The Great Satan Sends More Bombs and Fighter Jets to Israel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US President Joe Biden has authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel. According to Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, the transfer “amounts to about $2.5 billion”. 

 

This latest arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials who spoke to The Washington Post on condition of anonymity, as recent authorizations have not been disclosed publicly.

 

Israel's extensive use of 2,000-pound bombs, heavy ammunition capable of killing or wounding people more than 100 meters away, in Gaza strikes is linked with heavy civilian casualties, CNN reported.

 

This is not only hypocrisy but also evil. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is true that the United States of America is the Great Satan. 

 

The colonialist, slave-built, imperialist, neo-liberal capitalist oligarchy that has slaughtered tens of millions, overthrown dozens of elected governments, has started and waged more wars than any other state. It encircles Russia and China and seeks to destroy them to maintain global domination, even if it means sacrificing millions in a world war. It spends obscene fortunes on a war machine and making massive profits while Americans go homeless, without healthcare, suffer violent militarised police, and living in a country of crumbling infrastructure and corrupt politics. A country that actively promotes separatism and extremism in competitor countries, trains and funds terrorists, fascists and Zionists. A country that operates one of the most powerful and criminal networks on earth, the CIA. A country that applies mass surveillance to its own people, persecutes journalists and whistleblowers, that condones and uses torture. I can go on and on but the above suffice.

 

Just because I haven't been blogging about Boeing doesn't mean the troubled plane has no more issues. I just got tired of reporting them. In fact, its laundry list of safety incidents is so long and seemingly never-ending that I don't believe anyone should travel in a Boeing!

 

Another United Airlines Boeing plane, another long-haul trip cut short. For the 14th time this month, one of the carrier’s planes had a safety issue that the Federal Aviation Administration have had to investigate. The flight, initially leaving San Francisco in California, USA on Thursday for Paris, France didn't even manage to leave the country, being forced to land in Denver, Colorado instead. 

 

Crew members on the Boeing 777-200 reported having an issue with one engine. Even so, the flight did not declare an emergency landing, but emergency services were standing by for the plane’s arrival as a precaution. In any case, the flight landed safely, and all 273 passengers and 12 crew members disembarked.

 

The plane this time, like in many of the other March incidents, is an older Boeing jet, a 777. The Boeing 777 was first commercially flown almost 30 years ago, in 1995, by United Airlines.

 

Obviously, delays in getting new Boeing aircraft have made things difficult for the airline. In fact, the US carrier blamed the manufacturer’s issues for a pilot hiring freeze. 

 

“We just won’t grow as fast as we thought we would in 2024 due to continued delays at Boeing”, the company said. 

 

The plethora of issues over safety of the Boeing aircraft and the surfeit of accompanying investigations in the past few months are exacting a price. On March 25, it was announced that Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun (right) would step down from the embattled plane maker at the end of the year.

A Library Book Bound With Human Skin

Apparently, in the 1800s, it wasn't unheard of for books to be bound in human skin. And Harvard University still had one such book in their library – until their decision to remove it this month. 

 

Harvard's copy of the 19th century book, Des destinées de l'âme by Arsène Houssaye, has a morbid history. 

 

According to a Harvard Library statement, the book, published in 1879, was first owned by Dr. Ludovic Bouland, a French doctor who took skin off of a dead patient "without consent" while working at a psychiatric hospital. He then used her skin to bind the book. 

 

The book's premise is, interestingly, a reflection on the soul and life after death, and according to the University, a handwritten note by Bouland inserted into the volume had stated that "a book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering".

 

Harvard received the book in 1934, and for a while, those in the know would "haze" Harvard student library employees by asking them to "retrieve the book without being told it included human remains". 

 

But it wasn't until 2014 that the university "publicly confirmed that the binding was made from human skin", according to ABC News. And Harvard admit that, even after acknowledging the book's binding material, "anyone who asked for it, regardless of their reason for wishing to consult it", could still have access to it. Until this month.

 

An associate librarian of the Houghton Library in Harvard, Anne-Marie Eze, said that removing the book was part of the University's larger project of addressing human remains in their collections. 

 

The human binding was removed from the said book in March and the skin is now being stored in the library while the book has been digitized for anyone seeking it. The physical book will be available to researchers eventually without the skin. 

 

I read that the library is consulting with appropriate authorities at the University and in France to determine an appropriate and respectful way of laying the remains to rest.

 

Malaysia's S Sivasangari achieved her biggest career win by stunning world No. 1 Nour El Sherbini of Egypt 11-9, 11-9 to qualify for the semi-finals of the inaugural London Squash Classic on Saturday. 

 

The world No. 16 is the first player outside the top 10 to beat the Egyptian, a seven-time world champion. 

 

In their last two meetings, she lost to Nour in straight sets in the quarter-finals of the Florida Open in January and the El Gouna International in Cairo in 2022. 

 

Sivasangari will face world No. 4 Nele Gilis of Belgium in the semi-finals at 11:00 PM (Malaysian time) today.

Xiaomi Join Crowded EV Race

 

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi launched their much-anticipated electric car, the Speed Ultra 7 (SU7) sedan on Thursday in Beijing, China and have already started taking orders. 

 

The technology giant's chief executive Lei Jun said the standard SU7 model would be priced at 215,900 yuan ($29,874) and the Max version would cost 299,900 yuan ($41,497). And Xiaomi have secured 88,898 firm orders for the SU7 within 24 hours following its introduction.

 

Xiaomi's entry into the electric car market comes as sales growth has slowed globally, triggering a price war. This has not deterred them and they are determined to take on EV rivals including Tesla and BYD. And they're hoping that the SU7's shared operating system with their phones, laptops and other devices will appeal to existing customers. 

 

FYI, Xiaomi are the third-largest seller of smartphones worldwide with a market share of about 12%, according to research firm Counterpoint.

 

The SU7, which Xiaomi has been teasing since last year, has drawn comparisons to Porsche's Taycan and Panamera sports car models. It will be made by a unit of state-owned car manufacturer BAIC Group at a plant in Beijing that can produce as many as 200,000 vehicles a year.

 

"While getting this far is itself quite an achievement, the ultimate achievement would be to demonstrate that there is a consumer market for Xiaomi as a smart EV brand", Bill Russo of Automobility told the BBC. 

 

In an indication of the challenges facing technology firms who want to make electric cars, iPhone maker Apple last month reportedly cancelled their plans to build an EV. 

 

Russo added that Xiaomi's entry into the car market reflected their confidence "in the relevancy for their brand" in China while Apple did not see enough potential in the EV market outside of China. 

 

Xiaomi have said they will invest $10 billion in their vehicles business over the next 10 years. 

 

My March 24 blog post refers. The Russian Investigative Committee reported on Thursday, citing preliminary findings, that the suspects in last week’s Moscow terrorist attack were linked to Ukrainian nationalists. 

 

The perpetrators had received “significant sums of money” from Ukraine, the law enforcement agency said. Investigators have obtained “substantiated evidence” that the suspected assailants received funding from Ukraine in the form of cryptocurrency, which was then used to prepare the terrorist attack, the statement read. 

 

Earlier, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov (right), told reporters that the US, UK, and Ukraine may have been behind the attack. He said that the Ukrainians may have been preparing a “window” for them to cross back over the border. “On the other side, they were to be welcomed as heroes”!

 

The death toll from the concert hall attack has continued to rise, with the number of deaths increasing to 144 on Friday when another severely injured victim died in a hospital, according to Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko.

Sperm Whales Unleash Cloud of Diarrhoea to Fend Off Orcas

Sperm whales (Scientific name: Physeter macrocephalusare), the largest of the toothed whales are considered apex predators. The greatest dangers they face are usually man-made, such as fishing nets, boat strikes, and oil spills. 

 

Orcas (Scientific name: Orcinus orca), however, have been known to punch against their weight and will sometimes attack these cetaceans. 

 

Jennah Tucker (right), a marine biologist with Oceans Blueprint (a marine and environmental sciences research organization), who was on board the Naturaliste Charters tour boat, which was off the southern coast of Western Australia – specifically Bremer Canyon, a marine life hotspot about 70 kilometres offshore from the town of Bremer Bay – on March 19 witnessed a rarely recorded event of a sperm whale pod defending themselves against orcas.

 

The cetaceans had formed a circle with their tail flukes pointing outward, a defensive position known as a rosette.

 

Then a massive dark bubble rose to the surface. It was initially thought to be a blood bubble from an attack. 

 

When scientists reviewed footage of the attack, they realized the bubble wasn't blood; it was feces. The whales had actually defecated at will, creating a "cloud of diarrhoea" and at the same time, fanning their tails around through it to fend off or confuse the predators. Biologists call this technique defense defecation. 

 

The primary diet of sperm whales is squid, which accounts for the red color. Whatever the orcas thought it was, they weren't willing to endure it to continue the attack – they all decided to quit.

 

It is rare for orcas to try to take down sperm whales, with only a few documented cases around the world. And this incident highlights the weird and wonderful interactions that go on in nature mostly unseen by human eyes.

 

Sperm whales will also apparently use defensive defecation against annoying photographers. As this BBC Sounds video from nine years ago showed:

😂😂

Please Pick Up Your Own Poop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oxygen? Check. Crampons? Check. Poop bags?… Check. 

Those aspiring to climb Everest this year will have to make some adjustments to their packing list, as new rules now mandate that climbers bring their excrement down with them from the world’s highest peak, in a bid to tackle pollution. 

 

Most people who attempt to climb the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) Mount Everest do so via Nepal, paying $11,000 apiece just for the climbing permit. With gear, food, supplemental oxygen, Sherpa guides and more, it costs upward of $35,000 to take on the mountain. 

 

But the world’s highest peak has a poop problem, driven by the number of visitors, and the harsh conditions on the mountain, which interfere with the degradation process. 

 

“The problem of human waste on Everest was very bad”, Diwas Pokhrel, first vice president of Everest Summiteers Association, told CNN, adding that at the mountain’s highest points, it was “polluting the mountain environment”. 

 

Without the new rules, the poo problem was highly likely to get worse: Last year, Nepal gave out a record 478 climbing permits to climb the peak. Twelve climbers were confirmed to have died on the mountain, while another five remain officially missing. 

 

Jinesh Sindurakar of the Nepal Mountaineering Association told CNN that an estimated 1,200 people will be on Everest this season. 

 

“Each person produces 250 grams (8.8 ounces) of excrement a day and they will spend 2 weeks on the higher camps for the summit push”, Sindurakar explained, adding that each climber will be given two poop bags, which can each be used six times. The bags contain chemicals to solidify the human waste and make it odorless, Sindurakar said, and Nepal’s Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality will issue some 8,000 bags this season. 

 

Efforts to reduce the impact of tourism on the Himalayas have stepped up, with 35,708 kilograms of waste and plastics removed from peaks including Everest, Lhotse, Annapurna and Baruntse through an initiative led by the Nepali Army, according to the Himalayan Times.

One Billion Meals Are Wasted Every Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More than one billion meals are wasted across the world each day while nearly 800 million people go hungry, a new United Nations report has found. 

 

The world wasted 1.05 billion metric tons of food in 2022, meaning about a fifth of the food available to people was squandered by households, restaurants and other parts of the food service and retail sectors. 

 

This is on top of the 13% of the world’s food lost as it makes its journey from farm to fork. In total, about a third of all food goes to waste during the production process. These waste figures are particularly stark when contrasted with the report’s findings that about a third of the world’s population faces food insecurity and 783 million are affected by hunger. 

 

The staggering statistics, published Wednesday in the UN Environment Program (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2024, raise questions about the world’s ability to distribute the food it produces and highlights the role of food waste as a driver of climate change, according to UNEP Director Inger Andersen. 

 

“Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions will go hungry today as food is wasted across the world”, Andersen (right) said. “Not only is this a major development issue, but the impacts of such unnecessary waste are causing substantial costs to the climate and nature”. 

 

The report distinguished between food “loss” – food discarded early in the supply chain, for instance vegetables that rot in fields and meat that spoils when unrefrigerated – and food “waste”, food thrown out by households, restaurants and stores. 

 

Households wasted 631 million metric tons of food in 2022 – 60% of the total – while the food service sector accounted for 28% of the waste and retail 12%. The average person wastes 79 kilograms (174 pounds) of food each year, meaning at least one billion meals of edible food are wasted in households each day, the report found. 

 

And food is resource-intensive to produce, requiring huge amounts of land and water, and food systems are responsible for about a third of global planet-heating emissions. The vast majority of food waste goes to landfill, generating methane as it breaks down. 

 

A potent greenhouse gas, methane has about 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years. Food waste not only fuels climate change but may be exacerbated by it, the report said. 

 

Hotter countries were found to waste more food than cooler ones, as higher temperatures make it more challenging to store and transport food before it spoils. 

 

The report also said food waste is not just a “rich world” phenomenon. The amount of food wasted in high- and middle-income countries differed by just 7 kilograms (15 pounds) per person each year. 

 

I had it again yesterday! If you love cempedak you gotta try out Burger King's Cempedak Pie! Crispy pie crust with oozing cempedak filling! 👍

Malaysia Falls to Oman

I must confess that I'm not really into Malaysian football. And that's sad.

 

That aside, Malaysia has a humongous mountain to climb after back-to-back 2-0 defeats to Oman. The second loss was on home ground, in Bukit Jalil, on Tuesday. 

 

In case you didn't know, this was the Group D 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup qualifying match.

 

Twenty-six thousand fans showed up. Somebody remarked that English singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran had 80,000 people last month at the same venue. Sad.

 

In January, a US judge sided with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in his fight with Disney, rejecting a lawsuit that had accused the latter of organizing a campaign of "government retaliation". 

 

Judge Allen Winsor said the actions that Disney opposed were legal and they lacked standing to sue the governor. Florida moved to tighten its oversight of Disney's amusement park last year. 

 

The change came after the company criticized a state law, the Parental Rights in Education Act – dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics – which banned discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

 

In his ruling, Judge Winsor accepted that the changes were clearly detrimental to Disney, which had enjoyed unusual power over the special tax district where their Walt Disney World park is located since 1967. 

 

Still, Disney moved to appeal the dismissal of their suit – but on Wednesday, the mass media and entertainment conglomerate agreed to put an end to all litigation pending in state court in Florida between Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. They also agreed not to challenge the CFTOD’s determination that the prior agreements with the old Reedy Creek Improvement District were null and void. 

 

I guess, good sense prevailed.

China: A Top Destination for UEC Malaysian Graduates

China has become one of the top destinations for graduates from independent Chinese schools in Malaysia seeking tertiary education, says educationist group Dong Zong. 

 

According to Sin Chew Daily and reproduced in the Star on March 23, Dong Zong chairperson Tan Tai Kim said that over 1,000 graduates annually utilise their Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) qualifications to gain admission to Chinese universities.

 

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 – which include 1,906 universities across 108 countries and regions – already reveals that China’s best tertiary institutions are of top notch quality. In fact, they are inching closer than ever to entering the top 10 – Tsinghua University and Peking University have both risen a few places to sit in 12th and 14th positions, respectively. 

 

China now has 13 universities in the top 200 – up from seven in 2020 – with each of them improving their ranking significantly.

 

The question has never been would Chinese universities crack the top 10 but rather when, according to Denis Simon, a China expert previously affiliated with the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He describes the rise of China as one of the momentous events of the twenty-first century and says that it should be no surprise that its higher education system continues to improve. 

 

The number of Chinese institutions in the top 400 of the World University Rankings has doubled from just 15 in 2021 to 30 this year. This is mirrored by continued declines in the number of UK and US institutions in the top 200 (by four and three institutions, respectively, since 2021). 

 

Ming Cheng, professor of higher education at the Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University, says that although the US and the UK still lead the university rankings, their “relative power is waning”.

 

Mandarin Chinese is not an easy language to master. And that's because it is a tonal language, which means that the tone used when pronouncing a word can completely change its meaning. 

 

If you don't know the tone, you don't really know the word. For example, 'da' means nothing by itself, but can mean 'to hang over something' (dā), 'to answer' (dà), 'to hit' (dǎ) or 'big' (dà) depending on the tone.

 

Therefore, tones in Mandarin are more important than you think!

 

😂😂

Gloating Over The March 22 Tragedy

A continuing story on the bloodbath in Moscow on March 22 (kindly refer to my post published March 24):

 

Anyone who rejoices at the terrorist massacre at Crocus City Hall is nothing other than scum, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. 

 

Peskov was asked to comment on the remarks by Aleksey Arestovich (right), former top adviser to Ukrainian President [V]ladimir [Z]elensky, who appeared to suggest that Kiev might have been behind the attack and that Russia had it coming, before backtracking. 

 

“As for those who gloat about the terrible tragedy that we have experienced, they are scum”, Peskov said. “We can’t call them otherwise, whether they clarified it later or not”.

 

Not forgetting Victoria Nuland's (right) parting shot, when she warned Russia that it was in for some nasty “surprises”.

 

I take it as thinly veiled gloating. And a surprise did come on Friday.

 

As if the world doesn't know that the US is colluding with all types of demons – terrorists, fascists, Zionists, etc. – to achieve its Roman empire-style global hegemony.  

 

Furthermore, I certainly do not think that this act of terrorism is going to change Russia’s plans for Ukraine. News from the front shows that Russian forces are continuing to advance all along the front. The position of the Ukrainian military is becoming more precarious with each passing day.

 

And fyi, Russia has raised the death toll from the bloodbath in Moscow to 139.

Really Cool Popcorn Buckets

The movie Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (which premiered March 22) has US concessionaires showcasing some really cool promotional popcorn buckets. 

 

Check out AMC's Ghost Trap which is able to hold 130oz of popcorn, and I read that it commands a $39.99 price tag:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not to be outdone, Regal Cinemas show off their take on the iconic, caution-striped clad film prop turned snack tub that includes moveable hinge doors, a carriable handle, and matching up well enough to its big-screen counterpart, side panels comprised of static knobs and caution stickers. It holds 70oz of popcorn and priced at $24.95:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Cinemark’s Slimer popcorn tub, priced at $30 and which features the Ghostbusters character with his mouth wide open, ready for moviegoers to reach in and grab some buttery goodness:

Ghostbusters collectables.

LEGO Say No to Using Minifig Heads to Obscure Suspects' Faces

In the US, getting arrested is no child’s play – except for these California cops. 

 

The Murrieta Police Department have been posting hilarious arrest and lineup photos with suspects’ faces replaced by LEGO minifig heads to comply with a new state law protecting offenders’ rights. 

 

Images on the department’s Instagram page show the LEGO blocks with a variety of facial expressions – crying, frowning, smirking or raging – digitally superimposed onto the bodies of people being busted. One appears to show two people handcuffed in the back of a squad car – with the LEGO face on one angrily looking at the other, whose toy head is crying.

 

Photos: Murrieta Police Department

 

Another shows five people in a lineup – completely unrecognizable because of the toy heads. 

 

The Photoshop-savvy law enforcement agency explained March 18 that they are shielding detainees’ faces to comply with a new state law prohibiting the release of mugshots and booking photos of those accused of nonviolent crimes. The law, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last September and implemented on January 01, also requires police departments to remove other mugshots from social media after fourteen days.

 

The practice is nothing new for the Murrieta police: they have been obscuring suspects’ faces for a couple of years now, with emoji faces, characters like "The Grinch" and "Shrek", and yes, even "Barbie" heads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posts on their social pages have included people caught stealing phones, shoplifting, taking part in drug use or sales, soliciting, or other non-violent crimes.

 

But once LEGO got wind, they put the kibosh on it. 

 

"The LEGO Group reached out to us and respectfully asked us to refrain from using their intellectual property in our social media content which of course we understand and will comply with", said Lt. Jeremy Durrant of the Murrieta Police Department.

UNSC Pass Immediate Gaza Ceasefire Resolution

Finally, the United Nations Security Council have demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza as well as the unconditional release of all hostages as the United States abstained from the vote. The remaining 14 council members all voted for the resolution on Monday. 

FYI, the US has used its veto three times – this time, the US lets it pass.

Therefore, this is a very significant development, even if there's still a lot of work to be done. 

As far as I know, resolutions of the Security Council are international law and they are always seen as binding on all the member states of the United Nations.

The vote came amid international calls to bring the months-long conflict to an end, as Israeli forces pummel Gaza with one of the most destructive campaigns, and humanitarian conditions in the besieged strip reach critical levels.

I have one misgiving though. What about the Palestinians languishing in Israeli prisons? I consider them hostages as well. And they should be freed too. 

But let's put all the cards on the table. The ceasefire won't happen because Israel won't agree and the US won't make the Israelis stop the carnage! 

Besides, didn't White House National Security Council John Kirby echoed a stance made after the vote by US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield that the resolution was non-binding? This was all a farce!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh nak cempedak!* 😆 Burger King ada Cempedak Pie and it is irresistibly sedap ✨ #BurgerKingMY

Yes, I had it on Saturday! My verdict:👍

[*There's no English equivalent for this fruit's name. Unless you want to get scientific and call it "Artocarpus integer"].

And if you don't know what it looks like 👇

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I'm looking forward to Musang King Durian Pie! What say you, Burger King?

The US Explanation Doesn't Add Up

My blog post "Bloodbath in Moscow" yesterday pertains. I'm reproducing excerpts from a Dmitry Trenin piece on RT News today which talks about the same topic and whose views I agree: 

 

"The US government’s version of an Islamic State connection to the attack has been met with skepticism by Russian officials and commentators. Firstly, they were surprised by how quickly – virtually within minutes – Washington pointed the finger at the group. What also drew the attention of Russian observers was the US reference to an IS-linked news site which had claimed responsibility for the crime. Normally, all such sources are subjected to thorough checks. But not this time. Figures in Russia have also noted that American spokesmen immediately, and without prompting, declared that Ukraine was in no way linked to the act of terror. 

 

Other criticisms of the American version include the style of the attack (no political statements or demands were made); the admission by one of the captured attackers that he had shot innocent people for money; and the fact that this was not planned as a suicide operation. Many experts have pointed out that IS are far from their prime, and that Russian forces defeated their core elements in Syria years ago. This has allowed speculation to grow about a false flag attack. 

 

Ukraine, true to form, and alone among the nations of the world, has suggested that the Crocus City atrocity was an operation carried out by Russia’s own secret services, launched to facilitate a further tightening of the political regime and a new wave of mobilization. Clearly nonsensical, this interpretation invoked in many Russian minds the old proverb, “liar, liar, pants on fire”.

 

The Crocus City terrorist attack seemingly fits into a pattern. It has come against the background of Ukraine's intensification of artillery and drone strikes against the civilian population in Russian regions on the shared border, as well as attempts – all thwarted, thus far – to raid Russian villages. As a result, scores of Russian civilians have been killed or wounded, and thousands of children evacuated to safety. The conclusion reached by many analysts is that Ukraine, by focusing on “soft” civilian targets, had been seeking to undermine the Russian population’s morale in the run-up to the presidential elections in mid-March, and to strain the country’s internal stability after them. 

 

Regarding the concert hall massacre, there is another aspect at play: the US version of IS complicity and the use of Tajik citizens to carry out the attack may be intended to stoke inter-ethnic tensions within Russia between the Slavic majority and the Muslim minority population, both local and immigrant. 

 

Taken together, all of this strengthens the argument of those inside Russia who have long insisted that Ukraine – under its present ultra-nationalist leadership – is a terrorist state, and that Russia simply cannot tolerate such a regime on its borders. They believe that any talk of a ceasefire or negotiations should stop. Russia must achieve a complete victory – otherwise it will constantly bleed at the hands of the terrorists in power next door, supported and protected by the country's adversaries in the West. 

 

If the results of the investigation confirm that Ukraine was behind the Crocus City massacre, Russia’s war aims will need to be greatly expanded, and the conflict will significantly grow in intensity".

 

The death toll from the Moscow terrorist attack has risen to 137.

BYD's Yangwang U9 Can Dance and Smoke a Ferrari

After launching their cheapest electric models (starting under $14,000), declaring a price war with gas-powered cars, China's BYD are taking aim at a new market. 

 

On January 05, 2024, BYD launched the Yangwang ultra-luxury brand, showcasing the off-road U8 and U9 electric supercar.

 

Already, in December, the brand began deliveries of its first vehicle, the U8 off-road SUV, with starting prices over $150,000 (1,089,000 yuan). The luxury SUV has generated hype as a Mercedes G-Class and Land Rover Defender rival with 1,200 hp and premium features like tank turns and tire blowout stabilization. 

 

BYD have even shown off the U8’s “float mode”, which helps the vehicle navigate through water during emergencies. In fact, the SUV made its debut in Europe at the 2024 Geneva Motor Show (February 26 – March 04, 2024).

 

And on February 25, BYD officially launched the Yangwang U9 electric supercar with a listing price of $233,400 (1,680,000 yuan). Pre-orders started on the same day, and customers who want to purchase U9 must pay a non-refundable 300,000 yuan deposit. BYD will offer a warranty for 6 years or 150,000 km.  

 

The official top speed of YangWang U9 is 309.19 km/h. It was tested on the famous Shanghai International Circuit, reaching the official lap time of 2 minutes, 17 seconds, and 65 milliseconds. 

 

Here are the times of other cars for comparison:

• Nio EP9: 2 minutes, 01 seconds, and 11 milliseconds 
• BMW M5 F90: 2 minutes, 22 seconds, and 828 milliseconds 
• Porsche Panamera Turbo: 2 minutes 27 seconds, and 727 milliseconds

With BYD’s Disus X full active body control system, the two-door coupe can jump, shake, and dance. It even comes with four different “dance mode” songs so you can dance to the beat:

 

With an 800V system, the electric supercar can charge from 30% to 80% in 10 minutes, it is claimed. It also supports dual charging.