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Monday, November 2, 2026
AI-assisted stroke survivor storyteller
Road to recovery: Foo with his caregiver Hasmah, who became an important pillar of support, helping him on his journey towards independence. — LEONG WAI YEE/The StarAI-assisted content helps entrepreneur inspire others with his recovery journey
PETALING JAYA: When entrepreneur Allan Foo Kit Seng suddenly found the words on his mobile phone becoming blurry back in May 2021, he thought there was something wrong with the screen. Hi T no
Moments later, the then 49-year-old Bandar Sri Damansara resident realised the problem was not his phone but himself. He had suffered a stroke.
Today, at 54, Foo has transformed that life-changing ordeal into a mission to inspire others, becoming an online sensation through artificial intelligence-assisted content and his abc123podcast on a popular online video platform while proving that stroke survivors can still embrace new opportunities.
“I don’t want people to see stroke survivors as limited. Physically, I may not be what I used to be, but I can still create, entertain, teach and inspire,” he said in an interview.
His latest AI-assisted comedy videos have attracted millions of views, with one Instagram reel from his account, abc123makeitsimple, garnering 1.8 million views in just four days.
By learning how to use AI to script and edit videos, Foo has discovered a new way to connect with audiences while showing that physical limitations should not stop anyone from acquiring new skills. Yet behind the humour lies a deeper purpose.
“I’ve already gone through the worst. Now I ask myself, what’s next? If I can’t work like before, what else can I do? I can show people they don’t have to stay inside the box,” he said.
Foo said his family was his greatest motivation during recovery – especially his son, Alex Randall Sy, who was still in primary school when the stroke struck and is now 16.
His elder son, Anthony Renzo Sy Foo, 19, also stood by him throughout his recovery while caregiver Hasmah Hassan, 53, became an important pillar of support, helping him through daily routines, rehabilitation and his journey towards independence.
“I told myself I had to be strong and face it head on because my children were still growing up.
“As a father, I couldn’t give up,” he said.
Foo recalled experiencing blurred vision and weakness before collapsing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Friends rushed him to hospital, where doctors stressed the importance of receiving treatment within the “golden hour”, saying the quick response likely saved his life.
Recovery, however, was a long and difficult journey.
He spent more than two years in a wheelchair and underwent intensive physiotherapy, acupuncture and stem cell treatment before his mind gradually became clearer.
The former student of Victoria Institution and the school’s Cadet Corps Band drum major likened surviving a stroke to returning home after a robbery.
“A stroke is like someone breaking into your house and making a mess of everything. You can sit there crying over what happened, or you can start cleaning up your house.
“Nobody else can clean it for you. You have to rebuild your life, one step at a time,” he said.
That mindset inspired Foo to document his recovery.
Encouraged by friends, he began sharing his journey online in September 2023, initially to help fellow stroke survivors and their caregivers navigate the physical, emotional and mental challenges after a stroke.
Today, his content blends humour with practical advice while his podcast simplifies stroke recovery through three principles – Awareness, Balance and Control – to help survivors and caregivers better understand the recovery journey.
Beyond entertaining audiences, Foo hopes his story will encourage stroke survivors to keep moving forward, no matter how long recovery takes.
“Nothing is easy, but you have to keep going. Recovery is a lifelong journey. I don’t want to be remembered as a stroke victim. I want people to see that I’m a stroke survivor.
“If my journey gives even one person hope and the courage to keep fighting, then everything I’ve gone through has been worth it,” he added.
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Maybank championship set to deliver another stellar showcase, Miyu the ones to watch
Maybank Championship 2026 Round 1 | Live Leaderboard & Scores | LPGA Women's Golf
PREPARATIONS are done for the LPGA Maybank Championship, one of the most anticipated weeks on the Malaysian sporting calendar.
Featuring several of the world’s best players at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club from Oct 29 to Nov 1, the championship that has quickly established itself as a marquee stop on the LPGA Tour, combines elite competition with a fan-friendly atmosphere that has made it a favourite among players and spectators alike.
With anticipation building for another classic edition, there is certainly no shortage of storylines waiting to develop.
Perhaps the most compelling is China’s Ruoning Yin. The former world No 1 and champion here two years ago, she arrives on the back of victory in Shanghai last week and, if Ruoning can carry that momentum into Kuala Lumpur, she will have every chance of becoming a two-time Maybank Championship winner.
Her combination of power and composure proved decisive when she lifted the trophy in 2024 and will surely be among the favourites again.
Another player commanding serious backing is Japan’s Miyu Yamashita. One of the LPGA Tour’s most consistent performers over the last two season,
Yamashita has enjoyed a sparkling run of form in this campaign. While she withdrew from her most recent start, all eyes will be on whether she can return refreshed and successfully defend the Tiger Trophy she claimed so impressively last year.
The Malaysian contingent will also have plenty to play for.
One notable change to the field saw national amateur Jeneath Wong withdraw. Taking her place among the sponsor invites was Genevieve Ling, who will relish the opportunity to test herself against one of the strongest fields assembled in women’s golf.
There will also be keen interest in Mirabel Ting, who recently achieved a significant career milestone by securing her LPGA Tour card. The Sarawak-born rising star has been steadily building towards golf’s biggest stage and would love to mark her return to KLGCC with a strong performance.
Her tie for 12th a couple of years ago are stil fresh in the memory – she emerged as the leading Malaysian in the field on that occasion.
Liyana Durisic, meanwhile, earned her place through qualifying and arrives with encouraging form of her own.
Having produced several positive performances throughout the year, Liyana will be hoping to cap off her season with a breakthrough showing on one of the biggest stages available to Malaysian golf.
Alongside Mirbael, Genevieve and Liyana, local fans will be eager to see how the other Malaysian representatives acquit themselves against a top field.
One notable absentee, however, will be world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul, whose withdrawal has deprived the championship of one of its biggest stars.
Still, the depth of talent on parade ensures the event remains packed with quality and loads of intrigue.
Away from the ropes, organisers are once again expected to deliver an extensive programme of fan engagement activities. From interactive experiences to family-friendly attractions, there will be plenty to complement four days of world-class golf in the capital of Malaysia.
The course itself promises to be a worthy stage. KLGCC’S West Course is expected to be presented in immaculate condition, with tournament officials and course management expressing confidence that the layout will be in superb shape for championship week.
As always at this time of year, attention will inevitably turn to the weather. Should the rain remain relatively polite, and with all the preparartions in place, we should have another memorable chapter in store at one of Asia’s premier golf tournaments
Sorrce : https://www.thestar.com.my/sport/golf/2026/10/25/ruoning-miyu-the-ones-to-watch
Saturday, October 24, 2026
China issues guidelines to boost AI-driven job creation, mitigate employment displacement risks
China has rolled out a set of policy measures to create more jobs through artificial intelligence (AI), improve employment quality and mitigate the impact of job displacement resulting from AI applications, helping build an employment-friendly development model, amid the rapid development and growing use of the technology.
The guidelines, issued by the General Office of the State Council and made public on Friday, outline 18 major tasks across six areas, covering AI-driven job creation, employment-friendly AI adoption, workforce training, employment services, labor rights and social security protections, and employment risk monitoring and response.
The document aims to strengthen AI's positive role in creating job opportunities, enhancing traditional jobs through AI, improving employment quality and stimulating entrepreneurship, while mitigating the impact of AI-related job displacement, according to the guidelines.
It also seeks to promote inclusive development by ensuring that technological progress and industrial upgrading go hand in hand with employment growth and improvements in people's livelihoods.
To strengthen AI's job creation potential, the guidelines call for expanding employment opportunities in emerging sectors, helping micro, small and medium-sized enterprises retain and expand their workforce, developing new AI-related employment and entrepreneurship models, and accelerating the development of new AI-related occupations.
The document also calls for building an employment-friendly pathway for AI adoption, including tapping the employment potential of AI in traditional industries, easing job displacement pressures arising from AI applications and establishing mechanisms to assess employment risks associated with the technology.
To improve workers' digital literacy and employability, the guidelines call for coordinated efforts to develop innovative AI talent and the implementation of dedicated AI training programs.
In terms of employment services, the document calls for using AI to facilitate the implementation of employment policies, improve the intelligence and efficiency of employment services, and strengthen support for workers transitioning to new jobs or occupations.
The guidelines also emphasize improving labor rights and social security systems to keep pace with technological changes. Measures include improving labor rights protections to accommodate human-AI collaboration, improving social security arrangements for flexible workers and those in new forms of employment, and refining income distribution mechanisms to adapt to AI development.
To address potential employment risks arising from AI applications, the document proposes strengthening employment risk monitoring and early-warning systems related to AI applications, stepping up research into AI's impact on employment, and improving mechanisms to respond to emerging employment risks.
The guidelines call on local governments and relevant departments to implement the measures in accordance with local conditions. Human resources and social security authorities and development and reform departments at all levels are also urged to strengthen coordination to ensure the measures are effectively implemented.
The latest guidelines are in line with a five-year plan for implementing the employment-firs initiative, fostering more entrepreneurial projects involving innovative AI applications andt strategy released by the State Council in June, which called for advancing the "AI Plus" the commercialization of technological achievements, exploring new forms of work involving human-AI collaboration, and strengthening AI's role in job creation.
Source link : https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202610/1372863.shtml
Ninety years on, the great Long March spirit is a light shining on the world
The 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was commemorated at a grand gathering in Beijing on Thursday morning. General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the gathering and delivered an important speech.
Xi stressed that the great spirit of the Long March demonstrates the power of loyalty, truth, justice and unity. As an important part of the spiritual lineage of the CPC, it transcends time and space and remains evergreen. It will always be a precious treasure and a powerful driving force inspiring us to overcome difficulties and forge ahead courageously.
The Long March was a beam of light that burst forth from the Chinese nation at its darkest hour. It showed the world clearly that, even in an old China mired in darkness with no visible way out, there was a group of people striving with all their might to build a new China. In the book The Life Millennium: The 100 Most Important Events and People of the Past 1000 Years, published by the American Time-Life Books, scholars from around the world jointly selected 100 events that shaped the world from 1000 to 2000 AD. The Long March of the Red Army was one of three historical events from China to make the list. It profoundly inspires people that as long as one remains firm in will and unyielding in the face of setbacks, a way out can always be found through continuous exploration, and an entirely new path can be opened.
From Edgar Snow to Henry Kissinger, from Nelson Mandela to Fidel Castro, many observers and strategists have pondered why this Long March in the East was able to succeed. To this day, whenever China astonishes the world with technological breakthroughs or reshapes perceptions with development miracles, the world still asks: "How do the Chinese do it?" These questions all point to the same answer: We have found the right path - a path of never yielding, always moving forward, and never retreating. The Long March is both a spiritual treasure that inspires the Chinese people and a display of the Chinese nation's resilient character to the world.
Today, the term "Long March" has become a shared name for any arduous journey that ultimately reaches its destination. In this sense, the value of the Long March lies not only in the arrival itself, but in the act of continuing to set forth, again and again. After the victory of the Long March, the nation did not stop: It kept marching through the flames of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, kept advancing on the tide of reform and opening-up, and continues to advance under the call of the new era, all the way toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Today, the great Long March spirit has been deeply etched into the DNA of Chinese society. It is the determination to rise to challenges and to persist for the long haul; it is the courage to fear no sacrifice and to dare to try; it is the clarity to face reality and actively seek change; and above all, it is the original aspiration of standing with the people through life and death, sharing weal and woe, and striving arduously.
Ninety years on, the great Long March spirit no longer belongs only to history; it is a light that grows ever brighter and shines upon the world. Currently, global governance is experiencing a "darkest hour": climate change, the North-South divide, geopolitical conflicts, and the undercurrents of deglobalization.
Old paradigms are failing, and new rules have yet to take shape. Solving many major issues requires long-term planning and sustained effort that transcend political cycles and short-term gains and losses.
The spirit of firm conviction, unity and cooperation, and unyielding struggle transcends national borders and ideologies. It inspires humanity to overcome adversity and pursue a brighter future. This both suggests that global governance needs to blaze new trails toward common development, common security, and common prosperity, and helps the world better understand the spiritual bedrock of the Chinese nation, enabling outsiders to better grasp where this "enabling great power" is heading.
"Where the spirit lies, there lies the strength." The great Long March spirit resonates with the Chinese nation's cultural tradition of constant self-improvement and has gained new contemporary meaning in the process of Chinese modernization. While it is no longer possible for China today to replicate the march back then, this spirit will always remain, proving to the world that the Chinese nation possesses extraordinary resilience.
After decades of struggle, China has long since become the world's second-largest economy and is comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization.
The enduring national resilience behind the great Long March spirit has been a key factor in creating this development miracle. It is the confidence that allows China to navigate storms and seize the historical initiative, and it also provides a stabilizing expectation for a world full of uncertainty.
In the 1980s, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who once served as US national security advisor, walked with his family along the route once taken by the Red Army. He later reflected: "The Long March is more than an epic of almost unmatched heroism." Today, more and more foreigners are coming to China to retrace the Long March route, and places like Loushan Pass have once again become a popular destination for visitors. This is one indication that the great Long March spirit is increasingly needed by the world. As a spiritual monument that the Chinese nation has offered to the world, its importance will become even more prominent in the future. As military writer Wang Shuzeng once described: "The Long March belongs to that category of events in human history which, even after the passage of long years, continue to be sought after by people."
"The history of the Long March has never faded; the road of the Long March continues to extend." For China, on the new journey, the Long March has no endpoint.
To carry forward the great Long March spirit is to always maintain a high-spirited posture of storming passes and seizing fortresses, to continue the arduous trek on the journey of Chinese modernization, and to respond to all risks and challenges with an unstoppable fighting spirit. It is to both successfully navigate the Long March of our own generation and infuse a world marked by turbulence and transformation with confidence and strength from the East.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Malaysia's budget for 2027; Record Rm510bil budget tabled
Direct relief for people planned alongside steady fiscal reform, says PM
PETALING JAYA: The government has allocated a record RM510bil under Budget 2027.
“The Fifth Madani Budget continues an expansionary fiscal policy, mobilising the full strength of the nation, with total expenditure and investment amounting to RM510bil, compared with RM470bil previously,” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said when tabling the national spending plan in the Dewan Rakyat on Friday (Oct 9).
Anwar said RM376.8bil would be allocated for operating expenditure and RM83bil for development expenditure.
Another RM25bil will come from investments by government-linked investment companies (GLICs), RM11bil from public-private investments and RM14.2bil from investments by federal statutory bodies and companies under the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).
Anwar said federal revenue for 2026 was now projected to be higher than initially estimated, with the upward trend expected to continue next year.
“This year, federal revenue is projected to be higher at RM363.6bil, compared with the original estimate of RM343.1bil. Next year, revenue is expected to continue rising to RM380.8bil,” he said.
He said the Middle East crisis had also pushed the fuel subsidy bill to RM40bil.
As a result, the fiscal deficit for 2026 is now projected at 3.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), slightly higher than the original target of 3.5%.
“Nevertheless, the deficit remains on a downward trajectory, falling from 5.5% in 2022 to 3.7% last year,” he said.
Anwar said the government aimed to narrow the deficit further to 3.3% in 2027 and 3% by 2028.
“The reduction in the deficit, together with the controlled level of new borrowing, has enabled the federal government's debt-to-GDP ratio to decline steadily, from 65.2% in 2025 to 64% in 2026, and is expected to fall further to 63.7% in 2027,” he said.
Malaysis's budget for 2027; Record Rm510bil budget table
PETALING JAYA: The government has allocated a record RM510bil under Budget 2027.
“The Fifth Madani Budget continues an expansionary fiscal policy, mobilising the full strength of the nation, with total expenditure and investment amounting to RM510bil, compared with RM470bil previously,” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said when tabling the national spending plan in the Dewan Rakyat on Friday (Oct 9).
Anwar said RM376.8bil would be allocated for operating expenditure and RM83bil for development expenditure.
Another RM25bil will come from investments by government-linked investment companies (GLICs), RM11bil from public-private investments and RM14.2bil from investments by federal statutory bodies and companies under the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).
Anwar said federal revenue for 2026 was now projected to be higher than initially estimated, with the upward trend expected to continue next year.
“This year, federal revenue is projected to be higher at RM363.6bil, compared with the original estimate of RM343.1bil. Next year, revenue is expected to continue rising to RM380.8bil,” he said.
He said the Middle East crisis had also pushed the fuel subsidy bill to RM40bil.
As a result, the fiscal deficit for 2026 is now projected at 3.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), slightly higher than the original target of 3.5%.
“Nevertheless, the deficit remains on a downward trajectory, falling from 5.5% in 2022 to 3.7% last year,” he said.
Anwar said the government aimed to narrow the deficit further to 3.3% in 2027 and 3% by 2028.
“The reduction in the deficit, together with the controlled level of new borrowing, has enabled the federal government's debt-to-GDP ratio to decline steadily, from 65.2% in 2025 to 64% in 2026, and is expected to fall further to 63.7% in 2027,” he said.
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