China on Friday launched the country's third aircraft carrier and also its second domestically
developed one in Shanghai, a move experts said is a milestone for the vessel's construction and future commissioning.
THE Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) would like to remind members of the public to remain vigilant at all times to safeguard personal information. This includes avoiding downloading files or applications from unverified sources onto mobile devices.
ABM would like to draw the public’s attention to the safety measures recommended by the Malaysia Computer Security Response Team’s (MyCERT) security advisory, published recently.
Here are some of the safeguards recommended by MyCERT:
> Do not install any app or Android package kit (.apk) file from unknown sources. This is because it may be malware designed to steal your personal details and your online banking credentials.
> Do not click on adware or suspicious URLs sent through messaging services.
> Do not root or jailbreak your device.
> Verify an application’s permission settings and the application’s author or publisher before installing it.
> Only download apps from official sources.
> Do install antivirus software on your devices and run it regularly.
> Update your device’s operating system and apps regularly.
With cybercriminals and online fraudsters constantly changing their methods, ABM would also like to urge the public to remember the following:
> Never divulge your personal details and/or banking credentials to unknown or unverified parties.
> Never disclose your transaction authorisation code (TAC) or personal identification number (PIN) or your online login username and password to anyone.
> Never click on any links to banks’ websites that are sent from unknown, suspicious or unverified emails. Always key in your bank’s website address directly into the URL bar in your Internet browser or use your bank’s official mobile app.
> Avoid websites offering products at prices that are too good to be true and are littered with spelling mistakes – these tend to be fraudulent sites.
> Avoid using public or open WiFi networks for online banking.
> Always ensure that the banking website or banking app that you are using is genuine and official.
> Always refer to your bank’s official website or contact your bank’s hotlines (stated on the back of your credit card or on the banks’ websites) directly for information, verification and clarification when in doubt.
Bank account holders are also advised to monitor your statements as well as transaction alerts from the banks closely.
If you notice any unusual or suspicious transactions, contact your bank as soon as possible to report it. Next, lodge a report with the police. Thereafter, notify the bank in writing with a copy of the police report and all relevant records and documentation, such as transaction history, etc. Due investigation processes are in place to determine if the reported transaction is indeed unauthorised.
ABM would like to reiterate that member banks are required to adopt high standards of security, including for Internet and mobile banking services. Routine security reviews and advisories are also issued by Bank Negara Malaysia to financial institutions to ensure adequate protection against the latest threats.
The public are advised to keep informed of emerging threats through the advisories issued by financial institutions, Bank Negara Malaysia and other authorities to protect themselves. Information on the latest threats and measures that you can take to protect yourself against cybercriminals and online fraudsters can be obtained from abm.org.my/consumer-information/fraud-alerts.
Lax enforcement, resistance to change, and an unwillingness to adopt new ideas are the root causes of the continuous data leaks plaguing the country for several years now, says a highly-placed source.
The source told The Star that the Personal Data Protection Department (PDPD), an agency under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry created to uphold data protection, is not living up to its charter because of the above factors.
It has also failed to exercise its powers to curb data leaks “time and time again”.
The source said data leaks do not solely hinge on the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA), as popularly believed.
“The primary responsibility of this department is to oversee the processing of personal data of individuals involved in commercial transactions by data users (to ensure) that it is not misused by the parties concerned.
“A data user is like a telco with which we register. It might appoint a data processor, a third party, which is presently not covered by the Act.
“However, with the new amendment soon, this third party will be covered.
“When there is a data leak, everyone immediately points to Cybersecurity Malaysia (CSM), but most don’t realise that they don’t have the legislative authority compared to the PDPD,” the source added.
The department was set up in 2011 immediately after Parliament passed the PDPA 2010 or Act 709.
CSM, which has the infrastructure and technical expertise to handle such matters, has no enforcement powers.“The director-general of PDPD is also the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection, which based on the law, can delegate power to CSM officers to execute the PDPA on its behalf.
“PDPD also has an adequate budget to appoint experts or officers to enforce the PDPA on a contract basis, but that was also not done.“To top it off, the current enforcement officers inside the department are mostly seconded from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, so how do you expect these officers to carry out enforcement when they don’t have the necessary skills set?” the source added.
Compared with Singapore, Malaysia may have passed a data protection act first, but the difference in execution and enforcement has caused the country to lag behind.
The PDPD has also seemingly failed to collect the expected revenue based on audits conducted by the National Audit Department (NAD) in the past few years.
According to the NAD, RM468.88mil could have been collected and channelled to the government’s coffers had enforcement been conducted strictly.
Today, 13 sectors must register as “data users” with the department.
“We are heading towards a digital society, and I foresee more data leaks occurring, but the responsible party has not given its utmost priority to handling these issues.
“Supposedly, these data breaches are under the purview of this department but were handed over to the police due to the lack of expertise by the said department’s officers.
“The police are supposed to be solving crime and they have a lot on their plate right now.
“This department can help the police in an integrated manner, it even has the power to arrest individuals, but no one is doing it,” the source said.
He also said that Malaysia meets all the requirements of a world-class entity but lacks implementation of systems and laws.
He added that this happens when you have “territorial, old-school people who are afraid of change and resist anything good” in the civil service.
“Looking at Singapore, which also has similar laws, we need to ask why we are in this situation,” the source said.
Malaysia has been subjected to several data leaks over the past years, with the most recent one related to the International Trade and Industry Ministry’s Public-Private Covid-19 Industrial Immunisation Programme (Pikas).
In mid-May, a data leak was reported by local tech portal Amanz, where a 160GB-sized database with personal details of 22 million Malaysians belonging to the National Registration Department (NRD) was being sold for US$10,000 (RM43,950) on the dark web.
Human's gut virus composition is as unique as a fingerprint: Study
What is the gut microbiome?
How the food you eat affects your gut - Shilpa Ravella
How the food you eat affects your brain - Mia Nacamulli
Lee’s work titled “The gut virome in two indigenous populations from Malaysia” has been published in the prestigious Nature publication, Scientific Reports.
“The sole purpose of a virus’s life is to multiply, but the irony is that it cannot multiply on its own.”
VIRUSES have been in our lives and newsfeeds almost incessantly in the last two years. We have been double-jabbed and masked for much of this time in an effort to avoid the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As we have learnt, these steps can help limit the spread of Covid-19 and help us avoid infection.
But can we avoid viruses entirely? The simple answer is no.
The sole purpose of a virus’s life is to multiply, but the irony is that it cannot multiply on its own.
Instead, viruses must rely on the cellular machinery from more advanced forms of life – bacteria, plants or animals.
How many viruses in total are there in the world at any time? An estimated ten nonillion (1031) is the figure that has been bandied about – a number so enormous that we cannot truly appreciate what it means.
There are so many types of viruses occupying so many different hosts and ecosystems that we have no idea of how many categories of viruses there are.
Humans carry an astronomical number of viruses all the time. These viruses do not kill us because their targets are the billions of bacteria that reside in our bodies, principally in the gut.
A recent paper from Chuen Zhang Lee, an Honours student at Monash University Malaysia, reports progress in identifying bacterial viruses in our guts by using human faeces as the starting material. Lee used faecal matter from two Malaysian Orang Asli groups, the Jehai and the Jakun, to show that the viruses they contain are different from viruses in more frequently studied groups, such as Europeans or Chinese.
Lee enriched the viruses in the faeces (as an indicator, of what is actually in the gut) away from all the yucky material, bacterial cells and human cells and extracted the genetic material from this virus enriched material.
The viral DNA was then sequenced at the Monash University Malaysia Genomics Facility using a technique that allows one to read long stretches of DNA.
Muhammad Zarul Hanifah, who works at the Genomics Facility, assisted Lee in analysing his data.
Using this method, Lee recognised approximately half the DNA as coming from known viruses. Based on the viruses he found, he could identify what some of the sample-givers had consumed and their lifestyle and environment.He also identified some of the bacteria in our guts these viruses could attack and therefore, get a partial picture of what types of bacteria could be in our guts.
These results start to build up a picture of how our gut health is determined, which can significantly determine our overall health. It is clear that viruses may also have a role in determining gut health – a complex topic.
Lee was supervised by a group of researchers including Prof Maude Phipps from the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dr Jeremy Barr from Monash University School of Biological Sciences and Prof Qasim Ayub, Prof Sunil Lal and Prof Sadequr Rahman from the School of Science.
Lee’s work titled “The gut virome in two indigenous populations from Malaysia” has been published in the prestigious Nature publication, Scientific Reports.
Viruses are clearly ‘cool’ and ‘hot’ right now, and are likely to remain that way for a long time. We look forward to furthering discoveries on viruses and insights into how they can be used to our benefit.
To know more about the programmes offered by the School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, visit www.monash.edu. my/science. Alternatively, visit www.monash.edu.my for more information.
If you really need to do online bank transactions in your hotel room or any public space, use your own mobile data or a VPN.
Eight things you should not do while travelling abroad.
WATCH your wallet, don’t buy fake designer goods and skip the ice cubes if you’re in the tropics – most people are aware of these “issues” when going abroad.
But there are more travel taboos than you may know. Bear these eight tips in mind on what not to do in order to be safe, and enjoy your trip.
1. Trusting the hotel safe
You may be used to stowing your passport, money, tickets and other valuable items in the hotel room safe, to avoid losing them when you are out and about, or getting robbed.
How safe are hotel safes, though? Not particularly – some very old models can be opened if the power supply is cut. Other safes can be opened if they are returned to their factory setting. Then there are those that spring open if you punch the lid.
Safes in hotel rooms often present little obstacle for thieves as they are only mounted in the wardrobe or on the wall with screws so they can easily be removed from the site, a German consumer advice centre warned in 2019.
It is safer to use the safe at hotel reception, where you can drop off your valuables. You’ll get a receipt and your items will be fully insured – unlike if you use the room safe.
2. Making phone calls or downloading a video onboard a ship
If you’re on a ferry, say from Germany to Sweden or Norway in Europe, you might not think twice about reaching for your smartphone, after roaming charges in the European Union and some other countries were dropped back in 2017.
But that only applies to landbased networks. As passengers would not have a mobile phone connection at sea, major ferries often have an onboard mobile phone network, connected to a satellite network.
Sadly these onboard networks are very expensive and the costs are not capped at a certain level. A brief call in Europe costs between €3 (RM14) and €7 (RM33) per minute.
You can also expect to pay up to €2.50 (RM12) per 100KB of data – and bear in mind that a brief Whatsapp video of less than a minute has a volume of around 1MB to 3MB. This means that playing it back could cost €25 (RM117) to €75 (RM352).
The cost of letting the kids watch a Youtube film would be eye-watering, so you are safest if you switch the phone to flight mode until you reach dry land.
3. Packing everything in your check-in bag
Another piece of vital travel advice is to put your necessities in your hand luggage. In 2019, airlines worldwide lost around 25.4 million luggage items, or just over 5.5 suitcases per thousand passengers, according to IT service provider Sita.
That is not necessarily a cause for concern, as 99.5% of all missing luggage eventually turn up, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). But if you want to avoid being among the remaining 0.5%, make sure your bag doesn’t have loose straps dangling off it, and ensure your suitcase is not excessively worn.
A further issue to bear in mind is the minimum connecting time at a transfer airport. If you have less than the minimum specified, time might get tight and your suitcase will probably only reach your destination on the airline’s next flight at the earliest, to be sent onwards by taxi or courier.
So if you want to avoid being stranded without fresh underwear and a toothbrush, carry the bare minimum in your hand luggage.
4. Being unprepared in case of an emergency
Have you ever checked out where the hotel’s emergency exit is? No matter how good the sprinkler system, you want to know the way out if something catches fire, particularly if you’re on an upper storey as fire brigade ladders only reach up to the seventh or eighth floor.
While we’re at it, make sure you know what emergency number to dial in the country you’re in – and whether it is worth calling there at all. Just over 70 countries (two-thirds of them in Europe) have a nationwide emergency service that’s always available. Elsewhere, you need to make your own way to the nearest hospital.
5. Skipping a leg of a flight
It seems odd that a flight ticket from Oslo (Norway) to New York via Berlin (Germany) costs less than a ticket from Berlin to New York, without the first leg. You might wonder, do I really have to board the plane in Oslo?
Yes, you do.
If you skip a leg of the journey on your ticket, the airline may charge you the difference compared to the regular route price. Legally, that may be a grey area, but it could be an expensive headache afterwards.
6. Being unaware of local laws
Most travellers make an effort to be sure they abide by local laws but sometimes that requires some extra research. Be aware that if you are in Thailand for example, you don’t want to place your foot on a banknote, as there’s a picture of the king on it, so you could get into trouble.
Meanwhile in Buddhist countries, some people don’t like to see tourists posing playfully by Buddha statues. If you’re in the native islands of the Maldives, that aren’t part of tourist resorts, bikinis are banned.
In Bhutan, you may not smoke in public. And if you are in Singapore, you may not transport the musty-smelling durian fruit on the train. (In Malaysia, you can’t bring durian into any hotel premises.)
Taking pictures using drones may cause you problems in several places – special permits are required in many countries, while the practise is banned completely in Morocco, Iran, Kenya and Egypt, for example. Flying a drone without the right paperwork close to a military zone could land you in jail.
7. Being careless with your medication
There are pills for everything from tension to fear of flying but think twice about whether to pack them when travelling.
Many countries have strict drug laws such as the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malaysia and many others, so while a drug might be commonplace in Europe, for example, even a small quantity could land you in jail abroad. Check embassy websites before you travel and a letter from your doctor confirming that the medication is necessary is also advisable.
8. Checking your bank balance at the hotel
It’s a bad idea to do online banking at the hotel particularly if the Wifi is not password-protected. You might wind up in the wrong network, if you see something like “Guest” on the list of free networks and assume that is the one for you. It could be a scam set up close to the hotel and if you are unlucky, thieves can find your email log-ins and bank passwords, track all your activities, install malware or redirect the connection to phishing sites.
Beware of similar issues at airports and in restaurants. For safer browsing, you can also use your own mobile data or VPN tunnel software.
A see-off ceremony for three Chinese astronauts of the Shenzhou-14 crewed space mission is held at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.The three astronauts will be sent to China's space station combination for a six-month mission. #Shenzhou14 (Courtesy of CGTN)
Sitting atop the Long March-2F Y14 carrier rocket and carrying three taikonauts - the third crew to enter China's Tianhe space station core module - Shenzhou-14 is launched at 10:44 am on Sunday morning from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gansu Province, amid sweaty palms and pounding hearts of millions of thrilled stargazers across the world.
After a flight of around 577 seconds, Shenzhou-14 manned spacecraft separated with the rocket, and entered designated orbit, with crew onboard in good conditions, marking a full success of the launch mission, Global Times learned from the China Manned Space Agency.
The Shenzhou-14 craft is scheduled to, similar to the previous missions, conduct a fast and autonomic rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the Tianhe module, while the exact time has yet to be released. It took the Shenzhou-13 mission merely six and a half hours to achieve the feat.
Shenzhou-14 will mark the first crewed spaceflight mission to Tianhe at the China Space Station in-orbit assembly stage.
The Wentian and Mengtian space station lab modules, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft, and the Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft are expected to be launched during the Shenzhou-14 crew's six-month stay in orbit, which would be a new experience for the taikonauts in Tianhe, as it is unprecedented in the previous two groups of space station crew.
The space station combination would also see the simultaneous stay of six taikonauts in orbit, as the Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-15 crew members are expected to conduct their rotation in orbit for about a week, which would be another breakthrough in China's manned spaceflight history.
Senior Colonel Chen Dong, 44, is a veteran taikonaut who visited space in China's Shenzhou-11 manned space mission in 2016 and set the previous record for the longest stay in space by a Chinese astronaut at 33 days (in the Tiangong-2 space lab).
The record was broken by Shenzhou-13 taikonaut Wang Yaping in 2022, and Chen would be able to further surpass that with another 180 days of stay in space in the Shenzhou-14 run.
Senior Colonel Liu Yang, a female crew member joining Shenzhou-14, also 44, went to space in 2012 in the Shenzhou-9 mission, and is in fact the first Chinese woman to do so. At a press conference on Sunday, she said that for the upcoming 6-month stay, she and her crewmates are looking forward to celebrating for the first time the birthday of their motherland on October 1 as well as the Mid-Autumn Festival, a holiday for the reunion and gathering of the Chinese people. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 10.
Senior Colonel Cai Xuzhe, 46, will be making his maiden voyage during the upcoming mission. "For this day, I have prepared 12 years. I feel honored and proud to have this chance to go into space for my country," he said.
The Shenzhou-14 crew are, together, the second batch of taikonauts China has trained.
Commenting on the younger lineup in which the older, first group of veterans are not included, Pang Zhihao, a Beijing-based senior space expert said that the new Shenzhou taikonaut trio must have showed outstanding performance during training, and the younger crew members have mastered new knowledge and new skills for the mission.
Pang told the Global Times that the Shenzhou-14 crew is still made up of two veterans and one newcomer just like the Shenzhou-12 and Shenzhou-13 missions. And that the younger crew members would have better stamina and could deliver on more complicated tasks such as the installation and testing of two lab modules.
The trio is slated to carry out the verification of big and small robotic arms, spacewalks, and the construction of payload outside the cabin, the Global Times learned from the Shenzhou spacecraft developer with the state-owned aerospace contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC.)
Like during the previous missions, the Shenzhou-14 crew will also give Tiangong classes to earthbound youngsters, and will for the first time use the airlock cabin in the Wentian module to exit the station for extravehicular activities. These activities will be arranged two to three times during their stay, the Global Times has learned.
The basic structure of the space station, consisting of the Tianhe core cabin and the two lab modules ̶ Wentian expected in July and Mengtian in October ̶̶ will be completed during this mission, thus establishing a national space laboratory.
The laboratory will contain 25 cabinets for a variety of scientific experiments, each of which can function as an individual lab, reaching an overall international advanced level, Lin Xiqiang, deputy head of China Manned Space Engineering Office, told the Global Times.
Wentian lab will mainly focus on the study of space life sciences, which can support the growth, development, genetics and aging of multiple species of plants, animals and microorganisms under space conditions.
Mengtian lab will be oriented to microgravity scientific researches and is equipped with experimental cabinets for fluid physics, materials science, combustion science, basic physics and space technology experiments.
Later, a space telescope research facility, the Xuntian telescope, will be launched into orbit and fly with the space station to carry out wide-area survey observations.
Another highlight for the Shenzhou-14 mission is the maneuvering of a small robotic arm installed on the Wentian module. Compared with the large robotic arm which has been launched into space with the Tianhe core cabin, the small one is more compact, Lin noted.
The weight and length of the small robotic arm are about half of the large one, and the load capacity is about one-eighth of the large arm. It also has a more flexible movement and manipulation than the large arm.
The small robotic arm has a higher positioning accuracy, with the precision of positioning five times and that of attitude control twice than the large arm. Therefore it can complete more fine operations.
What's more, the small and large robotic arms can coordinate with each other to cover wider scopes of work outside the cabin, and the combination will be capable of achieving a greater variety of tasks.
The Shenzhou-13 mission safely returned back to Earth on April 16 in a historic feat, thus concluding the technology verification stage of China's space station. The three crew members - Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu ̶ has completed their quarantine smoothly with cardiopulmonary functions and other body indicators recovering to their pre-flight levels.
They are currently in the second phase of recovery that focuses on muscle and bone recovery. In general, the three taikonauts are in good physical and mental condition, and the recovery of various physiological and psychological indicators is in line with expectations, the Global Times has learned.
China's Tianhe space
station core module and Tianzhou-3, -4 cargo spacecraft combination has
received a new crew of taikonauts, some 10 hours after the mission was
launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gansu
Province on Sunday.
Chinese aerospace experts on Thursday slammed NASA's
Administrator Bill Nelson for his "ridiculous" and "outrageous" remarks
after the senior official alleged that China is "good at stealing"
American designs in a "space race."
Simon Chan Chai Wan had illegally provided short-term rents in 14 private residential properties to local and foreign guests through platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway.
His accomplice Zhao Jing, 43, was fined S$84,000 (RM268,000) for aiding him in carrying out the offences.
The properties included units in International Plaza, Robinson Suites, Claremont, Centrepoint Apartments, The Abode at Devonshire and Caribbean
at Keppel Bay.
Zhao and Chan, who are a couple, were licensed real estate agents at the time of the offences, court documents said.
They were the directors of two companies, HTM Solutions and HTM Management, and Chan is the former director of SNS Infotech Global.
Chan would enter into tenancy agreements with the units’ owners using the three companies as corporate vehicles, and sublet the units for short-term accommodations on the platforms.
Chan had also persuaded Zhao to be the sole tenant for four of the units.
From June 30, 2017, to July 2018, Chan’s total revenue was S$1,254,907.78 (RM4mil).
He paid Zhao a monthly salary of S$4,000 (RM12,000) for helping him. Zhao would have received S$52,000 (RM166,000) for the period of the offences.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority said in a statement that all private residential properties rented out for accommodation are subject to a minimum stay of three consecutive months.
"Property owners should also exercise due diligence to ensure that their properties are not used by their tenants for unauthorised purposes," it
said.
“Unauthorised short-term accommodation not only changes the residential character of a property, but also causes disamenities to neighbouring residents.” — The Straits Times/ANN
The StarGovt launches new aircraft carrier
Graphic: Chen Xia/GT
