

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Heavy rainfall has triggered widespread flooding across seven Malaysian states, displacing nearly 17,000 people. Dato’ Dr Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus, President of Mercy Malaysia, shares his insights about the situation on the ground, ongoing relief efforts, and the challenges of cross-border evacuations.

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COP30 in Belém, Brazil, which brought together 194 countries to discuss climate action, has concluded with the summit falling short of binding fossil-fuel reduction commitments. Climate change and sustainability expert, Dr Renard Siew, who was at the event, shares his take on whether or not the COP process is still effective in driving global climate solutions.

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US President Donald Trump has posted that "something good may be happening" following news of a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine put forward by Washington and Moscow which requires a decision by Nov 27. Dr Sonia Mycak, a research fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies discusses this along with a new counter peace plan suggested by Ukraine and European leaders.

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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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