The temporary suspension on cross-border activities has been extended by 16 days, from March 16 to 31, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced.
The suspension is 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, and in reference to a media release issued by the PMO on the extension of temporary suspension on cross-border activities dated February 26, 2022.
The suspension applies to the entry of foreign nationals via land and sea ports, including transits through Brunei Darussalam, except for entry and transit travels that have been granted approval by the Brunei Government. Entry and transits through Brunei Darussalam may only be considered for transit vehicles with transit permits issued by the Brunei government, provided the travellers have attained endorsement from their local authorities for their travels, and will be subject to existing entry conditions and procedures, for the following purposes: official government travel; students required to attend school; emergency services (such as ambulances, police and military); and vaccinated foreign-registered transport operators with cross-country permits issued by the Brunei government for import deliveries of essential goods. The suspension also applies to entry and exit-country travels of commuters via land and sea ports for the purpose of work.
Conditions for the consideration of entry and exit travel are subject to review by the Steering Committee for COVID-19 from time to time.
For information, visit www.pmo.gov.bn/travelportal or contact travel hotline at 120 during working hours, or e-mail travelapplication@jpm.gov.bn.
LUBUMBASHI, DR CONGO (AFP) – The death toll in a train crash in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo has reached 75, officials said on Sunday, as experts began looking at the causes of the crash.
Officials on Saturday gave a toll of 60 men, women and children killed in the accident, which happened on Thursday night when a freight service train derailed.
The new toll came from Fabien Mutomb, head of the state railway company SNCC, after he visited the site with a team assembled to investigate the disaster.
Of the 125 people injured 28 were in a critical condition, said the Communications Ministry.
Rail officials have not said what caused the crash, but investigators will be looking at the condition of the track.
The province’s Interior Minister Deodat Kapenda, who was among those who visited the site, said in a statement on Sunday the accident appeared to have been caused by a sudden loss of traction.
Mutomb, in his statement, said one possible cause might have been the overloading of the train because of people illegally hitching a ride on it.
“Measures will be taken to ensure that this kind of incident does not happen again,” and those responsible would be punished, he added.
On Saturday, the SNCC’s director of infrastructure Marc Manyonga Ndambo told AFP the train had been made up of 15 wagons, 12 of them empty.
It had been coming from Luena in a neighbouring province destined for the mining town of Tenke, close to Kolwezi, when the accident happened.
It derailed at 11.50pm on Thursday at the village of Buyofwe, about 200 kilometres from Kolwezi, seven of its wagons plunging into ravines.
It was carrying several hundred stowaways at the time, said Manyonga Ndambo, speaking by phone from Lubumbashi.
On Sunday, he said the track had been cleared but the wagons involved in the crash still had to be towed away.
People regularly jump rides on freight trains to travel across the vast country because of the lack of passenger trains and the difficulties of travelling by road.
Train derailments are common in the DRC, as are shipwrecks of overloaded boats on the country’s lakes and rivers.
According to a database maintained by AFP, last week’s accident was the deadliest in the world over the last two years, and the third worst accident in Africa over the last 10.
The last accident in DR Congo of this kind happened in 2014, when a good train on which several hundred people were travelling derailed at Katongola, in the southeast region of Kataga, killing 136 people.
Mutomb is expected back in Kinshasa yesterday to report on the extent of the damage, the Communications Ministry said.
Here are eight new book releases this month, which include the story of a doctor who works at a memory removal clinic and suspects her boss of wrongdoing, a true crime blogger who experiences paranormal activities while interviewing a former suspected murderer, and an artist whose portraits can alter a person’s body.
TELL ME AN ENDING BY JO HARKIN
Tech company Nepthe offers a highly sought-after life changing service – deleting any unwanted or traumatising memories of its clients. However, some of the former clients have started to recall traces of their old memories.
Four patients must decide whether to regain their memories or remain in the dark about their past, while one of the doctors at Nepenthe grows suspicious of her boss Louise.
THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW BY JESSICA STRAWSER
As an end-of-life doula, Nova provides support and companionship for terminally ill people and help them come to terms with their own passing. Unlike her business partner Kelly who strictly follows a set of procedures for her clients, Nova will work with anyone including those who are far too young or desperate for company.
Nova’s latest client is 36-year-old Mason, an indie singer-songwriter whose condition is worsening by each day and he can no longer play guitar. The two have a rocky start but gradually begin to grow closer despite running out of time.
THE GOLDEN COUPLE BY GREER HENDRICKS, SARAH PEKKANEN
As a therapist, Avery is spectacular at helping people overcome their difficulties – even if it means resorting to questionable methods. After losing her professional license, Avery continues to take on clients and solve their problems with her unconventional practices within a mere 10 sessions.
The Bishops, desperate to fix their marriage for the sake of their eight-year-old son, come to Avery for help. The first session has Marissa Bishop confessing about her infidelity but there are far bigger secrets yet to be revealed, putting more than just their marriage at risk.
PEACH BLOSSOM SPRING BY MELISSA FU
Peach Blossom Spring tells the story of three generations of a Chinese family from 1938 to 2005. With the increasing conflict between China and Japan in 1938, young mother Meilin attempts to flee her burning city with her four-year-old Renshu in search of a new home.
As the years pass by, Renshu eventually settles down in America with his daughter Lily who wants to know more about their family history. Renshu is reluctant to open up about the hardship he bore during his childhood but Lily is desperate to learn about her heritage.
THE BOOK OF COLD CASES BY SIMONE ST JAMES
In 1977, two men were murdered in Claire Lake, Oregon. Eccentric heiress Beth was the prime suspect but was eventually released by the police and the case remained unsolved.
Forty years later, true crime blogger Shea crosses path with Beth and asks for an interview to find out what really happened.
Beth agrees to her request, and the two of them begin to meet up at Beth’s mansion. But strange things begin to happen. Objects move when she looks away, and there’s a mysterious girl outside the window.
THE NIGHT SHIFT BY ALEX FINLAY
Four teenagers were attacked on New Year’s Eve, 1999 at a Blockbuster Video store, leaving only one survivor behind. Fifteen years later, a similar case happens in the same neighbourhood, where four teenagers are attacked while working at an ice cream shop and only one person survives.
The story is narrated by three characters: the sole survivor of the Blockbuster massacre, the brother of the suspected murderer, and an FBI agent investigating the case.
A FORGERY OF ROSES BY JESSICA S OLSON
Myra Whitlock is an artist with an extraordinary gift – she can alter a person’s body through her painting. It’s a dangerous gift to possess, and many have who possess this power have gone missing including her mother. As a result, Myra has to keep her power a secret so she can keep taking care of her sick sister.
When the governor’s wife learns about Myra’s power, Myra has to choose between resurrecting her dead son or have her secret exposed. If Myra succeeds, she’ll be rewarded a large sum of money which she can use for her sister’s medical treatment. However, Myra’s magic can only work if she knows what exactly led to the death of the governor’s son, and trying to discover the truth might put her life n danger.
THE CARTOGRAPHERS BY PENG SHEPHERD
Nell Young has dedicated her while life to cartography, the science of making maps. Her father is a prominent figure in the field and Nell never would’ve pursued the profession if it weren’t for him. However, their relationship has been strained ever since they had an argument over a seemingly insignificant gas station map.
When her father is found dead with the same gas station map hidden in his desk, Nell decides to investigate further.
Contrary to its appearance, the map turns out to be highly valuable and rare. It could even be the last copy in the world, because someone has been tracking down and destroying all the other copies, as well as those who try to intervene.
NICE, FRANCE (AFP) – Primoz Roglic won cycling’s eight-day Paris-Nice race on Sunday, crossing the finish line third on a rainy French Riviera seafront for a narrow, tense victory.
The Slovenian rider had to chase hard as race runner-up and the stage winner Simon Yates broke away of the final climb before a 15-kilometre daredevil downhill dash into Nice where he won the day on the celebrated Promenade des Anglais.
Roglic famously lost the 2020 Tour de France on the final day and crashed out here on the final day last year whilst also in the lead.
On Sunday, he was again at risk but was led up the last steep climb by teammate Wout van Aert who shepherded him all the way to the finish line to end the race, 29 seconds ahead of Yates.
“I don’t go without a bit of drama,” a relieved Roglic said at the finish line. “It was so steep and so hard. A big thanks to Wout, he can do anything, he’s half human, half motor.”
Ineos rider Dani Martinez came third at 2min 37sec after he suffered an unfortunate puncture at the start of the final climb.
If Bike Exchange rider Yates was in any way disappointed at missing out on the overall win he gracefully hid that as he stretched his arms wide on the finish line for his first win since last May.
“It’s always on your mind when you start getting ahead,” Yates said after his second overall second place on this race.
“But I’m more than happy with the stage win,” said Yates, whose brother Adam came fourth overall.
For Roglic this was a 10th World Tour stage race triumph, only Chris Froome has more amongst active riders in the peloton with 12.
ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Afghan embassies around the world that have refused to recognise the new Taleban regime are struggling to stay afloat and facing increasing pressure from Kabul to accept loyalist replacements.
None of the country’s 60 or so ambassadors, consuls or heads of diplomatic missions who were appointed by Western-backed former president Ashraf Ghani have agreed to serve the hardline Islamist group since it seized power in August last year.
The Taleban government has yet to be formally recognised by any nation, and the international community is grappling with how to deal with the country’s new rulers while also helping Afghans face an economic and humanitarian crisis.
“We are in a very unfortunate… situation, but we still have to continue to operate in these difficult circumstances,” ambassador to Norway Youssof Ghafoorzai said.
“The embassies still have a very important role to play in terms of trying to increase whatever humanitarian support is possible. But also (to help) discussions on the political track… to stabilise the situation.”
Aid and cash reserves, frozen by the United States (US) and the international community after the Taleban seized control, are trickling back into the country, which has long depended almost entirely on donors.
Security personnel stand guard outside the Afghan embassy in New Delhi. PHOTOS: AFPThe Afghan Embassy in Islamabad
But Ghafoorzai and his colleagues have had no contact with the new regime, and staff have not been paid for months.
The Afghan embassy and its consulates in the US are being shut in the coming week.
“The Afghan Embassy and consulates are under severe financial pressure. Their bank accounts are not available to them,” a US State Department official told AFP.
The embassy and Washington made arrangements for an “orderly shutdown of operations in a way that would protect and preserve all diplomatic mission property in the US until operations are able to resume”, the official said.
Across the world, Afghan ambassadors have been forced to dramatically scale down their activities, reduce energy bills and food costs, and even move into smaller premises.
They have also increased consular fees to generate revenue.
“The embassy is not receiving any funding or financial assistance from Kabul,” ambassador in New Delhi Farid Mamundzay told AFP.
“In the absence of the required financial support and depletion of resources, we have not been able to pay the staff salaries for months and had to downsize the strength and reduce the expenditure of the mission to the lowest.”
It is not clear how long visas, certificates and other documents issued by the holdout embassies will be recognised – either by the Taleban or the international community.
New passports issued in Kabul still refer to the country as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, instead of the Taleban’s preferred “Emirate”, but officials have warned foreign journalists arriving with visas issued independently by the Dubai embassy that they may not be honoured in future.
SQUEEZED OUT
In a handful of countries near Afghanistan, some ambassadors have left their posts or been pushed out by the Taleban, who have inserted their own representatives – but even the replacements face hardship.
In Pakistan, salaries have not been paid since September. Employees live on income from visa and passport renewal fees and marriage certificates, said a source at the consulate in Peshawar, near the Afghan border.
The new consul general appointed by the Taleban receives just USD280 a month compared with the nearly USD5,000 his predecessor made, the source added.
The Taleban made Pakistan, long accused of aiding their cause, the first country to which they sent a new representative.
In Beijing, the ambassador resigned when a senior diplomat loyal to the Taleban was appointed to the embassy, which he is now unofficially leading.
The Taleban have also managed to impose their men in Uzbekistan and Iran.
Russia, meanwhile, said it was ready to accept “two or three” new diplomats, but that they would not take the place of the current ambassador.
‘THREATS AND INTIMIDATION’
The Taleban did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment, but they have previously claimed to largely have control over Afghan embassies.
However, they have failed to have one of their top spokesmen Suhail Shaheen accredited as ambassador to the United Nations (UN), with the General Assembly indefinitely postponing a vote on the matter.
In Rome, Italian police had to intervene after a scuffle between the Afghan ambassador and a recently dismissed pro-Taleban diplomat who claimed he had been given the top job.
“There have been threats, intimidation and violence in some of our missions by disgruntled ex-employees that are ideologically pro-Taleban,” ambassador in Rome Khaled Zekriya said.
“The Taleban administration tried to persuade our embassy to work on their behalf, but I
said no.
“My answer will stay the same until an inclusive representative government will be established in Afghanistan, where the Taleban will be a part, not the only part, of this government.”
The Taleban have also sent delegations from Kabul to Oslo and Geneva, bypassing local embassies, for talks with Western powers.
Afghan diplomatic missions – in particular those in the West – united to openly criticise the Taleban for their failure to respect human rights ahead of the Oslo visit in January.
“It’s a difficult situation,” said Ghafoorzai.
“But we also know that we continue to represent a people that have suffered enormous difficulties throughout their history.”
BELFAST (AFP) – Belfast’s Appeal Court ruled yesterday that a Brexit protocol between Brussels and London is lawful, blocking a bid to scrap the controversial arrangement which governs trade in Northern Ireland.
The protocol – part of the United Kingdom’s (UK) divorce deal with the European Union (EU) – has proved deeply unpopular with Northern Ireland’s pro-UK unionist politicians, who launched the legal challenge.
Lawyers for the unionist politicians, including former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leaders, are expected to launch an appeal to Britain’s Supreme Court after the case was also rejected by the High Court in Belfast in June.
They have argued the Brexit legislation is incompatible with the 1998 Good Friday Belfast Agreement, which ended three decades of violence over British rule in the province.
Their legal teams also sought to scrap the protocol on the grounds it was incompatible with the 1800 Act of Union which merged the kingdoms of Britain and Ireland.
However, Lady Chief Justice Keegan dismissed both cases.
Signs point to an old customs and excise area on the Dublin road in Newry, Northern Ireland. PHOTO: AFP
Ahead of elections to Northern Ireland’s devolved assembly in May, the province’s politics have been plunged into crisis by issues surrounding the protocol.
Last month, Paul Givan, the unionist leader of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive, resigned from his position in protest against the post-Brexit trade mechanism, prompting the collapse of the devolved government.
The move has further complicated post-Brexit negotiations between Brussels and London – which has said it is also opposed to the protocol.
Issues surrounding the protocol overshadowed a recent visit by Irish prime minister Micheal Martin to London, where the Taoiseach looked to show a united front with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Martin said the impasse was “unlikely to be resolved” ahead of Northern Ireland’s elections.
Johnson said Brussels still needed to make “significant changes” to the protocol.
Ahead of the meetings, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would not re-enter the power-sharing executive until the UK acts to “protect Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom”.
Northern Ireland’s unionist communities have railed against the protocol, saying that by keeping the province in the European single market, it threatens the province’s constitutional place in the UK.
Simmering anger about goods shortages and uncertainty for businesses blamed on the protocol boiled over into clashes between police and demonstrators last year that revived memories of the worst days of sectarian violence.
COLOMBO (AFP) – An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation was in Sri Lanka yesterday for talks on the island’s worsening economic crisis, with the public suffering through months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.
A lack of foreign currency has left traders unable to pay for vital imports in what authorities concede is the South Asian nation’s worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.
Long queues outside gas stations and rolling blackouts have become the norm, while record inflation has caused serious hardship among the island’s 22 million people by repeatedly pushing up the cost of groceries, transport and pharmaceuticals.
A senior staffer from the IMF “will hold talks” with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, a spokesman for the leader told AFP.
Sri Lanka’s government is divided on seeking a bailout, but the international lender said it was “ready to discuss options if requested” in yesterday’s statement.
The IMF warned earlier this month that the country’s USD51 billion foreign debt was “unsustainable”, and called for a currency devaluation and higher taxes to revive its almost bankrupt economy.
Sri Lanka last week allowed the rupee to float, a move that saw the currency nosedive 25 per cent against the dollar and triggered a fresh wave of price increases.
Fuel costs have risen by nearly 80 per cent since early February while food prices rose by a quarter according to January figures.
The coronavirus pandemic hammered the South Asian island’s tourism sector – a key foreign exchange earner.
Sri Lanka needs nearly USD7 billion to service its foreign debt this year, but the country’s external reserves at the end of January were just over USD2 billion – enough to finance one month of imports.
An Islamic Da’wah Centre religious officer emphasised the need to be sincere in performing religious obligations such as daily prayers and fasting during a talk held in conjunction with the Israk Mikraj celebration for 1443 Hijrah recently.
The talk, carried out on Zoom, was organised with the objective of ensuring mosque congregants and Kampong Sungai Akar residents have better understanding of religious obligations, thus participate in events and programmes lined up by the Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Mosque (MRSB) takmir committee.
Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Apong and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin as co-patrons of
MRSB was among those in attendance.
Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Apong and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin at the talk. PHOTO: LYNA MOHAMMAD
THE STAR – The son and namesake of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos has maintained a strong lead in the Philippines’ presidential election race, according to an opinion poll published yesterday.
The February 18-23 survey by independent pollster Pulse Asia showed Marcos cornering 60 per cent of support from 2,400 respondents, unchanged from January, with his closest rival Leni Robredo, the incumbent vice president, sliding from 16 per cent to 15 per cent.
The other main presidential contenders for the May 9 contest – Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso, boxing great Manny Pacquiao and Senator Panfilo Lacson – received 10 per cent, eight per cent and two per cent, respectively.
Sara Duterte-Carpio, the daughter of incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte, remained the top choice for vice president, with a 29-point lead over her closest rival, Senate speaker Vicente Sotto.
Duterte-Carpio is the running mate of Marcos. In the Philippines, the vice president is elected separately to the president.
More than 67 million Filipinos, including 1.7 million overseas, have registered to vote in the elections, which historically have a high turnout.
Posts contested include the presidency, vice presidency, 12 senate seats, 300 lower house seats, and roughly 18,000 local positions. Official campaigning began on February 8.
Philippine presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. PHOTO: THE STAR
THE WASHINGTON POST – In NoViolet Bulawayo’s new novel, Glory, a nation riven by decades of autocratic rule finds itself dividing once again. Seeking “to forget the screaming in their heads”, the citizens of Jidada flock to the Internet. Safe inside this ‘Other Country’, they rage against their government in ways that would be unthinkable in the physical ‘Country Country’, where cancellation is truly final.
The gulf between the world as it is and the world as it could be is as wide in Bulawayo’s novel as it is outside it. The actions depicted in the book are so familiar, the events so recognisable, the pain so acute, it’s easy to see how Glory began as a work of non-fiction. That the characters are animals – furred, feathered, scaled and all – is almost incidental.
In a note to readers accompanying pre-publication copies of her book, Bulawayo reported that before writing Glory, she had been at work on a non-fiction account of the 2017 coup that ended Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s oppressive, 37-year reign. The 93-year-old strongman’s replacement was Emmerson Mnangagwa, the 75-year-old vice president whom Mugabe fired in one of his last acts as head of state. Mnangagwa, a former military leader with an allegedly brutal history and a vicious nickname, the Crocodile, won the presidency by a narrow margin in 2018. Mugabe died the following year.
Glory repeats this story almost as it happened. In Bulawayo’s telling, however, Jidada’s deposed autocrat is an elderly stallion long known as Father of the Nation but now derided as Old Horse.
Following a bloodless coup staged by the nation’s canine military, the Father’s vice president and fellow old horse, Tuvius Delight Shasha, returns from a brief exile with promises of “a new dawn, a new season, a New Dispensation”. Tuvy, as he’s called, vows to make Jidada “great again”. In no time, he acquires a cultlike following, a new nickname (the Savior) and a reputation for megalomania, misogyny and corruption that surpasses that of his predecessor.
An expected chain of absurdities follows. That is not a knock on Bulawayo’s storytelling gifts, which are prodigious. Her 2013 debut novel, We Need New Names, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for its indelible tale of a Zimbabwean girl who immigrates to the United States.
Among her new book’s many strengths is Bulawayo’s portrayal of the Jidadans’ experience as at once distinct and universal. A host of real-life tyrants can be seen in the novel’s four-legged bad guys.
This is not a humourless book. The animals are gleeful insulters (“You have a demon of idiocy!”) and inventive cussers. Tuvy and the Father are as foolish as they are evil. The latter’s reaction to finding himself in hell, to which he’s been led by a lipstick-wearing monkey, is wickedly funny. Bulawayo even delights in satirising a certain United States president, represented here as a tweeting primate prone to subliterate warnings of electoral malfeasance. His handle: @bigbaboonoftheUS.
The citizens of Jidada often speak with one voice. They recite long lists, grim tautologies (“killed dead”, “died death”) and anecdotes that circle back on themselves like tail-chasing dogs. Traumatised by violence at home and abroad, they repeat phrases that fill entire pages of the book: “and talks to the dead”, “and considered the maths of the revolution”, “I can’t breathe”.
Glory reads longer than its 400 pages. Bulawayo shifts among omniscient narration, first-person plural, oral history and even chapters written as Twitter threads. The effect can be disorienting, but individual voices stand out. None resonates as strongly as that of Destiny Lozikeyi Khumalo, a goat who returns to Jidada after a decade away. Hoping to exorcise the trauma that prompted her departure, Destiny becomes a chronicler of her nation’s history and an advocate for its future. Her writing provides a “way of rising above the past, of putting together that which was broken”.
In her author’s note, Bulawayo shared how her book’s most obvious literary inspiration, George Orwell’s anti-Stalinism allegory Animal Farm, became a trending topic on social media in the wake of Mugabe’s ouster. The parallels between post-revolution Manor Farm and post-coup Zimbabwe were too painful to ignore. “Pivoting from non-fiction to create Glory became an extension of my fellow citizens’ impulse to articulate the absurd and the surreal,” she wrote.
Any satire worth its weight in talking animals is really a warning – to the powers that be, the complicit and anyone who thinks nothing so terrible could ever happen to them. When Destiny diagnoses Jidada’s condition as “the willingness of citizens to get used to that which should have otherwise been the source of outrage”, she could be describing a great number of places. By almost any measure, Glory weighs a tonne.
