High stakes lightning link

151 Thai soldiers, who went to Hawaii to participate in the Lightning Forge 2020 joint training program with the US, returned home yesterday on a Thai Airways flight that landed at Suvarnabhumi airport at 5:40 pm. 10 soldiers were found to have high fevers and were rushed to a hospital in Bangkok to be tested for Covid-19 . Another soldier was sent to the hospital due to an injury to his finger that required surgery. The 140 other returnees were transported to state quarantine facilities in the eastern Chon Buri province and will remain there for 14 days. They arrived at the Ambassador City Hotel in Jomtien around 10pm last night. The commander of 14th Military Circle and coordinator of the training program says the army will enforce strict measures to keep the returnees in quarantine and make sure no one slips out. “We have added checkpoints and surveillance staff to monitor all entrances, exits and public areas within the facilities … [Read more...] about 10 returning soldiers found with high fever

MELBOURNE — As they stirred to the sounds of roaring thunder, Melbourne folk would have had some idea there was wild weather taking place over the city on Monday night. But only the next day, as images began to surface could they grasp the severity of the storm that led to power outages across the city and threw its transport services into chaos. See also: Watch High Winds Reverse the Course of a 98-Foot Waterfall The electrical storm kicked off at around 2 a.m. and continued through to sunrise, with a barrage of lightning strikes illuminating the city skyline. The freak weather event resulted in 26 millimetres of rain, Melbourne's heaviest rainfall in over a year, and led to flash flooding in parts of the city. Planes were grounded at the airport, while morning commuters were stuck in limbo as a power surge disrupted the metropolitan train network. While most stayed within the comfort of their beds during the chaos through the night, some sprung into action to capture … [Read more...] about Spectacular Lightning Show During Wild Weather in Melbourne

Apple has been served with a court order at the FBI's request, demanding that it assist the government agency with unlocking an iPhone 5C that was used by Syed Rizwan Farook. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 and injured 24 in an attack in San Bernardino, California on December 2, 2015. In response, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the FBI was demanding the equivalent of a backdoor and that complying with the FBI's demand would undermine the security of all iPhones. Whether you call it a "backdoor" or not, it's important to recognize that the ordered changes to the iPhone operating system would not circumvent the core of the iPhone's encryption. The court isn't asking Apple to defeat the encryption in any way. Nor does the court require Apple to create a vulnerability that would jeopardize the security of any other phone. Rather, it's asking Apple to do the one thing that Apple alone can do: use the iPhone's built-in method of installing firmware written by Apple. … [Read more...] about Encryption isn’t at stake, the FBI

PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community ‘Billion baht’ police arrested linked to insurgency, oil smuggling The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Two crime-fighting agencies agencies have been assigned to investigate a series of high-profile arrests – including Central Investigation Bureau Commissioner Lt Gen Pongpat Chayaphan – over a longstanding contraband petrol trade that may have been used to back insurgents in the Deep South. Justice Minister Gen Paiboon Koomchaya said the DSI had found that insurgents and those involved in the petrol trade had reciprocally supported each other and the illegal activity involved unidentified government officials. The heads of the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) met with Gen Paiboon and were told to investigate the matter. Gen Pongpat had been the subject of an asset seizure, Gen Paiboon said, following the discovery … [Read more...] about ‘Billion baht’ police arrested linked to insurgency, oil smuggling

India’s exports of electronics goods have not only recovered to pre-Covid levels but also touched an all time high of Rs 8,806 crore in the month of December 2020, data released by commerce ministry last week showed. Of this, mobile phones remained the top contributor with exports worth Rs 3,061 crore - or roughly 35% of total electronics exports - which though is still to reach pre-Covid levels which were as high as Rs 3,254 crore. For 2020, however, electronics exports declined 4.32% to Rs 73,132 crore due to washout of production for 45 days during shutdown of factories. Import also continued to remain high at Rs 3.5 lakh crore as India mostly imports components required to assemble electronic goods which are then exported. Besides smartphones, electronics goods comprises computers/laptops, electric inverters, transformers, battery chargers, scanners, printers, speakers, TVs, base stations and microprocessors. The National Policy on Electronics 2019 envisages … [Read more...] about India’s electronics exports cross pre-Covid levels, touch record high of Rs 8806 Cr in December