Scotland Declares Climate Emergency

Last month the Scottish National Party's MSPs had joined other parties in voting against a Scottish Greens motion calling for parliament to declare a climate emergency. 

This month, they changed their minds. 

On Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon (left) announced: “…I met some of the young climate change campaigners who’ve gone on strike from school to raise awareness of their cause. They want governments around the world to declare a climate emergency. They say that’s what the science tells us, and they are right. 

Today, as first minister of Scotland, I am declaring that there is a climate emergency and Scotland will live up to our responsibility to tackle it”. 

She said the pronouncement was “a public promise” to act on global warming – and I say, it is a timely response to a world that is on the brink of climatic calamity. 

Already at least 90 councils across the UK have proclaimed a climate emergency and pledged to work to limit damage to the environment. 

MPs in Westminster will vote on whether to follow suit tomorrow, after Labour forced a Commons debate on the issue following mass protests over political inaction on the crisis. 

The declaration of a climate emergency is one of the key demands of environmental campaigners including the Extinction Rebellion movement, which paralyzed parts of London with protests in the last fortnight. 

Scottish Greens MSP Mark Ruskell (left), the party's climate spokesperson, while welcoming the SNP's "dramatic u-turn" on the issue said "actions speak louder than words". 

He added: “Declaring a climate emergency is about more than posing for pictures with climate strikers, it’s about ditching policies that are destroying the planet and investing in the jobs and technologies of tomorrow, today”.

He’s right – an acknowledgement of a "climate emergency" may just be that. An acknowledgement. And that's it. 

Right now, we want a commitment to specific action – and it helps if countries seriously work towards being carbon-neutral as soon as possible. 

The UK has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990s levels by 2050. But campaigners and climate scientists warn this would not be enough to avert environmental catastrophe, with Extinction Rebellion demanding the UK government commit to zero carbon emissions by 2025.

All I know is – it’s time to take action! 

Yesterday, I caught this posting on Facebook. 

Safura Atan had written: “Congratulations to Shah Alam Toastmasters Club #shahalamtmc members, especially dedicated to Victor Ong DTM, for clinching the Presidential Distinguished Club Award…” 

It is heart-warming when the president of your Toastmasters club acknowledges your contributions. Thank you!

TMJ Needles Mahathir Mohamad (Again)

Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim can't help but needle Mahathir Mohamad (left). 

On Wednesday night, he was caught on video saying that the prime minister should be substituted when some Johor Darul Ta’zim football club supporters had urged him to replace the team’s coach Benjamin Mora. 

“Instead of changing Mora, it’s better to change the prime minister”, Tunku Ismail (right) had suggested. 

On Sunday, Mahathir fired back. Only the rakyat, and not the Malay royals, have the power to change the prime minister, he retorted. 

“He thinks he is a big person ("orang besar") but he is actually a small person. If he can vote, then topple me through the ballot box”, the prime minister challenged the prince. 

And for good measure, Mahathir reminded Tunku Ismail – better known as TMJ (Tengku Mahkota Johor) – that history has shown his own position as the crown prince can be changed.  

Of course, Mahathir's defenders rushed in and added even more fuel to the fire. 

Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (right) pointed out that he had quit as president of the Football Association of Malaysia after just a year. 

“If want to take care of FAM also is so difficult that you have to quit… imagine the responsibility of a prime minister who sincerely wants to heal our beloved nation”, Syed Saddiq had posted on Instagram. 

Veteran politician Bersatu's Rais Yatim (left) opined that Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim had made excessive remarks about politics. His advice: “If (Tunku Ismail) wants to talk politics, please register to join a political party”. 

He said the realms of royalty and politics are different. “Do not mix them up in accordance with the whims of a prince. Chaos will result”, counseled Rais, a former law minister and former menteri besar of Negeri Sembilan. 

“Stop the innuendo about wanting the prime minister to be changed”, said Rais in a posting on Twitter yesterday. “That is the right of the ordinary people”. 

TMJ was merely expressing his opinion. Nothing wrong with that.

Avengers: Endgame – the 22nd offering in the Marvel Studios superhero franchise – made box office history by taking a record-breaking $1.2 billion in global ticket sales in its opening run. 

The Disney blockbuster has become the fastest film ever to break the $1 billion barrier, doing so in just five days.

Since Wednesday, its opening takings smashed the previous global debut record of $640 million set by last year's Avengers: Infinity War.

Gorillas Pose For Wefies

Mountain gorillas (left) at Virunga National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site in the Democratic Republic of Congo were in the news. 

For your info, the mountain gorilla (Scientific name: Gorilla beringei beringei) is one of two subspecies of the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) and it is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. 

And Virunga is not only Africa’s oldest national park but it is also Africa’s most biodiverse national park, spanning tropical forests, snow-peaked mountains and active volcanoes. It is also home to a rare population of about 1,000 mountain gorillas – with other wild populations elsewhere in the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. 

But its location in eastern DRC means these primates and the rangers who protect and care for them are constantly at risk. 

Virunga’s management has had to take extraordinary measures to keep its inhabitants and visitors safe from the sporadic fighting in the region – protecting them with a highly trained guard of elite rangers and sniffer dogs, as well as working closely with communities surrounding the park. 

Check out the “gorilla wefie” that went viral after it was shared by Mathieu Shamavu, the park ranger who captured it on his phone:

Shamavu who said he was checking his phone when he noticed Ndakazi and Ndeze, two orphaned gorillas mimicking his movements, and so he took a picture with them. These two females were orphaned 12 years ago when their families were killed by poachers. 

The park, which relies on private visitor donations, used its “gorilla wefie” moment in the spotlight to help raise funds, reaching its $50,000 (£39,000) target to mark Earth Day on April 22nd. 

Virunga has 600 dedicated rangers and two of them, Shamavu and Patrick Sadiki snapped the heart-warming series of wefies with the gorillas:

For more info, visit Virunga @ https://virunga.org 
To donate & Help! @ https://virunga.org/donate

On Friday, Liverpool once again put the pressure back on Manchester City as they returned to the top of the Premier League with an emphatic 5-0 win over Huddersfield Town at Anfield. 

Jurgen Klopp's side are now two points clear of the reigning champions, who have a game in hand.

A dominant display – and the goal rush came after only fifteen seconds when Naby Keita swept a close-range effort into the bottom left corner from Mohamed Salah's pass to record the Reds' quickest goal in a Premier League match. 

It was also Liverpool's 100th goal in all competitions this term, and they doubled their lead when Sadio Mane glanced Andrew Robertson's superb cross into the bottom right corner in the twenty-third minute. 

Salah then lobbed Terriers' goalkeeper Jonas Lossl on the stroke of half-time to deliver a third after running on to Trent Alexander-Arnold's ball forward. 

After the break, Mane headed in his second from Jordan Henderson's cross in the sixty-sixth minute – this was followed seventeen minutes later when his Egyptian team-mate converted from another Robertson delivery – and capping a fine team performance. 

Liverpool with 91 points have now amassed more points than Arsenal's unbeaten "Invincibles" team of 2003-04 and have 12 points more than the Manchester United treble-winning team of 1998-99.

The Power of the Infinity Gauntlet

I just tried googling the word Thanos and when the results showed, I clicked on the Infinity Gauntlet icon (left) which caused it to 'snap'. And when it did, my Google Search result page played a little animation that turned half of all the search results to 'dust'. 

A really neat trick! Of course, this is in relation to the much-talked-about events at the end of Avengers: Infinity War where the Mad Titan Thanos (right) successfully completes the Infinity Gauntlet and snaps his fingers – and eliminating fifty percent of all living beings in existence.

If you had watched the movie, you probably already know this. But in the unlikely event you haven't, please, please give it a watch! 

And unlike the events of Infinity War, you can actually bring back all your dusted search results by simply clicking on the same Infinity Gauntlet icon. When you do that, it looks like the gauntlet activates the Time Stone and everything fades back into existence. 

That should prompt you to go and watch Avengers: Endgame.

Even without this neat little trick, you should still watch this Disney movie. It’s almost impossible to escape the epic hype surrounding the biggest superhero movie of this year! 

The Sri Lanka bombings are still in the news. 

On Wednesday, the death toll supposedly rose to 359, with more than 500 people wounded. Additionally, Police had detained 60 people in connection with the bloody attacks. 

Two days later, Sri Lanka revised down the death toll from Sunday's blasts by more than 100, to "about 253". It blamed a calculation error. Huh? 

Their head of health services told Reuters news agency there had been so many body parts it was "difficult to give a precise figure". 

According to the health ministry, all autopsies were completed on Thursday and it transpired that some victims had been counted more than once. 

BBC World Service South Asia editor Jill McGivering said the revised figure came as the government are struggling to restore their credibility – amid criticisms of their apparent failure to respond to intelligence warnings before the bloodbath. 

They’re also battling to counter fake news swirling around the crisis – and this sudden dramatic revision is unlikely to put the government in good light. 

Anyway, President Maithripala Sirisena had come out to say that Sri Lankan intelligence services believed around 130 suspects linked to the Islamic State group were in the country and that police are hunting 70 who are still at large. 

On Tuesday, IS had already claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday carnage, although they had not provided direct evidence of their involvement.

The statement came after an unconfirmed video posted to social media by an affiliated group strongly suggested that the Islamic State was behind the bombings. 

Man Tax

Handsome Her, a vegan café that opened its doors in August 2017 on Sydney Road, Brunswick in Victoria, Australia charges male customers 18 percent more than women. 

The pricing differential is to reflect the gender pay gap with the funds surrendered to charity.

Described on the cafe’s Facebook page as a “man tax”, the premium was only meant to run for one week each month, but was made permanent after the publicity led to an increase in customers “asking to pay” – or so the owners claimed.

The Melbourne-based eatery caused an online and media storm when a photograph of a chalkboard outside the cafe explaining its “man tax” and women priority seating hit Twitter. 

While some praised the idea, others railed on social media that this was “reverse sexism” and did little to tackle inequality for both sexes. 

I reckon co-owners Alexandra O’Brien and partner Tessa Plueckhahn couldn’t take the heat – and, therefore, decided to shut the business down for good as of Sunday, April 28. 

"The way the world responded showed us how fragile masculinity is and solidified the necessity for us to confront and dismantle patriarchy", the duo declared. 

"We were just one little tiny shop on Sydney Rd that was trying to carve out a swathe of space to prioritize women and women's issues, and suddenly we became the punching bag of Melbourne and the internet", they moaned. 

The cafe’s loyal fans expressed their disappointment at news of the closure. 

“So sad to see u go. U were my favorite eatery since u opened. U have created a safe space for all [sic]”, wrote one person. 

However, not all of the comments are supportive of the cafe. 

On Instagram, where the cafe has also posted about its impending shutdown, one person called the owners “horrible people”, writing: “I’m glad such a bigoted and hateful business is getting shut down. Last I checked, sex discrimination was illegal”. 

Whether we agree or not, the decision belongs to the couple. It's their business to decide on their business.

This evening, I was in Sunway Mentari in Bandar Sunway, Selangor to attend the maiden meeting of the “Kelab Pidato Perdana” Toastmasters Club. 

Although, we were only a small group of five – it was almost a full-blown meeting, complete with Table Topics, project speeches and evaluations. 

I was the Timekeeper as well as a Table Topics speaker and I delivered a CC#2 speech titled “Cabaran Ku” (My Challenge). 

The whole meeting was conducted in Malay.

A Red Devil Fan For One Day

Today, I am a Manchester United fan. For one day only. 

I am praying the Red Devils will whip Citizens in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford – and do Liverpool a big favor. 

The Reds already have 88 points and yet their final tally might still not be enough to bring the Premier League trophy to Anfield. And for sure, Citizens will be crowned champions if they win all their remaining games. 

To prevent that from happening, Liverpool need Manchester City to drop points if they are to end their 29-year wait for an English top-flight title. 

Therefore, Manchester United must win today.

The Impossible Whopper

Burger King are trialling a meat-free version of their famous Whopper – and have rolled out the new “Impossible Whopper” at 59 restaurants in St Louis, Missouri in the US of A. 

The meatless burger, developed with Impossible Foods, a California-based company that makes plant-based substitutes, is designed to “bleed” like a conventional burger, and uses genetically modified yeast to produce heme, a protein that mimics the flavor of meat. 

Burger King insist the new plant-based alternative tastes as good as the real thing. Christopher Finazzo, the chain’s North America president, said: “We’ve done sort of a blind taste test with our franchisees, with people in the office, with my partners on the executive team, and virtually nobody can tell the difference”. 

Burger King have offered a veggie burger for years – but the difference between the veggie option and the new no-meat Whopper may be that meat-eaters are more willing to try it. 

White Castle, the US burger chain known for tiny, square sliders, currently sell the Impossible Burger product in more than 370 restaurants, and the chain has reported better-than-expected sales. 

The other major competitor to Impossible Foods is Beyond Meat, which sell their Beyond Burger at Carl’s Jr and A&W restaurants in Canada. 

These fake meat products promote environmental sustainability – intensive animal agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas, water use and pollution.

Sri Lankan security personnel walk past debris next to a dead body slumped over a bench following an explosion in St Sebastian's Church in Negombo, north of the capital Colombo, on April 21, 2019

Bodies of victims killed in the bomb explosion are laid out in front of St. Anthony’s Church to be identified by family members. 

Police and security personnel inspect remains of victims at the scene after an explosion hit Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 21, 2019

Security personnel evacuate a victim after the blast at Dematagoda area in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 21, 2019

Sri Lanka is now under a state of emergency as authorities aimed to maintain security, preserve public order and maintain essential services during investigations into the multiple suicide bombings on Easter Sunday. 

It has been reported that police commandos had defused an explosive device and discovered 87 detonators in two separate locations in the capital. 

No group has admitted carrying out the co-ordinated blasts but on Monday, Sri Lanka’s government said they believed a little-known local militant Islamist group known as National Thowheed Jamath were to blame. They said officials were investigating whether they had had "international help". Forty suspects have been detained. 

Meanwhile, the official death toll given by authorities rises to 310 today. 

Greta Thunberg Speaks at Extinction Rebellion Rally

Extinction Rebellion protesters have been on the streets for seven days already – and as at 19:00 hours yesterday, 963 people have been arrested and 40 people, aged 19 to 77, charged for mostly obstruction offences. 

Needless to say, the Metropolitan Police were stretched to their limits. Hence, hundreds of officers from other police forces have been sent to London to help the Met cope with the widespread protests. 

And guess who made an appearance? 

Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg to lend support! 

At a rally in Marble Arch in central London, she (right) told her audience that they are "making a difference". 

The sixteen-year-old Swede who is credited with inspiring an international movement to fight climate change, told the thousands of people who had gathered that "Humanity is now standing at a crossroads. We must now decide which path we want to take" and that their fight to save the planet will never stop. 

Five thousand, four hundred and seventeen miles (8718 kilometers) away, the death toll from the wave of bombings in Sri Lanka has risen to 290 and almost 500 people wounded, a police spokesperson said on Monday.

Blood stains are seen inside a church after a bomb blast in Negombo, Sri Lanka, April 21, 2019

And they have made 24 arrests todate. 

Anyway, authorities have lifted a curfew that was in place overnight – yet the streets in the capital Colombo are very much deserted this morning, with most shops closed and soldiers and police are making their presence felt everywhere.