Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education Dr Haji Azman bin Ahmad as the Secretary-General of the National Commission of Brunei Darussalam for the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) attended the 43rd session of the Executive Council of ICESCO at the ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, Morocco from December 23 to 24.
Executive Council of ICESCO convenes yearly and was attended by representatives from 46 out of 55 ICESCO member states to deliberate and review policies, activities and recommendations of ICESCO in education, science and culture as well as communication and information.
The session began with addresses by Director-General of ICESCO Dr Salim M AlMalik, Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr Mohamed Ayman Ashour as President of the General Conference of ICESCO, Secretary-General of the National Commission of Palestine Dr Dawas Tayseer Dawas as Chairman of the Executive Council of ICESCO.
Dr AlMalik announced the official accession of Lebanon as the 55th member state of the organisation.
The executive council discussed 14 agendas including periodic reports and legal matters as well as presentations of ICESCO’s Young Professional Programme and its Governance System.
Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education Dr Haji Azman bin Ahmad at the meeting. PHOTO: MOE
The executive council also saw a presentation of a new initiative where national commissions were called to take a proactive role in achieving ICESCO objectives.
Prior to attending the executive council, Dr Haji Azman also attended the First Consultative Meeting on ‘Strategic Indicators for Development in the Islamic World: The Global Knowledge Index as a Model’ from December 21 to 22.
The meeting was organised by ICESCO in partnership with Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The meeting discussed innovative ideas and proposals to develop practical initiatives that will contribute to the improvement of knowledge economy and explored the Global Knowledge Index to measure the knowledge performance of the Islamic world and to deliberate on its relevant transformations and challenges.
The meeting also included a visit to the International Exhibition and Museum of the Prophet’s Seerah and Islamic Civilization.
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry, sidelined since suffering a partially dislocated left shoulder, will be out for at least another two weeks, the reigning champion Golden State Warriors said on Saturday.
Curry, who suffered the injury December 14 at Indiana while trying to make a steal, has missed the team’s past four games.
The Warriors said Curry was recently reevaluated and the exam indicated Curry is “making good progress” in his recovery and “will be re-evaluated again in two weeks”, the team said in a statement.
The 34-year-old guard, a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and last season’s NBA Finals MVP, will miss at least six games in the next two weeks, starting with Golden State’s home showdown Sunday against Memphis.
That contest is part of the NBA’s annual holiday NBA schedule, this year featuring five games involving most of the league’s best clubs and biggest stars. In other holiday games, the Philadelphia 76ers will visit New York while Dallas play host to the Los Angeles Lakers.
ANN/THE STATESMAN – Intimate spaces like bedrooms need not conform to being an introverted space – extravagant, large spans can make the space push the boundaries of conventional design and open up to a visual abundance.
A subtle mix of illusions from the gestalt theories and a thoughtful composition of the mood board can transform a small bedroom to give out a feeling of a larger space.
Every space is perceived in parts that fit into a whole. A blank canvas breaks a space and articulates it in multiple directions, throwing better, individual focus on the elements in the foreground. Go minimal on the backgrounds with compact furniture and statement decor.
Cut down the layers of interior accessories such as throw pillows, valence curtains, tapestries, etc, and compose a more sleek aesthetic with solid textures and pristine metal accents. You can bring in more low-rise pieces like platform beds, wing chairs, linear consoles, and ottomans to bring out good visual connectivity and let the space breathe.
GO FOR LIGHTER COLOUR PALETTES
All warm whites, cool whites, neutral beiges and pastels take over the character of white – its bare face and reflectivity. Spaces ruled by these white-based, light-hued colours like taupe, peach, powder blue, blush pink and more tend to reflect light to make their expanse bifold.
Bring these sophisticated light tones in everything from the bed to the headboard and bounce off the light with more polished finishes and smooth textures on the surfaces.
Terrazzo walls, marble floors, and crystal chandeliers have created a wave in the all-white bedroom trends – you can bring such monochrome effects with colour co-ordinated floors and walls to get an extended view of the space.
BLUR THE BOUNDARIES
Breaking into the physical boundaries of space make it feel less defined – and hence, bigger in appearance. Throw more focus on the openings like windows, balconies, or sit-outs and include them as a part of the space. Introduce furniture pieces that connect the spaces with a single theme – include nature-inspired palettes like wooden cots, rattan chairs, log tables, bamboo shades, handcrafted lamps, and more to achieve a true al fresco interior.
On the other hand, solid walls can also blur spatial boundaries with reflective panels or decorative mirror accents that draw an illusion of a larger space. You can also scale up the mirror images with signature floor mirrors or dedicated mirror walls that introduce newer views into the space.
VOUCH FOR BUILT-IN PIECES
Well-planned furnishings demarcate space and define its expanse. Introducing built-in furniture along a clean-lined layout can give a neat outline to the visual composition of the interior.
Either the clearance can be nullified completely with a floor-to-ceiling wardrobe or the setup can be much airier with floating cabinets. Go for petite silhouettes and monochrome palettes for custom storage and experiment with space-saving upgrades like convertible tables, under-bed storage, etc. More concealed elements can also be brought in with cove lights along the wall panels, among others.
BALANCE THE PROPORTIONS
Creating the illusion of a larger space is entwined with the composition of the elements – the visual balance and the rhythm.
Symmetric elements like a pair of pendant lights, a four-door console, a two-door French window, and more, signal a direct balance while the details like geometric wallpapers take it beyond the immediate sight.
Compositions like grid gallery walls, twin vanity, or even identical decor can elongate your viewpoints and make the space feel larger.
In parallel, the relationship between continuity and illusion is best illustrated by ceiling-to-floor drapes and sheers spanning along an entire wall, carpets taking over an entire floor, and more that connect different parts of a space and draw a cohesive interior scene. These connecting elements are the key to the visual impressions of space on the onlooker.
CNA – Instead of the “common prosperity” advocated by President Xi Jinping since 2021, China’s annual Central Economic Work Conference from December 15 to 16 was devoted to reform and opening.
Policymakers pledged to encourage the development of the private sector in parallel to the state-owned sector, support the expansion of housing sector, continue the export-oriented strategy and promote China’s economic integration with the rest of the world.
But with China still undergoing political transition, it is uncertain whether these measures will come into fruition.
China’s political transition usually takes two major steps every five years. After the 20th National Party Congress elected new party leaders in October, a new State Council will be formed at the 14th National People’s Congress in March 2023.
The State Council – the executive branch of China’s political system – will helm the formulating of specific economic policies and implement them with the approval of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership.
Li Qiang, the former party secretary of Shanghai who oversaw its two-month lockdown in early 2022, is poised to lead the State Council as China’s next premier.
People wait for medical attention at Fever Clinic area in Tongren Hospital in the Changning district in Shanghai. PHOTO: AFP
THE NEW FACE OF THE STATE COUNCIL
In addition to Li Qiang, two other members of the 20th Politburo are likely to enter the new State Council.
Ding Xuexiang, number six ranking member of the 20th Politburo Standing Committee and director of the General Office of the CCP Central Committee, is likely to replace Vice Premier Han Zheng.
He Lifeng, a new member of the 20th Politburo, vice chairman of the Chinese National People’s Political Consultative Conference, and minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, is also likely to be a vice premier, taking over Vice Premier Liu He’s portfolio of foreign economic relations and finance.
Since all three of them have been President Xi’s confidants, there might be some rivalry among them for his ears and trust.
A U-TURN IN ECONOMIC POLICY
After having practically abandoned Xi’s zero-COVID policy since December 7, the new party leadership has now refocussed on economic issues with outgoing Premier Li Keqiang’s pro-growth policies.
Private entrepreneurs are now encouraged to contribute to China’s economic growth as much as state-owned enterprises; real estate has been reaffirmed as a central role in boosting the economy; and private educational institutions are welcomed as necessary supplements to public educational institutions.
This U-turn in economic policy, very much like the U-turn on pandemic strategy, has come quickly and may be too good to be true.
With Xi Jinping recently declaring that common prosperity will be the key feature of China’s modernisation at the 20th National Party Congress, going back to development as the CCP’s top priority in early December seems mind-boggling.
While real estate, Internet platforms and private enterprises have been targets of state sanctions not long ago, the very same sectors have now become recipients of government support.
Relevant parties have mostly adopted an attitude of wait and see.
Having lived in Tokyo since China clamped down on tech giants, Alibaba founder Jack Ma is unlikely to return to his former role of the executive chairman of the company.
Yu Minhong, founder and CEO of tutoring group New Oriental, would think twice to get back to his business of private education after the sector had been criminalised in some regions in the country.
The immediate problem for China is the tsunami of COVID-19 cases across the country.
No one knows exactly how many people have been infected, while authorities have narrowed criteria for counting fatalities from the virus.
Since very few people are healthy enough to go to work, many businesses are still shut down.
Dr Zhang Wenhong, an infectious-disease specialist and perhaps China’s most trusted voice on COVID-19, predicted it would take three to six months for the worst to be over in Shanghai.
In that regard, China is likely to struggle through a quarter or two in 2023 and is unlikely to see growth rebound so soon.
In the long run, however, if China can navigate protecting public health and avoid reinstating punitive restrictions – while fully committing to market-oriented reforms and opening to the outside world, the economy would very well resume its upward trajectory.
BLOOMBERG – There’s never a bad time to watch a movie focussed on the future of the planet. And as 2022 draws to a close – friends and family gathering together – you may find yourself looking for a film everyone can agree on that isn’t another showing of Elf or Die Hard (yes, it’s a holiday film).
From all-time classics and silly action flicks to serious documentaries and science fiction, you might be surprised by the number of films in which climate change has a major part.
Here’s a list of 13 to consider.
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)
In this 2020 documentary, David Attenborough tells audiences how the Earth has changed just during his lifetime. In his more than 90 years on the planet, the British broadcaster and biologist has visited many natural wonders and also witnessed the loss of wildlife firsthand. This movie is good for families, including little children, and provides food for thought and conversation.
Waterworld (1995)
A film about the worst that can happen if the ice caps melt feels uncomfortably on the mark these days. The opening scene with Kevin Costner distilling his own urine for drinking water may make you squeamish, but today you can buy drinks made from recycled sewage. Waterworld is feeling more true to life with each year that passes: There’s seemingly always too much or too little of our most precious resource.
In the 2020 documentary, David Attenborough tells audiences how the Earth has changed just during his lifetimeAt the end of the 21st Century, a scientist-turned-farmer sets off on a desperate mission to find a new home for humanity after Earth’s agriculture fails in ‘Interstellar’In ‘Wall-E’, it’s impossible not to fall in love with the adorable garbage-collecting Pixar robot with a curious personality and a knack for adventureDirected by Oscar-winning Bong Joon-ho, ‘Snowpiercer’ is a dystopian thriller where the class system dictates all, and the omnipresent cold is the least of passengers’ worries‘The Day After Tomorrow’ is all about humans messing with the climate, giant waves, tremendous storms, great action scenes, a pack of wolves and Jake Gyllenhaal. PHOTOS: THE WASHINGTON POST
Snowpiercer (2013)
Geoengineering has failed. Earth has entered a catastrophic ice age. The vestiges of the human race circumnavigate the world on a train on infinite loop, and order is maintained by a malevolent Tilda Swinton. Directed by Oscar-winning Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Okja), Snowpiercer is a dystopian thriller where the class system dictates all, and the omnipresent cold is the least of passengers’ worries.
Chasing Coral(2017)
If you’ve never seen coral reefs or if you love them, or both, this is a must-watch. Seeing corals changed my life, and this movie goes some way to do justice to one of the world’s greatest wonders. It also shows what climate change’s consequences look like in visceral detail. You want to look away, but you can’t.
Interstellar (2014)
The inhabitants of Interstellar’s parched, dusty America might not talk about climate change, but the parallels between their world and ours are uncanny. At the end of the 21st Century, a scientist-turned-farmer sets off on a desperate mission to find a new home for humanity after Earth’s agriculture fails. It’s visually stunning, based on theoretical physics and almost three hours long – the perfect holiday movie.
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
Before there was Avatar, there was FernGully. Loggers and an evil entity that feeds on pollution threaten an Australian rainforest inhabited by fairies. One fairy, Crysta, befriends and accidentally shrinks a logger named Zak who then helps lead the fight against the forces trying to destroy the rainforest.
Soylent Green(1973)
Before the first United Nations (UN) climate science reports (1990), before the United States (US) published its first official estimate of how high the Earth’s temperature might reach (1979), the iconic American actor (and later gun-rights advocate) Charlton Heston starred in Soylent Green. This classic dystopian thriller predicted a future of overpopulation, dead oceans and year-round heat and humidity that makes water, food and shelter all scarce. The year it’s set in? 2022.
Princess Mononoke(1997)
The conflict between commerce and nature is at the heart of this 1997 animated classic. Director Hayao Miyazaki deliberately jumbles traditional questions of good and evil, right and wrong. The artwork is also stunning. It has a few violent moments, which might be too much for some of the younger viewers.
Wall-E (2008)
It’s impossible not to fall in love with the adorable garbage-collecting Pixar robot with a curious personality and a knack for adventure. The movie is set 700 years into the future and all humans have left the planet, now a wasteland covered in litter. Wall-E is the last robot standing, but his lonely life is shaken when a sleek, egg-shaped robot named EVE lands on Earth.
The Nice Guys (2016)
I’m fairly sure this is the only time you’ll see a catalytic converter play a pivotal role in a film. The Nice Guys is ostensibly an action-comedy about the search for a missing girl in 1970s Los Angeles, but really it has no plot without car pollution. Hopefully one day the tailpipes in this film will seem as quaintly archaic as Ryan Gosling’s polyester trousers.
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
End-of-the-world movies are one of my guilty pleasures and this modern classic has it all. Humans messing with the climate, giant waves, tremendous storms, great action scenes, a pack of wolves and Jake Gyllenhaal. You’ve seen it already? Me too, and I’m probably watching it again.
Alcarràs (2022)
The life of a family of peach growers is shaken when the landowner decides to cut the trees, install solar panels and switch to farming clean power. Shot in Catalan and featuring non-professional actors from the Spanish fruit-growing region of Lleida, this year’s winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival is an intimate portrait of a rural way of life that’s disappearing, and of the disruptive side of the clean-energy transition.
The Mist (2007)
This is absolutely not a climate movie. I will not make the case that director Frank Darabont or Stephen King, who wrote the novel, had carbon dioxide in mind when putting together this silly gem of a B-movie in which what looks like, uh, sinister air proves to be ridiculously deadly. But just try to watch the scenes of social turmoil, denial of evidence and failure of collective action in the face of a supernatural disaster without seeing it as a climate-ish metaphor of sorts. Find the more recently released black and white cut.
ALNIF, MOROCCO (AP) – Residents of the oasis of Alnif said they can’t remember a drought this bad. The land is dry, some wells are empty and palm groves that date back more than 100 years are barren.
Home to centuries-old oases that have been a trademark of Morocco, this region about 273 kilometres southeast of Marrakesh is reeling from the effects of climate change, which has created an emergency for the kingdom’s agriculture.
Among those affected is Hammou Ben Ady, a nomad in the Tinghir region who leads his flock of sheep and goats in search of grazing grass. The drought forced him to rely on government handouts of fodder.
November is usually a cold, wet month in Alnif, but when the rain failed to come, the king called for rain prayers across the country, an old Islamic tradition during desperately dry times. Children led the procession, holding wooden planks inscribed with Quranic verses, followed by local officials and residents.
They gathered near a dead oasis as a religious leader declared that the drought was a man-made disaster and that the rains will come when people atone for their sins and the way they have “treated the planet”.
ABOVE & BELOW: People take part in a rain prayer procession in Alnif; and palm trees that have died as a result of drought in the Nkob town, Morocco. PHOTOS: AP
ABOVE & BELOW: Dead palm tress are visible in the Nkob town; and Hammou Ben Ady, a nomad, guides his sheep in search for food to graze. PHOTOS: AP
ABOVE & BELOW: A worker watches as water flows from the ground during a well digging process; farmers attempt to collect water from a well in Nkob town; and Hammou pours water for his sheep
Resident Mo’chi Ahmad said the oasis has provided a livelihood for this population for hundreds of years. Now the oasis is “threatened with extinction” and everyone notices the disappearing palm trees.
In the last three years, hundreds of people from oasis areas have fled toward cities and many young people have migrated towards Europe, mainly because of the drought, said Mohamed Bozama, another resident.
He also blames the digging of unauthorised wells and rising demand for water from existing wells for worsening the crisis.
But for Hassan Bouazza, some of the solution lies in the hands of the people of the Alnif region. He was the first to install solar panels on the region’s castle and began relying on the energy produced to dig wells and irrigate his fellow farmers’ lands.
“We must learn to live with the situation we’re in and think about ways to make the heat and drought work to our advantage,” such as using new irrigation systems and solar power, he said.
He called for oasis inhabitants to be provided with training to help them move away from traditional irrigation in favour of drip irrigation, which requires significantly less water.
But sometimes, Bouazza said, it’s hard not to despair when climate warnings are ignored.
“It is like a little child holds a dying bird in his hand, and all he does is laugh. This is how we are treating Mother Earth.”
SAN SALVADOR (AFP) – More than 2,000 soldiers and police surrounded two districts in El Salvador’s capital on Saturday as part of President Nayib Bukele’s war on gangs, the second such operation this month in the Central American country.
“As of this morning, the Tutunichapa district in San Salvador is totally surrounded,” Bukele posted on Twitter. “More than 1,000 soldiers and 130 police officers will extract the criminals who still remain,” he added. Bukele later tweeted that 1,000 more soldiers and 100 police officers had been dispatched to La Granjita, another neighbourhood in the capital.
“After encircling Tutunichapa, a famous drug distribution centre, we knew that many drug traffickers would take refuge in the neighbourhood of La Granjita, another famous distribution centre”, Bukele tweeted.
Images released on Saturday by the President’s office showed heavily armed soldiers entering Tutunichapa, a populous district where small houses mostly constructed of concrete blocks stand alongside one of the many polluted streams that run through San Salvador.
Soldiers stand guard at the bus station in Soyapango, El Salvador. PHOTO: AP
ANN/THE NATION THAILAND – Two more bodies believed to be sailors from the ill-fated HTMS Sukhothai were found floating in the Gulf of Thailand on Saturday night, the Royal Thai Navy said.
The two new bodies bring to eight the number of bodies retrieved on Saturday, one week after the corvette sank in rough seas last Sunday.
The navy said of the bodies found so far, eight are undergoing identification process, which will take up to four days.
The navy said of the two new bodies found, one was spotted by HTMS Narathiwas at 8.20pm at the Sector 2 area south of Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Bang Saphan, where the corvette sank.
Ten minutes later, HTMS Kraburi found another body some 53 kilometres from the Prachuap Khiri Khan coast.
The authorities said 16 sailors are still missing.
HTMS Sukhothai, a Rattanakosin-class corvette, capsized during stormy weather with 105 crew onboard last Sunday night.
The ship sank some 32 kilometres off the coast of Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Bang Saphan district.
Before Saturday, the search and rescue mission discovered seven bodies, and all have been confirmed to be Sukhothai’s crew members.
File photo shows ambulances transporting the bodies of deceased sailors after being dropped by helicopter during the search for survivors of the capsizing of the Thai naval vessel HTMS Sukhothai. PHOTO: AFP
LONDON (AFP) – Two years after Britain’s departure from the European Union (EU), bosses of the United Kingdom (UK) businesses are reeling from the cost of Brexit, including some who voted to cut ties with Brussels.
“It’s cost, cost, cost with no benefit,” noted Adrian Hanrahan, chief executive of a small chemicals company, Robinson Brothers, based in central England and for which the EU remains a key market.
The problem is not the customs duties, largely eliminated by the post-Brexit free trade agreement between London and Brussels, but rather a mountain of new regulatory paperwork.
“We’ve added probably 25 percent extra now on our administration costs just to cope with the changing paperwork… of getting stuff in from the EU and out of the EU,” Hanrahan told AFP.
The company employs 265 people, producing chemicals used by various sectors featuring food, electronics, pharmaceutical and other firms.
Robinson Brothers exports around 70 per cent of its products, of which more than half go to the EU.
The company is far from alone in struggling with the consequences of Brexit, with 56 per cent of UK businesses facing difficulties adapting to new trading rules, the British Chambers of Commerce said on Wednesday.
“Businesses feel they are banging their heads against a brick wall as nothing has been done to help them,” said BCC director general Shevaun Haviland.
French fishing boats protest what they see as unfair restrictions on their ability to fish in UK waters after Brexit. PHOTO: AFP
“The longer the current problems go unchecked, the more EU traders go elsewhere, and the more damage is done.”
The government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said it believes the UK economy has entered a recession on fallout from sky-high inflation.
While it repeatedly blames this on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fuelling energy prices, analysts claim Brexit has also pushed up costs.
“There’s good causal evidence that the depreciation of sterling immediately following (the 2016 vote for) Brexit led to higher inflation, specifically for goods we import a lot of,” London School of Economics researcher Nikhil Datta told AFP.
He added that new trade deals, such as the one struck with Australia, “have been tiny”.
Bank of England monetary policy committee member Swati Dhingra told MPs last month that Brexit was to blame for “a much bigger slowdown in trade in the UK compared to the rest of the world”.
According to King’s College London economist Jonathan Portes, “there is a reasonable degree of consensus that Brexit has reduced UK trade by perhaps 10 to 15 per cent compared to a no-Brexit scenario”.
The government’s own economic forecasting body, the OBR, estimates that Brexit will reduce the country’s long-term output by around four per cent.
Complicating matters has been the loss of EU workers in sectors such as health, hospitality and agriculture, even if some of those returning home have been replaced by staff from non-EU countries.
Witnessing the fallout, some high-profile bosses who voted for Brexit are calling on the government to relax the new and tighter immigration rules.
“In respect to immigration, it’s definitely not the Brexit I wanted,” Simon Wolfson, head of clothing giant Next, told the BBC last month.
For Hanrahan, Brexit fallout has led questioning whether his company can survive.
“If this continues, then we have no other option but to shrink our offering to remain in business.
“We’ve had two or three very large German customers tell us that they’re no longer going to come to us because it’s too complex for them to work with anybody in the UK.”
BRUSSELS (AP) – Europe’s top human rights body is urging Belgian authorities to provide better assistance to asylum-seekers after hundreds of people slept on Brussels streets in freezing temperature in recent weeks.
The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Dunja Mijatovic, wrote in a letter to Belgium’s state secretary for asylum and migration published on Wednesday that a lack of available spots in reception facilities was damaging asylum-seekers’ rights to health and other basic needs.
Mijatovic said Belgium could not provide accommodations in October to more than 1,500 asylum-seekers, including families with children and unaccompanied minors.
“In addition to a lack of accommodation, people seeking international protection in Belgium reportedly experience difficulties due to limited capacity to register their applications for asylum and to process them in a timely manner,” she said.
In November, the European Court of Human Rights urged Belgium to provide assistance to 148 asylum-seekers left without accommodation. According to Belgian authorities, the country saw a “significant increase of asylum-seekers” this year. A government agency said that in addition to 62,000 Ukrainian refugees who fled Russia’s war in their country, 33,340 other people had filed asylum applications in Belgium by the end of November.
Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor agreed that the Belgian asylum system faces structural problems but defended the measures put in place to address the accommodation shortage.
Belgium says it has 33,000 places for asylum-seekers, the most in the country’s history, including “over 7,000 extra places created in the last year”.
Migrants gather outside of their tents in Brussels. PHOTO: AP
