Day: April 15, 2022

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Soccer: Kurumaya injury-time equalizer rescues Frontale

Published by
Kyodo News

Substitute Shintaro Kurumaya pounced on a goal-keeping error to strike the equalizer in the final seconds as J-League champions Kawasaki Frontale scraped out a 1-1 Asian Champions League Group I draw with South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai FC on Friday. In the teams’ opener in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, Ulsan keeper Jo Hyeon Woo had already made some difficult saves to preserve his team’s early lead. But just as he was poised to be the Korean side’s hero, fate dealt an ugly blow. Leaping for a corner, Jo only managed to tip the ball. It floated to Kurumaya, who drilled it into the net seconds before the … Continue reading “Soccer: Kurumaya injury-time equalizer rescues Frontale”

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Outcry in Malaysia as failure to replant forests sparks ‘cover-up’ accusation

Published by
Mongabay

Activists and an opposition lawmaker in the Malaysian state of Pahang have demanded government accountability after reports that just 5% of forest reserves cleared to make way for plantations have actually been replanted. According to an investigation by environmental news site Macaranga, 77,331 hectares (191,089 acres) of Pahang’s forest reserves were cleared between 2012 and 2020 as part of the country’s Forest Plantation Development Programme. During the same period, only 3,971 hectares (9,813 acres) of that land — slightly more than 5% — was actually replanted with rubber or other commerci… Continue reading “Outcry in Malaysia as failure to replant forests sparks ‘cover-up’ accusation”

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Koelis Announces Completes of €10 Million Follow-On Growth Equity Financing with InnovaHealth Partners

GRENOBLE, France and PRINCETON, N.J., April 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Koelis, SAS (“Koelis” or the “Company”) announced today the completion of a €10 million follow-on growth equity financing led by InnovaHealth Partners, LP (“InnovaHealth”) and certain affiliates. Koelis is a pioneer and leader in the market for image- guided prostate cancer interventions including biopsy diagnosis and minimally invasive treatments. The financing will support the Company’s continued commercial expansion as well as its commitment to clinical and technology initiatives that are at the leading edge of a paradigm shift in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. InnovaHealth Partners, based in New York, is a leading private equity firm focused on providing growth equity to the medical device industry.

The Koelis Trinity is a system that offers stand-alone ultrasound imaging and MRI fusion image guidance for prostate biopsy and minimally invasive prostate cancer treatments. Featuring proprietary 3D ultrasound imaging and prostate motion tracking software (OBT Fusion®), the Koelis Trinity System facilitates more accurate biopsy diagnosis as well as enabling “focal” treatment alternatives to traditional “total organ” treatments such as surgical prostatectomy and radiation. The Company’s clinical stage, focal treatment programs include a prospective, multi-center registry (“Violette”) utilizing microwave technology, and multi-center clinical evaluation of its proprietary focal cryoablation image guidance software.

Antoine Leroy, Koelis’ Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, “We are very pleased to complete this financing with the InnovaHealth Partners team that has been not just a supportive investor, but also a true partner who shares the Koelis vision to be a leader in the transformation of the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.”

Mortimer “Tim” Berkowitz III, InnovaHealth’s President & CEO said that, “In advancing the way prostate cancer is diagnosed and treated, we see the enormous potential of Koelis technology to address significant unmet clinical needs on a global basis.”

Contacts:

InnovaHealth Partners: Natalia Stricker
e-mail: ns@innovahp.com

Koelis: Antoine Leroy, Founder and CEO
e-mail: leroy@koelis.com

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AI Week brings together the world AI community

Four days of events will feature keynotes and talks from leaders in AI and machine learning

EDMONTON, Alberta, April 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Amii (the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) has announced the program for AI Week, May 24-27 in Edmonton, Canada. With more than 20 events taking place across four days throughout the city, the celebration of Alberta’s AI excellence will feature an academic keynote from Richard S. Sutton, leading expert in reinforcement learning, who will discuss future research directions in the field.

The jam-packed week also includes panels on AI career paths for kids, AI for competitive advantage and the ethics of AI; a career and talent mixer connecting AI career seekers with top companies; and a full-day academic symposium bringing together the brightest minds in AI. The celebrations are rounded out by a ‘house’ party at a secret, soon-to-be-revealed location and the Amiiversary street party, marking 20 years of AI excellence in Alberta. Learn more about the program at www.ai-week.ca/program

“Over the past 20 years, Alberta has emerged as one of the world’s top destinations for AI research and application,” says Cam Linke, CEO of Amii. “With AI Week, we’re putting a global spotlight on the province and welcoming the world’s AI community to experience what many in the field have known for a long time: that Alberta is at the forefront of the AI revolution. AI Week isn’t just a celebration of 20 years of AI excellence – it’s a launching point for the next 20 years of advancement.”

AI Week has something for everyone – including sessions, networking events and socials for a range of ages and familiarity with AI. Additional keynotes will be delivered by Alona Fyshe, speaking about what brains and AI can tell us about one another, and Martha White, who will present on innovative applications of reinforcement learning. A special AI in Health keynote will highlight the work of Dornoosh Zonoobi and Jacob Jaremko of Medo.ai, which uses machine learning in concert with ultrasound technology to screen infants for hip dysplasia.

Informal networking and social events will help forge connections between members of the research, industry and innovation communities – as well as AI beginners and enthusiasts. Meanwhile, the Amiiversary street party, hosted on Rice Howard Way in Edmonton’s downtown core, will mark 20 years of AI excellence in Alberta. The party will be attended by the who’s-who of Edmonton AI, technology and innovation scenes.

AI Week will be attended by the world’s AI community, with over 500 applicants for travel bursaries from more than 35 different countries. The successful applicants, emerging researchers and industry professionals alike, will have the opportunity to learn alongside leaders in the field at the AI Week Academic Symposium, which is being organized by Amii’s Fellows from the University of Alberta, one of the world’s top academic institutions for AI research. The symposium will include talks and discussions among top experts in AI and machine learning as well as demos and lab showcases from the Amii community.

“I chose to set up in Canada in 2003 because, at the time, Alberta was one of the few places investing in building a community of AI researchers,” says Richard S. Sutton, Amii’s Chief Scientific Advisor, who is also a Professor at the University of Alberta and a Distinguished Research Scientist at DeepMind. “Nearly twenty years later, I am struck by how much we have achieved to advance the field of AI, not only locally but globally. AI Week is an opportunity to celebrate those achievements and showcase some of the brightest minds in AI.”

The event is being put on by Amii, one of Canada’s AI institutes in the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy and will feature event partners and community-led events from across Canada’s AI ecosystem. AI Week is made possible in part by our event partners and talent bursary sponsors: AltaML, Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation, ATB, Attabotics, BDC, CBRE, CIFAR, DeepMind, DrugBank, Explore Edmonton, NeuroSoph, RBC Royal Bank, Samdesk, TELUS and the University of Alberta.

About Amii

One of Canada’s three centres of AI excellence as part of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, Amii (the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) is an Alberta-based non-profit institute that supports world-leading research in artificial intelligence and machine learning and translates scientific advancement into industry adoption. Amii grows AI capabilities through advancing leading-edge research, delivering exceptional educational offerings and providing business advice – all with the goal of building in-house AI capabilities. For more information, visit amii.ca.

Spencer Murray
Communications & Public Relations
t: 587.415.6100 ext. 109 | c: 780.991.7136
spencer.murray@amii.ca

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Increase in flight fares will be investigated – MOT

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) — The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has asked the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) and airline companies to immediately investigate on the increase in air fares during the festive season.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said he conveyed the matter during a special meeting chaired by him yesterday, which also involved MAVCOM, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and domestic airlines.

He said the meeting was held to find solutions following public complaints on increase in flight fares between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, as well as Sarawak, in conjunction with the Aidilfitri celebration.

Wee said CAAM had approved the extension of the operating hours of air traffic control services at the required airport and assisted the airlines in planning for the additional capacity, especially with the approaching festive season.

“MOT is committed and will make every effort to reduce air fares to ease the people’s burden. MOT, through MAVCOM, will inform the public on the outcome of discussions with the airline companies soon,” he said in a statement today.

According to Wee, based on monitoring conducted by MAVCOM, airfares on April 30, 2022 (peak travel date for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive season) have increased compared to the average airfares in 2019.

“This increase is due to increased operating costs, especially the increase in jet fuel prices, as well as limited resources for airlines to increase full capacity.

“The dynamic pricing mechanism also uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the process of determining the fare price, ” he said.

He said the airline companies also had problems to increase flight capacity immediately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the aircraft needed to go through a process of maintenance, repair, overhaul (MRO) before they can be approved for safe service.

Wee said for April 2022, the frequency of flights to Sabah and Sarawak was still low, at only 68 percent compared to 2019.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

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99.5 per cent of new COVID-19 cases recorded yesterday in category one, two

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) — Malaysia recorded 10,413 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, with 99.5 per cent of them in category one and two, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said 52 of the cases, or 0.5 per cent, were in category three, four and five, with 16 of the cases involved those who had not been vaccinated or not completed the vaccination, 11 cases involved those who had completed the vaccination, but not taken the booster shot, and 25 cases were those who had received the booster dose.

This brings the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the country as of yesterday to 4,363,024, with 112 active clusters, including eight new clusters that were reported yesterday, he added.

He said 374 COVID-19 cases were admitted to hospital yesterday, with 154 cases (41.2 per cent) in category three, four and five, while the remaining 220 cases (58.8 per cent) were in category one and two.

On the recovery cases, Dr Noor Hisham, there were 13,202 cases, bringing the cumulative number of recovery cases from COVID-19 to 4,209,858.

On the use of health facilities specifically for COVD-19 cases, he said, no states recorded usage of more than 50 per cent for beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) yesterday.

For usage of beds at the COVID-19 Low Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC), only Perak recorded more than 50 percent, at 71 percent.

On the infectivity rate or Rt value, it was 0.86 nationwide, with Selangor still recording the highest rate of 0.91, while Kelantan the lowest, at 0.63.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

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UMNO’s decision in naming Ismail Sabri a PM candidate restores people’s confidence – Annuar

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) — The decision by the UMNO Supreme Council (MT) in naming its the party vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the prime minister candidate in the 15th General Election (GE15) enabled him to restore the people’s confidence.

Ketereh UMNO division leader Tan Sri Annuar Musa is also of the view that it is time for the Prime Minister to be entrusted as Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman and the BN election machinery director.

As the Prime Minister candidate, he said, Ismail Sabri should be given as much space as possible to form an administration that can bring a ‘new order’ of national politics that is fresher, cleaner, with integrity and able to restore the country.

Annuar, who Minister of Communications and Multimedia, said the decision by the UMNO MT would also enable Ismail Sabri to focus and mobilise all his strength to restore the party’s strength.

“Congratulations to UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the UMNO Supreme Council (MT) members for having made a comprehensive decision in nominating Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the Prime Minister candidate to represent UMNO for the upcoming GE15,” he said.

Annuar also said he believed that decision was welcomed by all members and supporters of UMNO’s struggle, Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties and BN allies.

Yesterday, the UMNO Supreme Council unanimously proposed Ismail Sabri as the Prime Minister candidate for the 15th general election (GE15).

UMNO secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, in a statement, said it was endorsed at the Supreme Council meeting chaired by party president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency