World Cup Set for New Era as Giants Miss Out

The remaining places for this year's FIFA World Cup were finalised on Tuesday, capping a qualifying campaign that spanned nearly three years and setting the stage for the tournament's first 48-team edition. 

The competition will be held across the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19. 

The expanded format has opened the door to new contenders while leaving several established powers and high-profile players on the outside looking in. 

Italy will miss a third straight World Cup after losing its playoff final to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties. It has been a rapid fall for the Azzurri, which won its fourth World Cup title in 2006 and won the 2020 European Championship. 

Elsewhere, Nigeria's absence stands out in Africa, with the Super Eagles unable to navigate a competitive qualifying campaign despite a squad drawn from top European leagues. 

Chile, twice Copa America champions in the past 11 years, also missed out as the core of its golden generation fades. 

Poland is another notable omission, having lost its playoff final against Sweden, while Costa Rica, quarterfinalists in 2014, also missed out for the first time since 2010 after a poor CONCACAF zone qualifying campaign. 

Even with 16 additional teams in this year's tournament, the list is a reminder that qualification still leaves little margin for error. 

Besides the above, FIFA President Gianni Infantino has sought to allay doubts about Iran's participation in the tournament, insisting the team would play all of its group matches in the US as scheduled. 

There has been ongoing uncertainty over Iran's involvement because of the conflict in West Asia, with Tehran raising concerns over player safety and banning national and club teams from traveling to countries it considers hostile. 

The Iranian football federation said earlier this month they were negotiating with FIFA to relocate the country's World Cup matches from the US to Mexico.

Iran is due to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on June 15 and 21 respectively, before meeting Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

In squash, Sivasangari Subramaniam (right) was handed an extended break at the El Gouna International Open after advancing to the quarter-finals via a walkover following the withdrawal of opponent Mariam Metwally of Egypt. 

The Malaysian was set to take on the world No. 33 yesterday but the home player pulled out after her father passed away. 

Sivasangari had booked her place in the second round with a hard-fought win over world No. 16 Nada Abbas in Giza, Egypt on Saturday. 

The 27-year-old Kedahan won 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6 in 47 minutes. It was Sivasangari's fourth triumph against the Egyptian in five meetings. 

Endangered Darwin's Frogs Born at London Zoo

Dozens of endangered froglets have been born at London zoo after conservationists launched an emergency mission to rescue members of the species from a remote national park in Chile. [Read my December 22, 2024 post "Amphibian Pandemic Decimates Darwin's Frog Population"]. 

Researchers rushed to Tantauco Park on the southern tip of Chiloé Island after tests confirmed that the lethal chytrid fungus had reached the nature reserve and threatened to wipe out some of the last remaining populations of Darwin’s frogs. 

The island was regarded as a sanctuary for the endangered species but monitoring in 2023 revealed a 90% crash in numbers due to chytrid fungus, which has been called the most devastating infectious animal disease ever documented. 

“We realised the situation was really, really bad”, said Dr Andrés Valenzuela-Sánchez, a research fellow at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). “We rapidly decided we needed to do something; we needed to do an emergency rescue”. 

Chytrid fungus has spread around the world in the past 30 years with catastrophic consequences for amphibians. It has killed off at least 90 species and affected hundreds more. Darwin’s frogs, named after the Victorian naturalist who discovered them in 1834, are highly susceptible to the disease and die within weeks of becoming infected. 

On a five-day expedition to the park in October last year, the rescue team collected 55 Darwin’s frogs. Some were located after local guides mimicked the amphibians’ calls, prompting responses from the tiny creatures. 

Shortly after capturing the frogs, which weigh only 2g fully grown, the team realised that eleven males were carrying young. Darwin’s frogs have an unusual reproductive cycle. The males fertilise eggs that females lay on the forest floor and two to three weeks they later collect them in their mouths where they pass into a vocal sac for brooding. The tadpoles slowly metamorphose and are later born as froglets. 

To check whether the frogs were infected with fungus, skin swabs were sent to a laboratory in Chile’s capital, Santiago. Tests identified two contaminated frogs. The remaining 53 were cleared for the approximately 8,000-mile (13,000km) journey to London by boat, plane and van. 

The frogs arrived in good health and were transferred to a newly built biosecure room at the zoo that mimics the cool temperature, rainfall, lighting and foliage of the frogs’ natural habitat. Once settled, the males that had been carrying tadpoles on capture released 33 froglets into the enclosure. Each measured about 5mm long. 

“We have the founders, the first adults, and now we have this first generation of offspring born at the zoo”, Valenzuela-Sánchez told the Guardian. 

The researchers now hope to breed the frogs and study potential treatments for chytrid fungus that would allow the amphibians to be returned home.

Amphibian Pandemic Decimates Darwin's Frog Population

They are one of the world's most iconic amphibians, named after the famous evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin. 

 

Darwin's frogs (Scientific name: Rhinoderma darwinii) found in Chile and adjacent parts of Argentina are under 2 centimetres long and are recognisable by their distinctive, pointy noses. In fact, Darwin’s frog is the only amphibian in the world where the male carries tadpoles in its vocal sac.

 

They are considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. 

 

Tantauco Park, in southern Chile, was home to the largest known populations of Darwin’s frog. In 2023, a team led by the Ranita de Darwin NGO and Andrés Bello University discovered that the chytrid fungus (Scientific name: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), which causes chytridiomycosis, had reached this natural paradise, previously free from the disease. In just one year, their numbers have plummeted by 90%.

 

[According to New Scientist on March 28, 2019, chytridiomycosis contributed to the decline of more than 500 species of frogs, toads and salamanders, or nearly 7 percent of all amphibian species, since the fungal disease first emerged in the 1980s].  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faced with this devastating pandemic, a coalition of organizations quickly formed to launch an ambitious project aimed at rescuing and restoring this critical refuge for the species. One of the first emergency actions taken to address the imminent disappearance of Darwin’s frogs in Tantauco Park was the creation of a national and international network of captive breeding centers to safeguard the species while seeking a solution to the chytridiomycosis threat. 

 

And in October this year, conservationists organized a rescue mission which included capturing and flying 53 of the tiny frogs to the world's oldest scientific zoo in the UK.

Dr Andrés Valenzuela Sánchez (left) from London Zoo's Institute of Zoology who leads the project, said: "Moving 53 Chilean frogs to London was no small feat – it took meticulous planning and more than a few sleepless nights!" 

 

Ben Tapley, Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles at London Zoo added: “Transporting Darwin’s frogs to another continent was no easy task, especially as we were racing against time in a complex operation involving 51 people from 9 different institutions. Thanks to a dedicated global team and a strict biosecurity protocol, all the frogs survived the journey, which spanned 13,000 km by sea, land, and air”.

 

In addition to contributing to research on chytridiomycosis, offspring of Darwin’s frogs in the UK will be returned to Chile to support the reintroduction of the species in Tantauco Park. 

 

“We have built a dedicated facility for Darwin’s frogs at London Zoo, capable of replicating the light and humidity cycles of Chilean forests to ensure these tiny visitors feel secure and remain healthy during their stay” explained Sánchez. “I am convinced that the integration of research and conservation, both in captivity and in the wild, will allow Darwin’s frogs to repopulate Tantauco Park and thrive in their ancient native forests”.

 

Osvaldo Cabeza, a project member from Chile’s National Zoo, emphasized: “Captive breeding centers may be the last resort to safeguard amphibian populations facing imminent extinction due to chytridiomycosis”.

Flight LA800 Experiences Exorcist Moment in a Boeing Dreamliner

Another week, another Boeing nightmare. 

 

This time, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner plunged suddenly mid-flight on Monday, after a LATAM pilot said he temporarily lost control of the aircraft. 

 

Fortunately, he was able to recover and land Flight LA800 which departed from Sydney with 263 passengers and nine cabin crew members safely, but it’s not yet clear what caused the Chilean flight from Australia to New Zealand to fall so perilously. 

 

"The plane, unannounced, just dropped. I mean it dropped unlike anything I've ever experienced on any kind of minor turbulence, and people were thrown out of their seats, hit the top of the roof of the plane, throwing down the aisles", passenger Brian Jokat told the BBC. 

 

"The plane dipped so dramatically into a nosedive for a couple of seconds and around 30 people hit the ceiling hard", said one passenger, who told NZ Herald that the drop caused people to scream, and left blood "splattered" everywhere. 

 

"I thought I was dreaming", said another witness. "I opened my eyes and [another passenger] was on the roof of the plane on his back, looking down on me. It was like The Exorcist". The witness said the rooftop passenger came crashing down on an armrest, breaking his ribs in the process. 

 

About 50 people were injured in the incident, with one person in serious condition, emergency services said. 

 

LATAM asserted that the plane “had a technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement”, adding it landed as scheduled in Auckland.  FYI, the plane was scheduled to fly onward to Santiago, Chile on the same day. That flight was canceled and a new flight departed for Santiago on Tuesday.

 

In accordance with rules outlined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Chile’s Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics have sent investigators from the agency’s Operations and Airworthiness team to look into the incident, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

 

Meanwhile, the head of the US Federal Aviation Administration, Mike Whitaker, said his agency will work with the relevant authorities to investigate. 

 

"We will certainly follow that closely" given the airplane was manufactured in the US, he said.

 

FYI, the plane was scheduled to fly from Auckland to Santiago, Chile on the same day. That flight was canceled and a new flight departed for Santiago on Tuesday.

 

Unfortunately, that's not all. Also, on Monday, a United Airlines flight was forced to return to Sydney just two hours into its nearly 14-hour journey to San Francisco, USA in the carrier’s fifth flight incident in seven days. 

 

The Boeing 777-300 aircraft, carrying 183 passengers and crew, was forced to land due to hydraulic fluid spewing from its landing gear area.

Bolivia Severs Ties with Israel; Colombia, Chile and Jordan Recall Envoys

Bolivia “decided to break diplomatic relations with the Israeli state in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip”, Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said on Tuesday, as quoted by the Associated Press.

 

And Minister of the Presidency Maria Nela Prada (right) accused Israel of “committing crimes against humanity” in Gaza, calling on the Israeli government to “cease attacks in the Gaza Strip that have already resulted in thousands of civilian casualties and the forced displacement of Palestinians”.

 

Bolivia previously cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009, also in protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza. Relations were only restored in 2020. 

 

In the meantime, Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors for consultations condemning the deaths of civilians in Gaza and calling for a ceasefire.

 

Yesterday, Al Jazeera reported Jordan announcing it is “immediately” recalling its ambassador to Israel and accusing the latter of creating an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”. The country's foreign ministry said their envoy would only return if Israel ceased its war on the besieged territory. They also told Israel to recall its ambassador to the kingdom amid the crisis.

 

What about the other Arab countries that have normalised their relations with Tel Aviv?

 

On Wednesday, Scottish Premiership league leaders Celtic came from behind to beat a spirited St Mirren 2-1. 

 

The latter scored on seven minutes but David Turnbull's fine finish from the edge of the box eleven minutes later leveled the score. And then two subs combined to give Celtic the winner. Odin Thiago Holm played a delightful pass into the path of Oh Hyeon-gyu and he finished emphatically to clinch a vital three points with just seven minutes left of the game.

 

Celtic travel to Dingwall on Saturday to meet Ross County.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the same day, Liverpool overcame AFC Bournemouth 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup.

 

In the thirty-first minute, Cody Gakpo put the Reds in front when he pounced to poke home from close range after Harvey Elliott's volley was parried into his path. But the Cherries leveled in the 64th minute. 

 

Then, substitute Darwin Nunez scored a stunner when he cut in from the left and picked his spot perfectly for the 70th-minute finish, curling the ball with plenty of pace into the top right corner.

 

Liverpool will take on Premier League rivals West Ham, who beat Arsenal 3-1 in the fourth round, in the quarter-finals at Anfield.

Colombia Gets Chance to Start Anew

Sixty-two-year-old Gustavo Petro (left), who once spent time in jail for his political beliefs and who promised profound social and economic change, has won Colombia’s presidency, beating the populist business tycoon Rodolfo Hernandez. 

He is the first ever leftist president of the deeply unequal country that has been ruled since independence by conservative elites and plagued for decades by political violence. He began his political career in the ranks of a Colombian guerrilla army, has survived assassination attempts and served as senator and mayor of Bogotá. When he appears before throngs of supporters in squares across the country, he does so flanked by bodyguards with bulletproof shields. 

And on Sunday, he won 50.5 percent of the vote to Hernandez’s 47.3 percent, with a margin of more than 700,000 votes. The two had been technically tied in polling ahead of the vote. 

Petro’s running mate Francia Márquez (right), a single mother, former housekeeper and activist, will be the country’s first Afro-Colombian female vice president. 

Certainly, Colombians are hoping their country can now start anew! 

But I am not so sure. And that's because it has been claimed that Petro is really a faux leftie who embraces woke ideology. Moreover, his veep is a former USAID worker, meaning, she's CIA-linked. 

In fact, Jackson Hinkle ("The Dive") had tweeted that when Venezuela's Maduro, Bolivia's Morales and Nicaragua's Ortega were elected/re-elected President, the New York Times claimed the elections were fraudulent and the results were illegitimate. When Petro and Chile's Boric were elected President, the NYT celebrated their victories as "leftist success stories". 

Time will tell whether Petro is a genuine reformer or a charlatan. Despite my misgivings, I'm keeping my fingers crossed he'll turn out to be the former. 

For Colombians' sake, I pray their hopes won't be misplaced!

Covid is Still On the Rise in USA, It is Claimed

My Covid post earlier today didn’t mention the United States – but maybe, I should. Surely, I can’t ignore the No. 1 Covid country which has amassed 85.7 million cases and one million deaths todate. 

According to Worldometer, the US reported 6,865 cases yesterday! Just in case, you may think the US has beaten Covid, I read a news piece this morning that says otherwise. 

Indeed, Covid cases are on the rise and even those rising figures are severely undercounted, according to some experts who estimate that, because of home testing, case rates are actually 14.5x what's being reported! 

Yet, as so many people have moved on as if Covid has disappeared, it's hard sometimes not to feel gaslit if you're still concerned about Covid and still wanting to not catch it. Sure, death rates are down, but some experts estimate that 1 in 5 people who catch Covid will go on to develop long Covid. 

There is clearly reason to still care. If you are someone still concerned with Covid, and you feel you're out on a limb, check out the Twitter post that exploded over the weekend – almost 30,000 people have liked the post and thousands have responded saying that they are, in fact, still masking. You're definitely not alone!

To give the US number some context, here are the Top 12 countries with the highest number of daily infections, according to Worldometer – as at yesterday, May 30:

At the end of the day, all these are just numbers, nothing more! Besides, we're already comfortably living with Covid!

Booster Shots a Hobson's Choice

With Covid cases still soaring, many countries have expanded their vaccine booster programs or shortened the gap between shots as governments scramble to shore up protection. 

Two countries are already going for a fourth Covid booster shot – Israel and Chile – and this has prompted some scientists to caution that the plan could backfire, because too many shots might cause a sort of immune system fatigue, compromising the body’s ability to fight the coronavirus. 

The New York Times had even reported that people with compromised immune systems are getting unapproved fourth or fifth Covid-19 shots, despite uncertainty about their safety or effectiveness. 

There’s another reason why some people want boosters. They wish to avoid even the mildest of Covid-19 symptoms: They’re worried about developing long Covid – it can persist for weeks or even months after the acute disease phase. 

The symptoms include shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction ("brain fog"), as well as fatigue. Those are the three most common. 

However, there has been more than 200 symptoms that actually have been reported in patients such as chest pain or tightness, difficulty sleeping (insomnia), heart palpitations, dizziness, pins and needles, joint pain, depression and anxiety, tinnitus and earaches, feeling sick, diarrhoea, stomach aches, loss of appetite, a high temperature, cough, headaches, sore throat, changes to sense of smell or taste.

Note: Pardon the English. Malaysians' English is not what it once was! 

It has been claimed that you can get long Covid from even a mild infection – and in that regard, even Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist at the Yale University School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute thinks booster shots may be justifiable. 

Anyway, Pfizer Inc Chief Executive Albert Bourla (left) had come out on Saturday to say that an annual Covid-19 vaccine would be preferable to more frequent booster shots in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Once a year – it is easier to convince people to do it. It is easier for people to remember. So, from a public health perspective, it is an ideal situation”, he added. 

If we agree on the above, then booster shots are a Hobson's choice.

130 Million Cases and Blood Clot Events in the UK

Covid-19 cases are on the increase again. It has now gone past 130 million. 

And Chile is country #22 to register one million cases todate. 

UK regulators have now identified 30 cases of blood clot events after the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

On March 18, they reported only five cases of a rare brain blood clot among 11 million administered shots. But on Thursday, they put the count at 22 reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, an extremely rare brain clotting ailment, and 8 reports of other clotting events associated with low blood platelets out of a total of 18.1 million doses given. 

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said they had received no such reports of clotting events following use of the vaccine made by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. 

It doesn’t surprise me that health officials are still insisting the benefits of the vaccine in the prevention of Covid-19 far outweigh any possible risk of blood clots.

Covid-19 Arrvies at Antarctica

Coronavirus has reached the Antarctic continent, which has so far been free of Covid-19. 

The Chilean army reported 36 cases at their research station on the Antarctic Peninsula – of whom 26 are military personnel and 10 civilian contractors conducting maintenance at the base. They have all been evacuated to Chile. 

An Army press officer said the first Covid-19 cases were reported in mid-December when two soldiers fell ill. 

The news comes just days after Chile's Navy confirmed three cases on a ship, which had taken supplies and personnel to the Bernardo O'Higgins research station, which lies near the tip of a peninsula in northernmost Antarctica and is one of four permanent bases which Chile has on the continent. 

The Sargento Aldea had arrived there on November 27 before sailing back to Chile on December 10. 

It is noteworthy to point out that the Magallanes region, one of the closest populated areas to Antarctica and take-off point for many boats and planes headed to the continent, is among the hardest-hit in Chile. 

The news means that coronavirus cases have now been recorded on all seven continents. 

For the fourteenth day in a row, Malaysia records a caseload that persists to remain in four digits!

Don't worry! Our Health Ministry Director-General says everything is under control!

51 Million Cases

 

Covid-19 keeps surging and swelling. It’s now 51 million cases. 

Looking at the countries that have amassed 100,000 cases or more – the tally is now 55 countries, including the latest addition, Honduras.

 

Collectively, these countries are responsible for 94.4% and 97.6% of infections and deaths worldwide respectively. 

Going by statistics alone, the rest of the world is relatively safe! Therefore, Malaysians needn’t get panicky and there’s no need to over-react, really! 

The pic below caught my eye. And so, I thought I'll share it. 

It tellingly reveals what TV news anchors look like from the back versus from the front:

47 Million Cases

Already 47 million coronavirus cases. And 1.2 million deaths. 

Fifty-one countries have now amassed 100,000 cases or more. If you’re not up to speed, let me tell you that Belarus has joined the club. 

All these countries combined to account for 93.7% and 95.6% of the total global infections and fatalities respectively.

A COVID-19 PSA: KINDLY WEAR A MASK!

A COVID-19 PSA: KINDLY WEAR A MASK CORRECTLY! 

46 Million Cases: The Second Wave Hits Hard

The Covid-19 numbers keep rising even faster. It’s kinda scary because it went past 46 million cases yesterday. And not to mention, almost closing in to 1.2 million deaths.

And the UK is the ninth country to make it to one million cases. 

The fact that the country’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left) announced a second national lockdown for England – just like Malaysia, it's not too restrictive – to prevent, as he says, a "medical and moral disaster" for the NHS, is emblematic of the worsening situation in much of Europe. 

There are now 50 nations which have accumulated 100,000 coronavirus cases or more under their belts – with Austria and Japan the latest to join the burgeoning band of countries. 

I did the sums – and their combined tally of cases and fatalities amount to 93.6% and 95.6% respectively of the global total.

 

There was a Premier League game yesterday too – and I’m happy that Liverpool triumphed over in-form West Ham 2-1. Sure, the Reds conceded first, in the tenth minute…but yet again, produced another stirring comeback win. 

A foul on Mohamed Salah had allowed the Egypt forward to equalize in the forty-second minute from the penalty spot with Liverpool's first attempt on target. And then, Diogo Jota netted in the 85th minute after a smart pass by fellow substitute Xherdan Shaqiri.

 

Liverpool are back on top of the table for the first time since they ended last season as champions – but again, they were far from their fluent best.

This was league game #63 without defeat at Anfield, making Jürgen Norbert Klopp’s greats the equivalent of Bob Paisley’s legends (achieved between February 1978 and December 1981). 

Next is the Champions League Group D away match against Italy’s Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, on Tuesday.

44 Million Cases

Covid-19 is on a stampede again and continues to trample lives. It’s now 44 million infections and 1.1 million fatalities! 

If we wish to be more accurate, we can pin the numbers down to 44,221,963 cases and 1,171,149 deaths as at today, 00:00 GMT, according to data aggregation site Worldometers.

It’s still the same 48 countries which have 100,000 or more cases – and together, they constitute 93.3% and 95.4% of total global cases and deaths respectively.

 

Yesterday, Liverpool moved two points clear at the top of Group D with a forgettable but precious 2-0 victory over Champions League rookies FC Midtjylland. 

The Reds took the lead in the fifty-fifth minute when Trent Alexander-Arnold played a neat one-two with Xherdan Shaqiri, the former teeing-up Diogo Jota to tap home in front of an empty Kop. And then Mohamed Salah (90+3) won a penalty and which he took and scored himself to wrap up the game.

 

Their next game is a potential banana skin – against West Ham on Saturday. 

The Hammers have been impressive – they drew with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City in their last two outings and also winning away to Leicester City.