Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education Dr Haji Azman bin Ahmad officiated the commencement of the virtual ‘Seeds for the Future 2022’, a programme conducted by Huawei Technologies in Brunei Darussalam at the opening ceremony at Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences (PAPRSB IHS) Extension Building, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) yesterday.
Seeds for the Future is Huawei’s global corporate social responsibility (CSR) flagship programme, through which Huawei work with local governments and higher education institutions to give top students opportunities to receive ICT training and cross-cultural experiences, as well as creating a community for talents in technology.
The ceremony also saw the presence of Acting UBD Vice-Chancellor Pengiran Dr Mohammad Iskandar bin Pengiran Haji Petra; Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of China in Brunei Darussalam Wang Haitao; and Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies in Brunei Darussalam Kevin Zhang Jianwei.
Thirty Huawei-sponsored Bruneian students have participated in in-person events in Shenzhen and Beijing between 2015 and 2019, and a further 132 have participated virtually between 2020 and 2022.
A talk by invited industry expert Low Beng Chee on the Smart Digitalisation on Education followed, after which Kevin Zhang Jianwei received a certificate of appreciation.
Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education Dr Haji Azman bin Ahmad, Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of China in Brunei Darussalam Wang Haitao and Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies in Brunei Darussalam Kevin Zhang Jianwei at the launch of the programme. PHOTO: HUAWEI
The annual Seeds for the Future is being held virtually this year in partnership with UBD with participants undergoing the eight-day programme at the computer laboratory of UBD’s PAPRSB IHS Main Building from yesterday to October 24.
A total of 55 Bruneian students from UBD, Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA), Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB), Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE), Politeknik Brunei, Micronet International College, Laksamana College of Business, and KEMUDA Institute are participating.
Bachelor of Engineering (Energy Systems Engineering) student at UBD Lim Wee Lee said he is excited to learn from the programme and is looking forward to the idea of integrating technology intensively such as artificial intelligence (AI) into the energy industry.
Fellow UBD student in the same course Muhammad Yusuf Ashraf bin Muhamad Yusran said he is happy to be selected for the programme and added that it has allowed aspiring youth from different backgrounds to learn important topics such as digitalisation and computing.
CNA – Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose by 3.1 per cent in September, a slower growth from the 11.4 per cent increase in the previous month.
Non-electronics exports went up, while electronics decreased from a high base a year ago, official data released by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) yesterday.
Exports to the top 10 markets as a whole declined in September, mainly due to China and Hong Kong. However, exports to the topmost markets – including the United States (US), Indonesia and Thailand – rose.
On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX decreased by four per cent, compared with the previous month’s 3.9 per cent decline. Both electronics and non-electronics declined.
The level of NODX reached SGD16.5 billion in September, on a seasonally adjusted basis. This was lower than August’s SGD17.1 billion, though this was higher than levels a year ago.
NODX rose over the year, mainly due to non-electronics, while electronics declined.
Use of cranes and prime movers for port operations at PSA’s Pasir Panjang Terminal. PHOTO: PSA CORPORATION LTD
On a year-on-year basis, electronics NODX declined by a faster rate of 10.6 per cent in September, following a 4.5 per cent decline in the previous month.
Integrated circuits, disk media products and personal computer parts declined by 12 per cent, 42.7 per cent and 22.3 per cent respectively, contributing the most to the decline in electronics NODX.
Pharmaceuticals, measuring instruments and non-monetary gold contributed the most to the growth in non-electronic NODX.
Exports to the top 10 markets as a whole declined in September, after seeing growth in the previous month, with China and Hong Kong being the largest contributors.
NODX to China plunged 33.8 per cent, a steeper rate than the 18.2 per cent decrease in August, due to non-monetary gold, petrochemicals and integrated circuits.
Meanwhile, exports to Hong Kong saw a slower decline of 16.7 per cent, after the 31 per cent decline in the preceding month. This is due to integrated circuits, disk media products and electrical circuit apparatus.
September saw a slower rate of total trade, which grew 20.7 per cent as compared with the 26 per cent expansion in August. Total exports rose by 20.1 per cent, while total imports grew by 21.4 per cent.
THE WASHINGTON POST – Empathy and generosity are two traits that arguably make the world go ’round. But a study suggests that the willingness to help collapses when people get too little – or poor – sleep.
To see how sleep affects how much humans help one another, researchers conducted three experiments designed to examine the issue from the individual to the societal scale.
Their results are published in PLOS Biology. In the first experiment, researchers performed functional magnetic resonance imaging scans of the brain and asked questions to 24 adults after eight hours of sleep and after a night with no sleep. When they were well-rested, the participants scored well on a helping behaviour test.
But after sleep deprivation, 78 per cent had less of a desire to help others, even when it came to friends and family. The scans showed that areas of the brain associated with social cognition – our thought processes related to other people – were less active with sleep deprivation.
The second experiment tracked 136 healthy adults over four nights and asked them questions about helping the following day.
The effect held for them, too, and those who reported worse sleep quality scored worse on the tests.
To test the effects on a societal level, the researchers then looked at a database of three million charitable donations given between 2001 and 2016. They found that immediately following the beginning of daylight saving time – a notorious sleep disrupter – donations dropped 10 per cent. The effect wasn’t found in data from Hawaii or Arizona, however; neither observe DST. Nor did the shift back to standard time have such an association with donations.
Why bother studying how helpful people are when we don’t get enough shut-eye?
“We’re starting to see more and more studies, including this one, where the effects of sleep loss don’t just stop at the individual, but propagate to those around us,” said scientist at the University of California at Berkeley Eti Ben Simon, who co-wrote the study. “If you’re not getting enough sleep, it doesn’t just hurt your own well-being, it hurts the well-being of your entire social circle, including strangers.”
There’s a silver lining to all that ungenerous behaviour, the researchers write: Unlike personality traits, sleep can be modified – and both getting enough and helping others do the same might make for a better world.
SAN DIEGO (AFP) – World number one Iga Swiatek captured her 11th career WTA title and her eighth of the year yesterday by outlasting 77th-ranked Donna Vekic in the San Diego Open final.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek defeated the 26-year-old Croatian 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 for her WTA-best 64th match victory of 2022.
“It was a really tight match and pretty long,” Swiatek said. “We felt the intensity for sure.
At the end I wanted to be the one who played the last ball in.”
Swiatek took her prior titles this year at the US and French Opens as well as Qatar, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome.
The 21-year-old Polish star bounced back in her ninth championship match of the year after losing last week’s final at Ostrava to Czech Barbora Krejcikova.
In a rain-halted semi-final delayed to Sunday afternoon, Vekic rallied from 4-2 down in the third set when showers struck to defeat 19th-ranked American Danielle Collins, this year’s Australian Open runner-up, by 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2).
Iga Swiatek returns a shot against Donna Vekic in the women’s final during the San Diego Open. PHOTO: AFP
That left her only a short rest break before facing Swiatek for the title, but she tested the top-ranked star through two sets.
Swiatek broke in the sixth game and held twice to capture the first set after 40 minutes when Vekic netted a backhand.
In the second set, Vekic broke on a forehand crosscourt winner for a 4-2 lead and held twice to force a third set. It caused Swiatek to step up her form.
“I wanted to give it all, and knowing how Donna can serve, I wanted to be more loosened up on my return games – not think, just relax and let my instincts take over,” Swiatek said.
She broke on a forehand winner to seize a 2-0 edge in the decider, broke again in the fourth game and captured the match after one hour and 47 minutes when Vekic double faulted away a last break.
Vekic was in her first WTA final since she won her third career title last October at Courmayeur, Italy.
RAJANPUR (AP) – The first five months of Shakeela Bibi’s pregnancy were smooth. She picked out a name, Uthman, made him clothes and furniture. She had regular checkups at home and access to medicine. Then an ultrasound revealed the baby was upside down. The doctor told Bibi to take extra care and rest.
And then came this summer’s massive floods. Bibi’s home in the southern Pakistani city of Rajanpur was inundated.
When she spoke to The Associated Press last month, she was living in a camp for displaced families. With her due date approaching, she was afraid over the possibility of a breech birth with almost no health care accessible.
“What happens if my health deteriorates suddenly?” Shakeela said. She has a blood deficiency and sometimes low blood pressure, but she said she can’t have a proper diet in the camp. “I’ve been in a camp for two months, sleeping on the ground, and this is making my situation worse.”
Pregnant women are struggling to get care after Pakistan’s unprecedented flooding, which inundated a third of the country at its height and drove millions from their homes. There are at least at least 610,000 pregnant women in flood-affected areas, according to the Population Council, a United States-(US) based reproductive health organisation.
Many live in tent camps for the displaced, or try to make it on their own with their families in flood-wrecked villages and towns. Women have lost access to health services after more than 1,500 health facilities and large stretches of roads were destroyed. More than 130,000 pregnant women need urgent care, with some 2,000 a day giving birth mostly in unsafe conditions, according to the United Nations (UN).
ABOVE & BELOW: Women and children walk back to their tents after going to a medical clinic at a relief camp for flood victims in Fazilpur near Multan, Pakistan; and a nurse checks the blood pressure of Shakeela Bibi. PHOTOS: AP
A pregnant woman is carried to the hospital for treatment in the Shikarpur district of Sindh Province, Pakistan
Experts fear an increase in infant mortality or health complications for mothers or children in a country that already has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Asia. They also warn of dangerous, long-term repercussions for women, such as an increase in child marriage and unwanted pregnancies because of the disruptions in the lives and livelihoods of families.
Humanitarian analyst at the UN Population Fund Rasheed Ahmed said the health system was already poor before, and he warned now of “death, disability, and disease” if the health of pregnant women is ignored.
“The biggest shortage is female health care workers, medical supplies and medicine,” he said. “Resources are another challenge. What are the government’s priorities? Are they willing to spend the money?”
At camps in the flood-hit towns of Fazilpur and Rajanpur, pregnant women told the AP they had received no treatment or services for their pregnancies since arriving at the camps nearly two months ago. Clinics handed out medicines for minor ailments, but nothing for mothers-to-be. The next day, after the AP visited a local medical centre to alert their plight, female health workers went to check on the women and distribute calcium sachets and iron supplements.
Shakeela Bibi and her family eventually left the camp, taking their tent with them and setting it up close to their wrecked home. Authorities gave them a month’s worth of flour, ghee, and lentils. She is now past her due date, but doctors have assured her that her baby is fine and don’t think she will need a Caesarian.
Perveen Bibi, an 18-year-old who is five months pregnant and not related to Shakeela, said the lack of health facilities in the camp forced her to travel to a private clinic and pay for an ultrasound and check-up. But she was prescribed medicine she can’t afford to buy.
“I used to have a good diet, with dairy products from our livestock,” she said. The family had to sell their livestock after the floods because they had no place to keep them and no way to feed them.
“We need female doctors, female nurses, gynaecologists,” said Bibi, who has one daughter and is expecting a boy. She had a son around a year ago, but he died a few days after his birth. “We can’t afford ultrasound or IV. We’re just getting by.”
In the camps, families of five, seven or more eat, sleep, and spend their days and nights in one tent, sometimes with just one bed between them. Most sleep on floor mats. Some survivors only have the clothes they fled in and rely on donations.
Outdoor taps are used for washing clothes, washing dishes, and bathing. The pregnant women said there were shortages of clean water and soap. They were scared of infections because of open defecation at the camps. A bathroom was set up, but it has no roof and tents surround it.
Amid the devastation, organisations and individuals are doing what they can – the UNFPA is delivering supplies for new-born babies and safe delivery kits across four flood-hit provinces.
A Karachi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Mama Baby Fund, has provided 9,000 safe delivery kits, which include items for new-borns, across Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, as well as antenatal and postnatal check-ups for 1,000 women. The Association for Mothers and Newborns, also based in Karachi, has provided more than 1,500 safe delivery kits, mostly in Sindh.
Ahmed from the UNFPA said pregnant women have different needs to the rest of the displaced population, needs that aren’t being met by state efforts.
“The government’s response is very general, it’s for the masses. It’s about shelter, relocation,” Ahmed said. “I’ve heard about women miscarrying because of mental stress, the physical stress of displacement and relocation,”
The health crisis triggered by the flooding will reverberate among women because it will take long to rebuild health facilities and restore family planning, according to Saima Bashir from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
“Women and young girls are very vulnerable in this situation,” said Bashir. She pointed to increasing reports of child marriage.
Even before the floods, 21 per cent of Pakistani girls were married before the age of 18, and four per cent before the age of 15, according to UN figures.
The rate is increasing for several reasons. Some parents marry off their daughters as a way to obtain financial support from the boy’s family so they can rebuild their homes.
Others fear for the safety of their girls in displaced camps and believe marrying them off will protect them from abuse or secure their future.
Also, the destruction of schools in the floods closes off other options; some girls who would have gotten an education or possibly gone on to work will stay at home instead.
In the next few years, those girls will get pregnant, Bashir said, especially given limited access to contraception.
“There will be more unwanted pregnancies,” she said. “This is… compounding this crisis, and it’s adding to the population.”
STOCKHOLM (AP) – The Swedish parliament yesterday elected Ulf Kristersson – the conservative Moderate Party leader – as prime minister at the head of a coalition that is being supported by a once radical far-right party.
Kristersson, 59, was elected by 176-173 votes. His government is expected to be presented today. His three-party coalition does not have a majority, but in Sweden, prime ministers can govern as long as there is no parliamentary majority against them.
After a month of talks with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, Kristersson presented an agreement that gave them an unprecedented position of influence in Swedish politics.
They took over 20 per cent of the vote at the September 11 election.
Kristersson’s centre-right coalition government comprises his party and the Liberals and the Christian Democrats, but he has said it will remain in “close collaboration” with the Sweden Democrats. He depends on the support of the Sweden Democrats to secure a majority in Parliament, putting the party in a position to influence government policy from the sidelines even without Cabinet seats. The Sweden Democrats were founded in the 1980s by far-right extremists. They toned down their rhetoric and expelled openly racist members under Jimmie Akesson, who took over the party in 2005.
Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson smiles after being elected as Sweden’s new prime minister at the Parliament in Stockholm. PHOTO: AP
Akesson, who doesn’t consider his party far-right, said he would have preferred Cabinet seats for the Sweden Democrats, but he supported the deal that would give his party influence over government policy, including on immigration and criminal justice.
Since the elections, the populist party has landed the chairmanships of four parliamentary committees and with it, the ability to wield more influence in mainstream Swedish politics.
Kristersson will be replacing Magdalena Andersson, who heads Sweden’s largest party, the Social Democrats, which now are in opposition. He backs Sweden’s historic bid to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The centre-left opposition heavily criticised the new governing coalition, with Lena Hallgren of the Social Democrats, calling it “a strange construction.”
Many said it represented a paradigm shift in Sweden and would damage its image in the world as an egalitarian and tolerant nation. Nooshi Dadgostar, the leader of the former communist Left Party, said her parents who fled from Iran could never have imagined that Sweden would embark on an authoritarian path. “What is happening now in Sweden is frightening,” she told Parliament.
CNA – Parlement Technologies, the parent company of social media app Parler, said yesterday it will be acquired by rapper Kanye West (AFP pic, below), who legally changed his name to simply Ye last year.
Parler, a popular app among conservatives, said it expects the deal to close during the fourth quarter of 2022. It did not give a deal value.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Ye said in a statement.
Ye’s Instagram and Twitter accounts have been restricted before, most recently this month when social media platforms removed his posts.
The American rapper had announced in 2020 that he would run for United States (US) President in an apparent challenge to former US President Donald Trump, but later pulled out.
Last month Parler created a new parent company, Parlement Technologies Inc as part of an overhaul.
Ye last month ended a partnership with apparel company Gap Inc, saying it failed to meet its obligations under the contract.
A smartphone shows the Parler logo in front of a display. PHOTO: CNA
CNA – Authorities in Thailand issued flash flood warnings for eight southern provinces yesterday ahead of more rain expected this week, with areas in nearly 40 per cent of the country’s provinces still inundated and dealing with flood waters.
The warning includes the resort island of Phuket, where a flash flood on Sunday disrupted local transport and tourism businesses in some areas.
Navy personnel in the island’s main town were seen carrying the elderly on their backs through streets, knee-deep in brown water. Heavy rain and tropical storms since last month have caused flooding in 59 of Thailand’s 77 provinces, impacting 450,000 homes, according to the Interior Ministry.
Floods in northeastern and central Thailand – key farming regions – have seen 107,200 hectares of agricultural land damaged, the Agriculture Ministry said last week.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed authorities nationwide to deploy boats and vehicles to help reconnect people cut off by floods and provide assistance where possible.
The Cabinet last week has set aside THB23 billion (USD602.09 million) budget for assistance and flood rehabilitation.
A tourist rides a horse in rainy monsoon weather at Bangtao beach in Phuket, Thailand. PHOTO: CNA
THE WASHINGTON POST – Q: I had painters in my house a few weeks ago and just noticed paint left on the sideboard in my dining room.
This is beautiful cherry furniture and is part of a custom set made for me by John Landis. How do I get it off without damaging the furniture?
A: Because you know who made your piece, a quick phone call was all it took to identify the type of finish: a Sherwin-Williams cataly-sed varnish.
Landis, who designs all the pieces his company makes but now has a crew that works on the fabrication and finishing, said he also adds paste wax as extra protection over the varnish on surfaces that will get a lot of wear, such as the top and surrounding edge on your sideboard.
Paint doesn’t stick well to catalysed varnish and especially not to wax, so there’s a good chance you might be able to scrape the paint off with a fingernail, he said.
That would be especially likely had you noticed the paint earlier. Water-based paint, which accounts for most paint used these days, dries within a few hours, but it takes several weeks to cure and become tenacious enough to withstand being washed or scrubbed.
Christopher Brazie, whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as “Technical Services Specialist” for the Industrial Wood Coatings Division at Sherwin-Williams, also said scraping off the paint with a fingernail is the best thing to try first.
There’s no risk of damaging the finish or altering its sheen, or of smearing paint residue across the surface, which could happen if you softened the drip with solvent.
But because the paint is probably cured by now, it might not be able to be scraped off.
Brazie said that, when he’s asked about removing cured paint spatters from clear wood finishes, one of his first questions is whether the spatters are overspray – a bunch of tiny spots that landed when paint was being sprayed – or blobs of paint that dripped or were smeared from a brush. Spatters dry quickly, because they’re so small, he said.
The best way to remove them is to buff them with a wool pad, like what’s use to shine vehicles. Mounting the pad to a drill or buffer works best, because the speed knocks off the paint, but it’s also possible to hold it and buff it yourself, he said.Drips and smears from a brush take longer to dry, which means they are easier to scrape or wipe off at first.
But if drips and smears cure, you might need to dab on a solvent to soften the paint, so you can scrape or wipe it away without damaging the finish.
Luckily, using a solvent is probably less risky with conversion varnish than with other finishes.
LUXEMBOURG (AFP) – The European Union (EU) stepped up its military support for Ukraine yesterday by launching a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers and providing EUR500 million more for weapons.
Foreign ministers from the bloc’s 27 members states are expected to sign off on the decisions at a meeting in Luxembourg and will also discuss how to respond to Russia’s use of Iranian-made drones.
“Morally politically, even militarily, Russia is losing this war. So we have to continue supporting Ukraine,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell at the start of the gathering.
After almost eight months of war, Ukraine’s forces are making progress on the battlefield and Kyiv’s western backers are keen to make sure its troops have the capacity to keep fighting.
Several EU nations – including Germany and France – are already training Ukrainians to use the modern artillery systems, missile launchers and air defences they are delivering to Kyiv.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko speaks to the press next to a destroyed building after a drone attack in Kyiv amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. PHOTO: AFP
But the EU has lagged behind in providing large-scale training to help the country’s military face off against Russia’s invading forces.
The United States (US), Canada and Britain have already been training thousands of troops.
The European training mission should become operational next month even if the final details are still being hammered out.
An official said the plan is initially to provide basic training to 12,000 soldiers and specialised instruction to 2,800 more.
Ukraine’s neighbour Poland is due to serve as the main hub for the mission.
“It is the way out for the Ukrainians and the way back in,” said one European diplomat.
Germany is also set to be a key staging post for training.
Programmes currently run by individual member states are set to continue and could be incorporated in the EU mission later.
