AFP – McDonald’s in Taiwan said on Friday some of its stores were running out of hash browns imported from the United States (US) and would have to suspend sales due to “unstable global shipping supply”.
The company put up signs in some storefronts announcing the suspensions while the item is listed as “temporarily unavailable” on its menus.
“There is a shortage of hash browns in McDonald’s restaurants and sales will be temporarily suspended after they are sold out,” a statement posted on the company’s website said.
“We thank customers for their support and we are sorry for the inconvenience,” it added.
The company said it aims to resume selling hash browns in the second half of this month after restocking, and added that sales of French fries are “normal”.
Supply chain shortages have rippled across the globe during the coronavirus pandemic affecting everything from building materials, wood and food to books, microchips and electronics.
Also on Friday, McDonald’s Japan said it would ration French fry orders to small size only from January 9 for around a month – the second time it has been forced to impose such a restriction on its customers.
For a week in late December, only small size fries were available at Japanese McDonald’s stores as the pandemic combined with floods in Canada squeezed potato imports.
“In addition to the ongoing import delays, a combination of unforeseen circumstances, including cargo hold-ups in Vancouver, disruptions caused by snow and bad weather on the route, is causing further delays in the arrival of shipments,” the company said in a statement on Friday.
MELBOURNE (AFP) – Naomi Osaka pulled out of a warm-up tournament for the Australian Open yesterday, saying her “body got a shock” after playing her first matches for four months, opening the Melbourne Summer Set title door to Simona Halep.
Osaka, the reigning Australian Open champion, hit the court this week for the first time since her tearful early exit at the US Open, after which she took a long break to deal with personal matters.
In Melbourne, she played three matches in quick succession and they took a toll. She withdrew before the start of her semi-final on Rod Laver Arena against Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
“Unfortunately I have an abdominal injury which I need to rest and prepare for the #AusOpen,” the Japanese superstar and top seed said in a statement released by the Australian Open on Twitter.
Osaka added on her own Twitter feed that it had been a tough return and she didn’t want to push too hard with the opening Grand Slam of the year starting on January 17.
“Sad to withdraw due to injury from my match today, my body got a shock from playing back to back intense matches after the break I took,” she said.
“Thank you for all the love this past week I’ll try to rest up and I’ll see you soon.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion had beaten France’s 61st-ranked veteran Alize Cornet 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in her first match back on Tuesday.
She then demolished Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska 6-1, 6-1 before blasting past Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 7-5 to make the semi-finals.
Her withdrawal sent Kudermetova into the final with a walkover where she will meet Halep, who crushed Chinese teenager Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2.
Naomi Osaka plays during the match against Andrea Petkovic at a warm-up tournament ahead of the Australian Open. PHOTO: AP
The Mobile COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic services will next week perform house-to-house services across several mukims for pre-selected patients with limited movement or are bedridden.
Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar said at the press conference yesterday that the house-to-house service will be conducted from 9am to 2.30pm.
House-to-house services will be made across homes in Mukim Batu Apoi, Mukim Bokok, Mukim Bangar and Mukim Amo on January 10; in Mukim Pekan Tutong, Mukim Keriam and Mukim Liang on January 11; Mukim Telisai and Mukim Liang on January 12; Mukim Berakas ‘B’ on January 13; and Mukim Berakas ‘B’ and Mukim Pekan Tutong on January 15.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) will contact patients eligible for the house-to-house service in advance for an early screening, and they will be required to provide details of their identity card or passport, as well as Bru-HIMS card (or number) if available.
SWINDON, UNITED KINGDOM (AFP) – Manchester City shrugged off the absence of manager Pep Guardiola and seven first-team players due to coronavirus to ease past League Two Swindon 4-1 in the FA Cup third round on Friday night.
Rodolfo Borrell took charge of the English champions with Guardiola and assistant Juanma Lilo among 14 backroom staff affected by a major outbreak.
“We were in touch at half time. There was not a massive change because everything was as planned as before,” said Borrell on his contact with Guardiola.
“He has great confidence in all of us. Not just me but all the backroom staff.”
City were still able to name a strong starting line-up featuring just four changes from their 2-1 win at Arsenal last weekend with England international Kyle Walker and captain for the night Ilkay Gundogan among those coming into the side.
Manchester City’s Cole Palmer scores his side’s fourth goal during the English FA Cup third round match against Swindon Town. PHOTO: AP
Seventy-one places separate the sides in the English football pyramid and the visitors’ class quickly showed.
Cole Palmer was one of the few youngsters handed a chance by City’s absences and laid the opening goal on a plate for Bernardo Silva with a sublime turn and cross on 14 minutes.
Swindon were architects of their own downfall for the second as Gabriel Jesus caught the home side trying to play out from the back and exchanged passes with Kevin De Bruyne before slotting home.
“We will keep working on that, keep improving,” said Swindon boss Ben Garner.
“A fantastic occasion but our priority is League Two and getting promotion.
“The players in there it is a great experience for them. Hopefully there are a few who will go on and play in the Premier League.”
Gundogan’s inch-perfect free-kick found the bottom corner just before the hour mark to make it 3-0.
But there were a couple of moments for Swindon to savour from their big night.
Firstly, Lewis Ward saved Jesus’ poor penalty.
Harry McKirdy then struck a consolation by blasting past Zack Steffen at his near post 12 minutes from time.
But Palmer restored City’s three-goal advantage and rounded off a fine individual display when he smashed into the top corner with the aid of a deflection four minutes later.
“He has great quality, everyone has been able to see it,” added Borrell, on City’s academy graudate who is aiming to follow to path taken by Phil Foden.
“He is still developing quite a lot but there is a lot of talent there. Hopefully very soon he can play more games with us like Phil a couple of years ago.”
PHNOM PENH (AP) – Cambodia’s Foreign Minister yesterday defended Prime Minister Hun Sen’s trip to Myanmar, the first by a foreign leader since the military takeover last year plunged the country into turmoil, though there was little evidence the mission yielded any immediate breakthrough.
Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn told reporters that talks between Hun Sen and Myanmar’s leader achieved “a very good, positive result with a progressive step forward” on the implementation of peace efforts agreed to by the ASEAN, a regional bloc currently led by Cambodia.
Hun Sen’s meeting with Myanmar’s military chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi last February, triggered protests in Myanmar and criticism abroad. Opponents said it legitimised the military takeover and broke the generals’ near-total diplomatic isolation.
The military’s seizure of power has led to widespread conflict with civilians forming guerrilla groups and thousands of people driven from their homes by army offensives.
“If there is anyone who opposes progressing these negotiations and the agreements like this, it is only those people who love war, those people who do not want to see Myanmar return to stability and peace,” Prak Sokhonn, who is also ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar, told reporters after returning home.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Myanmar State Administration Council Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing hold a souvenir photo after a meeting in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. PHOTO: AP
Friday’s joint statement on the talks, which described them as “frank and candid”, said Min Aung Hlaing was extending a cease-fire until the end of the year, and that both leaders would push for a meeting of stakeholders on delivering humanitarian aid.
The cease-fire offer is unlikely to be taken seriously by the military’s opponents. Such arrangements are routinely broken in Myanmar. The cease-fire also specifically referred only to long-standing ethic armed groups, not the new civilian guerrilla units that are currently doing most of the fighting.
Prak Sokhonn also disclosed that Hun Sen brought up the case of Australian Sean Turnell, a former economic advisor to Suu Kyi who is on trial in Myanmar on charges of violating state secrets. He said that Hun Sen raised the matter at the request of Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne.
“Hun Sen raised the issue with Min Aung Hlaing directly and he responded that the case is now before the court but he said that once it is completed, the senior general will consider the case. That means he promised that he would get back to Hun Sen with positive news,” Prak Sokhonn said.
Last April, ASEAN leaders, including Min Aung Hlaing, agreed on a five-point roadmap toward a peaceful settlement of the Myanmar crisis, including an end to violence and a political dialogue between all stakeholders.
The Myanmar leader was barred in October from attending ASEAN meetings after the group’s special envoy was prevented from meeting with Suu Kyi and other political detainees, which was one of the stipulations of the agreement.
Myanmar’s military has said Hun Sen will not be allowed to meet with Suu Kyi, who was convicted in December on charges of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions and sentenced to four years in prison – a sentence that Min Aung Hlaing then cut in half.
Two foreign nationals were slapped with compound fines by enforcement personnel for violation of the directive to stay at home on Friday night, said Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar during the press conference yesterday.
The Royal Brunei Police Force said Md Sabbir Ahammed and Md Shahadat were caught in the Tutong District.
NEW YORK (AFP) – A mystery that has shaken the literary world for years – the theft of hundreds of unpublished manuscripts from distinguished authors – may finally be about to be solved.
In New York this week, the FBI arrested Filippo Bernardini, a 29-year-old Italian employee of major publisher Simon & Schuster.
He is accused of impersonating literary agents and publishers over email to steal unpublished works from writers and their representatives.
The alleged scam had been known in literary circles for around five years with Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan and Sally Rooney among the novelists reportedly targetted.
Bernardini was arraigned in court in Manhattan on Thursday after being arrested by agents at JFK airport the day before.
He has been charged with committing wire fraud and identity theft between 2016 and 2021, crimes punishable by 22 years in prison.
Bernardini pleaded not guilty and was released under “home detention” with a USD300,000 bond secured on his home, a spokesperson for the Southern District of New York told AFP.
Bernardini worked in London for Simon & Schuster, which said in a statement it was “shocked and horrified to learn of the allegations”.
“The employee has been suspended pending further information on the case,” the publisher said in a statement.
“The safekeeping of our authors’ intellectual property is of primary importance to Simon & Schuster, and for all in the publishing industry, and we are grateful to the FBI for investigating these incidents and bringing charges against the alleged perpetrator,” it added.
Prosecutors say the suspect’s modus operandi was well established. He would impersonate real people in the world of publishing by sending emails from fake accounts.
The addresses would be made to resemble the domain names of legitimate publishers but with a letter changed here and there. The indictment accuses him of registering more than 160 fraudulent domains.
What baffled alleged victims was that the thefts were never followed by demands for money, nor did the works ever seem to appear online or on the dark web.
In 2019, Atwood’s agent revealed that the manuscript for The Testaments had been targetted.
Last year, New York Magazine reported that the Swedish editors of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series had been approached by a purported colleague in Italy who requested an advance copy so that it could be translated before release.
A New York Times investigation at the end of 2020 found that Normal People author Rooney, Atonement author McEwan, and actor Ethan Hawke had also been targetted.
Little is known about Bernardini. Screenshots from a LinkedIn profile that was inaccessible Friday described him as a “rights coordinator” at Simon & Schuster.
The biography said he obtained a bachelors in Chinese Language in Milan and a masters in publishing from UCL in London owing to his “obsession for the written word and languages.”
NEW YORK (CNA) – A United states (US) judge on Friday allowed Purdue Pharma to immediately challenge her rejection of legal protections for Sackler family members who own the OxyContin maker, and which were a major component of its bankruptcy reorganisation plan.
US District Judge Colleen McMahon’s ruling means Purdue will have another shot at keeping intact a USD4.5 billion opioid litigation settlement at the heart of the company’s plan. She gave Purdue until January 17 to file the appeal to the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.
McMahon reversed a bankruptcy judge’s order approving the deal in December.
The settlement provides so-called non-debtor releases that shield the Sacklers against future opioid-related lawsuits.
Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 in the face of thousands of lawsuits accusing it and the Sacklers of fuelling the opioid epidemic through deceptive marketing.
The Sacklers, who have denied wrongdoing, contributed the USD4.5 billion to the settlement in exchange for the releases. Under Purdue’s reorganisation plan, settlement funds would be directed toward opioid abatement programmes.
A pharmacist holding a bottle OxyContin made by Purdue Pharma at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah. PHOTO: CNA
In the third quarter (Q3) of 2021, Brunei Darussalam’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate declined by 2.2 per cent year-on-year. This was due to a decrease in the oil and gas sector by 5.3 per cent. The non-oil and gas sector, however, recorded an increase of one per cent.
The Sultanate’s GDP at current prices was valued at BND4.6 billion compared to BND4 billion in Q3 2020. The oil and gas sector, comprising of oil and gas mining and manufacture of liquefied natural gas (LNG), accounted for 47.4 per cent of the total gross value added (GVA).
Meanwhile, the non-oil and gas sector, which includes downstream activities such as the manufacture of petroleum and chemical products, contributed 52.6 per cent.
The decline in the oil and gas sector was due to a decrease in the production of crude oil from 100.6 thousand barrels per day in Q3 2020 to 97.1 thousand barrels per day in Q3 2021. Natural gas production also recorded a decrease from 30.7 million cubic metres per day in Q3 2020 to 28.5 million cubic metres per day in Q3 2021. In addition, LNG production declined from 834,489 MMBtu per day to 750,944 MMBtu per day during the same period of time. The reduction in crude oil and natural gas production was due to shutdown turnaround activities. In addition, the decrease was due to limited onsite workforce as a result of COVID-19 which reduced the ability to recover from unscheduled deferment and delayed of well, reservoir and facilities management (WRFM) activities. Meanwhile, the LNG production declined due to limited gas supply and maintenance activities at one of the LNG plant facilities.
Despite the country’s second wave of COVID-19, the non-oil and gas sector shows positive development. Among the subsectors that showed an improvement in Q3 2021 were finance, government services, communication, health services, and non-oil and gas manufacturing.
The increase in the finance subsector was in line with an increase in the income of financial and banking activities particularly the non-interest profit income.
This was followed by an increase in the communication subsector in line with the rise in domestic demand resulting from the reinstatement of control measures in preventing the spread of the second wave of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the increase in the health services subsector was driven by an increase in the government health services activities. The non-oil and gas manufacturing subsector also registered an increase mainly supported by increased production of livestock feed.
In addition, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector has continued to show encouraging performance since the second quarter (Q2) of 2020. In Q3 2021, this sector has increased by 27.9 per cent due to fishery, livestock and poultry, and agriculture production activities. An increase in the fishery subsector was in line with the rise in the capture industry particularly from small-scale fisherman activities. Meanwhile, farm prawns was the main contributor to the increase in aquaculture industry. An increase in the livestock and poultry subsector was due to increased production of buffalo meat and broilers while the increase in fruits and paddy production was the major contributor to the growth of the agriculture subsector.
By expenditure approach, a decline in GDP growth was mainly due to a decrease in the domestic demand by 11.5 per cent, which was driven by a decline in gross capital formation for both government and private, and government final consumption expenditure. However, this growth was moderated by an increase in the exports of goods and services by 44.5 per cent year-on-year, and the household final consumption expenditure by 13 per cent.
Gross domestic product is a measure of the total value of goods and services produced in a particular period after deducting the cost of goods and services used up in the process of production. The GDP full report for Q3 2021 is available from DEPS’s website: www.deps.gov.bn.
THE WASHINGTON POST – Until last summer, photojournalist Carlos Bernate was only dimly aware of the Hare Krishna movement in his home country of Colombia. When he attended college in Bogotá, he sometimes saw members of the Hindu branch soliciting donations or seeking students for its yoga or meditation classes. However, Bernate’s understanding of the religious group deepened when he pulled up to the gates of one of its communities and stepped inside.
“They call it a little piece of India inside the Colombian mountains,” said Bernate, who relocated to Richmond, Virginia, in 2017. “And to be honest, it looks like you are entering a new country.”
The Varsana Eco Yoga Village, about 30 miles south of the capital city, had invited Bernate to photograph its Holi-inspired festival in July. The ancient Indian celebration is traditionally held in March, on the cusp of spring. Despite the date change, the essence of the event was the same, honoring the triumph of good over evil. The main activity was also identical: Participants released colorful powder that flew into the air like a flock of liberated paradise tanagers.
When Bernate arrived at the property, he was surprised to discover a fantastical kingdom just beyond the Camelot-style archway. “I expected a small building and a community center,” he said late last month by phone from Virginia. “But when you get inside, you face this huge palace. It was surreal. I have never seen architecture like that before in Colombia.”
Bernate had free rein to explore and photograph the multifaceted compound, which included a community garden where members grow their own food, the kitchen where they prepare their vegetarian meals, the accommodations where they sleep, and the temple and halls where they meditate, pray and practice yoga. Out of respect, he did not enter a sanctuary where people were meditating.
The temple of the Varsana Eco Village community. PHOTO: THE WASHINGTON POSTParticipants throw coloured powder into the air and splash them onto others during a Holi-inspired festival of colours at the Varsana Eco Village
During his wanderings, he spoke with some of the roughly 20 residents about how – and why – they ended up at Varsana. Sadananda Swami Das, whose name translates to “the one who is always happy,” told Bernate that his previous career-centric life had left him physically exhausted and spiritually depleted. He said he found purpose and fulfillment after renouncing the trappings of mainstream society and dedicating himself to the Hare Krishna faith. (According to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the movement arrived in Colombia in 1973 and has about 5,000 devotees and four major centers, including the Varsana enclave, which started in 1980.)
“We talked about why he decided to leave everything he had,” said Bernate, who acknowledges the group’s past improprieties. “I was able to relate to him, to his values and his ideas. I wouldn’t do that, myself, but I can understand why some people would.”
In the early afternoon, the blended company of visitors and residents, children and parents, and couples and friends grabbed bags of colored powder and lobbed the contents like a gentler game of paintball. The rainbow-hued joy was contagious.
“There was a big, diverse crowd. They were playing with it, throwing it at each other, throwing it at us,” Bernate said. “We were really scared that the powder would get in our lenses, but we put bags over our equipment and we started throwing powder.”
After the dust settled, Bernate shook himself clean and headed back to Bogotá, the gate behind him closing on a world that was in, but not necessarily of, Colombia.
“Right now, Colombia is not going through one of the best times. The pandemic life has been really rough on top of an already unstable country,” he said. “It was so beautiful to put that aside for this experience. We didn’t care who you were, what you were or what you believed. We just cared about sharing a moment – to be us, to be a community.”
Bernate captured the experience in a photo essay that reflects the spirit and bonhomie of the event.
