SYDNEY (AP) – Australia yesterday saw another jump in COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations and long queues at testing centres as it continued to battle the rapid spread of the virus in most states.
The country recorded over 64,000 cases, up from 47,000 a day earlier, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison met virtually with the national cabinet – the leaders of Australia’s states and territories – to discuss how to respond to almost daily records in new cases and rising pressure on hospitals.
Morrison faced increasing calls to make rapid antigen tests available free to relieve pressure on PCR testing centres, many of which have been forced to close after reaching capacity. People who have been tested often face long waits for results from overburdened laboratories.
BEIJING (AP) – China yesterday reported a major drop in local COVID-19 infections in the northern city of Xi’an, which has been under a tight lockdown for the past two weeks that tested the city’s ability to provide supplies for those confined to their homes.
With the Beijing Olympics beginning on February 4, China is doubling down on measures to prevent any new outbreak that could affect proceedings.
People are being told to travel in and out of Beijing only if they absolutely need to and hotels have largely stopped taking new reservations.
PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron has provoked outcries in Parliament and protests from election rivals by using a vulgarity to describe his strategy for pressuring vaccine refusers to get coronavirus jabs.
Macron used the French word emmerder, meaning to rile or to bug, in an interview published by French newspaper Le Parisien on Tuesday night. The president made the explosive remark as lawmakers are heatedly debating new measures that would allow only the vaccinated to enjoy leisure activities such as eating out.
“The unvaccinated, I really want to bug them. And so we will continue doing so, to the end. That’s the strategy,” Le Parisien quoted the French leader as saying in a sit-down interview at the presidential Elysee Palace with a panel of its readers.
Los Angeles (AFP) – A set of twins born 15 minutes apart in California have very different birthdays – one in 2021 and the other in 2022.
Alfredo Antonio Trujillo came into the world at 11.45pm on New Year’s Eve in the city of Salinas.
A quarter of an hour later, on New Year’s Day, his sister Aylin Yolanda Trujillo was born.
The Natividad Medical Center, where the babies were delivered, said in a statement last week that some estimates suggest there is a one-in-two-million chance of twins being born in different years.
BERLIN (AP) – Tasty bits of bread did the trick for about 700 sheep and goats to join Germany’s drive to encourage more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The animals were arranged on Monday into the shape of a roughly 100-metre syringe in a field at Schneverdingen, south of Hamburg.
Shepherd Wiebke Schmidt-Kochan spent several days practicing with her animals, news agency dpa reported.
But she said in the end, it wasn’t difficult to work things out – she laid out pieces of bread in the shape of the syringe, which the sheep and goats gobbled up when they were let out into the field.
Organiser Hanspeter Etzold said the action was aimed at people who are still hesitating to get vaccinated.
“Sheep are such likeable animals – maybe they can get the message over better,” he said.
The German government has made an accelerated vaccination campaign its top priority in attempting to beat back the latest wave of COVID-19 infections.
The percentage of the population that has received at least two shots stood on Monday at 71.2 per cent. Those who have received a booster shot has increased much faster in recent weeks and now stands at 38.9 per cent of the population.
Health Ministry spokesman Andreas Deffner said on Monday that the public debate over vaccinations in recent weeks appeared to have prompted some holdouts to change their mind.
Authorities in Germany have recently closed or put restrictions on establishments to slow Omicron variant’s spread.
Sheep and goats stand together in Schneverdingen, as they form an approximately 100 metres large syringe to promote vaccinations against COVID-19. PHOTO: AP
ANN/ The Jakarta Post – Get yourself a guy like Sarmintul.
Giant billboards depicting a woman appeared in several locations in Yogyakarta earlier this month, bearing the message, “Happy Birthday Mrs Sarmintul. From your husband, Mr Sarmintul”.
The four-by-six metre billboards were located at three busy intersections in the city, the Rejowinangun, Wirosaban, and Jejeran crossroads. Sarmintul is a chicken noodle stall owner whose real name is Veta Mandra.
His chicken noodle stall, Mie Ayam Pak Sarmintul, is a moderately busy enterprise in Bantul, Yogyakarta. He is also the man behind the popular account @InfoMieAyamYK, which is dedicated to providing information about the dish to its fans across the city.
Veta’s wife, whose real name is unknown, had a birthday on November 26. The billboards served as a surprise birthday present for her.
Many passersby and online observers said the billboards were a breath of fresh air, as lately such billboards had been widely used for political self-promotion.
A billboard wishes a happy birthday to Mrs Sarmintul from Mr Sarmintul in Bantul, Yogyakarta. PHOTO: TWITTER/JOGJAUPDATE
AMSTERDAM (AP) – Rembrandt van Rijn’s iconic and huge painting The Night Watch is now also a supersized museum photo delivered right to your laptop in unsurpassed detail.
The Amsterdam Rijksmuseum on Monday put on its digital portal what it called “the most detailed photograph of any artwork” ready for assessment by scientists and art lovers alike.
It is expected to draw widespread interest especially since the museum is closed because of coronavirus measures.
The 717-gigapixel photo allows viewers to zoom in on Captain Frans Banninck Cocq and see how the 17th-Century master put the tiniest of white dots in his eyes to give life to the painting’s main character. It also shows the minute cracks in his pupils, brought on by the passage of time.
The real canvas measures 379.5 x 453.5 centimetres canvas and each pixel represents five micrometres or 0.005 square millimetres.
Apart from simply showing the dazzling detail, it will also help researchers restore the work and assess its ageing process over time.
The Night Watch will be removed from its wooden stretcher in two weeks and placed on a new one to remove rippling that was caused when the world famous painting was housed in a temporary gallery while the Rijksmuseum underwent major renovations from 2003-2013.
The oil-on-canvas painting depicts a group of Amsterdam civil militia and shows off Rembrandt’s renowned use of light and composition to create a dynamic scene filled with characters.
The painting has undergone many restorations over its existence. It was placed on its present wooden stretcher in 1975. Once the painting has been re-stretched, the museum will decide whether further restoration work is needed.
A microscopic image enlarging a four-by-six millimetre part of the painting on Rembrandt’s Night Watch is seen on a screen next to the painting at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. PHOTO: AP
His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam paid an unscheduled visit to the Brunei International Airport yesterday.
Accompanying His Majesty at the visit were Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah and Minister of Transport and Infocommunications Dato Seri Setia Awang Abdul Mutalib bin Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Setia Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Yusof.
His Majesty first toured the postal office before heading to the Departure Hall where His Majesty made stops at the Departure Gates and the Movement Control Centre.
His Majesty later visited the Arrival Hall before leaving the terminal building for a working visit to the Royal Brunei Technical Services (RBTS) headquarters at the Setia Kenangan Complex in Kiulap.
His Majesty was greeted on arrival by Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy (Fiscal) Dato Seri Paduka Awang Haji Ahmaddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman in his capacity as the Chairman of RBTS and RBTS CEO Colonel (Rtd) Muzri bin Haji Mokhsin.
His Majesty visited several offices at the headquarters, including the Business and Development Unit and the Audit and Client Marketing Section.
His Majesty also visited the customer services counters of Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) on the ground floor of the building.
His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam made an unscheduled visit to the Brunei International Airport and Royal Brunei Technical Services for a closer look at its operations.ABOVE & BELOW: His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam was briefed on airport operations; and His Majesty tours the Arrival Hall. PHOTOS: BAHYIAH BAKIR & INFOFOTO
His Majesty during a visit to one of the departmentsABOVE & BELOW: His Majesty tours the Departure Hall and customs declaration area
ABOVE & BELOW: His Majesty takes a closer look at the operations at the airport; and His Majesty being briefed at the Royal Brunei Technical Services (RBTS) headquarters, Setia Kenangan Complex
SYDNEY (AP) – New virus cases in Australia surged to record levels yesterday, increasing the strain on hospitals and testing centres across the country.
In New South Wales, Australia’s most-populous state, 23,131 new cases were reported, an increase on the record of 22,577 cases on New Year’s Day. There were 1,344 people in hospitals, up 140 on the previous day and 78 more than the record previously set in late September. The new cases were detected from 83,376 tests, a positivity rate of 28 per cent.
Victoria state reported 14,020 cases yesterday, eclipsing the record of 8,577 set on Monday. There were 516 people in hospitals, including 108 in intensive care. The numbers do not necessarily reflect the true spread of the virus as they only include the number of
recorded cases.
The new numbers, however, confirm that Australia has passed the milestone of 500,000
COVID-19 cases.
New South Wales Chief Medical Officer Kerry Chant on Monday urged people not to seek hospital treatment unless absolutely necessary. “It is important that we all play our part in not placing unnecessary burden on the health system,” she said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday rejected calls for the federal government to make rapid antigen tests free.
“We’re now in a stage of the pandemic where you can’t just make everything free,” Morrison said on Monday. “When someone tells you they want to make something free, someone’s always going to pay for it, and it’s going to be you.”
Testing centres were forced to close in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland again yesterday either because of staff shortages or because laboratories which process the results are at capacity despite working 24/7.
Medical staff collect COVID-19 swabs from people at a drive-though clinic in Sydney. PHOTO: AP
CAIRO (AP) – Sudanese took to the streets in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities yesterday in anti-coup protests as the country plunged further into turmoil following the resignation of the prime minister earlier this week.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was ousted in the October coup, only to be reinstated a month later following a deal with the military meant to calm tensions and anti-coup protests.
Hamdok stepped down on Sunday amid political deadlock, saying he had failed to find a compromise between the ruling generals and the pro-democracy movement.
Sudan has been politically paralysed since the October 25 coup. The military takeover came more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his extremist government in April 2019.
The military, under international pressure, reinstated Hamdok in November to lead a technocratic Cabinet. But the deal sidelined the pro-democracy movement behind the uprising against al-Bashir. Since then, Hamdok was unable to form a Cabinet amid relentless protests not only against the coup but also against his deal with the military.
People chant slogans during a protest in Khartoum, Sudan. PHOTO: AP
Thousands took part in marches in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman yesterday, denouncing the coup. Images posted online show young protesters singing, beating drums and waving Sudanese flags. There were similar demonstrations in other cities, including the eastern city of Port Sudan.
Ahead of the protests, authorities closed major roads and streets in Khartoum and Omdurman, according to activists, tactics that have been employed in the past two months to prevent demonstrators from reaching government buildings.
Since the coup, nearly 60 protesters have been killed and hundreds of others injured in a heavy security crackdown, according to a Sudanese medical group. The protests are called by the Sudanese Professionals’ Association and the Resistance Committees, which were the backbone of the uprising against al-Bashir.
Hamdok’s resignation has thrown the country into further uncertainty and “deprived the generals of the fig leaf” they used to continue their military rule, said a spokesman for the association Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa.
The protest movement insists on a fully civilian government to lead the transition, a demand rejected by the generals who say power will be handed over only to an elected government.
Elections are planned in July 2023, in line with a constitutional document governing the transitional period.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “meaningful dialogue” between all Sudanese parties to “reach an inclusive, peaceful and lasting solution”, according to UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
Sudan’s largest Umma party called for the return to the 2019 constitutional document governing the transitional period, which calls for the military to relinquish the leadership of the ruling sovereign council.
“This is the only way for the salvation of the nation, the integrity of the transitional period and the accomplishment of its tasks within the agreed-upon timeframe,” the party said in a statement.
Deliberations have been underway to find “an independent figure” to lead a technocratic Cabinet through elections, according to a military official and a protest leader. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. Among names floated was that of former Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi.
