Hong Kong security officials’ visit to Thailand can serve as a fresh warning to residents vulnerable to high-paying job scams, although it is unlikely to lead to the immediate return of those being lured to work in Southeast Asia, a lawmaker has said. Security legislator Gary Chan Hak-kan argued the government had dispatched the task force following a sudden increase in missing persons reports over the past month, pleas for assistance by the families of victims and the recent rescue of mainland Chinese actor Wang Xing, who fell prey to a human trafficking network. The task force, led by Undersecretary for Security Michael Cheuk Hau-yip, left for Bangkok on Sunday night. Its members plan to meet officials from Thai authorities and the Chinese embassy there, including representatives of the anti-human
Category Archives: SECURITY
Jan
As wildfires continue to blaze across Los Angeles County, authorities are sounding the alarm on another potential threat to the public: scams relating to the disaster. Multiple law enforcement officials have warned of bad actors scheming to take advantage of charitable people looking to chip in and give to those in need due to the fires. “We have people with big hearts who want to help, they want to donate, they want to support the victims,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press conference Saturday. “We also see scammers who are taking advantage of that goodness and that generosity and scamming and defrauding those individuals.” Bonta urged the public to beware of fraudulent organizations falsely claiming to be charities or nonprofits aiding fire victims. A group of young
Jan
German authorities have said an oil tanker stuck in German waters belongs to Russia’s “shadow fleet”, which Berlin says is used to avoid sanctions. Germany’s maritime authorities (CCME) said on Friday that the Panamanian-flagged ship, known as Eventin, had lost power and steering, meaning tugboats were deployed to secure the vessel. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock blamed Moscow, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “circumventing” sanctions and threatening European security by “ruthlessly deploying a fleet of rusty tankers”. Russia, which previously declined to respond to accusations that it uses a shadow fleet, has not yet commented on this incident. The US, UK and the EU have imposed sanctions on Russia’s oil industry following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In its first report of the tanker drifting in German
Jan
The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Gender and Affirmative Action, Ann Wang’ombe, has decried rising incidents of gender-based violence in the Mt. Kenya region, citing femicide as the leading menace. Wang’ombe, who was addressing mourners yesterday in Othaya constituency in Nyeri County during the burial of a relative, observed that the majority of incidents of GBV that have occurred in the area affected women. She said although men were equally affected, Wang’ombe called on parents and church leaders to sensitise men that women are not “lesser” human beings, saying the perception has largely contributed to the femicide currently being experienced in various parts of the country. “At the end of last year, cases of gender-based violence, especially femicide, have increased in this region, and we need to have some
![An American flag is seen through razor wire on the control tower of the Camp VI detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, on April 17, 2019 [Alex Brandon/AP Photo]](https://esbecgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Guantanamo-at-23-Whats-next-for-the-‘lawless-detention-facility.jpg)
Jan
Washington, DC – The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, turns 23 on Saturday. For Mansoor Adayfi, a former inmate at the prison, the anniversary marks 23 years of “injustice, lawlessness, abuse of power, torture and indefinite detention”. Only 15 prisoners remain at the United States military prison, known as Gitmo, which once held about 800 Muslim men — a dwindling number that gives advocates hope that the facility will eventually be shut down, turning the page on the dark chapter of history it represents. But Adayfi, who now serves as a coordinator for the Guantanamo Project at the advocacy group CAGE International, says truly closing down Gitmo means delivering justice to its current and former detainees. “The United States must acknowledge its wrongdoing, must issue a formal, official apology to
Jan
Nato is increasing its surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea region with two ships deployed to the area following the suspected sabotage of undersea cables between Finland and Estonia. The move was unveiled on Friday by Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, who called on policymakers to increase technical surveillance of the area, noting that it is impossible to monitor all submarine activity with ships. A wider presence in the area by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has a “calming and stabilising effect and we are very pleased about the decision”, Valtonen told reporters in Helsinki. The decision comes after Finland retrieved the anchor of a tanker, Eagle S, from the seabed as it probes aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference of communications in the cable breach incident that happened in
Jan
The property previously owned by former president Nelson Mandela in Houghton, Johannesburg, where his grandson Mbuso was arrested with four hijacking suspects on Wednesday, is not rented out. Mbuso’s elder brother Ndaba told TimesLIVE the property had been neglected by his younger brother who had been living there for years. Mbuso is expected to appear in the Johannesburg magistrate’s court on Friday with four other suspects arrested with him. According to Johannesburg metro police (JMPD) spokesperson Xolani Fihla, the arrests followed information from a vehicle tracking company regarding the location of a white Toyota Corolla hijacked on Wednesday on Louis Botha Avenue in Oaklands. Fihla said at the time JMPD officers recovered the hijacked vehicle and apprehended four men and one woman and a subsequent search of the premises resulted
Jan
Zorena Jantze THE bail hearing of Wentzel Maasdorp, who stands accused of murdering his domestic partner, Delia Weimers-Maasdorp, was a sombre environment, with the deceased woman seeming to speak from the grave, as the State presented texts from her journal showcasing how she struggled to end her relationship with Wentzel Maasdorp, who she claimed in her diary stole her bank cards as well as money from her purse to buy drugs. State Prosecutor Eric Naikaku also presented evidence of WhatsApp messages, provided by the State’s first witness, Raymond Lorenzo Maasdorp, the ex-husband of the deceased Weimers-Maasdorp, who is also a relative of Wentzel Maasdorp. Raymond added that he separated from the deceased in 2022, due her addiction issues and that the deceased started dating his relative Wentzel in August 2023
Jan
As several fires spread across Southern California, President-elect Donald Trump blamed policies from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden for causing the outbreak. “He is the blame for this,” Trump wrote about Newsom on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday. But the governor’s office called Trump’s evidence “pure fiction.” A person uses a garden hose in an effort to save a neighboring home from catching fire during the Eaton Fire, Jan. 8, 2025, in Altadena, California. Mario Tama/Getty Images “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in
Jan
At least two people were killed as several fast-growing wildfires raged out of control on Wednesday near Los Angeles, destroying hundreds of buildings, scorching hillsides and prompting officials to order some 70,000 people to evacuate their homes. Fierce winds were hindering firefighting efforts and fuelling the fires, which have expanded unimpeded since they began on Tuesday. The biggest blaze has consumed more than 5,000 acres in Pacific Palisades, a picturesque neighborhood in west Los Angeles County between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu that is home to many film, television and music stars. More than 1,000 structures have been destroyed, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at a press conference on Wednesday. Another fire, the Eaton fire, had grown to more than 2,000 acres as it
Jan
A huge Chinese coastguard vessel was spotted sailing in contested waters last weekend, in what analysts saw as a pointed warning to the Philippines over its growing military alliance with the US. Nicknamed “the monster” for its 165-metre (180-yard) length, the world’s largest coastguard ship was spotted over the weekend near Scarborough Shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island. The shoal has long been a flashpoint in the South China Sea . Using Canada’s advanced detection technology, the Philippine coastguard tracked the Chinese vessel as it manoeuvred through the West Philippine Sea, a term Manila uses for the parts of the South China Sea within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In a video posted by the Philippine coastguard, BRP Cabra, a Philippine patrol vessel, radioed the Chinese ship to demand that
![A serviceman of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade 'Khartiia' of the National Guard of Ukraine prepares to fire a Giatsint-B howitzer towards Russian troops at a position on a front line, in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on January 6, 2025 [Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters]](https://esbecgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Here-are-the-key-developments-on-the-1049th-day-of-Russias-full-scale-invasion-of-Ukraine.jpg)
Jan
Here are the key developments on the 1,049th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A serviceman of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade ‘Khartiia’ of the National Guard of Ukraine prepares to fire a Giatsint-B howitzer towards Russian troops at a position on a front line, in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on January 6, 2025 [Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters] Here is the situation on Wednesday, January 8: Fighting Kyiv said its forces are still actively fighting in Kurakhove, a strategic town in Ukraine’s east that Russia said it had seized. Moscow hailed the capture of the “important logistics hub”, saying it would enable Russian forces to take the rest of the eastern Donetsk region “at an accelerated pace”. Ukraine also said its forces were “commencing new offensive actions” in Russia’s western Kursk region
Jan
Joburg EMS said teams received a call about an incident on corner of Guinea Fowl Street and Smew Avenue on Tuesday evening. (CityofJoburgEMS/X) One person has been rushed to hospital, while emergency rescue teams are digging through rubble searching for another, after a structure collapsed in Lenasia on Tuesday evening. Joburg EMS spokesperson Nana Radebe-Kgiba said that at around 19:45, teams received a distress call about an incident on corner of Guinea Fowl Street and Smew Avenue. “On arrival, rescue technicians managed to remove one patient from the rubble and take them to a nearby medical facility. Search and rescue is under way for the second person, who is believed to be stuck under the rubble,” she said. We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred Who
Jan
The highly decorated soldier who exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI including ChatGPT to help plan the attack, Las Vegas police said on Tuesday. Nearly a week after 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger fatally shot himself, officials said according to writings, he did not intend to kill anyone else. An investigation of Livelsberger’s searches through ChatGPT indicate he was looking for information on explosive targets, the speed at which certain rounds of ammunition would travel and whether fireworks were legal in Arizona. Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, called the use of generative AI a “game-changer” and said the department was sharing information with other law enforcement agencies. “This is the first incident that I’m aware of on US soil
Jan
North Korea says it test-fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile on Monday, in a provocative display of its advancing weapons capabilities timed to coincide with a visit by Washington’s top diplomat to the region that came just days before the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump . State media heralded the test as a major milestone. Describing the missile as a cornerstone of his country’s strategic arsenal, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un boasted that it could render enemy defences ineffective. “The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state,” Kim said, according to comments carried by state-run news agency KCNA. He added that the missile demonstrated the ability to deliver a “devastating military strike” by breaching even dense