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Daily Express
02-07-2025
- General
- Daily Express
DBKK urges public cooperation via ‘My City, My Responsibility'
Published on: Wednesday, July 02, 2025 Published on: Wed, Jul 02, 2025 By: Crystal E Hermenegildus Text Size: Kota Kinabalu: City Hall (DBKK) held the closing ceremony of the My City, My Responsibility 1.0 (MCMR) awareness campaign, last Sunday. The ceremony was officiated by the Deputy Director General (Operations) of DBKK, Robert Lipon (pic), representing Mayor Datuk Seri Dr Sabin Samitah. It marked the culmination of a campaign that was launched on Feb 3. He said this campaign is proof of City Hall's commitment to raising public awareness about the collective responsibility to maintain the cleanliness of the city. 'The objective of this campaign is to educate the community to be more responsible in maintaining the cleanliness of the city and making it a clean, green and liveable city, in addition to increasing the public's awareness of the importance of preserving and conserving the environment. 'This is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG 17), namely Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), Goal 6 (Clean water and sanitation), Goal 14 (Life in water) and Goal 15 (Life on Land),' he said during the inauguration ceremony at Palm Square, Centre Point. Various events were organised, including the 'MCMR Slogan' TikTok Competition, 'Treasure Hunt' Competition, Colouring and Poster Drawing Competition, Guessing the Amount and Weight of Cigarette Butts Competition, Used Clothes Upcycling Competition, Environmental Quiz, Health and Environment Exhibition, and Kids Fashion Show. In addition, the Household Recycling Competition is being held for the first time to encourage waste separation and recycling practices starting at home. Robert said participating residents have been sending recyclable waste such as plastic bottles, paper, cans, and cooking oil to the Kota Kinabalu Sustainable Centre located at the Community Hall. A total of more than two tonnes of recycled waste have been successfully received in this activity, marking a 100% increase compared to last year. 'This record clearly indicates a significant improvement in public awareness regarding the daily separation of household waste. It also demonstrates the potential for waste materials to serve as a valuable financial resource when managed correctly,' he said. In addition, the Kampungku Bersih challenge was held in conjunction with City Hall's 24th anniversary celebrations. This competition aimed to foster social awareness among villagers in the city through ongoing campaigns and cleaning activities. The winner of the challenge was Kampung Kobuni, with Kampung Binaung and Kampung Kokol securing second and third places, respectively. These villages are now recognised as 'Clean and Green Villages'. 'I hope that the programme held this time will be a good start to creating a quality environment, further achieving the mission and vision of DBKK,' Robert said. Also present to enliven the ceremony were the Leasing Executive for the management of Center Point Sabah Oliver, Lim Kok Fueh; Director of the Solid Waste Management Department as the Organizing Chairman, Leong Tze Fui, and the heads of DBKK departments. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
The Hindu
29-06-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Minister leads cleanliness drive in Dharwad
District in-charge Minister Santosh Lad led a cleanliness drive in Dharwad on Sunday, along with a team of officials. As part of the My City, Clean City campaign, officials visited 16 streets of seven wards and took up the task of cleaning, sorting and transporting garbage. Nearly 2,000 people attended the event. The Minister urged residents to join hands with the city corporation and the district administration in keeping the city clean and green. A similar drive was conducted in Hubballi a few days ago. Mr. Lad joined the pourakarmikas and other officials in cleaning the streets and sorting and loading garbage onto trucks. During the campaign, Deputy Commissioner Divya Prabhu G.R.J., Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Bhuvanesh Patil, Superintendent of Police Gopal Byakod, Municipal Commissioner Rudresh Ghali and other district-level senior officials participated along with their department and office staff. They joined hands in the Minister's dream of having a clean city and removed garbage and sewage waste under the campaign. Addressing the public and students who joined him on Mahishi Road, the Minister said that no government agency, including the city corporation, can work without the complete and meaningful cooperation of the public. 'This can happen only when every citizen feels proud that this is our city, our road and my house, will it be possible to have a clean city. We should work in such a manner that our children feel proud,' he said. He said that the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation will initiate such campaigns every week. 'We need to instill civic sense among the citizens of the twin cities. Everyone should keep their house and the area around their house clean. They should also take care of the small stretch of road and the trees in front of their house,' he said. The campaign team visited the Railway Station and areas like Malamaddi, Vanavasi Ram Mandir, Gabbur Road, Ramanagara Hospital, Malapur Last Bus Stand, Shivaji Circle, Hebballi Agasi, Charantimath Garden, Hosayllapura Road, Paul Canteen, Sarasganga School and Jannatnagar. Residents of these areas also joined the effort. They collected waste with shovels, filled the baskets and put the garbage in the garbage tractor themselves. They collected garbage from garbage cans to shift it to the trucks. Mr. Lad requested the people not to throw non-segregated waste and rotten material in one heap. Vegetable vendors should not throw rotten vegetable into drains and in open spaces, he added. Mr. Lad got into a drain and helped workers clean it. Seeing him, other officers also joined the effort. An earthmover was brought to clear a pile of mud on the footpath. The Minister instructed officials to check the manhole covers above and below the road, empty sites filled with garbage and take immediate action against those responsible. From the front of Ramanagara Hospital to the last bus stop road of Malapur, government officials from various departments and college students cleaned the roads. Students carried placards and raised slogans like ''Our Dharwad is clean, let's protect it, let's protect it, let's protect it, let's protect it'. They also created awareness by singing songs and staging street plays. Mayor Ramappa Badiger, Deputy Commissioner Divya Prabhu G.R.J., Superintendent of Police Gopal Byakod, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Bhuvanesh Patil, Probationary Officer Ritika Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mahaning Nandagave, Assistant Commissioner S. Hussein, officers and others were present.
ITV News
26-06-2025
- Sport
- ITV News
Huge mural unveiled of Wales star Jess Fishlock in Cardiff ahead of Women's Euros
A huge pitch-sized mural of Wales legend Jess Fishlock has been unveiled to celebrate her impact on football, ahead of this summer's Euros tournament in Switzerland. The tribute to Wales' most-capped footballer and top goal-scorer is painted across a pitch in Splott Football Park, in the footballer's home city of Cardiff. It is the first of its kind in Europe for a female footballer and was designed by Cardiff illustrator Regan Gilflin and brought to life by UNIFY, the studio behind the 'My City, My Shirt' and the Gary Speed murals in the capital. Fishlock, who is preparing for this summer's tournament, said: "It's just class. It's almost kind of emotional when you look at something like this being made in your country and in a place where, when I was a kid, playing football, this area in Splott is where we used to play our home games. "I spent years in that area playing football when I was a young girl. For this to have so much meaning, it is a little bit emotional." The Wales squad is training in Portugal ahead of their first game on July 5 against the Netherlands. Rhian Wilkinson's Wales side will then face France and defending champions England in the group stages of what is Wales' first ever major tournament appearance. A Football Association of Wales spokesperson said: "This incredible artwork by Regan Gilflin and UNIFY's Yusuf Ismail and Shawqi Hasson is a powerful tribute to one of Cymru's greatest ever players. As the first pitch mural of a female footballer in Europe, it stands as a landmark for visibility, belonging and pride, showing every child that they have a place in the game. 'The Cymru national team's higher purpose is, 'to play for change. To play to inspire. For Us. For Them. For Her.' Jess Fishlock lives that purpose, honouring the trailblazers who came before her, inspiring today's heroes and empowering future generations."
BusinessToday
26-06-2025
- Business
- BusinessToday
My50 Pass Now Accessible Via TnG eWallet
The My50 unlimited travel pass will be available for digital purchase and activation through the Touch 'n Go (TNG) eWallet app beginning July 1, 2025, announced Prasarana Malaysia and the Touch 'n Go Group. The move is part of the government's push for public transport digitalisation and the broader national cashless agenda. Commuters will no longer need to queue at counters, as the My50 pass can now be activated directly via smartphone. Group President and Chief Executive Officer of Prasarana, Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah, said the digitalisation of My50 is a progressive step that enhances user convenience, improves accessibility and saves time for daily commuters. The initiative is open to all Malaysian citizens, who can activate the pass after completing electronic identity verification on the app. The move is expected to benefit the existing 250,000 My50 users and encourage more urban residents to adopt public transport. Touch 'n Go Chief Executive Officer Praba Sangarajoo said the initiative reflects the group's commitment to delivering innovative, tech-driven services that meet the daily needs of Malaysians. He added that the strategic partnership between TNG, Prasarana and the Ministry of Transport marks a significant milestone in modernising the country's public transport infrastructure. Looking ahead, Prasarana also plans to expand digitalisation to other products such as the MyCity pass, aimed at reducing reliance on cash transactions and enhancing the overall travel experience. Related
Express Tribune
22-06-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
AI gamble must be smart, not just fast
Listen to article The future of data sharing changed drastically when the US realised that 9/11 was a failure of intelligence agencies to act in concert on then-available data and hence called the incident a "data fusion" crisis. The US Department of Homeland Security began setting up a robust network of "fusion centres" – state and locally run organisations that allow real-time sharing of critical intelligence and datasets between two or more government units for identifying red flags. Fast forward to 2025, and now Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking over such "fusion centres" worldwide – with possibilities that are endless. AI agents are replacing humans, and language models are generating insights that were previously unheard of. However, as is the case with every technology, the use of AI, especially in the public sector and in legal matters, remains a double-edged sword and must be handled with a pinch of salt. For instance, in June 2023, Schwartz, an attorney with Levidow, Levidow & Oberman in New York, used ChatGPT for legal case research and was fined by the judge for citing false precedents with bogus names in his brief. The large language model (LLM) was apparently hallucinating – a problem where these chatbots make up fictitious data on their own. Similarly, in March 2024, the Microsoft-powered chatbot MyCity gave incorrect legal information that could have led prospective businessmen to break the law. It falsely claimed that landlords could openly discriminate based on the income of tenants and that restaurant owners could take a share of their workers' tips. Hence, when it comes to using AI, public institutions are now faced with a tough choice: should they rely on public AI models hosted by third parties such as ChatGPT, adopt open-source models such as LLaMA, or train their own proprietary AI models in the long run? Choosing the right AI strategy is crucial here. In 2024, Air Canada's virtual assistant was found to be giving factually incorrect information about discounts to a customer who then took the matter to court and was awarded damages. Similarly, when Denmark rolled out AI algorithms in its social security system, the system was found to have an inherent bias against marginalised groups such as the elderly, low-income families, migrants, and foreigners. Ninety per cent of the cases that AI marked as fraud later turned out to be genuine, and the whole episode is now taught as a classic case study in discrimination and breach of the European Union's (EU) AI Act's regulations on social scoring systems. Therefore, if any public sector organisation chooses to use a third-party model trained by OpenAI in its operations, there is a risk of bias against people of colour and disadvantaged groups – as the training data scraped from the internet, social media and discussion forums is usually biased itself. A good AI strategy involves thoughtful and controlled phased deployments with well-planned use cases. For example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began with publicly available AI tools to improve employee productivity but also rolled out its AI vision and development roadmap. In the meantime, it focused on developing specialised AI applications – such as one to train officers dealing with asylum applications and conducting security investigations. By December 2024, DHS had launched DHSChat on its internal secure network – a cutting-edge algorithm that can draft reports, streamline tasks, develop software, and, unlike other large language models, ensures employee data is protected and not used to train external models. In fact, as a best practice and as mandated by the Trump administration's executive order, DHS actively maintains its AI inventory, which includes a list of use cases related to AI in its operations. For countries like Pakistan, our institutions could use a mix of public, open-source and proprietary models – depending on the nature of the task at hand. When it comes to using AI as the new Google, public models are usually fine, but for drafting memos and summarising reports, it is not advisable to use a public model. For that, the Ministry of IT or other institutions can host their own open-source AI models in their data centres or fine-tune them to develop proprietary models. For critical systems, it is always recommended not to entirely replace existing automation with AI. There is a need to install a supervisor for fact-checking and verifying the output of AI models for hallucinations and bias. No matter how lucrative the idea of an AI-driven public sector may be, it is important to thoroughly test and check the behaviour of these models before deploying them. The AI-based transformation project currently being executed at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will serve as a test case for other AI-aspiring public agencies. The writer is a Cambridge graduate and is working as a strategy consultant
