Malaysia Gets Invite to CAFA Nations Cup 2025

It is good news to read that Malaysia is able to secure an invite to participate in the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Nations Cup (August 26-September 09), which offers a rare opportunity for Harimau Malaya to play world class teams outside Southeast Asia. 

And it's a big plus because the national side get to prove themselves against more physical and tactically advanced footballing countries. 

The tournament experience would be the best preparation before they take on Laos in the 2027 Asian Cup third-round qualifiers in October. 

At the PSA Squash Tour Finals (June 23-27, 2025) in Toronto, Canada, in Round One, it was not the dream start Sivasangari Subramaniam had hoped for. 

The world No. 8 gave a good account of herself but eventually went down 11-9, 11-9 to American world No. 4 Olivia Weaver in a Group B match on Monday. 

It was her seventh defeat to Weaver in eight meetings. 

Sivasangari will face world No. 14 Fayrouz Aboelkheir in her second group match today – a must-win clash for both players to keep their semi-final hopes alive.

Dubai is Flooded

Torrential rains began on the night of April 15, flooding the United Arab Emirates with more than half a foot (6.26 inches) of water in 24 hours, according to the Dubai Meteorological Office and cited by ABC News. That is more than two years' worth of rain in one day, the media outlet noted.

 

Highways and malls have been flooded, schools have been closed, and flights disrupted at one of the world’s busiest airports after the country experienced what the government described as their largest amount of rainfall in 75 years. 

 

Heavy rains also drenched Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Malaysia Falls to Oman

I must confess that I'm not really into Malaysian football. And that's sad.

 

That aside, Malaysia has a humongous mountain to climb after back-to-back 2-0 defeats to Oman. The second loss was on home ground, in Bukit Jalil, on Tuesday. 

 

In case you didn't know, this was the Group D 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup qualifying match.

 

Twenty-six thousand fans showed up. Somebody remarked that English singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran had 80,000 people last month at the same venue. Sad.

 

In January, a US judge sided with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in his fight with Disney, rejecting a lawsuit that had accused the latter of organizing a campaign of "government retaliation". 

 

Judge Allen Winsor said the actions that Disney opposed were legal and they lacked standing to sue the governor. Florida moved to tighten its oversight of Disney's amusement park last year. 

 

The change came after the company criticized a state law, the Parental Rights in Education Act – dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics – which banned discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

 

In his ruling, Judge Winsor accepted that the changes were clearly detrimental to Disney, which had enjoyed unusual power over the special tax district where their Walt Disney World park is located since 1967. 

 

Still, Disney moved to appeal the dismissal of their suit – but on Wednesday, the mass media and entertainment conglomerate agreed to put an end to all litigation pending in state court in Florida between Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. They also agreed not to challenge the CFTOD’s determination that the prior agreements with the old Reedy Creek Improvement District were null and void. 

 

I guess, good sense prevailed.

Zara Pulls Ad Over Gaza Reference Claims

Fashion brand Zara on Tuesday said it was removing an advertising campaign from its website and social media channels after angry criticism online claimed that it resembled images of destruction in Gaza. 

 

The move follows days of boycott calls across Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok over the promotion called ‘The Jacket’, which featured a model holding a mannequin seemingly wrapped in white plastic, fragments of plasterboard, a roughly painted crooked wooden box, rubble and statues, as well as other mannequins with missing limbs. 

 

“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created”, Zara said in a statement posted on its Instagram account. 

 

The Inditex-owned fashion brand added that the ad campaign, which was conceived in July and photographed in September, presents a series of images of “unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft-made garments in an artistic context”.

 

UK’s Advertising Standards Authority said they had received over 100 complaints that the imagery referenced the current conflict in Gaza and was therefore offensive. 

 

In early November, UK clothing chain M&S apologized for an Instagram video showing green, white, and red paper hats burning in a fire. The company explained that the video was part of a campaign recorded in August to “playfully show that some people don’t enjoy wearing paper Christmas hats”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, some social media users argued the hats reflected the colors of the Palestinian flag. And they accused M&S of "promoting the burning of the Palestinian flag". 

 

In the end, the firm deleted the picture and apologised for any "unintentional hurt".

 

It should be noted that the colors of the festive hats are also the same as the flags of Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Oman, Lebanon, Madagascar and Burundi and are ones traditionally associated every Christmas.

McDonald’s Franchises on Opposing Sides

Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator Thomas Friedman in the late 1990s famously claimed that two countries with McDonald’s outlets had never gone to war. 

 

But as fighting rages between Israel and Hamas, the iconic American fast food chain are at war with themselves.

 

McDonald’s franchises in the Middle East have weighed in on opposing sides of the conflict, with branches in Muslim countries disavowing a decision by McDonald’s Israel to provide free meals to the Israeli military. 

 

Franchises in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and United Arab Emirates have distanced themselves from their Israeli counterparts and collectively pledged more than $3 million to support Palestinians under bombardment in Gaza. 

 

“Let us all combine our efforts and support the community in Gaza with everything we can”, McDonald’s Oman, which pledged $100,000 towards humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza, posted on X (formerly Twitter) last Sunday. “We ask God Almighty to protect our beloved country and all Arab and Muslim countries from all the evil and hate”.

 

Since announcing their support for the Israeli army, McDonald’s Israel have changed their Instagram account to “private” following a backlash from consumers in Arab and Muslim countries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While McDonald’s rank among the most iconic American brands, most of their restaurants worldwide are locally owned and operated. The case of McDonald’s highlights the tricky geopolitical dynamics that globe-spanning brands must navigate in an era where businesses are often expected to weigh in on hot-button social and political issues.

 

Having different franchises of McDonald’s end up on different (rhetorical) sides is an example of how politics permeates everything.

It is a known fact the United States is driven by a lust for wars!

 

 

Liverpool Loses World Heritage Status

The English port city of Liverpool has been removed from UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites, making it only the third site to have its sought-after listing withdrawn.

The United Nations’ culture organisation’s World Heritage Committee voted to remove the designation on Wednesday because of developments in the city center and on its historic River Mersey waterfront. 

The committee said the projects, including a planned new stadium for local football club Everton, were “detrimental to the site’s authenticity and integrity” and had caused “irreversible loss of attributes”. 

But civic leaders in Liverpool expressed distress over the decision and city mayor Joanne Anderson (right) branded the move “incomprehensible”. 

She said: “Our World Heritage site has never been in better condition having benefitted from hundreds of millions of pounds of investment. But, whatever happens, Liverpool will always be a World Heritage city. We have a stunning waterfront and incredible built heritage that is the envy of other cities”. 

Liverpool was named a World Heritage Site by the United Nations’ cultural organisation in 2004, joining landmarks such as the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. 

The city, which is the hometown of the famed band The Beatles, was put on the list in recognition of its role as one of the world’s most important ports during the 18th and 19th centuries and for its architectural beauty. The docks declined and became derelict in the 20th century, but have been restored with museums, shops, bars, restaurants and new housing developments, making Liverpool a symbol of urban renewal. 

The threat of being delisted by UNESCO has hung over Liverpool since 2012 after the body warned that plans for flats and offices would destroy the city’s skyline. 

An experts’ report considered by the World Heritage Committee prior to its decision yesterday said “inadequate governance processes, mechanisms, and regulations for new developments in and around the World Heritage property” resulted in “serious deterioration and irreversible loss of attributes”. 

But Steve Rotheram (left), the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said UNESCO’s move was “a retrograde step that does not reflect the reality of what is happening on the ground”. 

“Many of the sites cited by UNESCO are in communities sorely in need of investment”, he said. “Places like Liverpool should not be faced with the binary choice between maintaining heritage status or regenerating left-behind communities – and the wealth of jobs and opportunities that come with it”. 

The only other sites stripped previously of the World Heritage Site title are a wildlife sanctuary in Oman in 2007 after poaching and habitat loss and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany in 2009 when a four-lane bridge was built over the river. 

The heritage label gives historic sites access to UN conservation funding as well as featuring in tourist guidebooks across the world.

Latin America: One Million Cases and 50,000 Deaths

Latin America's coronavirus death toll topped 50,000 on Saturday. If that’s not bad enough, yesterday, its confirmed cases reached 1,011,726, which is 16.2% of the global tally. 

When we take a look at the Top 7 worst-affected countries, they combine to show a 94.1% share of Latin America's total and 15.2% of the world's total.

There’s no doubt about it – it is the new epicenter (as my May 24, 2020 post had trumpeted). Four countries continue to yield high daily infection numbers: Brazil, Peru, Chile and Mexico. 

I must single out Brazil in particular because the country is supposed to have already started using chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine widely to treat Covid-19 – therefore, we should expect them to be able to rein in the disease, shouldn't we?

After all, these drugs had been proudly endorsed by two presidents, Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, no less!

Yet, the country collected over half a million cases yesterday – 514,849 to be precise and it alone contributed 50.9% of Latin America’s total.

Russia recorded 9,268 cases which raised the national tally to 405,843 and still comfortably holding onto its No. 3 position.

Meanwhile, Iran's infections had breached the 150,000 mark and it's sitting in position No. 12.

A day earlier, Oman and Kazakhstan reported more than 10,000 cases and Nigeria followed suit on Sunday.