While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, May 12
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Ms Pang Sock Tao of the Democratic Action Party, one of the four members of the Pakatan Harapan alliance, won the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election.
PHOTO: BERNAMA
PM Anwar’s coalition comfortably wins Selangor by-election
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling coalition secured a comfortable victory in a Selangor by-election on May 11, in a vote seen as a gauge of whether a slew of recent controversies had soured support for Malaysia’s ruling alliance.
Ms Pang Sock Tao from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), one of the four members of Datuk Seri Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) alliance, polled 14,000 votes, or about 57.2 per cent of the valid votes, to retain the DAP’s stronghold in Kuala Kubu Baharu.
KKB, as it is known, is located about an hour’s drive north of Kuala Lumpur. The vote was called after the three-term incumbent, Ms Lee Kee Hiong of the DAP, died of ovarian cancer on March 21.
The candidate for the opposition Perikatan Nasional alliance, Mr Khairul Azhari Saut, received 10,131 votes (41.4 per cent) in the four-way contest in the non-Malay-majority seat of 40,226 voters. The total turnout was 61.5 per cent.
Fierce fighting rages in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region
Fierce fighting raged into a second day on the fringes of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region on May 11, as Moscow said it had captured five villages, while Kyiv said it was repulsing the attacks and battling for control of the settlements.
Russia launched the armoured incursion early on May 10, an attack on a new front that may presage a broader push into Kharkiv region or aim to draw away overstretched Ukrainian forces from where Moscow’s offensive is focused in the east.
Kyiv has been on the back foot on the battlefield for months as Russian troops have slowly advanced mainly in the Donetsk region to the south, taking advantage of Ukraine’s shortages of troop manpower and artillery shells.
‘Miracle’ survivor found 5 days after building collapse in South Africa
VIA REUTERS
Rescuers and onlookers cheered and applauded on May 11, as a survivor emerged after 116 hours from underneath the rubble of a collapsed building in South Africa, with the tragedy having killed at least 13.
“It is a miracle that we have all been hoping for,” Western Cape provincial premier Alan Winde said, on X, formerly Twitter.
An apartment block under construction in the southern city of George crumbled on the afternoon of May 6 while a crew of 81 were on site.
Tens of thousands rally in Georgia against ‘foreign influence’ Bill
Tens of thousands of Georgians descended onto Tbilisi’s Europe Square on May 11 in the latest mass protest against a “foreign influence” Bill likened to repressive Russian legislation that has sparked outrage.
The Caucasus country has been gripped by protests since early April, when in a shock move billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ruling Georgian Dream party brought the Bill back a year after dropping it. If passed, the Bill would require NGOs receiving at least 20 per cent of foreign funding – encompassing virtually all groups in the sector – to register as acting under “foreign influence”.
The Bill, which would also affect independent media, mirrors legislation used by the Kremlin to silence dissent and has been dubbed the “Russian law” in Georgia, which observers say has seen democratic backsliding in recent years.
Three finals left for unlikely City hero Gvardiol
REUTERS
Manchester City’s unlikely goal poacher Josko Gvardiol says he is looking forward to three finals as his first season at The Etihad nears a perfect climax after a 4-0 rout of Fulham on May 11 put his team top of the Premier League.
The 22-year-old Croatian was signed from RB Leipzig in August 2023, ostensibly for his defensive attributes, but the left back has scored four goals in his last five league games to help City’s push towards a record fourth successive title.
City will win the trophy if they beat Tottenham Hotspur on May 14 and West Ham United next weekend and with an FA Cup final to come against Manchester United they can seal a double, having claimed a treble last season.
