No evidence of Huawei spying, says German IT watchdog

FRANKFURT AM MAIN - Germany's IT watchdog has expressed scepticism about calls for a boycott of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, saying it has seen no evidence the firm could use its equipment to spy for Beijing, news weekly Spiegel reported on Friday (Dec 14).

"For such serious decisions like a ban, you need proof," the head of Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Arne Schoenbohm, told Spiegel, adding that his agency had no such evidence.

CIMB denies its online banking system was hacked

PETALING JAYA - CIMB Bank Berhad has refuted allegations that there was a security flaw in its online banking portal.

CIMB said its online banking portal, CIMBClicks, remains secure and all customers' transactions continue to be protected.

"The bank would like to inform that it had, over the weekend, introduced a few additional measures to enhance the security of its CIMBClicks transactions.

PBRS assemblyman joins STAR to continue fight for Sabah rights

KOTA KINABALU - Party-hopping in Sabah continued today with the entry of former Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) deputy president Ellron Angin to Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR).

Angin, the Sook assemblyman submitted his membership application to STAR president Jeffrey Kitingan, who is also Keningau MP, at a ceremony in interior Sook today.

The move now gives STAR three representatives in the state assembly.

Govt to upgrade Streamyx to Unifi by March 2019

KUALA LUMPUR - The government said it would upgrade all Streamyx user services to Unifi through Telekom Malaysia (TM) by March 2019, Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Eddin Syazlee Shith said today.

He said the services were being upgraded in stages provided the users were in areas with access to Unifi.

“If the users are out of range or have no Unifi access, then the alternative is that their Streamyx speed will be upgraded to 8 Mbps or (they) will receive 4G LTE access. All of these upgrades will be free of charge without any additional cost,” he said during Question Time in the Dewan Negara.

Nurul Izzah quits as PKR vice president

PETALING JAYA - Nurul Izzah Anwar has resigned as vice president of PKR and relinquished her appointment as the chair of Penang PKR.

The Permatang Pauh MP said that she would remain a member of the parliamentary backbench committed to reforms.

“My only regret is that I should have made this announcement sooner, but it has not been an easy decision to arrive at.

Latheefa slams leadership for cronyism in PKR appointments

PKR member Latheefa Koya has chided the appointments of the party's state chiefs as being in favour of one of the two main factions in PKR.

Such appointments, which she likened to cronyism, are "disturbing and a cause for grave concern."

"Except for Sarawak and Selangor, the state chiefs who have been appointed are known to be aligned to one of the two main factions in PKR.

Give me Bitcoin or your life. Seriously?

The people behind a rash of bomb threats made across the United States and Canada on Thursday demanded a US$20,000 (RM83,600) ransom to be paid in Bitcoin. Authorities said none of the threats – emailed to hundreds of businesses, public offices and schools – appeared credible.

Frankly, the perpetrators would have been better off asking for Turkish lira.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have long been a favorite ransom tender for cyber criminals thanks to the currencies' anonymous nature.

US cybersecurity firm Chainalysis estimates that from 2012 through 2017, global ransom payments using Bitcoin totaled at least US$31mil (RM129mil).

Returning a favour, Sabah TYT's term limit extended

KOTA KINABALU - The Sabah Yang di-Pertua Negri can now serve for more than two terms after the term limit was lifted during a special state assembly sitting here, despite objections from the opposition.

The amendment, which was passed yesterday, will allow the Sabah governor to serve beyond two terms of four years each, that is widely expected to see incumbent Tun Juhar Mahiruddin’s term as governor to be extended for a third term. Juhar’s second term ends on Dec 31.

American hypocrisy of waging war on Huawei

Jeffrey D. Sachs says the US is not wrong to hold executives accountable for companies’ malfeasance, but it should begin at home. Starting with a Chinese CFO is not just a provocation to China, but also a threat to the global rule of law

Reflections about the anti-Icerd rally

COMMENT| While some of us may not agree with the motives of the demonstration at Dataran Merdeka on Dec 8, most would agree that it was in no small way an unqualified success for the organisers, as much as it was for the fledgling democracy of Malaysia Baru.

It proved to all and sundry, that the Malaysian rakyat, given the freedom and space by the authorities, can manage to voice out their socio-political grievances in a civil fashion, without causing violence and threatening our national peace.

Second Canadian detained in China

A Chinese government news site has released a statement saying Canadian man Michael Spavor is being detained and investigated in China on suspicion of harming China's national security.

The statement comes after Mr Spavor went missing earlier this week, in what appeared to be retaliation for Canada's arrest of a top executive of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

The State Security Bureau in the city of Dandong in north-east China has been investigating Mr Spavor since December 10, an official news site of the Liaoning province government said.

It did not give any further details.

China court bans iPhone sales

A Chinese court order instructing Apple to stop sales of its iPhones in China ups the ante on the US technology giant in one of its biggest markets, amid revenue pressures and declining smartphone growth globally.

A statement from Qualcomm said the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court had granted the US chip maker’s request for two preliminary injunctions against four subsidiaries of Apple, ordering them to immediately to stop selling models from the iPhone 6S to iPhone X.

If upheld, the court ruling could adversely impact Apple’s revenues as Greater China – which includes mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan – is currently the US company’s third largest market, accounting for about a fifth of Apple’s revenues. In its latest financial year, Apple racked up over US$260bil (RM1tril) in global sales.

DAP man tells Dr M, don't turn rubbish collector

PETALING JAYA - A Selangor DAP leader has urged Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad not to allow a “reverse takeover” of PPBM by Umno, following yesterday’s exodus of members from the party’s Sabah chapter.

Ronnie Liu, who was voted into the Selangor DAP committee on Sunday, said he recalled the PPBM chairman calling “the Umno guys ‘useless’ and ‘rubbish'” at a meeting just before the May 9 polls.

He said Mahathir had also assured those present, including himself and Hindraf leader P Waytha Moorthy, that he would not accept “frogs” from Umno.

Trump intervention comment may be gift to Huawei CFO

VANCOUVER/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, released on bail on Tuesday to await a ruling on U.S. extradition at one of her luxury Vancouver homes, may have received welcome ammunition in court from an unlikely source - President Donald Trump.

As the hearing was winding up in a Canadian court, Trump told Reuters he would intervene in the U.S. Justice Department's case against Meng if it would serve national security interests or help close a trade deal with China.

Umno reps switching allegiance to Dr M is a ‘dangerous development’

PETALING JAYA - Ramkarpal Singh Deo regards Umno representatives switching allegiance to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a “dangerous development” because it goes completely against the will of Malaysians who convincingly voted out the Barisan Nasional government in GE14.

The Bukit Gelugor MP said that Pakatan Harapan would need more principled leaders to carry out its reform agenda.