Friday, November 15, 2024
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A walk down memory lane

Lyna Mohammad

After completing his three-year term as a representative of the Indian government in Brunei Darussalam, outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam Ajaneesh Kumar will be leaving the Sultanate mid-January.

He shared some of the milestones in his three-year tenure in the Abode of Peace by first noting the significant ties at ASEAN level, highlighting the special relations between Brunei and India, where Brunei plays an important role in strengthening India’s relations with ASEAN, particularly during 2012-2015 when it was the country coordinator for India.

“I am happy to share that 2022 will be commemorated as ASEAN-India Friendship Year to mark the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations,” he said.

He added that the Sultanate’s role as the Chair of ASEAN for 2021 and as host of the 38th and the 39th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits themed, ‘We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper’, during the COVID-19 pandemic and its focus on highlighting mental health during COVID-19 times was appreciated by ASEAN member states as well as its dialogue partners, including India.

He said Brunei Darussalam, under the wise leadership 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, chaired ASEAN in a befitting manner.

As ASEAN Chair 2021, His Majesty appreciated India’s support for ASEAN’s recovery efforts from the pandemic during the 18th ASEAN-India Summit on October 28, 2021 including India’s role in supplying vaccines to the region and its contribution of USD1 million to the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund.

Outgoing High Commissioner of India to Brunei Darussalam Ajaneesh Kumar. PHOTO: IZAH AZAHARI

His Majesty also welcomed the decision by ASEAN and India to exchange information on medicine and medical technologies for COVID-19 response while encouraging ASEAN and India to work together on sustainable economic recovery by exploring new opportunities for cooperation under the Blue Economy.

Opportunities include developing key industries that can generate employment and enhance connectivity such as fisheries and maritime transport, said the high commissioner.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi highlighted that ASEAN centrality and unity have always been an important priority for India, and is enshrined in India’s Act East Policy and Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).

“There are numerous avenues for cooperation between India and ASEAN: India’s well-established pharmaceutical industry in promoting human resource development in the health sector as well as strategic research and development of vaccines: digital transformation, digital economy; science, technology and innovation; connectivity; and biodiversity,” he said.

The high commissioner also shared some of the major outcomes in the bilateral relations between Brunei and India.

India has been appreciative of Brunei’s support for India’s candidatures to various positions and posts in the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations and India looks forward to a continuous support.

A memorandum of under-standing (MoU) on defence cooperation, signed in February 2016, valid for five years, was renewed for another five years in May 2021.

Over the past several years, the relations and cooperation between the two countries in the area of defence have been expanding, which include regular official level defence exchanges, visit of naval and coast guard ships, training and joint exercises and participation in each other’s defence exhibitions and expositions.

There have also been several visits by Indian naval ships including Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS Shaunak that made a logistic stop at Muara Port in January 2019; Indian naval ship INS Jalashwa’s visit in May 2021 to ferry humanitarian aid donated by the Indian community in Brunei; and Indian Naval Ships INS Shivalik and INS Kadmatt making a port call at Muara Port in August 2021 for PASSEX.

A three-member delegation from the Royal Brunei Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence participated in the DEFEXPO-2018 at Chennai. Sqn Ldr Kunal Simpi participated in the staff and command course in 2021 and another officer will attend command course for the 2021-22 session, said the high commissioner.

“The foreign office consultations (FOC) between our two countries have given us an opportunity to take stock of our bilateral relations and plan the road map for the future.”

In the 7th round of FOC between both countries held in June 2019 in New Delhi, the meeting reviewed cooperation in political, economic, defence, commercial, energy, space, culture and tourism, human resource development and health and so forth. Various areas for cooperation were also identified including in agriculture, education, energy, healthcare, investments and IT.

During a Bilateral Relations Review Meeting on virtual platform between India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Brunei’s Minister of Foreign Affairs II Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Erywan bin Pehin Datu Pekerma Jaya Haji Mohd Yusof in February last year, the two ministers reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations as well as exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interests.

Brunei played host to the 1st Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting in September 2018 and the two sides are working on convening the second meeting of the JTC this month.

A number of events and conferences were organised to encourage interaction between the business communities of the two countries including a virtual meeting between India’s Agricultural Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Brunei’s Department of Agriculture and Agrifood in April 2021. Additionally, the Federation of Indian Export Organization (FIEO) held a virtual meeting with local trade chambers/bodies in the following month. In August 2021, a “country session with Brunei on engineering partnership” virtual platform hosted by the Engineering Exports Promotion Council of India (EEPC) was well received and saw the attendance of representatives of prominent businesses and trade bodies and engineering companies located in Brunei. At the session, a number of companies expressed a keen interest in collaborating and developing linkages with Indian companies in specific engineering sectors.

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 participated in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CIl) Summit and Expo 2021, where the minister joined the Special Plenary with ASEAN Trade Ministers – ‘Building Vibrant Supply Chains Through Deeper Trade and Investment Relations’ on October 8, 2021.

The Indian High Commission has also taken some other initiatives to promote economic engagements to develop collaboration in the pharmaceutical industry and facilitate development of linkages between local and Indian companies.

“Similarly, the mission is also in contact with relevant authorities for resumption of import of meat products (buffalo meat) from India, which has been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another area, which offers good potential for collaboration is e-vehicles, where renewable energy offers great potential for collaboration and India’s expertise in the field, especially in solar energy, can be utilised by Brunei to develop the Sultanate’s renewable energy sector.

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), India’s largest power utility company, has proposed to initiate a project for joint development of 30 MW solar PV project development and the proposal for Brunei to join the International Solar Alliance.

The Indian High Commission has also been working on facilitating linkages between relevant agencies of the two countries for collaboration in the field of digital payment and financial technology.

In spite of the disruptions caused by the pandemic, a lot of importance has been placed on bilateral interaction between the two countries on the virtual mode.

The first meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Health was held virtually in June 2021 where, adding to issues of mutual interest, the two sides also discussed the renewal of the MoU on health for another three years.

Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme is one of the major programmes for South-South cooperation and provides technical assistance and capacity building programmes to its partner countries; and Brunei has been an important partner for India.

To date, 51 Bruneians have attended various ITEC courses in India. In October 2020 alone, 14 officials from the Ministry of Development participated in a three-day e-ITEC course on housing.

In order to facilitate the repatriation of stranded Indian nationals in the Sultanate, the High Commission organised 15 chartered flights from Brunei to Coimbatore in India, operated by Royal Brunei Airlines (RB).

Moving on to the achievements in the cultural and social milieu, the Indian community in Brunei contributed for the dispatch of 1,050 cylinders (45-50 L) filled with compressed medical oxygen as humanitarian aid to strengthen India’s fight against the second wave of the pandemic in August 2021.

The high commission also handed over 44 boxes of COVID-19 relief material to the Ministry of Health comprising scrubs, face masks and sanitisers during the second wave.

As a token of appreciation for the contribution of the frontline workers’ COVID-19 fight, the high commission delivered 200 packed meals for frontline staff at Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (RIPAS) Hospital.

To further foster cultural relations between the two countries and increase people-to-people linkages, an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)-sponsored cultural troupe, comprising an eight-member Punjabi folk music and dance group ‘Punjabi Sabhyachar Kender’ visited Brunei and had five performances during India’s Independence Day celebrations in August 2019.

The high commission, in association with the Indian community associations in Brunei, also organised a cultural event, ‘Utsav…. The Celebration’, under the government of India’s initiative of ‘Promotion of Cultural Ties with Indian Diaspora’ to commemorate the 72nd Republic Day of India.

The Indian High Commission participated in the Brunei Darussalam from the Eyes of Foreign Diplomats and their Families photo exhibition, organised by the Diplomatic Corps in December 2020, and collaborated with Mahakarya Institute of the Arts Asia to facilitate the screening of four widely acclaimed movies during the 4th Brunei Film Blitz.

The celebration of World Hindi Day in partnership with Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah School (YSHHBS), meanwhile is an important event in the calendar.

Following the launch of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav – India@75 on March 12, 2021, which is a series of cultural events and digital initiatives undertaken by the Government of India to commemorate the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, the high commission has been organising various events including blood donation drives, beach cleaning campaigns, drive, free health camps, book donations and painting competitions.

The high commission will soon have its own property in the Diplomatic Enclave with the project work first commenced on December 17, 2020 and is scheduled to complete this in June.

“The list is long and points only in one direction – the strengthening of our bilateral relations for the mutual benefit of our two peoples,” the outgoing envoy said.

Indonesia to give booster shots to public as Omicron spreads

JAKARTA (CNA) – Indonesia will begin giving COVID-19 booster shots to the general public from January 12, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said yesterday, as the Omicron variant spreads in the country.

Health workers were given booster doses in July and the plan now is to cover all adults who took their second shots over six months ago. About 21 million people will be covered under the booster programme this month, Budi said.

“It has been decided by the president that (the programme) will begin on January 12,”
he said.

Indonesia has fully vaccinated 42 per cent of its 270 million population, using shots produced by China’s Sinovac Biotech, Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna.

Budi told a news conference that the country will need about 230 million doses for boosters and has secured nearly half of them. The Omicron variant has infected over 150 people in Indonesia since its detection last month, the majority of whom were international travellers.

Budi said six of the cases stemmed from local transmission in the capital Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan and Bali island.

Indonesia grappled with a devastating second wave of infections in July, but case numbers have plummetted since then.

A healthcare worker takes a swab sample to test for COVID-19 in Jakarta, Indonesia. PHOTO: CNA

Global stocks higher after Wall Street ends 2021 with big gain

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets and United States (US) futures were mostly higher yesterday on 2022’s first trading day after Wall Street ended last year with a double-digit gain.

Frankfurt and Paris opened higher while Seoul and India advanced. Hong Kong retreated. Markets in Britain, China, Japan and Australia were closed.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index slipped on Friday amid lingering worries about the coronavirus’s Omicron variant but ended 2021 with an annual gain of 26.9 per cent.

“It remains to be seen to what extent the optimism of the New Year will be reflected in financial markets,” said Venkateswaran Levanya of Mizuho Bank in a report.

In early trading, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.8 per cent to 16,010.77 and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.9 per cent to 7,213.57. On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.4 per cent higher. On Friday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3 per cent and the Dow slid 0.2 per cent. The Nasdaq fell 0.6 per cent.

South Korean politicians attend a ceremony for the first trading day of the stock market at the Korea Exchange (KRX) in Seoul. PHOTO: AP

In Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.5 per cent to 23,274.75 and the Kospi in South Korea rose 0.4 per cent to 2,988.77.

One of China’s biggest real estate developers, Evergrande Group, which is struggling to avoid a default on USD310 billion of debt, announced yesterday it had asked for trading of its shares in Hong Kong to be suspended ahead of an announcement of unspecified “inside information”.

India’s Sensex gained 1.4 per cent to 59,101.23. Singapore, Jakarta and Malaysia advanced.

Markets in New Zealand and Thailand were closed.

Also yesterday, Singapore’s government announced its economy grew by 7.2 per cent last year, rebounding from the previous year’s 5.4 per cent contraction.

In energy markets, benchmark US crude rose 86 cents to USD86.07 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell USD1.78 on Friday to USD75.21. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, gained 87 cents to USD78.65 per barrel in London.

It lost USD1.75 the previous session to USD77.78 per barrel.

The dollar advanced to 115.29 yen from Friday’s JPY115.09.

Classic ghost stories, mysteries

Michael Dirda

THE WASHINGTON POST – Let it snow! When the weather outside is frightful, it’s time for classic ghost stories and mysteries – even if you’re only wrapping them up as presents for lucky friends and family. Need a few ideas? Just read on.

This latest in an annual series again demonstrates that chills and frights still linger in the browning pages of old magazines and Christmas albums. Philippo reprints two fine tales I’ve read elsewhere – Amelia B Edwards’ My Brother’s Ghost Story and Barry Pain’s The Undying Thing – but all his other choices were unfamiliar to me. Since James Skipp Borlase is represented by two stories, I decided to read them first.

The Dead Hand – subtitled A Tale of a Weird and Awful Christmastide – focusses on a smitten housemaid, her unscrupulous lover and a dead Catholic priest’s mummified hand. After being “borrowed” for “a wicked and nefarious purpose”, that bony appendage takes to restless, nocturnal wanderings, periodically bursting out of its sarcophagus to “creep down the wall like a great brown spider”, before scurrying – “flop, flop, flop” – toward an unfortunate sleeper.

In The Wicked Lady Howard a luxury-addicted young beauty marries for money and position. But racked with longing and jealousy, her former lover angrily threatens the new husband with death “during the happiest hour of your life!” This duly comes to pass, but matters then take an eerie, unexpected turn.

The late Hugh Lamb’s anthologies – Victorian Nightmares, Terror by Gaslight and a dozen others – are treasured by aficionados of the weird, in part for Lamb’s informative introductions to each story. This fall, Richard Lamb discovered that his father’s papers comprised enough unused material to make up this posthumous collection, a typical Lambian assortment of writers who are forgotten (F Sartin Pilleau, ER Suffling), half-forgotten (Hume Nisbet, Alice Perrin) and vaguely familiar (William Hope Hodgson).

In Waxworks, by André de Lorde, a debonair young man who claims to be without fear, agrees to pass the night alone in a wax museum. This is never a good idea. In Behind the Wall, by Violet Jacob, a pair of staring eyes, glimpsed through a chink in some ancient masonry, presages a wronged – and long dead – woman’s revenge: “You’ve kept me here for twenty years, but you won’t be able to keep me back – not then. I’ll come for you.”

Beautifully designed, this two-volume set will likely elicit considerable mental consternation.

While the little angel perched on your right shoulder chirps, “The perfect present,” that impish red devil on your left will snakily hiss, “Keep it yourself. You know you want to.”

Luckily, whatever you decide will leave someone extremely happy.

After all, Onions wrote numerous excellent stories besides his two anthology stand-outs: The Beckoning Fair One – a rival to Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw in its hallucinatory power – and lo (The Lost Thyrsus), very much the British analogue to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s feminist classic, The Yellow Wallpaper.

In Onions’ story a fragile, bedridden young woman starts to hear, at first only faintly, the intoxicating sounds of Dionysian revelry.

After Dickens, Chesterton – the apostle of tradition, paradox and joie de vivre – seems the most Christmas-y of writers, and yet he’s far more than a literary Kriss Kringle. There’s ambiguity and darkness at the heart of his Christian bonhomie, as John C Tibbetts shows in his astute survey of the writer’s weird tales, mysteries and science fiction.

Both critical and anecdotal, this multifaceted appreciation underscores the widespread influence of The Man Who Was Thursday, the Father Brown “impossible crime” stories and the larger-than-life author himself on, among others, John Dickson Carr, Jorge Luis Borges, Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman. Tibbetts even appends a history of the Ignatius Press, which brought nearly all of Chesterton’s voluminous writing back into print.

Looking for “a seasonal tale of tradition, family, and murder?” Of course, you are. In this ingeniously plotted short novel by a two-time Edgar winner, a young librarian is killed and an Army Ranger confesses to the crime. An open-and-shut case, right? Maybe not. As Professor Cameron Winter sifts the evidence, he unearths dire associations with his own disturbing past.

Harry Keating wrote classic mysteries such as The Murder of the Maharajah, reviewed whodunits for the Times of London, served as president of the Detection Club and produced several witty, nonfiction studies, beginning with Murder Must Appetize.

If you’re a devotee of the Inspector Ghote novels or would just like insight into how a major crime writer hustled to cobble together a living, add Sheila Mitchell’s biography of her much-missed writer-husband to your Christmas list.

Finally, you still can’t beat Holmes for the holidays. This year three of the best writers of Sherlockian pastiches, all of them members of The Baker Street Irregulars, brought out new books. In Bonnie MacBird’s The Three Locks (Collins), the great detective must solve a trifecta of mysteries involving a magician’s death, a young woman’s drowning and a sealed silver box. In Nicholas Meyer’s The Return of the Pharaoh (Minotaur), Holmes and Watson encounter archaeologists, murderous violence and eerie doings in early 20th-Century Egypt.

Not least, in Observations by Gaslight (Mysterious Press) Lyndsay Faye relates Stories from the World of Sherlock Holmes. In Faye’s first tale, the novella-length, Adventure of the Stopped Clocks, Mrs Godfrey Nortonbetter known as Irene Adler “of dubious and questionable memory”- again crosses paths with her favourite Baker Street frenemy. Finally, to emulate Dr Watson in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, let me wish everyone the compliments of the season. Happy reading to all and to all a good night!

Benitez laments Everton’s lack of focus in defeat by Brighton

CNA – Everton manager Rafa Benitez called on his team to address their defensive frailties after they fell to a 3-2 Premier League defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion at home on Sunday.

Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister scored twice as the visitors celebrated their first-ever win at Goodison Park, while Everton suffered an eighth defeat in 12 league games.

The Merseyside club, who were greeted with a huge chorus of boos from fans after Sunday’s defeat, remain 15th on 19 points after 18 matches.

“The way we conceded goals makes things very difficult for us,” Benitez told the BBC.

“Then the team missed a penalty and it became more difficult for the confidence. They reacted but it is difficult when you make mistakes like we did.”

Asked if the rusty performance in the first half was linked to their return from a 17-day absence due to COVID-related match postponements, Benitez said, “I don’t like to make excuses.

“I think it’s more about that the goals we conceded are (due to) the lack of focus in the first minute and then after you play under pressure. You could see the reaction was there but it is not enough because you still make mistakes.

“We have to focus and start with the intensity everyone is expecting … I am concerned that we have to improve, especially in defence. The team pushes and works hard but we are lacking a little quality in the decisions.”

Everton play at second-tier Hull City in an FA Cup third-round tie on January 8 before hosting Leicester City in the league three days later.

Everton’s head coach Rafael Benitez. PHOTO: AP

Turkey’s inflation hits a 19-year high of 36pc

ANKARA, TURKEY (AP) – Turkey’s yearly inflation climbed by the fastest pace in 19 years, jumping to 36.08 per cent in December, official data showed yesterday.

The Turkish Statistical Institute said the consumer price index increased by 13.58 per cent in December from the previous month, further eroding peoples’ purchasing power. The yearly increase in food prices was 43.8 per cent, the data showed.

The yearly inflation rate was the highest since September 2002.

Inflation has been rising in the country while the Turkish lira has been slumping to record lows after the country’s central bank – under pressure from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – cut a key interest rate by five percentage points in September.

The weakened lira has made imports, fuel and everyday items more expensive and has left many in the country of some 84 million struggling to buy food and other basic goods. Many have been purchasing foreign currencies and gold to protect their savings.

Last month, Erdogan announced measures to safeguard lira deposits against volatility after the Turkish currency hit an all-time low of 18.36 against the dollar. The lira rebounded following the announcement but has since lost some of those gains. The lira depreciated by around 44 per cent against the dollar last year.

Erdogan insists on lowering borrowing costs to boost growth, even though economists argue that higher interest rates is the way to tame soaring prices.

Meanwhile, the independent Inflation Research Group, made up of academics and former government officials, put the yearly inflation rate at a much higher 83 per cent.

It said consumer prices rose by 19.35 per cent in December compared with November.

A crowded market street in Istanbul, Turkey. PHOTO: AP

Meet the Olympic superfan

BEIJING (AFP) – Crammed on every available surface in Zhang Wenquan’s crowded Beijing home is Olympic memorabilia – from mascots and torches to flags, banners, clothes and cuddly toys.

The Chinese superfan scours the Internet for rare souvenirs and snaps selfies several times a week by the countdown clock to the 2022 Winter Games in the capital.

Beijing will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics when the event kicks off in February – a dream come true for the construction firm worker.

Zhang’s interest was first piqued when he became glued to the 2000 Sydney Olympics as a high-school student.

“I saw China win many gold medals and felt inspired,” the 35-year-old told AFP.

When the Games came to Beijing in 2008, he worked as an official volunteer – a life-changing experience that sparked his passion for collecting souvenirs.

ABOVE & BELOW: Olympic superfan Zhang Wenquan standing amid his collection of Olympic souvenirs at his home in Beijing; and part of Zhang’s collection. PHOTOS: AFP

Wearing a 2022 Winter Olympics scarf and sweatshirt emblazoned with its mascot – plus a headband reading “Come on, Winter Olympics!” – Zhang showed off the array of merchandise covering his home.

The house is so full of piles of boxes that he has been forced to sleep elsewhere.

He estimated spending at least CNY400,000 (USD62,800) on 5,000 souvenirs so far.
Zhang scours eBay daily for new listings, with the most expensive find being a USD1,900 torch from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

He has row upon row of the mascot Bing Dwen Dwen for the coming Winter Games – a panda wearing a shell made of ice – in various colours and sizes.

He also receives donations of merchandise from Olympic volunteers.

“Some of these people I’ve never even met but they still send things to me, so I feel extremely moved,” he said.

His collection is now being displayed in local schools and universities in the run-up to the Games.

He proudly showed off to AFP one of his favourites, a first-edition mascot for the 1972 Munich Games that was later redesigned.

“I hear that there are only 10 of the original, so it is extremely rare,” he said, carefully turning the small brown dachshund figurine over in his hands.

In 2008, Zhang helped with scoring at Beijing’s Wukesong Baseball Stadium – a photo from the time shows a scrawny, bespectacled young man in a sky-blue Olympic jersey proudly holding a baseball bat aloft in an empty arena.

In his cluttered house, a framed certificate of participation hangs on the wall.

The mega-fan said he often skipped meals during the Games to collect the food and drink tokens given to volunteers rather than exchanging them for supplies – despite catching a cold.

“I suffered not a small amount back then!” he chuckled.

But Zhang was intoxicated by the atmosphere in 2008 at a time of extraordinary national pride.

China won 48 gold medals and displayed its growing strength as a global power.

Zhang was not successful in the competitive selection process to be a 2022 volunteer but hopes to obtain tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies – as well as his favourite sport, figure skating.

He currently makes frequent trips to Beijing’s Olympic sites.

His face lights up when he recounts waiting outside the capital’s ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium during a dress rehearsal for February’s Games, watching rays of light beam into the night sky.

“The stadium was lit up spectacularly, it was several hundred times more beautiful than the 2008 Beijing Olympics,” he said.

And Zhang is already making plans to go to Paris for the 2024 Games.

“I really want to collect the Paris 2024 torch and mascot. Although they haven’t been released yet, I’m ready and waiting.”

NZ says no plan to prosecute British DJ over COVID breach

WELLINGTON (AFP) – New Zealand’s government said yesterday it would not ask for British DJ Dimension to be prosecuted for breaking COVID isolation rules and creating an Omicron infection scare.

The electronic music artist, real name Robert Etheridge, said he had misunderstood the rules when he mixed with people before getting a final negative test result.

“The Ministry of Health does not plan to refer this case to the police at this stage,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The ministry needs to balance the deterrence effect from any potential prosecution with enabling an environment that does not discourage future cases from assisting with the public health response to COVID-19,” it said.

Etheridge said on Thursday he was “devastated” to discover that he had tested positive after emerging from 10 days of isolation including three days at his residence. The DJ failed to wait for a negative result from his last test taken on day nine of isolation before going out into the community.

Ho Chi Minh City issues quarantine procedure for arrivals in face of Omicron

HO CHI MINH CITY (VIETNAM NEWS/ANN) – Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Committee issued urgent guidelines for a five-step quarantine procedure for arriving passengers amid the emergence of the Omicron variant in Vietnam.

According to the document, the self-quarantine area (including homes, hotels, offices, dormitories, guest houses) must meet the standards required by the Ministry of Health. If the accommodation fails to meet these criteria, incoming passengers will have to go into centralised quarantine facilities.

The document also states that passengers arriving in Vietnam at Tân Son Nhat International Airport must comply with a five-step procedure.

VIetnam so far has reported 20 Omicron infections, which were immediately quarantined upon arrival. Six of them have been given the all-clear after testing negative for coronavirus.

Visitors arrive at the Tân Son Nhat International Airport, Vietnam. PHOTO: VIETNAM NEWS/ANN

Ramsey Campbell is a must-read for horror fans and here’s where to start

Bill Sheehan

THE WASHINGTON POST – Ramsey Campbell, one of the premier horror writers of the English-speaking world, is now 75, and has recently entered his seventh decade as a published writer. This is quite literally true. His first book, a collection of Lovecraft-inspired tales called The Inhabitant of the Lake, appeared in 1964, when its fledgling author was still in his teens.

In the years since, he has produced a steady stream of novels, novellas and stories. Taken together, they constitute one of the monumental accomplishments of modern popular fiction.

Consider these numbers: To date, Campbell has published 37 novels, along with hundreds of short stories that have been collected in more than two dozen volumes.

He has also published one volume of verse, two massive collections of assorted nonfiction and has edited some 20 volumes of new and classic horror fiction. In terms of both quality and productivity, his career has been a remarkable one, and shows no signs of slowing down.

This year alone, Campbell has published three new books.

Ramsey Campbell, Certainly, a 600-page follow-up to 2002’s Ramsey Campbell, Probably, offers an assortment of autobiographical reflections, along with cogent commentary on such subjects as censorship, plagiarism, classic weird fiction and the ongoing influence of HP Lovecraft. This generous volume not only offers a glimpse into the mind behind the stories, but also serves as a curated guide to the best that horror has to offer, both in fiction and films.

The Village Killings and Other Novellas gathers all of Campbell’s work in the novella form. This collection of five stories and an essay leads with Needing Ghosts, arguably the author’s most disturbing and disorienting piece of fiction, and ends with the title story, a newly published tale that reveals an affinity – and affection – for the classic, Golden Age detective story.

(Another story, The Enigma of the Flat Policeman, was written under the influence of John Dickson Carr, master of the locked room mystery.) This is a strong, long overdue collection that offers a surprising glimpse into the range and variety of Campbell’s literary interests.

The final installment in this year’s Campbell trifecta is the novel Somebody’s Voice (Flame Tree Press). This is quite simply one of the best novels Campbell has ever written. The premise is simple.

Alex Grand, a crime novelist whose career has reached a crisis point, agrees to serve as ghost writer for Carl (formerly Carla) Batchelor, an embittered survivor of childhood abuse.

The act of collaboration reveals the fault lines in Alex’s carefully constructed version of his own past and leads to unexpected – and painful – revelations.

This is a beautifully structured novel that deals forthrightly with uncomfortable issues – abuse, gender politics, repressed memories – and moves steadily toward a conclusion that is both affecting and, in retrospect, inevitable.

Throughout his long career, Campbell has mastered the art of generating a sense of sustained unease. In book after book, he has created an instantly recogniszable world in which the most commonplace scenes, settings and objects assume a sinister, potentially menacing air.

It is a world in which – to contradict the title of one of Campbell’s finest novels – there is no safe place.

Against the backdrop of a harsh, often malleable reality, Campbell has created some of the most uncompromising horror fiction of recent decades.

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Borneo Bulletin is the leading English daily in the country. It was first published by Brunei Press. Today, Borneo Bulletin has become the foremost source of information on local and foreign affairs, and the region’s business news.

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