The above pics were not photographed in a warzone – but in the good old USA!
As a matter of fact, they were taken in Torrance, California where police had surrounded a white cargo van that was connected with a mass shooting, 45 kilometers (28 miles) away.
At around 10:20 PM local time on Saturday (11:50 AM on Sunday IST), a gunman entered Star Ballroom Dance Studio, a popular dance hall in Monterey Park, and fired multiple rounds at patrons before fleeing the scene, killing 10 people and wounding another 10.
This led authorities to Torrance on Sunday, where the suspected gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a strip mall parking lot, law enforcement sources said (Los Angeles Times, January 22, 2023, updated 4:14 PM PT).
FYI, Monterey Park, about seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles, has a population of about 60,000 people, about 65 percent of whom are Asian American, according to government data. In the 1990s, the city claimed to have become the first in the continental United States to have a majority of residents with Asian ancestry.
In fact, the tragedy marked the fifth mass killing in the US since the start of the year.
I'm sure, we can expect more shootings. This is America, after all – and January 21 was just another day of killings!
From CNN to the Washington Post, US propaganda mouthpieces are facing tough times, as a series of media outlets have announced layoffs, albeit on a much smaller scale, amid fears of an economic downturn.
Vox Media, owner of the Vox and The Verge websites as well as the landmark New York Magazine and their online platforms, announced Friday they were letting go seven percent of their staff.
The news follows layoffs at CNN, NBC, MSNBC, Buzzfeed and other outlets.
In a Premier League game on Saturday between Liverpool and Chelsea, both teams played out a drab 0-0 draw at Anfield. Needless to say, fans were pretty much underwhelmed by another below par performance from the Reds.
At the halfway stage of the Premier League season, Liverpool have only 29 points, the lowest return since 2015/16. And their chances of making the top four are slipping away.
Next up, another trip to Brighton in the FA Cup fourth round next Sunday. Improvements needed, fast…
While the Chinese New Year has long been celebrated in Chinatowns across the US, this year marks the first time anywhere in the US, it is an official state holiday in California – although they're calling it the Lunar New Year.
That's because the celebrations also encompass the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, actually Tet Nguyen Dan (or Tet) as well as the Seollal (설날), the Korean celebration of the Lunar New Year.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law on September 29 last year.
But state employees will not get a paid day off – the new designation is just mere tokenism. It is supposedly viewed as a gesture of solidarity amid a wave of anti-Asian sentiment and violence fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic.
FYI, between March 2020 and 2022, the Stop AAPI Hate non-profit recorded nearly 11,500 hate incidents against Asian Americans, ranging from verbal harassment to violent beatings.
Home to more than six million residents of Asian descent, California became somewhat of an epicentre for bigotry, according to the Stop AAPI HATE report, with more than a third (4,333) of documented incidents.
Celtic progressed to the last 16 of the Scottish Cup with a comfortable 5-0 win over second-tier Greenock Morton yesterday.
Aaron Mooy's eighteenth minute penalty put Celtic in front and Kyogo Furuhashi quickly doubled their advantage 3 minutes later.
David Turnbull's tidy finish in the forty-second minute and another from Kyogo (45+1) had Celtic four up at the break and afterward, Mooy struck his second in the eighty-fourth minute. And Ange Postecoglou's side are the first to claim a place in Sunday's draw.
This year, we welcome the Year of the Rabbit 2023!
In Chinese culture, the rabbit is the luckiest of the 12 zodiac animals, as it symbolises longevity, peace and prosperity.
The Chinese of yore believed a rabbit lived on the moon. This follows the legend of the Jade Rabbit who is the companion of Chang-e, goddess of the moon.
In fact, the Rabbit is often depicted as preparing the elixir of life for the Chinese Immortals.
Anyway, "Xīnnián kuàilè" (新年快乐)!
Award-winning Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun is ushering in the Lunar New Year with his fifth directed Chinese New Year folk music video, “Echoes of the New Year”.
Filmed at the green paddy fields of Sekinchan in Selangor, the five-minute-30-second MV showcases the folk arts of Hakka, Cantonese, Hainanese, Teochew and Hokkien as well as the Peranakan communities.
The MV also includes an array of cultural elements from sape to cak lempong, dragon and lion dance, Chinese opera, 24 festive drums, Chinese zithers and more.
Produced by SunStrong Entertainment in collaboration with Janji Pictures, Southern Islet Pictures and The Classic Accents, the MV opens with a classic poem which gives a sense of renewal and hope following two years of hardships due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The props seen in the music video such as kuku kambing (traditional crowbar), millstone, bakul siah (auspicious basket), porcelain plates and paper windmill are real artefacts that belong to the elderly in different communities.
The music video is performed by Sung Fong Meng Cantonese Opera as well as the Penang Teochew Puppet and Opera House.
They are joined by Hainanese opera actress Mah Ah Mooi, singer Winnie Ho, Kun Seng Keng Dragon and Lion Dance Selangor, Souls Impact Percussion, Klang Pin Hwa High School Drum Team and Rithaudin.
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The Golden Horse Awards winner is known for his works in the preservation of traditional arts and culture, after having spent 18 years documenting local oral traditions of different Chinese dialects and sharing these stories with the larger community.
A good initiative because the new generation gets to know that in addition to the popular Chinese New Year songs we hear today, there is also folk music which has been part of our communities for centuries.
Besides, preserving traditional arts and culture should be encouraged.
The Lunar New Year – also called Spring Festival because it celebrates the first days of spring on the lunar calendar – is witnessing the mass movement of people back to their hometowns. China especially because the country has confidently walked away from its zero Covid policies.
Contrary to the gloom and foreboding painted by Western media that China is in collapse (read my post published January 02), the Chinese are looking ahead to the future with fresh optimism.
And sorry to disappoint them, China has not collapsed!
According to official data, as of Wednesday, a total of 480 million trips have been made since the Spring Travel rush started on January 07, an increase of 47.1 percent compared with that of 2020, but still 47.3 percent down compared with the pre-pandemic level in 2019.
It is estimated that a total of 2.1 billion trips will be made during this year’s Spring Festival travel rush, known as chunyun (traditional Chinese: 春運; simplified Chinese: 春运). FYI, it normally begins 15 days ahead of Lunar New Year's Day and lasts for about 40 days.
This morning, I read that Shanghai Hongchiao Airport reportedly handled 1,600 flights in a single day!
But many foreign media outlets are hyping that the massive travel rush will contribute to another wave of Covid-19 cases and lead to an increase in the official death toll.
No doubt, challenges still remain – but there is optimism sweeping the country. And there is widespread expectation that the Chinese economy will roar back to a fast growth trajectory.
For sure, the Spring Festival hustle and bustle is back – and it certainly heralds a very vibrant year ahead!
Google's parent company Alphabet will terminate 12,000 jobs, in the latest staff redundancies to hit the industry. The cuts are expected to affect 6 percent of Alphabet's workforce worldwide, in teams including recruitment and engineering.
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai accepted "full responsibility" for the cuts, in an internal email.
Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities said the layoffs highlight irresponsible spending across a sector basking in "hypergrowth".
"The reality is tech stalwarts over-hired at a pace that was unsustainable and now darker macro is forcing these layoffs across the tech space", he elaborated.
According to tech site Layoffs.fyi, nearly 194,000 industry employees have lost their jobs in the US alone since the beginning of 2022, not including those announced by Alphabet on Friday.
Hewlett Packard and cloud computing giant Salesforce also announced major cuts this month, as rampant inflation and rising interest rates have slowed growth.
Keep March 15 free! World Speech Day 2023 is coming to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia real soon!
The World Economic Forum – held each winter in Davos, Switzerland – is attended by a bit less than 3,000 guests that includes business tycoons, government heads and leaders from civil society. This year, it is taking place from January 16 to 20 under the theme "Cooperation in a fragmented world".
While climate and economy will be among the main topics up for discussion in this 5-day talkfest, critics argue that the attendees are “too out-of-touch or profit- or power-minded to address the needs of common people and the planet”, according to the Associated Press report.
Anyway, it’s not all talk! It is that time of the year when the demand for the world’s oldest profession sees a big spike in the Swiss Alpine town.
Swiss news outlet 20 Minuten reported citing a manager of a sex worker agency in Aargau, located 100 miles (161 km approximately) away from the summit, that they received “11 reservations and 25 inquires” just last week.
She revealed that they are requested for a wide range of services – from escorting people to dinner to sexual services, reported Indy100.
“Some also book escorts for themselves and their employees to party in the hotel suite”, the manager told the outlet, as per Daily Mail.
To book one of the sex workers for four hours, her escort company charges around $1,630, while one night can cost up to $2770, Indy100 report said.
One sex worker told the German tabloid newspaper Bild that her client is an American who is among the 2,700 delegates attending the meeting.
Liana, who charges around $760 for an hour and $2,500 for the whole night, said she wears business attire in order to blend in with the conference attendees, Daily Mail reported.
While it is unclear how many sex workers have reached Davos this year, an investigation by the UK newspaper The Times in 2020 found that at least 100 prostitutes travel to Davos at this time.
I suppose this is what is meant by mixing business with pleasure.
But please don’t let all of the above distract you into thinking Davos is simply a week long orgy for the rich and powerful. They are there to talk serious business, like how to ration ordinary people’s access to air travel, to save the planet from global warming.
Even if it reeks of pure hypocrisy. Don’t we know that many WEF attendees are flying in private jets while preaching about climate change?
As with previous prime ministers, Anwar Ibrahim (left) come up with a slogan, “Malaysia Madani”, for his government.
Mahathir Mohamed had his “Wawasan 2020” to reflect his eagerness for development. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi came up with “Islam Hadhari” as a reflection of his vision, which he even tried to export to other Islamic countries. Najib Razak used “1Malaysia” on everything from sundry shops to cash hand-outs. Muhyiddin Yassin promoted “Kerajaan Prihatin” as struggling Malaysians hoisted white flags in pleas for help and Ismail Sabri Yaakob had “Keluarga Malaysia”.
Predictably, on social media, sceptics are having a field day. Comments like “another slogan”, “slogans don’t work” to the more crude “Mad Anwar Ibrahim” have been made.
The consensus is that it’s good policies that people want to see. Let’s see where Malaysia Madani goes from here.
A United States judge on Thursday ordered Boeing Co. to appear in court on January 26 to be arraigned on a 2021 felony charge after families of those killed in two crashes objected to a 2021 plea deal.
Boeing won immunity from criminal prosecution as part of its $2.5 billion January 2021 Justice Department-deferred prosecution agreement over a 737 MAX fraud conspiracy charge related to the plane’s flawed design.
The families had argued the Justice Department “lied and violated their rights through a secret process” and asked the US district court judge Reed O’Connor to rescind Boeing’s immunity from criminal prosecution.
O’Connor, of the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth, ruled in October 2022 that people killed in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes are legally considered “crime victims” and family members had urged him to require Boeing to be legally arraigned on the felony charge.
Boeing and the Justice Department declined to comment.
