THE STAR – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has instructed officials to beef up collection of vehicular tax and to avoid unnecessary spending as the government seeks to shore up the coffers for its ongoing battle against Covid-19.
He warned that vehicle owners who evade tax may have their automobiles ‘burned’ if they continued to do so.
The premier made the warning while presiding over the closing ceremony of the Ministry of Interior’s annual meeting on Wednesday.
“If tax evasions continue and we cannot recoup the money, it will be a disaster for our country,”he said.
He pointed to what he suggested was the efficacy of his previous warnings to tax cheats.
“I said earlier that by July 2022, there will be no more tax-evading vehicles and right-wheel drive ones on the road. After that decision, we had collected incomes from 5,993 untaxed vehicles, netting USS51.6 million (as of February 22),” he said.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance has estimated that there are over 10,000 untaxed vehicles in Cambodia. Should all of their owners pay the tax due, the amount collected would be in excess of USD100 million.
“We have collected USD51 million from tax thieves. This is just on vehicles, what about other things?
“The owners of about 5,000 vehicles who have not paid tax must come forward or I may issue an order to burn their cars one day. I may order (the burning), no matter how expensive it is,” Hun Sen said, adding that he believes the action would serve as a strong deterrent.
He called out members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), police and public officials, reminding them that they were not exempt from having to pay taxes on their cars.
Those who usually evade tax are the “rich and powerful” who hide behind police, RCAF, National Assembly, Senate, and government licence plates, he noted.
He then cautioned officials about their use of the public coffers.
“Authorities at all levels have to be mindful about their expenses from now on. As we all already know, the world is going through difficulties due to (the COVID-19
crisis).”
He said the crisis meant that the government was unable to save any income, and was having to dig into its reserves.
“Before the arrival of the virus, if we earned three, we spent two and saved one,” he said.
“But since it arrived, we have not earned enough (in state revenue) for our expenses. Even if we could earn more than USD400 million per month, the money we had saved in the past is drying up.”
The premier instructed officials to delay public spending unless absolutely necessary.
“My order is that even if you already had an expense plan, if possible, just delay it and wait until the COVID-19 situation eases,”he said.
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Depending on his mood, Jeff Weiser settles down to work in a Parisian cafe, a mysterious cave or high above the Earth, thanks to the budding metaverse.
Weiser lives in the midwestern United States (US) state of Ohio but his workplace is in a faux realm accessed using virtual reality (VR) head gear.
While still the stuff of science fiction for most people, forerunners of the metaverse vision for the Internet’s future are already de rigueur for handfuls of people beyond the gamer and techno-hipster crowds.
Weiser, founder of a translation start-up, spends 25 to 35 hours each week working with Oculus VR gear on his head in his home in the city of Cincinnati.
A VR application called Immersed lets him synch screens such as his computer and smartphone to his virtual world, shutting out distractions around him at home.
Along with “increased focus”, the ergonomics are “perfect”, Weiser said. Display screens hover where they are easily seen and can be changed to any size. Weiser taps on his keyboard without seeing it, and appears from the outside to be speaking to himself.
But in his virtual world, he interacts with avatars of colleagues as far away as Argentina and Ireland.
ABOVE & BELOW: Gavin Menichini gives a demonstration of the Immersed Virtual Reality program; and Menichini at the Immersed offices in Austin, Texas. PHOTOS: AFP
A person wearing an Oculus Quest 2 attends a virtual meeting using Immersed
The pandemic boosted use of telework technologies that make it possible for colleagues to collaborate as teams despite being in different locations.
The Holy Grail is to replicate the kind of personal contact possible in offices.
Florent Crivello co-founded Teamflow, a startup that tailors software for workers to collaborate virtually from their computers.
“We are building the metaverse for work,” Crivello said, who added VR headsets aren’t quite ready for “prime time”.
“All of our collaboration tools are still on desktop; we want to meet people where they are.”
Teamflow virtual offices look like on-screen game boards with meeting rooms, sofas and more.
Workers are represented by round icons that feature their picture, or live video of their face, and can initiate chats with colleagues by moving their “pawn” close to that of a co-worker.
If the person virtually approached has a microphone hooked up, they can automatically hear each other like they would be able to in real life.
Key to the experience is “persistence”, the fact that the virtual environment exists whether
a particular worker is in it or not, said Crivello.
“That’s a defining characteristic,” he noted.
For example, Teamflow users who “write” on a virtual white board in a faux meeting room will find it there when they return the next day.
About 1,000 people use the Teamflow app every workday.
VR app “Immersed”, for its part, said it has won tens of thousands of users after a difficult period at the end of 2019, when the company almost disappeared.
“The adoption curve was in the disillusioned phase, it was the bottom of the valley and we ran out of money,” said Immersed co-founder Renji Bijoy.
“When I told my team that they could go look for jobs, all seven of them said unanimously, ‘We’re not going anywhere.’”
The pandemic fuelled a trend to remote work, reviving investor interest in startups innovating in the sector.
At the same time, VR itself gained momentum, thanks to investments by Facebook-parent Meta in its Oculus unit and the metaverse overall.
“We are trying to build a world where anyone could live anywhere and put on a pair of glasses and feel like they’re actually teleporting to their virtual office,” Bijoy said.
Missing links, for Bijoy, include lifelike avatars instead of cartoonish animated characters, and body tracking that lets movements or gestures be replicated in virtual worlds.
“It’s not that far away,” Bijoy said of such technology, expecting to see it “much sooner than five years”.
Some users fear that working in VR will be misinterpreted or misunderstood and would rather stay anonymous, like one graphic designer from New York, who used to spend six hours a day working from immersed during the pandemic.
He customised his Oculus headset for comfort, and built his own room in Immersed, a virtual reproduction of his favourite library complete with rustling pages and soft footsteps.
FRANKFURT (AFP) – German auto manufacturer Mercedes-Benz more than doubled its operating profit despite widespread supply bottlenecks, the group said yesterday in its first set of annual results since splitting with its truck subsidiary.
Mercedes, which changed its name from Daimler at the beginning of the month, saw the key measure rise EUR19.2 billion from EUR8.6 billion in the previous year.
The adjusted figure did not include the one-off bump of EUR9.2 billion to Mercedes’s results from the spin-off of its subsidiary Daimler Trucks, which rolled onto the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at the end of last year.
Including the windfall, the group’s net profit increased almost six-fold to EUR23.4 billion from EUR4 billion in 2020, when the industry was battered by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The strong result came “even as the COVID-19 pandemic and semiconductor supply chain bottlenecks continued to affect the business”, Mercedes said in a statement.
Shortages of the key component, which has held back production in the industry, has weighed relatively less on luxury manufacturers like Mercedes.
The emphasis on high-end models saw the group’s adjusted margin on sales of cars and vans rise to 12.7 per cent from 6.9 per cent in 2020.
Notably, the average cost of a vehicle sold by Mercedes rose by 26 per cent in 2021.
The end of year results were “a strong demonstration of the potential of this brand”, Chief Executive Officer Ola Kaellenius said in a statement.
Employees carrying out inspections under the hoods of newly assembled Mercedes S-Class luxury combustion engine sedans on the final assembly line at the Mercedes-Benz AG Factory 56 in Sindelfingen, Germany. PHOTO: AFP
Despite being an aviation specialist for years, Dr Saravanan G Sathiyaseelan has a strong passion for education. He began teaching in various polytechnics in Singapore as his first foray into the education industry.
To further delve into the topics of leadership and educational policy, Dr Saravanan decided to pursue the Doctor in Education (EdD) programme at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NIE NTU, Singapore).
Dr Saravanan was drawn to the EdD programme as it allowed him to explore the topics close to his heart, while gaining new and unique perspectives as well as the autonomy for discourse to broaden his knowledge.
As the EdD programme requires a research-on-practice dissertation, Dr Saravanan had the opportunity to conduct a qualitative study on the profiles and roles of administrators in the higher education sector, as well as the link to their leadership abilities.
While postgraduate students are expected to be independent and self-directed learners, Dr Saravanan felt that in NIE, the students are always in good hands as they are well-guided by the academic staff.
“At NIE, I felt motivated to learn from everyone (faculty and peers). Resources are plentiful to stimulate thinking and there is an excellent framework to guide students in their journey,” he said.
However, Dr Saravanan’s pursuit of graduate education was not without its challenges. As a part-time student, he had to juggle family commitments and a full-time career, while keeping his academic goal in sight. At times when he felt overwhelmed, he relied on exercise and meditation to manage his stress. With his family’s support, he was able to stay on course to complete the programme.
“I was focussed on my outcome and my research objectives which allowed me to complete all projects and assignments on a timely basis. I was very pro-active in taking charge of my learning journey.”
Dr Saravanan found his experience in NIE “meaningful, enriching and fulfilling” as it had positively impacted his mindset, satisfied his craving for knowledge and infused a culture of lifelong learning in him. When asked if he would recommend the EdD programme, Dr Saravanan was affirmative.
He said, “This programme offers you the academic rigour that challenges your learning abilities and provides ample opportunities to develop and grow in both personal and professional capacities.”
“NIE is a part of NTU and with NTU growing from strength to strength, the value and reputation of our qualification grows as well.”
Acknowledging that learning is a lifelong journey, Dr Saravanan also expressed the need to keep abreast and adapt accordingly in this constantly evolving world.
“Lifelong learning and continuing education are both a blessing and an opportunity, which is what everyone deserves and needs to embrace,” he encouraged.
“In that regard, he felt that NIE is “exemplary in its pursuit of excellence and intellectual standards”.
“As much as NIE is reputable for nurturing teachers and future leaders in education, he views NIE as an institute that supported his mission of lifelong learning.
The National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore is an autonomous institute under the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). It has been consistently ranked amongst the top 20 education institutions in the world and top three in Asia by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking. For more information on the range of graduate programmes offered by NIE, visit www.nie.edu.sg/ge.
Applications for NIE NTU’s Doctor in Education Programme January 2023 intake opens from April 1. To apply, visit www.nie.edu.sg/jan2023.
BUNIA, CONGO (AP) – A top United Nations (UN) peacekeeping official has vowed to step up humanitarian assistance to Congo’s Ituri province, where militiamen killed at least 60 people at a displaced persons camp this month.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix made the pledge on Tuesday on a visit to the region, stepping in after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cancelled his trip because of the mounting crisis in Ukraine.
“The UN has not forgotten the people of Ituri and will continue to support the Congolese government to restore peace,” said Lacroix, who visited the Roe displaced persons camp and also met with local leaders.
The CODECO militia that a monitoring group blamed for the early February attack on the camp also is considered responsible for scores of other deaths over the past year. Rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, are also active in the area.
The instability has caused many humanitarian agencies to suspend their work, and advocates say the local population’s needs are now enormous with limited resources available.
Lacroix said he discussed with local officials the importance of providing security to displaced persons camps.
“More needs to be done against the armed groups and the humanitarian access must continue to be ensured,” Lacroix tweeted.
TOKYO (AP) – A musical revolution in Jamaica has a connection with a bouncy rhythm from a portable electronic keyboard that’s the brainchild of a Japanese woman.
The pattern that resonates in the 1985 reggae hit by Wayne Smith, Under Mi Sleng Teng, came from Casiotone MT-40, which went on sale in 1981, the first product Hiroko Okuda worked on after joining the Tokyo-based company behind G-Shock watches.
“It’s really like my first child, and the child turned out so well it’s outright moving,” said Okuda, honoured as “the mother of Sleng Teng” among the hardcore reggae aficionados.
Sleng Teng is a form of digital Jamaican music that began in the mid-1980s, part of the rich repertoire of the disco-like genre called “dancehall”. No one contests the key role played by artistes like Smith and King Jammy, as well as the humble, battery-operated, USD150 MT-40.
One of the rhythm patterns Okuda created called “rock” on the MT-40 evolved into “Sleng Teng riddim”.
As legend goes, Noel Davey, the Grammy-winning keyboard player for the Marley Brothers, got an MT-40 from a friend, who picked it up in California. Before, Davey was blowing into a Melodica portable keyboard for that sound.
Hiroko Okuda holds the Casio MT-40 portable keyboard player, which she created in 1981, the first product she worked on after joining the Japanese company; and Okuda at Casio’s technology centre in Tokyo in the 1980s. PHOTOS: AP
Davey was toying around with the MT-40 and chanced upon the beat that’s in Smith’s megahit Under Mi Sleng Teng. And the rest is history, so to speak.
“You don’t plan,” Davey said, when asked about that moment.
There are so many buttons on the MT-40, he was “fooling around”, found it, lost it, then had to look for it and found it again.
“It was a searching process”, he said from Kingston, Jamaica.
The power of reggae comes from its healing effect, like “therapy,” being a music for the poor, for those moving up against apartheid, for the people, he said.
Davey, who has never been to Japan, said he would like to meet Okuda. The two share something in common – just as he feels he has never been properly credited for his role in the history of reggae, he stressed Okuda deserves credit for the Casio instrument.
That groove went on to inspire much of subsequent reggae, distinctly heard in works by Sugar Minott, Ibo Cooper, Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown.
Michael ‘Megahbass’ Fletcher, a musician in Jamaica, said repetitive music isn’t inferior.
“It has its place,” he said, demonstrating Sleng Teng on his bass. “A good song is a good song.”
Fletcher said other keyboards were also used to play Sleng Teng, such as Casio CZ-101 and Yamaha DX100, from Casio’s Japanese rival.
“Sleng Teng will never die,” said Fletcher, who has performed or produced songs for Shaggy, Maxi Priest and Alborosie. Okuda, whose graduation thesis at Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo was on reggae, was among the first recruits at Casio Computer Co assigned
to work on musical instruments, then a new sector for the company.
The company didn’t have very many musicians, and she was the one with background in world music. Okuda had immersed herself in reggae in the late 1970s, including going to Bob Marley’s concerts in Japan.
Okuda worked out six kinds of rhythms for the MT-40, including samba, swing and waltz, creating a bass line and a beat.
She also created two licks called “fill ins” to be played between sections of a song – or at the start of a song, as it is in Under Mi Sleng Teng.
For the prototype, she initially had an even more brash punk-rock-like rhythm called “avant garde”. The managers killed it as “too crazy”.
At least the “rock” pattern got approved, Okuda recalled with a laugh.
Casio’s main business was calculators, not keyboards, and so Okuda’s invention didn’t make much of a wave at her company. Okuda said she was usually among a handful of women in a room filled with men.
“I was a pioneer in so many places, and there were Japan’s old ways everywhere I went. I had to put up a fight each time,” she said.
She was never promoted to managerial positions, and never chosen for a business trip abroad. She has not travelled to Jamaica, or anywhere else except for China.
When asked if she has any advice for working women, Okuda pointed out having a special skill tends to help. She also has an extremely supportive husband, who took on much of
That definitely helped, she said.
The family shares a love for music, and music is always playing in their house.
When they were younger, Okuda did feel a bit sad when her daughter and son would see her off at the door, singing, “Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s work she loves to go”, to the tune in Walt Disney’s Snow White. These days, they joke maybe she’ll win the Nobel for the MT-40.
A more recent Casio technology Okuda has worked on is Music Tapestry, which translates music being played into a fluid visual image on the computer. Flowers float and swirl in time to the notes. Circles, squares and triangles dance about on the screen. Its sale date is undecided.
She doubts any of the reggae musicians know she is behind the MT-40. And how her MT-40 became part of such great music is nothing short of “a miracle”, she said.
“If I can ever meet them, I just want to express my deep gratitude. I want to tell them thank you so much for finding the rhythm and for using it,” she told The Associated Press.
Casio still sells keyboards. The CT-S1000V, set to go on sale in March, turns words into vocaloid-like singing. The smaller portable versions come with dozens of preset rhythms.
In the 2010 model, the rock pattern was called “MT-40 riddim” in honour of where it all began.
WATFORD, ENGLAND (AP) – Crystal Palace distanced itself from the Premier League’s relegation zone with a 4-1 win over next-to-last Watford at Vicarage Road early yesterday.
The Eagles had gone into the game on the back of a six-match winless run in the league, but took a 15th-minute lead when Jean-Philippe Mateta’s shot took a deflection off a defender and into the net.
Watford struck back three minutes later through Moussa Sissoko’s header, but Conor Gallagher’s sharp strike in the 42nd retook the lead for Palace.
Wilfried Zaha then wrapped up all three points for the visitors with a low drive past goalkeeper Ben Foster, before capping it off with a curling 85th-minute strike.
Palace had been without a victory since December 28 which, coupled with Newcastle’s resurgence, saw the bottom four close the gap to the others in the lower half of the table.
However, Patrick Vieira’s side looked composed and clinical in the final third as he got the better of his immediate predecessor, Roy Hodgson. Palace climbed above Leicester into 11th place, nine points above third-to-last Burnley.
The result leaves Watford four points from safety, and with just one win since the former England boss took over following Claudio Ranieri’s departure.
THE STRAITS TIMES – The husband of Malaysia’s former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz has denied he received any bribes as alleged by a star witness in a case linked to state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Dismissing the testimony of former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner as totally untrue, Tawfiq Ayman said he neither knew nor communicated with Leissner or Roger Ng, the former Goldman investment banker who has been charged in the New York District Court with conspiring to launder funds.
“I wish to categorically state that throughout my life, I have never received any bribes from anyone,” online portal Malaysiakini quoted Tawfiq as saying.
Tawfiq said in view of the ongoing proceedings in New York, he has been advised not comment further and will be seeking legal advice on the next course of action.
Ng, 49, Goldman’s former head of investment banking in Malaysia, is charged with conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-bribery law, while Leissner is the star witness in the ongoing case.
LAS VEGAS (AP) – A note that a Las Vegas schoolgirl gave her teacher saying her mother was being held captive and thought the girl’s brother was dead led to the discovery of the boy’s body in a garage freezer and the arrest of the mother’s boyfriend on murder and kidnapping charges, authorities said on Wednesday.
Brandon Lee Toseland, 35, was arrested on Tuesday after police saw him leave his house with the mother in a vehicle in which officers also found handcuffs, Las Vegas homicide Lieutenant Ray Spencer said.
A lawyer speaking for the woman and her family told The Associated Press she endured months in physical, sexual and emotional control of a man who told her he would kill her children if she ever left him.
More than 10 weeks after she last saw her son, she resorted to sending a message with her daughter to school.
“There was never a time when her daughter was with her that she was not locked in a room, bound or handcuffed,” attorney Stephen Stubbs said of the mother. “There was never an opportunity to take her daughter and run.”
AP is not naming the mother or children to avoid identifying a victim of sexual abuse. Stubbs said the mother does not want her name made public.
Spencer said she told detectives Toseland sometimes used restraints to keep her in his custody, and that she had not seen her four-year-old son since December 11, when she said Toseland told her the boy had become sick and “that it was too late”.
“I remember that quote,” Spencer told AP. “There are still a lot of questions that we don’t have answers to.” Later, Toseland told the mother the boy was dead, police said in Toseland’s arrest report, “and said she would not be allowed to see his body because he would lose his freedom”. The report noted that Toseland never called police or paramedics.
Stubbs said the mother knew Toseland as an acquaintance of her husband, the father of her children, before the man died in January 2021 of an unspecified respiratory illness. Stubbs said the girl is now seven.
After the three moved into Toseland’s house in March 2021, he “slowly and methodically” increased control over them, Stubbs said: covering windows; using video surveillance; taking the mother’s cellphone; cutting her ties to her family; handling her social media.
“The mother was physically, sexually and emotionally abused,” Stubbs said. “The children were physically and emotionally abused and separated from their mother most of
the time.”
BEIJING (AP) – Asian stock markets plunged yesterday after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Russian military action in Ukraine.
Market benchmarks in Tokyo and Seoul fell two per cent. Hong Kong and Sydney lost more than three per cent.
Oil prices jumped more than USD4 on anxiety about possible disruptions of Russian supplies. The ruble fell 4.4 per cent against the dollar.
United States (US) futures were also sharply lower and the future for Germany’s DAX lost more than four per cent.
Putin said the military operation was needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine, a claim Washington had predicted he would make to justify an invasion. As Putin spoke, explosions were heard in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other areas of Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden denounced the attack as “unprovoked and unjustified” and said Moscow would be held accountable, which many took to mean Washington and its allies would impose additional sanctions. Putin accused them of ignoring Russia’s demand to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and to offer Moscow security guarantees.
“The relief rally has quickly reversed course,” said Jeffrey Halley of Oanda in a report.
Currency traders working at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. PHOTO: AP
“Equities are tanking in Asia.”
On Wednesday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index fell 1.8 per cent to an eight-month low after the Kremlin said rebels in eastern Ukraine asked for military assistance. Moscow had sent soldiers to some rebel-held areas after recognising them as independent.
Washington, Britain, Japan and the 27-nation European Union (EU) earlier imposed sanctions on Russian banks, officials and business leaders. Potential options for more penalties including barring Russia from the global system for bank transactions.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 2.2 per cent to 25,855.04 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 3.1 per cent to 22,925.60. The Shanghai Composite Index was off 0.9 per cent at 3,458.12.
Asian economies face lower risks than Europe does, but those that need imported oil might be hit by higher prices if supplies from Russia, the third-largest producer, are disrupted, forecasters said.
The Kospi in Seoul lost 2.6 per cent to 2,649.29 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 fell 3.1 per cent to 6,983.40.
New Zealand lost 2.8 per cent and Southeast Asian markets also fell.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell to 4,225.50. That put it 11.9 per cent below its January 3 record, solidly in a correction, or a decline of more than 10 per cent from its latest peak.
More than 85 per cent of stocks in the S&P 500 fell. Tech companies weighing down the
index most.
The Nasdaq, dominated by technology stocks, lost 2.6 per cent to 13,037.49, led by steep losses in Apple and Microsoft. That put the index 18.8 per cent below its November 2021 high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4 per cent to 33,131.76.
Investors already were uneasy about the possible impact of the Federal Reserve’s plans to try to cool inflation by withdrawing ultra-low interest rates and other stimulus that boostedshare prices.
Since the start of the year, Facebook parent Meta is down 41.4 per cent, Tesla is off 36.3 per cent and Microsoft is down 16.3 per cent, while Apple and Google’s parent Alphabet are both down 12.9 per cent.
In energy markets, benchmark US crude jumped USD4.36 to USD96.46 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract fell 25 cents to USD92.10 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, advanced USD4.32 to USD98.37 per barrel in London. It lost 20 cents to USD94.05 the previous session.
The dollar weakened to JPY114.56 from Wednesday’s JPY114.98. The euro fell to USD1.1211 from USD1.1306.
