POTTSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA (AP) – A stretch of an interstate highway in Pennsylvania re-opened yesterday, days after a snow squall led to a deadly pileup that killed at least three people and injured dozens more.
The northbound lanes on Interstate 81 re-opened just after midnight after crews finished clearing the crash site, state police tweeted. The southbound side had re-opened hours after Monday’s multi-vehicle wreck.
The crash took place in poor visibility and involved between 40 and 60 vehicles, authorities said. It was captured in videos posted on social media that showed drivers and passengers lining the snowy road and jumping out of the way as the cascade of crashes unfolded.
In one video, an out of control tractor-trailer smashed into a large dump truck turning it nearly 180 degrees, another large truck caught fire and spewed black smoke into the air, and an SUV struck a passenger car sending it spinning narrowly past a person standing on the shoulder in snow and fog.
Some vehicles were mostly burned and others melted onto the highway. Authorities said they needed to go through each vehicle to make sure there were no human remains.
State police have not updated the number of fatalities.
Schuylkill County coroner Dr David J Moylan said three fatalities have been confirmed and that number could rise. A Pennsylvania State Police incident report noted 24 people were taken to four hospitals.
Semi trucks are strewn about I-81 in Foster Township, as tow trucks respond after the multi-vehicle crash. PHOTO: AP
A house in STKRJ Kampong Telisai in Tutong District was gutted by fire on Monday, said the Fire and Rescue Department (FRD).
No fatalities were reported, said the department.
Fourteen firefighters and two fire engines from Bukit Beruang Fire Station and Tutong Fire
Station led by assistant station officer Haji Abdul Aziz responded, said the department.
On arrival, firefighters found that the whole first floor of the house was on fire. Firefighters put on their breathing apparatus and extinguished the fire using water from nearby fire hydrants.
The cause of the fire and cost of damages are under investigation.
Also present were Commanding Officer of Operation Branch ‘E’ SSFR Yudieswandy bin Bakar and Station Commander of Bukit Beruang Fire Station SO Hamdani bin Sidek.
The department advised the public to ensure their homes are equipped with fire extinguishers of the dry powder type, along with fire blankets and battery-operated smoke detectors.
Any installation of wiring and electrical equipment should be done by qualified technicians.
Electrical appliances must be switched off after use or before leaving the house, said the department.
Firefighters dousing the fire at the house. PHOTO: FRD
Nine coaches were awarded the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ‘B’ Diploma in an event at the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (FABD) House recently.
The newly-certified coaches are Tengku Syed Herdiman bin Tengku Syed Abdul Rahman, Sairol bin Haji Sahari, Richard Michael Foley, Mohammad Aqim bin Haji Matsah, Mohammad Adi Shahirol Izzat bin Haji Omar, Mohammad Eddy Shahrol Izzat bin Haji Omar, Haji Mohammad Halimi bin Haji Abu Bakar, Rosmin bin Haji Mohammad Kamis and Syah Juan bin Mohd Nor.
The AFC ‘B’ Diploma means that all coaches are certified for being able to develop a playing style and is capable of planning individual, group and team preparation.
The certification also means that they are able to understand how players learn through game analysis and develop them with a more understanding of the game. FABD President Pengiran Haji Matusin bin Pengiran Haji Matasan was the guest of honour. Members of the FABD Executive Council and the secretariat were also present.
Football Association of Brunei Darussalam President Pengiran Haji Matusin bin Pengiran Haji Matasan in a group photo with the newly-certified coaches. PHOTO: FADHIL YUNUS
A donation of BND1,123 was handed over to the Belait District Orphans Fund by former students of Sultan Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien College (SOASC) yesterday.
The former students from Class 4B and 5B in 1970 and 1971 handed over the donation to Acting Belait District Officer Mohd Yassin bin Haji Ahmed, who was also the advisor for the fund. Representing the former students was Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Yussop bin Bakar. The donation aimed to support and help orphans in observing the holy month of Ramadhan. The Belait District Orphans Fund’s Committee expressed gratitude to the group for the contribution.
The fund committee said members of the public wishing to contribute can contact the Belait District Office during office hours for more information and submit their contributions.
Former SOASC students handover the donation to Acting Belait District Officer Mohd Yassin bin Haji Ahmed. PHOTO: BELAIT DISTRICT OFFICE
STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said he will continue playing international football for “as long as possible” despite Sweden’s failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
The 40-year-old came on as a substitute for the final 10 minutes in Sweden’s 2-0 play-off loss to Poland in Chorzow on Tuesday.
Ibrahimovic has endured an injury-hit season and will be 42 by the time of the next major international tournament he could play in, Euro 2024 in Germany.
“I will continue as long as I can,” the AC Milan striker told a press conference. “You won’t get a different answer here just because we didn’t win this match and we didn’t qualify for the World Cup.
“That goes for the national team, and also for Milan.”
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – The coalition battling rebels who hold Yemen’s capital began a unilateral cease-fire yesterday in the yearslong war, even as the insurgents said they rejected the proposal.
The pause in fighting began at 6am ahead of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan.
Several similar efforts have failed, and there was no immediate independent confirmation on whether hostilities paused between coalition forces and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The cease-fire announcement late on Tuesday had raised immediate doubts because the Iran-backed rebels are skipping an ongoing summit over the war in Saudi Arabia, called by the Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Within hours, Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukaiti rejected the offer over the continuing closure of Sanaa’s airport and restrictions on the country’s ports by the coalition.
A burning oil depot lights the sky over Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. PHOTO: AP
“If the blockade is not lifted, the declaration of the coalition of aggression to stop its military operations will be meaningless because the suffering of Yemenis as a result of the blockade is more severe than the war itself,” he wrote on Twitter early yesterday.
The United Nations (UN) and others had been pushing the warring sides to reach a truce for Ramadhan, as has tenuously occurred in the past. Ramadhan is likely to start this weekend, depending on the sighting of the new crescent moon.
The GCC, whose members are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, began the talks on Tuesday in Riyadh. Yesterday, Saudi state television aired an open portion of the discussions live.
GCC Secretary-General Nayef al-Hajraf welcomed the Yemeni delegations to Riyadh, hailing the talks in his speech as a “breakthrough to move Sanaa from war to peace”.
“The path to security and peace in Yemen is not impossible, even if the challenges are great,” al-Hajraf told the vast hall of officials and diplomats. “The success of the Yemeni consultations is not an option, but a duty.”
The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, called the coalition’s cease-fire offer “a step in the right direction” and wished the delegates success in their talks. The summit is expected to continue through April 7.
Yemen’s war began in September 2014, when the Houthis swept into the capital, Sanaa, from their northwestern stronghold in the Arab world’s poorest country.
The Houthis then pushed into exile the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, elected in 2012 as the sole candidate after the long rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The coalition entered the war in March 2015 to try and restore Hadi’s government to power.
But the war stretched into long bloody years, pushing Yemen to the brink of famine.
More than 150,000 people have been killed in the warfare, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Those include both fighters and civilians; the most recent figure for the civilian death toll in Yemen’s conflict stands at 14,500.
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 40 points and rejected a Joel Embiid shot with seconds remaining to propel the NBA champion Bucks to a key 118-116 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.
Khris Middleton scored 22 points and Jrue Holiday added 18 for the Bucks, who moved a half-game behind the Miami Heat for first place in the Eastern Conference.
The Sixers dropped two places to fourth, but still just one and a half games behind the Heat.
As the top of the table clash dominated Eastern Conference action, the Los Angeles Lakers slid out of Western Conference post-season position with an embarrassing 128-110 loss to the Mavericks in Dallas.
With LeBron James and Anthony Davis sidelined by injury, the Lakers trailed by a shocking 82-56 at halftime.
It was the second-most first-half points allowed by the Lakers in franchise history – after the 83 conceded to the Celtics in 1959.
Giannis Antetokounmpo shoots a layup. PHOTO: AFP
“Not good enough in any way,” was Lakers coach Frank Vogel’s assessment after watching Mavs star Luka Doncic ride roughshod over his players.
Doncic scored 34 points with 12 rebounds and 12 assists, posting his 10th triple-double of the season.
Doncic said the Mavs knew they needed a quick start against the Lakers, who with seven games remaining are fighting just to get into the play-in tournament for teams in seventh through 10th place.
“They’re fighting for the playoffs so we had to get out with aggressiveness and energy,” he said.
Meanwhile the Bucks and Sixers continued their battle for position in the East in a game that came down to the wire.
James Harden scored 32 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Philadelphia and Embiid shook off a slow start to score 29 points with 14 rebounds and seven assists.
Down by as many as 11 in the first quarter, the 76ers led by 10 at halftime and by 14 in the third quarter.
But the Bucks took control in the fourth, opening the final period on a 13-4 scoring run and taking a 94-93 lead on a three-pointer from Middleton.
It was a back-and-forth battle from there, with an Antetokounmpo free throw putting Milwaukee up by two with 13.2 seconds remaining.
Donations to 29 representatives of orphans and less fortunate individuals were made by the Muslimah Group of Kampong Sungai Liang yesterday in a ceremony at the Kampong Sungai Liang Mosque.
Head Imam of the mosque Zulhilmi bin Jefri said the programme Mulianya Berabagi is held annually since 2019 by the Muslimah Group of the mosque to aid those in need, especially during the holy month of Ramadhan.
“Together with the support from the Mosque Affairs Department, the programme has since continued to be conducted each year, not only in the Belait District but also to other districts across the nation,” he added. He said he hoped the support for the programme will continue in the future.
Mosque Affairs Officer in the Belait District Haji Haslan bin Haji Shahbudin acknowledged the effort made by the Muslimah Group in maintaining the programme.
He said maintaining and organising such a programme annually has its share of challenges, and as such, praised the Muslimah for finding the time to aid those in need.
ABOVE & BELOW: Mosque officials handover donations to recipients. PHOTO: DANIEL LIM
CAIRO (AP) – Qatar will invest USD5 billion in Egypt, officials said on Tuesday, signalling increasing improvement in ties between the two nations.
The announcement came as Qatar Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani wrapped up a visit to the Egyptian capital of Cairo, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and other government officials.
An Egyptian statement said the USD5 billion package is meant to “strengthen economic and investment cooperation between the two brotherly countries”.
The statement didn’t provide further details, including a timeframe for the investments. Qatar’s state-run news agency also reported the development.
Egypt’s economy is under pressure amid an inflationary wave triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, which hiked oil prices to record highs.
The war has also impacted the vital tourism sector, as most foreign visitors to the country’s Red Sea resorts have come from Russia and Ukraine. Egypt is also the world’s largest importer of wheat, most of it coming from Russia and Ukraine.
People crowd a street in Cairo, Egypt. PHOTO: AP
Al Thani, who is also Qatar’s deputy prime minister, arrived in Egypt on Monday in his second visit since Egypt and three Gulf nations ended a diplomatic dispute with the energy-rich country last year.
He was accompanied by Finance Minister Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari.
El-Sisi, who met with the Qatari ministers on Tuesday, hailed “the tangible progress in the course of Egyptian-Qatari relations”, according to the Egyptian leader’s office.
The Qatari officials also met on Tuesday with Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly and Finance Minister Mohammed Moait. The prime minister’s office announced the investment agreement.
Qatar’s previous investment in Egypt has focussed on the real state and oil sectors, including the building of a USD1.3 billion luxury hotel on Cairo’s Nile Corniche.
Qatar Petroleum held a major stake in a USD4.4 billion refining firm, according to the state-run Al-Ahram daily.
In a joint news conference on Monday with Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry, Al Thani said Qatar’s ties with Egypt were improving “after we overcame the previous period, which was marred by some tensions”.
A declaration in January 2021 ended a diplomatic crisis that began in 2017 with a rift between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on one side and Qatar on the other. The four countries had jointly boycotted Qatar and hoped an embargo and media
Since the dispute ended, ties between the five countries have improved and top officials have exchanged visits. Al Thani visited Cairo in May and met with el-Sisi. The Egyptian leader also met twice with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani – once in November on the sidelines of the climate change summit in Glasgow and most recently in February when they attended the opening of the Olympic winter games in Beijing.
It has been almost a decade since the launch and publication of the first Brunei Darussalam Multisectoral Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (BruMAP-NCD) in 2013, said Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar, the guest of honour, at the launching ceremony of BruMAP-NCD 2021-2025 at An-Naura Hall of the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Complex yesterday.
“Based on the implementation and findings of BruMAP-NCD 2013-2018, a second publication, BruMAP-NCD 2021-2025, takes into account the most effective actions in addressing NCD focussing on the involvement and cooperation of multiple sectors such as finance, education, agriculture, industry and trade, youth and sports, town planning, transportation as well as social and welfare,” he said.
He also emphasised that it is important for all to work collaboratively and leverage the synergy available as a nation, to achieve the goal of improving the quality of life of the people of Brunei Darussalam.
The minister added, “The stakeholders comprise non-governmental members, community bodies as well as grassroots members each of whom has a role to play in providing input, feedback, cooperation and support in addressing NCD related issues.
“Therefore, integrated cooperation in addressing health determinant is necessary to achieve a more comprehensive and effective response for our country.”
To achieve the goals of NCD prevention and control the minister said the Multisectoral Task Force for Health was established in 2017 and subsequently further strengthened to enable multi-sectoral coordination in implementing more sustainable NCD prevention and control measures.
This Multisectoral Task Force for Health, he highlighted “not only provides collective leadership and guidance for all sectors and relevant stakeholders, but also ensures the integration of non-communicable disease prevention measures particularly in related policies, and programmes or services”.
ABOVE & BELOW: Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar delivering his remarks; and the Minister of Health, Legislative Council members Yang Berhormat Iswandy bin Ahmad, Yang Berhormat Siti Rozaimerlyanty binti Dato Seri Laila Jasa Haji Abdul Rahman, and Yang Berhormat Khairunnisa binti Haji Ash’ari, and officials in a group photo. PHOTOS: BAHYIAH BAKIR
Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar presenting the BruMAP-NCD 2021-2025 to a government official
“The establishment of four Technical Working Groups (TWG) related to NCD is equally important in coordinating and strengthening healthcare actions involving the government and private health agencies in providing better patient management.
“This multi-sector coordination will provide a dynamic platform for strategic dialogue, agenda setting, integrated and sustainable public policy development, facilitating resources, and coordinating technical assistance to NCD prevention and control in various sectors and related departments,” Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham said.
Apart from the governance mechanisms supporting BruMAP-NCD 2021-2025, the minister also lauded the clear monitoring and evaluation framework established to ensure accountability and timely implementation, noting “committee members of BruMAP-NCD 2021-2025 are urged to work closely with all relevant stakeholder to make sure that actions will be implemented as planned”.
“Roles and responsibilities for each sector have been outlined and focal officers from each agency have also been appointed. The focal officers provide perspectives on policy and also assist in coordination within the agencies towards shared goals, in addition to being communication officers for reference and follow-up purposes.”
Within the Ministry of Health (MoH), Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham shared, “Services at the primary healthcare level must continue to strengthen its capacity in the early detection and treatment of NCD as well as risk factors and complications, so that patients will receive early treatment.”
In the meantime, he said, “The National Screening Programme needs to be further enhanced so that it is accessible to all levels of society. In line with digital transformation initiatives at the national level, the MoH has also introduced the use of the BruHealth app to complement the existing BruHIMS system.“
The use of the BruHealth app, he explained, “goes beyond monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak”.
“It empowers patients by providing health information and access to parts of their medical records, laboratory tests, diagnoses and medications all at their fingertips.
“Insya Allah, more improvements to BruHealth have been planned in the near future, including towards the prevention of NCDs through the promotion of healthy lifestyle practices in the ministry’s efforts to move towards digitalisation of healthcare.”
The minister reiterated, “The MoH is committed to reducing the burden of NCD in the country and will always work with all stakeholders. While there has been significant progress including regulatory and policy measures in the country, national and societal approaches are still needed to improve the prevention, management and treatment of NCD in Brunei Darussalam.
“BruMAP-NCD 2021-2025 is an extension of the previous BruMAP-NCD 2013-2018 and will be a guide as well as a roadmap towards achieving the targets of prevention and control of NCDs at the national and global levels as set by the World Health Organization, as well as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3.4, to reduce premature deaths related to NCDs through prevention and treatment by one-third, and to promote mental health and well-being.”
In his closing his remarks, Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham said, “BruMAP-NCD 2021-2025 will also support the achievement of Brunei Vision 2035 goals in ensuring a high quality of life for all citizens of Brunei Darussalam.”
