KINI SNAPSHOT | What's going on in the news today, with updates at 11am and 6pm.

6pm

Surging oil prices

  • PKR has pushed back against opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin’s remarks on the diesel subsidy issue, saying his statement fails to reflect current economic realities.

    PKR deputy secretary-general Sivamalar Genapathy said Hamzah’s comments amounted to little more than an emotional rehashing of old narratives that took no account of the urgent need for subsidy reform.

    Opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin

    She was responding to Hamzah’s proposal to defer the 80 sen increase in diesel prices to RM4.72 per litre until after Hari Raya Aidilfitri, or to implement it in stages.

    Sivamalar said the previous blanket subsidy system had serious leakages costing billions of ringgit annually, with a portion of the funds failing to benefit Malaysians due to smuggling and misuse by ineligible parties.

    READ MORE: Anwar: Stop politicising oil price surge driven by global crisis

  • Indonesia has announced plans to boost coal production amid surging oil prices.

    Its Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said yesterday that the order came after a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto.

    According to Bernama, Airlangga said the move is intended to mitigate the impact of rising fuel prices while helping to stabilise domestic energy and commodity costs.

    The government is also mulling imposing taxes on coal exports to contribute to state coffers, he added.

Impact of Iran conflict

  • Research firm BMI said Asian countries may face greater-than-expected shortages of food supplies with Iran’s attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquid natural gas (LNG) facilities.

    It noted that gas is a key component of nitrogen fertilisers and that Qatar Fertiliser Company provides the world with 14 percent of urea.

    Up to one-third of the global nitrogen fertiliser trade could be affected by prolonged disruptions to gas supplies, Bernama reported BMI saying.

    “Asia-Pacific’s exposure is acute. Asian countries receive 35 percent of Gulf Cooperation Council urea exports, 53 percent of sulphur exports, and 64 percent of ammonia exports.”

11am

Fake viral message

  • The Kuala Lumpur Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department denied involvement in a letter circulating on WhatsApp calling for public donations under the guise of a Hari Raya Aidilfitri event.

    Department chief Zamzuri Isa said they first detected the fake letter on WhatsApp at 5.50pm on Wednesday.

    The letter bore an official-looking letterhead purportedly from the Traffic and Transport Branch of the Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters, and was signed by “Supt Jamil bin Abdul”.

    “A check found that the name did not exist in the officer records at the Traffic and Transport Branch of the Kuala Lumpur police station or in the police,” Bernama reported Zamzuri saying.

    He reportedly confirmed that no official letter from the department was issued to request donations from any party. A police report has also been lodged on the matter.

Cybersecurity

  • MCMC has urged Apple users to update their devices immediately to address security vulnerabilities on iOS devices.

    Apple has released a security update to combat vulnerabilities, particularly “DarkSword”, an exploit chain targeting iPhones running on iOS versions 18.4 to 18.7, the commission was quoted as saying by Bernama.

    MCMC warned that compromised devices could see the theft of messages, files, and sensitive data, along with the installation of spyware.

    Yesterday, researchers at Google identified DarkSword, saying they observed the use of the exploit chain by commercial spyware vendors and suspected state-backed actors against targets in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Malaysia.

    An exploit chain – also known as a vulnerability chain – is a cyberattack technique that leverages multiple security flaws to achieve a deeper compromise of a system or network.