TISHOMINGO, OKLAHOMA (AP) – Six teenage students have been killed in a two-vehicle collision in southern Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) said on Tuesday.
The students were in a passenger vehicle that collided with a semi about 12.30pm in Tishomingo, a rural city of about 3,000 located about 161 kilometres southwest of Oklahoma City, according to OHP spokesperson Sarah Stewart.
The girls were eastbound on Oklahoma 22 when their vehicle was struck by a rock hauler that was approaching from the east on US 377, OHP Trooper Shelby Humphrey told KXII-TV of nearby Sherman, Texas.
Maps show the intersection is at the end of a 90-degree curve of US 377 from east to south.
The girls’ car was making a right turn when it collided with the truck, Humphrey said. Stewart said she did not have the exact ages of the students, but all six victims were female. The condition of the semi driver was not immediately known.
Images from the scene of the crash showed a virtually destroyed black vehicle with what appeared to be a pink steering wheel among the rubble.
Tishomingo Public School Superintendent Bobby Waitman said in a Facebook post that the district had “a great loss” involving students from the district’s high school.
“Our hearts are broken, and we are grieving with our students and staff,” said Waitman, who did not immediately return a phone call on Tuesday.
Waitman said counsellors would be available at the high school throughout the night on Tuesday and that school would be open with a focus on “the emotional well-being of our students.”
A heavily damaged vehicle is seen off a road in Tishomingo following a two-vehicle collision in which six teenage students were killed. PHOTO: AP
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND (AP) – New Zealand’s flagship airline said yesterday it has started selling tickets for direct flights to and from New York, a new route that will take more than 17 hours southbound and be among the longest non-stop flights in the world.
Air New Zealand had intended to start the route from Auckland to John F Kennedy International Airport in 2020 but then the pandemic hit. The first flights will now begin in September.
For two years, the South Pacific nation imposed some of the world’s toughest border restrictions. But the government announced earlier this month that it would re-open to tourists from the United States (US) and many other countries by May 1 as the pandemic threat receded.
The airline’s Chief Executive Greg Foran told The Associated Press he thought that inbound demand to New Zealand would initially exceed outbound demand.
“I think there’s a bunch of people on the east coast of America who are going to love the opportunity to come here direct,” he said.
An Air New Zealand passenger plane on the tarmac at Auckland International Airport. PHOTO: AP
Foran said that things like the war in Ukraine and the zero-COVID policy in China had made Europe and Asia less desirable destinations.
“You’ve gone through a pretty tough couple of years in the US and here’s a brand new destination,” he said. “You turn up at JFK, you catch the plane at nine o’clock at night and you land at eight o’clock in the morning in New Zealand.”
Flights on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner are scheduled to last 16 hours northbound, helped slightly by the prevailing winds, and 17-and-a-half hours southbound. Time differences can help make it seem more like an overnight flight – albeit a long night – coming into New Zealand.
Foran said there was no evidence that flights of 16 or 17 hours posed any extra health risks and that passengers would be able to get up and do some light exercise as required. He said the airline was looking at lots of ways to improve the flying experience for passengers.
The new flights would be about 14,200 kilometres each way and tickets start from about NZD2,000 roundtrip.
Singapore Airlines currently offers the longest regular direct flights, from Singapore to New York, that cover about 15,300 kilometres.
Amid blood banks running low on vital supplies especially for Thalassemia patients and emergency cases, more communities are coming forward to answer the call for replenishment.
Annajat Complex on Monday organised a two-day blood donation campaign to increase the blood stock at Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (RIPAS) Hospital.
A medical team from RIPAS Hospital provided expertise in conducting medical check-up, COVID screening using antigen rapid test (ART) and collecting blood from the donors.
A total of 23 pints of blood were collected on the first day of the campaign and another 44 pints on the second day.
Annajat representative Awangku Mohd Norhalimin bin Pengiran Haji Rakit said the event marked the third blood donation drive conducted this year.
With the objective to help save lives and encourage the public to jointly answer the call of blood donation, Annajat plans to conduct a two-day blood donation campaigns monthly.
Successful donors received goodie bags contributed by RIPAS Hospital and Annajat.
Blood donation drives have seen a decline due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country as people are worried about the spike in new cases. However, several organisations, particularly the private sector are making efforts to collaborate with RIPAS Hospital Blood Donation Centre to conduct blood drives.
ABOVE & BELOW: RIPAS Hospital medical staff perform health screening; and donors during the blood donation drive. PHOTOS: LYNA MOHAMAD
BERLIN (AP) – Ukrainian refugee Mariia Kerashchenko tightly clasped the hands of her two children as she walked them through the courtyard of a seedy Berlin building, up a graffiti-covered stairway, and into a modern, sunlit classroom.
Her seven-year-old son, Myroslav, is one of 40 children who started their first day of school on Monday, only weeks after joining the millions flooding into Europe to flee the war in Ukraine.
Daughter Zoriana, who is three, is still too young for the class, which is being taught by two Ukrainians who also fled to the German capital. The lessons, part of a volunteer initiative, will prepare the children for entering Berlin’s regular school system.
“It gets me emotional when I see all the help and solidarity here,” the 30-year-old Kerashchenko, from Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, told The Associated Press (AP), her eyes welling with tears.
“Every day, I hope that we can go back to Ukraine, but it is too dangerous for now, so in the meantime it is wonderful that my son can go to school in Germany,” she added.
The classes for the refugees were put together by Burcak Sevilgen and Faina Karlitski, who in only two weeks raised the funds, organised the rent-free classrooms and advertised their programme on the messaging service Telegram.
ABOVE & BELOW: Refugee children from the Ukraine wait with their mothers for the start of their classes; and Ukrainian teacher Tatyana Gubskaya teaches a class in Berlin, Germany. PHOTOS: AP
Two refugee children stand in front of a white board before their classes startChildren attend a class for Ukrainian refugees
The children nervously clutched their new exercise books, sharpened pencils and erasers as their new teachers welcomed them in Ukrainian on the third floor of the former factory. They will follow their curriculum from back home and also take German language classes. The three hours of school each weekday will be followed by activities such as playacting, painting or handicrafts.
Natalia Khalil, 33, from Rivne in western Ukraine, is teaching the third and fourth graders, while Tatjana Gubskaya, 56, will be in charge of the first and second graders. Gubskaya fled Ukraine with her daughter and a seven-year-old grandson, who is in her classroom.
“The kids are grateful to have some kind of routine again and meet other children from Ukraine – they and their mothers have all been very stressed lately,” said Gubskaya, who also taught second grade classes before the February 24 Russian invasion.
The teachers will be paid EUR500 per month in donations until they have work permits and can be officially hired.
Sevilgen, 36, one of the two people behind the refugee classes, is a Berlin teacher herself. She and her 31-year-old friend Karlitski, a management consultant, decided to do what they could to get at least some of the refugee children back into school quickly.
“We both have always had an eye for social issues and wanted to help here as well,” Sevilgen said, explaining why they have spent every free minute to organise the classes.
They started raising funds and arranged with the Berlin youth support programme Arche – “ark” in English – to take over the sponsorship for the classes. They got an offer from online search engine Ecosia to use the rent-free rooms in Berlin’s immigrant neighbourhood of Wedding and quickly connected via Telegram with Ukrainian mothers who had recently arrived in Berlin.
More than three million Ukrainians have fled abroad, most of them to Poland. The majority are mothers and their children, with men of military age not allowed to leave Ukraine. Inside the country, over six million have been displaced, according to the United Nations (UN).
Germany has registered 225,357 Ukrainian refugees as of Monday, although the real numbers are expected to be much higher, since they don’t need a visa to enter the country, and federal police only keep records of refugees arriving by train or bus. Those Ukrainians entering Germany from Poland by car usually are not registered.
Up to 10,000 refugees have been arriving by train daily in Berlin since the start of the war, and thousands more have come by car. Many are staying at shelters in the city’s convention centre and at a former airport, while others are with relatives who immigrated years ago and belong to a 300,000-member Ukrainian diaspora.
The government estimates that about half of the refugees are children and teenagers who will need to attend schools and kindergartens. It has established a task force to coordinate their school attendance in Germany’s 16 states.
Several Berlin schools, including some private institutions, already have taken in a few refugees, and city officials are in the process of establishing up to 50 special welcome classes to bring them up to speed in language skills. The authorities can draw from their experience from 2015-16, when about one million people fled conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Those children eventually entered the school system.
Until the welcome classes are up and running, the two classes organised by Sevilgen and Karlitski will help ease the children’s transition to their new lives, teach them German and enable them to make new friends.
“A new routine and other children – those are the most important things for them right now,” Sevilgen said. “And if we get more donations, we hope that we will be able to keep this project running as long as it takes to get the kids into the regular Berlin schools.”
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Giannis Antetokounmpo had 25 points and 17 rebounds in his return to action and the Milwaukee Bucks extended their recent mastery of the Chicago Bulls with a 126-98 blowout yesterday.
Antetokounmpo missed the Bucks’ 138-119 loss at Minnesota on Saturday due to a sore right knee. Milwaukee played without All-Star forward Khris Middleton, who was dealing with a sore left wrist.
“He took a fall in the Minnesota game, and it was pretty sore and stiff, so we’ve had it looked at,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said before the game. “We feel like it’s short term, but we’ll see how he feels the next day or two.”
Jrue Holiday had a game-high 27 points to go along with seven assists and no turnovers as the Bucks won for the 15th time in their last 16 meetings with the Bulls, including all three matchups this season. Chicago’s lone win during that stretch came in the 2019-20 regular-season finale, when the Bucks rested their starters because they were locked into the East’s number three playoff seed.
“Jrue was being Jrue,” Antetokounmpo said. “Jrue was being aggressive, making good decisions, getting downhill, getting everybody involved, guarding Zach (LaVine). Everybody was doing their job.
Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo is fouled by Chicago Bulls’ Tristan Thompson during the game. PHOTO: AP
“Obviously we knew that Khris wasn’t playing, and Khris is a big part of our team and what we do here, but at the end of the day, even with the team that we have, we’re a great team.”
Brook Lopez had 10 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes for Milwaukee after making his first start since the season opener. The seven-footer had come off the bench for the Bucks’ last three games after missing 67 due to a back injury that required surgery.
The Bucks shot 61 per cent from the floor and had seven players score in double figures. The Bulls shot just 42.4 per cent.
“Shots we would want them to take, they made,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “It was a night where they really, really had it going. Credit to them. And it was a night we just didn’t shoot the ball particularly well.”
Nikola Vucevic had 22 points for the Bulls, who opened a five-game trip one night after a 113-99 victory over the Toronto Raptors. DeMar DeRozan and LaVine added 21 points each as the Bulls lost for the ninth time in 12 games.
“At some point, we’ve got to get tired of getting our butt kicked like this and flip that switch of understanding, all right, enough is enough,” DeRozan said. “Now it’s time to turn it around and show that desperation.”
Milwaukee took command with a 23-4 spurt that began late in the first quarter and continued in the second.
After trailing by 23 late in the second period, the Bulls cut the lead to 64-54 early in the third. But the Bucks regrouped and pulled away again, eventually leading by as many as 35.
KUALA LUMPUR (CNA) – Malaysia will discuss with regional leaders to make Bahasa Melayu, or Malay, as the second language of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob yesterday.
He was responding to questions in the Upper House on the efforts to elevate Malaysia’s national language at the international level.
Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri said apart from Malaysia, the Malay language is already used in several ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Southern Thailand, Southern Philippines and parts of Cambodia.
He said during his visit to Cambodia recently, he was informed there were 800,000 Malay-Chams who used Malay and in Vietnam, there were some 160,000 Malay speakers among those of Malay-Cham ancestry.
“Hence in the whole of ASEAN there are people who can speak Malay. Therefore there is no reason why we cannot make Malay as one of the official languages of ASEAN,” Dato’ Ismail Sabri said. The prime minister added that he would discuss the matter with his ASEAN counterparts.
“I will discuss with the other leaders of ASEAN countries, especially those in countries that already use Malay.
“I will discuss with them on making Malay as the second language in ASEAN. After that, we will discuss with other leaders of ASEAN countries that have populations who speak Malay,” said Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri.
The prime minister was responding to a member of the Senate, Isa Ab Hamid who wanted to know about the government’s efforts to empower Malay language in Malaysia’s diplomatic and foreign relations.
“At this time, only four out of 10 ASEAN countries use English in official events at the international level. Whereas six other countries use their mother tongues for official matters which require translation,” he told the Senate.
Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri said that he always asked the Foreign Ministry to prepare for him speaking notes and related documents in Malay for his reference when conducting overseas official trips.
“We do not have to feel ashamed or awkward to use Malay at the international level. The effort to empower Malay is also in line with one of the priority areas of Malaysia’s Foreign Policy Framework launched on December 7 last year,” he said.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. PHOTO: AFP
The Foreign Ministry was also asked to provide Malay language classes for ministry staff who had been posted overseas along with their children.
Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri said that some of the children of the diplomatic officers have a weak command of the Malay language because they study in international schools.
Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri’s statement to the Upper House followed his earlier statement he made at the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) General Assembly last Saturday, where he announced that the learning of Malay language would be made compulsory for foreign students enrolling in Malaysian universities.
Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri who is one of UMNO’s three vice presidents said that Higher Education Minister Dr Noraini binti Ahmad had agreed to implement the proposal.
“The time has come for us to be proud of the Malay language, as such there is no reason for us to feel awkward about speaking Malay even at the international stage, as language is the soul of the nation,” he told party delegates.
He also said that the ‘Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka’ Act which established the setting up of the body to coordinate the use of Malay language in the country, would also be amended. This is to provide the body with the enforcement powers to take action against those who misuse the language, including those who put up sign boards containing language errors.
“Over 300 million of ASEAN’s population use Malay in daily speech. Malay has the seventh largest number of speakers in the world,” said Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri, expressing his hope that Malay would be ASEAN’s second language.
AP – The United States (US) has agreed to lift tariffs on British steel and aluminium, mending a rift between allies that dates back to the Trump administration.
At a meeting on Tuesday in Baltimore, the US and the United Kingdom (UK) announced a deal that would remove taxes on British steel and aluminum that comes in below new quotas on the imports.
The British agreed to lift retaliatory tariffs on US exports.
In 2018, President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of 25 per cent on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, calling the foreign metals a threat to US national security – a move that outraged the British, Europeans and other longstanding American allies.
Although President Joe Biden had criticised Trump for alienating America’s friends, he was slow once taking office to undo the metals tariffs, popular in the politically important steel-producing states.
Steel rods produced in the US await shipment. PHOTO: AP
Last year, the Biden administration reached a deal with the European Union (EU), agreeing to drop the tariffs on EU metals that come in below new import quotas and continuing to tax imports that exceed them.
Critics said all along that Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs did little to address the real problem confronting American producers of steel and aluminium: overproduction by China.
But the US already shuts out most Chinese steel.
Under the agreement announced on Tuesday, Chinese-owned steel companies in Britain must undergo annual audits to ensure that cheap Chinese steel can’t slip into the US tariff free.
WARSAW, POLAND (AP) – Poland has identified 45 Russian intelligence officers using diplomatic status as cover to stay in the country and authorities are seeking to expel them, officials said yesterday.
Poland’s Internal Security Agency said it’s asking the Foreign Ministry to urgently remove the Russians, who were described as a danger to Poland’s security, from the country.
“These are people who have and operate using their diplomatic status, but in reality conduct intelligence activities against Poland,” said the state security spokesman Stanislaw Zaryn.
He said the decision to expel them now was made “taking into account Russian aggression against Ukraine”.
He said the agency’s work also showed that the Russian services are increasingly on the offensive and “are acting aggressively against Poland”.
Zaryn said in a separate statement that the security agency found that the activities of the 45 Russians have served “the objectives of the Russian undertakings designed to undermine the stability of Poland and its allies in the international arena and poses a threat to the interests and security of our country”.
A man waves the Ukrainian and Polish flag during a demonstration in front of a building housing Russian diplomats in Warsaw. PHOTO: AP
Applications are open for Ramadhan stalls in RPN Kampong Meragang for the village’s residents from March 22 to 27.
Vendors can obtain the application form from RPN Meragang Village Consultative Council committee representatives.
The committee representatives are Chief Secretariat Madzlan bin Haji Jumat at No 7, Jalan Kamangsi Timur, RPN Kampong Meragang, Participant Coordinator Rapiah binti Hidup at No 5, Spg 183-5, Jalan Kamangsi, RPN Kampong Meragang; Assistant Participant Coordinator Hajah Jaria binti Haji Besar at No 7, Spg 21, Jalan Kamangsi Barat, RPN Kampong Meragang; Sales Types Coordinator Yati binti Haji Tuah at No 16, Jalan Kamangsi Timur, RPN Kampong Meragang; and Assistant Sales Types Coordinator Tampoi binti Haji Jair at No 51, Jalan Kamangsi Barat, RPN Kampong Meragang.
Individuals are advised to contact the committee representatives to set an appointment prior to collecting application forms.
Conditions of participation include BND50 rental fee for the whole month of Ramadhan for half a tent provided with a table and two chairs; full payment of rent must be made when collection of application form is made as there is a limited number of only 20 spaces.
Each participant is only allowed to rent two spaces; and identification card must be brought during the collection of application forms.
The application form collection will end on March 27 at 5pm.
Business operating hours of the RPN Kampong Meragang Ramadhan Stalls will be from 2pm to 6.30pm and the types of items allowed for sale are grilled food, dry or wet food, beverages, vegetables, fruits and accessories.
Participating vendors must abide by standard operating procedures (SOP) when present at the application form collection location by always wearing a face mask, having a green or yellow BruHealth code and have completed two vaccine doses.
Participating vendors will also have to abide by the SOPs set during the Ramadhan stalls’ operations with always wearing a face mask, having a green or yellow BruHealth code and have completed two vaccine doses, carry out body temperature check and are healthy.
Children aged 12 and below are not allowed at the place of business.
Vendors, stall keepers and visitors to the Ramadhan stall must complete two doses of vaccine. The organiser reserved the right to reprimand and take action against anyone who does not comply with the SOPs enforced as directed by the Ministry of Health.
The fee paid will not be refunded if there is any cancellation on the use/rental of the space.
SINGAPORE (THE STRAITS TIMES/ANN) – A Vietnamese woman was a director of a trading company when it imported a 40-foot container containing over 1,000 elephant tusks from Apapa, Nigeria.
Yesterday, District Judge Ong Chin Rhu found Dao Thi Boi (The Star pic below), 40, guilty of an offence under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act following a trial.
At the time of the offences, Boi, a Singapore permanent resident, was the owner and director of VNSG Trading as well as Song Hong Trading and Logistics.
During the trial, the court heard that on March 3, 2018, an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer on duty at the ICA Pasir Panjang Scanning Station scanned the container, whose permit declared it contained 203 packages of groundnuts.
The ICA officer found images akin to animal horns inside, and the container was detained for investigation.
A total of 61 bags containing 1,787 suspected elephant tusks weighing 3,480 kilogrammes was found.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lee Zu Zhao said in his submissions that Boi not only turned a blind eye, but actively and knowingly assisted in the dishonest business practices by her client – a man named Su Thien.
According to court documents, Boi handled about seven consignments from Nigeria to Singapore on behalf of Su Thien through her companies between 2017 and March 5, 2018.
As the sole person operating Song Hong Trading and Logistics, Boi had to be fully aware that the company had imported the container that the elephant tusks were in, said DPP Lee.
The court heard that she also failed to take all reasonable precautions and exercise due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.
DPP Lee added, “Just because Song Hong was not involved in the initial stuffing of the container where the elephant tusks were found… or did not participate in the shipping out of the elephant tusks from Nigeria, does not mean that Song Hong did not cause the elephant tusks to be imported into Singapore.
“In fact, the evidence shows that Song Hong played an essential role, and that the elephant tusks could not have been imported into Singapore without Song Hong’s involvement.”
Boi is represented by Wee Pan Lee.
The defence argued that while Boi’s companies were the named consignees, Su Thien should ultimately be responsible for the contents of the shipments.
It also said that Boi’s responsibility or any due diligence on her part extended only to carrying out Su Thien’s instructions.
Given her constraints as a one-person operation, she should not be expected to do more, the court heard.
Boi’s mitigation and sentencing is expected to take place in May.
