KPMG Publish AI Report Filled with Hallucinations

KPMG, one of the largest consulting firms in the world, have been accused of publishing a report on the future of AI that is riddled with hallucinations. 

In one instance, uncovered by the AI detection company, GPTZero, the report claims that the Japanese East Japan Railway Company (JR East) are using agentic AI for customer service, linking to a 2019 press release, years before agentic AI became mainstream. 

In another instance, the report falsely claimed that Austrian electricity provider Verbund is using AI agents in households to conduct real-time analytics as part of its “energy-as-a-service ecosystem”. Although Verbund invested in a start-up using agents for grid optimization, there was no evidence to support the claim of real-time analytics in households.  

GPTZero had analyzed the report, Total Experience: Redefining Excellence in the Age of Agentic AI, which was released in October, 2025. Out of 45 total citations, they found only 5 were accurate, with many of the others being entirely fabricated or containing a mix of real authors and fake data (a phenomenon GPTZero dubbed "vibe citing"). Another 28 citations provide paraphrased titles and/or fake components for a real source. The final 12 are too vague or flawed to accurately determine if a source exists.

Additionally, the report highlighted cutting-edge "Agentic AI" case studies for several major organizations. However, companies like UBS, Swiss Federal Railways, UK's Transport for London (TfL), and NHS (Greater Manchester) formally denied these claims, calling them factually incorrect or highly misleading.

The results may have redefined excellence, but not in the way KPMG intended! 

Anyway, the said report, which has now been taken down, has been referenced by multiple customer service publications and a major newspaper in the Czech Republic. 

In addition, researchers noted that the paper is now being referenced as a resource on customer experience by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini. GPTZero allege that an LLM research tool was asked to find appropriate case studies of companies using agentic AI worldwide. 

“This tool seems to have conflated sources, exaggerated claims, and injected references to agentic AI that were copied into the final report without verification”, according to GPTZero, which suspect "no human at KPMG double-checked the citations, the claims, or the sources” before the report was published.

And predictably, KPMG came up with the following "generic excuse": "We expect all our people to follow our guidelines on the responsible use of AI, including human oversight to validate content and verify independent sources".  😅😅😅

Sivasangari Subramaniam was in top form to beat world No. 6 Satomi Watanabe of Japan in straight games to reach the semi-finals of the PSA Tour Finals in Paris, France on Wednesday. 

The Malaysian, ranked No. 5 in the world, won the first-round encounter 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 in 35 minutes. It was Sivasangari's eighth win over Satomi in nine meetings. 

The 27-year-old Sivasangari, who won the Australian and Grasshopper Open titles this year, will face world champion Amina Orfi of Egypt for a place in the final on Friday. 

Orfi, who won the British Open title  earlier this month, has a 7-2 winning record against the Malaysian.

Yes, Lobsters Feel Pain

New research on Norway lobsters adds to a growing body of evidence that these crustaceans feel pain – something scientists have long suspected and even inspired David Foster Wallace's famous 2004 essay "Consider the Lobster". 

In a study published April 13, 2026 in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers found that two drugs used for pain relief in humans – aspirin and lidocaine – significantly reduced the escape responses of Norway lobsters (Nephrops norvegicus) when they were electrically shocked. 

The researchers argue that the medicines were muting the animals' pain processing and that the tail flip is therefore a pain reflex, rather than a simple stress reaction. The team says the findings suggest lobsters deserve greater ethical consideration. 

"The fact that painkillers developed for humans also work on Norway lobsters shows how similar we function", Lynne Sneddon, a professor of zoophysiology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said in a statement. "That's why it's important to care about how we treat and kill crustaceans, just as we do with chickens and cows". 

Countries including Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Austria and some states in Australia ‪have already banned the boiling of live crustaceans on welfare grounds, and the new findings may add pressure for broader reforms in how these animals are treated and killed. 

[Recommended humane methods for killing arthropods involve electrical stunning (e.g., Crustastun), followed by rapid mechanical destruction of the nervous system (pithing), such as spiking or splitting the carapace, to ensure instant death. These methods prevent suffering by targeting the ganglia, which are distributed along the body, and should be preceded by cooling in a refrigerator or ice slurry for 15–30 minutes to reduce mobility and, likely, sensitivity]. 

To understand how lobsters respond to painful stimuli, the researchers separated 105 Norway lobsters into multiple groups. These included several control groups of lobsters that weren't shocked, along with two shock groups treated with either lidocaine or aspirin. The lidocaine was dissolved in the individual lobster's tank, while the aspirin was injected into the animal directly.

The researchers then gave a 9.09-volt-per-meter electrical shock for 10 seconds to the three shock groups and observed their behavior before, during and up to two hours after the shock. 

When shocked, the lobsters tried to escape by using a tail flip, a common escape maneuver in some crustaceans that rockets them out of danger in small, rapid spurts. The tail flips were seen only in the electrically shocked group of lobsters, not in the control groups. 

Yet when the animals received lidocaine or aspirin before being shocked, the rate of tail flips dropped sharply: Only seven of the 13 lidocaine-treated lobsters and three of the 13 aspirin-treated lobsters tail-flipped, with more intense responses seen in the untreated group.

According to the researchers, their results suggest that the electrical shocks weren't just triggering muscular contractions in the lobsters but instead created a painful experience. That's because if the behavior was merely electrically stimulated, the painkillers wouldn't be expected to suppress the tail flip. 

Instead, painkiller treatment reduced the escape behavior. From this finding, the researchers suggested that the tail flip may have had a neurological component known as nociception. This is when signals from the body part exposed to the harmful stimulus travel to the brain and trigger a negative internal state associated with pain. 

This study joins a growing body of research indicating that crabs, octopuses and other invertebrates can experience pain. In past studies, hermit crabs shocked inside their shells eventually abandoned their homes to avoid experiencing the painful stimulus.

Octopus (Phylum: Mollusca, Class: Cephalopoda, Order: Octopoda) have shown even stronger clues about pain processing; in one widely cited study, "Behavioral and neurophysiological evidence suggests affective pain experience in octopus" published February 23, 2021 in iScience – they avoided places linked to injury and favored those associated with pain relief. This evidence is beginning to gradually change policies about how these animals are being treated. 

In the UK, crabs, lobsters and octopuses are now recognized as sentient animals "capable of experiencing pain and suffering" under the 2022 Animal Welfare Act.

Fresh Sounds Coming From Austria's Vegetable Orchestra

They’ve got the beet! 

For the last 27 years, the eleven members of the Vegetable Orchestra in Vienna, Austria, have been playing with their food. 

They're a touring orchestra and they've earned a Guinness World Record having performed 344 concerts on their veggies, and officially becoming the uncontested record holders for most concerts by a vegetable orchestra.

This unorthodox band prepare for their concerts by hollowing out carrots and celery, peeling onion skins and cutting aubergines (brinjals/eggplants), and piling up fresh produce onstage to create their distinctive sounds. 

Some of their classics include the carrot recorder, a cucumberphone, percussive pieces of aubergine or even a leek violin. The performers purchase all of the vegetables fresh the day of their performance, and the audience can see in live-time how the sounds of the instruments change as they break and dry out in the stage lights.

“We believe that we can produce sound that cannot be (easily) produced by other instruments. You can hear the difference. It sometimes sounds like animals, sometimes just like abstract sounds”, say the Orchestra. “You can say that the vegetables’ 'hidden' inside sound life is brought to the surface and made visual during the performance”.

The innovative group is constantly inventing new instruments — and they have to be prepared to improvise, since the vegetables can break or dry out while they are on stage.

Naturally, these instruments are pretty single-use, so the band have a chef that turns all the unused vegetables into a soup for the concert-goers to enjoy after the performance. 

The musicians – who come from backgrounds in genres like electronic, rock, punk and classical – hope to show audiences that music can be created from just about anything.

Celtic booked their place in the last four when they won 2-0 over Hibernian in a keenly contested Scottish Cup quarter-final yesterday. 

Daizen Maeda pounced on a rebound to net from close range in the 39th minute for his 14th goal in 13 matches, and 28th for the season. And fellow substitute Luke McCowan set up Adam Idah for a tidy finish from a tight angle in second-half stoppage time. 

And so, Celtic are on track for the domestic treble. They've already won the Scottish League Cup; they have an unassailable lead in the Scottish Premiership; and they've booked a semi-final spot in the Scottish Cup.

Popularity of US Falling Globally

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

America's popularity as a global power is waning worldwide, particularly in Muslim-majority countries, according to the 2024 Democracy Perception Index published Wednesday, while both China and Russia have improved their standing over the past year. 

 

Even, Europe is joining the trend. 

 

“For the first time since the start of the Biden administration, many Western European countries have returned to net negative perceptions of the US. This rise and decline, from negative attitudes to positive [and] back to negative attitudes is particularly stark in Germany, Austria, Ireland, Belgium and Switzerland”, said Frederick DeVeaux, senior researcher for Latana, the German company that compiled the index, on behalf of Alliance of Democracies, an NGO headed by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

 

Canvassing some 63,000 respondents across 53 countries, the index which claims to be the biggest global temperature test of democracy, summarizes attitudes toward democracy, geopolitics and global power players. 

 

One clearly sees the divide between the global north and south when survey respondents were asked if they thought their country should cut economic ties with Russia over its Special Military Operation in Ukraine, and whether they should do the same if China brings Taiwan back into its fold. [Note: The survey used "war" to refer to Russia's SMO and "invades" to refer to China's goal of reunification of the rebel province with the mainland].

 

Not surprisingly, Russia shows positive perceptions in most regions surveyed, with the exception of Europe. And the same with China, despite the persistent European skepticism.

 

[FYI, the 2024 data was collected between February 20 and April 15; the sample was 62,953 and averaged 1,200 respondents per country. Nationally representative results were calculated based on the official distribution of age, gender and education in each country’s population, but in countries whose populations are less connected to the Internet, the sample was more educated and younger than the overall average].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celtic are on the brink of another Scottish Premiership title after emerging from a stormy derby against 10-man Rangers with a vital 2-1 victory yesterday. 

 

A Matt O'Riley strike in the 35th minute and an own goal from a Gers player who diverted Daizen Maeda's cross into his own net three minutes later mean Brendan Rodgers' side move six points clear of their rivals with two games left and a better goal difference. 

 

Celtic now just need one point from games against Kilmarnock (May 15) and St Mirren (May 18) to secure a third straight title!

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Makes U-turn

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner on a transatlantic flight had to turn around three hours after its departure from Amsterdam, Netherlands on Monday. This time, you can't pin the blame on Boeing.

 

The plane with more than 200 passengers on board was headed for Los Angeles in California, USA, Airlive.net reported. Soon after takeoff, flight attendants discovered eight of the nine bathrooms were inoperable.

 

Data from Flightradar24 suggests the pilots first considered heading back to their point of embarkation about an hour into the flight. The plane did a circle north of the UK before the pilots decided to continue.

 

But two hours later, KLM KL601 did a U-turn over Greenland and returned to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – meaning passengers had a 6-and-a-half-hour flight to nowhere.

 

The airline then replaced the Boeing with another one, KLM said. It departed from Amsterdam nine hours later than originally scheduled.

 

The plane with the faulty restrooms appears to have been fixed overnight, as it flew to Houston and back on Tuesday, per Flightradar24. 

 

Planes diverting due to faulty toilets isn't unheard of. 

 

Last April, 300 Austrian Airlines passengers had to rebook their flights after five of the eight toilets wouldn't flush properly. 

 

And in 2018, a Norwegian flight, which ironically had 85 plumbers on board, had to return to the airport due to malfunctioning toilets.

Malaysia's CPI 2023 Ranking

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have reaffirmed their commitment to combating corruption in light of Malaysia’s improved standing in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), it was reported in Malaysian news media. 

 

Released yesterday, the anti-graft group’s latest report saw Malaysia's CPI ranked #57 in 2023, compared to #61 in 2022.  The country has rebounded to 50 points last year from 47 points the year before, marking the first time in two years that the country has reached the 50-point mark. Note that Malaysia had a CPI score of 53 in 2019, which fell to 51 in 2020 and 48 in 2021. 

 

The CPI measures and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, and countries are scored on a scale of 0 (very corrupt) to 100 (very clean). 

 

The global average for 2023 was unchanged at 43 for the 12th consecutive year. And more than two-thirds of countries scored below 50.

 

In a statement, MACC noted that TI-Malaysia attributed the improvement to factors such as MACC’s investigations, arrests, and convictions of high-profile cases over the past two years.

 

“MACC (are) committed and determined to continue eradicating corruption, abuse of power, and misconduct within (their) mandate as the sole enforcement agency entrusted to combat corruption in the country”, they declared.

 

Malaysians know corruption is still rife in this country. 

 

My post "Western Countries Stop Funding UNRWA" two days ago refers.

 

Japan and Austria said they were suspending payments to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, as the crisis deepens over the alleged role of some staff in the Hamas military operation in Israel. 

 

According to a report in the New York Times, an Israeli intelligence dossier alleges that nearly 200 UNRWA workers are Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives, without providing detailed evidence. The dossier also alleges that at least 12 workers crossed into Israel on October 07. UNRWA have reportedly sacked nine of those employees and say they are investigating.

 

Another report published by the Wall Street Journal, also citing the Israeli intelligence dossier, alleges that about 1,200 of UNRWA's 12,000 employees in Gaza have links to Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

UNGA "Yes" to Immediate Humanitarian Ceasefire in Gaza

Israel won't budge, nor will it cease and desist! The US will supply weapons and more weapons. And the callous carnage in Gaza continues!

 

In spite of the UN General Assembly having overwhelmingly adopted a non-binding resolution on Tuesday demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. 

 

153 member states voted in favor, 10 against and there were 23 abstentions. 

 

The ten countries not in favor of a ceasefire are Austria, Paraguay, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Liberia, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea and of course, Israel and the United States.

 

The UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Ukraine were among the 23 countries to abstain.

 

This was a second attempt by the UN General Assembly which on October 27 had called for "a humanitarian truce" in a resolution adopted with 121 "yes" votes, 14 against and 44 abstentions.

 

According to Gaza's health ministry, since the Israeli offensive began, more than 18,400 people have been killed and more than 50,000 people have been injured. No mention of the estimated numbers who are buried in the rubble though.

The 3 Unhappiest Countries in the EU

Bulgaria is the unhappiest country in the EU, according to statistics published by the bloc’s official agency, Eurostat. With an overall life satisfaction score of 5.6 out of 10, it was the only one of the 27 member nations polled where residents, on average, rated themselves as dissatisfied rather than satisfied. 

 

Germany is the second-most miserable on the continent, with a rating of 6.5 – a sharp drop from its score last year of 7.1. While the survey did not ask respondents to give specific reasons for their self-evaluation, multiple polls conducted this month showed widespread dissatisfaction with the German government, which are facing a financial crisis and a crisis of confidence, problems many believe are entirely of the government’s own making.

 

Greece rounded out the top three unhappiest nations, with an average life satisfaction rating of 6.7. 

 

And the happiest country on the continent is Austria, where residents rated their happiness at 7.9. Finland, Poland, and Romania are tied for second happiest with scores of 7.7. 

 

The ratings appeared to support the cliche that money cannot buy happiness, as neither of second-place scorers Romania or Poland enjoyed a high average per capita income in 2022, and Romanians even made less on average than their much more miserable neighbors in Bulgaria. 

 

While five out of the ten top finishers in the 2023 World Happiness Report, published in March, were EU member countries, only Finland, which came in at number one, was among the high scorers on both lists. 

 

Denmark, the second-happiest nation in the world in that report, was also the only European country that managed to decrease its consumption of antidepressants(!) in the last decade. It ranked seventh on life satisfaction in Eurostat’s report.

 

My two cents:

 

 

UNGA Vote For Palestine

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas. 

 

The 193-member body passed the resolution, drafted by a group of 22 Arab countries, by a margin of 120 to 14, with 45 countries abstaining. 

 

Obviously, the United States and Israel voted no as well as twelve other countries: Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Fiji, Guatemala, Hungary, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga.

 

Speaking before the vote, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that voting against the resolution “means approving this senseless war, this senseless killing”. Israel denounced the vote as “infamy”. Needless to say, the US is firmly in cahoots with the Israelis and so, they too oppose peace.

 

Russian soft drinks brand Dobry overtook Coca-Cola in sales on the domestic market in January-August 2023, news website RBK reported on Thursday, citing a study by NielsenIQ. 

 

The Dobry Cola brand is produced at factories that belonged to Coca-Cola HBC Russia, the bottler of the original drink. 

 

According to the report, Dobry came in second in the ranking of the 50 most popular FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) brands. Based on the results of the first eight months, the brand’s share in total sales on the FMCG market is 1.2%, the study showed. 

 

The original Coca-Cola did not even make it into the top 50 brands in Russia, despite finding its way into the sanctioned country through parallel imports.

Cheetah Moved From Namibia to India Gives Birth to 4 Cubs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

India has welcomed the birth of four cheetah cubs – more than 70 years after the animals were declared officially extinct there. 

 

Taking to Twitter, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav called the ocassion a “momentous event in our wildlife conservation history”. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi also welcomed the announcement, calling it “wonderful news”.

 

The country has been trying to reintroduce the big cats for decades, and last year brought eight cheetahs over from Namibia as part of the plan. Another 12 cheetahs were brought to India from South Africa last month. 

 

The cubs were born to Siyaya and Freddie, two of the eight rehabilitated cheetahs brought from Namibia to India’s Kuno National Park in the central state of Madhya Pradesh last September. 

 

The cubs were believed to have been born five days ago, but they were spotted by officials on Wednesday, the Press Trust of India reported. A park official told the news agency that the mother Siyaya and the cubs are fine and healthy. 

 

But the announcement of the new cubs came just two days after one of the other eight Namibian cheetahs, a female named Sasha died at the Kuno National Park due to kidney failure. 

 

When they were transported to India last year, it was the first time a large carnivore had been moved from one continent to another and reintroduced in the wild. 

 

Lawmakers from the Freedom Party of Austria (German: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) walked out of the lower house of the country’s parliament during a speech by Ukrainian President [V]olodymyr [Z]elensky. 

 

The comedian who became an instant president addressed the chamber via video link yesterday, thanking Austria for its humanitarian aid and help with projects such as clearing land mines. 

 

Austria says its neutrality prevents it from military involvement in the conflict and, while it supports Ukraine politically, it cannot send the country weapons in its fight against Russia. 

 

In fact, FPÖ had warned days before that they would hold some form of protest against [Z]elensky’s address. Party leader Herbert Kickl (right) said in a statement on Tuesday: “It is sad that the FPÖ (are) the only party in parliament that take our ever-lasting neutrality seriously, thereby also standing up for peace”. 

 

Note: Of the five parties in parliament, the FPÖ have the third-biggest number of seats in the lower house. They currently have a small lead in opinion polls over the opposition Social Democrats and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservatives, who govern in coalition with the Greens.

 

European unhappiness with [Z]elensky and Ukraine is building.

186 US Banks Are Vulnerable

If you have been following Andrew Henderson (the Nomad Capitalist), he'll convince you that US banks are weaker than you think. In fact, he insists your money isn’t safe anymore. 

 

Notwithstanding, a research paper posted on the Social Science Research Network on March 24, 2023 titled “Monetary Tightening and US Bank Fragility in 2023: Mark-to-Market Losses and Uninsured Depositor Runs?” had concluded that 186 banks in the US are at risk of failure due to rising interest rates and a high proportion of uninsured deposits. 

 

The economists who conducted the study warned that these 186 banks are at risk without government intervention or recapitalization. The findings underscore the importance of careful risk management and diversification of funding sources for banks to ensure their stability in the face of market fluctuations. 

 

In the meantime, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised that the country’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank, will not suffer the same fate as embattled Credit Suisse, after the bank’s shares fell by more than 14 percent on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Friday morning trading before clawing back ground in the afternoon to trade 9.5 percent lower, at 8.43 euros ($9.07) a share. 

 

Tumbling bank stocks dragged down markets across Europe on that same day with Germany’s Commerzbank down 7.5 percent, France’s Societe Generale off 5.9 percent and Austria’s Raiffaisen down 5.9 percent. 

 

Deutsche Bank are one of 30 banks considered globally significant financial institutions, so international rules require them to hold higher levels of capital reserves because their failure could cause widespread losses. 

 

Certainly, the banking sector is not out of the woods and US banks in particular are vulnerable.

Protests Are Spreading in Europe

All doesn't seem to be well in Europe. People in some European countries have taken to the streets to protest soaring energy prices, steep living costs and high inflation worsened by their governments' sanctions against Russia. And related to these pressing issues is the fact that the EU and NATO are responsible for the mess Europe finds itself in.

Expect protests to increase in frequency and intensity all over Europe. I reckon it’s just a matter of time.

In yesterday’s Champions League Group A match against Liverpool, Rangers lifted the roof off Ibrox when they slotted home in the seventeenth minute. It was their first group goal. 

But that was all they could muster. 

The Reds struck back with a vengeance. A goal fest. A Roberto Firmino brace (24, 55), a Darwin Nunez strike (66), a Mohamed Salah hattrick (75, 80, 81) and Harvey Elliott rounding off the scoring (87).

Now, they need just one point from their final two matches to be sure of a spot in the competition's knockout stages. They meet Ajax on October 26. 

Their massive 7-1 win was a result Liverpool sorely needed as they get ready for Manchester City in a Premier League game this Sunday!

Visit Ukraine 2022

It would seem that even a country at “war” can become a popular destination and attract travellers, especially from Europe and North America! 

Consider Ukraine – although I must clarify that this country is mired in a military conflict with a neighbor, rather than being actually caught in a full-blown war, as Western media would like to portray. If Russia really goes to war, would VIPs ("Very Idiotic Persons") dare to step foot into a country where death and destruction is all around? 

Indeed, the country is luring those who want to be seen to "stand with Ukraine" and in the process, bask in the media limelight. This explains why an endless stream of visitors can’t wait to turn up there and I can tell you, thus far, the guest line-up is pretty impressive! 

In March, Ukraine hosted Czechia’s prime minister Petr Fiala, together with Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa, and Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his deputy Jaroslaw Kaczynski. 

In April, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, European Council President Charles Michel, and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen were all in Ukraine at one time or another. So too, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Romanian prime minister Nicolae Ciucă, Bulgarian prime minister Kiril Petkov, Swiss leader of the House of Representatives Irène Kälin and fellow parliamentarians, Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė, UK prime minister Boris Johnson, and Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen along with her Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez. Not forgetting, from the US, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. 

In May, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, his deputy Chrystia Freeland and foreign minister Mélanie Joly paid Ukraine a visit. So too, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania Eva-Maria Liimets, Edgars Rinkēvičs and Gabrielius Landsbergis respectively. And from the US, came House speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a posse of Democratic Reps, Gregory Meeks of New York, Jason Crow of Colorado, Jim McGovern and Bill Keating of Massachusetts, and Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee of California. Also, actor and United Nations special envoy Angelina Jolie and even first lady Jill Biden. Not to mention Irish singer-songwriter of U2 band, Bono.

I don’t think the above listing is exhaustive – but you get my drift! 

Ukraine is most certainly, 2022’s No. 1 travel destination!

Americans Put a Spin on the Medal Tally at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

Americans clearly have no wish to follow international norms. 

Take the case of the medals’ count at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics – they’ve ranked their medal table on overall total medals rather than total golds.

The rest of the world accepts that medal tallies are typically ranked by whoever has the most gold medals. So a nation in second could have won 50 medals, but if only five of them were gold, then they'd be behind a country that had won six medals as long as all six of them were gold. [Kindly refer to my post published yesterday].

In case, Americans are not aware of, the official Olympics website also ranks by gold medal count. 

But they don't give a damn! They're just pleased that their country ended up by being BETTER than China because based on the total medal tally, they had collected 24 (which put them in position #5) – even if all they could muster were eight golds. 

Compare this to the Chinese who had clinched nine golds but their total came up to 15 medals – and this pulled them down to position #11. 

This trick by the Americans is disingenuous, deluding and deceitful! 

Methinks, the US is acting from an inferiority complex. All I can say is Americans have this desire to dupe themselves!

The Johor state election next month is coming at a time of rapidly rising inflation, growing unemployment, struggling businesses and moreover, it's riding on the back of two flourishing years of Covid. 

I don't think Malaysians want this – but UMNO decided to force it through, claiming a new mandate was necessary because the ruling BN-PN government were shaky with only a one-seat majority in the state assembly. 

Obviously, there is more to it than that – anyway, as far as I’m concerned, it’s BN and PN pursuing their self-interests and indulging in a game of political football. 

And unlike the previous three state elections held since 2018, Johor will be a different ball game altogether. Be prepared for a new political landscape come polling day on March 12. 

I reckon the Johor polls is set to be a general election bellwether.

Final Medal Tally at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

The final medal tally highlighting the Top 10 countries at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. It was splendid, spectacular and successful! 

Celtic’s Giorgos Giakoumakis scored thrice against Dundee on Sunday to seal a 3-2 victory and send the Glasgow side three points clear at the Scottish Premiership summit. 

But it was the Dees who struck out of nowhere in the twenty-sixth minute – although their lead evaporated after only eight minutes. 

Carl Starfelt's header ricocheted to Giakoumakis, who finished ruthlessly on the swivel from near the penalty spot. Four minutes later, he was at it again. Daizen Maeda burned up the left flank and his vicious cross was parried to the feet of the striker by the Dee goalkeeper. The Greek striker could scarcely miss. 

In the sixtieth minute, Dundee scored again to imbue them with new belief. 

Until the eighty-sixth minute, when Giakoumakis slammed the ball in from inside the box with Celtic's 19th shot of the day. 

Celtic travel to Norway aiming to overturn a 3-1 Europa Conference League deficit against Bodo/Glimt on Thursday with a place in the last 16 on offer.

Omicron Jitters

New cases of Omicron infection have since been identified in Australia, Canada and a host of other European countries like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. 

Many Asia-Pacific countries have tightened borders and delayed reopening plans, dealing a fresh blow to the region’s already sluggish resumption of international travel. 

And some countries are even shutting their borders as health experts continue to study the latest Covid variant. Over the weekend, Israel and Morocco announced that the countries are closed to all non-residents. On Monday, Japan banned all foreigners from entering the country. And today, it’s China Hong Kong’s turn. 

Fears over the Omicron Covid variant mean all UK adults will now be offered a third dose of Covid vaccine, either Pfizer or Moderna. And the gap between second and third doses will be halved from six to three months.

Dr. Angelique Coetzee (left), a doctor and chair of South African Medical Association and one of the first to flag Omicron said on Sunday that the coronavirus strain's symptoms were so far mild and could be treated at home. 

No need to panic. Yet.

After 396 years, the sun has set on the British monarchy’s reign over the Caribbean island of Barbados – and Monday marked the birth of the world’s newest republic. 

It’s about time they dumped the Queen!

COP26 Talks Continue Past the Deadline

COP26 @ Glasgow misses the deadline for a climate deal – but talks are continuing nonetheless. 

Trust the politicians! I’m sure they’ll come up with a face-saving document that is a combination of hype and bull! LOL! 

Still, there are good news coming out of Alba (Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland, if you don’t know!).

It’s wonderful to know that yesterday, Scotland secured passage into the World Cup qualification play-offs in March with a game to spare, thanks to a 2-0 victory over Moldova. 

This was a fifth straight victory for the Scots and it opens a seven-point gap – Israel are level with Austria – while Denmark has already qualified as Group F winners. Not since 2007 has a Scotland side won five consecutive games in 90 minutes.

In any case, the draw for the play-offs is on November 26. And the semi-finals will take place on March 24–25 with the finals scheduled for March 28–29. The 3 winners will join the ten group winners at the World Cup in Qatar (November 21 to December 18, 2022).

To all the ignomaruses out there who still cannot accept the fact that China is going to be No. 1:

AstraZeneca Vaccine Rollout Suspended

Ireland is the latest country to temporarily suspend the rollout of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday following a report from Norway of patients developing blood clots post inoculation. 

The Norwegian Medicines Agency on Saturday said there were four new cases of serious blood clotting in adults after taking the vaccine. 

Health authorities in Austria were the first to sound the alarm on the potential dangers of the vaccine, suspending on Tuesday one batch of doses. 

Italy on Friday banned the use of vaccines from a specific batch of AstraZeneca doses following the death of a serviceman in Sicily, who had died of cardiac arrest one day after receiving his first dose of the vaccine. 

And Denmark on Thursday became the first European country to temporarily suspend the entire rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine. 

It appears that the vaccines are not as safe as they are made out to be. Caution ahead for those opting to get vaccinated.