Shenzhou-13 crew return safely to Earth after record six months in orbit
Shenzhou-13 crew return safely to Earth after record six months in orbit The Shenzhou-13 crew have safely returned to Earth after their epic six-month orbital trip, which nearly doubled the previous record
Three Shenzhou-13 taikonauts arrive in Beijing
North Klang district police are investigating a video showing a man purposely throwing himself onto a car’s windshield, which has gone viral.
The woman has been jailed but the driver of the other car managed to escape from a potential scam.
The reason – the second driver had a dashcam.
Dashcams have suddenly become a hot topic again as the debate continues over whether the woman deserves to be jailed or not. A video of the windscreen smashing scam has also gone viral.
ALSO READ: No problems with dashcams as long as safety concerns met, says Transport Ministry
Car salespersons and auto accessory dealers have confirmed the increasing demand for dashcams, adding that customers choose to install them for safety reasons.
Salesman Foong Wen Sian said that in recent years, 60% to 70% of customers have chosen to install dashcams when buying their cars. “Customers ask if our vehicles are equipped with a dashcam and also request for it to be installed,” he said.
Foong said dashcams are important especially when accidents or thefts occur in areas without CCTVs.
“With dashcams, the recording can be used as evidence so police can take action,” he said.
Another car salesman, Annison Francis, said dashcams are important for women to defend themselves in cases of unwanted incidents on the road.
Dashcam salesperson Willie Cheng said there was a 30% increase for the product in the past year.
“More motorists are now educated about its importance,” said Cheng.
ALSO READ: Dashcam okay if it does not affect vehicle’s safety
Businessman Jason Wong, 70, said he was planning to install a dashcam for both the front and rear sides of his car.
“There are many drivers with bad driving habits nowadays so having a dashcam gives me evidence in case of any accident,” he said, adding that it could also avoid potential arguments.
Fitness instructor Wayne Wong Zhi Herng, 30, said the recent ruling in the mat lajak case – which saw clerk Sam Ke Ting jailed for six years – prompted him to install a dashcam.
“We can never be too sure of what can happen on the road so a dashcam comes in handy in case of any misunderstanding,” he said.
Casey, 29, an accountant, said he installed a dashcam due to concerns about scams and road rage.
“I fear cases where people intentionally get hit by vehicles and then claim compensation.
“Having a dashcam will give us evidence to better explain the situation to the authorities,” he said.
A dashcam video has gone viral showing a man throwing himself onto an oncoming vehicle, leaving the windscreen smashed.
A group of people then suddenly appeared and seemed to surround the driver.
When driver told them to wait for police as he had dashcam footage, the group, including the “accident victim” quickly dispersed.
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JOHOR BARU: A woman who drove her car into eight teenagers on modified bicycles on a dark street here has been sentenced to six years in jail and sent straight to prison – although she had been acquitted twice before by the Magistrate’s Court.
Following an appeal by the prosecution, the High Court here ruled yesterday that the lower court had erred in accepting Sam Ke Ting’s defence.
It said that not knowing there would be basikal lajak activity during the time of the incident could not be used by Sam as an excuse to drive dangerously, which resulted in the death of the teens.
High Court judge Justice Abu Bakar Katar sentenced the 27-year-old clerk to six years’ jail and a fine of RM6,000 for reckless driving which resulted in the deaths in Jalan Lingkaran Dalam, Johor Baru, at 3.20am on Feb 18, 2017.
Sam was ordered to serve another six months in prison if she did not pay the fine.
She was also disqualified from driving for three years, effective immediately after she completes her prison sentence.
Sam was accompanied by a female friend yesterday and did not show any emotion when the judge handed down the sentence.
After the sentencing, she was immediately handcuffed and taken by a female police officer to the lockup.
Justice Abu Bakar refused to grant a stay of execution of the conviction and sentence on Sam before an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Sam had been acquitted twice by the Magistrate’s Court before this.
The first time, on Oct 28, 2019, the Johor Baru Magistrate’s Court acquitted and discharged her of the charge at the end of the prosecution’s case without calling for her defence.
However, the prosecution appealed against that decision and the Johor Baru High Court then ordered Sam to enter her defence on Feb 18 last year.
She was again freed on Oct 10 last year when her defence was accepted.
The High Court, however, held yesterday that the prosecution had proved a prima facie case against her and set aside the magistrate’s decision.
Justice Abu Bakar ruled that the magistrate had erred in accepting Sam’s defence.
“In her defence, she stated that she did not see the group of cyclists at the scene of incident and there was another vehicle that hit them and drove off.
“This version was never raised by the respondent (Sam) during the prosecution’s case.
“The Magistrate’s Court made a mistake when it accepted her defence of not knowing there would be basikal lajak activity at the time as an excuse to drive dangerously, which resulted in the victims’ deaths.
“She should have driven her car vigilantly instead of driving fast and causing the incident and should have realised that the lighting in the area was not bright at around 3.20am,” he said.
Justice Abu Bakar added that with visibility limited, the respondent should have realised there was a risk if she drove her car at more than the speed limit, which was 50km per hour.
He said Sam failed to raise any doubts while the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“With this, the High Court sets aside the earlier decision to acquit and discharge the respondent and find her guilty under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act,” he ruled.
Lawyer Muhammad Faizal Mokhtar asked for a stay of execution of the conviction and sentence on Sam as they would be appealing to the Court of Appeal but the judge rejected the request.
Johor prosecution director Tengku Amir Zaki Tengku Abd Rahman and deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Syafiq Mohd Ghazali prosecuted.
The eight cyclists who died were Mohamad Azrie Danish Zulkefli, 14; Muhamad Shahrul Izzwan Azzuraimie, 14; Muhammad Firdauz Danish Mohd Azhar, 16; Fauzan Halmijan, 13; Mohamad Azhar Amir, 16; Muhammad Harith Iskandar Abdullah, 14; Muhammad Shahrul Nizam Marudin, 14; and Haizad Kasrin, 16.
If the US really acts wildly on China over the Ukraine issue, Chinese people will just face it
China feels cascading effects with dropping stocksAs the Fed policy tightening accelerates, analysts said that the US is increasingly turning into a world "damager" instead of "protector" when the country finds its global responsibilities clash with its own national interests, and the world is paying the price for the US' domestic problems, like surging inflation.
In recent days, the side effects of US monetary policy, particularly the Fed's hawkish push for raising interest rates, have spread to multiple regions of the world and multiple financial areas.
The US Dollar Index is turning up sharply, at one point touching a ceiling of 100.19 on Friday, the highest level since May 2020. Accompanied by the rise is the weakening of global currencies including the yen, the euro and the yuan.
Global stock and bond markets are also sliding. The 10-year US Treasury yield topped its Chinese equivalent on Monday for the first time in 12 years.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped by 2.61 percent on Monday, the Hong Kong-based Hang Seng Index dropped by more than 3 percent, and the Japanese Nikkei 225 was down 1.81 percent on Tuesday.
Contractions on global financial markets are generally considered to be a result of the Fed's move to increase interest rates recently, the first time in more than three years. Investors are betting on more aggressive rate hikes in the coming months after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell vowed tough action to rein in inflation during a recent speech at the National Association for Business Economics.
The US government has stepped on the gas to drive up interest rates to contain inflation. The US Consumer Price Index jumped by 8.5 percent on a yearly basis in March, touching a 40-year-high due to rising oil, food and housing costs. The growth beat market expectations of 8.4 percent.
However, Chinese experts criticized the US for shifting the burden of its own economic problems to global markets.
"The US is letting global markets pay the price for its own crisis of inflation, depending on the dominant role of the US dollar and the integration of the global economy," Li Haidong, a professor from the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.
According to Li, the countries holding massive US dollar assets will feel the pinch from Fed's tightening, but the blow will be even more vital for countries that have a vulnerable social system, as the US action might bring havoc to social stability there.
He also said that when the US government sees a clash between its global responsibility and its own interests, it does not feel guilt in choosing the latter.
"The US' role in the world is turning from that of a protector to a kind of damager, as it thinks that globalization is bad for its own interests," Li said.
Even countries that are in the same league as the US won't escape the US' profit-seeking moves, experts said.
Xi Junyang, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times that the US is adding fuel to the flames of the Ukraine crisis, in order to strengthen its position in the so-called Western alliance, as well as further enhance the role of the greenback after investors saw Europe was not secure.
A direct consequence of this strategy is a weaker EU, both businesswise and politically, as the region's independence is undermined, while the military chaos also hurts the region's energy supplies and the euro's attraction to international investors.
Xi said that US monetary policy shifts will put pressure on the Chinese mainland's financial markets, especially as the mainland expands connections with the Hong Kong stock market, which is more vulnerable to US financial volatility.
However, Xi stressed that the impact on the mainland markets won't be severe because of capital flow restrictions, and China's independent monetary policy will not be swayed by external factors like the US Fed's decisions.
https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2022/04/13/call-for-true-multilateralism
The United States biological weapons program officially began in spring 1943 on orders from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. Research continued following World War II as the U.S. built up a large stockpile of biological agents and weapons. Over the course of its 27 year history, the program weaponized and stockpiled the following seven bio-agents (and pursued basic research on many more):
Personnel are working inside a bio-lab at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick on September 26, 2002. Photo: AFP
Editor's Note:
Since the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine began, the international community has grown increasingly aware of the roles the US and NATO have played behind the crisis.
From funding biological labs to creating ethnic division and ideological confrontation around the world, from imposing sanctions on "disobedient countries" to coercing other nations to pick sides, the US has acted like a "Cold War schemer," or a "vampire" who creates "enemies" and makes fortunes from pyres of war. The Global Times is publishing a series of stories and cartoons to unveil how the US, in its superpower status, has been creating trouble in the world one crisis after another. This is the fifth installment.
After World War Two (WWII), the US ran amok around the world, leaving behind a plague of war and hatred wherever they went. Whether on the biological front or in the ideological front, the US is the top "poison disseminator."
1 Ukraine crisis instigator: US-led NATO reneges on 'Not one inch eastward' promise to compress Russia's space to the extreme
2 Instability brewer: Behind every war and turmoil in the world is shadow of the Star-Spangled Banner
3 'Vampires' in the war: US warmongers feeding on the bloody turbulence in other countries
4 Cold War schemer: Reminiscing in its past 'victory,' US brings color revolutions to 21st century to maintain its hegemony
A US army tank rolls deeper into Iraqi territory on March 23, 2003?when US forces invaded?Iraq. Photo: VCG
Mysterious bio-labs
Since conflict broke out between Russia and Ukraine, biological laboratories in Ukraine that are funded by the US caught global attention.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on March 22 that Russia cannot tolerate the US setting up biological laboratories in Ukraine with the prospects of developing biological weapon components, TASS reported.
Earlier that month, Russian defense ministry also disclosed that US spent more than $200 million on biolaboratories in Ukraine, TASS said.
The Russian military said they had gotten hold of documents confirming that Ukraine developed a network of at least 30 biological laboratories that host extremely dangerous biological experiments, aimed at enhancing the pathogenicity of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera, and other lethal diseases with the help of synthetic biology. This work is funded and directly supervised by the US' Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in the interest of the Pentagon's National Center for Medical Intelligence, according to a statement by Russian Permanent Representative to UN Vassily Nebenzia.
The Russian defense ministry said that it learned of the details regarding a project implemented at laboratories in Kiev, Kharkov, and Odessa, which studied the possibilities of spreading particularly dangerous infections through migratory birds, including the highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza (lethal to humans in 50 percent of cases) and the Newcastle disease.
As part of some other projects, bats were considered as carriers for potential biological weapon agents. Among the priorities identified are the study of bacterial and viral pathogens that can be transmitted from bats to humans: pathogens of the plague, leptospirosis, brucellosis, as well as the coronaviruses disease, and filoviruses.
The analysis of the obtained materials confirms the transfer of more than 140 containers with ectoparasites from bats from a bio-lab in Kharkov abroad, according to Nebenzia's statement.
The bio-labs in Ukraine are only a handful of the 336 biological laboratories the US reportedly funds in 30 countries around the world. Most of these labs are located in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa, and along the perimeter of former USSR, according to the Russian defense ministry.
Despite covert behaviors, the dubious activities of the US' overseas bio-labs had previously been revealed.
In August 2021, a South Korean civic group sued the Fort Detrick bio-labs and the US Forces Korea (USFK) over the smuggling of toxic substances to US military bases there in violation of domestic law.
http://www.koreaherald.com/
In December 2015, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency revealed that the USFK had staged 15 experiments using neutralized anthrax samples at the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul from 2009 to 2014.
US officials gave incongruous responses to the bio-lab issue since Russia disclosed relevant documents. They admitted to the existence of such labs but failed to provide substantial evidence that the programs they funded were to promote public health. Thus, it increased the world's suspicions over such labs.
Libyan protesters gather in Benghazi on March 11, 2011 as Arab Spring spread in the country. The US, the UK and France?intervened in Libya?with a bombing campaign on March 19, 2021. Photo: AFP
Creating turmoil and division
The US prides itself on being the "city upon the hill" and a "beacon of democracy." However, the history of the US was full of wars and killing. During its over 240 years of history, there were only 16 years when the US was not at war.
After the end of WWII, the US became the most powerful country in the world, however, war became an important tool for the US to maintain its own hegemony.
Data shows that from the end of WWII to 2001, the US initiated 201 of the 248 armed conflicts worldwide in 153 locations, accounting for over 80 percent of total conflicts.
The Korean War (1950-53), for example, resulted in the deaths of more than 3 million civilians and created approximately 3 million refugees, and almost all major cities in the Korean Peninsula were left in ruins.
However, the US evidently lacked self-reflection after the Korean War. Immediately after the end of the Korean War, the US intervened in Vietnam in the 1950s under the pretext of preventing the expansion of Communism in Southeast Asia. During the Vietnam War, the brutality of the US army made the war the longest and most brutal war since WWII.
The Vietnamese government estimates that as many as 2 million civilians died in the war, many of whom were slaughtered by US forces in the name of fighting Viet Cong communists.
In March 1999, under the banner of "avoiding humanitarian disaster," NATO forces led by the US openly bypassed the UN Security Council and carried out the bombing of Yugoslavia for 78 days, causing death of many innocent civilians.
After the September 11 attacks in 2001, the US first invaded Afghanistan in the name of fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban and then launched a war in Iraq under trumped-up charges.
Over the years, the US instigated the "Arab Spring," igniting civil wars in Libya and Syria.
Since 2001, wars and military operations by the US have claimed more than 800,000 lives and displaced tens of millions of people.
"We inflated the stature of our enemies to match our need for retribution. We launched hubristic wars to remake the world and let ourselves be remade instead...We midwifed worse terrorists than those we set out to fight," New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote in September 2021, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Exporting 'democracy'
Former US president Jimmy Carter once said that the US is "the most warlike nation in the history of the world" due to a desire to impose American values on other countries.
The Cold War was, to some extent, a global confrontation born of ideological opposition. In this process, the US established its own discourse system and promoted a so-called "liberal democracy," which was the foundation of its cultural hegemony.
In his book, America's Deadliest Export: Democracy, the Truth About US Foreign Policy, and Everything Else, American diplomat William Blumm reveals the close connection between America's foreign expansion and its "democracy export."
Between 1947 and 1989, the US carried out 64 covert operations of subversion and six overt ones, wrote Lindsey O'Rourke, a political scientist at Boston College, in her book Covert Regime Change: America's Secret Cold War. Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, Bolivia, El Salvador, Grenada, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, Venezuela...Of all America's Latin American neighbors, there were few who have not faced meddling from the US.
After the end of the Cold War, the US became more unscrupulous in promoting interventionism and frequently exported "color revolutions."
A US Congressional investigation in 1976 revealed that nearly 50 percent of the 700 grants in the field of international activities by the principal foundations were funded by the CIA, Frances Stonor Saunders wrote in the book Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the Cultural Cold War.
These foundations support elites and students from other countries to study in the US and select and support "opinion leaders" who serve the interests of the US.
The US has also long linked economic aid to the "democratic revolution" and put pressure on some developing countries through its leading international financial institutions.
Far from achieving stability and prosperity, most of the recipients of the US' version of democracy seem to be trapped in the "democratic curse" of political turmoil and national retrogression.
As Michael Parenti, an American political scientist pointed out, the US has been wearing these "democratic" glasses for years. An inexplicable sense of superiority has led the US to stand on the notion of it being the so-called "city on a hill", regarding its democracy as an "international model," an unsupported hypothesis, and point fingers at other countries. The US' enthusiasm for "democracy export" is not really about democracy, but about maintaining American hegemony.
As former US President Bill Clinton said, "defending freedom and promoting democracy in the world is not just a reflection of our deepest values. They are vital to our national interest."
Next up:
Is the US a "defender" or a "destroyer" of human rights? Who has been sacrificed on the "altar" of US-touted democracy? In our next story, we will focus on the US' vile practice of igniting war under the pretext of "human rights and democracy."
In order to seek global hegemony, the US has used many resources including political, economic, cultural, educational,
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