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  • Tourplus CEO embodies leader hurry, with keen gaze for chance
  • Owners have the highest duty, may convey optimism &amp, hope

The partnership with Tourism Selangor will earn Rickson Goh revenue, expand his supply of products and give him market inroad.

Some Malaysian startup founders have acquitted themselves as well as Rickson Goh, the gentle said founder of travel tech company Tourplus Technology Sdn Bhd, if you want to see how well they have handled the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the midst of a terrible halt in Malaysia’s tourism industry, he never merely raised eyebrows in the ecosystem with a powerful US$ 1 million seed capital fund raise, but he also went on to form some partnerships that will place his travel tech startup quite well when the tourism rebound occurs. Plus, he has also started talking to buyers on raising his second large as he projects profits for 2021 to reach US$ 1.65 million ( RM7 million )– almost none of it coming from vacation.

But what exactly is he smoking and what exactly is he spitting in his te sir? Turns out it is nothing more than leader rush and a strong desire for success. &nbsp,

Cuts win-win cope with Tourism Selangor

Tourplus, which had no mobile application before this, announced in a simple press release that it had worked with Tourism Selangor to create a wireless application for the state agency.

The true story is that Tourplus and Tourism Selangor have a 50:50 revenue share contract under the name Get Selangor for any income made through the game. Better yet, the state agency will start promoting Tourplus to those interested in the state agency’s database by encouraging all manufacturers of travel-related products to start digitizing their operations ( though this is not an exclusive agreement ).

As Rickson points out, the majority of these vacation players are small businesses, which would have been nearly impossible for Tourplus to enter. Instead, then it gets a reputable position company to make the introduction.

” We expect the game does go sit in Oct 2021″, says Rickson. Tourplus did examine business arrangements and installation in the app, operate and make the payout, etc., he states.

As Selangor intensifies efforts to prepare the journey ecosystem for the post-pandemic go rebound, Go Selangor may serve as the state government’s official travel app.

A crucial part of the efforts to find habitat players, most of whom are SMEs, available, is to encourage them to digitalise so that their vacation packages, services and inventory may be added to Get Selangor.

Rickson, who first proposed the idea in March and was given approval by the Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corp. in July, believes that this partnership will benefit more rural operators or “hidden gem providers” that are not in the main stream platforms like Klook.

It is also a sweet deal for Rickson, who is preparing himself for the post-pandemic rebound by adding new inventory to his database. The latest of his recent cutbacks to his fundraising efforts in October, 2017.

Rickson Goh shows how you deal with a pandemicHis back was against the wall by that point, so the timing could n’t have been better. It was not an easy time, he admits. There was little to no money being made, and the statement” We were running out of money then” was true.

Even Rickson ( pic ) struggled to see any light, and the team had lost hope. It was very difficult for me. Day and night, I was trying to figure out a way to survive. We founders have the highest responsibility. No matter how we feel inside, and sometimes I felt helpless, but we have to exude hope and optimism for the team”, he says.

A quick foray into providing frozen food to consumers was unsuccessful. The key moment, however, came when he made the decision to forgo any international travel for at least for 24 months. A startup that had built its future off of inbound travel to Malaysia made a chilling realization.

Hanging out in Parliament, getting TSP status, convincing investors

Rickson swung into action. In the early stages of the pandemic lockdowns, webinars rose in popularity, and Rickson started taking classes there to learn from other business owners. He also became aware of the benefits of local players going digital and learned about the various government initiatives that are being implemented to help businesses. This would serve as Rickson’s lifeline as domestic tourism was awaiting a return to life.

” I was able to persuade my investors that domestic tourism was the best course of action and that the various government Covid aid recovery programs offered short-term opportunities.”

One of his biggest advantages was the stable government relations he established over a short period of time. He claims that it was not from funding any projects but rather from supporting the government in digitizing brick and mortar businesses, particularly those in the travel industry. He had to travel to the Malaysian Parliament to meet with relevant ministers in order to make his pitch, which helped Tourplus become recognized as a TSP ( Technology Service Provider ).

With this recognition Tourplus was able to assist businesses in requesting the Digital Marketing Grant, which is a component of the Malaysian Government’s efforts to assist businesses in recovering from the effects of the pandemic. They were qualified for up to a RM5,000 grant, and we have already received 200 companies ‘ approval from an overall 800 applications for the grant.

This work not only keeps his 20-strong team ( 30 % are part-time ) busy but has helped with cash flow as well.

Rickson Goh

Key collaborations in China, instant access to 200k hotel rooms globally

One important collaboration between Rickson and the Chinese travel agency ChongQing China Youth Travel Service started in April of this year.

Even though we raised money, traveling is still our main business, according to Rickson, adding that income and cash flow must be closely monitored.

” We need to keep innovating as well and I need to hire tech people, UI/UX designers, product people which will also help us scale”.

Another exciting development, one that he has kept under wraps is a partnership he has struck with China’s largest OTA ( Online Travel Agency ), the Nasdaq listed Ctrip. Users of the Tourplus app can now now directly book 200, 000 hotel rooms from all over the world where Ctrip has hotel partners thanks to an API integration.

” It is a very exclusive priviledge to be given the trust of API integration with a business like Ctrip,” Rickson asserts. That likely cuts both ways because Ctrip, which was founded in 1999, likely sees a little of itself in the ferocious startup from Kuala Lumpur and its gritty founder.

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Putting AI in tech milestone perspective – Asia Times

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Recently, artificial intelligence ( AI ) technology has been at the forefront, drawing attention to businesses like Nvidia, which is now one of the world’s most valuable companies.

But where does this tech stand among those that have made the online world possible? Due improvements with the greatest potential were primarily based on electronic devices, which made it possible to develop more powerful computer and communication systems.

The transistor, which was created in 1946 and is the genesis of our modern electronic age, was the first step in the right direction. In various forms, the circuit, which replaced vacuum tubes products, is the solid-state system enabling all electrical systems.

Its scalability, reliability, and low switching power dissipation made it possible to build reliable computing systems that could n’t be achieved using previous vacuum tube technology.

In the 1960s, the following vital invention came: the integrated circuits, which combined several connected transistors on a silicon chip. The core of almost all modern digital systems is this invention, which has grown from a dozen circuits on a device to billions today.

The chips ‘ infrastructure is determined by the desired system functionality based on transistor connections.

Strong computing systems require high-speed connections, and the introduction of lasers and fibre optics solved this problem. The most widely used laser developed in the 1970s were silicon beams that enabled information contacts by high-data-rate grain optic-based data transfer.

High-frequency light photons from visual materials can be used to transmit digital data over thousands of kilometers. Now, fiber optic contacts, along with mobile systems, dominate online communication.

The development of the system that made widespread consumer and business contacts possible worldwide was completed with the introduction of the Internet in the 1990s.

Although computer software technology was developing, it was unable to keep up with the fast development of devices, which led to a rapid increase in data. As a result, the nation’s systems generated enormous amounts of data that were not important. To manage and usage data, better strategies were required.

Since the 1950s, scientific work has been ongoing to translate ideas about the special capabilities of the human mind to computer systems, despite limitations in existing technologies.

The human mind functions on the basis of a large number of coordinated cells that talk as needed to manage human activities.

Instead of using the horizontal running method, the idea that underpins AI&nbsp, systems was that computer data processing may resemble that of the human mind, or “neural running.”

It was believed that this control would enable much more effective access to and use of computer energy. But, practical results were delayed to come.

In consequence, the suggested AI systems relied on large parallel information processing. A large number of running transistors, powered by an enormous quantity of processing transistors, were all that was needed to create valuable systems.

With small practical application, years of research on these methods and techniques were conducted. Finally, &nbsp, with the integrated circuit performance improving along Moore’s Law, it became possible to build useful AI systems ( with Nvidia in the processing device leadership ) and really remarkable data processing results were demonstrated. Thus the prevailing people excitement.

But is all the pleasure warranted? In my opinion, AI deserves a level alongside the main prior modern technology advances. AI enables an massive improvement&nbsp, in the use and benefit of information. It does not discover new information, but it can detect trends in previously unobserved patterns in data.

AI may induce human creation by uncovering undiscovered connections but does not invent. Ultimately, it can communicate with people in real time, which would make it possible to perform tasks that are error-prone in modern techniques.

No, it does not bestow desktops with human intellect, but it enables people intelligence to perform at new levels of efficiency.

Henry Kressel is a technician, engineer, company executive and writer who has created numerous essential innovations, including founding functional semiconductor lasers. He is also a long-term private equity investment in technology businesses.

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Filling gaps and a too-short minimum notice: SMEs’ worry over extra weeks of mandated shared parental leave

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Some businesses may not have the time to find the replacement, according to Mr. Ang Yuit, president of the Association of SMEs ( ASME).

” Some businesses would just take the ( dip in ) productivity or performance during that period, and just tide it over, and hope that that person comes back soon, and then they continue to do business as usual,” he said. &nbsp,

Additionally, according to Mr. Ang, firms have noted that the need for at least four weeks of notice is insufficient for the purposes of assessing needs and making arrangements.

” We are hoping that it will be a bit longer, because four weeks does n’t give you too much time first, to understand what are the jobs that need to be taken over, and then finding the right people”, he said. &nbsp,

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Nord Stream sabotage as a whodunit misses the point – Asia Times

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The hand of fear has fallen on a number of possible suspects in the two years since provocateurs planted bombs on Nord Stream 1 and 2– the gas pipes that spanned the Baltic Sea to link Russia to Germany.

Soon after the September 26, 2022, fire, many Western authorities blamed Russia. The idea was that Moscow blew up the pipelines as part of its “hybrid war” strategy, showing a willingness and ability to strike crucial system, or as a “false flag” activity to slander Ukraine.

Since therefore, journalists and critics have suggested a range of criminals, including President Joe Biden and the CIA, Ukraine and Poland.

Finnish and Norwegian knowledge studies ended in February 2024 without identifying the saboteurs, which did much to dispel conspiracy ideas.

Finally, in August 2024, it was reported in European press that prosecutors had issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian swimming professor who lived in Poland as part of the ongoing European research.

The claim of official complicity has been deemed “absolute nonsense” by Kyiv. Meanwhile, Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland’s deputy prime minister and the minister of digital affairs, suggested that the German findings were “inspired by Moscow” and intended to cause a rift among NATO countries.

Nonetheless, the German report has helped shift the consensus framing of the incident toward the blast being an international crime against majority-Russian-owned civilian infrastructure.

And this is a sure win for Russia. Cementing Russia’s narrative, rather than establishing the truth, may have always been the point for Moscow.

Observers of post-Soviet geopolitics and President Vladimir Putin’s tactics can also examine Russia’s motivations to frame the attack as a deliberate criminal act while investigators look for the reasons, means, and opportunity for the sabotage itself.

The Nord Stream case serves as a reminder of how effectively the Kremlin uses disinformation and manipulation to spread its narratives, frequently sowing dissent in the West and obstructing Russia’s actual crimes elsewhere.

Even when, as appears to be the case right now with the Nord Stream blasts, the forensic evidence assembled so far supports Russia’s preferred narrative, this is true.

Nord Stream in context

The Nord Stream explosions occurred seven months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By that point, Putin was shifting his focus away from a protracted military underbelly and beginning a long attrition war.

His military had already inflicted almost 15, 000 civilian casualties, and September 2022 saw the start of sustained attacks on critical Ukrainian infrastructure, including dams, railways, hospitals, schools and the energy grid.

The Nord Stream pipelines, which were built and run by a consortium led by Gazprom, gave Russia more control over how much natural gas is sold and how much it is pumped.

For this reason, Putin’s adversaries, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during the construction of Nord Stream 2 in 2021 viewed the pipeline as a dangerous geopolitical weapon.

With the completion of Nord Stream 2, Russia’s gas supply to Europe, which is largely dependent on Russia for its natural gas needs, could largely bypass Ukraine and eliminate the need to pay transit fees to both Ukraine and Poland.

In consequence, Ukraine was fervently interested in halting the flow of gas through the Nord Stream pipelines. So, too, did Russia’s competitors in the European energy market, including Norway and the United States. The same concern was felt by German political parties opposing the transition of energy to renewable and sustainable sources.

Despite being completed, Nord Stream 2 was not in use when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, having been blocked by German energy regulators. Additionally, Russia shut down Nord Stream 1, which had begun to operate in 2012, for an indefinite period of time in 2022.

More than a mystery

As a result, Western analysts did n’t make such a leap when they claimed that Russia had ruined its own now-defunct pipeline to show that it was ready and able to attack undersea infrastructure.

However, as time went on, stories that treated the sabotage as a real-life whodunit mystery with an emphasis on figuring out the means and motives dominated this view. Investigative journalists and other analysts compared the public record to leaks from alleged whistleblowers, geospatial data, financial data, and even reenactments of the attack in an effort to crack the case.

Some, including Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, traced responsibility all the way to the CIA and the Oval Office.

Most US media chose not to echo Hersh’s claims, and the White House has consistently rejected them. This is because they were unable to support Hersh’s story.

Hersh’s theory includes the idea that powerful Western interests pressed on investigators and provided false information to the media.

This second-order speculation – claiming that the original crime has been compounded by a cover-up – has long been promoted by Russia, too. After Sweden and Denmark halted their investigations, Moscow’s representative to the United Nations Security Council, Vasily Nebenzya, called for the UN to take over the investigation, saying:” It is as if a crime was committed — a murder — and a year later, the investigative authorities concluded that the victim was murdered“.

Russian disinformation

Since then, Russia has accused German prosecutors of planning to wrap up the investigation without naming the culprits.

This framing has a clear appeal to Moscow. First, it fits Putin’s argument that NATO is constantly scheming against Russia. Second, it offers the assurance that Russia will pay the costs of the Nord Stream sabotage from insurance companies. Insurance companies have so far declined to pay out, citing official evidence that the sabotage was” an act of war.”

Moscow, in its relentless pursuit of proof of NATO and US complicity, is n’t likely to be satisfied by the German investigation’s single arrest warrant. Russia wants to put the US in the dock, too.

After all, President Joe Biden did threaten NATO action to halt Nord Stream very early in 2022. And Moscow responded to the German warrant for a Ukrainian’s arrest by backtracking about its claim that the US had ordered the attack.

Russia could draw on the words of well-known US figures like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who have repeatedly dissented from confirmed Russian propaganda outlets.

After the Nord Stream blasts, both Greene and Carlson were quick to assert that Russia was not responsible and, by implication, that the U. S. may have had a role.

Truth is n’t the goal

The UN Human Rights Council notes that keeping the “mystery” of the Nord Stream alive diverts attention from Russia’s documented crimes against civilians in Ukraine, including those that include attacks on civilian infrastructure and showing “disregard for fundamental principles of humanitarian law and its human rights obligations.”

Russia has leaned on its extensive means of disinformation and propaganda to advance its narrative in the years since the Nord Stream explosion. In this, Russia has form.

In January 2022, US government sources claimed that Russia was planning attacks on pro-Russian civilians in eastern Ukraine and that Kiev was being used to justify the invasion. Similarly, analysts have cited the supposed May 2023 Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow as an example of Soviet-style “false flag” operations.

German security personnel are now beginning to suspect that the evidence trail leading to Ukraine was fabricated in relation to Nord Stream by Russian operatives.

The Nord Stream case has attracted its fair share of speculators over the past two years, a period in which Russia has spearheaded a broad campaign to sew deliberate lies and disinformation. Putin has consistently broken international law during that time.

Russia’s narrative on Nord Stream may well, when all the investigations are said and done, be the dominant one. What is clear is that Putin’s accusations against Ukraine and the United States are motivated by a desire to disrupt and distract rather than by a commitment to justice. Truth is not his goal but, rather, a target.

At Arizona State University, Keith Brown is a professor of politics and global studies.

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

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Fast fashion giant Shein finds child labour cases in supply chain

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Shein, a fast-growing Foreign company, claims to have found two instances of child labor in its supply chain last year as it tightens its surveillance of the clothing manufacturers.

The company claims that it briefly sat on orders from the manufacturers involved and did not go back to business with them until they had made stronger efforts to address the problem.

The revelation in Shein’s 2023 sustainability report comes as it is understood to be planning to sell shares on the stock market.

The company’s offer chain’s workers have been criticized for the working conditions there.

According to Shein,” Both circumstances were resolved quickly, with restoration steps including terminating contracts with young employees, ensuring the settlement of any remarkable wages, organizing health checkups, and facilitating relocation to parents/legal guardians as needed.”

” Following appropriate cleanup, the contract companies were permitted to resume company”.

Shein claims its provider plans have now been strengthened. Any child labor or forced labor violations have now become a cause of instant dismissal of contracts under the new regulations.

It occurs as the business prepares for a possible investment business sale.

The BBC understands that Shein filed initial documents for a London listing earlier this year.

In June, Marco Rubio, a top Republican on the US Senate Intelligence Committee, and an ally of Donald Trump, wrote to then-UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warning him about “grave morality concerns” and Shein’s “deep relationships to the People’s Republic of China”.

” Slave workers, sweat shops, and business methods are the dirty tricks behind Shein’s achievement”, Mr Rubio wrote in his letter to Mr Hunt.

A Shein director for the company at the time stated:” Shein has a zero-tolerance scheme for forced labor and we are committed to respecting human right. We require our agreement manufacturers to just cause cotton from approved regions and we take transparency really throughout our entire supply chain.

That was just weeks after a report released by Swiss advocacy group Public Eye said excessive overtime was still common for many workers in Shein’s supply chain.

Shein responded to the report by telling the BBC that it was “working hard” to address the issues that Public Eye raised and that it had made” significant improvement” in improving situations.

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Chinese scammers used Isle of Man for ‘pig-butchering’ con

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BBC A graphic montage showing Liang LingfeiBBC

According to a BBC World Service research, swindlers have allegedly cheated victims in China out of millions of dollars by using a seaside resort and former bank practices on the Isle of Man.

We were informed that lots of Chinese workers were utilizing computers connected to strong broadband in the dining area and lounge at the Seaview Hotel in Douglas. A professional wok burner had also been delivered to the restaurant’s kitchen.

The fraud, which happened between January 2022 and January 2023 according to Chinese court records, used a process known as “pig butchering”. It is so-called because the process of “fattening the swine”- gaining the victim’s confidence- is vital to its accomplishment.

The BBC spent almost a month establishing how the investment con was carried out from the area, which is a European Crown interdependence with an independent state.

We also learned more about leaders ‘ interests to construct a state-of-the-art business challenging overlooking the Irish Sea.

We have gotten court documents as well as obtaining leaked files and speaking with business insiders.

The white and red frontage of Seaview Hotel, Douglas, Isle of Man

One former employee, Jordan [not his true name], told us that he had no notion of the dark earth he was entering when he first arrived on the Isle of Man. He claims that finding what he believed to be a steady administrative work relieved him.

He did see, nevertheless, that his new company seemed quite covert- for example, he and his colleagues were forbidden from taking photos at company cultural events. He claims that he was n’t aware that many of his Chinese colleagues were con artists.

Nearly 100 people were transferred to the Isle of Man in the late 2021 to work for a business that Chinese court records refer to as” MIC.” They had previously worked for another deceiving company in the Philippines. The BBC has discovered that MIC stands for Manx Internet Commerce.

Speaker was one of a number of affiliated companies on the Isle of Man, each with a different owner.

An online game, move by King Gaming Ltd, was the most popular. In mainland China, playing is illegal. The group’s members had targeted Chinese consumers while also taking advantage of the Isle of Man’s small playing income because of their setting up halfway around the world.

Howard Pearson house

The MIC employees relocated to the former bank locations on the east side of Douglas a few months after starting their employment at the Seaview Hotel.

And this is where Jordan claims he would occasionally hear his new colleagues, who worked in groups of four. He now thinks they were celebrating having successfully conned another victim, who lives some 5, 000 miles away.

Six MIC employees in Douglas have been found guilty of engaging in investment fraud on their way home from China.

The cases, heard in late 2023, detail the illicit money stream. According to the Chinese court documents, the defendants and their associates allegedly lured victims from bases on the Isle of Man and the Philippines.

They claim that the defendants would work together to recruit Chinese investors into chat groups on QQ, a well-known Chinese instant messaging service similar to WhatsApp. One scammer would act as a “teacher” of investments, and others would act as if they were coworkers.

The BBC has seen proof that many of the people who arrived in Douglas from the Philippines were involved in the scams, including in the court documents. All used the same computer equipment, depended on QQ for their work and, with the exception of a few managers, all held the same job title.

Dominican passport for Liang Lingfei, showing his other name Bill Morgan

According to the Chinese court, the fake investors created an atmosphere of hype and excitement around the “teacher,” who would then instruct the victim to invest money in a specific investment platform.

The victim would comply, only for their money to be snatched off by the scammers, who actually controlled these platforms and had the ability to manipulate them from the side.

The Chinese court said it was difficult to verify the victims ‘ total losses- but it said 38.87m renminbi ( £4.17m/$ 5.3m ) had been taken from at least 12 victims.

The court found the six defendants guilty based on evidence, including the defendants ‘ own confessions, travel and financial records, and chat logs.

This was not only a profitable but also a sophisticated scam, say the court documents, requiring front line teams to deploy the “pig-butchering” techniques with persuasiveness and skill.

Chinese court papers reveal the transnational nature of the scam - graphic showing court documents which says: The defendent first went to the Philippines, and then to the MIC corporation in Douglas, the Isle of Man, where he undertook scamming activities.

The BBC has discovered the identity of the companies ‘ sole beneficiary. His name was hidden among layers of administrative paperwork.

Documents indicate that the trust that MIC and its affiliate companies were all run by a person named” Bill Morgan” who was also known as Liang Lingfei. Employees called him” Boss Liang”, says Jordan.

The co-founder of MIC on the Isle of Man, Liang Lingfei, is described in the Chinese court papers as” a fairly stable criminal organization established in order to carry out scam activities.” Mr. Liang was not one of the people who were being tried or represented at the hearings.

According to the court, Mr. Liang co-founded the Philippines ‘ largest scam organization. Many MIC employees were employed there before being transferred to the Isle of Man, according to evidence from the BBC.

Additionally, according to our investigation, Mr. Liang obtained an Isle of Man investment visa and attended numerous company events on the island. His wife also owns a home in the town of Ballasalla, near the island’s airport.

The group of businesses on the Isle of Man had ambitious plans in mind when they signed a planning agreement late last year for a glitzy “parkland campus” headquarters on the site of a former naval training base. It was the “largest single private investment in the Isle of Man,” according to a developer’s representative.

Office buildings set on a hill above the seafront in Douglas are depicted in Architects ‘ images. Inside would have been penthouse apartments, a spa, multiple bars and a karaoke lounge.

The campus was to be used by MIC staff and those working for MIC’s “affiliate” companies, including those involved in online gambling, planning documents state.

Excel Group A mock-up of the glitzy campus the group was planning to build - showing CGI office blocks looking out to seaExcel Group

Conservative estimates put the global annual revenues of the “pig-butchering” industry at more than$ 60bn ( £46.5bn ).

” This is the first such case we’ve seen of one of these]pig-butchering ] scam operations setting up in a Western country”, says Masood Karimipour, a UN expert on organised crime- who normally focuses on South East Asia.

Trying to stop the scams is like a “game of whack-a-mole”, he says, and it is a battle that “organised crime is currently winning” as criminals engage in what he calls” jurisdiction shopping” where they perceive there to be legal loopholes and little oversight.

Any legitimate or unfounded ambitions the group of companies may have had on the Isle of Man appear to have come to an end.

In April, police raided the former bank offices. Additionally, they used a ladder to enter through a first-floor window in the early hours of the morning into an address next to the island’s Courts of Justice building.

Police stated in a statement that the raids were part of a larger investigation into King Gaming Ltd IOM’s involvement with fraud and money laundering. Seven people were detained and released without bail, they continued.

Since then, a further three people are known to have been arrested.

At the request of the Isle of Man’s attorney general, receivers were appointed for businesses in the group, including MIC and King Gaming Ltd IOM, earlier this month.

The island’s gambling regulator has stripped MIC’s gambling affiliate companies of their licences.

The parkland campus site was cleared of trees and upped the building’s signage, but the redevelopment is now permanently halted.

The BBC has made repeated attempts, via several methods of communication, to contact the companies involved- as well as Bill Morgan/Liang Langfei and company directors- but has received no replies.

We’ve also made an attempt to contact the Seaview Hotel, but we’ve never heard back. Despite the fact that it’s not thought anyone there was aware of any illegal activities taking place on the premises, we have also tried to contact them.

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You can reach the Global China Unit directly and securely through encrypted messaging app Signal on: 447769939386 or by email at [email protected]

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Phumtham downplays power vacuum fears post-Srettha exit

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ฺBlessed start: Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra prays at the City Pillar shrine in Bangkok to seek blessings for her 38th birthday on Wednesday. (Photo: Chanat Katanyu)
Beginning of a blessed stop, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra requests blessings on Wednesday at the City Pillar temple in Bangkok. ( Photo: Chanat Katanyu )

Issues about a power pump pending the formation of a fresh government were ignored by Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai.

” There is no power pump. He said on Thursday that” all alliance parties are working together to solve the problems that the land faces”.

Mr. Phumtham responded to private market demands for a swift formation of a new government so that organized economic stimulus measures could proceed uninterruptedly.

He claimed that he had complete authority to appoint new federal officials, break the House, and declare martial law while he was in office. ” But I did not exercise for powers. I just focus on tackling women’s dilemmas”, Mr Phumtham said.

He denied reports that he would become the new defence secretary, a blog held by Sutin Klungsang in the previous administration.

Prommin Lertsuridej, the PM’s secretary-general, said all coalition allies, including the Palang Pracharath Party ( PPRP ), have submitted their lists of ministerial candidates, and the next step is to conduct thorough background checks, which should not take more than two weeks.

He declined to comment on reports that the PPRP has submitted more case nominations than its four-member limit.

In response to reports that the Democrats are being courted by PPRP secretary-general Thamanat Prompow to join the new government, Dr. Prommin even declined to comment on whether the criticism Democrat Party had submitted its roster of ministerial votes.

After being removed from the list of nominees for government positions, Capt Thamanat, who is the caretaker minister of agriculture and cooperatives, met with Democrat Party head Chalermchai Sri-on on Tuesday to speak with the Democrats.

In return, Capt Thamanat offered two cabinet posts under the PPRP’s limit to the Democrat Party, the resources said.

According to the options, Capt. Thamanat has been deducted from the PPRP’s record of governmental votes because he may be deemed unfit to carry a government position based on his conviction and sentence to prison for a drug-related crime in Australia in the 1990s.

Dech-it Khaothong, the Democrat Party’s secretary-general, said the group will keep a meeting to decide whether it will join the new state led by Pheu Thai. ” It depends on the group’s resolution”, he said.

Asked whether the Democrats were willing to abandon their beliefs and love and make up with Pheu Thai, its long-standing political enemy, Mr Dech-it said,” It is time to update the country. Racism and hatred from the past should n’t be carried on.

Public separate bodies, as Dr. Prommin formerly stated, may be asked to assist the committee in confirming the credentials of prospects for government jobs.

Following ex-PM’s Srettha Thavisin’s termination, background checks are anticipated. Some may approve of a repeat of what transpired with Mr. Srettha, who was fired after the cabinet appointed a person with a criminal record.

According to Dr. Prommin, the candidates will be screened to make sure they do n’t have criminal histories or hold shares in companies or other assets that would conflict with the legal or ethical requirements for holding a government position.

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PTT reports profit in 1st half of 2024

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PUBLISHED: 23 Aug 2024 at 04: 00

NEWSPAPER SECTION: News

PTT Public Company Limited reiterated its commitment to achieving a world-wide responsible organization with a net income of 64.437 billion baht for the first quarter of 2024.

About 92 % of the profits came from its oil company, while the remainder from its non-hydrocarbon sectors.

According to a statement released yesterday, the bank’s board approved an interim income payment of 0.80 baht per share for the first quarter of 2024.

Including tax contributions from PTT and its affiliates, PTT has returned a total of 35.684 billion ringgit to the authorities, reflecting its commitment to supporting Thailand’s social and economic development.

PTT’s oil operations help to ensure Thailand’s long-term sustainable development while boosting the country’s energy security.

PTT likewise retains securities in its flagship firms, which enables it to maintain its goals align with the team’s corporate objectives.

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