With the country recording a low number of new COVID-19 cases daily, it conveys a message that things are going back to normal to some; not new normal but the one where digital payment is a matter of inconvenience.
I was using a delivery service recently and was surprised to learn that they no longer accept bank transfer. Fortunately, I had some cash with me.
What concerns me is the trend backwards, with some companies reverting to the old way of conducting business. I won’t be surprised if delivery service falls out of favour in the near future.
ROME (AP) – Italy’s Lower Chamber of Parliament yesterday set January 24 as the start date to begin voting for a new president, officially kicking off a campaign that is expected to see Premier Mario Draghi and ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi vie for the prestigious job.
The victor, who is chosen by around 1,000 “big electors” among lawmakers and regional representatives, will replace President Sergio Mattarella, whose seven-year term ends on February 3. The voting is expected to last several rounds over several days.
The Italian presidency has limited powers and is largely ceremonial. But the president plays a key role in resolving political impasses, which aren’t uncommon in Italy.
And this election comes before a new season of campaigning before the 2023 parliamentary election.
During Italy’s political crisis last year, Mattarella tapped Draghi to lead a government of national unity to help guide the country through the pandemic and secure European Union (EU) funding for Italy’s recovery plan.
At his end-of-year news conference, Draghi said he had accomplished what he set out to do, indicating his availability to move into the presidential Quirinale Palace and allow political parties to resume the process of governing.
The centre-left Democratic Party, which recently has topped polls with around 20 per cent of voters, has voiced strong support for a Draghi presidency, believing that the internationally respected Draghi would send a signal of continued Italian stability and credibility.
NEW YORK (AP) – Hollywood closed out 2021 with more fireworks at the box office for Spider-Man: No Way Home, which topped all films for the third straight week and already charts among the highest grossing films ever.
The film industry heads into 2022 with plenty of reason for both optimism and concern after a year that saw overall ticket revenue double that of 2020, but still well off the pre-pandemic pace.
Movie theatres began the year mostly shuttered but ended it with a monster smash.
Sony Pictures’ Marvel sequel No Way Home grossed an estimated USD52.7 million over the weekend to bring its three-week total to USD609.9 million. That ranks 10th all-time in North America.
Worldwide, it’s made USD1.37 billion, a total that puts it above Black Panther and makes it the 12th highest grossing film globally.
No Way Home, Tom Holland’s third standalone film as the webslinger, gave a huge lift to the box-office recovery that started in earnest last spring when United States (US) cinemas opened after a year of COVID-19 closures.
A scene from the movie ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’. PHOTO: SONY ENTERTAINMENT
Marvel films dominated the turbulent year, accounting for the top four movies of 2021: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Black Widow.
The North American box office in 2021 amounted to USD4.5 billion, according to data firm ComScore. That’s about 60 per cent down from 2019 – back before the days of masked moviegoers, social distancing and virus variants like the currently surging Omicron.
Whether the movies will ever reach those pre-pandemic totals again is uncertain, given that exclusive theatrical windows have since shrunk, studios have experimented with hybrid releases and little besides superhero films are packing theatres.
Partly due to COVID-19 disruptions, the 2022 release schedule is unusually packed with potential blockbusters, including The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion, Thor: Love and Thunder and Avatar 2.
Second place over the weekend went to Universal Picture’s animated sequel Sing 2. It took in USD19.6 million in its second weekend to bring its two-week total to USD89.7 million.
That’s a steady result given that family movies and films skewing toward older moviegoers have been the slowest to bounce back during the pandemic.
Sing 2 added another USD54.9 million internationally. It’s trajectory should make it the top animated release of the pandemic.
But after No Way Home and Sing 2, there was little that appealed to moviegoers over the
holiday weekend.
The King’s Man, the third instalment in Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman series, grossed a modest USD4.5 million in its second week after a lackluster debut. But that was still good enough for third place. The Disney release, produced by 20th Century Studios, has made USD47.8 million globally.
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story sold USD2.1 million in tickets in its fourth weekend. While holding well (the film dropped 26 per cent from the week prior), the once-envisioned holiday upswing for the acclaimed musical hasn’t materialised. West Side Story has grossed a disappointing USD29.6 million domestically.
After flopping on its debut last week, Warner Bros’ The Matrix Resurrections dropped a steep 64 per cent in its second weekend with USD3.8 million. The film is simultaneously streaming on HBO Max, a 2021 practice that the studio has pledged to end in 2022. The long-in-coming Matrix reboot was even edged by the second week of the Kurt Warner NFL drama American Underdog, which grossed USD4.1 million for Lionsgate.
One of the only new releases of the week was Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, with Tilda Swinton. Its distributor, Neon, has laid out a novel strategy for the art-house release, playing the film in only one theatre at a time, with no plans for a future streaming or physical release. Memoria started its quixotic, cross-country journey with USD52,656 since opening on December 16 at New York’s IFC Center.
Visitors to the Royal Regalia can now access a personalised guided tour on their mobile phones following the launch of the Digital Audio Tour Guide for Royal Regalia on the izi.TRAVEL mobile app yesterday.
The digital audio tour comes in five languages: Bahasa Melayu, English, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese. The Embassy of China in Brunei Darussalam, the Embassy of Korea in Brunei Darussalam and the Embassy of Japan in Brunei Darussalam provided assistance with the foreign languages.
Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Apong and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin launched the Digital Audio Tour Guide.
As part of the contribution to digitalising tourism in the Sultanate, the Digital Audio Tour Guide was created by ebode, a team of content creators under Dynamik Technologies Sdn Bhd, in collaboration with the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) and Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS).
The application allows users to access tours virtually from home or use as a personal pocket audio guide when visiting places of interest.
The digital guide aims to promote the Sultanate’s history, landmarks and culture to local and international tourists, with the support of the MPRT and the MCYS. Tourists can explore Brunei at their own pace with a modern, immersive and user-friendly experience learning about the country’s historical and cultural attractions.
Quizzes and quests are embedded in some tours for interactivities and photos of artefacts, audio and videos are also available.
Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Apong and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin at the launch of the Digital Audio Tour Guide as Dynamik Technologies Sdn Bhd CEO Haslina binti Haji Mohd Taib looks on. PHOTOS: BAHYIAH BAKIR & MUIZ MATDANIDato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali and Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan on a tour of the museum using the digital audio tour guideDato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali and Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan use the digital audio tour guideLegislative Council member Yang Berhormat Haji Abdul Hamid @ Sabli bin Haji Arsad and Permanent Secretary (Administration, Finance and Estate) at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Pengiran Mohd Amirrizal bin Pengiran Haji Mahmud are shown the digital audio tour guide
Dynamik Technologies Sdn Bhd CEO Haslina binti Haji Mohd Taib said, “When we first reviewed the digital transformation of tourism in Brunei working with the MPRT, it was proposed to initially begin with the digitisation of tour guidance for museums.
“We assessed the technologies that museums worldwide adopted with the aim to digitise information such as maps, navigation, description of artefacts and historical events.
“We also realised that museums were investing in the future generation to ensure significant historical events are understood and as such, there was a need to invest in technology to cater to the tech savvy generation who depend on stimulation and interactivity,” she said.
Haslina added, “In line with industry 4.0, data driven information is vital to improving the overall tourist experience. On a larger scale, we saw that with Brunei’s digital tourism, we could create robust tours, address the need for more tour guides, create consistency of information in different languages, create programmes and interactive elements, help structure tours and make it more interesting for tourists to get to know the Sultanate.
“We proposed that the best way and the most common tool at hand that almost everyone possess is a smartphone. Smartphone tours have multiple features such as audio, photos, text, videos, quests and using triggering technologies like GPS, bluetooth and QR code scanning. We began by building a prototype for Zone A of the Royal Regalia Museum, a well-known and popular tourist attraction and an outdoor tour for Bandar Seri Begawan.”
Using the izi.TRAVEL application, she said, “We placed Brunei on the map and given the situation with COVID-19, we started receiving virtual tourists, not only from Brunei but also from China, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United Kingdom. Since then, we have taken our collaboration further with the MPRT and the MCYS and created a premium tour for the Royal Regalia Museum for all the zones within the museum.”
She hoped that through the digital guide, tourists can now be immersed in the history and culture of Brunei Darussalam as they explore and learn about the country’s historical and cultural landmarks, anytime and anywhere.
The digital audio guide will also supplement physical visits whether solo or in groups. Visitors, who are visually or audio impaired, can also listen or read the information.
“We will continue to expand the collection of digital audio guides for the benefit of our domestic and international tourists,” Haslina added.
Ambassadors, ambassador designates, high commissioners, Tourism Board members, senior officials from the MPRT, the MCYS and Dynamik Technologies management also attended.
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – A mix of meat, vegetables, pasta and the squash for which it is named, Haitians enjoy joumou soup every January 1 to celebrate the new year and their country’s independence.
Before it became a symbol of Haiti’s freedom, the soup was one of oppression.
The enslaved Haitians who grew the giraumon or turban squash, the key ingredient, were forbidden from eating the dish. It was reserved solely for the French plantation masters.
But on January 1, 1804, when the first black-led republic was born, Marie-Claire Heureuse Felicite – the wife of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a leader of Haiti’s revolution and the independent nation’s first ruler – chose to serve the soup.
Cooking joumou soup “was a way to mark those years of deprivation and oppression, and to claim victory over the colonisers”, said Port-au-Prince resident Nathalie Cardichon as she buys ingredients for the national dish at the market.
“That’s the meaning of this soup,” she added.
Traditionally, serving the dish is also a time of reunion for families. But for many, 2022 will
be different.
Relatives gather to eat a traditional soup in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. PHOTO: AFP
In 2021, not long after Haiti’s president was assassinated, the country suffered a devastating earthquake. Political turmoil and poverty have intensified, as have violence and kidnappings by gangs that have become all-powerful.
A lack of security and inability to travel on roads guarded by armed gangs have forced many Haitians to spend the symbolic day far from their loved ones.
“I have friends at university whose parents don’t live in Port-au-Prince and who can’t go home to the provinces because of the security situation, so I invited them” to my house, said a student in the Haitian capital Stephanie Smith.
Her mother Rosemene Dorceus often makes joumou soup for their family. But for the national holiday, she makes whole pots of it.
It’s enough to feed “about 20 people”, the 54-year-old estimated modestly – but her daughter thinks it could easily feed at least 30.
“We are eight in my family but unfortunately, in the neighbourhood, there are people who can’t afford to make the soup, so we think of them,” explained the 27-year-old Smith.
The work in the kitchen started on December 31, 2021. Before the sun has even risen on January 1, the women in the family are busy around the stove.
Dorceus recalled a time when she and her husband would make the soup together, when the children were small.
“Now that my daughters are grown, they help me,” she said.
Delighted with the family time spent preparing the feast, Smith said her younger brothers do help a little, “but they mostly come by to eat, especially the meat”.
The richly historied soup has just received international recognition, with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designating it as part of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity”.
“Haiti’s struggle and its voice have been made invisible, and this is now a way to record it,” said Haiti’s ambassador to the UN cultural agency Dominique Dupuy.
She noted Haiti’s “fundamental and crucial role in humanity’s history”, as the first country to have abolished slavery.
The designation of joumou soup constitutes a “just historical rectification”, according to Dupuy.
Her delegation did everything possible to obtain the listing, requesting accelerated processing for the request in August. On December 16, the designation was granted.
With 2021 having been an “exceptionally painful year”, it was necessary to have “systems to help us keep our heads high”, said Dupuy, a native of Cap-Haitien, which suffered a tragedy on December 14 when a gas truck exploded, killing dozens.
In Haiti, cooking joumou soup, a custom that dates back over two centuries, is a way to honour the country and its past.
For Cardichon, the market-goer, it’s a way of inviting the world to “discover Haiti’s history” – and a way to show “how proud we are as a people, that we take and continue the tradition of our ancestors”.
THE STAR/DPA – A child’s mental wellbeing is strongly linked to the kind of food she or he is offered every day.
This is according to research that sheds light on the vital role played by a healthy diet from an early age.
The mental health of older schoolchildren in particular improves with a good breakfast and lunch, as well as daily fruit and vegetables, according to research involving 9,000 children in the United Kingdom (UK) carried out by the University of East Anglia in Norwich.
In a statement, Head of the study published in September (2021) Professor Ailsa Welch said a child’s nutrition has as much, or even more, influence on mental wellbeing than seeing fighting parents, or even violence at home. According to the study, children who did not eat breakfast had poorer mental wellbeing, while children who ate five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day had the highest scores in the test.
“While the links between nutrition and physical health are well understood, until now, not much has been known about whether nutrition plays a part in children’s emotional wellbeing,” Professor Welch said.
“There is a growing recognition of the importance of mental health and wellbeing in early life – not least because adolescent mental health problems often persist into adulthood, leading to poorer life outcomes and achievement.”
The researchers asked the children about their eating habits and studied factors such as cheerfulness, the ability to relax and interpersonal relationships in tests – all of which contributed to their assessment of the children’s mental health.
Other possible influencing factors – problematic family relationships, for example – were taken into account.
Health experts have long pointed to a dietary rule of thumb that everyone (not just children) should eat five portions of fruit or vegetables a day.
According to the study, a six-year-old child should eat 230 grammes of vegetables and 210 grammes of fruit per day.
By the age of 13, girls should eat 320 grammes of vegetables and 300 grammes of fruit, and boys 390 grammes of vegetables and 360 grammes of fruit. Both can be either raw or cooked, and any vegetables and fruit used in warm meals also counts towards the daily recommended amount.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (AP) – Novak Djokovic (AP; pic below) will get a chance to defend his Australian Open title after receiving a medical exemption to travel to Melbourne, ending months of uncertainty about his participation because of the strict regulations and COVID-19 vaccination requirements in place for the tournament.
The top-ranked Djokovic wrote on Instagram yesterday he has “an exemption permission” to travel to Australia.
Djokovic, who is seeking a record 21st Grand Slam singles title, has continually refused to reveal if he is vaccinated against the coronavirus. The Victoria state government has mandated that all players, staff and fans attending the Australian Open must be fully vaccinated unless there is a genuine reason why an exemption should be granted.
Australian Open organisers issued a statement yesterday to confirm Djokovic will be allowed to compete at the Australian Open and is on his way to Australia.
“Djokovic applied for a medical exemption which was granted following a rigorous review process involving two separate independent panels of medical experts,” the statement said.
“One of those was the Independent Medical Exemption Review Panel appointed by the Victorian Department of Health.
“They assessed all applications to see if they met the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation guidelines.”
Tennis Australia said the process included the redaction of personal information to ensure privacy for all applicants.
TOKYO (AP) – Global shares were mostly higher yesterday despite worries about rising numbers of coronavirus cases.
France’s CAC 40 added 0.7 per cent in early trading to 7,266.59, while Germany’s DAX edged up 0.3 per cent to 16,064.91. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 1.2 per cent to 7,475.46.
The future contract for the Dow industrials was 0.2 per cent higher and the contract for the S&P 500 also gained 0.2 per cent.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.8 per cent to 29,301.79 in Tokyo’s first trading day of 2022. Shares also rose in Australia, South Korea and Hong Kong, but edged lower in Shanghai.
Toyota Motor Corp gained 6.1 per cent, while Sony Corp added 3.4 per cent.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and other dignitaries rang a bell at the Tokyo Stock Exchange to herald the opening of trading.
At the smaller exchange in Osaka, in western Japan, women carried on the tradition of attending the year’s opening ceremony in colourful kimono.
Workers attending a ceremony to mark the first trading day of the year at Osaka Exchange in Osaka, western Japan. PHOTO: AP
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed, inching up less than 0.1 per cent to 23,289.84. The Shanghai Composite edged down 0.2 per cent to 3,632.33.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped nearly 2.0 per cent to 7,589.80. South Korea’s Kospi gained less than one point to 2,989.24.
Asia has had fewer coronavirus infections and deaths than the United States (US) and parts of Europe. But worries are growing about an inevitable surge with reported detections of faster spreading Omicron.
On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6 per cent to 4,796.56 and the Dow finished 0.7 per cent higher, at 36,585.06. Both indexes eclipsed the record highs they set last Wednesday. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.2 per cent to 15,832.80.
Smaller company stocks also rose. The Russell 2000 gained 1.2 per cent to 2,272.56.
Recent solid gains suggest investors remain bullish about stocks, despite the recent spike in COVID-19 cases from virus’ fast-spreading Omicron variant and expectations that the US Federal Reserve will begin pushing up interest rates sometime this year to fight rising inflation.
In energy trading, benchmark US crude gained 32 cents to USD76.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 87 cents to USD76.08 per barrel on Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 30 cents to USD79.28 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose to JPY115.84 from JPY115.31 yen. The euro cost EUR1.1298, up from EUR1.1296.
Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA) through its Centre for Leadership and Life-Long Learning is offering a free academic service programme to the public, organised in cooperation with the Women Graduates Association of Brunei Darussalam.
The programme will be held on January 9 from 8.30-10am via Zoom. It will include a lecture titled Perkongsian Memahami Ta’awudz dan Basmalah (Siri 2) to be delivered by UNISSA’s Usuluddin Faculty Lecturer Dr Haji Ahmad Baha bin Haji Mokhtar.
The programme aims for the public to acquire basic knowledge of Islam, while also allowing UNISSA academics to gain experience from such a service.
The public wishing to join can visit https://zoom.us/j/99690632475 (passcode: UNISSA).
BRUSSELS (AP) – NATO announced yesterday that the alliance will hold a virtual meeting of foreign ministers from the 30 member nations this week to assess the situation in Ukraine and upcoming talks with Russia.
The extraordinary meeting of the alliance members on Friday will kick off a week of intense diplomacy over the military buildup on Ukraine’s borders and initiatives to ease the tension between the Cold War foes.
United States (US) President Joe Biden has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Washington could impose new sanctions against Moscow if it takes further military action against Ukraine. Putin responded that such a US move could lead to a complete rupture of ties between the nations.
The two leaders spoke frankly for nearly an hour last week amid growing alarm over Russia’s troop build-up near Ukraine, a crisis that has deepened as the Kremlin has stiffened its insistence on border security guarantees and test-fired hypersonic missiles to underscore its demands.
Putin and Biden have spoken twice, before scheduled talks between senior US and Russian officials on January 9 and 10 in Geneva. Those talks will be followed by a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council on January 12 and negotiations in Vienna on January 13.
