KOTA KINABALU, June 14 — Dengue cases nationwide rose 27 per cent to 33,367 as of June 13 (Epidemiological Week 23), compared with 27,640 cases recorded during the corresponding period last year.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad said the situation in Sabah was more concerning, with the state recording a sharp 50.4 per cent increase to 2,866 cases, compared with 1,905 cases during the same period last year.

He said several districts in Sabah had been identified as the main contributors to the state’s caseload, namely Kota Kinabalu, Kota Marudu, Tawau, Sandakan, Penampang and Putatan.

“We know that this surge falls within the expected cyclical trend of infections that occurs every four to five years, but we must remain vigilant in dealing with the situation,” he told reporters in Manggatal here today.

Earlier, he officiated the national-level Asean Dengue Day, World Malaria Day and Mega Gotong-Royong held in conjunction with the 2026 National Healthy Malaysia Agenda (ANMS) Roadshow at the Manggatal Community Hall here.

Dzulkefly said that, apart from the cyclical trend, the Health Ministry had also identified a shift in the circulating dengue virus sub-variants, with the DEN-3 sub-variant now becoming dominant, as a contributing factor to the rise in cases.

To address the challenge, he said the ministry had introduced a new strategic approach based on Behavioural Insights (BI) through the Dengue-Free Community (Kombat) programme.

“We are introducing several new initiatives, particularly through the application of the BI approach, which draws on behavioural economics and examines human behaviour, including how people can be influenced or nudged towards positive change.

“The nudging strategy is aimed at encouraging behavioural change. People may be aware of what needs to be done, but that alone does not necessarily lead to action. Awareness and literacy are not enough. We need to create conditions that enable people to change, with support from both the federal and state governments,” he said.

He said Kombat focuses on three key strategies: environmental interventions, community empowerment and a whole-of-society approach, including the strengthening of entomological surveillance. — Bernama

LOS ANGELES, June 2 — Carly Rae Jepsen has begun teasing new music by quietly uploading audio and video snippets to her official website, sparking renewed anticipation for her next album cycle.

Jepsen sent out a newsletter text stating, pre-empting the sudden uploads: “Is this thing on?”

According to posts monitored on fan account Carly Rae Jepsen Wiki, Jepsen updated her site twice in the past day with short clips of unreleased tracks, including snippets identified by fans as After All and Amalfi Coast. The uploads were accompanied by new visuals and layout changes, signalling the start of what fans are calling the “CRJ7” era. 

The fan account reported that Jepsen’s website now features a refreshed section for tour dates, suggesting additional announcements may follow. One clip shared through the site was later reposted by Pop Base, amplifying speculation about an imminent rollout.

The teasers have generated significant engagement on X, where Jepsen’s fan community has been circulating the snippets and tracking each update to the site. Some posts noted that the new material resembles the upbeat, melodic style associated with her earlier releases.

Jepsen has not yet issued an official statement about the new music or confirmed a release timeline.

SERIAN, June 2 —  Beneath the vibrant costumes, thunder of gongs and pulse of ethnic music at today’s Gawai Dayak Parade in Kampung Taee lies a remarkable story of 56 years of unwavering commitment by the local community to preserve a tradition, passed down uninterrupted since 1970.

As modern pressures wear away at age-old practices, the Bidayuh of Kampung Taee, just 60 kilometres from Kuching, refuse to let their ancestral heritage fade, keeping it alive through the annual birarak (parade), where young and old march together.

For Malvern Lister, 42, that continuity was clear to see as he watched his two children join a parade that has been part of his life since childhood.

Having first taken part at the age of ten, Malvern has never missed the opportunity to join the procession, which stands as the centrepiece of the Gawai Dayak celebration in his home village.

“Ever since I was born, my whole family has been involved in this birarak. Now my two children are taking part too… so that’s three generations. I hope they will continue to keep this tradition alive in the years ahead,” he said.

“We take pride in still being able to host this parade every year. We hope more people from across the globe will come to Kampung Taee to experience Bidayuh culture and heritage for themselves,” he told Bernama.

He added that the parade, deeply rooted in the Dayak community’s rice harvesting tradition, is far more than an annual event. It is a unifying force for the community and a vital link between multiple generations. 

That same passion is shared by McWilkins Benadik, 33, who views the five-kilometre procession winding through the village as a powerful platform to introduce Bidayuh culture to the outside world.

James Handfield-Jones from the United Kingdom said the allure of the Land of the Hornbills has kept him coming back to various Gawai celebrations throughout more than two decades of living in the state. — Bernama pic

The father of one said Kampung Taee welcomes visitors every year from various states and countries, all eager to witness firsthand how the Bidayuh Bukar community in Serian celebrates Gawai Dayak.

“These visitors don’t just help showcase our culture globally, they also give a real boost to local tourism and economy,” he said.

The presence of international visitors at this year’s parade shows that the event’s appeal has clearly stretched far beyond the borders of Sarawak.

Aaron Richards, 42, from the United States, who now works in Kuala Lumpur, attended the Gawai Dayak celebration for the first time after being invited by his girlfriend, a Bidayuh native of Sarawak.

“My girlfriend invited me to join in the Gawai celebration with her family. This is my first time joining such an event and I am looking forward to seeing the local culture and interacting with the local people,” he said.

Sharing a similar enthusiasm for Sarawak’s culture, James Handfield-Jones from the United Kingdom said the allure of the Land of the Hornbills has kept him coming back to various Gawai celebrations throughout more than two decades of living in the state.

True to the Malay proverb tak lapuk dek hujan, tak lekang dek panas (untouched by rain nor faded by heat), the joint effort by the Gawai Taee organising committee and Kampung Taee’s Village Development and Security Committee remains a lasting symbol of Bidayuh identity. Despite the forces of modernisation, the event drew some 3,000 participants and visitors this year.

Besides parading through the village, participants also stopped at several stations to interact with residents and join various cultural activities that form an integral part of the celebration.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg told reporters at the Gawai Dayak 2026 Open House that holding such parades helps introduce Sarawak’s culture to both Malaysians and the international community.

He noted that local television channels and digital platforms like YouTube make it possible to showcase the unique cultural traditions of the state’s diverse ethnic communities to a much wider audience.

“We are grateful to media practitioners who cover and promote these Gawai Dayak parades in Sarawak.

“In fact, through YouTube, these traditions are also being shared with the global community, sparking their interest to learn more about the multi-ethnic, multi-faith way of life in Sarawak,” he said. — Bernama

Every year, there are two major migration events. Birds, insects, fish, and many mammals head north in the spring to nest and breed and return south in the winter to feed and raise their young. Using BirdCast, a tool that’s active seasonally and allows anyone to see bird migration “heat maps” around the U.S., ornithologists tracked a record-breaking one billion birds migrating on a single October night in 2023 (last year, that number reached 1.2 billion). But on the night spanning October 4 to 5, something else really big happened: nearly 1,000 birds died in Chicago after hitting a single building.

McCormick Place Lakeside Center is situated along the Lake Michigan shoreline, set apart from other buildings in a park-like space, and it has roughly enough windows to cover two football fields. As birds cruise along the shore, flitting over greenery, they sometimes mistake the reflections of nature in glass for the real thing. On the morning of October 5, hundreds of birds fell victim to architecture.

When artist and educator Holly Greenberg heard this news, she was stunned. No stranger to nature and long interested in sustainability and the environment, she was nevertheless totally unaware of the scale of bird collisions in the U.S. During a day out in a Chicagoland arboretum, on sabbatical from her role as assistant professor at Syracuse University, she worked with a group to remove invasive buckthorn and make room for native trees. A fellow volunteer rued the sad irony of planting new bird habitat when the feathered creatures try to fly into their reflections in glass instead.

“That was the first time that I’d heard that these birds were crashing into windows in Chicago,” Greenberg says. When she later read about the mass collision at McCormick Place, she thought, “Oh man, something needs to be done.” That’s when the multi-year project Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene was born.

Greenberg launched the initiative in 2024 to not only raise awareness of the problem but also to educate people about preventing incidents. Using data from the Chicago Field Museum and with the help of its lead ornithologist Dave Willard, Greenberg landed on a specific number: 10,863. That’s how many were found dead after hitting Chicago buildings in 2023 alone.

It’s estimated that around one billion birds die in window collisions annually throughout North America. One of the organizations working to collect this data and—just as importantly—to protect, rescue, and advocate for avians is the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM) program. Every morning, volunteers walk the streets of the city to count and collect fallen individuals, taking them to wildlife sanctuaries for treatment or rehabilitation where possible. Most, however, don’t survive the impact.

Paul Groleau, president of a company called Feather Friendly that makes bird-safe window treatments, suggests that many more die from window impacts than we realize. Greenberg hears people at her workshops say things like, “I heard a bird hit my window, but it flew off, so it’s fine.” Groleau, however, posits that about 60 percent of birds that are stunned do not survive. Their skulls are paper-thin, and if they don’t hemorrhage, they may sit under some shrubbery as they try to recover, which makes them more vulnerable as prey.

When CBCM volunteers find dead specimens, they take them to the Field Museum, where the bodies become part of an archive Willard has overseen for decades. Many are preserved in the museum’s collection, each tagged and identified. At the very least, they are added to a carefully tended data set, which lists thousands upon thousands specifically killed by impacting windows at speed.

10,863 is the number Willard had recorded in 2023. Of course, the actual number of birds that collided with windows that year is exponentially higher, but the figure reflects the number that Willard and the CBCM volunteers found. And it’s the exact number that Greenberg is getting thousands of people to help recreate from fabric and glue. At the same time, she’s sharing knowledge about collisions with others through craft, science, advocacy, and social practice.

Starting with a small grant and a group of interns at Syracuse University, Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene began with the list of avians from the Field Museum, some basic crafting supplies, and photographs of individual birds so that makers could replicate the actual species. Eventually, Greenberg relocated to Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and opened a studio where she hosts workshops and processes birds that are sent in from all over North America.

Workshops are facilitated across the U.S. and Canada, and so far, a total of more than 140 have been held. Materials can be downloaded from the website, and anyone can host a workshop. Popular locations include public libraries and schools. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which is behind the BirdCast tool, has even launched a pilot program to send hundreds of sew-a-bird kits to biology teachers in New York State in order to help students complete a core education requirement.

The hands-on, participatory, and very communal aspect of the bird workshops is fundamental to the project’s success. Greenberg opens her studio to the public on the first Saturday of every month as part of the Evanston Made program, and private gatherings can be organized, too. “People get into the flow, no one is touching their phone, and everyone is super concentrated,” Greenberg says. “They’re working with awkward materials, and it’s a mess, but it’s a good creative mindset.”

Studies have shown that hands-on or experiential learning is linked to greater knowledge retention, attentiveness, and experimentation. As people create their house sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, golden-crowned kinglets, and many more—and one’s level of technical skill is no matter—a sense of camaraderie builds around a common pursuit. Greenberg then provides resources about how to help prevent bird collisions, such as information about remediation technologies.

Businesses like Feather Friendly make products that can be applied directly to any window, most commonly in the form of small vinyl dots. It also offers Bird Divert, which uses clear dots that are actually hard for us to see, but due to the way birds’ vision works, the application helps them to differentiate between architecture and nature. Fritted glass is another method, which involves ceramic details baked right onto the surface of the glass.

Greenberg sees the artistic potential in the remedial window coverings, and she has previously invited artist Taro Takizawa to apply beautiful organic lines made of hand-cut vinyl on the top windows of her Evanston studio. For a forthcoming social project this summer, Greenberg plans to install different types of remediation dots on the large storefront windows of the space, plus an installation by artist Alice Hargrave, who creates abstract works using the sound waves of bird calls.

While the official number of finished birds is currently at 3,451, Greenberg estimates there are at least 1,000 more awaiting tagging and entry into the project’s handwritten ledger, which is reminiscent of museum catalogues before computerized records came into widespread use. With the help of a team of interns, she labels each bird individually with its species name, its artist, and where it “flew” in from. And installation opportunities abound.

Eventually, the birds will create one giant “carpet” to illustrate not only the poignant and urgent reality of bird collision deaths, but the power of collective action. In the meantime, groups of the fabric critters go on view occasionally in other exhibitions. One of these is Chicago Architecture Center’s forthcoming show, Flyway City, which “aims to catalyze positive change on making cities safer and more welcoming for birds and diverse wildlife” by focusing on how architecture can help to protect avians from the get-go.

The exhibition is organized by Studio Gang, whose lead architect, Jeanne Gang, has also encouraged the city of Chicago to enact building codes that are more bird-friendly. While Evanston has an ordinance that requires bird-friendly building design, Chicago does not yet, although it’s been on the table many times. Greenberg hopes that continued advocacy and information-sharing empowers others to speak up, too, so that these types of changes will be seen in more communities all over North America.

Flyway City runs from June 11 to January 3, 2027, in Chicago. Keep updated about workshops and other ways to get involved by following Greenberg’s Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Around North America, Community Members Are Stitching Nearly 11,000 Birds appeared first on Colossal.

IPOH, June 6 — The search and rescue (SAR) operation for Jaslinda Saludin, 49, who went missing in the Gunung Batu Putih area, has entered its 14th day without any new leads, although the search has continued on a smaller scale since Thursday.

Perak Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) Operations Division assistant director Sabarodzi Nor Ahmad said that throughout the operation, several items were found at various locations such as river areas, hill slopes and the paths taken, but after verification, it was confirmed that these items did not belong to the victim.

He said that as of Thursday, eight members of the Special, Tactical and Rescue Team of Malaysia (STORM) and two Forest Mountain Guides (MGP) were still involved in the search sector location, and all of them safely exited at 11.30 am.

“Yesterday, there were five search teams consisting of members from the Forestry Department and MGP who entered the search sector location.

“The group of Orang Asli community members who have been involved in the search since June 3 are still in the search sector, but it is reported that there have been no findings so far,” he said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, Sabarodzi said that so far, the Perak JBPM had received many volunteer applications to participate in the joint search, but through screening and coordination with Forestry Department officers, some applications had to be rejected.

“Among them (the factors for application rejection) are compliance with SOP (standard operating procedures), unsuitable time periods, insufficient equipment and facilities, as well as several other criteria,” he said.

However, he said that at the same time, there were also groups that had been allowed to participate in the search after their applications met the specified criteria.

In the meantime, through Facebook, the Perak JBPM also showed several search methods that have been carried out, including searches or reviews at several identified potential locations based on the information and clues obtained, as well as reciting the call to prayer.

In addition, the Perak JBPM also had to present the actual scenario to the public, especially to those who have never climbed a mountain or traversed thick forest paths like those at Gunung Batu Putih.

“What looks easy on the map or in pictures actually demands physical strength, mental endurance and high levels of experience. Steep, slippery, rocky paths filled with tree roots, rivers, and ravines become the main challenges that the SAR teams have to face every day,” according to the post.

Previously, the female climber was reported to have started the Trans Spencer Chapman trek at 2 am on May 23, along with 13 other individuals and two MGPs, via the Pos Gedung–Gunung Bah Gading–Gunung Batu Putih–Kuala Woh route.

Jaslinda and another climber, Mohd Hanafi Neikmad, 41, experienced health issues and stopped climbing, however, the supply chain executive at a private company was reported to have continued the journey to the mountain peak and was last seen on May 24. — Bernama

KUCHING, June 1 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is expected to attend this year’s Sarawak state-level Gawai Day celebrations to be held here on June 21, said Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

He added that the Yang Dipertua Negeri of Sarawak Tun Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar will be the guest of honour at the event, which is also expected to be attended by Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadilah Yusof.

“We will hold the Niti Daun (parade) in Kuching on June 20, while on June 21 the highlight of the state-level Gawai Day celebration will be a gala dinner attended by distinguished guests,” he said.

He told reporters this at the 2026 Gawai Dayak Day Open House at the Unit for Other Religions (UNIFOR) Complex here today.

According to him, Gawai Dayak continues to serve as an important platform for showcasing the culture, traditions and heritage of the Dayak community to people of all races.

“The tradition of ‘ngabang’ (visiting one another), which is practised by the people of Sarawak, symbolises unity, as every celebration is observed together regardless of race or religion,” he said.

At the same time, Uggah described the response to the Gawai Dayak Open House held today as encouraging, with attendance believed to have exceeded the initial target of 2,000 visitors. — Bernama

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Andrew B. Barkhatov posted a photo:

Light splits the second,
two faces check themselves —
the world writes a formula.

The Bolshoi Theatre has stood for centuries, hosting operas about gods, tsars, and tragic lovers. Today, it hosts two girls checking if their hair looked good in the last photo. The fountain throws water into the air—a useless, beautiful gesture, not unlike the act of taking a selfie. They lean over the glowing rectangle, seeking validation from pixels, while the 1963 Zeiss Ikon watches them through a layer of expired Soviet silver. The film doesn't care about their angles. The film only cares about the light. "Well, what pictures have we got?" we ask. The pictures we got are of people asking what pictures they got. A perfect, closed loop of modern existence, frozen in the grain of a dying factory's last breath. The theatre waits. The water falls. The screen scrolls.

⚙️ Technical credits:
Location: Russia. Moscow. Theatre Square (Fountain at the Bolshoi Theatre)
Camera: Zeiss Ikon Colora (1963)
Lens: Novicar 50mm f/2.8-f/22
Focus: Zone focusing (approximately 1.5m—the distance of self-reflection)
Film: Svema A-2Sh (expired 2003)
Date: 13.05.2017
Scanner: Epson Stylus Photo RX500
Philosophy: "The pictures we got are of people asking what pictures they got"

KUALA TERENGGANU, June 13 — The Terengganu government says it will not act hastily over concerns about the growing presence of the Rohingya community in the state, but will instead address the issue in an orderly, fact-based manner and in accordance with the law.

State Local Government, Housing and Health Committee chairman Datuk Wan Sukairi Wan Abdullah said such an approach is important to preserve community safety, public order and social harmony.

However, he said the state government understands public concerns over the presence of the Rohingya community in several areas of the state.

“Issues involving foreign nationals encompass various aspects, including entry, travel documents, work permits, individual status and action against illegal immigrants, all of which fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government through the relevant authorised agencies.

“Within the scope of the state government and local authorities, the actions that can be taken are focused on local compliance matters such as business licensing, premises requirements, environmental cleanliness, public nuisance, and the use or construction of premises that do not comply with regulations. The state government will not act hastily or based solely on perceptions,” he said in a statement today.

Nevertheless, Wan Sukairi said the state government will strengthen coordination among agencies, including the Immigration Department, the National Security Council and the police, to facilitate information-sharing, monitoring and coordinated enforcement actions in accordance with their respective jurisdictions.

He said the state government acknowledges that enforcement activities on the ground face their own challenges, including issues related to document verification, communication, personnel safety and jurisdictional limitations among agencies.

“This requires a more structured, cautious and effective approach to ensure that any action taken does not deviate from legal provisions. Should there be any violations involving business premises or unlawful activities, appropriate action will be taken by the relevant agencies.

“Therefore, members of the public with information are urged to report it to the authorities and refrain from taking matters into their own hands or spreading unverified information that could trigger unrest,” he said. — Bernama

SINGAPORE: Former Member of Parliament (MP) Amrin Amin weighed in on the recent online hate campaign in Singapore, which resulted in the Ministry of Home Affairs ordering YouTube, Facebook, and X to block content targeting the Indian community.

Mr Amrin wrote that the issue was “deeply troubling” and added that he was glad that the Government took action swiftly. However, he warned against the “deeper damage” that it tried to cause, which is “the weakening of trust between Singaporeans.” This damage does not disappear just because posts are taken down, he argued.

“A range of unrelated issues and anxieties were woven into a larger narrative that Singapore is somehow being ‘overrun’ and that our multiracial model is no longer working. That must be rejected,” he wrote in a June 7 Facebook post.

Mr Amrin, who also served as Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Home Affairs during his years in politics, went on to explain that divisive narratives rarely depend on outright falsehoods, but instead use real images and genuine concerns. But these are removed from their context and then woven into a misleading story.

He gave the examples of photos of Little India and Hindu religious gatherings as proof that Singapore was being overrun. “The images were real. What was manufactured was the story connecting them into a threat. That is how division is made. Not from nothing, but from something real that has been deliberately misread,” he wrote.

Mr Amrin warned that this type of manipulative narrative can turn ordinary issues into ethnic tensions: with local events becoming signs of cultural displacement, immigration debates turning into racial conflicts, and policy discussions ending up as contests between communities. If this is allowed to happen, they result in distrust and suspicion.

However, he underlined that Singaporeans have legitimate concerns over immigration, integration, and fairness, and that these issues should not be dismissed just because bad actors exploit them. And while Singapore has long valued “openness” as a part of society, taken alone, it cannot guarantee against divisions, and may even cause them to deepen.

Therefore, there must be channels for difficult issues to be raised and fairly addressed, “rather than left to grievance merchants and opportunists.”

He also added that the manufactured story doesn’t go away just because the posts are no longer accessible.

“It lingers in the mind, shaping how people read the next headline, the next crowd, the next policy debate,” wrote Mr Amrin, adding that the issue was never just about what happened at a temple or even a particular community under attack.

Instead, Mr Amrin believes that the manipulated story was an attempt to portray fellow Singaporeans as a threat. Falsehoods can be corrected, he wrote, but the suspicion they create can endure long after the facts are set straight. /TISG 

Read also: MHA: 3 social media platforms have been ordered to block content targeting Indian community and undermining Singapore’s multiculturalism; suspected from China-based platform

This article (Ex-PAP MP: Underlying racial issues are real; damage doesn’t disappear when posts are taken down) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Authorities will decide tomorrow whether to continue or call off the search and rescue (SAR) operation for missing hiker Jaslinda Saludin, who disappeared at Gunung Batu Putih on May 24.

According to Berita Harian, Perak Fire and Rescue Department assistant director of operations Sabarodzi Nor Ahmad said the decision would be made following a coordination meeting involving agencies involved in the operation.

He said the meeting, chaired by the Batang Padang district officer, would review the current status of the SAR mission, developments over the past 10 days and possible next steps.

“The meeting will discuss the current status and progress of the SAR operation, as well as follow-up actions after 10 days of search efforts,” he was quoted as saying.

The operation, now in its 10th day, has faced numerous challenges, including difficult terrain and unpredictable weather conditions.

Earlier, Jaslinda was reportedly captured on one of the surveillance cameras along the Gunung Batu Putih hiking trail, believed to be heading towards Kem Sukaneka on the day she was reported missing.

Authorities have also enlisted the help of the local Orang Asli community, with more than 20 residents from Kampung Orang Asli Ampang Woh deployed in small teams to search areas outside the main trail between Kem Sukaneka and Gunung Rayu.

Meanwhile, aerial search efforts have been hampered by clustered cloud cover, strong winds and limited space surrounded by dense forest.

Deputy Fire Superintendent II Mohd Hasrizal Kamaruzzaman previously said an MI-17 helicopter from the Fire and Rescue Department's Central Region Air Base had been deployed for winching operations.

The operation involved lowering and extracting 32 rescuers by cable in the Kem Sukaneka area as part of efforts to locate the missing hiker.

ScarletPeaches posted a photo:

Livermore Falls, Maine