CNA Explains: What is a Sumatra squall and did it bring a sudden storm to Singapore?

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Singapore on Tuesday night ( Sep 17 ), strong winds and heavy rain tore down trees in various locations. &nbsp,

The immediate storm&nbsp, was good brought about by a Sumatra storm, authorities told CNA.

What is this climate occurrence, and when does it occur?

What is a Sumatra thunderstorm? &nbsp,

A thunderstorm is simply a sudden collapse of powerful winds followed by heavy rains. It is simple but extreme, and it can kill down as quickly as it started.

A Sumatra storm has traits unique to this place: it is a series of thunderstorms that develop over Indonesia’s Sumatra area or the Strait of Malacca before moving eastward to change Singapore and, eventually, Peninsula Malaysia.

In a common case, a storm line or storm line&nbsp, can bring about one to two hours of torrential rain.

Wind gusts may reach up to 80kmh.

Squalls have a much larger impact along their path than regular storms because of their straight structure. However, their short diameter prevents swift passage of heavy rain and strong winds.

Storm lines are spatial weather systems that can last hundreds of kilometers, but they generally only hundreds of kilometers wide, and they typically move quickly, according to Professor Matthias Roth from the geography department of the National University of Singapore ( NUS).

According to the statement,” Their emergence is related to the cooling of the heat on the high ground in northern Sumatra by radiation.”

When do storms appear? &nbsp,

Sumatra squall occurs usually between April and November during the southwest monsoon and during the intermonsoon periods.

” It’s strongly associated with southwest wind” ,&nbsp, said Dr Wang Jingyu, &nbsp, an assistant professor of physical geography at the National Institute of Education ( NIE ).

The “linear-shaped heat systems that cross the Malacca Strait and the Malay Peninsula are forced to fly over the Bukit Barisan mountain selection” are produced by the southerly winds.

Dr Wang added that on normal, storms occur five to 10 times per month during these peak times.

According to a 2020 review by the Meteorological Service Singapore, the land experiences&nbsp, 45 storms per year on average.

Storms typically occur in the pre-dawn time or early day.

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Eight more charged in 2004 Tak Bai massacre

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Following criminal case filed just before the 20-year statute of limitations expires

PUBLISHED: 18 Sep 2024 at 15: 51

Security personnel cuff demonstrators outside the Tak Bai police station in Narathiwat to prepare them for transport to an army camp on Oct 25, 2004. Seventy-eight of them died during the journey. (Bangkok Post file photo: Thawatchai Kemgumnerd)
On October 25, 2004, security personnel sleeve demonstrators in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai police station to get them ready for transportation to an army camp. Seventy-eight of them died during the trip. ( Bangkok Post file photo: Thawatchai Kemgumnerd )

Eight former security personnel were detained in Thailand on suspicion of participating in the Tak Bai protests, which occurred 20 years ago, when 78 protesters were suffocated or killed when they were crammed into army trucks, according to the Office of the Attorney General ( OAG ) on Wednesday.

Six men and two civilians make up the eight accused of premeditated crime with immediate effects.

Although there was no intention of killing, OAG spokesman Prayut Phetcharakhun said at a press conference that using packed trucks to detain protesters was unacceptable.

” The suspects had had foreseen that their actions may have led to the strangulation and incidents of the 78 people under their responsibility”, &nbsp, he said.

The news comes only days before the case’s 20-year statute of limitations expires on October 25. After years of legal battles, the Narathiwat Criminal Court finally accepted a related complaint brought by the victims ‘ families against security personnel.

The seven defendants in the latter situation were scheduled to appear in court on September 12 for see questioning and data examination, but none of them showed up. Six of them received arrest permits.

A call was issued for the sixth accused, former Army Region 4 chief Gen Pisal Wattanawongkiri. He is already a list-MP of the ruling Pheu Thai Party protected by parliamentary immunity.

The seven defendants in the first situation are charged with murder and unlawful confinement after failing to handle the show and its fallout.

The two incidents revolve around a shooting incident in Tak Bai in the southwestern province of Narathiwat in 2004, when 78 activists were killed while piled on top of one another in military trucks, and 78 were killed by suffocating themselves.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the then-prime secretary, apologised for the murder but shied away from accepting role. Initial reports by officers indicated that some activists were armed. No one has ever been charged with a crime for the murders.

The assault, which drew international criticism, occurred while the place was under martial law. In the three mostly Muslim provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala, it was one of the most fatal incidents in a dissident insurgency that resurened the same year. Since then, more than 7,600 people have died in the three most moderately Arab provinces.

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Ukraine war: Indians who fought in Russia return home with tales from war zone

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BBC A group of discharged men near the Russia-Ukraine border on their way outBBC

The Indian government announced last week that Russia had fired dozens of the 91 Indians who had been tricked into enlisting in Soviet forces in the government’s conflict with Ukraine. Several of them have since left their homes, and the return procedure is in progress. Neyaz Farooquee from the BBC spoke with some of the people about their problems.

” I am in despair. I’m never sure if I’ll be returned in a field or in a safe place. Choose keep me”.

Urgen Tamang, a former American man, was released from the forefront of Russia’s third-year military engagement in southern Ukraine, a few days before the BBC received the following broadcast.

Mr. Tamang is one of the 91 Indians who were forced into combat during the conflict. The majority of them are from underprivileged people, and they were lured into the Russian army by agents who offered them cash and jobs, occasionally as “helpers.”

Rather, they were sent to the war area. Many of them claimed to have had little to no military training while stationed in areas of Ukraine under Russian control and had to maneuver mines, drones, missiles, and hero attacks.

Nine Indians have already died in the fight, and Indian specialists claim to have detained 19 for mortal prostitution.

Following a visit to Moscow by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who raised the issue with President Vladimir Putin, in July, Russia promised to release all Indians who were fighting in its troops asap. The two places have typically shared a nice relationship.

Forty-five of them have been discharged since next. Some people have comfortably returned home, while another, like Mr. Tamang, are traveling.

Urgen Tamang, a former Indian soldier, is hoping to return home soon

” I ca n’t believe I am out of there”, said Sunil Karwa, an electrician from Rajasthan who joined the Russian army in February. He was waiting to board his journey at the Moscow airports when he spoke to the BBC and was stationed close to Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine where frequent fighting has broken out.

Mr. Karwa described scenes of destruction and death, which he felt the most deeply about when a person from his neighboring village was shot on the battlefield.

” They sent him up on the front 15 days after the wound, and he fainted in the field. He is paralysed today”, he said.

Like him, most of the other volunteers were also blue-collar staff aged between 19 and 35, who were hired by agencies based in India, Dubai and Russia.

They say their contracts were in Russian, a language they did n’t understand. Yet they signed it in the hope of getting better options.

Just a few names and photos, Mr. Karwa claimed,” The process was so speedy.”

After being deceived into joining in a nonexistent school by an education consultant, Raja Pathan enlisted in the army as a last resort in February.

” When I first arrived there, I noticed banners promoting military recruitment. By then, I had spent so much time and income that I decided to join anyway”, he said.

It was the death of two companions, which finally pushed Mr Pathan to keep. A compassionate Russian chief, who had facilitated his exit, helped him get free in August.

Today based in Moscow, he helps additional Indians escape from it.

A group of discharged men on a tour of Moscow while they waited to fly home to India -- with Raja Pathan (front), a former recruit who helped them negotiate their way out.

Mohammad Sufyan from Telangana’s southwestern position made a return to India on September 12 along with five other guys.

Safe in his home, he carries the trauma of surviving on the frontline. “There was little rest there and in the beginning, I couldn’t speak to my family for 25 days,” he said.

The most traumatic incident occurred in February when his friend, an American male from Gujarat condition, was fatally stabbed just before his eyes.

” He was only 15 feet from me, digging a ditch near Krynky]in Kherson], when a projectile landed”, recalled Mr Sufyan. I took his body and threw it into the vehicle.

” After seeing the dead body of my friend, I did n’t have the strength for anything”, he added.

After the death, Mr Sufyan and other Indians stuck there released a video pleading for help, which reached Indian MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who raised the matter with the foreign ministry. Families of the men had also appealed to the Indian government for help in bringing them back.

Getty Images TOPSHOT - Ukrainian servicemen fire with a French self-propelled 155 mm/52-calibre gun Caesar towards Russian positions at a front line in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on June 15, 2022. - Ukraine pleaded with Western governments on June 15, 2022 to decide quickly on sending heavy weapons to shore up its faltering defences, as Russia said it would evacuate civilians from a frontline chemical plant. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)Getty Images

” It is a wonder I got up home”, said Azad Yusuf Kumar, a native of Indian-administered Kashmir, who was part of Mr Sufyan’s team in the military.

” One moment you are digging a ditch, and the next, an artillery falls and burns all over. If it fell on you or anyone else, it was just a matter of chance.

In February, Mr Kumar had told the BBC how he had shot his foot by mistake during training. “My commander kept saying, use your right hand to shoot, use your left hand to shoot, shoot above, shoot down,” he had said. “I had never touched a gun. It was extremely cold, and with the gun in my left hand, I ended up shooting my foot.”

He then returns to Kashmir and describes how his captain had accused him of purposefully shooting himself to avoid being on the front lines.

” But I am happy I did not come to battle. Four of my camp’s members perished in a subsequent strike. I could’ve been one of them”, he said.

Although current discharges have helped many, those who are still in Russia are feeling increasingly depressed as their release is pending.

Mr Tamang, who joined the Russian army in January, had earlier told The Indian Express newspaper through his local corporator, Rabi Pradhan, that 13 out of 15 non-Russian members of his unit had died.

His doubts and suspicion were heightened by the fact that he was sent to the front at least half after signing his release letter in August.

On 15 September, he was on his approach to Moscow but still doubtful if he was really heading home. ” I am away, but I did keep sending you my place”, he said.

When he last texted, he had left Ukraine, hoping to maintain his journey home.

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Malaysian king Sultan Ibrahim to make state visit to China, eyes infrastructure support

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Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, the king of Malaysia, is scheduled to visit China for a four-day condition visit this week. He is likely to ask for help to revive tasks that improve Singapore’s connectivity.

China’s foreign ministry announced in a statement on Wednesday ( 18 September ) that President Xi Jinping had invited him to the trip from Sep 19 to Sep 22. It comes as China and Malaysia commemorate this year’s 50th bilateral relationship celebration. &nbsp,

The Johor king will make his next international vacation since taking the oath of office on January 31 as Malaysia’s 17th king. His second was a two-day condition visit to Singapore in the beginning of May.

Under Malaysia’s distinctive method of monarchy, the eyes of the nine imperial people take turns to be the ruler every five years, and are supposed to be above politics.

According to a statement released by Malaysia’s foreign government on Wednesday, Sultan Ibrahim may be accompanied by Transportation Minister Anthony Loke, Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming, and Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Amran Mohamed Zin, according to state media firm Bernama.

Additionally, top Istana Negara officials and relevant ministers and organizations will be a part of the group.

” His Majesty may receive a royal welcome at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, followed by an audience with Xi. The president of China will sponsor a state banquet in honour of His Majesty”, Malaysia’s foreign government said.

” His Majesty has also consented to grant an audience to ( Chinese ) Premier Li Qiang”, Wisma Putra added.

Premier Li endorsed Malaysia’s plans to expand its connection through the US$ 10 billion East Coast Rail Link and another China-backed railway projects in Laos and Thailand during his June visit.

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Exploding pagers could ignite full-scale Mideast war – Asia Times

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Another menacing growth that is causing the Middle East to start a full-fledged local war is the alleged Jewish attack on Hezbollah members via their pagers. With the complete help of the Iran-led” axis of weight,” Hezbollah has little choice but to fight.

The style and effect of targeting the pagers are extraordinary. The invasion resulted in at least 11 murders, including some of Hezbollah’s soldiers, and up to 3, 000 persons wounded.

The main goal of the invasion, which US authorities claim was carried out by Israel, was to destroy Hezbollah’s means of communication and its command and control method in Lebanon.

Pagers have increasingly become the chosen communication method within the team as Hezbollah has reduced the use of cellular phones by its troops because Israel may easily find and target them.

Given the political divisions in the country, the attack may have been intended to stoke panic within the organization and among the Lebanese public, who are typically opposed to Hezbollah.

The Israeli leadership under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that it is determined to end the threat of Hezbollah, which has operated in solidarity with Hamas, since Hamas ‘ attacks on southern Israel on October 7.

Hours prior to the pager attack, Netanyahu’s government stated that Israel’s war objectives would include the return of the tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel, which they had fled due to ongoing rocket fire from Hezbollah. Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said the only way to do this was through military action.

The simultaneous pager explosions on Tuesday, then, may be a prelude to an all-out Israeli offensive against Hezbollah.

The consequences of war with Hezbollah

Hezbollah has already declared it will retaliate. What form this will take is still to be seen. The group has a massive military arsenal that allows it to attack other regions of the Jewish state, including densely populated Tel Aviv, with drones and missiles, as well as attack northern Israel.

Hezbollah showed this capability in its 2006 war with Israel. The war lasted 34 days, during which 165 Israelis were killed ( 121 IDF soldiers and 44 civilians ) and Israel’s economy and tourist industry were markedly damaged. Hezbollah and Lebanese losses were far greater, with at least 1, 100 deaths. However, the Israel Defence Forces ( IDF) failed to destroy or incapacitate the group.

Any successful retaliatory attack on Israel’s cities could result in serious civilian casualties, giving Israel a new pretext to pursue its long-awaited goal of destroying Hezbollah and punishing its principal supporter, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In a wider conflict, the United States is committed to defending Israel, while Iran would support Hezbollah in whatever way necessary. Iranian leaders are mistaken if they believe Iran will continue to vehemently abstain from any actions that could lead to hostilities with Israel and the US.

Hezbollah is a crucial component of the regime’s national and regional security framework. Tehran has invested heavily in the group, along with other regional affiliates – Iraqi militias, the Yemeni Houthis and the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, in particular. This” axis of resistance” was created with the intention of creating a powerful deterrent against Israel and the US.

The Iranian regime has seen Israel and its main supporter, the US, as an existential threat, just as Israel has seen Iran in the same light since it was founded 45 years ago.

For this, the regime has reoriented its foreign relations towards America’s major adversaries, especially Russia and China. Moscow will not hesitate to support Iran and its affiliates in any war because of the fact that the Russo-Iranian military cooperation has grown so powerful.

Tehran is fully cognisant of Israel’s nuclear prowess. Iran has developed its own nuclear program to the point where it qualifies as a weapon to prevent it. Russian leaders may have also gotten Russia’s assurances that if Israel were to use its nuclear weapons, it would help protect Iran.

In the meantime, it is important to keep in mind that Israel has been unable to completely destroy Hamas after nearly a year of destroying Gaza and causing its residents.

Its own actions demonstrate this. Gazans have been repeatedly forced to relocate so that IDF soldiers can operate in areas they had previously claimed were free of fighters.

It would take much more effort to defeat Hezbollah and its supporters. It carries the serious risk of a war that all parties have been campaigning against but are already getting ready for.

The pager attack is just the most recent operation to threaten any chance of a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that would bring about peace rather than war.

At the Australian National University, Professor Amin Saikal is emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies.

This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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China’s push into Africa makes good strategic sense – Asia Times

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China’s relation with Africa is set to strengthen. At a conference in Beijing in early September, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, pledged to offer US$ 51 billion in money, funding and assistance to the globe over the next three decades, as well as upgrading diplomatic ties.

Beijing’s near relationship with Africa is not fresh. The first international trip of the year for Taiwanese foreign officials has almost always been to one or more African nations since 1950. However, Xi’s commitments are also certain to raise questions in the US and other Eastern nations, which are competing with China for worldwide influence.

They might even rekindle concerns that China might use “debt-trap diplomacy” to stifle American nations and thus gain control over them. Such is the power of this tale that South Africa’s leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, felt compelled to refuse it at the conference.

The notion of Taiwanese debt traps, especially the renowned circumstance of Sri Lanka’s port of Hambantota, which, in 2017, the Sri Lankan government leased to a Chinese firm to increase liquidity, has been debunked many times.

However, it is crucial to know what China hopes to achieve with diplomacy as American populations and economies expand and China’s relationship with them continues to grow.

China’s wedding with Africa is proper as well as economical. China’s diplomatic ties with Africa help it succeed in its goals of being a major player in a unipolar world, whether it is improving access to resources, increasing global use of its currency, or winning more vote at the UN.

The longer game

From a strictly financial view, Africa is a potentially profitable market for China. The potential for growth into Africa is enormous for Chinese companies because of its underserved industry and booming population.

This is especially true now that the African Continental Free Trade Area, which was established in 2018, opens the door to the development of cross-border price bars in Africa.

Natural tools make up the majority of the products that China exports from Africa. Many of these sources have proper importance, for instance, in manufacturing batteries. In return, Taiwanese firms export a wide range of items to Africa, including manufactured goods, industrial and agricultural machinery, and automobiles.

In terms of foreign direct investment, Chinese companies are still only the fifth-largest investors in Africa after their Dutch, French, US and UK counterparts. However, their ascent has been relatively quick, and Chinese companies have made significant investments in manufacturing and construction in addition to Western ones.

Chinese companies are major players in the construction industry in Africa, frequently working on projects that are funded by loans from Chinese banks to African governments. In 2019, for example, Chinese contractors accounted for about 60 % of the total value of construction work in Africa.

Some of China’s infrastructure projects have had little impact on Africa’s trade or economic development. And it has, admittedly, also contributed to the increased debt burden of several African countries.

The construction of the Nairobi Expressway was supposed to decongest Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi. &nbsp, Photo: Daniel Irungu / EPA via The Conversation

For instance, the expensive expressways that connect Nairobi in Kenya and Kampala in Uganda to the respective international airports have made life easier for city elites and tourists. However, they have not stimulated economic growth.

China has therefore made the recent move to reevaluate its infrastructure finance strategy. In 2021, Xi introduced the concept of” small and beautiful” projects better targeted at the partner country’s needs – a concept he repeated at the recent summit.

It is this alignment with the demands of African leaders that sets China’s engagement with Africa apart from that of the West. Many African leaders ‘ top demands include investment in manufacturing value chains and the importation of African processed goods rather than just raw resources.

Xi’s keynote speech addressed these two concerns. He vowed to increase investment in key industries and to allow for more free-flowing African goods.

China’s support to African nations is political as well as economic. African leaders have been appreciative of its non-interference in the country’s internal affairs, in stark contrast to Western nations, who frequently base their support on the respect of particular social or economic conditions.

This has, in turn, bolstered China’s diplomatic influence on the continent. How many nations maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which the Chinese government views as being part of its territory, is a good indicator of this influence. Only Eswatini and Taiwan have close ties in Africa, and only a small number of other nations have representative offices.

Another Chinese goal is to expand the global reach of its currency, the renminbi. Its goal is to contest the US dollar’s dominance, which gives America complete control over all international transactions.

Since the late 2000s, the People’s Bank of China has signed bilateral swap agreements with Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa to conduct transactions in renminbi. Additionally, China wants to increase the renminbi’s use in official lending, both through regional institutions like the New Development Bank and domestic banks like the China Development Bank.

Much like Africa’s Western partners, China pursues both political and economic interests in its dealings with the continent. But, with Western leaders paying little attention to Africa, China does n’t need to pursue debt-trap diplomacy to increase its influence there. To gain ground, it only needs to submit a stronger partnership offer.

The International Economic Development Group, ODI, has a senior research fellow named Linda Calabrese.

This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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