KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysian political heavyweights Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim put aside long-running animosity and joined an opposition protest on Monday (Aug 2) against the shutdown of Parliament and demand the country's embattled premier resign.
The final day of a Parliament session, due to take place on Monday, has been cancelled after the discovery of several coronavirus cases in the legislature.
The Parliament sitting, which began last week, was the first this year after political activities were suspended under a state of emergency, ostensibly to fight a worsening outbreak.
On Monday, two-time former prime minister Mahathir and Mr Anwar stood side by side at the head of a group of around 100 lawmakers before they tried to march on Parliament.
"Even when people condemn (Mr Muhyiddin), he remains shameless and refuses to step down," Mr Mahathir, 96, told reporters in a historic Kuala Lumpur square.
Mr Anwar said that Mr Muhyiddin's government had "lost its legitimacy", and he no longer commanded majority support in Parliament.
"We are protesting today because we want to protect the people," he added.
The MPs, chanting "step down Muhyiddin", were stopped by the police as they attempted to reach Parliament and peacefully dispersed.
In the late 1990s, during his first stint as premier, Mr Mahathir sacked Mr Anwar from government, and he was subsequently jailed for sodomy and abuse of power in a case criticised as politically motivated.
They buried the hatchet to lead an opposition alliance to a historic election victory in 2018, only to fall out again.
While the overall number of infections - more than 300 so far - is much lower than outbreaks elsewhere, the wide spread indicates that the variant has been on the loose for some time and is alarming officials who wield the strictest containment measures in the world.
It's the biggest challenge for the world's second-largest economy since the virus was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.
China's strict regulations, including mass testing, aggressive contact tracing, quarantines and occasional lockdowns, crushed more than 30 previous flareups.
The arrival of the more infectious Delta variant, however, is testing that approach. The new strain may be exploiting the population's recent willingness to lower their guards when it comes to masking and distancing, since much of the country has been Covid-free for months.
That, along with increased travel during the summer months, created a perfect storm for Delta to gain a foothold.
The initial infection arrived via an overseas flight from Moscow into the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing in mid-July, and took hold there among the airport cleaning staff.
China reported 99 infections on Monday (Aug 2) alone, including 44 people who tested positive but have no symptoms. By number of cases, it is the biggest outbreak since the flareup in Hebei in northern China in January, when 2,000 people were infected.
The broad spread is more concerning, with infections having reached the highly protected capital, Beijing, and as far as Hainan province in the south, 1,900km away from Nanjing.
Local governments in major cities including Beijing have now tested millions of residents, while cordoning off residential compounds and placing close contacts under quarantine.
The central city of Zhuzhou in Hunan province ordered over 1.2 million residents on Monday to stay home under strict lockdown for the next three days as it rolls out a citywide testing and vaccination campaign, according to an official statement.
In the tourist destination of Zhangjiajie, near Zhuzhou, an outbreak spread last month among theatre patrons who then brought the virus back to their homes around the country. Zhangjiajie locked down all 1.5 million residents on Friday.
It remains to be seen if the country's vaccination rate, close to 60 per cent and among the highest in the world, can slow Delta's spread and keep serious illness and death at bay.
Most of those infected in Nanjing have been immunised. The shots do appear to protect against serious disease, with 4 per cent of those infected battling severe disease so far. Many of them have pre-existing conditions such as asthma, diabetes or high blood pressure, said Mr Guo Yanhong, an official with the National Health Commission, at a briefing in Beijing on Saturday.
While all Covid vaccines have seen their effectiveness dented by Delta, concerns are high that non-MRNA vaccines like the Chinese ones and AstraZeneca Plc's shot will be less able to slow transmission.
State-owned Sinopharm said its inactivated Covid-19 shot, a mainstay for the Chinese population, is 68 per cent effective against Delta, citing a study in Sri Lanka.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd, the other major Chinese supplier of shots, said that sera samples from people inoculated with its inactivated vaccine can still neutralise the Delta strain in laboratory studies, state media Global Times reported, without more detail.
All Covid vaccines have seen their effectiveness dented by Delta, showing that immunisations alone won't bring the outbreak to heel.
Last week, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its earlier position and said fully vaccinated people should go back to wearing masks indoors in places where infections are rising.
"Delta accounts for 80 per cent of cases in the US, and they re-instituted a requirement for masks," said Dr Wang Huaqing, chief immunisation expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, at the Saturday briefing. "That means Delta's spread is severe and personal protection can not be slackened even with vaccination."
Adding to the concern is a separate cluster in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou - also of the Delta strain - where hospital and cleaning staff have been infected.
A man receives a Covid-19 nucleic acid test in Zhengzhou, China, on July 31, 2021. PHOTO: AFP
Cases were reported in the broader Henan province as well, where the ability to curb the virus's spread may be weakened due to the fallout from torrential rain that has killed nearly a hundred people and destroyed infrastructure.
Residents in Nanjing, where the recent outbreak began, have been placed under lockdown. Also affected are those living in Zhangjiajie, a scenic area famous for its verdant mountain ridges, where a live outdoor performance a week ago with more than 3,000 spectators fuelled the virus's spread.
Officials in the Chinese capital of Beijing, which has detected five Delta cases, vowed to cut off the virus' transmission with "fastest pace, strictest measures and the most decisive actions."
It will tighten entry restrictions for those travelling from places currently battling outbreaks, and government and state company employees have been barred from leaving the city.
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s opposition MPs on on Monday (Aug 2) renewed calls for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to resign and criticised his government for postponing the final day of a Parliamentary special sitting.
The lawmakers had said they would attend Parliament on Monday despite the postponement, but were prevented from doing so after the police blocked access roads to the building.
The MPs, including Leader of the Opposition Anwar Ibrahim, had earlier gathered at Dataran Merdeka or Independence Square nearby, after the road to Parliament was blocked by the police, The Star reported.
They then tried to march on foot to Parliament but were stopped by the police.
Datuk Seri Anwar tried negotiating with the police to allow them to go to Parliament while several opposition lawmakers were chanting "hidup rakyat, daulat Tuanku" (Long live the people, long live the King).
Mr Anwar later made a short speech before the group dispersed peacefully.
This comes amid an open row between the Premier and the palace.
The opposition has decried the adjournment to an unspecified date as "ridiculous".
Monday's session was called off after 11 Covid-19 cases were discovered among Parliament attendees.
Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Sunday denied that the postponement was due to politics, insisting it was based on science and health data.
The Health Ministry also advised that the Parliament sitting and meetings at its premises be postponed for two weeks, starting from July 29.
Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said the suggestion was made based on the health risk assessment and to prevent transmission of Covid-19 in Parliament.
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s opposition MPs on on Monday (Aug 2) renewed calls for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to resign and criticised his government for postponing the final day of a Parliamentary special sitting.
The lawmakers had said they would attend Parliament on Monday despite the postponement, but were prevented from doing so after the police blocked access roads to the building.
The MPs, including Leader of the Opposition Anwar Ibrahim, had earlier gathered at Dataran Merdeka or Independence Square nearby, after the road to Parliament was blocked by the police, The Star reported.
They then tried to march on foot to Parliament but were stopped by the police.
Datuk Seri Anwar tried negotiating with the police to allow them to go to Parliament while several opposition lawmakers were chanting "hidup rakyat, daulat Tuanku" (Long live the people, long live the King).
Mr Anwar later made a short speech before the group dispersed peacefully.
This comes amid an open row between the Premier and the palace.
The opposition has decried the adjournment to an unspecified date as "ridiculous".
Monday's session was called off after 11 Covid-19 cases were discovered among Parliament attendees.
Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Sunday denied that the postponement was due to politics, insisting it was based on science and health data.
The Health Ministry also advised that the Parliament sitting and meetings at its premises be postponed for two weeks, starting from July 29.
Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said the suggestion was made based on the health risk assessment and to prevent transmission of Covid-19 in Parliament.
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and a group of lawmakers on Monday (Aug 2) have been stopped by the police from marching towards Parliament.
The group are earlier gathered at Dataran Merdeka or Independence Square nearby after the road to Parliament was blocked by police, The Star reported.
The opposition lawmakers then tried to march on foot to Parliament but were stopped by police.
Datuk Seri Anwar tried negotiating with police to allow them to go to Parliament while several opposition lawmakers were chanting "hidup rakyat, daulat Tuanku" (Long live the people, long live the King).
Mr Anwar later made a short speech before the group dispersed peacefully.
This comes amid an open row between the Premier and the palace.
The opposition has decried the adjournment to an unspecified date as "ridiculous".
Monday's session was called off after 11 Covid-19 cases were discovered among Parliament attendees.
Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Sunday denied that the postponement was due to politics, insisting it was based on science and health data.
The Health Ministry also advised that the Parliament sitting and meetings at its premises be postponed for two weeks, starting July 29.
Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said the suggestion was made based on the health risk assessment and to prevent transmission of Covid-19 in Parliament.
ANKARA: Dozens of villages were evacuated in tourist hotspots in southern Turkey on Sunday (Aug 1) as wildfires that have claimed eight lives raged for a fifth day, while blazes also hit Greece, Italy and Spain.
Fanned by soaring temperatures and strong winds - with experts saying that climate change increases both the frequency and intensity of such blazes - this year's fire season has been significantly more destructive than the previous average, EU data shows.
Turkey is suffering its worst fires in at least a decade with nearly 95,000 hectares burnt so far this year, compared with an average of 13,516 at the same point in the years between 2008 and 2020.
A neighbourhood in the tourist city of Bodrum has been evacuated, CNN Turk broadcaster reported, as strong winds fanned flames from the nearby Milas district.
Unable to leave by road, 540 residents were taken to hotels by boats, the channel said.
People were also evacuated from the resort city of Antalya, and two bodies were found in that region on Sunday, taking the number of people killed to eight.
After hitting record levels last month, temperatures are set to remain high.
A temperature of 49.1 degrees Celsius was recorded in the southeastern town of Cizre on Jul 20.
And the mercury is expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius in Antalya on Monday.
Turkey's defence ministry released satellite images showing the extent of the damage, with forest areas turned black and smoke still visible.
More than 330 people have received medical treatment since the fires in Turkey broke out. (Photo: AFP)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been criticised after it emerged that Turkey has no firefighting planes even though one-third of its territory is forested and fires are becoming increasingly frequent.
According to EU figures, Turkey has been hit by 133 wildfires in 2021 so far compared with an average of 43 by this point in the years between 2008 and 2020.
GREEK 'CATASTROPHE'
Meanwhile a major blaze broke out early Saturday near Patras in the western Greece.
Five villages have been evacuated and eight people were hospitalised with burns and respiratory problems in the region, which remains on alert.
Around 20 homes have been burnt down, according to a provisional figure from the fire brigade.
The mayor of nearby village Aigialeias, Dimitris Kalogeropoulos, called it "an immense catastrophe".
Nearly 300 firefighters, two water bomber planes and five helicopters were battling to put out a forest fire in Greece. (Photo: AFP/STR)
Flames consumed around 30 houses, barns and stables in the villages of Ziria, Kamares, Achaias and Labiri.
"We slept outside overnight, terrified that we would not have a house when we woke up," a Labiri resident told Greek TV station Skai.
The seaside resort of Loggos was also evacuated, with nearly 100 residents and tourists sent to the nearby city of Aigio.
According to EU data, 13,500 hectares had been burnt in Greece, compared with an average of 7,500 at this point in the year from 2008-20.
'CRAZY SUMMER'
Italy was again hit by fires after more than 20,000 hectares of forest, olive groves and crops were destroyed by a blaze in Sardinia last weekend.
More than 800 flare-ups were recorded this weekend, mainly in the south, Italy's fire brigade said.
"In the last 24 hours, firefighters have carried out more than 800 interventions: 250 in Sicily, 130 in Puglia and Calabria, 90 in Lazio and 70 in Campania," the brigade tweeted.
It added that firefighters were still battling blazes in the Sicilian cities of Catania, Palermo and Syracuse.
While the south of Italy has been burning, the north has suffered wild storms.
"The cost of the damage caused throughout the northern Italian countryside by the violent storms and hail during this crazy summer amounts to tens of millions of euros," the Coldiretti agricultural organisation said.
In Spain, dozens of firefighters backed by water-dropping aircraft were battling a wildfire that broke out Saturday afternoon near the San Juan reservoir, about 70 kilometres east of Madrid.
Firefighters said Sunday they had managed to stabilise the blaze overnight but local authorities urged people to stay away from the reservoir, a popular bathing spot for residents of the Spanish capital.
DUBAI/LONDON: Britain said on Sunday (Aug 31) it believed Iran carried out an attack on an Israeli-managed petroleum product tanker off the coast of Oman on Thursday that killed a Briton and a Romanian, and said it was working with partners on a "concerted response".
UK assessments had concluded that it was highly likely that Iran had used one or more drones to carry out the "unlawful and callous" attack, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.
"We believe this attack was deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law by Iran," he said on Sunday. "The UK is working with our international partners on a concerted response to this unacceptable attack."
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had accused Tehran of "trying to shirk responsibility" for the attack, and called its denial "cowardly".
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly news conference on Sunday that the "Zionist regime (Israel) has created insecurity, terror and violence ... These accusations about Iran's involvement are condemned by Tehran".
"Such accusations are meant by Israel to divert attention from facts and are baseless," Khatibzadeh said.
The Briton and Romanian were killed in the incident involving the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned ship managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.
The US Navy, which was escorting the tanker with its aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, said on Saturday that early indications "clearly pointed" to a drone attack.
Speaking during a weekly meeting of his cabinet on Sunday, Bennett said: "I declare unequivocally: Iran is the one that carried out the attack on the ship," adding that intelligence supports his claim.
"We, in any case, have our own way to relay the message to Iran," Bennett said. Israel's foreign minister said earlier the incident deserved a harsh response.
There were varying explanations for what happened to the tanker. Zodiac Maritime described the incident as "suspected piracy" and a source at the Oman Maritime Security Center said it was an accident that occurred outside Omani territorial waters.
US and European sources familiar with intelligence reporting said Iran was their leading suspect for the incident.
Iran and Israel have traded accusations of carrying out attacks on each other's vessels in recent months.
Tensions have risen in the Gulf region since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 after then-President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.
