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Rocket attacks hit Ukraine’s Lviv as Biden visits Poland

LVIV, UKRAINE (AP) – Russian rockets struck the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday while United States (US) President Joe Biden visited neighbouring Poland, a reminder that Moscow is willing to strike anywhere in Ukraine despite its claim to be focussing its offensive on the country’s east.

The back-to-back airstrikes shook the city that has become a haven for an estimated 200,000 people who have had to flee their hometowns. Lviv had been largely spared since the invasion began, although missiles struck an aircraft repair facility near the main airport a week ago.

Among the many who sought refuge in Lviv was Olana Ukrainets, a 34-year-old IT worker from the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

“When I came to Lviv, I was sure that all these alarms wouldn’t have any results,” Ukrainets told The Associated Press from a bomb shelter after the blasts. “Sometimes when I heard them at night, I just stayed in bed. Today, I changed my mind and I should hide every time… None of the Ukrainian cities are safe now.”

The city was home to about 700,000 people before the invasion. Some who no longer feel safe here will head for nearby Poland. Biden met there on Saturday with refugees in a show of solidarity, though he was in the capital, Warsaw, and far from the Ukrainian border, which is about 45 miles west of Lviv.

People shelter underground following explosions in Lviv, western Ukraine. PHOTO: AP

Lviv also has become a humanitarian staging ground for Ukraine, and the attacks could further complicate the already challenging process of sending aid to the rest of the country.

The first strike involved two Russian rockets that hit an industrial area in the northeastern outskirts of Lviv and apparently injured five people, the regional governor, Maksym Kozytskyy, said on Facebook. A thick, black plume of smoke billowed from the site for hours.

A second rocket attack occurred just outside the city hours later and caused three explosions, Kozytskyy told a press briefing as another round of air raid sirens wailed. He said an oil facility and factory connected to the military, both in areas where people live, were struck on Saturday, though he didn’t give more details.

In the dim, crowded bomb shelter under an apartment block a short ways from the first blast site, Ukrainets said she couldn’t believe she had to hide again after fleeing from Kharkiv, one of the most bombarded cities of the war.

“We were on one side of the street and saw it on the other side,” she said. “We saw fire. I said to my friend, ‘What’s this?’ Then we heard the sound of an explosion and glass breaking. We tried to hide between buildings. I don’t know what the target was.”

Kozytskyy said a man was detained on suspicion of espionage at one of the explosion sites on Saturday after police found that he had recorded a rocket flying toward the target and striking it.

Police also found on his telephone photos of checkpoints in the region, which Kozytskyy said had been sent to two Russian telephone numbers.

The day’s events were enough to make some people in Lviv prepare to move again, said Michael Bociurkiw, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council who was in the city.

“I saw some Kyiv cars being packed up,” he said.

IMF approves USD44B loan for Argentina to tackle inflation, boost growth

WASHINGTON (XINHUA) – The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last Friday approved a USD44-billion loan for Argentina to help the South American country tackle high inflation, ease the debt burden and promote economic growth.

The Washington-based lender approved a 30-month extended fund facility, allowing for the immediate disbursement of USD9.7 billion dollars, a statement said.

The financing programme “aims to provide Argentina with balance of payments and budget support” and also “strengthen debt sustainability, tackle high inflation, boost reserves, address the country’s social and infrastructure gaps and promote inclusive growth”, it added.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva noted that the country is struggling with low incomes, increasing prices as well as a heavy debt burden, and the organisation supports the Argentine government’s efforts in financial and economic reforms.

Concerning the fact that spillovers from the Russia-Ukraine conflict are materialising, risks to the programme are “exceptionally high”, the IMF chief said. “In this context, early programme recalibration, including the identification and adoption of appropriate measures, as needed, will be critical to achieve the programme’s objectives,” she added.

The IMF lent USD57 billion to Argentina in June 2018, the largest loan in the IMF’s history. The country faces a USD19-billion payment due this year, a timeline the government considered impossible.

On January 28, the two sides struck a pre-agreement to restructure the country’s 2018 loan, steering clear of a massive debt default that both were eager to avoid.

Kane rescues England, Spain scrape home

PARIS (AFP) – Harry Kane converted a late penalty to close in on the all-time England goal-scoring record and secure a 2-1 win over fellow World Cup qualifiers Switzerland early yesterday while Spain marked their return to Catalonia for the first time in almost two decades with a narrow victory against Albania.

Kane netted from the spot to reach 49 England goals, moving him ahead of Gary Lineker and into a second place tie with Bobby Charlton.

Only Wayne Rooney, with 53 goals, has scored more times for England.

Breel Embolo put Switzerland ahead at Wembley after 22 minutes in a first half dominated by the visitors before Luke Shaw’s equaliser in first-half injury time.

Kane restored order with his 78th-minute winner but coach Gareth Southgate will hope this was just a rare blip from his Euro 2020 runners-up, who host Ivory Coast in another friendly tomorrow.

England’s Harry Kane celebrates after scoring a goal from the penalty spot during an international football match against Switzerland. PHOTOS: AP
Spain’s Ferran Torres scores the opening goal against Albania

“You have to be ready for any chance at any moment. Penalties are a great way of getting on the scoresheet, I practice and work on them a lot,” said Kane.

“It is amazing company to be with, super proud to be doing that but we look forward to the next one. A big year ahead to get more caps and more goals. I will be ready for Tuesday but it is down to the manager.”

Spain, World Cup winners in 2010, had to work hard to carve out a 2-1 win against Albania in Barcelona, the team’s first game in Catalonia since 2004.

Ferran Torres opened the scoring for Spain in the 75th minute at Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium with Myrto Uzuni equalising 10 minutes later.

However, Dani Olmo saved Spain’s blushes with a last-minute winner as Spain secured an eighth win in eight matches against Albania.

Top-ranked Belgium led twice in Dublin but were still held 2-2 by Ireland.

Playing without the influential Kevin de Bruyne, who has been rested for the international window, Belgium took the lead after 12 minutes through Michy Batshuayi who swept past Seamus Coleman to beat Caoimhin Kelleher in the Irish goal.

Cemetery cleaning campaigns nationwide ahead of Ramadhan

Daniel Lim, Adib Noor and Azlan Othman

As part of the annual preparations for the month of Ramadhan, youth groups from mosques across the Sultanate conducted cleaning campaigns at Muslim cemeteries yesterday.

In Belait District, the campaign was held at the Anduki Muslim Cemetery by the Youth Group of STKRJ Lorong Tiga Selatan Mosque, Seria. The group cleared overgrown vegetation and paid respect to the deceased.

The campaign also served to raise awareness on the importance of keeping the environment clean, while forging ties among the youth and local community. Mosque Affairs Officer in Belait District Haji Haslan bin Haji Shahbudin was the guest of honour.

A campaign was also held in Tutong District, conducted by the youth group from Pengiran Muda ‘Abdul Wakeel Mosque, Kiudang at the Muslim cemetery at Pengkalan Mau, Mukim Kiudang. Mosque Affairs Officer in Tutong District Haji Md Aidil Sufian bin Mohd Yassin participated.

Cleaning campaigns were also held by other local organisations yesterday. Members of the Kampong Jerudong ‘A’ Village Consultative Council (MPK Jerudong ‘A’) held a cleaning campaign at the Bukit Bunga Muslim Cemetery in Jerudong. Acting Village Head of Kampong Jerudong ‘A’ Haji Khairul Azmi bin Haji Lakat led the campaign.

ABOVE & BELOW: Youth group members during the cleaning campaign in Belait District; and volunteers at the Bukit Bunga Muslim Cemetery in Jerudong in a group photo. PHOTOS: MORA, ADIB NOOR and AZLAN OTHMAN

ABOVE & BELOW: Kampong Jangsak residents at the Tekuyung Muslim Cemetery in a group photo; and volunteers cleaning the Sepayau Muslim Cemetery

Villagers of Kampong Jerudong as well as personnel from the Sengkurong police station and representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports also participated.

The cleaning campaign concluded with the recitation of Tahlil and Doa Arwah led by Bilal of Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam Mosque Mohd Hairol bin Haji Sani.

Meanwhile, the MPK of Kampong Tanjung Bunut and members of Ar-Rahman Mosque took part in a cemetery cleaning at Sepayau Muslim Cemetery.

The volunteers started the annual activity at 8am and cleanead the cemetery using leaf blowers and other tools.

Acting Village Head of Kampong Tanjung Bunut Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Jumat led the volunteers, made up of residents of Kampong Tanjung Bunut and their families.

Meanwhile residents of Kampong Jangsak cleaned the Tekuyung Muslim Cemetery in a community project led by Kamid bin Haji Hashim.

With Ramadhan less than a week away, various activities are held in the form of communal and charitable activities, including the cleaning of Muslim cemeteries and paying respect to those who have departed through the recitation of Tahlil and Doa Arwah.

German state election offers first test since Scholz took over

BERLIN (AP) – The western German state of Saarland elections yesterday offers the country’s first test at the ballot box since Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s national government took office in December.

Polls before the election for the state legislature point to a solid lead for Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats in a region led since 1999 by the centre-right CDU party of former Chancellor Angela Merkel.

That doesn’t necessarily have much to do with what has been a turbulent first 100 days for Scholz’s three-party coalition, during which Russia’s war in Ukraine prompted the chancellor to upend German defence policy and Germany to welcome large numbers of refugees.

Germany also is grappling with a persistent wave of coronavirus infections, recently seeing over 200,000 cases per day.

All the same, it’s the first of three state elections within two months – all in regions currently led by CDU governors – that will help set the political tone for the coming year. The most important vote, on May 15, is in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz leaves after a press conference. PHOTO: AFP

Saarland, located on the French border, is one of Germany’s smallest states with nearly a million residents. It has been run for the past decade by a coalition of the CDU and the Social Democrats.

This time, polls show Social Democrat Anke Rehlinger – the state’s deputy governor and economy minister since 2014 – as voters’ favoured candidate. Centre-right incumbent Tobias Hans is trailing.

The CDU’s new national leader, Friedrich Merz, is downplaying the significance of his party’s poll showing before the vote, citing local factors.

He pointed to a sharp decline in support for the hard-left Left Party, whose co-founder – Oskar Lafontaine, a one-time Social Democrat who was Saarland’s governor in the 1980s and 1990s – recently left the party.

It only narrowly avoided being ejected from the German Parliament in September’s national election.

Chelsea’s Werner, Havertz score as Germany see off Israel

BERLIN (AFP) – Chelsea pair Kai Havertz and Timo Werner both hit the net yesterday as Germany eased past Israel with a routine 2-0 friendly win in Sinsheim.

After the Premier League pair scored first-half goals, Germany’s stand-in captain Thomas Mueller and Israel sub Yonatan Cohen both failed to convert late penalty attempts.

“On the whole, it was a good performance from us for the first game of the new year,” Werner told broadcaster ZDF.

Germany centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck said the hosts had defended well, but “in the last quarter of an hour, we gave away too many balls”.

Head coach Hansi Flick has now won his first eight internationals to extend his record start.
“I’m satisfied – we played very courageously and pressed hard,” said Flick.

“I think it’s great how the team earned its own rewards – we have now scored six goals from set pieces in eight games.”

Germany’s midfielder Kai Havertz heads the ball to score a goal during the friendly football match against Israel. PHOTO: AFP

With 19-year-old Bayern Munich star Jamal Musiala in the attacking midfield role, an experimental German side had few problems taking a 2-0 lead at half-time.

Three days before the Germans play the Netherlands in their next friendly in Amsterdam, the hosts dominated the first-half, but sat back after the break.

Both goals came from dead-ball situations. Havertz made amends after squandering an earlier chance by finally breaking the deadlock with a header from a corner.

Werner then produced a superb finish to steer a free-kick just inside the near post just before the half-time whistle.

He has now scored six goals in his last six appearances for Germany. Israel, who failed to qualify for the World Cup, rarely ventured into the German half.

Flick tinkered with his line up for the second half, Kevin Trapp replacing Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the posts.

Mueller took over the captain’s armband from Ilkay Gundogan and slotted into the attacking midfield role with Musiala dropping back.

Mainz midfielder Anton Stach, part of the German Under-21 side which won the European title last year, made his senior debut.

Germany midfielder Julian Draxler had a golden chance in the second half.

The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder made his first international appearance for 17 months and was only denied by a diving save from Israel goalkeeper Ofir Marciano.

Mueller blew a chance to grab Germany’s third goal when the Bayern Munich star saw his penalty attempt smack the post.

At the other end, Trapp pulled off a superb diving save when Cohen tried to drill in his penalty attempt in stoppage time.

Welcome to virtual reality

Daniel Lim

With virtual reality (VR) gaming making waves as the next big gaming platform, the history leading up to technology is riddled with challenges tackled over decades as technology continues to advance forward.

While one might assume that VR is a relatively new line of technology, the idea of VR can be traced back to the mid-20th Century, with the earliest example of an attempt to mimic VR being the humble View-Master, a stereoscopic visual simulator introduced in 1939.

The basic design of the View-Master can still be seen in many VR headsets today, with two nearly identical viewing ports sitting close to the eyes and projecting two separate images – one for each eye – the only difference being a slight shift, resulting in a stereoscopic 3D effect that tricks the brain into perceiving depth.

Over the next decades following the View-Master, various advancements have been made in VR, though many in research centres were more focussed on developing the tech further, while aiding in the various industries that can benefit from VR such as medical, flight simulation, automobile, and military training purposes, and were not widely available to the public.

As such, the fantasy of being immersive in the world of VR could only be found in science fiction films and series.

It was not until the early 90s that saw the tech had been developed that companies were starting to have confidence in the success of VR for the wider mass consumer market. An early example is the Sega VR, originally an add-on to the Sega Genesis console and never saw mass production and release. It served as an inspiration for the separate and mildly successful VR headsets for amusement parks and arcades in Japan, as VR-1.

Opened in July 1994 at the original Joypolis indoor theme park, Yokohama Joypolis, VR-1 not only refers to the headset itself but the whole experience of being in a VR amusement park attraction. As such, playing in the VR-1 was not as convenient as booting up a game on a home console or PC.

But being released in the 90s, this mattered little as the experience that it delivered was like no other. The home consoles and PCs at the time were not powerful enough to match the capabilities of the VR-1 platform.

This made VR-1 one of Sega’s greatest achievement in the field, despite being significantly less available to the public due to the limited release only in select amusement parks.

Its popularity also inspired other similar headsets of the time such as Virtuality, found in video arcades, providing an immersive gaming experience through games such as Grid Buster, a robot shoot-em-up and Legend Quest, a fantasy adventure game. While the experiences of these early VR platforms at amusement parks and arcades were immersive for the time, attempts at miniaturing the technology behind it to the home market were not so successful, with the most famous blunder being the Virtual Boy by Nintendo in 1995, which has its own issues to contend with.

Following the turn of the century, development in VR, especially for the home, had slowed down, and while there were attempts to introduce an easy-to-approach and use VR by Google in the form of Google Cardboard, it was not until a small company by the name of Oculus, now known as Meta, introduced their first prototype in 2010 that VR started to pick up.

Something that should be noted is that many of the VR platforms and experiences leading up to the Oculus Rift were done so in Three Degrees of Freedom (3DoF).

In essence, 3DoF enables users to look around by tilting their head up and down, left and right, and rolling side to side, which can result in VR being limited to seated or stationary experiences.

With the Oculus Rift and subsequent releases of VR headsets, the Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) was introduced, helping to set the standard and expectation for the VR platform.

With 6DoF, users not only can look around, but also traverse and walk around forward and backwards, higher and lower, as well as side to side. The experiences no longer restricted players and enabled them to be fully immersed in VR.

With the continued advancement in the tech that enables the headsets to operate through a single cable or wirelessly, the freedom it offers means that the fantasy of being fully immersed in the VR world is closer to reality than one might assume.

The goal for VR eventually is to be a device that can simply be picked up, similarly to how one would pick up an everyday smartphone.

Philippines on alert as volcano near capital spews more plumes

THE STAR – A small but restive volcano near the Philippine capital Manila ejected two more plumes yesterday, indicating continued eruption and prompting authorities to urge residents to stay out of harm’s way.

Located in a scenic lake in Batangas province south of Manila, the 311-metre Taal volcano spewed an 800-metre-tall plume followed by one of 400 metres. This followed a phreatomagmatic eruption – the result of super-hot magma interacting with water – from its main crater on Saturday.

The seismology and volcanology agency recorded 14 volcanic quakes around Taal in the 24 hours after the first eruption.

“Activity at the main crater was dominated by upwelling of hot volcanic fluids in its lake,” it said in a bulletin, warning of a possible volcanic tsunami should stronger eruptions subsequently occur.

The alert for Taal volcano remained at level three on the five-level scale, meaning “there is a magmatic intrusion at the main crater that may further drive succeeding eruptions”.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s office said it was closely monitoring the situation. As of yesterday, nearly 3,000 people had been evacuated to temporary shelters, it said.

In January 2020, Taal spewed a column of ash and steam as high as 15 kilometres, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate while dozens of flights were cancelled and heavy ash fell as far away as Manila.

A Taal eruption in 1911 killed more than 1,300 people.

Residents living near Taal volcano evacuate to a public school in Laurel, Batangas. PHOTO: AFP

Crypto for Ukraine provides a flow of war-related support

NEW YORK (AP) – Ukraine, which has waged a staunch defence against Russian invasion, said it pioneered a new source of financial support: People around the world who have donated millions of dollars directly to its war effort via cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Since February 26, when Ukrainian officials began tweeting calls for cryptocurrency donations, the Ukrainian government said it has taken in almost USD67 million of its USD200 million goal as of Saturday. “Today, crypto is playing a significant role in Ukraine’s defence,” the country’s deputy minister for digital transformation Alex Bornyakov wrote on the nation’s donation website.

Ukraine has spent about USD34 million of the funds received as of last week, converting about 80 per cent to traditional currencies and using the remainder with merchants that already accept cryptocurrencies, Bornyakov said in response to emailed questions.

The funds raised in cryptocurrency are a just small part of the overall donations that Ukraine has received. After raising as much as USD12 million on March 2, cryptocurrency donations have tapered off although boosters said the unexpected initial surge may inspire other efforts to solicit cryptocurrencies for humanitarian or defensive purposes. Officials have said that the speed with which they can use cryptocurrency donations has made them useful.

The downside of that ease of transfer, of course, is that cryptocurrencies continue to be a magnet for scams and are the currency of choice for criminal networks. Last Tuesday, European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde warned that crypto assets “are being used as a way to try to circumvent the sanctions” against Russia, but didn’t provide details beyond noting that global transfers of rubles into cryptocurrency are rising sharply in volume.

Michael Chobanian, the founder of a Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchange, is one of several people helping the Ukrainian government manage the donations through an informal agreement, Bornyakov confirmed.

“We are buying so much stuff that is saving lives every single day and also are stopping the aggression, so it’s a beginning of the new world,” Chobanian said in a voice message sent via the app Telegram.

Chobanian said he was not receiving payment for his work but acknowledged that some of the funds are being converted through his cryptocurrency exchange Kuna.

Members of Congress give Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a standing ovation before he speaks in a virtual address. PHOTO: AP

“It’s certainly a first,” said Bennett Tomlin, who investigates cryptocurrency scams and hosts the podcast Crypto Critic’s Corner. “We’ve never seen a sovereign nation fund their defence efforts in crypto before. It does prove out a lot of the crypto argument.”

That argument is that cryptocurrencies allow for the unfettered sending and receiving of value across borders via networks that can’t easily be censored or shut down because there is no single entity in charge. Proponents also argue that cryptocurrency doesn’t require users to trust financial institutions because the system is managed by code that anyone can inspect and transactions are written indelibly into distributed public digital ledgers known as blockchains.

The donations to Ukraine are a stress test of sorts for those claims, some of which have fared better than others.

For example, services like cryptocurrency exchanges do act as gatekeepers in part because many are required to collect identifying information about the people who use their services. Two large cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and CoinBase, took action to limit use of some of their services in Russia earlier this month, although they have not withdrawn entirely.

The publicity around Ukraine’s call for donations also attracted scammers who tried to capitalise on the good will of donors. Hilary Allen, a professor at American University’s law school who has written a book about the risks cryptocurrencies pose to financial systems, said anyone who donates should carefully look at all the actors involved.

“Who is receiving the crypto? Who will be converting the crypto? You need to be thinking about them the same way you’d be thinking about any other charity or non-profit you are donating to because they are intermediaries in just the same way,” Allen said.

Many of the donations to Ukraine’s accounts are verifiable on public tools that track cryptocurrency transactions – as are the transfers that are made out of the accounts Ukraine controls.

Another challenge presented by accepting cryptocurrency donations is the potential for people to send tainted assets obtained through crime or scams, Ukrainian cryptocurrency attorney Artem Afian said.

Even if some of the funds donated were gained through illicit activity, he said, “I think comparing the risks and benefits for Ukraine now – Ukraine is using every penny, every chance to support people, to support the army, so this is not a time when Ukraine can choose a lot.”

In total, cryptocurrency donations so far equal around one per cent of Ukraine’s annual pre-war defence budget, according to a Congressional Research Service report updated in January. Ukraine’s government is also receiving aid through multiple other channels, although not all of those flow directly to the government.

Flickers of hope

SHANGHAI (AFP) – Li Meng is a devoted mother trying to support her two-year-old daughter, but in the eyes of Chinese society and the state, she is almost a second-class citizen.

Millions of single mothers like her have it rough in a country where out-of-wedlock births are frowned upon, and where only married women can claim maternity benefits.

A Shanghai resident, Li got pregnant with her boyfriend, but he left her to raise the child by herself.

Ineligible for maternity leave because she was not married, she had to quit her job in real estate to take care of her baby.

”There was a lot of resistance (to having the baby). My mother said I was crazy,” said Li, who used a pseudonym to avoid being further stigmatised.

”She thought it was unacceptable for a traditional family in China.”

The Chinese government in 2016 scrapped its longtime ”one-child policy” and began encouraging citizens to have more children as the birth rate drops in the world’s most populous country.

But benefits such as several months of paid maternity leave and medical coverage are still reserved only for married women.

When Li tried to secure her maternity rights, she was stymied by her lack of a marriage certificate, forcing her into an exhausting quest that bounced her between multiple government agencies.

ABOVE & BELOW: A couple pushing their children in a pushchair along a pedestrian street in Shanghai; and a woman walking with a boy. PHOTOS: AFP

A couple walking with a girl on a pedestrian street

”It’s like they’re kicking a football between each other,” she said.

Frustrated, she filed a pending court case.

A 2019 report by a government-affiliated research institute estimated China had more than 19 million single mothers, including divorcees and widows. They’re stuck in a catch-22, said lawyer Dong Xiaoying, who has formed a legal support network for single mothers.

”There’s no direct law stating that having a child out of wedlock is illegal… but it also doesn’t explicitly say it is not illegal,” she said.

This puts women at the mercy of differing interpretations by local governments. China’s National Health Commission went as far as saying in 2017 that out-of-wedlock births were ”against the public order and against good morals”.

The experience of an online advocate for single mothers who has a young daughter of her own, Wang Ruixi, shows how they face more than just bureaucratic indifference. After the outspoken 30-year-old last year expressed her pride online at raising her child alone, she faced a torrent of abuse on social media.

She eventually left China and now lives in Europe. ”I can take the discrimination and abuse,” she said.

”But I don’t want my child to grow up in such an environment.”

Still, there are some flickers of hope. Since 2016, children of single parents have finally been allowed to obtain the local household registration status crucial for gaining access to government services like schooling and healthcare.

The government has sought to promote marriage and child-bearing after China in 2020 saw its lowest number of marriage registrations in 17 years, partly due to improving educational and career options for women.

China’s national legislature met in Beijing earlier this month, with at least two members calling for measures to help single mothers, but it is unclear whether they will gain any traction.

A fundamental cultural shift is needed, said Dong, and ”it’s impossible to change all at once”.

A 37-year-old single mother in Shanghai who declined to give her full name, Yu has a two-year-old son.

Yu split up with the boy’s father after he told her to ”disappear” when she asked him to help support their child, she said, tears streaming down her face.

Raising the boy by herself, she has waged a fierce but futile fight for maternity benefits.

”Everything I did has been useless,” she said.

Local authorities even called her boss to complain about Yu’s persistence, but she is undeterred.

”We should fight for (our rights) so at least we don’t have regrets,” she said.

Many women have found inspiration in the family story of Chinese-American freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who became a sensation in the country with her gold-medal performance at last month’s Beijing Olympics.

Her mother Yan Gu, who raised Eileen herself, has become a model for Chinese single mothers, drawing praise online as an example of the successful children they can raise.

Yu said she has friends who have chosen not to have children.

”All of these family structures should be seen as normal,” she said.

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Borneo Bulletin is the leading English daily in the country. It was first published by Brunei Press. Today, Borneo Bulletin has become the foremost source of information on local and foreign affairs, and the region’s business news.

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