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The technician who installed the CCTV system at the residence of former judge Giribala Singh has denied allegations of tampering in connection with the death of Twisha Sharma, claiming that discrepancies in the footage timestamp were caused by a software issue.
Speaking on Friday, CCTV installer Vinod Vani said the surveillance system at the residence was running “two days, two hours and 20 minutes behind” because the software had not been updated in time.
Vani said he had originally installed eight CCTV cameras at the residence in 2023 and was contacted following the incident on 12 May.
“At first, I did not know what had happened. Usually, we receive calls regarding thefts or requests to retrieve footage,” he said.
According to Vani, former judge Giribala Singh contacted him on 13 May while police officials were already at the residence. Unable to visit personally, he asked one of his employees, Rohit Vishwakarma, to inspect the system.
“He later informed me that the matter was much more serious,” Vani said, adding that he subsequently instructed his staff to hand over the recordings to the police.
Rejecting suggestions of manipulation, Vani insisted that the footage remained intact despite the timing discrepancy.
“This was not tampering. It was purely a software problem. Had the system been serviced and updated on time, this issue would not have happened,” he said.
He also stated that nearly one terabyte of footage had been stored in the system and that the recordings were complete.
Following the seizure of the CCTV equipment by investigators, Vani said a new surveillance system was installed at the residence two days later to allow continued monitoring if required by authorities.
Rohit Vishwakarma, the technician sent to inspect the footage, also said the timestamp mismatch stemmed from lack of servicing rather than interference.
“When I reached the house, police and administrative officials were already there,” Vishwakarma said. “They asked me to access the recordings, and I showed them footage between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. The time difference occurred because the system had not been serviced.”
The statements come amid continuing investigations into the circumstances surrounding Twisha Sharma’s death.
With IANS inputs
JOHOR BAHRU, June 7 — The Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development (Kuskop), through SME Corp Malaysia, has launched an industry and business support programme (Sinar) to assist micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Its minister, Steven Sim Chee Keong, said the Sinar programme offers financial assistance totalling RM205 million through four new initiatives for MSMEs nationwide to help expand their businesses.
“In the face of global economic uncertainty, the government cannot allow MSMEs to confront these challenges alone. Through Sinar, we aim to ensure that entrepreneurs have access to the financing and support they need to survive, grow, and create employment opportunities,” he added.
He was speaking to reporters at the closing ceremony of the Empowering Malaysian Businesses Carnival at the Angsana Johor Bahru Mall today. Also present were Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development, Datuk Mohamad Alamin, and Kuskop Secretary-General, Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud.
Elaborating further, he said Sinar is a new Kuskop programme implemented through SME Corp Malaysia, encompassing five new initiatives involving financial assistance.
According to him, three financing programmes are being offered with funding of up to RM5 million at profit or interest rates ranging from 3 per cent to 5 per cent per annum through collaborations with Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd (MIDF), microLEAP PLT, and Funding Societies.
“In addition to financing, the Inclusive Business Scaling Programme is a capacity-building initiative that provides grants of up to 90 per cent for SMEs. This is aimed at integrating inclusive communities into their supply chains and helping micro-enterprises develop relevant skills to transform their businesses to a higher level,” he said.
To facilitate access to these initiatives, he added that MSMEs applying for financing only need to obtain MSME Status, an official certification confirming that a business meets the MSME definition.
A 50 per cent discount on MSME Status applications is being offered from this month until Aug 31. — Bernama
The Gozney Dome is our pro-grade pick in PopSci’s best pizza ovens guide, and the brand almost never runs a real discount outside of seasonal sales. Its Summer Sale is one of those rare windows, with sitewide cuts on every oven, every bundle, and most of the accessory lineup. If a Dome, Arc XL, or Tread has been parked on your shortlist for a year, this is the week to actually buy one.
The Arc XL is Gozney’s mid-tier gas oven, and the one most people should buy if they aren’t going Dome. It hits 950 degrees in about half an hour, fits a 16-inch pie, and runs a rolling flame across the back that gives crusts the leopard-spotted char a Neapolitan is supposed to have. Gozney almost never cuts the Arc XL outside seasonal sales, so the $100 off is the right window if it’s been on your list.
The Dome XL is Gozney’s biggest residential oven, with a 24-inch deck wide enough for two pies side by side or a whole chicken next to a tray of vegetables. The Hybrid Fuel version runs propane or wood, so weeknight pizza happens on gas and weekends can lean into real wood-fired flavor. This bundle stacks the 24-inch placement peel and pizza server on top of the oven for free over the bare-oven price, which makes it the cheapest way into the platform.
The Tread is Gozney’s portable propane oven, built to break down into a carry bag and ride along to a campsite, tailgate, or friend’s backyard. The Trail Bundle adds the stand and the Venture carry bag, which is what turns the Tread from technically smaller into actually portable. At $699 it costs less than the Tread Basecamp Bundle while including the gear that matters if you’re really taking it anywhere.
Every full-size Gozney oven is $100 off. The new Dome Gen 2 and Dome XL Gen 2 swap the direct cut for a gift with purchase, but the Sale Bundles below land the bigger savings on the same ovens.
Bundles are where the biggest dollar savings hide because they stack the sitewide cut on top of an already-discounted accessory pack. The Dome XL Sale Bundle is $324 off and the Tread Peak Bundle is $247 off, both bigger than any standalone oven cut.
Every peel, rocker, cutter, and server is 20 percent off, with Gozney’s infrared thermometer down to $39.99 if you actually want to read deck temps before you launch a pie. This is the right pass if you already own a Gozney and your peels have started looking like they survived a small fire.
Dough trays, scrapers, cutters, and Gozney’s three regional dough mixes are all 20 percent off. The Dough Mix Set is the cheapest way to taste-test Neapolitan, New York, and Detroit in one weekend, then settle which style reheats best for Monday lunch.
Stands, covers, mantels, and the Tread carry kit are all 20 percent off. The Arc and Arc XL Stand at $239.99 is the cheapest way to get an oven off the patio table and onto a permanent spot in the yard.
The deepest cuts hit the legacy Roccbox and original Dome accessories at 40 to 50 percent off. The Roccbox Wood Burner 2.0 is half off at $49.99, which is still the only way to convert a gas Roccbox to wood-fired without a third-party kit.
The post Grab a rare discount on Gozney’s high-end pizza ovens during this early summer sale appeared first on Popular Science.
A Hong Kong court has ordered the forfeiture of more than HK$670,000 in “terrorist property” from three persons involved in a thwarted bomb plot during the 2019 protests.
In a written judgment on Thursday, High Court Judge Judianna Barnes ruled that Wong Chun-keung and Ng Chi-hung were “terrorists” and Lau Pui-ying was a “terrorist associate” under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance.
Barnes said a total sum of HK$674,860 in the defendants’ accounts and in cash, which was liable to be seized under the ordinance, was “intended to be used to finance or otherwise assist the commission of ‘terrorist acts.’”
In November 2024, Ng was sentenced to almost 24 years in jail for masterminding the foiled bomb plot, which aimed to kill police officers at a demonstration on December 8, 2019, amid the large-scale protests and unrest that year.
Wong, who led a radical group known as “Dragon Slayers,” was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison. Both defendants pleaded guilty, with Wong testifying for the prosecution in exchange for leniency in sentencing.
Lau was among seven defendants who stood trial by jury. In August 2024, the nine-member jury found her and five others not guilty. Only one defendant was convicted by the jury and was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months behind bars.
Despite her acquittal, authorities submitted “numerous Telegram messages” that showed Lau “actively administered, together with [Wong], crowd-funding exercise in securing funds” for Dragon Slayers and the bomb plot, according to the judgment on Thursday.
Between November 6 and December 9, 2019, Lau’s three accounts received net deposits of more than HK$1 million while she was earning a salary of less than HK$3,000, the government submitted.
Barnes said the evidence “overwhelmingly supported” the government’s application to forfeit the sum.
Roughly HK$536,000 was kept in Lau’s three accounts, according to the judgment, while the remainder, around HK$138,000, consisted of deposits in Wong and Ng’s bank accounts, as well as cash.
Wong and Ng did not oppose the application while Lau was absent throughout the proceedings, including court notices and a hearing regarding the government’s application.
The anti-terrorism ordinance, enacted in 2002, was invoked for the first time to prosecute the group.
The defendants were accused of planning a bomb attack during a rally marking International Human Rights Day, plotting to place two bombs along the rally’s marching route to kill police officers.
A viral stress-relief “Natasha” doll trending on Chinese social media has been deemed “absolutely diabolical” by members of Hong Kong’s Black community.
Resembling a small child, the most popular version is dark-skinned and features exaggerated racial characteristics. Buyers have filmed themselves beating, stretching, boiling and stomping on the toy.
“No design is created, marketed, and sold in isolation of thought and purpose. The design, manufacturing, and selling of a Black baby doll to abuse at one’s whims is at the root of the existence of movements like Black Lives Matter,” Monique Franz, a writer and founder of Kinsman Avenue Publishing – a non-profit which advocates for underrepresented voices – told HKFP.
“By inviting people to take out their stresses on a Black body, we invite populations to abuse our Black bodies at their whims, robbing us of our actual humanity. While this is a game to others, Black people are experiencing widespread global abuse, which is the result of portrayals of us in such degrading ways,” added Franz, who is African-American.
Made from slow-rising memory foam or soft thermoplastic rubber, the dolls remain freely available on e-commerce sites such as Taobao, and have been trending on social media platforms like RedNote and Douyin.
Jayne Jeje, an African-American entrepreneur, advocate, and long-term Hong Kong resident, told HKFP that such trends do not come out of nowhere. “There seems to be an endless fascination with Black hair, Black skin, Black lips, Black bodies, and Black culture, yet people are shocked when we speak up,” she said.
“Some of the viral videos are absolutely diabolical. I’d find them offensive no matter who was being depicted, but this is deeply personal because I am proud of my beautiful dark skin. I refuse to accept the idea that it is something to be squeezed, slapped, mocked, or turned into entertainment for the masses,” she added.
Londiwe Ngubeni – a South African actress and vocalist who lives on Lantau – told HKFP that she spotted a child with a Natasha doll at a Mui Wo supermarket. “At first, I thought she simply liked the toy. Then she began stretching, squeezing, poking the eyes and hitting the doll. When I asked why, she said it was a ‘stress reliever.’ How is relieving stress by hurting a brown baby doll acceptable?”
Ngubeni said she was furious and disappointed. The child “said her friend had given it to her. What message are we teaching children when dehumanising a Black child becomes a plaything?”
She urged manufacturers and retailers to be held to account over “products that reinforce racist attitudes.”
Innocent Mutanga of NGO Africa Center Hong Kong said the trend “risks normalising the dehumanisation of Black bodies… This is particularly disturbing as this dehumanization is directed towards Black children, demonstrating a lack of empathy for Black people, no matter the age.”
He said the China Consumers Association and State Administration for Market Regulation had stepped in to remove violent videos, with schools in mainland China banning the doll.
Although Mutanga said guidance was issued to e-commerce sites in mainland China, the product was still available on Taobao when HKFP checked on Thursday.
Mutanga urged teachers, parents and community leaders across the Greater Bay Region to link up with the Africa Centre to step up education, as people may lack “exposure to African cultures and histories.”
Chinese social media has played host to similarly abusive trends involving Black children before.
In 2022, a BBC investigation found that children in sub-Saharan Africa were being paid to perform in Chinese online videos that often involved degrading or abusive content.
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PEKAN, June 8 — The National Service Training Department (JLKN) is targeting 10,520 participants to join the National Service Training Programme (PLKN) 4.0 at six camps nationwide next year.
JKLN director-general Major General Datuk Marzuki Mokhtar said the increased target is more than double the 4,200 participants targeted for the four training series this year.
“For PLKN 4.0, several additional camps are expected to begin operating including in Gemas, Negeri Sembilan; Sungai Durian in Kuala Krai, Kelantan; Bukit Pinang in Kedah and Bukit Keteri, Perlis. The opening of these new camps depends on the readiness of the facilities,” he said.
He told reporters after the National Service Training Parade for the 2/2026 PLKN 3.0 Series 2 at the 505 Territorial Army (AW) National Service Training Camp, here today.
Meanwhile, he said a total of 1,369 PLKN 3.0 trainees successfully completed the 45-day training at three camps held simultaneously today.
“Of the total, 531 male trainees were from the Pekan camp, 245 female trainees from the Kuala Lumpur camp and 593 male and female trainees from the Malbatt Village camp, Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan,” he said.
Marzuki said the results of the evaluation conducted in collaboration with several institutions such as the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) showed that approximately 85 per cent of participants gave positive feedback on the programme.
“So far, I have not received any negative reports that could affect the image of this programme. In fact, many participants attended voluntarily because they saw the benefits gained through the training carried out,” he said.
Commenting on the participation of rural youth, Marzuki said JLKN would intensify promotional efforts through social media as well as roadshows and poster distribution programmes to schools, town halls, mosques and community centres to ensure that more of this group is aware of the opportunity to participate in PLKN. — Bernama
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The broad umbrella that is science fiction has allowed filmmakers to take their audiences to galaxies far, far away or terrify them about the potential threats of artificial intelligence. Whether on Earth or in space, the sci-fi films we adore have pushed our imaginations to the brink as we ponder the what-ifs. With such a vast ability to tell stories, sci-fi subgenres have provided some unique narratives, especially in the crime department.
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