With the consent of 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, the Yang Di-Pertua of Adat Istiadat Negara announced the royal wedding ceremony for Her Royal Highness Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bolkiah and Yang Mulia Awang Abdullah Nabil Mahmoud Al-Hashimi.
The announcement was carried across Radio Television Brunei (RTB) last Friday evening.
The royal wedding events will commence with the Majlis Istiadat Bersuruh Diraja on January 16, followed by the Majlis Istiadat Membuka Gendang Jaga-Jaga and Majlis Istiadat Menjunjung Kurnia Gendang Jaga-Jaga on January 17; Majlis Istiadat Menghantar Tanda Diraja dan Pertunangan Diraja, and Majlis Istiadat Menerima Tanda Diraja dan Pertunangan Diraja on January 18; Majlis Istiadat Berbedak Pengantin Diraja on January 19; Majlis Istiadat Akad Nikah on January 20, Majlis Istiadat Bersanding Pengantin Diraja on January 23; Majlis Persantapan Diraja on January 24, and the Majlis Istiadat Membaca Doa Selamat dan Menutup Gendang Jaga-Jaga on January 25.
To commemorate the special occasion, all citizens and residents of Brunei Darussalam are required to hoist the national flag from January 17-25.
LAGOS (XINHUA) – Nigerian police said on Saturday they have rescued 21 children kidnapped by bandits on a highway in the northwestern state of Zamfara after a gun duel.
At a press briefing in Gusau, the state capital, Mohammed Shehu, the police spokesperson in Zamfara, said the police received a distress call on Friday night, informing that bandits in their large number blocked a highway near the Kucheri village in the Tsafe local government area of the state, abducting an unspecified number of commuters from five vehicles.
Shehu said police operatives were immediately sent to the area and engaged the bandits in a fierce gun battle, and rescued 21 children who were heading to their school in the neighbouring Katsina state when the attack happened.
Unknown number of victims, including the children’s teacher and the driver of the bus they used, are currently held by the bandits, said Shehu.
He said the police have sent reinforcements to complement the efforts of the joint security operation currently working to rescue the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers.
The police spokesperson called on local residents to support the police and other security agencies with credible information about the hideouts, movements and other activities of the bandits.
There have been a series of gunmen attacks in northern Nigeria in recent months, leading to deaths and kidnappings.
Security forces guarding a school in Jangebe town, Zamfara state, northern Nigeria. PHOTO: AP
CAIRO (XINHUA) – Three people were killed and 13 others injured in Egypt since Thursday due to windy and rainy weather, Egyptian Health Ministry announced on Saturday.
The ministry said a man was killed after being electrocuted by a lamp post in Kafr al-Sheikh governorate, north of the capital Cairo.
Another man was killed when a microbus overturned on the eastern desert road in Upper Egypt’s Minya governorate. The incident also left 11 others injured. A house collapse in the coastal city of Alexandria killed another person.
Egypt’s meteorological authority said the unstable weather conditions will continue in the North African country until tomorrow.
Egyptian men driving in the rain in Cairo. PHOTO: AFP
WASHINGTON (AP) – Winnie the Pooh and The Sun Also Rises are going public.
AA Milne’s beloved children’s book and Ernest Hemingway’s classic novel, along with films starring Buster Keaton and Greta Garbo are among the works from 1926 whose copyrights expired on Saturday, putting them in the public domain as the calendar flips to 2022.
Poetry collections The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes and Enough Rope by Dorothy Parker will also turn 95 and enter the public domain under United States (US) law.
The silent films Battling Butler starring and directed by Buster Keaton, The Temptress starring Greta Garbo, The Son of the Sheik starring Rudolph Valentino, and For Heaven’s Sake starring Harold Lloyd are also becoming public property.
And under 2018 legislation by Congress, sound recordings from the earliest area of electronic audio will become available.
Copyright experts at Duke University estimate that some 400,000 sound recordings from before 1923 will become available for public use, including music from Ethel Waters, Mamie Smith, Enrico Caruso and Fanny Brice.
Once a work enters the public domain it can legally be shared, performed, reused, repurposed or sampled without permission or cost.
The long US copyright period adopted in recent decades has meant that many works that would now become available have long since been lost, because they were not profitable to maintain by the legal owners, but couldn’t be used by others.
“The fact that works from 1926 are legally available does not mean they are actually available,” Director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain Jennifer Jenkins said in a post celebrating Saturday’s ‘Public Domain Day’. “After 95 years, many of these works are already lost or literally disintegrating (as with old films and recordings), evidence of what long copyright terms do to the conservation of cultural artefacts.”
A first United States edition of Winnie the Pooh, signed by author AA Milne and illustrator EH Shepard displayed at offices of the Sotheby’s auction house in London. PHOTO: AP
The Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) held its first Munajat Night of 2022 last Saturday, inviting its workforce and members of the public to get closer to Allah the Almighty by means of Munajat, Istighfar, Zikir, Selawat and Doa.
State Mufti Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr) Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Aziz bin Juned recited the Doa Munajat, seeking forgiveness from Allah the Almighty and protection against COVID-19.
Islamic Dakwah Centre Senior Religious Officer Haji Ahmad Abdussalam bin Haji Abdul Rahman delivered a tazkirah (religious talk) on the wisdom of Munajat with Doa, Zikir and recitation of Al-Quran, and the importance of Munajat amid the pandemic.
Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Abdul Mokti bin Haji Mohd Daud, Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Bahrom bin Pengiran Haji Bahar and Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy (Fiscal) Dato Seri Paduka Awang Haji Ahmaddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman also participated.
Minister of Religious Affairs Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman read the Sayyidul Istighfar and Surah Al-Fatihah.
The event included the recitation of Surah Yaasiin, Doa Munajat, Asma’ul Husna and Selawat.
ABOVE & BELOW: Photos show State Mufti Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr) Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Aziz bin Juned with participants during the online religious event. PHOTOS: AZLAN OTHMAN
WASHINGTON (AFP) – United States (US) authorities have asked telecom operators AT&T and Verizon to delay for up to two weeks their already postponed rollout of 5G networks amid uncertainty about interference with vital flight safety equipment. The two companies said on Saturday they are reviewing the request.
The US rollout of the high-speed mobile broadband technology had been set for December 5, but was delayed to January 5 after aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing raised concerns about potential interference with the devices planes use to measure altitude.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Steve Dickson, asked for the latest delay in a letter sent on Friday to AT&T and Verizon, two of the country’s biggest telecom operators.
The US letter asked the companies to “continue to pause introducing commercial C-Band service” – the frequency range used for 5G – “for an additional short period of no more than two weeks beyond the currently scheduled deployment date of January 5”.
Asked by AFP for comment, Verizon spokesman Rich Young replied, “We’ve received the government’s letter after 6pm on New Year’s Eve. We’re in the process of reviewing it.”
AT&T also said it was reviewing the government request. In the letter, the US officials assure the companies that 5G service will be able to begin “as planned in January with certain exceptions around priority airports.”
A Verizon crew updates a cell tower to handle the 5G network in Orem, Utah. PHOTO: AFP
The officials say their priority has been “to protect flight safety, while ensuring that 5G deployment and aviation operations can co-exist”.
Last February, Verizon and AT&T were authorized to start using 3.7-3.8 GHz frequency bands as of December 5, after obtaining licenses worth tens of billions of dollars.
But when Airbus and Boeing raised their concerns about possible interference with airplanes’ radio altimeters – which can operate at the same frequencies – the launch date was pushed back to January.
The FAA requested further information about the instruments, and it issued directives limiting the use of altimeters in certain situations, which sparked airline fears over the potential costs.
When Verizon and AT&T wrote to federal authorities in November to confirm their intention to start deploying 5G in January, they said they would take extra precautions beyond those required by US law until July 2022 while the FAA completes its investigation.
Traditionally, the year-end holidays spell happy days for students, with schools organising holiday camps as part of co-curricular activities. However, COVID-19 has disrupted this tradition, requiring activities be held online or with limitations.
Fortunately, with the Sultanate now in the Endemic Phase, some restrictions have been relaxed, allowing for selected activities to be carried out, on condition the public adheres to the Ministry of Health (MoH) guidelines set in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
In the run up to the resumption of the school year, families took the opportunity to explore their own backyard, visiting places of interest and recreational sites.
Among them is teacher Norlehani, who said, “My family and I would typically vacation in neighbouring countries during the holidays. however, due to the pandemic, we are having our holiday here.
“There are numerous interesting places to visit in the country, and I am glad that my children and grandchildren have enjoyed their vacation here,” Norlehani said.
Meanwhile, Hajah Normah binti Nasar, an elderly, said she was initially uncomfortable with the idea of leaving her house, adding, “Alhamdulillah, the public abides by the guidelines and standard operating procedures.”
Hajah Normah binti Nasar and family in great spirits during a recreational site visit. PHOTO: BAHYIAH BAKIR
BRUSSELS (AFP) – The European Union is planning to label energy from nuclear power and natural gas as “green” sources for investment despite internal disagreement over whether they truly qualify as sustainable options.
The proposal, seen by AFP on Saturday, aims to support the 27-nation bloc’s shift towards a carbon-neutral future and gild its credentials as a global standard-setter for fighting climate change.
But the fact the European Commission quietly distributed the text to member states late Friday, in the final hours of 2021 after the much-delayed document had been twice promised earlier in the year, highlighted the rocky road to draft it.
If a majority of member states back it, it will become EU law, coming into effect from 2023.
The commission confirmed on Saturday that it has started consulting with member states on the proposal where it covers nuclear and gas energy. “The activities covered in this complementary Delegated Act would accelerate the phase out of more harmful sources, such as coal, and in moving us towards a more low-carbon greener energy mix,” it said.
It said it “considers there is a role for natural gas and nuclear as a means to facilitate the transition towards a predominantly renewable-based future”.
France has led the charge for nuclear power – its main energy source – to be included, despite robust opposition from Austria and scepticism from Germany, which is in the process of shutting all its nuclear plants.
A cyclist passes a nuclear power plant on the banks of the river Weser in Grohnde, northern Germany. PHOTO: AFP
Germany’s Environment Minister Steffi Lemke told German media group Funke on Saturday that including gas and nuclear would be “a mistake”, arguing that atomic power “can lead to devastating environmental catastrophes”. Austrian Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler also criticised the project, denouncing nuclear power as “an energy of the past” that was “too expensive and too slow” to combat climate change.
Fossil-reliant countries in the EU’s east and south have defended the use of natural gas, at least as a transitional source, even though it still produces significant greenhouse emissions.
“It is necessary to recognise that the fossil gas and nuclear energy sectors can contribute to the decarbonisation of the Union’s economy,” the commission proposal said. It added that, for nuclear power, appropriate measures should be put in place for radioactive waste management and disposal.
Its proposal calls for the building of new nuclear power plants to be conditioned on permits given out before 2045, and work to extend the functioning of existing plants would need to be authorised before 2040.
For gas, it said that carbon-emission limits should be set to well below those produced by coal-burning plants, and it should only be a transitionary source with plants needing building permits given before 2031.
The member states and experts consulted by the commission have two weeks to demand revisions to the proposal before a final draft is published in mid-January.
The European Parliament would then have four months to either approve or reject the text with a simple vote.
SANAA (XINHUA) – Thirty-seven Houthi militants were killed on Saturday in a battle with the Yemeni army in Yemen’s central province of Marib, government military source told Xinhua.
The ground battle took place in the area of al-Balak al-Sharki in the government-controlled southern Marib, during which the army recaptured several positions of the militia, he said on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led Arab coalition backing the Yemeni army announced the launch of 23 airstrikes, killing 160 Houthi militants and destroying 17 vehicles in southern Marib frontline, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported.
Houthi media made no comment on the battle.
In February last year, the Iran-backed Houthi militia began a major offensive against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government army to capture the strategic oil-rich province.
Yemeni army reinforcements arriving on the southern front of Marib. PHOTO: AFP
THE STAR – An animal shelter in the Gaza Strip is using the wheels of toy cars and kids’ bicycles to build mobility devices for disabled cats and dogs, helping them walk, run and play again despite a lack of access to specialised prosthetics.
Workers at the Palestinian enclave’s Sulala Animal Rescue society are working to fit some 32 cats and dogs with the makeshift wheelchairs or with artificial limbs made from recycled wood and metal.
“They (the animals) get exhausted when they are paralysed, so we give them something that allows them to walk, so they would feel normal. Animals have feelings, too,” Said Al-Aer, who helps run the shelter, said.
One of the dogs, Lucy, whose hind legs were paralysed in a car accident, was given a wheelchair built using the rainbow-coloured rubber wheels of a discarded children’s bike.
With the assistance of volunteers, Lucy slips her upper body through a harness connecting a metal frame to the wheels. Her back legs sit comfortably above the back of the frame. And off she goes.
It was a freezing moment for Lucy, a paralysed dog, when animal caretakers put a wheelchair on her to help her move again. PHOTO: THE STAR
“It is adjustable to the dog’s size,” said Ismail Al-Aer, Said’s uncle, who designed the device.
Ismail created a similar apparatus for cats using the small wheels of a toy race car. The animal shelter, in Gaza City, has received donations from charities in Australia and Britain.
There are no specialised medical centres for animals in Gaza, which is run by the militant group Hamas and is held under an Israeli-led blockade.
While it does have two prosthesis centres, they are busy providing artificial limbs to some 1,600 amputees in the Strip, including many who were shot during border clashes with Israeli troops.
But the centres do not offer services to animals, making the shelter’s initiative all the more important, Gaza veterinarian Bashar Shehada said.
“Amputations drop, as well as ulcers and wounds that result from animals crawling,” Shehada said.
