Football

Soccer-Altidore says World Cup will prove critics wrong as soccer aims to match Super Bowl buzz

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Former U.S. ‌striker Jozy Altidore believes this summer's World Cup will silence doubters who claim soccer ‌cannot compete with American football for the nation's attention, drawing parallels to the ‌transformative impact of the 1994 tournament.

Rugby

Rugby-Wallabies boss Schmidt will not 'swap sides' to take on All Blacks role

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Australia coach Joe ‌Schmidt has ruled out the possibility of leading the All Blacks at ‌the 2027 World Cup when he steps down from his position at the ‌Wallabies' helm later this year, saying he could not "swap sides".

Technology

Tesla 2.0: What customers think of Model S demise, Optimus robot rise

Many of Tesla's 7 million owners have turned their passion and knowledge of the company's products into market wealth. Could personal robots engender the same passion?

Nation

Rally against 'illegal' temples still on, says controversial preacher

PETALING JAYA: Controversial independent preacher Zamri Vinoth has insisted that a planned rally against so-called "illegal" temples will proceed, despite the government's call for it to be called off.

Football

Terengganu and KL share the spoils in first-leg Malaysia Cup tie

PETALING JAYA: Terengganu were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against Kuala Lumpur in their Malaysia Cup quarter-finals first leg match at the Sultan Zainal Abidin Stadium on Friday (Feb 6).

Other Sports

Olympics-Sofia Goggia lights Games cauldron in Cortina

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, ‌Italy, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Sofia Goggia, Italy's first women's ‌downhill Olympic champion, lit the cauldron in Cortina ‌d'Ampezzo on Friday at the culmination of the opening ceremony for the Milano Cortina Winter Games.

Technology

Vista Equity Partners and Intel to lead investment in AI chip startup SambaNova, sources say

(Refile with company name in the headline in ‌one word without the space)

World

Three dead in light plane crash off South Australia coast, police say

SYDNEY, Feb ‌7 (Reuters) - A light plane crashed ‌into the ocean off South ‌Australia on Friday killing the three men on board, police said.

World

Trump orders prioritizing countries with higher defense spending as customers for US weapons

Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald ‌Trump signed an executive order that would re-prioritize the customer list for ‌U.S. weapons in favor of countries with higher defense spending and ‌strategic importance in their region, the White House said on Friday.

Technology

Apple plans to allow external voice-controlled AI chatbots in CarPlay, Bloomberg News reports

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Apple ‌is preparing to allow voice-controlled artificial intelligence ‌apps from other companies in CarPlay, Bloomberg ‌News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Technology

Goldman Sachs teams up with Anthropic to automate banking tasks with AI agents, CNBC reports

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Goldman ‌Sachs is working with technology ‌startup Anthropic to develop AI-powered agents aimed ‌at automating a widening range of internal functions, CNBC reported on Friday, citing the bank's chief ‍information officer.

Technology

US Justice Department casts wide net on Netflix's business practices in merger probe, WSJ reports

Feb 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice ‌is investigating whether Netflix used anti-competitive tactics as part of the streaming giant's proposed $82.7 billion acquisition of ‌Warner Bros Discovery's studios and streaming service, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Technology

Big Tech's quarter in four charts: AI splurge and cloud growth

Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S. tech giants have predicted their spending ‌would surge this year as they double down on artificial intelligence, ‌sharpening investor scrutiny over whether these costly bets would generate enough returns to justify the sector's high valuations.

World

Armed attack leaves 4 dead in coastal city of Ecuador

QUITO, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed early Friday in an armed attack in the coastal city of Machala in Ecuador's El Oro province, local police said.

Focus

The man behind the club

FROM a television studio, Venezuela's feared interior minister would brandish a plastic club and call out the names of government critics – who knew what that usually meant. They could expect government agents to show up and take them away.

Nation

A long-term fix for organ transplants

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia, which has among the world's lowest organ donations, is now pushing for an improvement – but deeper challenges remain.

Football

Trying to stay paw-sitive

PETALING JAYA: Kuching City slipped up once against Brunei in the local football scene last year. And that painful defeat will be a reminder as they get ready to face the club from Borneo in the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals first-leg match at the Bandar Seri Begawan Stadium today.

Nation

Two words reinstated in Act

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has reinstated the words "offensive" and "annoy" in Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998, ruling that the terms are not unconstitutional.

Nation

‘Pengerang TB cluster originated from elderly woman’

JOHOR BARU: The tuberculosis (TB) cluster in Johor, where 33 people tested positive, originated from a female senior citizen, says state health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon (pic).

Sabah & Sarawak

Teen claims he doesn’t know seriousness of sexual offences

KOTA KINABALU: A teenager has claimed trial to charges of sodomising and molesting his 11-year-old step-sister, saying he did not know the seriousness of the offences.