AP – New Mexico search and rescue crews used ropes and helicopters on Saturday to rescue 21 people who were stranded overnight in two tram cars after an iced-over cable caused the cars to get stuck high up in the Sandia Mountains overlooking Albuquerque.
Lieutenant Robert Arguellas a Bernalillo County Fire Department spokesperson, said early Saturday afternoon that crews first rescued 20 people stranded in one car and several hours later rescued a 21st person stranded by themselves in a second car.
All the people on the two cars were employees of the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway or a mountaintop restaurant, and the 20 in one car were being ferried down to the base of the mountains at the end of their workdays, Arguellas said.
The other employee had been heading up the mountain to provide overnight security when the tram system shut down on Friday night due to icing, Arguellas said.
There were no reported injuries among those stranded, Arguellas said. “More just pretty frustrated.”
A rescue helicopter works to help passengers who were stuck overnight on a Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque, New Mexico. PHOTO: AP
To rescue the 20 people in the one car, operators were able to move it to a nearby support tower more than halfway up the mountain, and search and rescue personnel early on Saturday morning hiked to the area and climbed the tower to deliver blankets and other supplies to those inside the heated car, Arguellas said.
Search and rescue personnel over several hours used ropes and other equipment to lower the stranded employees about 26 metres to the ground before escorting them to a nearby landing zone in the steep and rocky terrain where the tower was located, Arguellas
said.
The 20 people were then ferried by helicopter several at a time to the base of the mountains, he said.
Arguellas said the second car with the one employee aboard was higher up the mountain and at location where the car was too high above the ground to lower people by ropes.
But the tram system was able to inch the second car down the cable to the rescue site at the support tower, and rescuers then used ropes to lower the 21st person as was done with the others, Arguellas said.
Tramway system manager Brian Coon said there was an unusually fast accumulation of ice on one of the cables that made it droop below the tram, making it dangerous to keep going, KOB-TV reported.
CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said the key waterway netted record revenues last year, despite the Coronavirus pandemic and a six-day blockage by giant cargo ship the Ever Given.
Connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, the canal accounts for roughly 10 per cent of global maritime trade and is a source of much-needed foreign currency for Egypt.
In 2021, some 1.27 billion tonnes of cargo were shipped through the canal, earning USD6.3 billion in transit fees, 13 per cent more than the previous year and the highest figures ever recorded, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabie said.
The number of ships using the canal rose from 18,830 in 2020 to 20,694 in 2021, or more than 56 ships per day, the SCA said in a statement.
In March, the Ever Given super tanker – a – behemoth with deadweight tonnage of 199,000 – got stuck diagonally across the canal during a sandstorm.
A round-the-clock salvage operation took six days to dislodge it, and one employee of the SCA died during the rescue operation. Egypt lost some USD12 million to USD15 million each day during the canal closure, according to the SCA.
The Ever Given safely returned back through the canal without a hitch in August.
In November, the SCA said it will hike transit tolls by six per cent starting in 2022, but tourist vessels and liquefied natural gas carriers are be exempted.
The Ever Given super tanker got stuck diagonally across the canal during a sandstorm in March 2021. FILE PHOTO: AP
Several offences were recorded in a series of joint roadblock operations in the Belait District on Saturday.
The roadblocks at Jalan Tengah in Panaga and Seria Highway Bypass saw the involvement of Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF), Traffic Control and Investigation Department (JSKLL), Royal Customs and Excise Department (RCED) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
Among the offences included 19 fines issued by the RBPF for expired road tax, driving licences and illegal modification of vehicles.
RCED recorded four offences for the possession of contraband cigarettes and liquor.
Enforcement officers detected multiple offences during two roadblocks in the Belait District on the first day of the new year, with offences ranging from illegal car modifications to possession of contraband items. Photo shows personnel inspecting motorists along the Seria Bypass Highway.ABOVE & BELOW: Photos above show the roadblock at Seria Highway Bypass. PHOTOS: RBPF
Enforcement personnel at the roadblock at Jalan Tengah, Panaga
MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zealand (AP) – Bangladesh had one of its best days on tour in recent years yesterday when it won all three sessions on the second day of the first cricket test against New Zealand.
The tourists’ bowlers first captured New Zealand’s last five wickets for 70 runs, dismissing the home side for 328 after it had resumed at 258-8.
Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Najmul Hossain Shanto then made half centuries in a 104-run partnership for the second wicket which occupied most of the last 1 1/2 sessions and guided Bangladesh to 175-2 in its first innings at stumps.
Shanto lived up to his considerable reputation with his second half century, to go with two centuries in his 12 tests to date. He was out for 64 within sight of stumps and his innings was punctuated by several classy shots through the off side.
Joy played the innings anchor and compiled his first test 50 from 165 balls in more than 3-1/2 hours. He was 70 and had batted almost five hours by stumps when he had been joined by captain Mominul Haque, who was on eight.
Though New Zealand still leads by 153, the initiative the match has shifted to Bangladesh after its confident, deliberate approach on day two.
The Bangladesh spinners first wrapped up the New Zealand first innings in 25 overs before lunch. Joy then combined in a 43-run opening partnership with Shadman Islam which blunted the new ball and allowed the second wicket pair to strongly consolidate the innings.
Bangladesh‘s Mominul Haque. PHOTO: AP
The pitch at Bay Oval has only provided assistance for the seam bowlers in the first hour Saturday when Bangladesh captured the wicket of New Zealand captain Tom Latham and had the home side 1-1.
Devon Conway’s 122, his second century in four tests, gave New Zealand slightly the upper hand at the end of day one. But the failure of the tail, in spite of the efforts of Henry Nicholls who was the last man out for 75, tipped the balance of the match slightly in the tourists’ favor.
After Shoriful Islam removed allrounder Rachin Ravindra (4), off spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz quickly captured the wickets of Kyle Jamieson (6), Tim Southee (6) and Neil Wagner who was out for a first ball duck.
Mominul bowled only four overs of orthodox left-arm spin but captured the two big wickets of the New Zealand innings, removing Conway and Nicholls and finishing with 2-6 from 4.1 overs. Mehidy had 3-86 after being wicketless on day one and Shoriful took 3-69.
Joy and Shadman steered Bangladesh through three overs before lunch and then to drinks in the middle session when the tourists were 43 without loss. But Shadman was out to the first ball after the break for 22, undone by Neil Wagner who lured him into a false stroke and dived forward to claim a sprawling catch off his own bowling. Wagner had 2-27 from 16 overs at stumps.
Wagner was again the best of New Zealand’s bowlers, mostly bowling fuller and finding a little swing away from the right handers. But for the last two sessions Bangladesh largely defied the attack that won the World Test Championship final in June.
Kyle Jamieson, a prodigy who took 52 wickets in his first 10 tests, struggled in unrewarding conditions Sunday and finished the day with 0-35.
COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH (AFP) – A herd of endangered wild elephants are rampaging through a safari park in Bangladesh, with officials warning yesterday the creatures were acting aggressively and posed a serious safety threat.
The herd of at least 13 elephants knocked down a seven-foot concrete wall to break into the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park, north of the resort city of Cox’s Bazar, earlier this week.
“They are very restless, frightened and acting as if they are cornered. They are now very dangerous for other animals and our visitors,” said park official Mazharul Islam.
The reserve is home to over 1,300 animals – including Bengal tigers, hippos and other threatened species – and sees around 5,000 visitors each day in winter.
“We are worried for the park’s visitors,” Islam said. “Night patrolling is getting difficult as the elephants are very agitated and they go wild very easily.”
Fewer than 100 elephants remain in the South Asian country, where shrinking habitats and dwindling food supplies have resulted in growing conflict with humans. Another official said the elephants were frightened because of increasing encroachment on their land by farmers and the killing of a dozen members of their herd over the years.
Scarcity of food has driven elephants to invade rice fields where they were often killed by electric fences, he added.
Since the second wave of the pandemic, most of us have found ourselves enjoying more time indoors. Now is the time when you may notice that you could use a little more organisation around your home.
Home clutter builds up very quickly. It sneaks up on you while you’re making excuses or just simply ignoring the mess. Sometimes, it’s genuinely difficult to keep a home clutter-free and clean.
Pre-COVID, life may have prevented you from spending enough time at home. You’d wind up making piles here and there with the intent of clearing them out, but you just never would.
However, you can take charge and keep your home clean with a minimal amount of stress. It takes some dedication and determination, but you can do it.
If 2021 brought an abundance of extra things into your living space, then 2022 is all about getting rid of what you don’t need – and keeping the things that serve a purpose in your daily life.
The following are tips to help you with the process of decluttering your home for good, as listed by a friend of mine – 42-year-old supermum and homemaker Suzie Rahmani, a mother of three.
FOLLOW THE ‘ONE-YEAR RULE’
If you’ve had something for a year and you haven’t done anything with it, get rid of it. Most likely, it’s not benefitting you in any way and it’s taking up space.
Do you feel like that object has value and you’re reluctant to part with it, even though you haven’t touched it in a year? Sell it online to get some return on your investment. If no one wants it, donate it to a local charity to keep it out of the garbage can.
DECIDE WHAT TO STORE
Before you start, it’s a good idea to “assess your mess” and make a decision about how much storage you may want to buy. Go through each room and imagine the bins you’ll need to keep everything clean and tidy, whether it’s fabric bins for your children’s toys or plastic bins for a food pantry.
CLEAN YOUR CLOSET
First things first, ask yourself: “Do I really need it?” Donate items you don’t wear or don’t make you feel great, and keep the items you love. You’ll be amazed at how much easier (and more enjoyable) it is to step into a clean, and organised closet.
USE YOUR DOORS
Don’t underestimate the versatility of doors! The back of a door can be a life-saver. For instance, if a secondary bedroom is becoming tight, an over-the-door organiser, shoe rack, or hook rack will free up space while storing everything from shoes and jackets to hats, belts, scarves, and everything else.
STAY TRENDY
A beautiful storage ottoman is not only a comfortable seat in your bedroom or family room; it’s also a great way to keep items off the floor. Similarly, functional and stylish ladder shelves are perfect for picture frames, candles, succulents, watches and jewellery, books, and so much more.
Ottomans, benches, and even chairs come with storage spaces. They’re practical furniture pieces that double as storage.
Use them to decorate your home and keep your stuff out of sight. Just make sure “out of mind” doesn’t come into play, because then you’ll eventually defeat the purpose of using furniture for storage and decoration.
ORGANISE RECIPES
You may have certain recipes that you can’t live without, but you don’t need stacks of cookbooks in your kitchen. One way to free up space is to scan the recipes you love from cookbooks, cut out your favourites from magazines, and organise them into clear pages in a binder or folder.
FREE UP YOUR FRIDGE
Now more than ever, takeout meals make your evenings so much easier. But because those boxes, containers, and bags take up so much space, make sure to put food in your own tupperware and label them with the date you ordered the food. You can also do a complete “refrigerator overhaul” – take everything out, throw old items away, and keep what you need.
START SMALL
If you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, a great way to de-stress is to do simple tasks. A few quick ways to clear your home, and your mind, are to fluff up and organise the pillows on your couch, straighten up your rugs, dust off counters and windows, and wipe down tables.
Use this checklist as a starting point, and keep in mind: don’t stress about tackling everything all at once. Marking off one or two decluttering tasks each day will add up quickly.
Before you know it, your dream of spending the holidays in a neat and tidy home will be a reality!
Four violations of Operasi Peralihan, the movement restriction period from 10pm to 4am, were recorded on Saturday. The violators were issued a BND500 fine each for breaching the stay-at home directive.
According to a Ministry of Health statement yesterday, the violators were locals Mas Rizduan bin Haji Pungut, Pengiran Noor Amli bin Pengiran Haji Md Samli, Md Firdaus bin Abdullah and Pea Chong Hing.
Two violations were found in Brunei-Muara District and two in Temburong District, according to the Royal Brunei Police Force.
ABOVE & BELOW: Mas Rizduan bin Haji Pungut; and Pengiran Noor Amli bin Pengiran Haji Md Samli. PHOTOS: RBPF
ABOVE & BELOW: Md Firdaus bin Abdullah; and Pea Chong Hing
WASHINGTON (AP) – DeMar DeRozan hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for the second straight game to give the Chicago Bulls a 120-119 win over the Washington Wizards yesterday.
Kyle Kuzma’s three-pointer with 3.3 seconds to play gave Washington a 119-117 lead, until DeRozan beat the Wizards in the same way he beat Indiana on Friday night.
DeRozan finished with 28 points and Zach LaVine had 35 points to help the Bulls to their seventh straight win, which is their longest streak since December 18-29, 2014.
According to BasketballReference.com, DeRozan became the first player in NBA history to hit buzzer-beaters on consecutive days.
“It’s amazing, especially doing it on the road,” DeRozan said. “I don’t know if I’m dreaming or if it’s real right now.
“You work your butt off and you understand that if you’re in those positions, try to capitalise on them the best way you can because you’re going to have games where you miss some.”
The Wizards led nearly the whole game, outscoring Chicago 72-30 in points in the paint.
Chicago Bulls’ DeMar DeRozan shoots against Washington Wizards’ Deni Avdija. PHOTO: AP
“He was defended pretty well,” Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr said. “It’s just tough. It’s tough to lose a game like that.”
Kuzma scored 29 points and had 12 rebounds, while Bradley Beal had 27 points and a career-high 16 assists in his first start at point guard. Beal also passed the 14,000 point mark.
Midway through the second quarter, the Wizards were called for a technical full for too many players. Alize Johnson, one of five players on 10-day contracts, was the sixth player on the court.
TIP-INS
Bulls: F Tyler Cook suffered a sprained left ankle early in the second quarter and did not return. F Javonte Green was out with a right adductor strain. Interim coach Chris Fleming said that he hopes G Lonzo Ball and F Alonzo McKinnie, who were in health and safety protocols, could return to action early next week. Coach Billy Donovan addressed the team over Zoom on Saturday and told them how proud he was with Friday night’s win. Donovan could return from health and safety protocols today.
Wizards: Signed G Tremont Waters to a 10-day contract. G Brad Wanamaker, who started on Thursday, entered the health and safety protocols. Rotation players G Spencer Dinwiddie, F Rui Hachimura, F Montrezl Harrell, G Aaron Holiday and G Raul Neto are still in COVID-19 protocols
DEROZAN’S BIG SHOT:
DeRozan said he concentrated on the fundamentals before he shot the game-winner.
“I wanted to make sure my feet were behind the line,” he said. “I wanted to give it a chance to go in.
“My shots all night were short. It’s tough to play on back-to-backs. I kind of felt it throughout the game.”
LaVine shook his head when asked to describe DeRozan.
“The dude’s incredible,” LaVine said. “You can’t say much more than that. Good thing we’ve got DeMar DeRozan on our team.”
BEAL IMPRESSED WITH DEROZAN: Throughout Beal’s NBA career, he has marveled at DeRozan. “That’s what he does,” Beal said. “He takes tough shots and he makes tough shots.”
Beal believes the short-handed Wizards simply came up short against a marvelous opponent.
“We did everything we possibly could to win, but DeRo just made a crazy shot at the end of the game,” he said. “In a way, the shot is demoralising and takes the energy out of you, but to know that we competed and played hard, we set ourselves up to win, and you feel great about that.”
COPENHAGEN (AFP) – Denmark’s government has set an ambitious target of making all Danish domestic flights green by 2030, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Saturday.
“Will it be difficult? Yes. Can it be done? Yes, I think so. We’re already on it. Talented researchers and businesses are working on solutions,” Frederiksen said in her New Year’s Day address to the nation.
“If we succeed, it will be a green breakthrough. Not just for Denmark, but the whole world. If there’s anything we have learned in recent years when it comes to handling big crises, it’s that we must never hesitate,” she said.
Frederiksen provided no details about how the lofty goal would be accomplished, but did say her government was open to the introduction of a tax on carbon dioxide gas emissions, after having previously been opposed.
The aviation industry is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, and airlines are developing new and cleaner technologies, including those that reduce fuel use and emissions.
AP – The winter grassland fire that blew up along Colorado’s Front Range was rare, experts said, but similar events will be more common in the coming years as climate change warms the planet – sucking the moisture out of plants – suburbs grow in fire-prone areas and people continue to spark destructive blazes.
“These fires are different from most of the fires we’ve been seeing across the West, in the sense that they’re grass fires and they’re occurring in the winter,” said professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan Jonathan Overpeck.
“Ultimately, things are going to continue to get worse unless we stop climate change.”
Flames swept over drought-stricken grassy fields and neighbourhoods northwest of Denver on Thursday with alarming speed, propelled by guests up to 105 miles per hour. Tens of thousands were ordered to flee with little notice.
“I came out of Whole Foods, which is about a half mile from ground zero, and felt like I had to jump in my car and make a dash for my life as the smoke and wind and nearby flams were
engulfing the area,” Susie Pringle of Lafayette said in an email. “It was scary!”
Three people were missing as of Saturday, and at least seven were injured but no deaths were reported. Officials estimated nearly 1,000 homes and other buildings were destroyed.
A house burns as wildfires rip through a development in Superior, Colorado. PHOTOS: APThe remains of a Tesla factory
Photos show what’s left of the Element by Westin hotel
Many whose homes were spared remained without power while temperatures dropped to the single digits. The blaze burned at least 9.4 square miles.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, but experts say its clear what allowed it to spread so fast.
“With any snow on the ground, this absolutely would not have happened in the way that it did,” said snow hydrologist in Boulder Keith Musselman. “It was really the grass and the dry landscape that allowed this fire to jump long distances in a short period of time.”
Three ingredients were needed to start this fire – fuels, a warm climate and an ignition source, said fire scientist with the University of Colorado, Boulder Jennifer Balch. “And then you add a fourth ingredient, wind, and that’s when it became a disaster.”
Temperatures in Colorado between June and December were the warmest on record, Balch said. The grasses grew thick because they had a wet spring, but saw no moisture until snow flurries arrived on Friday night.
“All of Colorado is flammable, our grasses are flammable, our shrubs are flammable, our trees are flammable,” Balch said. “This is a dry landscape that is flammable for good chunks of the year, and those chunks of time are getting longer with climate change.”
The lesson learned throughout this event is that the “wildland-urban interface is way bigger than we thought it was”, Balch said. That means a wider area is under threat of wildfire.
That border area – where structures built by people meet undeveloped wildland prone to fire – has always been the foothills, she said. Firefighters in Boulder consider the interface west of Broadway – a busy road that passes through the center of town. But Thursday’s fire sparked east of that line, next to thousands of houses that have sprouted up on the east side of the Rockies since the 90s, Balch said.
“There were stretches between Denver and Fort Collins that had no development, but now it’s just like one long continuous development track,” Balch said. “And those homes are built with materials that are very flammable – wood siding, asphalt roofing.
“We need to completely rethink how we’re building homes.”
The other important change is understanding how these fires start in the first place, she said.
“There’s no natural source of ignition at this time of year. There’s no lightning,” she said. “It’s either going to be infrastructure-related or it’s going to be human caused.”
“The way we live in the landscape and our daily activities make us vulnerable,” she said.
Over the last two decades, 97 per cent of wildfires were started by people, according to a recent study by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Causes have ranged from accidents at construction sites, to a car with a hot tailpipe, to tossed cigarettes.
“I like to say, we need Smokey Bear in the suburbs,” she said. “We need to be thinking about how our daily activities can contribute ignitions or sparks that start wildfires.”
Unless people stop climate change by cutting back on fossil fuels, wildfires will threaten communities, Overpeck said.
“There’s little doubt in my mind that the conditions conducive to really bad wildfire, whether it’s grass or forest, are only going to get worse,” he said.
As more people move to areas where wildfires occur, the threat goes up.
“We’re building towns and cities and infrastructure and so it’s just a matter of time before we have whole towns burning down like we had in California and events like this in Colorado.”
