Shafee clarifies 'Nazi-Germany' remark
Lawyer Shafee Abdullah has issued a statement clarifying his 'Nazi-Germany' comment made yesterday, in a press conference outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
In a statement issued by his law firm, Shafee and Co, his legal team explained that Shafee's remark was made during an exchange with a journalist.
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The Star
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- The Star
Medvedev says Russia seeks victory, not compromise, in talks with Ukraine
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Malay Mail
a day ago
- Malay Mail
Contenders eye ‘big titles' as Nations League final four kicks off
MUNICH, June 3 — The Nations League semi-finals start on Wednesday with Germany, Spain, France and Portugal seeking to fine tune their sides with the World Cup just one year away. Tournament hosts Germany face Portugal in Munich on Wednesday and title holders Spain face France in Stuttgart a day later. The winners will face off in the Bavarian capital on Sunday. Created in 2018, the Nations League lacks the history and esteem of football's major international tournaments and has been criticised for adding to an already crowded calendar. But as Spain and France have shown in recent years, the competition can be a perfect launchpad to reach greater heights. France's Nations League triumph in 2021 came just over a year before their run to the World Cup final in Qatar, where they lost on penalties to a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina. Spain, runners-up against France in 2021, beat Croatia on penalties to win the 2023 Nations League; a year later, the Spanish were crowned Euro 2024 champions. While some of the larger nations have fielded experimental line-ups, recent winners have used the tournament to develop and improve. The 'big titles' Of the final four, only Germany are yet to win a Nations League title, with Portugal's success coming in the opening tournament in 2019. Germany captain Joshua Kimmich will be handed his 100th international cap on Wednesday. The Bayern Munich midfielder is the 14th Germany player to reach the milestone, but will become the only member of the 100 club not to have won a World Cup. Kimmich said Monday he 'had a couple more chances' to correct the stat and said the Nations League would show how much progress Germany had made, after a disappointing decade. 'If it's enough for the really big titles, we don't know, it depends on a lot of factors.' World Cup winners in 2014, Germany crashed out of the following two World Cups at the group stage. Their best result since a Euros semi-final in 2016 was going out in the quarters to eventual champions Spain at Euro 2024. 'We want to go into the (World Cup) well prepared. We've said a few times that the preparation doesn't start two weeks before, rather it's already started,' Kimmich said. 'When we now compete in two internationals successfully, we can show we're still on a good path.' Kimmich's sentiment was echoed by coach Julian Nagelsmann on Friday, who said 'we would love to win titles and keep feeding our self-confidence. 'Even if it's only a small title, for us as a group it's very important... Confidence and trust are fragile elements that require constant nourishment.' 'Tiredness takes a back seat' Coming at the end of a long club season, each of the final four are nursing injuries. Already without Jamal Musiala, Antonio Rudiger and Nico Schlotterbeck, Germany lost Jonathan Burkardt, Nadiem Amiri and Yann Bisseck to injury over the weekend. France are missing first choice defenders Dayot Upamecano, William Saliba and Jules Kounde, along with Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, while six players will be involved after Saturday's Champions League final. Opponents Spain elected not to name Rodri in their Nations League squad, wanting not to rush the reigning Ballon d'Or winner as he returns from his cruciate injury. Veteran Portugal talisman Cristiano Ronaldo, 40, has been named despite missing three of his past six club matches for Al Nassr with muscle complaints. Four players will join the Portuguese squad after lifting the Champions League title with Paris Saint-Germain: Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos. Portugal midfielder Rubin Neves acknowledged the strain on top players, but told the Portuguese FA on Sunday 'when we reach this type of competition, at this level, tiredness takes a back seat. 'Tiredness is left behind and our main focus is to win the two games and win the Nations League. 'We have all the tools available to be at our best.' — AFP
Malay Mail
a day ago
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With welcome mat half-rolled, Europeans rethink US travel under Trump
PARIS, June 3 — President Donald Trump's hardline immigration tactics, sweeping tariffs and nationalist policies may be a turn-off for many would-be European tourists to the United States, but the data paints a more nuanced bigger picture. The number of visitors to the United States from Western Europe in March fell by 17 per cent from the same month a year earlier, but then picked up 12 per cent in April, according to the US tourism office. The German Travel Association (DRV) said the number of Germans going to the United States dropped 28 per cent in March, but then bounced back by 14 per cent in April. The association's spokesperson, Torsten Schaefer, said that Easter holidays fell later this year than in 2024, which might have impacted the figures. 'There're practically no requests in recent months to change or cancel reservations,' Schaefer said. However, he noted 'a rise in queries about entry requirements into the United States'. At the end of March, several European countries urged their nationals to review their travel documents for the United States, following several mediatised cases of Europeans being held on arrival then deported. Anecdotally, there are signs of Europeans opting not to visit Trump's America. 'The country I knew no longer exists,' said Raphael Gruber, a 60-year-old German doctor who has been taking his family to Cape Cod in Massachusetts every summer since 2018. 'Before, when you told the immigration officer you were there for whale-watching, that was a good reason to come. But now, they are afraid of everything that comes from outside,' he told AFP. Referring to invasive electronic checks at the US borders, he added: 'I don't want to buy a 'burner' phone just to keep my privacy'. In Britain, Matt Reay, a 35-year-old history teacher from Northamptonshire, said he had scratched the United States off his list, preferring to go to South America, where his 'money would probably be better spent'. 'It feels like, to be honest, that there's a culture that's built in the US in the last kind of 12 months, where as a foreign visitor, I don't really feel like I'm that welcome anyway,' he said. Reay said he felt 'insulted' by both Trump's tariffs on British exports to the United States and comments by Trump's vice president, JD Vance, about Britain as 'a random country'. Trump's public belittling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a White House visit in February was also 'outrageous', he said. According to the US tourism office, however, the number of British visitors to the United States in April rose 15 per cent year-on-year, after a 14 per cent drop in March. Oxford Economics, an economics monitoring firm, attributed the March decline partly to the Easter dates this year, along with a stronger US dollar at the time that made the United States a more costly destination. But it mainly pointed to 'polarising rhetoric and policy actions by the Trump administration, as well as concerns around tighter border and immigration policies'. Cheaper flights Didier Arino, head of the French travel consultancy Protourisme, said April traffic to the United States might have picked up because European airlines were offering discounted flights. 'You can find flights, especially for New York, at 600 euros (US$680),' he said. In Germany, Muriel Wagner, 34, said she was not putting off a summer trip to Boston to see a friend at Harvard – a US university in a legal and ideological struggle with Trump's administration. 'I've been asked if the political situation and trade war with the US has affected our trip,' the PhD student said in Frankfurt. But 'you can't let yourself be intimidated', she said, adding that she was keen to discuss the tensions with Americans on their home turf. Protourisme's Arino said that, as 'the mood has sunk' regarding the United States, potential tourists were rethinking a visit. On top of the 'the financial outlay, being insulted by the US administration for being European, that really robs you of the desire' to go there, he said. He estimated that the 'Trump effect' would cut the number of French tourists going to the United States this year by a quarter. A body representing much of the French travel sector, Entreprises du Voyage, said the number of French visitors to America dropped eight per cent in March, and a further 12 per cent in April. It estimated that summer departures to the United States would drop by 11 per cent. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, covering major tourism operators, the US tourism sector – already reeling from Canadians and Mexicans staying away – could lose US$12.5 billion in spending by foreign visitors this year. — AFP
