Foreign

Malaysia Impounds Chinese Ship Suspected of Looting British World War Two Wrecks

By Web News 423

Malaysia has detained a Chinese-registered vessel suspected of looting two British World War Two shipwrecks.

Report says, the bulk carrier was seized on Sunday for anchoring illegally at the site in the South China Sea.

Ammunition believed to be from the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, which were sunk by Japanese forces more than 80 years ago, was then found on board.

The UK Ministry of Defence had earlier condemned the alleged raid as a “desecration” of maritime war graves.

Old shipwrecks are targeted by scavengers for their rare low-background steel, also known as “pre-war steel”. The low radiation in the steel makes it a rare and valuable resource for use in medical and scientific equipment.

The British vessels, on the bed of the ocean some 100km off the east coast of Malaysia, had been targeted for decades.

The Royal Navy battleships were dispatched to Singapore during the war to shore up the defence of Malaya. They were sunk by Japanese torpedoes on 10 December 1941.

The strike – which occurred just three days after the attack on the US fleet in Pearl Harbour – killed some 842 sailors and is considered one of the worst disasters in British naval history.

Fishermen and divers first reported the presence of the foreign vessel to Malaysia authorities last month.

Local maritime police detained the Chinese ship on Sunday. The ship, registered in Fuzhou, had 32 crew on board, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement  Agency, MMEA, said in a statement.

Cannon shells “suspected to be from World War Two” were uncovered during a search of the vessel. Malaysian agencies are also investigating the provenance of the ammunition.

The MMEA added that it is linked to a cache of unexploded artillery, said to be from the two sunken vessels, that police seized from a private scrap yard in the southern state of Johor earlier this month.

In 2017, during a tour of Malaysia, a local diver showed the then Prince Charles images that documented damage to the HMS Prince of Wales inflicted by scavengers.

The Defence Secretary at the time responded by saying the UK would work with Malaysian and Indonesian governments to investigate claims that up to six British warships had been plundered in their waters.

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BBC/Taiwo Akinola

News Analysis

Need To Encourage Nigerian Inventors

By Web News 1479

In the later part of the eighteenth century to four decades into the nineteenth century, precisely between 1760s and 1840, the industrial revolution began in Britain.

Today, western countries top the list of the developed world.

 Asia is not left behind, as China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have emerged as strong manufacturing hubs.

African countries including Nigeria, are lagging behind as they depend mostly on manufactured products from the industrialized nations.

It has been detrimental economically as it tilts balance of trade and value placed on currency in favour of manufacturing nations.

It is therefore high time Nigeria as a nation changed this narrative by encouraging local inventions.

Transformation of the nation from a consuming to a manufacturing one should be the wish of any Nigeria leader.

Already, there are indices to show that the dynamics could be changed going by some inventions which have emerged in the country in the past till present. 

This includes the emergency blood transfusion system made by a medical doctor and retired brigadier general in the Nigerian army, Oviemo Ovadje . 

Similarly, another Nigerian Saheed Adepoju is credited with the invention of Inye-1 & 2, tablet computers designed for the African market, while research into the use of wind-propelled turbines to generate electricity is credited to another citizen, Sebastine Omeh.

Recently, a 67-year-old man, Hadi Usman, invented a cooking stove that uses water and air pressure to generate fire.

According to the Gifted Gombe technician, he has been inventing products since 70s and 80s

Report on Usman attracted global attention from the US, Germany and other countries.

Regrettably at home, it has been observed over the years that most inventions and their inventors always ended up as media affairs as nothing is heard of them again after the media bliss this attitude is not healthy.

These innovations and some others within the country are evidences that given more enabling environment, citizens could transform its standard of technology to be at par with developed countries.

To compete with developed nations in technology, there is need for government to set up special funds for rewarding individuals credited with proven inventions.

Corporate bodies, philanthropists and other well-meaning persons should assist aspiring inventors who need funds to realize their dreams

in addition, it is high time universities in Nigeria translated researches into pivot for inventions.

Furthermore, besides the academic environment, those in the informal sector, especially artisans with flair for innovations deserve to be funded to bring such work to completion, as artisans were great anchors of the industrial revolution in Britain.

Government should make inventions a significant part of national award criteria to stir more enterprising Nigerians to bend into the field of inventions in order to transform the nation’s technologically and economically.

Olukemi Akintunde

Foreign

Malaysian Floods Kill 8 in Days of Heavy Rainfall

By Web News 623

At least eight people have died in floods that have ravaged cities and towns across Malaysia since Friday.

ABC reports that the unusually heavy rainfall in the South-East Asian nation led to the mobilization of its army and other security agencies across seven states, with the worst flooding in Selangor, the country’s wealthiest and most populous region.

Selangor police reported eight people had been found dead due to the floods on Monday, according to state news agency Bernama.

They included four in Taman Sri Muda, a neighbourhood in the district of Shah Alam, where many people were still believed to be trapped in homes and apartment buildings as rescue efforts were hampered by a lack of boats and manpower.

More than  32,000 displaced people from Selangor had been moved into temporary shelters as of Monday.

Videos posted on social media showed overflowing rivers, landslides, and cars submerged on abandoned streets.

It is however unclear how many more remain to be rescued, with communication lines cut off in many parts of the state.

On Monday, opposition politicians criticised authorities for the delay in response.

Floods are known to be common on the eastern coast of Malaysia during the annual monsoon season between October and March.

Frcn, Abuja