QUITO (AFP) – Ecuador on Tuesday warned would-be wild animal eaters of possible prison time and Colombia launched an investigation after a competitive cooking TV show featured shark, alligator and capybara as ingredients.
In the offending episode, contestants of MasterChef Ecuador cooked up tollo, a small shark, as well as a type of wild deer and a capybara, a large rodent that can weigh up to 80 kilogrammes.
The National Animal Movement of Ecuador warned that the use of such ingredients on TV would “normalise the consumption of protected animals, whose ownership contributes to the trafficking of wild animals and the destruction of ecosystems.”
Neither the channel nor the producers of the programme responded to the charges levelled against them, though the show’s chef and judge, Carolina Sanchez, claimed the meat was “from a farm”.
In response to the programme, which was filmed in Colombia, Ecuador’s Environment Ministry said it “rejects the promotion and dissemination of graphic or audiovisual content that encourages the purchase and consumption of wild species or their constituent elements”.
It also warned that crimes against wild flora and fauna can be punished with prison sentences of up to three years.
In Colombia, Environment Minister Carlos Eduardo Correa announced an investigation.
He said authorities “are verifying information circulating on social networks about the use of wildlife by-products in television programmes”.
“Trafficking and marketing of wildlife is a crime in Colombia,” he wrote on Twitter.
MasterChef Ecuador, which is in its third season, is recorded in Colombia and broadcast on the privately owned national channel Teleamazonas.
BERLIN (AFP) – Germany’s antitrust regulator yesterday classified Google a company of “paramount significance across markets”, a move paving the way for the authorities to clamp down on any potentially anti-competitive activities.
The decision is the first after an amendment of the German Competition Act came in force January 2021, allowing the authority to intervene earlier, particularly against huge digital companies.
“This is a very important step since based on this decision the Bundeskartellamt (regulator) can now take action against specific anti-competitive practices by Google,” said President of the Federal Cartel Authority Andreas Mundt, in a statement.
Wielding the new legislation, the authority has over the last year opened probes into United States (US) tech giants such as Amazon and Facebook.
In the cases surrounding Google, Mundt said his authority was looking at how the company processes personal data.
It is also examining the US group’s Google News Showcase, which was launched in Germany in 2020 and allows publishers to place journalistic content more prominently online.
Big tech companies have been facing increasing scrutiny around the globe over their dominant positions as well as their tax practices.
In November, Google lost an appeal at the European Union’s second-highest court against a EUR2.4 billion (USD2.8 billion) fine imposed by Brussels for abusing its search engine dominance.
A Bangladeshi man who transported nearly 200 cartons of smuggled cigarettes was ordered by the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to settle a BND149,600 fine or serve seven months’ jail.
Tangil Mahmud, 36, who pleaded guilty, confirmed he was unable to pay the fine. Magistrate Harnita Zelda Skinner heard that Customs preventive officers stopped the defendant’s vehicle at Kampong Masin on December 16, 2021 at 5pm.
An inspection unearthed 191 cartons of smuggled cigarettes and BND451, believed to be from sales of the cigarettes.
MELBOURNE (AFP) – Australians reacted with fury yesterday after world number one Novak Djokovic received a medical exemption from having a COVID vaccine in order to play at this month’s Australian Open.
Tournament chief Craig Tiley said that the defending champion had been given “no special favour” but urged the Serb to reveal why he got the exemption to soothe public anger.
All participants at the first Grand Slam of 2022, which starts on January 17, must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or have a medical exemption, which is granted only after assessment by two panels of independent experts.
The nine-time Australian Open champion announced late on Tuesday he was en route to Melbourne with “an exemption permission”, ending the drawn-out saga over whether he would defend his title.
But Stephen Parnis, a former Australian Medical Association vice-president, said it sent an “appalling message” to people trying to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. PHOTO: AFP
“I don’t care how good a tennis player he is. If he’s refusing to get vaccinated, he shouldn’t be allowed in,” Parnis said on Twitter.
Australian Prime Minster Scott Morrison said that if the reasons for Djokovic’s exemption were “insufficient” then the Serb would be “on the next plane home”.
“We await his presentation and what evidence he provides us to support (his exemption),” Morrison told a press conference.
“If that evidence is insufficient, then he won’t be treated any different to anyone else and will be on the next plane home. There should be no special rules for Novak Djokovic at all. None whatsoever.”
Former Australian ATP Tour player Sam Groth, now a television commentator, said it was “a decision that spits in the face of every Victorian and Australian” in a column in Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper.
There was also outrage on the streets of Melbourne.
“I think it’s disgusting. I think he should have made his mind up before now and it shouldn’t be a last-minute decision to get him in,” resident Ron Wilson told AFP.
Other residents of the Victoria state city were more sympathetic, with Morteza Yari saying:
“I think as long as the exemption is valid and they have valid reasons I don’t see a problem with that.”
Among the conditions allowing entry without a vaccine is if a person has had COVID-19 in the past six months. It has not been revealed if that was the case with Djokovic.
Tiley said the two panels assessed each exemption without knowing the identity of the applicant and he did not know under what grounds Djokovic got the green light, which is confidential.
It will certainly be helpful if Novak was to explain the conditions in which he sought and was granted an exemption,” Tiley told reporters, acknowledging the backlash.
“I would encourage him to talk to the community about it… we have been through a very tough period over the last two years and would appreciate some answers to that.”
Groth agreed that Djokovic should reveal why he has been allowed in.
“You’re willing to say you have an exemption but not willing to say why? It’s sick hypocrisy. I don’t like it at all,” Groth wrote.
However, Tiley defended the integrity of the exemption application process, which is overseen by national and Victorian state governments.
He revealed that only 26 of the approximately 3,000 players and support staff travelling to Australia for the tournament had applied for a vaccine exemption. Only a few of those had been successful.
“Any person who met those conditions has been allowed to come in. There’s been no special favour. There’s been no special opportunity granted to Novak,” Tiley said.
Melbourne and Sydney have both endured months of restrictions and lockdowns over the past two years and allowing Djokovic to travel was widely criticised.
“If this exemption is true, it sends an appalling message to millions seeking to reduce #Covid19Aus risk to themselves & others,” added Parnis.
Djokovic voiced his opposition to the Covid-19 vaccine in April 2020 when it was suggested they might be obligatory so tournament play could resume.
“Personally I am not pro-vaccines,” said Djokovic at the time. “I would not like it for someone to compel me to be vaccinated so I can travel.”
Some players expressed surprise with the exemption, including British doubles player Jamie Murray, who said at the ATP Cup in Sydney: “I think if it was me that wasn’t vaccinated, I wouldn’t be getting an exemption.”
AP – You probably know to plan and save for the big and boring expenses, also known as financial needs. But what about the fun stuff? Expenses that don’t put a roof over your head, but do provide joy, rejuvenation and other hard-to-quantify benefits are worth saving for, too.
In fact, they deserve their own account, said Los Alamitos, California-based certified financial planner Delia Fernandez.
“Figure out what keeps you going, what makes all of this worthwhile to you, and put money aside to make that happen,” she said.
WHAT KINDS OF EXPENSES ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
When it comes to feel-good expenses, each person has their own preferences, said New York-based financial therapist and licensed mental health counsellor Aja Evans. For example, some people would find an intense cycling class to be energising and confidence-boosting.
Others would rather do pretty much anything else.
Consider which goods, services and activities typically bring you joy. Yes, your budget will determine what, exactly, you can afford. But, for now, reflect. Fernandez asked: “What’s going to get you through these times? And what makes your life valuable? What refreshes you; what inspires you?”
A few ideas: services like massages; goods like fresh flowers; activities like vacations and date nights.
A consumer uses a Discover card in Madison, Mississippi. In 2022, dedicate a financial account to goods, services and activities that bring you joy. Perhaps this fund would cover monthly massages or weekly smoothies, or it could be used to save up for a vacation. PHOTO: AP
WHY SHOULD I SET UP A FEEL-GOOD ACCOUNT?
Earmarking money for these kinds of expenditures may help you be more intentional with spending. For example, say you put USD25 from each paycheque in a vacation fund. With that money safely stashed, you can’t mindlessly spend it on impulse purchases.
You’re also protecting that money from financial demands. Otherwise, if all your available money were in one bucket, Evans said your self-care spending would likely be the first to cut when money is tight.
By devoting money to a specific kind of expense – be it a mortgage or manicure – you’re creating a budget. And budgets help prevent you from overspending.
Say you have up to USD50 to spend each month on brunch with friends, and you’ve already spent USD35. This weekend, maybe you still enjoy brunch but skip the special drinks that would put you over the USD15 you have left.
Ideally, this plan also hedges any potential guilt about spending money on yourself. As Fernandez said: “You put it aside for that purpose.”
HOW DO I SWING THIS IN MY BUDGET?
Hopefully you’ve been convinced to treat yourself in the New Year. Now plan for those treats.
One way to determine how much you can afford to spend is to apply the 50/30/20 rule to your monthly take-home income.
The goal of this budget method is to split your money as such: 50 per cent toward needs, 30 per cent toward wants and 20 per cent toward savings and debt repayment. If you follow that framework, your new feel-good fund would come from that “wants” category.
Not trying to officially budget at this point? Here’s another approach: Start with your monthly income, then subtract all the necessary expenses (needs), which include housing, food, transportation, basic utilities, insurance, child care and other expenses that enable you to work, as well as minimum loan payments.
Next, subtract contributions toward savings goals (like an emergency fund), as well as payments toward retirement accounts and debts.
What’s left is your discretionary money. Decide how much of that to regularly contribute to your new fund. “That could be USD10. That could be USD50. That could be USD100,” Evans said. “The main point is that you’re actually setting aside the money.”
Ideally, these contributions go directly from your paycheques to a new fund, Fernandez said. (Work with your employer to set up a new direct deposit.) If that method is unavailable, set up recurring automatic transfers from your everyday checking to the new account.
WHERE DO I KEEP THIS MONEY?
Fernandez recommended keeping this fund in a savings account, in which you’ll likely earn interest. Use it for your monthly spa visit, for example. Or watch your savings grow as you collect cash for a trip or large purchase.
If you plan to use this fund often – say, for frequent morning smoothies – opt for a chequing account. Open it at a financial institution you don’t already use, so the new account isn’t too easy to tap for everyday expenses.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Enjoy the stuff for which you saved. Then regularly revisit your plan, Fernandez said. You may want to change how much you contribute – perhaps more after a raise or less after an emergency expense.
What you save for could change, too. Maybe you wind up preferring drawing lessons over cycling classes.
“We all have to have a plan,” Fernandez said, “but we all have to update it and change it when the facts change.”
A forecast of better weather means that the worst may finally be over for tens of thousands of air travellers who were grounded by flight cancellations that skyrocketted over the New Year’s Day weekend.
January usually means fewer people flying, and that will be even more true in 2022 because many business travellers haven’t returned to the skies.
The lighter crowds should buy airlines time to prepare for the next big onslaught, around spring break. That, however, won’t help the hundreds of thousands of flyers whose December plans were scrambled by airline staffing shortages and wintry weather.
Here’s a look at the factors that snarled flights for so many people during holiday season, and what the next few weeks are likely to bring.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Airlines were prohibited from furloughing employees as a condition of receiving USD54 billion in federal pandemic aid from taxpayers. But that didn’t stop them from encouraging tens of thousands of workers to quit or take long-term leaves of absence after the pandemic torpedoed travel in 2020.
Winter weather and crew members infected with COVID-19 have forced airlines to spike thousands of United States flights over the past week, complicating travel plans during the busy holiday season. PHOTO: AP
Airlines that got caught with shortages of pilots, flight attendants and other workers last summer and fall – think Southwest, American, Spirit and Allegiant – thought they had time to beef up for the winter holidays. They went on hiring sprees.
That wasn’t enough, though, when the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 struck, knocking out flight crews just as holiday crowds began to pack airports. United and Delta were among the first to get hit just before the December holidays, blaming cancelled flights on a lack of crew members because of the surging virus.
Then storms packing snow and high winds lashed the Pacific Northwest, the Rockies, the Midwest and finally the mid-Atlantic region, creating waves of cancellations that resembled dominoes falling.
The global spread of omicron meant that widespread flight cancellations weren’t limited to the United States (US) Airlines in Europe and Australia reported similar problems with crew shortages.
WHEN WILL THINGS IMPROVE?
After more than 3,200 US flight cancellations on Monday, the number for Tuesday was down to 1,400 at midday – better, although still very high. A storm that crippled Reagan National Airport outside Washington, DC, and Baltimore/Washington International the day before had moved on, although there were residual cancellations because planes weren’t able to get into those airports sooner.
Airlines should get a break, with January and February usually being slow months for travel. Senior flight expert at Scott’s Cheap Flights Willis Orlando said airlines should have more ability to trim routes, reassign pilots and tap reserve staff. JetBlue has already reduced its schedule until mid-January and possibly longer.
Also, airline crews can return to work sooner after catching the coronavirus. Last week, US health officials changed their guidance and cut in half – to five days – the time they recommend that people should quarantine if they catch the virus but have no symptoms.
Delta and JetBlue lobbied for the change, although the largest flight attendants’ union criticised the move, saying it compromised the health of cabin crews.
On the negative side, new cases of COVID-19 are continuing to mushroom in the US, Canada, Australia and much of Europe. The seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in the US has more than tripled over the past two weeks, to 480,000 on Monday, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
SHOULD AIRLINES HAVE HAD MORE STAFF?
Although Congress did forbid airlines from laying off workers, lawmakers did nothing to prevent the large-scale staffing cuts that airlines made by paying people incentives to quit after travel collapsed in early 2020.
That left airlines short-staffed when travel recovered more quickly than expected during summer 2021. It takes time to retrain pilots and bring them back from long-term leave. Compounding the labor shortage, airlines like Southwest and American added flights to bring in more revenue.
Airline-consumer advocate and former airline employee Kurt Ebenhoch said travellers would still be seeing cancelled flights now even if carriers had avoided those mistakes, “but not in this high of a number”.
“Why did Southwest, American and Spirit run into such terrible operational problems and Delta, United and others did not?” Ebenhoch said. “The difference was in management decisions… Carriers that were more aggressive in resuming their schedule, getting closer to pre-COVID capacity faster and left little margin for error in their schedules experienced more operational problems, and their customers suffered.”
Airlines are trying to match staffing levels to passenger numbers, and travel has not fully recovered as the pandemic drags on. In December, the number of people going through airport checkpoints in the US was 16 per cent lower than during the same month of 2019.
IS THIS RUN OF CANCELLATIONS UNUSUAL?
Bad weather – from winter blizzards to summer thunderstorms – can always snarl air travel.
So can technology outages and other hiccups. And that risk grows during the holidays, when more people are flying. The holiday season in late 2013 was a particularly painful one for travellers, with airlines cancelling about 10,000 flights – and that was long before anyone had heard of COVID-19.
COULD THE AIRLINES HAVE PREVENTED THIS?
Even critics of the industry gave the airlines some slack, noting that scope and speed of Omicron’s spread was a shock to just about everyone. Other industries were also affected by employees contracting the virus and needing to isolate.
President of the consumer-advocacy group FlyersRights.org Paul Hudson said airlines should have planned better and the federal Transportation Department should have required the airlines to have ready reserves of people and equipment, “but the Omicron variant high infection rate is primarily to blame in the holiday season disruptions.’’
The airlines have been hiring. According to the latest figures from the Transportation Department, US passenger airlines employed the equivalent of about 409,000 full-time workers in October. That was down nearly 10 per cent from the same month in 2019, before the pandemic, but up more than 43,000 jobs, or 12 per cent, from October 2020.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A year after the mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the United States (US) Capitol, lawmakers are trying to heal the deep rifts left behind by the insurrection that sought to overturn the election results.
“January 6, 2021 will be forever remembered as a day of enduring infamy, a permanent blemish in the story of American democracy,” said top Democrat in the Senate Chuck Schumer, a few days before the anniversary.
“This was aimed at undoing our democracy. Thank goodness, they failed,” Schumer added.
“They,” in this case, being the crowds of demonstrators in helmets and carrying flags emblazoned with the name ‘Trump’, and who a year ago stood in the same spot in the Capitol where Schumer was delivering his sober words.
The now infamous QAnon guru with his bison headdress and bare chest was among them, brandishing a megaphone.
A few steps away, a television set has been installed to show the commemorations of the fateful day today. US President Joe Biden is due to speak, one of a series of elected officials sharing their memories of the ordeal.
ABOVE & BELOW: Elected officials close to former president Donald Trump have tried to push quite a different story to the one being told by the Democrats; and a Trump supporter hanging from a wall in the Senate during the storming of the US Capitol. PHOTOS: AFP
A conversation between historians is also planned, with the aim of “establishing and preserving the story” of January 6.
Because even within the institution that was stormed, what actually happened is the subject of heated debate.
In recent months, elected officials close to former president Trump have tried to push quite a different story to the one being told by the Democrats. They said that January 6 was just a symptom of all that has gone wrong, and that those arrested after the assault are “political prisoners”.
With less than a year until crucial mid-term elections, some of their colleagues are making half-hearted pleas to move on.
“We have constituents back home that we need to be working for, our focus needs to be there,” said Republican Joni Ernst, many of whose colleagues have decided to shun today’s events.
On social media, in press releases and even in the corridors of this venerable institution, the multiple and conflicting stories spark angry debate. The wounds of January 6 are still very much alive.
“I think there’s still a lot of hurt and harm, but a lot of good has already come,” Democratic Senator Corey Booker told AFP.
The imposing wooden planks covering some of the windows for months have been removed and the broken panes which until recently reminded everyone of the violence of that day in January have finally been replaced.
The US Congress is safe, the Capitol Police chief insisted during a rare press conference on Tuesday.
In the snow, the dome of the Capitol begins to gleam again.
SHALIMAR, FLORIDA (AP) – Parts of the Florida Panhandle got a dusting of snow early Monday after temperatures dropped dramatically from the previous day when the thermometer was at typical beach weather.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office posted a video of a deputy captured on patrol showing falling snowflakes bathed in the light of a lamppost in a store’s parking lot. Only 12 hours earlier, the temperature had been 23.8 degrees Celsius, the post said.
“Well how’s this for a temperature change? “From 75 degrees at 3 in the afternoon to snow at 3am,” the post said. “Bundle up out there!”
Michele Nicholson, a spokeswoman for the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, said in an e-mail that the snow didn’t stick so it didn’t cause any problems. The county is home to two popular beach destinations, Fort Walt Beach and Destin.
Don Shepherd, a senior forecaster for the National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, said in a phone interview that the dusting was “just a few little flurries.”
BANGKOK (XINHUA) – Thailand’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.17 per cent year-on-year in December 2021, led by higher costs of energy and vegetables, its Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.
The pace of growth eased from a rise of 2.71 per cent registered in November last year.
The core CPI, which excludes raw food and energy prices, edged up 0.29 per cent year-on-year in December 2021 and was up 0.05 per cent from the previous month.
For the full year of 2021, the country’s CPI climbed 1.23 per cent year-on-year, while the core CPI rose 0.23 percent.
An official with the commerce ministry Ronnarong Phoolpipat, said the increase in inflation throughout 2021 stemmed not only from increasing energy prices but also rising vegetable prices due to lower productivity from the impact of floods.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions and closure of borders between Brunei and Malaysia as well as economic slowdown, the bilateral trade between both countries have shown a significant increase, with MYR6.4 billion recorded from January to October in 2021, compared to MYR3.9 billion recorded in the same period in 2020.
The upward trend of bilateral trade between Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia was shared by Malaysian High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam Dato’ Raja Reza bin Raja Zaib Shah at a Networking High Tea held by Tourism Malaysia yesterday.
“I am optimistic that for 2022, the outlook for bilateral trade between Brunei and Malaysia will be equally impressive and promising,” he said.
On the hope of re-opening the border with Brunei, the Malaysian high commissioner said, “ Malaysia has commenced discussions to establish Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) with its neighbouring countries including Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei, which will pave the way for the gradual, safe and systematic re-opening of the borders. This, in turn, will revive the ailing tourism sector and boost the economy.”
However, he also noted that the way in which pandemic has developed over the last few weeks, gives all the reason for concern and to again put public health above everything else.
FROM LEFT: Director of Tourism Malaysia office in Brunei Haji Ibrahim Seddiqi bin Talib; and Malaysian High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam Dato’ Raja Reza bin Raja Zaib Shah. PHOTOS: JAMES K0N
According to Tourism Malaysia statistics, arrivals to Malaysia from Brunei has seen a tremendous decrease in the last two years during the covid-19 pandemic.
In 2019, tourist arrival to Malaysia from Brunei by air was at 1,216,123 and in 2020, dropped to 136,020, a decrease of 88.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, from January to June 2021, the tourist arrivals to Malaysia was only at 392, compared to 135,593 in the same period in 2020.
This showed a tremendous decrease of 99.7 per cent. Meanwhile, about 2.5-million people travelled by land between Sarawak and Brunei before the border restriction was imposed.
On the question of shortage of food products imported from Malaysia, Dato’ Raja Reza said,“ The border closure has restricted movement especially bringing of food items from Malaysia.
Seventy per cent of trade from Malaysia to Brunei comprises food items and we will continue to be the biggest food suppliers to Brunei.
“We are also grateful that the Brunei Government continues to allow the transportation of goods from Sarawak to Brunei and transit to Sabah in accordance to necessary approval and requirements.”
Director of Tourism Malaysia office in Brunei Haji Ibrahim Seddiqi bin Talib was also present, along with representatives from the local tourism industry.
