KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s longest-ruling coalition said Monday it has not decided which bloc to support after weekend elections left neither with enough seats to form a government on its own, and it would ask the nation’s king to give it more time.
The National Front’s announcement has prolonged election uncertainty. King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah initially set a 2 p.m. deadline for political leaders to submit their choice for prime minister and an alliance that represents a parliamentary majority.
But the monarch later Monday said he would extend it until Tuesday following a request from political parties.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s reformist bloc secured 82 seats in the federal Parliament, far short of the 112 needed for a simple majority. The Malay nationalist alliance led by former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin trailed with 73 seats, but it has secured the support of blocs in two states on Borneo island that jointly have 28 seats.
The National Front, led by the United Malays National Organization, had ruled since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957 but suffered s shocking defeat in 2018 polls to Anwar’s bloc. Its plan for a strong comeback was dashed after winning only 30 seats in Saturday’s election as many ethnic Malays abandoned the graft-tainted party for Muhyiddin’s bloc.
UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said his alliance formed a negotiation committee to hold talks with both blocs.
Amid a divisive split in his party, he said any individual statement or written oaths made by the group’s 30 lawmakers supporting any bloc was invalid because a decision will only be made by the coalition’s highest-decision making body. Anyone going against it can be sacked, he warned.
Zahid, who faces dozens of graft charges, is facing a revolt within his party amid growing calls for him to resign and take responsibility for the election losses. Some lawmakers who won have openly voiced their support for Muhyiddin’s bloc but others warned reviving such a partnership may lead to a repeat of the infighting that led to political turmoil
Many rural Malays, who form two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people — which includes large minorities of ethnic Chinese and Indians — fear they may lose their rights with greater pluralism under Anwar’s multiethnic alliance. This, together with corruption in UMNO, has benefited Muhyiddin’s bloc.
Hishammuddin Hussein, an UMNO vice president, issued a statement on Facebook to reiterate his refusal to support Anwar’s bloc. “I am willing to be fired by the party but will never change this firm stance,” he said.
Officials from Muhyiddin’s camp claimed that 18 lawmakers from Zahid’s bloc are on their side. After the king extended the deadline for political parties, the National Alliance said in a statement it had already handed to the palace written oaths from more than 112 lawmakers who support Muhyiddin as the next prime minister, giving it the majority.
Any deal will have to be approved by Sultan Abdullah. The king’s role is largely ceremonial in Malaysia, but he appoints the person he believes has majority support in Parliament as prime minister.
Saturday’s election outcome stunned many Malaysians who had hoped for stability and unity after political turmoil that has seen three prime ministers since 2018 polls.
The current scenario is a replay of what happened in 2020, when Muhyiddin abandoned Anwar’s ruling alliance, causing its collapse, and joined hands with UMNO to form a new government. Sultan Abdullah at the time requested written oaths from all 222 lawmakers and later interviewed them separately before picking Muhyiddin as prime minister. But his government was beset by internal rivalries and Muhyiddin resigned after 17 months.
Muhyiddin’s alliance entered Saturday’s polls as an underdog but enjoyed an unexpected surge of support. Its hardline ally is the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, the biggest winner with a haul of 49 seats — more than double what it won in 2018. Known as PAS, it touts Sharia, rules three states and is now the single largest party. Its rise has stoked fears of greater Islamization in the country.
Malaysia’s hung election crisis drags out as party dithers
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Malaysia’s hung election crisis drags out as party dithers
- Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s reformist bloc secured 82 seats in the federal Parliament, far short of the 112 needed for a simple majority
Trump goes to war with the Fed in move feared to destabilize US financial markets
- Trump says he wants rate cuts now to help stimulate economic growth and has threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell if he does not comply
- Powell has said he has no plans to step down early, adding that he considers the bank’s independence over monetary policy to be a “matter of law”
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s simmering discontent with the US Federal Reserve boiled over this week, with the president threatening to take the unprecedented step of ousting the head of the fiercely independent central bank.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants rate cuts now to help stimulate economic growth as he rolls out his tariff plans, and has threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell if he does not comply, putting the bank and the White House on a collision course that analysts warn could destabilize US financial markets.
“If I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe me,” Trump said Thursday, referring to Powell, whose second four-year stint as Fed chair ends in May 2026.
Powell has said he has no plans to step down early, adding this week that he considers the bank’s independence over monetary policy to be a “matter of law.”
“Clearly, the fact that the Fed chairman feels that he has to address it means that they are serious,” KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk told AFP, referring to the White House.
Stephanie Roth, chief economist at Wolfe Research, said she thinks “they will come into conflict,” but does not think “that the Fed is going to succumb to the political pressure.”
Most economists agree that the administration’s tariff plans — which include a 10 percent “baseline” rate on imports from most countries — will put upward pressure on prices and cool economic growth, at least in the short term.
That would keep inflation well away from the Fed’s long-term target of two percent, and likely prevent policymakers from cutting rates in the next few months.
“They’re not going to react because Trump posted that they should be cutting,” Roth said in an interview, adding that doing so would be “a recipe for a disaster” for the US economy.
Many legal scholars say the US president does not have the power to fire the Fed chair or any of his colleagues on the bank’s 19-person rate-setting committee for any reason but cause.
The Fed system, created more than a century ago, is also designed to insulate the US central bank from political interference.
“Independence is absolutely critical for the Fed,” said Roth. “Countries that do not have independent central banks have currencies that are notably weaker and interest rates that are notably higher.”
Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told AFP that “we’ve had strong evidence that impairing central bank independence is a really bad idea.”
One serious threat to the Fed’s independence comes from an ongoing case in which the Trump administration has indicated it will seek to challenge a 1935 Supreme Court decision denying the US president the right to fire the heads of independent government agencies.
The case could have serious ramifications for the Fed, given its status as an independent agency whose leadership believes they cannot currently be fired by the president for any reason but cause.
But even if the Trump administration succeeds in court, it may soon run into the ultimate guardrail of Fed independence: The bond markets.
During the recent market turbulence unleashed by Trump’s tariff plans, US government bond yields surged and the dollar fell, signaling that investors may not see the United States as the safe haven investment it once was.
Faced with the sharp rise in US Treasury yields, the Trump administration paused its plans for higher tariffs against dozens of countries, a move that helped calm the financial markets.
If investors believed the Fed’s independence to tackle inflation was compromised, that would likely push up the yields on long-dated government bonds on the assumption that long-term inflation would be higher, and put pressure on the administration.
“You can’t control the bond market. And that’s the moral of the story,” said Swonk.
“And that’s why you want an independent Fed.”
Plan for expanded Muslim community triggers hope, fear in Texas
- Texas governor and Trump ally Greg Abbott characterized the project as an attempt to install Islamic law
- Senator John Cornyn said the project could violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans
PLANO, United States: Threats to Muslims living in Texas are nothing new, but lately the vile phone calls to Imran Chaudhary have ramped up.
The cause?
Chaudhary’s early plans for construction of 1,000 new homes, a community center, school, hospital and — controversially — a mosque and Islamic private school to serve the growing Muslim community near East Plano, in a thinly populated corner of east Texas.
One anonymous caller says, in an expletive filled message, “I suggest you get the f*** out of America while it’s still an option.”
The conservative, white, and Christian authorities tied to President Donald Trump in this state aren’t exactly welcoming either, launching investigations into the project’s legality.
Chaudhary says the pressure is misguided.
“We’ve been trying to follow every single law that is out there, from the state perspective to the federal perspective,” he said.
But just this week, Senator John Cornyn called for an investigation into the constitutionality of Chaudhary’s project, an offshoot of an existing site called the East Plano Islamic Center or “EPIC.”
The center “could violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans,” he said.
Texas governor and Trump ally Greg Abbott characterized the project as an attempt to install Islamic law. “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply,” he wrote on social media.
Texas is one of more than a dozen states that have enacted “anti-Sharia law” bills, which anti-hate group Southern Poverty Law Center calls “one of the most successful far-right conspiracies to achieve mainstream viability.”
The conspiracy theory holds that Islamic law, known as sharia, is encroaching on the American legal system, a claim the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal experts refute.
Chaudhary denies that he envisions a Muslim-only town, saying that it’s “open to all, anybody can use our services, community center, our school.”
As president of Community Capital Partners, which develops EPIC properties, Chaudhary told AFP, “We never even discussed sharia. From day one we’ve consulted with our attorneys what is the best way for us to do this project, to make sure that we follow all the state laws, we follow all the federal laws.”
In a show of goodwill, Chaudhary invited the governor to a Texas-style barbeque over social media. Abbott didn’t respond.
The EPIC Islamic community settled in Plano north of Dallas some 20 years ago, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the new community they want to build near Josephine.
The Plano settlement of around 5,000 people now have their own mosque. Iman Yasir Qadhi leads prayers there.
Born in Houston to a Pakistani family, Qadhi said Muslims like Texas because of the warm weather, low taxes and good food.
“Organically, when the mosque was built, a lot of people began moving in here and we found that our space wasn’t sufficient for us,” he said. “Because of the influx of people we are looking to expand.”
Only 313,000 Muslims reside in Texas, which has a population of more than 31 million, according to World Population Review.
Prospective EPIC residents can reserve lots by putting down 20 percent, with single townhouse pads starting at $80,000 and 1-acre lots going for $250,000. Maps posted online indicate more than two dozen lots have already been sold.
But at an April town hall meeting in Collin County, an overflow crowd showed up to speak out against EPIC’s project. And the developers’ lawyer Dan Cogdell said all the negative publicity will slow approvals down.
“The lies and the misinformation that Abbott’s putting out is striking,” he said.
Qadhi said he is worried about hate crimes. He said he himself has been accused of terrorism but “they are the ones terrorizing us.”
Moitree Rahman, a 38-year-old mother of two from Bangladesh, says she remains optimistic and looks forward to the expanding EPIC community.
“All the rhetoric that we are seeing and hearing, it’s not true,” she said. “That’s why we felt very confident in investing.”
At least 143 dead in DR Congo boat fire
- Rescuers said packed wooden boat caught fire and capsized near Mbandaka, capital of Equateur Province, where the Ruki and the vast Congo river meet
KINSHASA, DR Congo: At least 143 people died and dozens more went missing after a boat carrying fuel caught fire and capsized in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said Friday.
Hundreds of passengers were crowded onto a wooden boat on the Congo River in northwest DRC on Tuesday when the blaze broke out, according to Josephine-Pacifique Lokumu, head of a delegation of national deputies from the region.
The disaster occurred near Mbandaka, capital of Equateur Province, at the confluence of the Ruki and the vast Congo river — the world’s deepest.
“A first group of 131 bodies were found on Wednesday, with a further 12 fished out on Thursday and Friday. Several of them are charred,” Lokumu told AFP.
Joseph Lokondo, a local civil society leader who said he helped bury the bodies, put the “provisional death toll at 145: some burned, others drowned.”
Lokumu said the blaze was caused by a fuel explosion ignited by an onboard cooking fire.
“A woman lit the embers for cooking. The fuel, which was not far away, exploded, killing many children and women,” she said.
The total number of passengers on board the doomed vessel was not known but Lokumu said it was in the “hundreds.”
Some survivors were rescued and admitted to hospital, Lokondo said.
But on Friday, he added, “several families were still without news of their loved ones.”
A vast Central African nation, the Democratic Republic of Congo suffers from a lack of practicable roads.
As a result travel often occurs on lakes, the Congo River and its tributaries, where shipwrecks are frequent and the death tolls often heavy.
A chronic absence of passenger lists often complicates search operations.
In October 2023, at least 47 people died after a boat navigating the Congo sank in Equateur.
More than 20 people died in October last year when a boat capsized on Lake Kivu in eastern DRC, according to local authorities.
Another shipwreck on Lake Kivu claimed around 100 lives in 2019.
British PM Starmer stresses commitment to free trade in talks with Trump, Downing Street says
- UK seeking deal with Trump after he imposed 10 percent tariffs on most imports of British goods to the US
- The two leaders also addressed the situations in Ukraine and Iran, and recent actions against the Houthis in Yemen
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with US President Donald Trump, discussing trade between the two nations among other subjects including the situation in Ukraine and Iran, a Downing Street spokesperson said on Friday.
Britain is hoping to strike a deal with Trump after he imposed 10 percent tariffs on most imports of British goods to the United States and a higher 25 percent rate on imports of cars, steel and aluminum.
“The leaders began by discussing the ongoing and productive discussions between the UK and US on trade,” the spokesperson said, adding that Starmer emphasized his commitment to free trade while safeguarding national interests.
Starmer and Trump also addressed the situations in Ukraine and Iran, and recent actions against the Houthis in Yemen, the spokesperson from the prime minister’s office said.
Lawsuit challenges Trump administration crackdown on international students
- About 1,100 students at more than 170 colleges, universities and university systems have been affected since late March, according to an Associated Press review of university statements, correspondence with school officials and court records
WASHINGTON: A class action lawsuit filed Friday asks a federal court to reinstate the legal status of international students caught up in a Trump administration crackdown that has left more than a thousand fearful of deportation.
The suit filed by several American Civil Liberties Union affiliates seeks to represent more than 100 students in New England and Puerto Rico.
“International students are a vital community in our state’s universities, and no administration should be allowed to circumvent the law to unilaterally strip students of status, disrupt their studies, and put them at risk of deportation,” said Gilles Bissonnette, legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire.
At schools around the country, students have seen their visas revoked or their legal status terminated, typically with little notice.
About 1,100 students at more than 170 colleges, universities and university systems have been affected since late March, according to an Associated Press review of university statements, correspondence with school officials and court records. The AP is working to confirm reports of hundreds more students affected.
Students have filed other lawsuits arguing they were denied due process. Federal judges have granted temporary restraining orders in New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Montana, shielding students from efforts to remove them from the US.
Plaintiffs in the new lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Hampshire, learned without warning their F-1 student statuses had been terminated, leaving in doubt their ability to stay in the country and finish their studies, according to the complaint.
One of them, Manikanta Pasula of India, was on the brink of getting his master’s in computer science at Rivier University in New Hampshire and applying to remain in the country through a work program for international students. Hangrui Zhang of China had come to the US for a Ph.D. program in electronic and computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Now, he cannot work as a research assistant, which was his only source of income, the complaint said.
The government did not give notice it is required to provide before terminating a foreign student’s legal status, the lawyers said.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department was revoking visas held by visitors who were acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges.
In some high-profile cases, such as that involving Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, the Trump administration has cited involvement in pro-Palestinian activism as a rationale for deportation.
But colleges say most students affected by visa revocations played no role in those protests. Many are being singled out over minor infractions such as traffic violations that occurred long ago, and in some cases the reason is unclear, colleges say.
