The Big Story: Malaysia heads to the polls on Saturday, but a hung Parliament looks likely

Catch the latest news reports on The Big Story, The Straits Times’ weekday online news programme. 

Malaysia

will go to the polls on Saturday,

with a record number of contenders slugging it out in multi-cornered battles across the country and the outcome expected to be too close to call.

With the country in the midst of economic and political uncertainty, Malaysia bureau chief Shannon Teoh says a decisive win for any of the three main national alliances seems unlikely. He joins the programme to explain why.

In other headlines, the Fifa World Cup is due to start in two days, with 32 countries vying for the coveted trophy.

With temperatures expected to go as high as 34 deg C in Qatar, players

will have to brace themselves for the heat

and find some way to put it out of their minds.