The internet has changed life for the better. Ideas and technology are quickly shared, and household items have been improved because of the internet. But one of the household items you might be surprised to find improved by the internet is the water purifier machine.
These water purifier machines seemed to have reached the limits of their technology soon after they were invented. After all, the old water purifier machines were little more than a jug with a water filter attached. There really weren’t any improvements that could be made to them, other than possibly refining the water filters to trap more impurities.
But then, the internet came along with its ability to collect and store data as well as interconnect people and things. The latest generation of digital technology has even been referred to as the IoT, or the internet of things.
Next Generation Water Purifier Machines
With the connective capabilities of the internet, many product designers and creators started looking at different items from a completely new angle. They were looking for items that could be improved by the addition of connectivity and data collection. And they found that a lot of these household machines could benefit from the application of digital capabilities. One of the items with a long-lasting problem that could be solved through the use of connectivity and data collection was the water purifier machine.
The problem with these purifier machines was that the filter had to be changed several times a year. Depending on the make and model of the machine and the complexity of the filter, this could be expensive.
Manufacturers resorted to a standard of three or four months between filter changes, but this figure was regardless of how much use the machine was getting between filter changes. Product designers realised that with the connective and data collection capabilities of digital applications, they could solve the problem of filter changes and accurately predict exactly when it was time to change a filter.
Changing the Standards of Water Filter Use
They solved the problem of inaccurate filter changes by monitoring the machine remotely through the internet and transforming the volume of water flowing through the filter into measurable data.
Then, they measured the volume of water needed to utilise their filters fully, and this gave them a benchmark they could apply to everyone’s machines. And so, they were able to send a notification to each owner when the filters in their machines had reached the limits of their effectiveness and needed to be changed.
The data they collected and the connectivity they established through the internet further enabled them to expand the functions of these water purifier machines. They created an app the owner could install on their smartphones. The app could receive the filter change notification, but it could also be used to track the hydration levels of active kids by their parents or track the total amount of drinking water consumed for a month by the family, or award manufacturer’s points for hitting a goal in using the machine.
The digital age has meant a whole new era for these machines. Contact Snaptec today to find out what this new era of water purifier machines can mean for your family.
Managing a warehouse effectively requires maintaining an open mind to the continuous need for change. And micro racks provide a welcome amount of options and flexibility in helping you achieve the most efficient storage solution for your warehouse time and time again.
Micro racks offer warehouse managers dealing in products that are sold in small lots the ability to make the most of the space they have available. The quick set-up and dismantling features of the racks enable you to set them up on a temporary basis to solve some storage problems and then clear the space to receive a different type of racking system.
Increasing Efficiency
The flexibility and portability of micro racks allow you to set up trial order picking stations designed to see the most efficient way to fill orders. This continuous experimentation helps you make the most of your space when new products in different sizes than you’re used to threaten to slow down your work process.
The racks can be set up in a number of different configurations, so you can see, in real-time, which ones allow for the most efficient way to pick orders.
Light and Simple to Use
As the efficient use of space matters down to the centimetre, the light and easy to move micro racks allow minute adjustments that make a difference in how your available space can be used. Aisle space can play a large part in how fast orders can be filled in your warehouse.
Employees walking down aisles that are just a bit too narrow to negotiate when carrying a product can be detrimental to the speed of your operations. They can cause repeated damage and losses to your inventory of products.
By being able to easily change the distance between racks, you can alleviate any damage to your products, increase the speed of your order filling process and maximise the space available in your warehouse. This easy experimentation can help make your warehouse more efficient in filling orders than many of your competitors.
With speed being an important factor in making on-time deliveries to valued customers, ensuring your warehouse is operating as efficiently as possible is crucial to your operations.
Showroom Compatible
Micro racks can be coated in a number of different finishes, which makes them suitable for installation in a showroom as well as a warehouse. These racks are made of quality steel that can support substantial weights with bending and looking overloaded in the showroom where your brand’s image matters.
With the showroom and warehouse capabilities of the racks, they should be your go-to type of shelving for companies that deal in smaller products that fit the shelves of micro racks. The versatility they provide is a reason they’ve proven themselves with many name brand companies in Thailand.
To learn more about all the shelving products that Tellus offers, contact us today to make an appointment.
By Ron Beck, Senior Director Industry Marketing and Lawrence Ng, Vice President of Sales, Asia Pacific, and Japan, Aspen Technology Inc.
17 August 2021
According to the late American futurist Alvin Toffler, “change is not merely necessary to life – it is life.” Indeed, change is paramount, as the world works its way out of the current pandemic.
What does the new normal look like? No one knows for sure, but it is clear that to secure a leading position tomorrow, companies need to accelerate digitalization today and position themselves for unexpected twists tomorrow. It is necessary for businesses to achieve a high level of overall resilience and be more productive with increased agility. In the face of relentless global competition, process and capital-intensive companies need to be strategic and focused. Acceleration is good but not enough. It is mission-critical for businesses to concentrate on generating measurable value by deploying technology that improves the dual challenges of sustainability and profitability.
Industrial AI is a strategic business weapon, as it combines the power of analytics and AI machine learning with the crucial guard-rails of domain expertise, to extract value from industrial data. Industrial AI will help navigate increasingly complex supply chain options and decisions. Momentum from rapidly changing global carbon mitigation necessitates focus on energy transition across Asia, especially Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, India. It is also necessary to focus on plastic waste concerns driving the circular economy – for all of which, Industrial AI is already generating value for users. Companies need to deploy embedded AI driven industrial solutions with crucial in-built domain expertise, augmenting those AI tools and data to unlock true value.
Visibility into the game plan
With virtual or hybrid working arrangements still in place, companies need to demonstrate their ability to operate and manage assets remotely. These businesses also need to increase the integrity and safety standards of their assets concurrently – via the use of analytics.
In a survey conducted jointly with Crystol Energy, most respondents from energy and chemical companies indicated that they were less well prepared digitally, when this pandemic arose. The most important factor for companies in asset-intensive sectors, is to ensure the safety of their workers and safe operation of assets. Providing a flexible working environment and accelerating digitalization via increased stakeholder transparency were factors that respondents agree upon. Skills shortage was also highlighted as a long-term risk to business sustainability, as economic volatility has led to early exit of the most experienced workers – now replaced by a workforce that needs training and organizations that are short of domain expertise. Access to global capital is increasingly being tied to sustainability performance, which increases the importance of related goals.
Even before this pandemic induced economic slowdown, employees, and customers expected the energy industry to operate clean, efficient businesses. However, the latest generation of workers and customers are demanding even greater levels of accountability around sustainability. In a new global industry survey of sustainability patterns, by AspenTech and consultant Dr. Robert Socolow, 48% of chemical industry respondents reports that customers are key drivers of their sustainability initiatives, and 65% say that a broad societal obligation is a key driver. Organisations know that if they want to protect their brand reputation and attract these people to work for and engage with them, they must build cleaner, safer, more sustainable businesses that allow them to contribute to creating a world fit for tomorrow.
Many energy players are also diversifying their energy mix, all of which, points to more projects in energy transition areas, such as the hydrogen economy, carbon capture, biofeedstock and renewable energy assets.
A new industry normal
Skills shortage will intensify beyond the next five years, as industry downsizing whittles down valuable domain expertise. With most data scientists still relatively new on the job, the use of digital tools and analytics looks to be on the rise, especially solutions that accelerate collaboration between the new wave of data scientists and technical domain experts. Cost and carbon footprint reduction will remain high on the agenda. A shift in refining production mix towards chemical feedstocks is expected, as growth in chemicals is expected to account for half of the near-term demand growth for oil in Asia.
As Asian economies and middle-class growth continue to work towards recovery, mega integrated plant projects are on track to address changing market demands efficiently. Industry trajectory shifting from oil to gas consumption continues, especially in areas of chemical feedstocks and power generation. Natural gas and renewables can address increasing demand for electricity, and the hydrogen economy is an emerging dimension. In Indonesia, geothermal will play an increasing role and present operational challenges.
As these new energy areas gain momentum, rapid and powerful early concept design is crucial for the techno-economic analysis to ensure a profitable asset lifecycle.
Hybrid models combining rigorous and AI-driven models are increasingly required to optimize complex operations, more accurately and autonomously, especially for energy transition technology options. For capital projects, estimation and project progress transparency can unlock value. To manage project risk efficiently, it is necessary to visualize, analyze, benchmark and share data to increase speed and certainty. The result is a more agile, collaborative, and informed asset design – with a seamless and more predictable execution process.
Long term trajectory on course
AspenTech’s vision for the Self-Optimizing Plant is a fully digitally enabled asset that is self-learning, self-adapting and self-sustaining. Customers want to build more agile organizations. At the enterprise level, companies need to stitch together increasingly intelligent assets into more agile and responsive value chains.
In terms of timeline, some aspects of operations will become autonomous in the relatively short term, while broader autonomy is a longer-term five to ten-year goal. Typically, oil and chemical assets are too complex to run completely autonomously, at least within the next five to ten years. Instead, we are driving towards enabling a self-sustaining plant with operators increasingly performing strategic oversight functions.
In closing, two iconic quotes from Alvin Toffler, “Knowledge is the most democratic source of power” and “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” These quotes highlight the importance of digital technology and industrial AI in empowering workers to mobilize knowledge and learning from industrial data.
Indeed, the Self-Optimizing Plant capitalizes on data to generate knowledge and Industrial AI provide companies with the massive ability to learn, unlearn and relearn. Back to the future, Toffler is spot-on when it comes to process and capital-intensive companies embracing change and driving value with the unique power of Industrial AI right here, right now, in this new industry normal.
People wearing face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus walk on a downtown street in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. Photo: Vincent Yu / AP
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will tighten entry restrictions for travelers arriving from the United States and 15 other countries beginning Friday, extending the quarantine period to 21 days.
Previously, the 15 countries, which also include Malaysia, Thailand, France and the Netherlands, were classified as medium-risk, with travelers able to serve only 7 days of quarantine if they were fully vaccinated and tested positive for antibodies prior to leaving for the city.
A resurgence of coronavirus cases in these countries due to the delta variant led the to be recategorized as high high-risk and stricter measures imposed, as the government sought to “uphold the local barrier against the importation of COVID-19,” it said in a statement.
The changes come after a domestic worker who had returned to Hong Kong from the U.S. earlier this month tested positive for the coronavirus, despite receiving two shots of vaccine and testing positive for antibodies.
Also Friday, the mandatory quarantine period was extended from 7 to 14 days for fully-vaccinated travelers with a positive antibody test arriving from Australia, now categorized as medium-risk. Quarantine requirements for New Zealand, which is the only country considered low-risk, remain at seven days for fully-vaccinated passengers.
Hong Kong’s “zero-Covid” strategy has seen authorities impose strict border restrictions and ban flights from extremely high-risk countries, in the hopes that no local community spread would allow it to re-open borders with mainland China.
The city had nearly two months of no cases within the local community, but its streak was broken earlier this month when a 43-year-old construction worker with no travel history was found to have antibodies in his blood despite not being vaccinated – indicating that he was probably infected some time ago.
Hong Kong has recorded a total of 12,037 coronavirus infections since the pandemic began, with 212 deaths.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
— Australia’s most populous state on Tuesday reported its third-highest number of daily infections of the pandemic, but the government leader said the spread of the delta variant in Sydney, the country’s largest city, had not yet peaked. There were 452 new infections recorded in New South Wales, down from 475 on Monday and 466 on Saturday. An unvaccinated woman aged in her 70s had died in a Sydney hospital on Monday, bringing the death toll from the outbreak discovered in mid-June to 53. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she expected daily infections counts to remain high. “We are assuming that case numbers will go up. Now, I say that only as a realist because when you have cumulative days of high case numbers, there is a tipping point where case numbers go up,” Berejiklian said. “But our challenge is to make sure that we keep vaccination rates up,” she added. About half of New South Wales’s population has had at least one injection of the two-shot Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine. The government wants 80% of the population fully vaccinated before it eases Sydney’s lockdown, which began on June 26.
— New Zealand has detected its first community case of the coronavirus in months, triggering urgent meetings among top lawmakers. Health officials say the positive case was found in Auckland on Tuesday afternoon and has no known link to the border. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is due to brief the nation within a few hours. She had promised a tough approach, including possible lockdowns, for any outbreaks of the delta variant as New Zealand continues to pursue a zero-tolerance approach toward the virus. The last community outbreak was in February and New Zealand has reported just 26 virus deaths among less than 3,000 cases since the pandemic began.
President Joe Biden walks from the podium after speaking about Afghanistan from the East Room of the White House, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021, in Washington. Photo: Evan Vucci / AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — A defiant President Joe Biden rejected blame for chaotic scenes of Afghans clinging to U.S. military planes in Kabul in a desperate bid to flee their home country after the Taliban’s easy victory over an Afghan military that America and NATO allies had spent two decades trying to build.
At the White House, Biden on Monday called the anguish of trapped Afghan civilians “gut-wrenching” and conceded the Taliban had achieved a much faster takeover of the country than his administration had expected. The U.S. rushed in troops to protect its own evacuating diplomats and others at the Kabul airport.
But the president expressed no second thoughts about his decision to stick by the U.S. commitment, formulated during the Trump administration, to end America’s longest war, no matter what.
“I stand squarely behind my decision” to finally withdraw U.S. combat forces, Biden said, while acknowledging the Afghan collapse played out far more quickly than the most pessimistic public forecasts of his administration. “This did unfold more quickly than we anticipated,” he said.
His grim comments were his first in person to the world since the biggest foreign policy crisis of his still-young presidency. Emboldened by the U.S. withdrawal, Taliban fighters swept across the country last week and captured the capital, Kabul, on Sunday, sending U.S.-backed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country.
Biden said he had warned Ghani — who was appointed Afghanistan’s president in a U.S.-negotiated agreement — to be prepared to fight a civil war with the Taliban after U.S. forces left. “They failed to do any of that,” he said.
Internationally, the spectacle of the Taliban takeover and the chaos of the evacuation effort was raising doubts about America’s commitments to its allies.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was “bitter” to watch the complete collapse in a war that Germany and other NATO partners had followed the U.S. into after the Sept. 11 attacks, which were plotted from Afghanistan. The humiliating scenes seemed certain to give comfort to American foes.
At home, it all sparked sharp criticism, even from members of Biden’s own political party, who implored the White House to do more to rescue fleeing Afghans, especially those who had aided the two-decade American military effort.
“We didn’t need to be seeing the scenes that we’re seeing at Kabul airport with our Afghan friends climbing aboard C-17s,” said Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and Iraq and Afghanistan military veteran.
He said that is why he and others called for the evacuations to start months ago. “It could have been done deliberately and methodically,” Crow said. “And we think that that was a missed opportunity.”
Besides the life-and-death situation in Kabul, the timing of the crisis was unfortunate for Biden’s domestic efforts at home. It could well weaken his political standing as he works to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and build congressional support for a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and an even larger expansion of the social safety net.
Still, the focus at home and abroad on Monday was on Kabul’s airport, where thousands of Afghans trapped by the sudden Taliban takeover rushed the tarmac and clung to U.S. military planes deployed to fly out staffers of the U.S. Embassy, which shut down Sunday, and others.
At least seven people died in the chaos, including two who clung to the wheels of a C-17 and plunged to the tarmac as it flew away, and two others shot by U.S. forces. Americans said the men were armed but there was no evidence that they were Taliban.
With tens of thousands of U.S. citizens and others as well as Afghans desperate to escape, Biden insisted the U.S. had done all it could to plan.
In fact, Afghan leaders had asked the U.S. not to publicly play up any advance efforts to evacuate former military translators, female activists and others most at risk from the Taliban, saying that in itself could trigger what the Afghans said could be “a crisis of confidence,” Biden said.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said late Monday that the U.S., which had taken charge of air traffic control at the Kabul airport, had resumed airlifts out after suspending them due to the morning’s stampedes onto the runways by frightened Afghans.
Kirby said U.S. forces are planning to wrap up their oversight of the evacuation by Aug. 31, also the date Biden has set for officially ending the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan.
The U.S. hopes to fly out up to 5,000 people a day once more of 6,000 U.S troops being deployed to secure the evacuation arrive, and once more transport planes can land, he said.
Biden pledged to work to also evacuate private U.S. citizens and citizens of foreign governments, as well as Afghans who formerly worked with Americans in the country, journalists, prominent women and other Afghans considered most at-risk of Taliban reprisal.
As of July, the U.S. had a visa application backlog of 18,000 former Afghan employees alone who were seeking a haven in the United States, and had been able to evacuate only a few thousand in what was meant to be a sped-up process over the last month.
Veterans groups and nonprofit groups that worked with Afghan women appealed to Biden on Monday to keep troops at the Kabul airport at least through the end of the month, to keep the escape route out of Taliban hands.
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Story: Ellen Knickmeyer, Robert Burns and Zeke Miller. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Eric Tucker and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.
A Taliban fighter stands guard at the main gate leading to the Afghan presidential palace, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. Photo: Rahmat Gul / AP
The Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war.
The insurgents stormed across the country, capturing all major cities in a matter of days, as Afghan security forces trained and equipped by the U.S. and its allies melted away.
Here’s a look at what happened and what comes next:
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN AFGHANISTAN?
The Taliban, a militant group that ran the country in the late 1990s, have again taken control.
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 ousted the insurgents from power, but they never left. After they blitzed across the country in recent days, the Western-backed government that has run the country for 20 years collapsed. Afghans, fearing for the future, are racing to the airport, one of the last routes out of the country.
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WHY ARE PEOPLE FLEEING THE COUNTRY?
They’re worried that the country could descend into chaos or the Taliban could carry out revenge attacks against those who worked with the Americans or the government.
Many also fear the Taliban will reimpose the harsh interpretation of Islamic law that they relied when they ran Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Back then, women were barred from attending school or working outside the home. They had to wear the all-encompassing burqa and be accompanied by a male relative whenever they went outside. The Taliban banned music, cut off the hands of thieves and stoned adulterers.
The Taliban have sought to present themselves as a more moderate force in recent years and say they won’t exact revenge, but many Afghans are skeptical of those promises.
Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Kandahar, southwest Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Sidiqullah Khan / AP
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WHY ARE THE TALIBAN TAKING OVER NOW?
Probably because U.S. troops are set to withdraw by the end of the month.
The U.S. has been trying to get out of Afghanistan, its longest war, for several years now.
American troops ousted the Taliban in a matter of months when they invaded to root out al-Qaida, which orchestrated the 9/11 attacks while being harbored by the Taliban. But it proved more difficult to hold territory and rebuild a nation battered by repeated wars.
As the U.S. focus shifted to Iraq, the Taliban began to regroup and in recent years took over much of the Afghan countryside.
Last year, then-President Donald Trump announced a plan to pull out and signed a deal with the Taliban that limited U.S. military action against them. President Joe Biden then announced that the last troops would leave by the end of August.
As the final deadline drew close, the Taliban began a lightning offensive, overrunning city after city.
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WHY DID THE AFGHAN SECURITY FORCES COLLAPSE?
The short answer? Corruption.
The U.S. and its NATO allies spent billions of dollars over two decades to train and equip Afghan security forces. But the Western-backed government was rife with corruption. Commanders exaggerated the number of soldiers to siphon off resources, and troops in the field often lacked ammunition, supplies or even food.
Their morale further eroded when it became clear the U.S. was on its way out. As the Taliban rapidly advanced in recent days entire units surrendered after brief battles, and Kabul and some nearby provinces fell without a fight.
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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN?
He fled.
President Ashraf Ghani hunkered down and made few public statements as the Taliban swept across the country. On Sunday, as they reached the capital, he left Afghanistan, saying he had chosen to leave to avoid further bloodshed. It’s not clear where he went.
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WHY ARE PEOPLE COMPARING AFGHANISTAN TO THE FALL OF SAIGON?
The Fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces in 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War. It became an enduring symbol of defeat after thousands of Americans and their Vietnamese allies were airlifted out of the city on helicopters. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has rejected any comparisons to Afghanistan, saying: “This is manifestly not Saigon.”
A U.S. Chinook helicopter flies over the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Rahmat Gul / AP
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WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT IN AFGHANISTAN?
It’s not clear.
The Taliban say they want to form an “inclusive, Islamic government” with other factions. They are holding negotiations with senior politicians, including leaders in the former government.
They have pledged to enforce Islamic law but say they will provide a secure environment for the return of normal life after decades of war.
But many Afghans distrust the Taliban and fear that their rule will be violent and oppressive. One sign that worries people is that they want to rename the country the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which is what they called it the last time they ruled.
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WHAT DOES THE TALIBAN TAKEOVER MEAN FOR WOMEN?
Many fear it could mean a severe rollback of rights.
Afghan women have made major gains since the overthrow of the Taliban. Many are worried they will once again be confined to their homes. The Taliban have said they are no longer opposed to women attending school but have not set out a clear policy on women’s rights. Afghanistan remains an overwhelmingly conservative country, especially outside major cities, and the status of women often varied, even under Taliban rule.
Travelers enter in Pakistan through a border crossing point in Chaman, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. A special flight of Pakistan’s national airline PIA has arrived in Islamabad carrying 329 passengers from Kabul, and another carrying 170 people will arrive later today. Photo: Jafar Khan / AP
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WILL THE TALIBAN ONCE AGAIN HARBOR AL-QAIDA?
That’s anyone’s guess, but American military officials are worried.
In the peace deal signed with the United States last year, the Taliban pledged to fight terrorism and prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a base for attacks. But the U.S. has little leverage to enforce that.
Technological advances over the last 20 years allow the United States to target suspected militants in countries like Yemen and Somalia where it does not have a permanent troop presence. The Taliban paid a heavy price for their role in the Sept. 11 attacks and likely hope to avoid a repeat as they seek to consolidate their rule.
But earlier this year, the Pentagon’s top leaders said an extremist group like al-Qaida may be able to regenerate in Afghanistan, and officials are now warning that such groups could grow much faster than expected.
Afghanistan is also home to an Islamic State group affiliate that has carried out a wave of horrific attacks targeting its Shiite minority in recent years. The Taliban have condemned such attacks and the two groups have fought each other over territory, but it remains to be seen whether a Taliban government will be willing or able to suppress IS.
A family eats breakfast in front of homes destroyed by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Joseph Odelyn / AP
LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — The death toll from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Haiti climbed to 1,297 on Sunday, a day after the powerful temblor turned thousands of structures into rubble and set off franctic rescue efforts ahead of a potential deluge from an approaching storm.
Saturday’s earthquake also left at least 5,700 people injured in the Caribbean nation, with thousands more displaced from their destroyed or damaged homes. Survivors in some areas were forced to wait out in the open amid oppressive heat for help from overloaded hospitals.
The devastation could soon worsen with the coming of Tropical Depression Grace, which is predicted to reach Haiti on Monday night. The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that although Grace had weakened from tropical storm strength Sunday, it still posed a threat to bring heavy rain, flooding and landslides.
The earthquake struck the southwestern part of the hemisphere’s poorest nation, almost razing some towns and triggering landslides that hampered rescue efforts in a country already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, a presidential assassination and a wave of gang violence.
The epicenter was about 125 kilometers (78 miles) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and aftershocks continued to jolt the area Sunday.
In the badly damaged coastal town of Les Cayes, Jennie Auguste lay on a flimsy foam mattress on the tarmac of the community’s tiny airport waiting for anything — space at a hospital or a small plane like the ones ferrying the wounded to the capital. She suffered injuries in the chest, abdomen and arm when the roof collapsed at the store where she worked.
A woman carries her child as she walks in the remains of her home destroyed by Saturday´s 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Joseph Odelyn / AP
“There has been nothing. No help, nothing from the government,” Auguste’s sister, Bertrande, said.
In scenes widespread across the region hit by the quake, families salvaged their few belongings and spent the night at an open-air football pitch. On Sunday, people lined up to buy what little was available: bananas, avocados and water at a local street market.
Some in the town praised God for surviving the earthquake, and many went to the cathedral, which appeared outwardly undamaged even if the priests’ residence was destroyed.
“We only have Jesus now,” said Johanne Dorcely, whose house was destroyed. “If it wasn’t for Jesus, I wouldn’t be able to be here today.”
Workers tore through rubble of collapsed buildings with heavy machinery, shovels and picks. After sundown, Les Cayes was darkened by intermittent blackouts, and many slept people outside again, clutching small transistor radios tuned to news, terrified of a possible repetition of Saturday’s strong aftershocks.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry has declared a one-month state of emergency for the whole country and said he was rushing aid to areas where towns were destroyed and hospitals were overwhelmed.
Locals eat after spending the night in the middle of a street after Saturday´s 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Joseph Odelyn / AP
“The first convoys started following the coordination efforts of several ministers mobilized at the level of the National Emergency Center,” Henry told reporters Sunday. “We salute the dignity, the resilience effort of the victims and their ability to start over. From my observations, I deduce that Haitians want to live and progress. Let us unite to offer these people a living environment conducive to development.”
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said Sunday that humanitarian needs are acute, with many Haitians urgently needing health care, clean water and shelter. Children who have been separated from parents need protection, she said.
“Little more than a decade on, Haiti is reeling once again,” Fore said in a statement. “And this disaster coincides with political instability, rising gang violence, alarmingly high rates of malnutrition among children, and the COVID-19 pandemic — for which Haiti has received just 500,000 vaccine doses, despite requiring far more.”
The country of 11 million people received its first batch of U.S.-donated coronavirus vaccines only last month via a United Nations program for low-income countries.
Haiti’s Office of Civil Protection said more than 7,000 homes were destroyed and nearly 5,000 damaged. Hospitals, schools, offices and churches were also affected.
Medical workers from across the region were scrambling to help as hospitals in Les Cayes started running out of space to perform surgeries.
Locals begin to wake up after spending the night outside after Saturday´s 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Joseph Odelyn / AP
“Basically, they need everything,” said Dr. Inobert Pierre, a pediatrician with the nonprofit Health Equity International, which oversees St. Boniface Hospital, about two hours from Les Cayes.
“Many of the patients have open wounds and they have been exposed to not-so-clean elements,” added Pierre, who visited two hospitals in Les Cayes — one with some 200 patients, the other with around 90. “We anticipate a lot of infections.”
Pierre’s medical team was taking some patients to St. Boniface to undergo surgery, but with just two ambulances, they could transport only four at a time.
Small planes from a private firm and the Florida-based missionary service Agape Flights landed at the Port-Au-Prince airport Sunday carrying about a half dozen injured from the Les Cayes area. Young men with bandages and a woman were hoisted on stretchers to waiting Haitian Red Cross ambulances.
Silvestre Plaza Rico, who was supervising one of the volunteer flights, said rescue planes had made several airlifts of about a half dozen injured victims each on Saturday. “There were many, many, many, from different towns,” Plaza Rico said.
The earthquake struck just over a month after President Jovenel Moïse was shot to death in his home, sending the country into political chaos. His widow, Martine Moïse, who was seriously wounded in the attack, posted a message on Twitter calling for unity among Haitians: “Let’s put our shoulders together to bring solidarity.”
Shortly after the earthquake, Henry said he wanted “structured solidarity” to ensure the response was coordinated to avoid the confusion that followed the devastating 2010 earthquake, when aid was slow to reach residents after.
People cry during the search for those who are still missing in a house destroyed by the earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Joseph Odelyn / AP
U.S. President Joe Biden named USAID Administrator Samantha Power to oversee the U.S effort to help Haiti. She announced Sunday that USAID was sending a search and rescue team from Virginia at the request of Haiti’s government. The 65-person team will bring specialized tools and medical supplies, she said on Twitter.
Working with USAID, the U.S. Coast Guard said a helicopter was transporting medical personnel from the Haitian capital to the quake zone and evacuating the injured back to Port-au-Prince. Lt. Commander Jason Nieman, a spokesman, said another helicopter was being sent from the Bahamas, along with other aircraft and ships.
Already on the scene were several members of Cuba’s 253-member health care mission to Haiti, and the socialist nation’s state media showed photos of them giving first aid to victims injured by the quake.
The North Carolina-based aid group Samaritan’s Purse announced it would fly 13 disaster response specialists and 31 tons of emergency supplies to Haiti. Those include shelter materials and water filtration units.
Humanitarian workers said gang activity in the seaside district of Martissant, just west of the Haitian capital, was complicating relief efforts.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Haiti’s southern peninsula is a “hotspot for gang-related violence,” where humanitarian workers have been repeatedly attacked.
The agency said the area has been “virtually unreachable” over the past two months because of road blocks and security concerns. But it said late Sunday that local officials negotiated with gangs in the seaside district of Martissant to allow two humanitarian convoys a day to pass through the area.
Anna Jefferys, spokeswoman for the U.N. agency, said the first convoy passed through Sunday with government and U.N. personnel. The U.N.’s World Food Program plans to send food supplies via trucks to southern Haiti on Tuesday, she added.
Haiti, where many live in tenuous circumstances, is vulnerable to earthquakes and hurricanes. A magnitude 5.9 earthquake in 2018 killed more than a dozen people.
The magnitude 7.0 quake of 2010 hit closer to densely populated Port-au-Prince and caused widespread destruction. Haiti’s government put the death toll at more than 300,000, while a report commissioned by the U.S. government placed it between 46,000 and 85,000.
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Story: Evens Sanon and Mark Stevenson. Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in Boston; Trenton Daniel in New York; Regina Garcia Cano in Mexico City and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Zabi Karimi / AP
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban swept into Afghanistan’s capital Sunday after the government collapsed and the embattled president joined an exodus of his fellow citizens and foreigners, signaling the end of a costly two-decade U.S. campaign to remake the country.
Heavily armed Taliban fighters fanned out across the capital, and several entered Kabul’s abandoned presidential palace. Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman and negotiator, told The Associated Press that the militants would hold talks in the coming days aimed at forming an “open, inclusive Islamic government.”
Earlier, a Taliban official said the group would announce from the palace the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the formal name of the country under Taliban rule before the militants were ousted by U.S.-led forces in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, which were orchestrated by al-Qaida while it was being sheltered by the Taliban. But that plan appeared to be on hold.
Kabul was gripped by panic. Helicopters raced overhead throughout the day to evacuate personnel from the U.S. Embassy. Smoke rose near the compound as staff destroyed important documents, and the American flag was lowered. Several other Western missions also prepared to pull their people out.
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Zabi Karimi / AP
Though the Taliban had promised a peaceful transition, the U.S. Embassy suspended operations and warned Americans late in the day to shelter in place and not try to get to the airport.
Commercial flights were suspended after sporadic gunfire erupted at the Kabul airport, according to two senior U.S. military officials. Evacuations continued on military flights, but the halt to commercial traffic closed off one of the last routes available for fleeing Afghans.
Dozens of nations called on all parties involved to respect and facilitate the departure of foreigners and Afghans who wish to leave.
More than 60 nations released the joint statement distributed by the U.S. State Department late Sunday night Washington time. The statement says that those in power and authority across Afghanistan “bear responsibility — and accountability — for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order.”
In this photo provided by the Ministry of Defence on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, members of the 16 Air Assault Brigade arrive in Kabul as part of a 600-strong UK-force sent to assist with Operation PITTING to rescue British nationals in Afghanistan amidst the worsening security situation there. Photo: Leading Hand Ben Shread / Ministry of Defence via AP
The nations’ statement also says that roads, airports and border crossings must remain open, and that calm must be maintained.
Many people watched in disbelief as helicopters landed in the U.S. Embassy compound to take diplomats to a new outpost at the airport. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected comparisons to the U.S. pullout from Vietnam.
“This is manifestly not Saigon,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”
The American ambassador was among those evacuated, officials said. He was asking to return to the embassy, but it was not clear if he would be allowed to. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
As the insurgents closed in, President Ashraf Ghani flew out of the country.
“The former president of Afghanistan left Afghanistan, leaving the country in this difficult situation,” said Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council and a longtime rival of Ghani. “God should hold him accountable.”
Ghani later posted on Facebook that he left to avert bloodshed in the capital, without saying where he had gone.
As night fell, Taliban fighters deployed across Kabul, taking over abandoned police posts and pledging to maintain law and order during the transition. Residents reported looting in parts of the city, including in the upscale diplomatic district, and messages circulating on social media advised people to stay inside and lock their gates.
In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the billions of dollars spent by the U.S. and NATO over nearly 20 years to build up Afghan security forces. Just days earlier, an American military assessment estimated that the capital would not come under insurgent pressure for a month.
The fall of Kabul marks the final chapter of America’s longest war, which began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. A U.S.-led invasion dislodged the Taliban and beat them back, but America lost focus on the conflict in the chaos of the Iraq war.
For years, the U.S. sought an exit from Afghanistan. Then-President Donald Trump signed a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 that limited direct military action against the insurgents. That allowed the fighters to gather strength and move quickly to seize key areas when President Joe Biden announced his plans to withdraw all American forces by the end of this month.
After the insurgents entered Kabul, Taliban negotiators discussed a transfer of power, said an Afghan official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the closed-door negotiations, described them as “tense.”
It remained unclear when that transfer would take place and who among the Taliban was negotiating. The negotiators on the government side included former President Hamid Karzai, leader of Hizb-e-Islami political and paramilitary group Gulbudin Hekmatyar, and Abdullah, who has been a vocal critic of Ghani.
Karzai himself appeared in a video posted online, his three young daughters around him, saying he remained in Kabul.
“We are trying to solve the issue of Afghanistan with the Taliban leadership peacefully,” he said.
Afghanistan’s acting defense minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, did not hold back his criticism of the fleeing president.
“They tied our hands from behind and sold the country,” he wrote on Twitter. “Curse Ghani and his gang.”
The Taliban earlier insisted that their fighters would not enter people’s homes or interfere with businesses and said they would offer “amnesty” to those who worked with the Afghan government or foreign forces.
Taliban fighters poses for a photograph while raising their flag Taliban fighters raise their flag at the Ghazni provincial governor’s house, in Ghazni, southeastern, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Gulabuddin Amiri / AP
But there have been reports of revenge killings and other brutal tactics in areas of the country the Taliban have seized in recent days. Reports of gunfire at the airport raised the specter of more violence. One female journalist, weeping, sent voice messages to colleagues after armed men entered her apartment building and banged on her door.
“What should I do? Should I call the police or Taliban?” Getee Azami cried. It wasn’t clear what happened to her after that.
An Afghan university student described feeling betrayed as she watched the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy.
“You failed the younger generation of Afghanistan,” said Aisha Khurram, 22, who is now unsure of whether she will be able to graduate in two months. She said her generation was “hoping to build the country with their own hands. They put blood, efforts and sweat into whatever we had right now.”
Sunday began with the Taliban seizing Jalalabad, the last major city besides the capital not in their hands. Afghan officials said the militants also took the capitals of Maidan Wardak, Khost, Kapisa and Parwan provinces, as well as the country’s last government-held border post.
Later, Afghan forces at Bagram Air Base, home to a prison housing 5,000 inmates, surrendered to the Taliban, according to Bagram district chief Darwaish Raufi. The prison at the former U.S. base held both Taliban and Islamic State group fighters.
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Story: Ahmad Seir, Rahim Faiez, Tameem Akhgar and Jon Gambrell. Akhgar and Faiez reported from Istanbul and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon in Guelph, Canada; Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem; Matthew Lee in Washington; James LaPorta in Boca Raton, Florida; Aya Batrawy in Dubai; and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
Anti-government protester shoots a firework to riot police during a protest in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Anuthep Cheysakron / AP
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Thai riot police fired tear gas and sprayed water cannons Sunday as more than 100 anti-government protestors marched on an army base in the capital Bangkok where Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has his residence.
The group of mainly young demonstrators pelted the police lines that blocked their way, hurling rocks, fireworks and small explosives known as “ping-pong bombs.”
Images on Thai television showed a police traffic control booth in flames.
Sunday marked the fourth time in the past seven days that protestors and police have fought in the Din Daeng area of the city.
Demonstrators are calling for Prayuth’s resignation over his perceived bungling of the government’s coronavirus vaccination program. Thailand has seen infection rates surge in the past few weeks while vaccination rates remain low.
Anti-government protesters blocked road with cars and motorcycles as a part of their car mobs driving along several roads in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Photo: Anuthep Cheysakron / AP
But the protests are also part of a wider push for sweeping political change that includes the resignation of the government, a new constitution and – most contentious of all – fundamental reform of the powerful but opaque monarchy.
Elsewhere, thousands of protestors in vehicles and riding motorbikes gathered for a mobile anti-government rally. They met in three locations to hear speeches before slowly driving around the city. By staying in vehicles they hoped to minimize participants’ potential exposure to COVID-19.
One of the main organizers, Nattawut Saikua, a veteran activist and former deputy minister, appealed to those taking part to keep it peaceful, saying violence would alienate many potential supporters.
As police and protesters clashed in the Din Daeng area, Nattawut went to the scene to ask the protestors to disperse.
“We are not here for violence. We’re not here to beat the officers or riot police. We’re here to beat Prayuth Chan-ocha,” he said.
Ms. Yupapin Wangviwat, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, Gulf Energy Development Plc. (GULF), revealed “For the second quarter of this year, GULF recorded a core profit of 1,401 million baht, an increase of 412 million baht or 42% year-on-year (YoY). The increase was mainly from the profit of Gulf SRC power project’s (GSRC) first unit following the commercial operation on March 31, 2021, with an installed power generation capacity of 662.5 megawatts (MW) and an average load factor of 88% in this quarter. The rise in core profit also comes from the higher volume of electricity sales of 12 SPPs under GMP group and 7 SPPs under GJP group to industrial customers from all industries, especially from the automotive, electronic components and steel industries. In Q2’21, the average load factor of industrial customers for the 12 SPPs was 63%, increasing from 51% last year, while the 7 SPPs had an average load factor of 66%, rising from 57% last year. Additionally, the volume of electricity sold to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand from the 2 IPPs under GJP group increased by 148% YoY, resulting in more plant efficiency. GULF also recorded share of profit from PTT NGD of 63 million baht from the company’s investment of 42% equity stake.
Compared to the previous quarter, core profit decreased by 989 million baht or 41.4% due to the absence of dividend income from Intouch Holdings Public Company Limited (INTUCH) in this quarter, as well as from Borkum Riffgrund 2 (BKR2) offshore wind power plant project’s lower volume of electricity sales due to seasonality, since Q2 and Q3 are low season while Q1 and Q4 are peak season for offshore wind power projects in Germany.
Total revenue for Q2’21 was recorded at 11,845 million baht, an increase of 2,707 million baht or 29.6% YoY. The rise in revenue is mainly due to the revenue from GSRC Unit 1’s commercial operation in Q1’21, the revenue recognized from BKR2 offshore wind power project, which was recognized for the first time in Q4’20, and from the higher electricity and steam sales to industrial customers of the GMP group. Meanwhile, electricity sales from GTN1 and GTN2 solar power projects in Vietnam had a slight drop due to the temporary curtailment from the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the nation’s electricity demand.
The EBITDA margin was 35.6%, an increase from 31.9% YoY. This was mainly due to a decrease in natural gas costs by 8.7% YoY, despite the decline in average Ft rate.
GULF recorded net profit attributable to the parent company, which includes the impact from foreign exchange rate, of 1,407 million baht, a decrease of 25.2% YoY compared to net profit of 1,881 million baht in Q2’20. This resulted from the unrealized gain of 892 million baht in the previous year, while there was unrealized gain of 6 million baht in Q2’21.
As of June 30, 2021, GULF had net interest-bearing debt to equity ratio of 1.75 times, which is still lower than the bond covenant level of 3.50 times.
“Following the completion of the tender offer for INTUCH securities, GULF has 42.25% equity stake in INTUCH. The acquisition was financed by loans from Thai financial institutions of approximately 48,612 million baht. GULF plans to issue debentures totaling approximately 20 billion baht within this year. The proceeds will be used for future investments to support the company’s growth as well as partial loan repayment for the acquisition of INTUCH shares. In addition, the company will immediately book dividend income of approximately 1.6 billion baht in the third quarter this year,” Ms. Yupapin added.
For the second half of 2021, GULF has a lineup of projects that will soon begin commercial operation such as the 128-MW ‘Mekong Wind’ offshore wind farm in Vietnam. Phase 1-3 will gradually start operating within Q3-Q4 2021, GSRC unit 2 with an installed capacity of 662.5 MW is scheduled for commercial operation in October 2021, the 326-MW gas-fired power plant in Oman (DIPWP) with an installed capacity of 40MW in the first phase will be in operation by the third and fourth quarter; and solar rooftop projects under Gulf1 with a total installed capacity of 20 MW will be gradually in operation by the end of the year, resulting in the company’s total gross installed capacity of 7,922 MW by the end of 2021.
