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Pakatan Harapan promised to abolish toll collection in its 14th general election manifesto. However, a complete abolition will likely see the federal government undertake significant burden on its fiscal spending.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, who is part of the five-member Team of Eminent Persons, said that Tun Daim Zainuddin would likely announce the decision on toll charges as early as next week.
In order to nationalise and subsequently end toll charges in Malaysia, the government will have to defray the costs related to the takeover of the expressways’ assets. In addition, the government will also have to assume the debt obligations of the toll concessionaires.
In a 2010 study by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), it was revealed that the overall cost to acquire all highways in the country was about RM383.3bil. However, as noted by CIMB Research, Pakatan Harapan had earlier estimated that the takeover of all highways via the expropriation clause would only cost the government about RM50bil.
The latest cost to take over all the highways is unknown. While the removal of toll charges will likely benefit road users and relieve pressure from the rising cost of living, critics believe the move could strain the federal coffers if the toll charge removal is not substituted with other sustainable revenue streams.
According to the Bond Price Agency Malaysia’s figures as at April 23, there was a total of RM55.3bil of outstanding bonds from various toll concessionaires within Malaysia.
This means the government would have to pay over RM55bil just to take over the debts of the toll concessionaires in the event of a complete acquisition of toll operators in the country - aside from the cost to acquire the assets.
In a separate report, Maybank Investment Bank Research pointed out that the government would have to pay about RM79bil in compensation, at the most minimal, to acquire all outstanding debt and shareholders’ equity. This is assuming a general 70:30 debt-to-equity ratio.
According to a Bernama report yesterday, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said a right holistic solution was needed to tackle the issue of toll highways.
“We have to be mindful that a lot of money was invested through the capital markets and there is a need for some balance in this situation,” he said.
Former Deputy Works Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said at the Dewan Rakyat earlier this year that there were 31 tolled expressways in Malaysia as at end of 2017.
“The annual operations and maintenance cost for each highway in 2016 was between RM6.82mil and RM1.5bil,” said Rosnah, adding that the toll collection in 2016 was between RM27mil and RM2.867bil.
However Pakatan Harapan, in its 2018 alternative budget, had pointed out that buying back toll concessionaires would be more cost-effective, in comparison to paying periodic compensation to toll concessionaires.
Toll charge removal is not uncommon in Malaysia. This year, the previous Barisan Nasional government abolished toll collection at four expressways, namely, Batu Tiga, Shah Alam and Sungai Rasau in Selangor, Bukit Kayu Hitam in Kedah and the Eastern Dispersal Link in Johor.
The country’s toll concessionaires will likely be watching the developments related to toll charges closely.
Currently, there are nine listed toll concessionaires in Malaysia, namely, IJM Corp Bhd , WCE Holdings Bhd , Taliworks Corp Bhd , Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd , Gamuda Bhd , Bina Puri Holdings Bhd , Ekovest Bhd , Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd (Litrak) and Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd.
Apart from these public-listed companies, the country’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) are also involved in the toll concession business. Khazanah and the EPF are the shareholders of Projek Lebuhraya Usahasama Bhd (PLUS), the owner of five major highways, including the North-South Expressway.
Non-listed Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (Prolintas), which is 100%-owned by Permodalan Nasional Bhd, is also an expressway operator in Malaysia.
Most of the major tolled highways in the country are owned by PLUS and Prolintas.
RHB Research Institute said the impact from the abolition of tolls in Malaysia would be largely neutral on the toll concessionaire stocks, provided that fair compensation is given. “The abolition of toll charges could result in a one-off cash injection, following the disposal of toll concession assets which comes at the expense of earnings from the collection of tolls. The proceeds, which could be used to pare down debts, may just give rise to special dividends to shareholders,” said the research firm.
Meanwhile, PublicInvest Research said that the acquisition of concessionaries with the aim of abolishing toll collections would be protracted. “With issues of compensation certain to be a sticking point, it may cloud sentiment on listed players like Gamuda, IJM Corp, Taliworks and Litrak, which own more than one concession, alongside Ekovest and Bina Puri which only have one each,” it said.
“Iron Fist” Season 2 is all about who has the power of the Immortal Iron Fist, who should have it and, perhaps most importantly, why they actually want it.
Throughout the season, Danny Rand (Finn Jones) grapples with his adopted brother and best friend, Davos (Sacha Dhawan), who is convinced that he should have become the Iron Fist instead of Danny. Davos executes an elaborate plan to steal the power of the Fist using an ancient ritual, and succeeds, gaining two red fists as the Steel Serpent. He goes on something of a perverted crime-stopping spree after that, murdering anyone he thinks deserves it.
At the end of the season, Danny and Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) hatch a plan to get the power of the Fist back from Davos. But Danny discovers over the course of the season that he really shouldn’t be holding the power of the Fist, either. He only pursued the Iron Fist because that’s what people do in K’un-Lun, the mystical city where he was adopted. In the end, he decided he wasn’t ready to wield the Fist, and needs to figure himself out instead.
But Danny and Colleen know that Davos can’t be left with the power of the Iron Fist, so someone has to hold it in the meantime. Danny convinces Colleen to become the Iron Fist. They use the same ritual on Davos that he used on Danny, and transfer the power to Colleen. Unlike Danny’s yellow Fist or Davos’ red one, Colleen ends up with a white Fist. The season ends with Danny leaving to find out more about being the Fist, and Colleen stays in New York to protect the city.
Colleen becoming the Iron Fist is a move for the show that has no precedence in the Marvel Comics on which the Netflix show is based. There have been women Iron Fists before, but Colleen wasn’t one of them. The white version of the Iron Fist that she sports is also something new — while the Fist’s glow is usually portrayed as yellow, it occasionally has been drawn as white, too. The interesting question about Colleen’s version of the Fist is whether it’s different from the power that Danny and Davos wielded, something we’ll probably come to find out next season.
There is a link to the comics in some of the backstory that came with Colleen gaining the Iron Fist in Season 2, though. At the end of the season, Danny speculated that Colleen’s ancestor might be the Pirate Queen Wu Ao-Shi, thanks to a story her mother told her and the family heirloom box Colleen discovered in the first episode. Wu Ao-Shi was also the first woman Iron Fist, which probably means there’s a whole lot more interesting backstory for the show to explore.
There’s not too much we can glean from the comics about what’s coming next in “Iron Fist.” In the comics, Colleen does become a superhero in her own right, forming the Daughters of the Dragon with Misty Knight (Simone Missick). Whether “Iron Fist” Season 3 will deal with that team-up — and whether Colleen as Iron Fist will be a part of it or if we’ll see her change into her own kind of hero — are questions that are still up in the air.
Heart at West Midlands Safari Park!
The Heart Angels came to visit West Midlands Safari Park to let you know who you need to be listening out for Money In The Music this week and also give you the chance to win £1000 cash!
See the full gallery: Heart at West Midlands Safari Park!
They talked about the global game of baseball and the passion that keeps them in it and the young players—getting younger every year—whom they now steer through major-league careers. They relived past glories on O’Donnell Field and retraced the winding paths that got them where they are. They talked about rebuilding efforts and pace of play and making trades. They talked about their moms.
and Ben Crockett ’02, vice president of player development for Boston’s own Red Sox.
Forst (left) and Bridich discussed the responsibility they feel as "stewards" for increasingly young major-league players.
Morosi (left) and Hill shared laughs over their Harvard baseball memories and where the game has taken them.
The current Crimson baseball team met privately with the panelists before the event and sat up front during the talk.
And then finally, they came to moms, prompted by a question at the mic from Bridich’s father, former Crimson baseball player Rick Bridich ’73. Forst recalled how his mother—“the one who loved baseball just about as much as anybody in our house”—moved from California to Cambridge and took an apartment on DeWolfe Street during his senior season and went to every game. Crockett’s mother, who was not a fan, learned the game “completely on the fly.” Bridich remembered the undergraduate struggles his mother and father got him through, an early experience in failure that they knew would be all right, even when he did not.
Edited audio of the event can be heard on the University’s Sound Cloud account.
ST. LOUIS – Make tax day a little less taxing with some deals and freebies.
Get one per customer while supplies last. Tax is not included.
At Great American Cookies, get one free original chocolate chip cookie, just by stopping by today.
Dunkin has a medium hot or iced coffee for $1 for loyalty members.
Planet Fitness is offering it’s hydromassage chairs for members and nonmembers with a coupon April 15 – April 19.
SAN DIEGO, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mesa Biotech Inc., a privately-held, molecular diagnostic company that has developed an affordable and easy to operate PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing platform designed specifically for point-of-care (POC) infectious disease diagnosis, today announced it will demonstrate its expanded, novel Accula™ Test System at the 29th Annual European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID). ECCMID is being held on April 13 – 16, 2019 in Amsterdam, Netherlands and the Accula System will be on exhibit in Booth 1.1C. Mesa Biotech has obtained CE Mark in the European Union (EU), as well as 501(k) clearance and CLIA Waiver from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on both its Accula Flu A/Flu B and RSV tests.
The Accula System, recently named 2019 Frost & Sullivan Price/Performance Global Value Leader, is a palm-sized, reusable dock with disposable test cassettes. The novel molecular test system offers the simplicity, convenience and procedural familiarity of traditional POC rapid immunoassays, while providing the superior sensitivity, specificity and information content of laboratory-based PCR testing. Test results are available in approximately 30 minutes to guide same day treatment decisions. Both the Accula Flu A/Flu B and RSV tests are indicated for use with nasal swab collection that is less invasive than nasopharyngeal swabs and allows for a more comfortable specimen collection experience for the patient.
"We are excited to introduce our expanded PCR test platform at ECCMID," said Hong Cai, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mesa Biotech, Inc. "As our product offerings continue to increase, we are carefully selecting additional strategic distributors to add to our growing international network."
Mesa Biotech designs, develops, manufactures and commercializes next generation molecular diagnostic tests, bringing the superior diagnostic performance of nucleic acid PCR amplification to the point-of-care (POC). Mesa Biotech's Accula™ System consists of a portable, palm-sized dock and disposable, assay-specific test cassettes. This patented system enables healthcare professionals to access actionable, laboratory-quality results at the POC with greater sensitivity and specificity than current infectious disease rapid immunoassay tests. The Accula Flu A/Flu B and the Accula RSV tests have obtained CE Mark in the EU and 510(k) clearance and Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments (CLIA) waiver from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Both products are distributed in the US by Sekisui Diagnostics under the Silaris™ brand. Mesa Biotech has also secured a number of strategic agreements for distribution in Europe and Asia. For more information visit http://www.mesabiotech.com.
The previous aerial survey of the fire — using helicopters that employ infrared technology at night to detect hot spots — “still had a little bit of heat up above that line,” Smith told Noozhawk in September.
A closure order on West Camino Cielo will remain in effect until the fire is fully controlled and declared out, Smith said.
The blaze broke out July 8 near Camp Whittier and Lake Cachuma in the Santa Ynez Valley.
It spread quickly, driven by gusty conditions, and prompted hundreds of evacuations and road closures on both sides of the mountains.
Sixteen residences were destroyed and another one was damaged, while 30 outbuildings were destroyed, with six more damaged.
The fire heavily damaged The Outdoor School and the Rancho Alegre Boy Scout camp, where most buildings burned to the ground.
Also damaged were Camp Whitter and the Circle V Ranch Camp.
It is unknown if any civil or criminal legal action will be taken, Smith added.
Mobeen Azhar examines the lasting effect Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses has had on the Muslim community and how the events of 1989 continue to have an impact today.
The publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses in 1988 sparked a culture war in Britain between those in the Muslim community, who considered the book blasphemous and called for the book to be banned, and those defending it as an expression of freedom of speech.
Protests, which began in the north of England, soon spread across the UK and to the rest of the Islamic world, culminating in February 1989 with Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa - a death sentence on the writer.
Now, 30 years on, broadcaster and journalist Mobeen Azhar embarks on a journey, starting in his native Yorkshire where the protest first began, to examine the lasting effect the book has had on the Muslim community and how the events of 1989 continue to have an impact today.
Mobeen hears from a range of people who were affected by the so called 'Rushdie Affair' - from the men who took an early stand against the book and organised the original protests to the writer who wrestled at the time of the book's publication with the complex questions of free speech and her own religious beliefs, and a former member of the National Front who claims that the furore over the book became a recruiting tool for them.
Our favorite fashion editor/former Project Runway judge/extreme dieter Anne Slowey was spotted — wait for it! — eating dinner last night. Mexican food and margaritas, no less. Pardon the pun, but we'll be dining out on this one for awhile. She's known to eat only three olives a day, people!
It has been some time since I threw my hands in the air like I just don’t care and boogied the whole night away without a concern in the world.
Not of course that I don’t have groovy moves spanning several decades and trends (including 90s trance hand waving and the lambada) available at the shake of my tail feathers, but I’m of the encroaching age and persuasion to look for a nice, comfy, (preferably brown squishy leather) sofa from where I can safely scan the dancefloor for embarrassing middle aged mum and dad dancing suitable for filming and putting on YouTube.
Also, my feet would hurt.
Which mainly occurs at weddings.
And work dos when I have made the fatal decision not to drive but instead summon one of my taxis.
Never a wise move when you have to look your colleagues in the face shortly afterwards.
So with the festive season rolling towards us at the speed of a Coca Cola advertising truck towards a sign for Pepsi, I need to up my game.
Unless I turn down all the invitations for sensible meals which we all know will end up as random evenings featuring glittery accessories, paper hats and competitive cocktail drinking at the cheapest joint in town, I must both physically and psychologically prepare myself.
I must be ready for evenings where I must not only stand up all night but also appear a good sport in consumption of multi-coloured watered down drinks named after exotic fruits.
And staying out after 9pm.
First I must undertake the terrible task of bringing my drinking skills up to par.
So I’m taking one or two for the team (glasses of wine) with greater frequency and thanks to the newsroom supply of free food for testing purposes, I’m also getting in practice with the festive cakes and mince pies.
I’m also resting my feet up on the sofa ahead of tortuous incidents of standing up plus rehearsing anaesthetising them with the odd G&T.
CONSERVATIVE councillor Wesley Fitzgerald has been re-elected as leader of Cheshire East Council despite a challenge from former Tory David Brickhill.
Cllr Fitzgerald, who represents the Wilmslow West and Chorley ward, was reconfirmed as leader at full council last Wednesday – but only after a secret ballot. The Independents put up Cllr Brickhill to stand against him.
Cllr Brickhill, who is understood to have got 20 votes as opposed to the 45 Cllr Fitzgerald received, is the former Tory councillor in the Doddington ward.
Earlier this year the Tories deselected him and he stood as an Independent in Shavington, beating the Conservative candidate.
The Independents have 10 councillors and Cllr Brickhill believes three Tories may have backed him in the leadership battle.
It is the first time the leadership of Cheshire East has been challenged.
Cllr Brickhill was proposed as leader by Cllr Brendan Murphy and seconded by Cllr Arthur Moran.
Cllr Fitzgerald, who is also the leader of the Conservative group and Cabinet chairman with responsibilities for resources, has led Cheshire East Council since it was formed as a new unitary authority on April 1, 2009.
He said: “I’m honoured and proud to have maintained the confidence of my party group.
With its stock price soaring Thursday morning, Twitter has finally shifted investor focus away from user numbers and on to platform monetization.
Twitter reported better-than-expected third quarter financial results Thursday morning, proving that it could increase revenue and profit despite a decline in user numbers. The key to Twitter's revenue success boils down to its data and advertising strategy, which has helped the company shift investor focus away from user numbers and on to platform monetization.
Twitter said that its monthly active user (MAU) count -- the most watched user metric -- was 326 million in Q3, a bit below the 330.1 million expected and around 1 percent less than the year-ago quarter.
However, Twitter's revenue went up 29 percent year-over-year, and advertising revenue climbed to $650 million, also an increase of 29 percent year-over-year. Twitter also saw growth in its data licensing business, where revenue climbed 25 percent to $108 million.
Twitter told analysts last quarter to expect a sequential drop in MAUs due to a combination of account removals, GDPR compliance changes, and its decision to not move to paid SMS carrier relationships in certain markets. The company insisted that its crackdown on bots and fake accounts was only partially to blame for the user decline, since inactive or potentially spammy accounts were never included in its MAU tally in the first place.
Nonetheless, Twitter said it removed about 70 million accounts in May and June this year. The company has also doubled the number of accounts removed for violating spam policies as compared to last year.
On the conference call this morning, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey detailed additional platform "health" initiatives designed to curb abuse, misinformation, echo chambers and manipulation.
Dorsey said Twitter saw a 20 percent decrease in suspicious sign-ups since introducing more stringent account setup requirements. Most of the spammy signups happened on the web, leading to the decrease in web daily usage and the double-digit growth on mobile daily usage.
"We tend to see a lot more of the, sort of, scripted automation coming through the web versus the API," Dorsey said. "So this is pretty meaningful in terms of our objective around increasing health. And as an another reminder, we do see health as a growth factor over the long term."
The growth factor Dorsey is referring goes back to user engagement. The idea is to bolster confidence in Twitter as a source of information and place for conversation. In doing so, Twitter can sell itself to advertisers that want to use the platform to launch products or support a brand.
"One of our jobs right now is to make sure that we're understanding people's interest as soon as they sign up and matching them with the right events and the right conversations as quickly as we can," Dorsey said.
He continued: "We believe we have very different dynamics than what you would find on the typical social network. Twitter has become one of the best places to launch something new, whether it be products service or something around your brand. Not only to launch it but also to see the conversation, have a direct conversation with your customers or potential customers. and we're seeing that in our results as well."
Looking closer at the numbers, Twitter posted Q3 non-GAAP earnings of 21 cents per share on revenue of $758 million, up 29 percent year-over-year.
Wall Street was expecting Q3 earnings of 14 cents a share with $702 million in revenue. Twitter's stock price was up nearly 15 percent Thursday morning.
A boozed-up man on a work’s do grabbed hold of the doors at a Mansfield night club and refused to budge when police were called, a court heard.
Police saw Mark Dyer shouting and swearing at the bouncers because he had been refused entrance to the Rush night club, at 12.30am, on December 9.
When officers told him he was blocking the doorway, he grabbed the door handles and shouted:”F*** off, I’m not moving.” said prosecutor Robert Carr.

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