Beijing rulers scorn law, rights, lives Gloom hangs over Hong Kong. Citizens fear the death of political and economic freedoms guaranteed in the 1997 handover from Britain. Tolerance by China’s communist rulers is ending. The island’s Beijing-picked legislature has enacted the extradition of certain lawbreakers for trial in the mainland. The Beijing-inspired law looks harmless. Yet Hong Kongers suspect it aims to quell dissent, a cherished if oft trampled right. In recent years activists have vanished then resurfaced China-side in manacles to face frivolous charges. A book publisher on communist hierarchs’ scandals was abducted in Thailand then jailed in China for a ten-year-old road infraction. As days of protests reached a million strong, the law was paused. But Hong Kong’s chief executive likened the marchers to a child whose tantrums must not prevail. Beijing belittled them as but a minority of the seven-million population, and … [Read more...] about Beijing rulers scorn law, rights, lives
Road traffic accident claims
Philippine fishing boat was rammed – Navy chief
‘No ordinary accident’ MANILA, Philippines — What made a Chinese vessel come into contact with a Filipino fishing boat and cause it to sink at midnight on Sunday in Recto Bank was no accident but a deliberate maneuver to ram the smaller craft, Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad said yesterday. “The Filipino vessel was anchored. So when based on the International Rules of the Road, it had the privilege because it could not evade… The ship was rammed. This is not a normal incident. The boat was anchored,” Empedrad said in an interview during a Naval symposium at the Manila Hotel. Empedrad issued the statement in response to Beijing’s claim that what happened to F/B Gemvir 1 was just an ordinary maritime accident. Even some Philippine officials had maintained the sinking of the fishing boat in Philippine waters was not intentional, and may not have been necessarily caused by a Chinese vessel. Chinese foreign ministry … [Read more...] about Philippine fishing boat was rammed – Navy chief
No oil spill along Menora Tunnel: Authorities
IPOH: There is no oil spill along the Menora Tunnel as claimed in a viral message on social media yesterday. Head of Perak Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department Supt Zakaria Abd Rahman said checks done by the ‘Ops Selamat 15’ patrol team did not found any trace of an oil spill at the area. “I have also run a check and found that there was no accident in the area that involved the vehicles shown in the viral picture,” he told Bernama when contacted here today. Meanwhile, the Malaysian Highway Authority’s (LLM) spokesman also refuted the allegation of an oil spill incident along the Menora Tunnel, saying that they had not received any report of such incident, neither yesterday nor today. “Our inspection found that the road is still safe for traffic,” he said, adding that they believed the picture was an old picture of an oil spill incident occurred in 2017. Yesterday, a picture of several vehicles skidded off the road went viral … [Read more...] about No oil spill along Menora Tunnel: Authorities