TOKYO (AFP) – Floyd Mayweather knocked out mixed martial arts fighter Mikuru Asakura in the second round yesterday in Japan in the latest of the boxing great’s post-retirement exhibitions.
The 45-year-old Mayweather floored his opponent with a right hand as his former welterweight foe Manny Pacquiao watched ringside in Saitama.
The American Mayweather, who retired in 2017 with an unbeaten 50-0 record, afterwards dismissed any prospect of a fight with the similarly retired Pacquiao.
Mayweather arrived at Saitama Super Arena, north of Tokyo, just an hour before the fight.
He was shown on TV relaxing in a dressing room full of takeaway fast food, prior to making his ringwalk.
On another easy payday for the self-styled “Money” Mayweather, the bell to end the second round sounded as Asakura hit the canvas, but it failed to save the Japanese fighter and he was unable to beat the count.
“It was another blockbuster turnout… boxing for me is like breathing,” Mayweather said, adding he is looking to fight more “YouTubers and MMA guys”.
Boxer Floyd Mayweather throws a punch against mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura. PHOTO: AP
ANN/CNA – Roger Federer’s departure from tennis has raised the question of retirement of the other two members of the revered ‘Big Three’ but Novak Djokovic has assured that he does not feel “old enough” to consider bringing down the curtain yet.
Federer’s decision was not unexpected given the 41-year-old’s recent struggles with injuries and form, but it was still met with an outpouring of sadness by fans and former players when the Swiss great bid an emotional goodbye to the sport.
His exit has brought the longevity of his great rivals, Rafa Nadal and Djokovic, in sharper focus while fans and pundits have wondered how men’s tennis would cope with the prospect of losing their most marketable athletes.
“I don’t feel yet so old, to be honest, for my tennis career to finish,” Djokovic told reporters on Saturday after returning to tennis for the first time since winning his 21st Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon.
“I still feel my body is serving me, is listening to me well. That’s the key I think when you get to 35-plus.”
WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal judge has rejected the Justice Department’s bid to block a major United States (US) sugar manufacturer from acquiring its rival, clearing the way for the acquisition to proceed.
The ruling, handed down by a federal judge in Wilmington, Delaware, comes months after the Justice Department sued to try to halt the deal between US Sugar and Imperial Sugar Company, one of the largest sugar refiners in the nation. The government had argued that allowing the acquisition to go through would be harmful to consumers and anticompetitive.
US Sugar argued that the acquisition will increase production and distribution of refined sugar and provide a more secure supply.
The ruling was a blow for the Justice Department as it pushes forward with aggressive enforcement of federal antitrust laws that officials saID aim to ensure a fair and competitive market. The Justice Department could appeal the decision and said it was reviewing the judge’s ruling.
“We are disappointed in the court’s decision not to block this merger, which would combine the world’s largest sugar cane refiner with one of its primary competitors in the Southeastern us and increase reliance on foreign imports,” Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter said.
Granulated sugar is poured in Philadelphia, United States. PHOTO: AP
“Further consolidation in the market for this important kitchen staple will have real-world consequences for millions of Americans.”
US Sugar said in a statement it was “pleased that the court ruling will allow our acquisition of Imperial Sugar to proceed as planned, enabling us to increase our sugar production, enhance the local Georgia economy and benefit our employees and customers.”
The Justice Department said US Sugar, which operates a large refinery in Florida, sells its sugar through a marketing cooperative known as the United Sugars Corporation. Imperial Sugar operates a refinery in Savannah, Georgia, and a sugar transfer and liquidation facility in Ludlow, Kentucky.
The companies announced the acquisition in March, saying that it would return Imperial Sugar to all-American ownership. Imperial Sugar is a subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus Company, which is headquartered in the Netherlands.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) held the weekly Munajat night for the 54th time on Saturday.
Congregants from 90 mosques, suraus and religious halls nationwide including Kampong Sungai Hanching and Kampong Menunggol mosques in the Brunei-Muara District; Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque in the Tutong District; Kampong Selangan Mosque in the Temburong District, and Pekan Seria Mosque in the Belait District participated.
Minister of Religious Affairs Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman attended the event. The gathering started with the recitation of Sayyidul Istighfar and Surah Al-Fatihah led by Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, patron of Kampong Sungai Hanching Mosque.
The recitation of Surah Yaasiin was led by Imam of Ash-Shaliheen Mosque Mohammad Syariff Wafiuddin bin Jemain.
Doa Munajat was read by Islamic Da’wah Centre (PDI) Director Haji Abdul Rajid bin Haji Mohd Salleh.
Minister of Religious Affairs Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman attends the event. PHOTO: AZLAN OTHMAN
A talk titled ‘Contohi Sifat Malu Rasulullah Shallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam’ was delivered by lecturer at Faculty of Syariah and Law cum the Head of Alumni Affairs at Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA) Dr Hafini bin Mahmud.
The recitation of Asmaa Ul-Husna was led by Youth Da’ie committee member at MoRA Mohammad Iman bin Haji Ibrahim.
The gathering ended with Doa Peliharakan Sultan dan Negara Brunei Darussalam led by Imam at Mosque Affairs Department from Sufri Bolkiah Mosque in RPN Kampong Berakas Abdul Razak bin Samat.
Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Mohd Tashim bin Pengiran Haji Hassan also attended.
SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea fired a ballistic missile yesterday, Seoul’s military said, just days after a United States (US) aircraft carrier arrived for joint drills with the South in a show of force against Pyongyang.
With talks long-stalled, nuclear-armed North Korea has doubled down on its banned weapons programmes, even revamping its laws earlier this month to declare itself an “irreversible” nuclear power.
The launch is the latest in a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests by Pyongyang so far this year, including firing an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile at full range for the first time since 2017.
Hawkish new President Yoon Suk-yeol, who vowed on the campaign trail to get tough with North Korean leader Kim Jong- un, has ramped up South Korea’s joint drills with key security ally the US.
Seoul’s military “detected one short range missile fired by North Korea at 6.53 today around Taechon in North Pyongan province towards the East Sea,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The USS Ronald Reagan is escorted as it arrives in Busan, South Korea. PHOTO: AP
The missile flew around 600 kilometres at an altitude of around 60 kilometres, with maximum speed of around Mach 5, the JCS added in a statement.
“Our military maintains a full readiness posture and is closely cooperating with the US while strengthening surveillance and vigilance,” it said.
Japan’s coast guard issued a warning for ships after the launch, and Tokyo’s defence minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missile landed outside of Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
“The repeated ballistic missile launches by North Korea are absolutely unforgivable and the remarkable improvement in its missile technology is something we cannot overlook,” Hamada said.
South Korea’s President Yoon has vowed to beef up joint military exercises with the US after years of failed diplomacy with North Korea under his predecessor.
On Friday, the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan and vessels from its strike group docked in the southern port city of Busan, part of a push by Seoul and Washington to have more US strategic assets operating in the region.
Yoon is also due to meet US Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday when she visits Seoul this week, following a trip by President Joe Biden in May, and US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month.
TOKYO (AFP) – Thousands were without running water and power in central Japan yesterday after Typhoon Talas dumped record rains on the region, triggering floods and landslides, and leaving at least two dead.
The body of a man in Kakegawa city, Shizuoka region, was pulled from what remained of his house on Saturday after a landslide destroyed it, a regional disaster management official told AFP.
“Another male (in neighbouring Fukuroi city) was driving to his home (Saturday) when the water level rose and his vehicle apparently stopped. While the individual tried to walk home, he was believed to have died,” the official said.
Another man was still missing in Kawanehoncho town in Shizuoka after his vehicle fell into a hole that opened up in the roadway, he said, adding that three others suffered minor injuries.
Typhoon Talas battered central Japan on Friday and Saturday as it swept by just off the Pacific coast, dumping more than 40 centimetres of rain in a 24-hour period in communities in Shizuoka, according to Japan Meteorological Agency.
It was downgraded to a depression on Saturday morning before moving back out to the Pacific.
Heavy rain from the storm sparked landslides, including in remote mountains in Shizuoka, causing several electricity pylons to fall and snap, resulting in as many as 120,000 households losing power on Saturday.
A journalist works at the site of a landslide caused by a typhoon in Mimata. PHOTO: TIMES OF MALTA
The Immigration and National Registration Department (INRD) announced changes to the service counter hours at the Travel Documents Section and the Identification Card Section starting today.
The service counters at the Travel Documents Section at the INRD Headquarters will open from 7am to 7pm every Monday to Thursday and Saturday.
The special service counters including those for senior citizens aged 60 and above will be from 8am to 5pm on the third floor of the headquarters building.
Collection counters for the Travel Documents Section will be at the ground floor of the Law Enforcement Division on Monday to Thursday and Saturday from 8am to 5pm, and 8am to 11am every Friday.
Meanwhile, operating hours for travel documents’ registration and collection service counters at the Belait, Tutong and Temburong district branches will be from 8am to noon and 1.45pm to 4pm on Monday to Thursday and Saturday, and from 8am to 11am on Friday.
The public is advised to not come too early considering that service counters at the Travel Documents Section are open for 12 hours.
Meanwhile, the Identity Card Section registration and collection counter services will begin operating every Friday in all branches starting September 30 from 8am to 11am.
The department advises the public to complete the application forms and bring related documents along to ensure a smooth registration process.
The public is also reminded to ensure all individuals who want to make an application, either at the Travel Documents Section or the Identity Card Section, to present themselves during the collection of a queue number.
Application forms can be downloaded from the department’s website.
ASGÁTA, CYPRUS (AFP) – Christos Charalambous might be 79 but he is several metres up a carob tree, harvesting a fruit known as “black gold” on the island of Cyprus as his grandson works below.
For some, carob has long been relegated to the status of a less appealing substitute for chocolate.
But in Cyprus, its thick brown pods are also eaten raw or ground up to make sweet syrups, spreads, toffees and as a sweetener, while its seeds have industrial uses.
“It’s one of the fruits that you use up entirely,” Charalambous said from his field in Asgata.
Branches rustle and sway as he and his grandson, Theophanis Christou, 20, hit the pods loose with long sticks, sending carob raining to the ground.
The pair have been working for about three weeks in the late summer heat, collecting about three tonnes of carob by early September.
Christou, a shipping and finance student, is keen to join in his grandfather’s labours.
It’s “hard to do”, Christou said, but it’s “work that can keep the family together”.
Theophanis Christou unloads bags of carob he and his grandfather Christos Charalambous collected at the carob mill in Cyprus’ southern coastal town of Zygi. PHOTO: AFP
EXTRA INCOME
In the nearby coastal village Zygi, individual growers bring bulging sacks of pods into a carob mill.
Zygi “started as a carob village” and its name refers to the weigh scale used for the fruit, said community representative Christos Konstantinou.
In Zygi and elsewhere across the eastern Mediterranean island where the carob tree is native, disused or repurposed carob facilities are reminders of the industry’s heyday last century.
“Carob has been known as the black gold of Cyprus because many farmers used to have carob… it was the main occupation of the villagers,” said Stavros Glafkou Charalambous, from the Cooperative Carob Marketing Federation.
The federation, which runs the Zygi mill and other facilities, said it works with around 1,500-2,000 small producers, most of them harvesting carob for “extra income”.
George Pattichis, 75, from Vavla, said he has been coming to the Zygi mill for more than half a century.
The former forester said some of his carob trees were planted by his grandfather.
“I am the last generation – my children have other jobs,” said Pattichis.
‘INCREASING AGAIN’
In 2019, when the growers’ price was around EUR0.35 (now USD0.34) per kilogramme, carob represented less than 1.5 per cent of Cyprus’s crop production value, according to statistics provided by the Agriculture Ministry.
This year, carob farmers told AFP the price was nearing EUR1 per kilogramme.
“I will sell to whoever offers me the best price,” said Anastasis Daniel, 65, in Choirokoitia village.
Bags of harvested carob were stacked by his house ready for the mill, though he said he would also keep some for animal feed.
Global demand for the seeds’ locust bean gum (LBG) – used as a food thickening agent – drives the carob price, said Marios Kyriacou from Cyprus’ Agricultural Research Institute.
Cypriot carob pod and seed exports were worth almost EUR8 million last year, according to the official statistics. Egypt was the biggest taker of the pods fit for human consumption, and Italy of the seeds.
Cyprus had been ranked as the world’s third-biggest producer of carob in the 1960s, Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis told AFP.
Production then declined, he said, “but now it is increasing again”.
‘DROUGHT-RESISTANT’
Carob “is very important for Cyprus because it needs little insecticides, fertilisers and water – and this is important when we talk about climate change” the minister said.
In late 2017, a University of Cyprus project planted almost 5,000 carob saplings and subsequently gave around 28,500 more to interested farmers, project scientist Chrysi Tomouzou told AFP.
Researcher Kyriacou said carob was “a very drought-resistant tree species” that has been used as a crop in Cyprus “for at least the past 3,000 years”.
“The carob pod is rich in sugars” and dietary fibres, Kyriacou said. It also contains a “rare type of sugar” that is “recognised as an anti-diabetic agent”, he said, noting this was “of interest for further clinical research”.
Kyriacou and his team have been studying genetic and other variations in Cypriot carob.
They said their work could be crucial if Cyprus decides to ramp up production and processing.
But for now, both often remain a low-scale affair.
At a festival in Anogyra, where stalls sold everything from carob sweets to ice cream, Andreas Andreou from Polyxenis Carob Products said carob syrup was his family firm’s most popular product.
Despoula Georgiou, 61, demonstrated how to make pasteli – a kind of carob toffee that her village is known for.
It’s “only (made with) carob juice, no sugar at all”, she said. “I’ve been doing it for 50 years. I learnt it from my mother and aunt.”
TOKYO (AFP) – Liudmila Samsonova said that Wimbledon’s ban on Russian players had given her time to transform her game, after winning her third title in four tournaments yesterday at the Pan Pacific Open.
The Russian world number 30 beat China’s emerging teenager Zheng Qinwen 7-5, 7-5 to add to the titles she won in Washington and Cleveland in August, having not dropped a set all week in Tokyo.
The 23-year-old said she was “shocked” when she heard that Russian and Belarusian players would be banned from the June-July Wimbledon Grand Slam in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
She used the month off to sharpen her game and is now reaping the benefits, having also beaten Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza this week in the Japanese capital.
“I said, ‘Okay, I have one month without tournaments, so let’s work this month’,” said the powerful Samsonova, who hits between 120 and 150 practice serves every day.
“I used it so well because I was working so hard. I had 32 days of just practising, which is not normal at that time of the year for a tennis player.”
Liudmila Samsonova hits a return against Zheng Qinwen. PHOTO: AFP
The overall level of social cohesion in Southeast Asia stands at 69 per cent, reflected by the percentage of those who saw social cohesion overall as “strong”, according to the recent Southeast Asian Social Cohesion Radar report by the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
The report stated that social cohesion refers to “the state of affairs in which there are stable interactions among members of a society that take place in various domains of human associate life”.
The Social Cohesion Radar saw researchers survey a total of 1,000 thought leaders – 100 from each of the 10 ASEAN member states. It defines thought leaders as which were defined as “individuals who possess domain expertise in academia, the public sector, businesses, civil society and religious organisations where they would be in positions that influence public opinion”.
The survey was the first of its kind to be conducted in Southeast Asia, with previous research conducted in Europe.
Data was collected anonymously via an online 20-minute survey and where an online survey was not possible, a telephone survey was done instead. The questionnaires were made available in nine languages, including English, Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese.
Singapore, with its “multicultural society”, had the highest level of social cohesion at 81 per cent, said the report. Thailand and the Philippines followed after Singapore, with social cohesion in both countries at 73 per cent. Brunei Darussalam recorded 57 per cent.
Social relations, which refers to the creation of cohesion through relationships between individuals and societal groups characterised by trust and allow for diversity, played the strongest role in influencing social cohesion in the region.
Singapore ranked high in the study’s three categories of “social relations” (which showed Singapore having a mean score of 97 per cent, “connectedness” (89 per cent) and “focus on the common good” (56 per cent).
It was followed by, Indonesia (87 per cent), Thailand (83 per cent) and Brunei Darussalam (74 per cent).
“Singaporeans responded positively to all dimensions,” the study further stated, referring to certain areas under the aforementioned categories in which Singaporeans had a relatively high mean score – such as “trust in people”, “acceptance of diversity”, “trust in institutions” (all with a mean score of 4.3) and “civic participation” (4.4).
Connectedness had the second largest effect on social cohesion. It refers to the promotion of cohesion through a positive identification with the country and a high level of confidence in its institutions and perception that social conditions are fair.
Singapore (89 per cent), Thailand (76 per cent) and the Philippines (75 per cent) were ranked highest. Brunei scored 54 per cent.
The majority of the Bruneian thought leaders who responded to the survey were government employees, from business and finance sectors, and educational institutions.
The respondents were generally young.
According to the Bruneian respondents, social relations played a key role in building social cohesion in the country. The connectedness domain was the second most important in influencing social cohesion in Brunei. The domain that least affected social cohesion was focus on the common good.
Delving deeper into their views on social cohesion, a majority of the Bruneians believed that strong social networks and respect for social rules helped to bind their society together. According to their responses, perception of fairness and solidarity and helpfulness had the weakest impact on social cohesion in the country. The mean score of the responses to assess social cohesion in Brunei was 3.6, which was slightly below the regional average of 3.7.
A significant finding from the responses was the belief that donating to the poor and voluntary work would support social cohesion in Brunei. In Brunei, the perceived level of common good was the strongest among citizens, followed by the perceived level of connectedness.
Interestingly, almost twice the number of men attributed social cohesion in Brunei to the common good, compared to women.
In terms of perception towards others in Brunei and the rest of the Southeast Asian region, the Bruneian respondents were of the view that their country’s strength lies in the solidarity and helpfulness dimension.
A majority of the Bruneians ranked Singapore top in terms of the level of social cohesion, and themselves in second place.
