{"id":7245,"date":"2026-04-06T09:11:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/?p=7245"},"modified":"2026-04-18T09:23:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T09:23:46","slug":"the-week-in-review-the-bulletin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/2026\/04\/06\/the-week-in-review-the-bulletin\/","title":{"rendered":"The Week in Review: The Bulletin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 5 \u2013 April 12, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geopolitics & Energy: Middle East Ceasefire<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The US-Iran conflict reached a boiling point with President Trump threatening to destroy Iranian power plants and bridges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A temporary two-week ceasefire, brokered by Pakistan, went into effect on April 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the pause, the IDF confirmed strikes on Iran’s major petrochemical facilities, which account for 85 percent of Iranian petrochemical exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domestic Policy & Economics: Subsidies and Regional Funding<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Malaysia’s diesel subsidies hit an estimated RM2.2 billion in March, nearly tripling previous figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim assured the public that the government will not rush into hiking fuel prices despite mounting pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 13th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM) concluded in Putrajaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting welcomed a proposed US$30 billion facility by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 2026\u20132030 to support ASEAN’s economic and sustainability goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The launch of the Regional Connectivity Fund (RCF) for Energy was also announced to bolster the ASEAN Power Grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corporate Strategy: REIT Listings and Diversification<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

IOI Properties Group Bhd announced plans to establish and list a real estate investment trust (REIT) backed by RM7.58 billion in assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EcoBuilt Holdings Bhd proposed a diversification of its existing principal business activities to include property development and the trading of building materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Diplomacy: Benin’s Presidential Election<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Benin held its presidential election on April 12 to choose a successor to President Patrice Talon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, the ruling coalition’s standard-bearer, is widely expected to coast to victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wadagni promises continued economic growth and free schooling despite regional security concerns and a growing jihadi insurgency in the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech & Innovation: AI and Space Exploration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The journal Nature<\/em> released its 2026 scientific projections, predicting major breakthroughs driven by AI acting as “researchers”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anticipated space missions include NASA’s Artemis II, which will send astronauts on a flight around the moon for the first time since the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the renewable energy space, hybrid tandem perovskite-silicon solar cells have reached record power conversion efficiencies of over 34%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manufacturers have achieved mass-production-ready efficiencies for these solar cells, with the first commercial versions expected to reach the market this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society: Syed Saddiq’s Wedding Plans<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Following their viral Mount Kinabalu engagement, Muar MP Syed Saddiq confirmed that he and actress Bella Astillah will officially tie the knot later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple recently made a highly publicized appearance at influencer Khairul Aming’s Rembayung restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their visit brought a wedding-like atmosphere to the venue and kept the nation captivated by their modern romance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Sports: The Masters, NCAA, and F1<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rory McIlroy made history by winning his second consecutive Masters Tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McIlroy secured his sixth major title by finishing 12-under to edge out Scottie Scheffler by one stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In NCAA Men’s Basketball, the Michigan Wolverines claimed the national championship by defeating UConn, following a 91-73 rout of Arizona in the Final Four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Russell secured a victory for Mercedes at the Bahrain Grand Prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Premier League, Arsenal maintained their position at the top of the table with 70 points, remaining ahead of Manchester City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 5 \u2013 April 12, 2026 Geopolitics & Energy: Middle East Ceasefire The US-Iran conflict reached a boiling point with President Trump threatening to destroy Iranian power plants and bridges. A temporary two-week ceasefire, brokered by Pakistan, went into effect on April 8. Prior to the pause, the IDF confirmed strikes on Iran’s major petrochemical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,38,39],"tags":[97,875,876,52,878,873,200,877,874],"class_list":["post-7245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-mb-news","category-news","tag-asean","tag-diesel","tag-economics","tag-finance","tag-funding","tag-iran","tag-malaysia","tag-subsidies","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7246,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7245\/revisions\/7246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}