BELURAN (BERNAMA) – Sabah will hold a 30-per-cent stake in the MYR400 million high-yield coconut plantation and coconut-based manufacturing facility project developed by Linaco Resources Sdn Bhd in Paitan, Sabah Chief Minister and Finance Minister Dato Hajiji bin Noor said.
He said the state government is providing 2,000 hectares for the high-impact project, which is expected to contribute MYR1.2 billion annually to Sabah’s economy.
Dato Hajiji said under the project, which is part of the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) investment initiative, Linaco will set up infrastructures for the project which is expected to provide more than 4,000 jobs once fully operational in 2026.
“This MYR400 million project will definitely create a big impact. With an expected MYR1.5-billion annual income, surely the economic spillovers will transform Paitan and create employment opportunities to Paitan and nearby communities,” he said when launching the project at a plantation site on Saturday.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was inked between the state government and Linaco Resources Sdn Bhd to develop Sabah’s coconut-based industry in March last year. The company is investing MYR200 million for the development of a high-yield coconut plantation and another MYR200 million for the coconut-based manufacturing facility.
The chief minister gave an assurance that the state government will push its development agenda to bring progress to Sabah and its people, whereby MYR561.81 million was being allocated to finance the needs of the agriculture sector, which was one of the three main thrusts of SMJ under this year’s State Budget.
He said the Sabah International Business and Economic (SIBES) 2022 Summit in January this year has sparked interests among local and foreign investors on the state’s investment potential.
Sabah Chief Minister and Finance Minister Dato Hajiji bin Noor at the plantation site. PHOTO: BERNAMA
Women’s achievements in Brunei Darussalam were recognised during an event organised by the Embassy of Timor-Leste in Brunei Darussalam on Friday.
The event, held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, was hosted by the spouse of the Ambassador of Timor-Leste to Brunei Darussalam Ana Guterres.
Permanent Secretary (Community and Culture) at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Hajah Nor Ashikin binti Haji Johari was the guest of honour.
A seminar themed ‘Breaking the Bias’ was delivered by four prominent speakers. They were former finance minister of Timor-Leste Fernanda Borges, former ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to Timor-Leste Norazlianah binti Ibrahim, Assistant Professor at Universiti Teknologi Brunei and President of the Brunei Reading and Literacy Association (ReLA) Dr Malai Zeiti binti Sheikh Abdul Hamid, and consultant ophthalmologist at the Ministry of Health and Jerudong Park Medical Centre and President of Brunei Ophthalmology Society Dr Helena Hurairah.
The seminar was moderated by SEAMEO Voctech Management Specialist Dr Jaya Priah Kasinathan.
Permanent Secretary (Community and Culture) at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Hajah Nor Ashikin binti Haji Johari at the event. PHOTO: TIMOR LESTE EMBASSY
Ambassador of the Philippines to Brunei Darussalam Marian Jocelyn R Tirol-Ignacio and Ambassador Designate of the United States of America to Brunei Darussalam Caryn R McClelland also attended.
The guest of honour and speakers were presented with the traditional hand woven textile from Timor-Leste called Tais, used to create clothing for ceremonies and festivals and is recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Other activities included a special cake-cutting session, video viewing of the official International Women’s Day music video and tasting culinary refreshments from Timor-Leste.
Female spouses of heads of missions from Indonesia, United Kingdom, Turkey, Malaysia and Australia as well as the president of the International Women’s Club, executive members of ReLA, general manager and director of Radisson Hotel were also present.
COCHEM, GERMANY (AFP) – For many years, the residents of the leafy town of Cochem in the German Rhineland went about their daily business with no idea they were living on a gold mine.
During the Cold War, the German central bank stashed away almost DEM15 billion worth of an emergency currency in a 1,500-square-metre nuclear bunker beneath the town.
A closely guarded state secret, the currency was codenamed “BBK II” and intended for use if Germany was the target of an attack on its monetary system.
After the Cold War, the bunker passed into the hands of a regional cooperative bank and then a real estate fund. In 2016, it was bought by German couple Manfred and Petra Reuter, who turned it into a museum.
Today, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stoking fears of nuclear conflict, interest in the bunker is growing again.
“Many people we know have pointed out that we have a safe bunker and asked whether there would be room for them in case of an emergency,” said Petra Reuter.
Owner of the Bundesbank Bunker museum Petra Reuter walks through an underground passage in the former vault in Cochem, western Germany. PHOTOS: AFPThe substitute German Mark banknotes in the vault
On tours of the bunker, “questions are naturally asked about the current situation”, which feels like “a leap back in time 60 years”, she said. “The fears are the same.”
Inside, behind a heavy iron door, long corridors lead to decontamination chambers and offices equipped with typewriters and rotary phones.
The main room consists of 12 cages where, for almost 25 years, some 18,300 boxes containing millions of 10, 20, 50 and 100 mark banknotes were stored up to the ceiling.
On the front, the banknotes were almost identical to the real deutschmarks in circulation at the time, but on the back they were very different.
Starting in 1964, the notes were delivered to the bunker by hundreds of trucks over a period of about 10 years, with no one suspecting a thing – not even the East German Stasi secret police.
The bunker was accessed via a secret passage from what was ostensibly a training and development centre for Bundesbank employees in a residential area of the town.
Cochem, located about 100 kilometres from the border with Belgium and Luxembourg, was chosen because it was such a long way from the Iron Curtain.
“The citizens of the community were astonished to discover this treasure, which had been hidden for so long near their homes,” said Wolfgang Lambertz, the former mayor of the town, which has around 5,000 inhabitants.
Along with the DEM15 billion stored in the bunker, just under DEM11 billion worth of the alternative currency was also stored in the vaults of the central bank in Frankfurt.
Altogether, this added up to around DEM25 billion – roughly equivalent to the total amount of cash circulating in the German economy in 1963.
Perhaps an extreme measure to ward off a merely hypothetical attack, but the German authorities had been guided by lessons from history.
During World War II, ‘Operation Bernhard’ was launched, in which prisoners in concentration camps were forced to manufacture counterfeit pounds with the aim of flooding England with them.
“The most plausible explanation was probably the fear that counterfeit money would be smuggled through the Iron Curtain in order to damage the West German economy,” according to President of the Bundesbank’s regional office for Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland Bernd Kaltenhaueser.
CHILTON, ALABAMA (AP) – An Alabama man who called a wrecker service asking to have a 70-tonne crane pulled out of the woods is now charged with stealing the heavy machinery, sheriff’s officials said.
The owner of a towing service contacted the Chilton County Sheriff’s Office last Monday, saying the man had called claiming someone gave him the crane, and he wanted it removed so he could sell it for scrap, the agency said in a statement.
The wrecker service owner recalled moving the same crane a few years before and contacted its owner, who denied having given it away. The towing operator then called law enforcement. The man who wanted the crane moved fled before officers arrived, driving the rig into a ditch where it became stuck. The 26-year-old Clanton man was arrested last Tuesday on a probation violation and first-degree theft charges.
NORTH KINGSTOWN, RHODE ISLAND (AP) – This is the story of a mischievous mutt who turned out to be a very good girl. Such a good girl, in fact, that she saved a life.
Ruby, an Australian shepherd and border collie mix, ended up in a Rhode Island animal shelter as a pup because of persistent behavioural problems. Five families adopted her in turn, only for each to return her because she was too rambunctious.
“She was a total knucklehead,” said shelter volunteer and dog trainer Patricia Inman, who repeatedly intervened to keep Ruby from being euthanised. “She jumped and bit her leash.
She wouldn’t sit or lie down. She just never stopped moving. She was special, and she needed a special person.”
Enter state police corporal Daniel O’Neil, who needed a search-and-rescue dog. In 2011, he was taken by an eight-month-old Ruby’s irrepressible energy and intelligence, and after Inman vouched for her, she was trained as a police K-9.
Fast-forward to October 2017, when this tale takes an incredible twist: A teenage boy got lost for 36 hours while hiking, and Ruby succeeded where a human search party failed – she found the boy, who was unconscious and in grave medical condition. He turned out to be Inman’s son.
Ruby, an Australian shepherd and border collie mix with state police corporal Daniel O’Neil. PHOTOS: AP
Rescued by Ruby, which premiered on March 17 on Netflix, tells the story of a problematic pooch who just needed another shot.
“Ruby was given a chance at life and ended up saving a life,” the American Humane Hero Dog organisation said in a 2018 citation naming her the nation’s ‘Search and Rescue Dog of the Year’.
In yet another twist, Ruby is played by a canine actor, Bear, another former shelter dog who was saved by the movie’s dog trainers from being put down.
“It’s a true underdog story,” O’Neil, 41, said in an interview at his office at the Rhode Island State Police, where he now oversees an 18-dog K-9 unit.
“It’s like divine intervention. She was given a chance and she’s been doing everything she can to pay it back,” he said. “You have this dog that was given up on, and she’s changed so many people’s lives.”
O’Neil knew adopting a shelter dog written off as unmanageable was a gamble. Police dogs typically are bred for their work and trained from birth. Most state police K-9s cost USD7,500 and come from Europe.
But O’Neil recalls being impressed by Ruby’s determination and focus, and she graduated at the top of her class. And as someone with dyslexia and hyperactivity, he identified with Ruby. “We both kind of know where each other’s coming from,” he said.
On the afternoon of the boy’s rescue, Ruby led O’Neil straight to the teen, who had tumbled into a ravine. O’Neil’s radio and GPS were out of range, but Ruby’s repeated barking drew authorities to the scene. The youth, who has since recovered, declined to be interviewed.
When O’Neil knocked on the door of the boy’s home to deliver the good news, he found himself face to face with Inman: “I said, ‘Pat, this was her thank you for saving her life – she saved your boy’s life.’ And we both started to cry.”
Later, as it all sank in, Inman found herself wondering: What if?
What if O’Neil hadn’t taken a chance? What if Ruby had been put down?
“I was so grateful. I was beside myself and overwhelmed,” she said. “So many things had to fall into place for this to happen the way it did. The universe works in mysterious ways.”
O’Neil, who’s played in the Netflix film by The Flash actor Grant Gustin, said he hopes people will consider adopting a shelter dog.
“If you show them love and compassion and you give them a certain type of stability, they’ll show their true colours,” he said.
SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea fired multiple rocket launchers yesterday, Seoul said, the latest in a series of provocations by the nuclear-armed nation to heighten tensions in the region.
Pyongyang launched a string of banned weaponry this year and tested what it claimed were components of a “reconnaissance satellite” – although Seoul and Washington have described them as a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system.
“There were shots suspected to be from North Korea’s multiple rocket launchers this morning,” said the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a text message to reporters.
“Our military is maintaining our defence readiness while closely following related developments,” it added, without further detail.
Four shots were fired into the western waters during a span of an hour from 7.20am from an unspecified location in South Pyongan province, Yonhap news agency reported.
Four individuals were issued compound fines for violating the movement restriction directive from midnight to 4am yesterday.
Three violators breached the stay-at-home directive while one violator did not have the BruHealth app. The violators were Md Ayubshah bin Haji Abdul Latif, Ling Leew Choun and Sheikh Thameem Ansari Ibnusuhoo.
ABOVE & BELOW: Md Ayubshah bin Haji Abdul Latif, Ling Leew Choun and Sheikh Thameem Ansari Ibnusuhoo
SINGAPORE (CNA) – Eight men have been arrested for their suspected involvement in two separate series of “Ponzi-like job scams”, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said yesterday.
The arrests were made during the police’s anti-scam enforcement operations.
Five men aged between 18 and 26 were arrested during an operation conducted between March 8 and March 18, while the other three, aged between 26 and 30, were nabbed during an operation that was carried out on March 17 and March 18, SPF said in a news release.
Investigations into both series of scams are ongoing.
The five men arrested in the first enforcement operation are suspected of being involved in perpetrating Ponzi-like job scams involving an e-commerce affiliate business (EAB).
Another two men and seven women, aged between 18 and 72, are also being investigated for their suspected involvement in the job scams.
The police received several reports between December 2021 and March 2022 about victims receiving unsolicited WhatsApp messages and Facebook or Telegram posts with advertisements promoting highly paid part-time affiliate marketing related jobs.
The scammers would offer fake online jobs that required the victims to complete easy tasks such as making online purchases, the police said.
In order to perform more job tasks and earn their commission, the victims were directed to recruit more members to upgrade their membership status.
“In most cases, the victims would be convinced that it was a legitimate job as they would receive commissions and profit during the early stage of their memberships,” said the police.
“Victims would realise that they had been scammed when they did not receive further commissions or were unable to make withdrawals from their member accounts.”
AP – No matter the opponent, no matter the competition, Chelsea’s players are managing to maintain their on-field focus amid a troubling period for the club.
It’s now six straight wins since Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich announced he’d be selling the London club, with Chelsea swatting aside second-tier Middlesbrough in a 2-0 win to reach the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday.
Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech scored the first-half goals that were celebrated by a smaller-than-normal pocket of visiting fans inside the Riverside Stadium.
In light of the economic sanctions placed on Abramovich by the British government for his close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine, Chelsea was only able to take around 700 supporters for the match in the northeast.
The disparity in backing didn’t make a difference, with Middlesbrough’s ambitions of following up victories over Premier League teams Manchester United and Tottenham in the earlier rounds quickly snuffed out.
And so concluded another turbulent week for Chelsea, which advanced in the Champions League on Wednesday – setting up a quarterfinal meeting with Real Madrid – before a deadline passed on Friday for bids to buy the club from Abramovich and end his 19-year ownership.
Given the doubts over their futures, Chelsea’s players are showing remarkable professionalism and application.
No little skill, too, with both of the goals being length-of-the-field moves that started with Chelsea’s ball-playing defenders beating Middlesbrough’s high press.
Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku scores his side’s first goal during the English FA Cup quarterfinal. PHOTO: APArsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno celebrates with teammates. PHOTO: AP
The first ended with Ziyech setting free Mason Mount, whose low cross from the right was tapped home by Lukaku in the 15th minute.
Ziyech made it 2-0 in the 31st by cutting in from the right, aided by Cesar Azpilicueta’s decoy run taking away a defender, and drilling a low, angled shot into the far corner from outside the area.
Meanwhile, It’s looking more and more likely that Arsenal will be back in the Champions League next season.
A 1-0 win at Aston Villa saw Arsenal move four points clear of fifth-place Manchester United in the race to finish in the Premier League’s top four. Arsenal has a game in hand, too.
Bukayo Saka scored the 30th-minute winner – for his ninth league goal this season -by latching onto a ball that was weakly cleared by the Villa defence and lashing a low, first-time shot past unsighted goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez from the edge of the area.
Arsenal was in control for most of the lunchtime game at Villa Park, despite the short turnaround from its loss to Liverpool on Wednesday night – a schedule that had annoyed manager Mikel Arteta.
“I think the team showed today a lot of personality to come and play the way we played,” Arteta said. “We dominated the game.”
This season is the first in a quarter of a century that Arsenal has not been involved in European competition.
SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia expanded its sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine yesterday, immediately banning all exports of alumina and bauxite while pledging more weapons and humanitarian assistance.
The export ban aims to impact aluminium production in Russia, which relies on Australia for 20 per cent of its alumina.
It comes just days after Canberra sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who owns a stake in Queensland Alumina Limited – a joint venture between Russian aluminium company Rusal and mining giant Rio Tinto, which has vowed to sever all business ties with Russia.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government was working with partners to “put the maximum cost, the maximum pressure on the Putin regime to withdraw from Ukraine”.
Morrison said Australia had levelled 476 sanctions against Russian individuals and institutions since the invasion began.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. PHOTO: AFP
