WARSAW, POLAND (AP) – A veterinarian said on Tuesday that a brown bear cub found exhausted in snowy woods in southeastern Poland has been diagnosed with a disease that will be treated with antibiotics.
The young male named Ada has been diagnosed with anaplasmosis, a dangerous disease that has affected the cub’s lungs and is probably behind the neurological symptoms like the shaking of the head.
He will be administered antibiotics twice a day with hopes for a full cure, doctor Radoslaw Fedaczynski said in a video posted on his veterinary centre’s Facebook.
Earlier Tuesday, another veterinarian at the centre, Jakub Kotowicz, told The Associated Press it was a “good sign” that Ada had good appetite and was eating his meals, after he was given medication and put in a warm hut.
“But he is in serious condition with advanced neurological symptoms persisting,” Kotowicz, deputy head of the veterinary centre in Przemysl, said before the diagnosis.
The cub, apparently born in the spring of 2021, was spotted by a forester on Monday
wobbling alone in snow near a creek.
There were wolf tracks nearby and some blood spots, but no sign of his mother. Local forestry authorities decided he should be caught and taken to the Center for Rehabilitation of Protected Animals in Przemysl, spokesman for local foresters, Maciej Szpiech, said.
Szpiech said the aim is to eventually release the cub back into nature. In 2016, the centre saved a young bear that was later sent to a zoo in Poznan, western Poland.
Brown bears are rare in Poland and are strictly protected, numbering no more than some 100 animals.
Veterinarians diagnosing and treating an exhausted young male brown bear named Ada at the center for Rehabilitation of Protected Animals in Przemysl, Poland. PHOTOS: AP
ATHENS (AFP) – The landmark trial of a Greek sailing coach accused of raping a minor opened in Athens yesterday, a year after an Olympic champion effectively launched the #MeToo movement there by speaking out about her experiences.
The case is one of many that came to light after former Olympic sailing gold medal winner Sofia Bekatorou broke the taboo on speaking out on such matters in December 2020.
Bekatorou, who is a witness at the trial, did not speak to reporters as she arrived at the courthouse yesterday.
Triantafyllos Apostolou, 38, who outed himself in a newspaper interview last year, allegedly raped an 11-year-old athlete in 2010.
Bekatorou has said that she herself had been subjected to “sexual harassment and abuse” by a senior federation member after trials for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She was 21-years-old at the time.
Her revelations led to other women speaking up about being assaulted, and more than three years after it started in the United States, the #MeToo movement was born in Greece.
Over the past year, allegations of sexual assaults suffered by female athletes, students, journalists and actresses have been pouring in. Some of those speaking out said they were still minors when the assaults happened.
With the consent of the woman concerned, Bekatorou brought it to the attention of prosecutors in January 2021.
The alleged victim said that when she was 11-years-old she had several non-consensual sexual encounters with her coach who is now on trial.
After more than a year of no community outbreak of COVID-19, the second wave halted most activities planned by Kampong Batang Mitus Village Consultative Council (MPK) for 2021.
Kampong Batang Mitus, Kampong Pengkalan Mau and Kampong Bekiau Acting Village Head Suhili bin Alas said activities organised by MPK had been running smooth until August 2021.
The acting village head said MPK members work in the committee for a five-year term and Kampong Batang Mitus’ MPK is due for a new term this year.
Kampong Kebia was under the jurisdiction of Kampong Batang Mitus Village Head but it was rezoned into Kampong Birau on August 1, 2021 while two other villages were added under his authority.
The new re-zoning system called for a change in the organisation of the MPK committee members that needed to be discussed in a meeting. However, before the meeting can take place, the second wave of COVID-19 broke out.
Kampong Batang Mitus, Kampong Pengkalan Mau and Kampong Bekiau Acting Village Head Suhili bin Alas hands over money to a recipient using the drive-through system. PHOTOS: LYNA MOHAMADKampong Batang Mitus Village Council presents a donation
Another challenge was not being able to carry out plans physically leading to some issues.
The committee members used WhatsApp to organise activities including working with Tutong Care Project and other charitable organisations to donate to COVID-19 frontliners.
Packed meals were distributed to frontliners and youth volunteers were dispatched to agencies such as the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS).
MPK members also monitored retail shops under their jurisdiction to ensure both shop owners and customers adhered to MoH standard operation procedures (SOPs).
They also helped in distributing old age pensions and welfare assistance using the drive-through system.
As for this year’s activities, the committee will carry forward last year’s activities with some changes to suit current SOPs.
The acting village head said he hopes to hold an annual general meeting soon to appoint new committee members and that the outbreak will end and life returns to normal.
NEW YORK (AFP) – Boeing delivered more than twice as many commercial planes in 2021 as the year earlier, but still lagged its archrival Airbus in the closely-watched industry benchmark, according to figures released on Tuesday.
The United States (US) aviation giant, benefitting from the return of its 737 MAX jet in most leading markets, delivered 340 planes last year, up from 157 in 2020.
But that level is still below Airbus’ 611 deliveries in 2021. Deliveries are tied to company revenues and closely monitored by investors.
The figures are the latest to point to Boeing’s partial recovery from both the lengthy grounding of its 737 MAX model following two fatal crashes, and the downturn in the commercial plane business during Covid-19 that halted many new plane orders for more than a year.
Boeing executives have said they expect passenger traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 or 2024, and for the company to recover its long-term growth trends a few years after that.
A line of Boeing 777X jets parked nose-to-tail on a runway at Paine Field, near Boeing’s massive production facility in Everett, Washington. PHOTO: AP
The Public Works Department (JKR) at the Ministry of Development announced the temporary partial road closures in Jalan Setia Pahlawan, Jalan Sungai Pandan and Jalan Pandan Lima in Kuala Belait from today until February 13.
The temporary partial road closures are to make way for repair works.
JKR urged motorists to be extra cautious when passing the areas and to comply with traffic signs and follow speed limit.
For complaints, contact the department via Darussalam line at 123 or live chat at 8333123 or e-mail to pro@pwd.gov.bn.
ABOVE & BELOW: Maps show affected areas. PHOTOS: JKR
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA (AP) – California Democrats took their first step toward abolishing the private health insurance market in the nation’s most populous state and replacing it with a government-run plan that they promised would never deny anyone the care they need.
But the proposal that cleared a legislative committee in the state Assembly is still a long way from becoming law. It faces strong opposition from powerful business interests who said it would cost too much. And even if it does become law, voters would have to approve a massive income tax increase to pay for it – a vote that might not happen until 2024.
Still, Democrats hailed Tuesday’s vote for jumpstarting one of their long-stalled policy goals and signalling they won’t back away from a fight even during an election year. In an hourslong hearing, some lawmakers and advocates assailed a healthcare industry they said has benefitted corporate interests at the expense of consumers.
Ady Barkan, a 38-year-old married father of two, was diagnosed with ALS six years ago and now is mostly paralysed. He testified at Tuesday’s hearing with the help of a computerised voice that spoke as he typed using technology that followed the movement of his eyes. Barkan said he has battled his private insurance carrier to get treatment he needed, including suing them to get a ventilator that keeps him alive.
Medical technicians attend to patients in Los Angeles. PHOTO: AP
NEW YORK (AP) – For two years, coronavirus case counts and hospitalisations have been widely used barometers of the pandemic’s march across the world.
But the Omicron wave is making a mess of the usual statistics, forcing news organisations to rethink the way they report such figures.
“It’s just a data disaster,” said staff writer Katherine Wu, who covers COVID-19 for The Atlantic magazine.
The number of case counts soared over the holidays, an expected development given the emergence of a variant more transmissible than its predecessors.
Yet these counts only reflect what is reported by health authorities.
They do not include most people who test themselves at home, or are infected without even knowing about it. Holidays and weekends also lead to lags in reported cases.
If you could add all those numbers up – and you can’t – case counts would likely be substantially higher.
People receive test kits to detect COVID-19 in New York. PHOTO: AP
For that reason, The Associated Press (AP) has recently told its editors and reporters to avoid emphasising case counts in stories about the disease.
That means, for example, no more stories focussed solely on a particular country or state setting a one-day record for number of cases, because that claim has become unreliable.
Throughout the media, there has been more caution in use of official case counts.
An NBC News story on Monday about the skyrocketing number of COVID cases relied on a one-week average of case counts. A Tuesday story simply referred to a “tidal wave” of cases.
During its coverage of a Senate hearing with health experts on Tuesday, the case counts CNN flashed onscreen were two-week averages. MSNBC used a variety of measurements, including a listing of the five states with highest reported numbers over the past three days.
On its website’s ‘Guide to the Pandemic’, The Washington Post used a seven-day average of cases and compared that number to last Tuesday’s, showing a 56 per cent increase. The New York Times used a daily count in an online chart, yet also included a two-week trend in both cases and deaths.
An AP story on Saturday by Jennifer Sinco Kelleher and Terry Tang headlined, Omicron explosion spurs nationwide breakdown of services was full of statistics from across the United States on hospitalisation rates or employees calling out sick from work. The case count metric was not used.
“We definitely wanted people to go a little deeper and be more specific in reporting,” said news editor Josh Hoffner, who helps oversee AP’s virus coverage.
Many news organisations are debating how best to use statistics now during the Omicron surge, Wu said. But there are no easy answers.
“It’s how journalism works,” Wu said. “We need the data. We need to show receipts to readers. But I try to do it carefully.”
Hospitalisation and death rates are considered by some to be a more reliable picture of COVID-19′s current impact on society.
Yet even the usefulness of those numbers has been called into question in recent days.
In many cases, hospitalisations are incidental: there are people being admitted for other reasons and are surprised to find they test positive for COVID, said senior editor for health and medicine at Scientific American Tanya Lewis.
Despite the imperfections, case counts should not be ignored, said Gary Schwitzer, a University of Minnesota School of Public Health instructor and publisher of HealthNewsReview.org, which monitors health coverage in the media.
The numbers illustrate trends, giving a picture of which areas of the country are being hit particularly hard or where the surge may have peaked, he said.
They can predict broader societal impacts, like where hospitals are about to be slammed or where there will be worker shortages.
“These are stories that may not be told adequately if only hospitalisations and deaths are emphasised,” Schwitzer said. That’s a point emphasised in AP’s internal guidance, as well.
“They do have value,” Hoffner said. “We don’t want people to eliminate mention of case counts.”
There are some in public health and journalism who believe the current surge – painful as it is – may augur good news. It could be a sign that COVID-19 is headed toward becoming an endemic disease that people learn to live with, rather than being a disruptive pandemic, wrote David Leonhardt and Ashley Wu in The New York Times.
But if the past two years have taught anything, it’s about the danger in predictions, Lewis said.
“We’ve been surprised time and again,” she said. “We don’t know everything about the course of the pandemic. We still need to be humble and keep an open mind in terms of where things are going.”
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (AP) – Novak Djokovic (AP; pic below) knew he’d tested positive for COVID-19 when he attended a newspaper interview and photo shoot in Serbia last month, saying yesterday he made an “error of judgment” and should have immediately gone into isolation.
In a statement posted to his social media accounts, the tennis star also blamed “human error” by his support team for failing to declare that he had travelled in the two-week period before entering Australia.
Upon arrival, his visa was revoked and then later reinstated in an ongoing saga over whether he should be allowed into the country despite not being vaccinated against COVID-19. The back and forth has provoked outrage in Australia and overshadowed the lead-up to the Australian Open.
Djokovic acknowledged the lapses when he sought to clarify what he called “continuing misinformation” about his movements after he became infected last month – though he did not spell out what inaccuracies he was referring to.
The statement was posted while the men’s tennis number one was in Rod Laver Arena holding a practice session, his third on the tournament’s main court since being released from four nights in immigration detention.
The nine-time and defending Australian Open champion remains in limbo before the year’s first tennis major starts next Monday. The stakes are particularly high since he is seeking a men’s record 21st Grand Slam singles title.
He won a legal battle on procedural grounds on Monday that allowed him to stay in the country, but he still faces the prospect of deportation because his exemption from COVID-19 vaccination rules has been questioned.
That decision is entirely at the discretion of Australia’s immigration minister if deemed to be in the public interest for health and safety reasons.
Deportation could result in sanctions ranging up to a three-year ban from entering Australia, a daunting prospect for a player who has won almost half of his 20 Grand Slam singles titles here.
Court documents detailing Djokovic’s positive test sparked speculation over the star player’s attendance at events in his native Serbia last month.
Further questions also were raised about errors on his immigration form that could potentially result in the cancellation of his visa.
On the form, Djokovic said he had not travelled in the 14 days before his flight to Australia, despite being seen in Spain and Serbia in that period.
In his statement, Djokovic described recent commentary as “hurtful” and said he wanted to address it in the interest of “alleviating broader concern in the community about my presence in Australia”.
The 34-year-old Serb said he’d taken rapid tests that were negative and he was asymptomatic before he received his positive result from a PCR test he undertook out of an “abundance of caution” after attending a basketball game in Belgrade on December 14. He received the result late December 17, he said, and scrapped all his commitments except a long-standing interview with L’Equipe newspaper.
“I felt obliged to go ahead… but did ensure I socially distanced and wore a mask except when my photograph was being taken,”
Djokovic said. “While I went home after the interview to isolate for the required period, on reflection, this was an error of judgment.”
Serbia requires those who are infected with COVID-19 to isolate for eight days, but they can get out early if they test negative during that period.
Djokovic addressed the Australian travel declaration by saying it was submitted by his support team and “my agent sincerely apologises for the administrative mistake in ticking the incorrect box”.
“This was a human error and certainly not deliberate,” he wrote. “My team has provided additional information to the Australian Government to clarify this matter.”
The decision could take a while – but there is time pressure since the draw to determine brackets for the Australian Open is set to take place today.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s office issued a statement saying Djokovic’s legal team had filed further documents against the potential cancellation of his visa.
“Naturally, this will affect the timeframe for a decision.”
At issue is whether he has a valid exemption to strict rules requiring vaccination to enter Australia since he recently recovered from COVID-19.
His exemption to compete was approved by the Victoria state government and Tennis Australia, the tournament organiser. That apparently allowed him to receive a visa to travel.
But the Australian Border Force rejected the exemption and cancelled his visa upon arrival before a federal judge overturned that decision.
Lawyers for the government have said an infection was only grounds for an exemption in cases in which the coronavirus caused severe illness – though it’s not clear why he was issued a visa if that’s the case.
The initial decision to let him compete sparked outrage that Djokovic was being given special treatment – and the subsequent cancellation of his visa raised allegations that he was being targetted once the issue became political.
Australia-based lawyer Greg Barns, who is experienced in visa cases, told The Associated Press that the immigration minister has the “personal power” to cancel the visa without having to give written notice or a reasonable time for Djokovic to respond.
If Djokovic’s visa is cancelled, his lawyers could go back to court to apply for an injunction that would prevent him from being forced to leave the country. If the government decides instead to first give notice, Barns said it could give Djokovic up to nine days to respond.
The PlayStation Partner Awards 2021 Japan Asia were held in December, marking the 27th time the event has taken place since it began as the PlayStation Awards in 1994.
According to Sony Interactive Entertainment, the PlayStation Partner Awards are held to present accolades to hit titles sold for PlayStation, recognising the creative work of those who made them.
The award winners were announced via video presentation, where Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan said, “This has been an incredible time, and I want to thank our partners for supporting the PlayStation community through a truly unique year marked by changes to our business environment that encouraged us to explore new ways to deliver amazing experiences. I have deep respect for you, our partners, and for our community, and I am grateful for your enthusiasm and love for video games.
“Gaming is an incredible industry filled with creativity and innovation and I am so happy to see such wonderful games created in Japan and Asia again this year, and to be able to present PlayStation Partner Awards as a place to share this joy with fans that love gaming.
“PlayStation will continue to push forward to be the best place to play for all creators and players,” he added.
A scene from the game ‘Genshin Impact’. PHOTO: MIHOYOA scene from the game ‘eFootball PES 2021 Season Update’. PHOTO: KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENTA scene from the game ‘Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin’. PHOTO: EDELWEISS AND MARVELOUSA scene from the game ‘Apex Legends’. PHOTO: ELECTRONIC ARTSA scene from the game ‘Tales of Arise’. PHOTO: BANDAI NAMCO ENTERTAINMENT
The Grand Award was presented to the top three titles developed in the Japan and Asia region with the highest worldwide sales between October 2020 and September 2021.
One the three winners of this year’ Grand Award was miHoYo’s free-to-play open-world role-playing game, Genshin Impact. First launched in September 2020, this highly popular title features a campaign where the player travels to a fantasy world called Teyvat, embarking on a journey to reunite with a long-lost sibling and unravel Teyvat’s mysteries. The game can be played solo or in up to four-player multi-player.
President of miHoyo Wei Liu delivered a message on winning the award, saying, “Genshin Impact is our first open-world action role-playing game and our first entry on the PlayStation platform.
“In terms of game content, the first three of the seven main cities have already been revealed, and more interesting landscapes, characters, stories and gameplay will be released to further enrich Genshin Impact’s game content. In addition to the constant game updates, we haven’t ceased development and optimisation of the game on PlayStation.”
On April 28, 2021, miHoYo launched Genshin Impact’s native PlayStation 5 version, which he said provided “a comprehensive upgrade to the immersive experience of the game in terms of graphics quality and loading speed.
“In the future, we will continue to leverage the power of the PlayStation 5 hardware. We will explore and optimise features including DualSense wireless controller support to further enhance everyone’s gaming experience on the PlayStation platform.
“The adventure in Genshin Impact continues. It is the support of our players worldwide that allowed us to reach this point. In the future, we look forward to carrying on our stories and adventures with every one of you,” he added.
Another Grand Award winner was Capcom’s survival horror title, Resident Evil Village. The eighth major instalment in the long-running Resident Evil franchise, this title takes place a few years after the horrifying events in the critically acclaimed Resident Evil 7 Biohazard.
Players once again assume the role of Ethan Winters in this sequel, which is set in a village described as “a character in its own right with mysteries for Ethan to uncover and terrors to escape from”.
Producer at Capcom Tsuyoshi Kanda said, “Resident Evil Village has received the PlayStation Grand Award 2021 this time thanks to the development staff and everybody who participated in the project. I feel very happy and honoured.
“With the fight for survival in a survival horror as its core concept, the development dedicated their heart into making this game to deliver the overwhelming immersive feeling of the new generation of survival horror,” he said, sharing that they are diligently producing additional downloadable content.
“We want to keep contributing to the development of the game industry through interesting and worth-playing games. Thank you for your continued support.”
A third winner of this year’s Grand Award was eFootball PES 2021 Season Update by Konami Digital Entertainment.
In a message on winning the award, the game’s production team said it was an honour to receive the Grand Award. They noted that the world has been facing a difficult situation since 2020 and that 2021 was “the year that we change how we enjoy sport as well as the role of gaming”.
“As such, we worked hard to produce and manage a football game that people of all ages can enjoy. Thanks to the cooperation of many parties who worked on eFootball PES 2021 Season Update, and above all else, the support from fans who have been there for us for many years. We want to keep creating interesting contents for gamers and football fans all over the world. Thank you very much,” they added.
Meanwhile, three Special Awards were presented, one of which was for a title developed by creators from outside the Japan and Asia region that has amassed the highest sales in the region from October 2020 to September 2021. This award went to free-to-play battle royale game Apex Legends from Electronic Arts.
Another Special Award was for an independent title developed in the Japan and Asia region that has amassed the highest worldwide sales from October 2020 to September 2021. Winning this award was Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin from Edelweiss and Marvelous.
A third Special Award was for “a title developed in the Japan and Asia region with particularly noteworthy activity results at the release of the PlayStation 5”. This was won by Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition, an action game from Capcom.
Also presented was the Partner Award, which was for titles developed in the Japan and Asia region with top-ranked worldwide sales between October 2020 and September 2021, with particularly noteworthy activity results.
This accolade went to five titles, including three titles from Square Enix, including role-playing games Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and NieR Replicant as well as multiplayer online role-playing game Final Fantasy XIV. Two titles from Bandai Namco Entertainment also won the award, including role-playing game Tales of Arise and free-to-play online action game Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation 2.
Kampong Batu Marang Mosque’s Takmir Committee and Muslimah Al-Ma’wa members and their families went on a cruise along Brunei River recently.
The passengers were able to learn historical events and legends such as the well-known folklore of Jong Batu, a rock outcrop that resembles a sinking ship with its bow sticking out of the water.
The Jong Batu tale tells the story of an unfilial son and his ship turning into a rock after turning away his mother who rowed a small boat to meet him.
The son’s wife was disgusted by the sight of a poor woman in a small boat and he ordered his crew to push the mother’s boat away. The heartbroken mother cursed her son and a storm capsized the ship which turned to stone.
The cruise also gave the passengers a view of Istana Nurul Iman from the Brunei River and other landmarks including the Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha Bridge that connects the capital to the other side of the water village.
Kampong Batu Marang Mosque Takmir Committee Secretary Haji Mohamad Isa bin Haji Marsidi said the cruise is one of several activities planned for 2021 but it was postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19’s second wave.
He said, “It is not only taking a break from the stress of going through the second wave, but seeing smiles on the families’ faces is a valuable sight and family bonding time matters too.”
