Riau has declared the emergency alert status for land and forest fires to warn residents of a possible haze crisis as the region enters the dry season.Three areas in the province, namely Siak regency, Bengkalis regency and Dumai city, had previously imposed the emergency alert to anticipate the expansion of forest and peatland fires that the areas, among other parts of Riau, had been experiencing earlier this year. He expressed regret over the repeated fire and haze crises in Riau since 1997 and the tremendous losses caused – with schools having to be closed, flight being postponed or canceled and thousands of residents suffering from respiratory infections due to smoke.“We cannot have this situation become [a regular occurrence],” he said, adding that Riau’s 4.9 million hectares of peatland made the province very vulnerable to fires.According to a disaster risk map of 2018, 80 villages are prone to land and forest fires in Riau. An update of the map in 2019 showed that the number had jumped to 346 villages spread across 99 subdistricts.“One of the issues surrounding fire is land ownership. Therefore, the Riau administration will re-inventory permits for 387 plantation companies and 62 forestry companies to discover any overlapping land ownership,” he said.Syamsuar also expressed hope that the central government, through the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), would continue to provide assistance, especially with regard to equipment and funding.“The emergency alert status has been declared early so that the central government can hopefully provide immediate assistance to areas that are now trying to extinguish land fires,” he said.Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Edwar Sanger said fires had occurred in 10 of 12 regencies and cities in Riau since the beginning of this year and had burned down a total area of 271 ha.The worst-hit areas were Siak regency, where 98.47 ha were affected, Bengkalis regency with 60.90 ha, Indragiri Hilir regency with 42.10 ha, Dumai city with 31.85 ha and Indragiri Hulu regency with 21.50 ha.Kepulauan Meranti regency (5.5 ha), Pelalawan regency (5 ha), Pekanbaru city (3 ha), Kampar regency (2.5 ha) and Rokan Hilir regency (0.25 ha) also reported fires.“The number of hotspots with a confidence level above 70 percent is 60. The highest distribution is in Bengkalis regency with 27 spots, followed by Siak with 11, Pelalawan with seven, Indragiri Hilir with six, Dumai with five and Kepulauan Meranti with four hotspots,” said Edwar.Read also: Indonesia’s raging forest fires, explainedBNPB secretary Harmensyah said that Riau was the first province in Indonesia to impose an emergency alert status for land and forest fires.“The Riau governor should immediately write to the BNPB so that helicopters can be sent immediately to help extinguish the fires that the task force was unable to reach in Riau,” he said.On Feb. 3, Harmensyah said, the BNPB had asked the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) to send weather modification technology (TMC) specifically to Riau to create artificial rain.“Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police personnel will be deployed to Riau as well,” he added.Riau Military Resort commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad Fadjar claimed to have deployed around 3,000 personnel at the command posts for wildfires.“There is far more personnel in the posts than last year. Hopefully, they are able to respond quickly to hotspots,” Fadjar said.”We will also continue to take preventive action by patrolling with the police and other stakeholders for the sake of a smoke-free Riau 2020,” he added. (syk)Topics : Riau Governor Syamsuar said the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned that Riau would experience two dry seasons, one from late January to March, especially in northern Riau, and another from June to September.“The provincial and city administrations will continue to mobilize the resources we have. The Riau wildfire task force will not only extinguish fires but also take action against perpetrators of illegal logging and land clearing by fire,” he said at a meeting on Tuesday.Syamsuar said he would not give up in any crisis situation and would continue to try and tackle fires “without taking a day off”.Read also: Tourism in crisis: Forest fires cause foreigners to cancel trips read more

Masks will still be mandatory on all public transport, she said.New Zealand, a nation of five million, had appeared to have succeeded in halting community transmission of COVID-19, but a fresh outbreak in Auckland in August prompted the government to place the city back in lockdown.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who is facing a general election on Oct. 17, scaled back the restrictions this month, but the city is still under alert level 2.5, meaning social gatherings of more than 10 people are not allowed.Ardern cabinet will review the current rules for Auckland at its meeting on Sept. 21, with a view to increase gathering limits if the situation stays stable.That change, if it comes, will take effect on Sept. 23, she said.New Zealand on Monday reported one new case of coronavirus in the community, taking the total number of cases to 1,447 and 24 deaths.Topics : New Zealand will lift coronavirus restrictions across the country on Sept. 21, except in its biggest city, Auckland, which is the epicenter of a second wave of infections, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.Ardern said Auckland’s restrictions would be reviewed next Monday. She also said the government would immediately ease all physical distancing requirements on planes, a boost for Air New Zealand, which has had to limit passengers on its planes for months.”I know this change will make a real difference to Air New Zealand and those parts of the country seeking increased numbers of visitors,” Ardern said in a news conference in the South Island city of Dunedin, where she is on an election campaign trip. read more

BERLIN: German Bundesliga clubs are keeping a close eye on Chinese football with a view to adding some Chinese players to their squads in the future.According to Bundesliga CEO Robert Klein, Germany’s top flight football league will increase its efforts to become the most popular European league in China, with a focus on market expansion in the world’s most populous country. “We would like to get one, two, or three more Chinese players into the Bundesliga,” Klein said. Things could develop fast as both clubs and Bundesliga “would love to have something happen in the next season or the coming seasons,” he added. The importance of the Chinese market has long been emphasized by Klein. Six of the 18 Bundesliga clubs currently have offices in China. Many footballing exchanges are ongoing between the two countries, especially in the fields of coaching and training, and Klein also highlighted the Bundesliga’s 20-year broadcasting history in China. “Our research shows we have a huge fan base there,” Klein said, adding that the key issue is to get close to fans as much as possible in the digital era. Klein revealed that the Bundesliga has increased its presence on social media channels in China to satisfy the need and the demand for short video content. IANS Also watch: Morning Bulletin | 12th June, 2020 read more

Close Forgot password? Please put in your email: Send me my password! Close message Login This blog post All blog posts Subscribe to this blog post’s comments through… RSS Feed Subscribe via email Subscribe Subscribe to this blog’s comments through… RSS Feed Subscribe via email Subscribe Follow the discussion Comments Logging you in… Close Login to IntenseDebate Or create an account Username or Email: Password: Forgot login? Cancel Login Close WordPress.com Username or Email: Password: Lost your password? Cancel Login Dashboard | Edit profile | Logout Logged in as Admin Options Disable comments for this page Save Settings You are about to flag this comment as being inappropriate. Please explain why you are flagging this comment in the text box below and submit your report. The blog admin will be notified. Thank you for your input. There are no comments posted yet. Be the first one! Post a new comment Enter text right here! Comment as a Guest, or login: Login to IntenseDebate Login to WordPress.com Login to Twitter Go back Tweet this comment Connected as (Logout) Email (optional) Not displayed publicly. Name Email Website (optional) Displayed next to your comments. Not displayed publicly. If you have a website, link to it here. Posting anonymously. Tweet this comment Submit Comment Subscribe to None Replies All new comments Comments by IntenseDebate Enter text right here! Reply as a Guest, or login: Login to IntenseDebate Login to WordPress.com Login to Twitter Go back Tweet this comment Connected as (Logout) Email (optional) Not displayed publicly. Name Email Website (optional) Displayed next to your comments. Not displayed publicly. If you have a website, link to it here. Posting anonymously. Tweet this comment Cancel Submit Comment Subscribe to None Replies All new comments Editor’s note: The following is an article written in the Suffolk, Va. News-Herald written by Tracy Agnew. Mitchell Hynes is the grandson of Shorty and Sandy Baker of Wellington and the son of Argonia High School graduate Shanda Hynes Martin. SUFFOLK, VA. — If dates had license plates, then March 30, 2016, would carry tags that read “First in Flight for Mitchell Hynes.”Wednesday was the day Mitchell, a Nansemond-Suffolk Academy sophomore, was able to take his first solo flight in a helicopter.“I’m pretty excited,” Mitchell said before taking flight. “I’m a little bit nervous as well, though.”Wednesday was his 16th birthday, and that marks the day trainees are able to take their first solo flight in an aircraft if they have already received the proper training.And if any 16-year-old ever was well trained for this mission, it was Mitchell.“I was pretty much born to be there,” he said.The Hynes family has been involved in aviation since Mitchell’s grandfather, Michael Hynes, first got bitten by the aviation bug as a small boy.“I was 5 years old when my dad bought me a $5 airplane ride for my birthday,” Michael Hynes said. “The guy let me hold the stick and said, ‘You should be a pilot.’”He joined the U.S. Air Force at 17 and spent four years on active duty. He later went on to found his own aviation company and was one of the first pilots of the Learjet in the 1960s.He fathered six children, five of whom were boys, and all of the boys got bitten by the bug as well. As a whole, the family has logged more than 80,000 hours of flight time, Michael Hynes said.Dave Hynes is the youngest of the six siblings and is Mitchell’s father. He spent 13 years in the Air Force and became co-owner of Hampton Roads Helicopters, which is based at the Hampton Roads Executive Airport off Route 58 in Chesapeake. The business buys and sells new and used aircraft, does maintenance, has a flight school and does charter work, and that’s the environment in which Mitchell has grown up.“I’ve been doing it since I was 10,” he said of flying with his dad. “It started with hopping in with my dad when he was going somewhere.”Despite Mitchell’s nerves, the morning went smoothly at Hampton Roads Executive Airport. Mitchell first took off with his dad, who’s also a pilot and instructor in addition to co-owning the business, with him. He flew a few flight patterns in the company of his dad to make sure he and the helicopter were feeling comfortable.Then, with his family gathered to watch from the edge of the tarmac, Mitchell set the chopper back down. His father exited, leaned down and stepped away from the spinning rotors. Mitchell lifted the helicopter up and set it back down — one, two, then three times — and then took off for good.“I knew this day was coming,” said his mother, Shanda Hynes, who admitted she’ll probably be more nervous when he starts driving a car — still legally three months down the road. “I’ve been dreading it for a while. Look how big he looks in there.”His parents listened to him communicating his movements over the radio. His grandparents, an uncle and other family members watched the chopper as it circled the airport a few times. He then set it back down where he started.“It was a lot lighter than usual,” Mitchell said of his first flight. “On the first pickup, I went to the right the first time, because there was no weight on the left.”After congratulatory hugs and handshakes, Dave Hynes wielded a pair of scissors to cut a rectangle out of the back of his son’s shirt to be put on display. It’s an old aviation tradition after a first solo flight.Later in the day, Mitchell took his first solo flight in an airplane.Mitchell can’t receive his Federal Aviation Administration license for another year. He’ll have to get more solo flight time under his belt and then pass an oral knowledge examination as well as practice different maneuvers with an instructor — his dad — along for the ride.Mitchell said he is definitely looking at a career in aviation, preferably as a pilot of some sort.Follow us on Twitter. read more

Image Courtesy: John GroenewegAdvertisement 5liNBA Finals | Brooklyn VsceoxWingsuit rodeo📽Sindre E80t6lm( IG: @_aubreyfisher @imraino ) j7j87y7Would you ever consider trying this?😱2csCan your students do this? 🌚5xdrxkRoller skating! Powered by Firework Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong,Justin Kluivert- Ajax Amsterdam has come out with alot of big names in recent times. The club’s youth academy products are experts of gifted young talents across the Netherlands. Such is David Easmon, but the U-14 youth can easily deceive your eyes. See for yourself.Advertisement Image Courtesy: John GroenewegThe young Dutch central back is curerrently at the youth academy, but the sheer size of the teenager is already gathering attention around the Johan Cruyff Arena, and some are even addressing him as the ‘next Virgil van Dijk’.The 14 year old starred against an under 14 game versus the Sparta Rotterdam youth yesterday and photos of him in action was uploaded on Twitter by fan account FootballFunnys. His opponent really pales in physical comparison.Advertisement This picture was taken during Ajax U15s against Sparta Rotterdam U15s. David Easmon is 14 years old. Absolute madness. 😱😱 pic.twitter.com/cfmmRGOBIH— FootballFunnys (@FootballFunnnys) November 18, 2019Advertisement On the same day, the Ajax youth team also tweeted on the young defender.The match was won 6-2 by the Jews, and Easmon netted in two goals and provided one assist.However, Easmon isn’t the only ‘grown up’ kid in youth football.  Ibrahima Sow, the Sevilla under 12 captain already towers at 5 feet 7 inches. And of course, Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker who was already mismatching with his under 13 squad?Big clubs will keep an eye out for Easmon and Sow in the coming years. Advertisement read more