‘Aedes mozzies adapt to survive’:

AEDES mosquitoes in Malaysia have adapted their behaviour in the last 20 years to circumvent efforts to extinguish them, Sin Chew Daily reported, quoting an expert in medical entomology.

Dr Lee Yean Wang, who wrote his PhD thesis on Aedes control, said these mosquitoes had learnt how to hide indoors whenever fogging was carried out.

Data in the last five years indicated that more Malaysians were bitten by Aedes mosquitoes indoors rather than outdoors, he said.

The situation was made worse by the tendency of homeowners to shut windows and doors whenever a fogging was done.

This, he said, would create a “safe haven” for the mosquitoes.

He also said that the rising temperatures over the last few decades had led to a change in the mosquito behaviour.

“Aedes mosquitoes will bite at a temperature of between 24ºC and 30ºC. However, they are most active between 26°C and 28°C,” he said.

> Dong Zong will be submitting a memorandum to the Education Ministry calling for fairer treatment of Chinese education, Sin Chew Daily also reported.

Its president Tan Tai Kin said independent Chinese schools, Chinese vernacular schools and national-type secondary schools often faced a shortage in funding.

Citing the 9th Malaysia Plan, he said Chinese vernacular schools were supposed to have been allocated RM4.837bil between 2006 and 2011, which is 20.63% of the total funds allocated to all primary schools.

However, data showed that only a total of RM320mil was disbursed to Chinese vernacular schools.

As such, Tan urged the ministry to review its policies.

> A job seeker in Johor lost his chance at an interview after calling his potential employer “stupid” on Facebook, China Press reported.

A screen grab of the chat was posted online which showed him asking about the working hours at a bubble tea shop in Batu Pahat.

The prospective employer replied: “It is mentioned in the post.”

The message seemed to have ticked off the job seeker.

“Is it so hard to tell me about the working hours, fan shu?”

Fan shu is potato in Chinese, but it is a term commonly used to describe someone as stupid.

The person seeking a job at the bubble tea shop did not receive any reply after his retort.