KARACHI, Pakistan: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will meet opposition leader Raja Riaz on Saturday (Aug 12) in a final bid to reach an agreement on a name for a caretaker premier ahead of a general election, local television channel Geo News reported. The person chosen will name a cabinetContinue Reading
The choice of caretaker prime minister has assumed heightened importance this time because the candidate will have extra powers to make policy decisions on economic matters, and amid fears the elections may be delayed by as much as six months. The Election Commission has to draw new boundaries for hundredsContinue Reading
SINGAPORE: Teenagers were among 10 people arrested for their suspected involvement in a recent spate of banking-related malware scams targeting Android users. The youngest suspect nabbed during a two-week police operation is 16 years old. Others who were arrested are aged between 18 and 43, said the police in a media release on SaturdayContinue Reading
Young woman on verge of transferring B3-million ‘ransom’ from mother to call centre gang
PUBLISHED : 12 Aug 2023 at 17:31
A university student in Lat Krabang district of Bangkok was nearly deceived into transferring 3 million baht from her mother to a scam call centre, becoming the latest victim of a new scam in which fraudsters convince young adults that they have been kidnapped.
Police came to the rescue of the student, using the pseudonym Ae, after she was led to believe that she was wanted by the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) for alleged involvement in the narcotics trade.
The victim recounted to authorities that she had received a phone call on Friday from an individual claiming to be from the office, accusing her of receiving contraband via the mail.
After the caller advised the student to file a complaint to counter the accusation, she was instructed to coordinate with a local police officer to prove her innocence.
Upon contacting the alleged officer, Ae was informed that she was linked to money-laundering operations related to the drug trade and was urged to check into a hotel near her university.
Once in the hotel room, Ae disclosed her family details to the scam call centre. She was then told to contact her mother and falsely claim that she had been kidnapped, and that her captors wanted a ransom of 3 million baht.
The fraudsters even requested access to her social media accounts to maintain correspondence with her mother, posing as kidnappers.
Fortunately, the victim’s father sought help from authorities, who successfully traced Ae to the hotel room.
The initial investigation has led to the identification of the callers in Cambodia.
Police this week issued a warning about this type of scam, in which gangs manipulate students into sending fabricated abduction video clips of themselves. The videos are then used to extort money from their parents. The main targets are university students living alone in apartments, say police.
SEOUL: Hundreds of South Korean activists gathered in central Seoul on Saturday (Aug 12) to protest against Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun daily reported earlier this week that the country plans to start releasing theContinue Reading
In southwestern Guangxi on Friday, heavy rainfall in the city of Nanning led to urban flooding, forcing rush hour commuters to drive vehicles and motorcycles through waterlogged roads, CCTV said. Local authorities set up cordons to allow drainage work on some roads, while the city dispatched nearly 3,900 police toContinue Reading
Bangkok representative says he was protecting a woman who was being harassed
PUBLISHED : 12 Aug 2023 at 14:51
A Move Forward Party (MFP) MP has accepted blame following a physical altercation at a Bangkok restaurant on Friday night, but says he was defending a woman who was being harassed.
Video widely viewed on social media showed Chorayuth “Tonkla” Chaturapornprasit engaging in a confrontation with another man at the eatery in the Ekamai area.
The MP for Bang Kholaem-Yannawa MP is seen stepping in to intervene as the man began to harass a woman. The harasser had invaded her personal space and even placed his hand around her neck.
Mr Chorayuth can be seen brushing the man’s arm away from the woman, speaking to him and then being struck by him before the situation escalated.
Move Forward spokesman Karoonpon Tieansuwan said on Saturday that the other man had previously harassed Mr Chorayuth’s friends and had slapped another person in the face before turning his attention to the MP.
Mr Karoonpon said the man slipped and fell on his own during the subsequent altercation, and was already targeting Mr Chorayuth’s group before their bodyguards and restaurant staff intervened.
Both parties involved have agreed not to pursue further action.
Mr Chorayuth said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he would accept any blame and apologised to the public. Nonetheless, the MP insisted that he was merely protecting the woman seen in the video and did not initiate the fight.
While regretting his use of violence and calling the incident an important life lesson, the MP said some news outlets had covered the story without contacting him, presenting a misleading version of the incident.
He thanked those outlets that had taken his statement and asked those that had not yet done so to contact him for clarification.
Move Forward MP Chorayuth “Tonkla” Chaturapornprasit said the Friday incident was an important life lesson for him. (Photo: Facebook)
Japan plans to turn transport aircraft into ad-hoc missile carriers operating from austere and remote airstrips and using a system with significant tactical, operational and strategic implications for conventional and nuclear deterrence vis-à-vis China and North Korea.
The Warzone reported this month that the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MOD) is looking to arm its Kawasaki C-2 transport jets with air-launched missiles to potentially attack enemy bases including missile launch sites in counterstrike operations.
Although the report did not indicate the type of missiles that may be deployed to its C-2 jets, of which it has 13 in active service, it did mention that the MOD seeks to use missiles that are dropped before their engine starts. That, the report said, would not require significant modifications to Japan’s existing aircraft.
The Warzone report notes that the US is developing related technology known as the Rapid Dragon air-launched palletized munition concept, which was first tested in 2021. The report says that Japan may use Rapid Dragon or a similar domestically-developed system aboard its C-130 cargo planes, of which it has 14 units.
Japan may have multiple payload options for a domestically-made palletized munition system. Asia Times reported in June 2023 that Japan is developing an “island defense anti-ship missile” featuring modular warheads and a stealthy turbofan-powered design with a purported 2,000-kilometer range. The missile may contain land attack, electronic warfare (EW) and reconnaissance warheads.
Firing multiple types of missiles from a palletized munition can significantly improve accuracy. Reconnaissance missiles equipped with a high-resolution camera can spot the enemy, follow up with an EW missile to eliminate enemy radar and other sensors, and then deliver a missile with a high-explosive warhead for a lethal strike.
AIN says that palletized munition systems can solve the platform compatibility, availability and capacity issues of air-launched cruise missiles, such as the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), which were designed to be fired from fighters or bombers.
AIN also notes that most Western fighter designs are limited to two JASSM missiles, which may be sufficient for the US as it operates several bombers but may be an issue for its allies with none.
AIN also notes that Rapid Dragon enables the US to conduct long-range strikes without fighters or bombers. It describes the system as a palletized munition with 6 JASSMs for C-130s or 9 JASSMs for the C-17.
It also states that Rapid Dragon is designed for roll-on roll-off for rapid fielding, requiring no modifications to the launch aircraft since targeting data is programmed into the individual missiles using a laptop.
In deploying Rapid Dragon, AIN notes that a target is selected, a strike request is made and routing and retargeting coordinates are confirmed or updated. Operators follow standard airdrop procedures once the launching package deploys, with the multiple JASSMs stabilized under the parachute and systematically released to fly to the target.
AIN says that Rapid Dragon allows air forces to saturate an area with multiple weapons and effects, complicate adversary targeting solutions, help open access for critical target prosecution and deplete an adversary’s air defense munitions stockpile.
It also notes that palletized munitions can be an area-denial weapon and enable new concepts of operations, making it a key asset for US allies when aircraft availability may be limited.
However, basing issues may hobble the deployment of palletized munitions systems. In a December 2022 article for Insider, Christopher Woods notes that expanding the number of planes and bases involved in long-range strikes brings logistical challenges, especially in the vast Pacific where bases are scarce and often rudimentary.
Woods argues that these logistical issues will adversely affect the deployment of palletized munitions. He says, in particular, that weapons storage would be a significant concern, noting that how palletized munitions are stored would inevitably affect how effectively they can be used.
In a November 2019 article for Air & Space Forces Magazine, Rachel Cohen says that there would be high demand for cargo aircraft in their primary roles during a major regional conflict, stating that it wouldn’t make sense to allocate them for strikes instead of using them to deploy forces into areas of operation. It would also be difficult and costly to modify commercial-derivative aircraft to carry and safely eject many weapons, she says.
George Moore notes in an August 2023 article for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists that Rapid Dragon can also be developed into a nuclear delivery system, including for the nuclear-capable AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM). That, he argues, could potentially turn every cargo aircraft into a nuclear weapons delivery system.
Moore notes that there is no plausible way to negotiate limitations on cargo aircraft with rear ramps that could deliver nuclear weapons. He notes that a palletized munition nuclear delivery system would require little or no training for pilots, which may prove to be superior to NATO’s nuclear-sharing model of pre-positioned nuclear weapons.
Moore also notes the challenges posed by a palletized munition nuclear delivery system to survival and deterrence concepts, noting that an aggressor may find it challenging to locate enough of the weapons and launch vehicles to ensure the success of a first strike.
He says that while the detection of cargo aircraft may be easier than combat aircraft, the former may be challenging to detect and engage if they fly at very low altitudes.
Moore also notes that US adversaries may come up with their own palletized munitions, forcing a total rethink of US concepts for using conventional deterrence and posing the question of how a US carrier battlegroup would respond to threats much further from an enemy’s shore.
He also mentions that cargo aircraft have far longer ranges than many combat aircraft fielded by US near-peer adversaries, which could expand the threat envelope posed by a hostile state.
Speaking to reporters outside the school after casting his ballot papers, Mr Anwar urged residents across the six states to come down and vote as early as possible. “Based on what we have seen so far, the voting process is smooth across all six states and the situation is calm,”Continue Reading
SHANGHAI: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the Philippines to work with China to seek an effective way to defuse tensions in the South China Sea, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday (Aug 12). The comments come amid rising tensions between the two countries over the location ofContinue Reading