Huge 400-pound alligator captured in U.S. N. Carolina on "suspicion of being dinosaur"
NEW YORK, June 3 (Xinhua) -- "Pepe the Gator," weighing almost 400 pounds and measuring 10 feet in length, was caught loitering off the pavement in Jacksonville, North Carolina, with witnesses saying that "he was just chilling and snapping (and) clearly ignoring the 'no loitering or lounging on roadways' sign," Onslow County Sheriff's Office said in a post on Facebook on Tuesday.
The prehistoric perp "has been cited for Suspicion of Being a Dinosaur without Proper Papers, Public Loitering with Intent to Sunbathe, and Obstructing Traffic," the sheriff's office said.
Pepe was eventually captured and taken to a boat ramp on Camp Geiger, a few miles away, and released back into the wild the same day, USA Today quoted sheriff's office spokesperson Trevor Dunnell as saying. No injuries were reported, except for Pepe's pride when he "refused to be cuffed," authorities said.
American alligators occur naturally in North Carolina, according to North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, and can be found inhabiting bay lakes, rivers, creeks, marshes, swamps and ponds. The state is the "northern extent of the alligator's range and they generally become less common as you move from south to north along the NC coast," says the wildlife commission.
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New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Police: Body in Bangsar lift shaft confirmed as missing British man [WATCH]
KUALA LUMPUR: Police have confirmed that the body found in the elevator shaft of a partially under-construction condominium in Bangsar is that of missing British backpacker Jordan Johnson-Doyle. City police chief Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa said a post-mortem examination showed that the cause of death was a chest injury due to a fall from height. "I can confirm that the body is that of the person who was reported missing on June 2," he said in a statement today. He said there was no evidence of foul play. The case has been classified as sudden death. "The victim's uncle positively identified the body as that of Jordan Johnson-Doyle, based on a tattoo on his body," he said. Earlier today, it was reported that police were searching for clues in the vicinity of the Lorong Maarof condo where the body was found. Policemen were also analysing closed-circuit television footage from the area. They were also looking for the deceased's personal documents. Police on Wednesday had traced Johnson-Doyle's movements to the condominium at 4pm. A 30-strong team of police personnel conducted a search of the entire building. Around 5pm, a body was discovered in a partially submerged elevator shaft in a building section that was still under construction. The body was found in an isolated area. Johnson-Doyle, a software engineer, had been backpacking across the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia for over a year, working remotely for an American tech company. He arrived in Malaysia on May 17 after visiting Vietnam and is believed to have been staying at the Robertson Residences in Bukit Bintang. His last communication was with his mother on May 26.
Daily Express
5 hours ago
- Daily Express
‘Second Death March' in Murut heartland
Published on: Sunday, June 01, 2025 Published on: Sun, Jun 01, 2025 By: Kan Yaw Chong Text Size: Rubin and Tham beside a huge boulder at Lanut Carved Rocks Garden. WAGE a war, lose it, and you are a soldier of the vanquished empire – the victor will grab and march you to death, no mercy. Sabah actually holds a track record of two different WW2 death marches, when we became a battleground for hegemonic control. Here's the first, and most publicised. Advertisement The 1945 Sandakan-Ranau Death March wiped out 2,434 Allied prisoners of war, merely six survived – 99.8pc killed! Why? Britain lost, Japan won, in a battle for Malaya and Singapore, allied captives bundled to Sandakan to build an airport for the victorious Japanese empire which eventually marched the captives to death At least though, Aussies and Brits converge in Sandakan each year, to remember their dead, with large information generated on the fate of nearly each one collected and assembled by historian Lynette Silver. But, here is the second death march, far deadlier, yet almost unknown, when the fortune of the two empires in war reversed. The untold 2nd death march This is the untold, or untellable 2nd Death March. Starting with 6,000 Japanese soldiers deployed in deep interior Pensiangan and ordered to march to surrender when Japan lost, it ended with a mere 400 alive in Beaufort! The tragedy – nobody remember them, dying in vain! And information on them and the event is practically zero, the whole story muted, probably on account of shame and disgrace. I just had the luck. One day in early 2023, I was working on a story of the Rundum rebellion, I googled for info, suddenly the most unexpected snippet popped out. Here it is, and probably the one and only brief account on the suppressed 2nd Death March, written by American anthropologist and ethnographer, Thomas Rhys Williams, who was in North Borneo 1960-61 to do a very rare research on Murut Customary Behaviour. Thomas later published an article entitled 'The Form of a North Borneo Nativistic Behaviour'. Note, however, the American researcher and author never used the words '2nd Death March' which was later coined by author Maxwell Hall but the number of deaths was apparently so big or the survivors so drastically reduced, that it didn't escape his attention while more famous British historian like Owen Rutter avoided it completely. Vivid account by American on what happened Here it is, Williams' writing, quoted verbatim: 'On Dec 17, 1941, the Japanese invaded North Borneo with a force of 25,000 men. The main centres of occupation was established in Murut area at Tenom, Keningau, and Pensiangan. For three years large patrols of infantry regularly moved from these points through Murut territory, conscripting labor for construction of airfields, women for army prostitution centres, commandeering rice and other foodstuffs, imposing head taxes, fines and punishing offenders. In late 1943, allied guerrilla agents, parachuting into the area, enlisted Muruts in a force for raids on Japanese Patrols and outposts. Reoccupation of North Borneo by the Australian 9th Division led to heavy fighting through Tenom and Keningau. The 6,000 Japanese stationed in Pensiangan were ordered to stack arms and marched 150 miles to the coast and Beaufort to surrender. Australian army records show (only) 400 Japanese reached Beaufort. The remainder were killed by Muruts along the line of March (Tregonning 1958:221).' Died in the nether gloom for nothing There it is, as clear as it can be – there was actually a 'Second Death March', which I first published on February 5, 2023, in a Daily Express Sunday Special Report entitled 'Mystery of Sabah's 2nd Death March unravelled', although Thomas did not call it a '2nd death march', possibly because he wasn't aware of the first. Assuming Thomas' numbers were dead accurate, a death toll of 5,600 is far worse than the 2,434 Allied POWs dead in the 1st Sandakan-Ranau Death March, most of whom (about 1,400) actually died in Sandakan POW camp. For the eventual Japanese losers – all died in ignominy – public shame and disgrace covered up, accorded zero mention, compared to the annual heroic commemoration treatment for the Allied POWs killed in Sandakan-Ranau death march. That's war for domination, a zero sum game – losing soldiers die for nothing. Generals and emperors who order them to battle in the nether gloom of hostile distant jungles to cut down enemies for control and power, abandon them in the end. Track records: Two harbingers of death This is the sobering geopolitical lesson for serious reflection, in a world now simmering with war hawks in high places calling for a battle for national supremacy, beating up war drums and actively preparing war, instead of diplomacy for common prosperity. Since unsung Sabah had hosted the horrors and sorrows of two killer death marches, these are harbingers of death – omens, signs, symbols that foreshadow possibly a march towards worse recurrence approaching us and beyond, if the solid track records of two death marches in Sabah are not remembered and taken to heart and finally inspire no transformative impacts. So, maybe there is more value to peace-making to highlight lesson from Sabah's two death marches – two killer track records driven by relentless hostility, cruelty ending in deliberate, wilful mass slaughter. Eloquent venture capitalist Eric Li who understands investment risks best says he trusts only proven track records. Here is little Sabah, which hosted two track records of death marches where two empires take turn to lose wars and suffered. So, who won? Map on 2nd Death March route So, I was determined to dig into what this obscure 2nd Death March is all about, after being over exposed to the first. When Tham Yau Kong invited a trip to visit Tenom last Tuesday to see the little known Lanut Carved Rocks Garden yonder further down famed Sapong, somehow, this field experience magnified what was a pure academic interest two years ago. The reality of the 2nd death march escalated from what I published on 5 Feb 2023 purely as head awareness. First, like the Aussie army Mud Map which plots the whole length of the 1st death march that Lynette gave Tham in 2005, leading to a full identification of the direction of the track, Tham gave me Maxwell Hall's map from his book 'Kinabalu Guerrillas'. This map indicates main connecting dots Maxwell calls the '2nd Death March', as follows: Pensiangan-Rundum-Kemabong- Sapong-Tenom-Beaufort. Field trip to Layan Carved Rocks Garden Glad to be back to my old love as 'roving reporter', 28/5/25 headed for outback destination Layang Layang, 8km from Sapong and 28 km from Tenm town. Arriving, you see first a flourishing cabbage farm stretching far yonder, dubbed second Kundasang. Our real interest, however, was the carved rock garden – a one kilometre walk into a jungle one kilometre above the cabbage farm. Rubin Kumuah, land owner of Layang Layang, led the uphill trek. We came to a big boulder – one of a scattered dozen that was covered by green moss. Botak, Rubin's loyal decades-old Indonesian worker, cleared the mosses, carvings surfaced but they looked like abstract art to me. Straining harder for a mind of the carvers, I saw possibly a deer head and other guesses. Rubin: 'My parents reported many Japanese here' So what did land owner Rubin Kumuah had to say about Lanut Carved Rocks Garden which he owns? He cited his parents: 'Papa dan ibu saya cakap banyak Jipun berkhemah di kawasan ni.' Translated, it means 'My father and mother (Lanut) said many Japanese army camped here'. To pit camps in the rock garden, the Japanese must have walked on existing tracks that passed by here. So, even though Layang Layang is not marked on Maxwell's map, it could well be a passage or approximate track of the 2nd death march, which gives us at least a mental grip about the reality of this major WW2 episode in Sabah. Of course, the inevitable question is: who did these rock carvings? Rubin said again: 'According to my parents, the Muruts of old did it but according to my brothers, when words were out that they were treasure maps carved by passing Japanese troops, treasure hunters went digging but found nothing'. Prospects for tourism The question is, can a combination of rock carving, Japanese camp site and passage of the 2nd death march be developed into a tourism product? Tham answered: 'In 2019, Rubin introduced his Rock Carving Garden to us, it attracted a few groups of hikers but when the Covid Pandemic struck with strict movement control, hikers stopped completely.' 'When we restarted trekking in mid-2024, we discovered no less than 10 carved boulders and when Rubin suggested this site be named after his mother, we came up with 'Lanut Rock Carving Garden'. Rubin's goal: 'I wanted to conserve these carved boulders for future generations who may benefit from rural tourism development.' Tham added: 'The Layang Layang area has at least 20km of tracks used by Muruts to walk from village to village, British officers used these as pony tracks to go from Tenom to Kemabong.' Heavy presence of Japanese in Murut heartland As Thomas Phys Williams noted, the Japanese military deployed a strong presence in Tenom, Keningau and Pensiangan – all Murut heartlands. In the case of Tenom, they set up a military headquarter in Sapong, complete with an airstrip in its rubber estate into which General Baba flew into and out. To deploy 6,000 soldiers in Pensiangan, they only way then was to walk 150-mile over pony tracks or hunting trails from Tenom to Kemabong, Rundum to reach Pensiagngan and vice versa later, on the 2nd death march. In my maiden visit to Pensiangan in December 2021, local Murut leader, Ansom bin Putiang recalled Japanese military camps studded the banks of the Saliu river downstream Wreckage of Liberator bomber In the end, Tenom, Sapong, like all other owns of North Borneo were heavily bombed. Tham recalled in in the 70s, he saw near the Perkasa Hotel ¾ of wreckage of a Liberator bomber, either shot down or crashed during such bombing runs but in 2000, he saw only chunk of metal left, the rest all cut as scrap metal. The point is, given such big military deployment in deep interior of Sabah, Japan, had reasoned that as a rising industrial power , they had the right to colonise foreign lands, just at Britain, USA and all the European power had done. They had planned and no doubt expected to colonise entire Borneo long term but alas, after just 44 months of occupation, America whipped up a complete surprise – dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a hydrogen bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, and Japan surrendered abruptly on August 15. Pensiangan too far for 9th Division to attack Although Japan formally surrendered on August 15, their forces in North Borneo continued to fight and elements of the Aussie 9th Division which landed in Labuan on June 10, continued to face combat in Tenom, Keningau and Beaufort was not taken until Sept 11, 1945. Pensiangan was apparently too deep going for the 9th Division which apparently did not target it for attack. What we know is, as Thomas Williams reported, 'the 6.000 Japanese stationed in Pensiangan were ordered to stack arms to march to Beaufort to surrender' but only 400 arrived . Maxwell Hall coined '2nd Death March' Maxwell Hall was the author who explicitly called this 'a second Death March', this time involving the Japanese and Muruts '. He wrote: 'The Murut warfare continued… When the Japanese soldiers left Pensiangan to march northwards to surrender to the Australians, they marched fully armed. By this time, the Muruts were masters of the route, which extended two hundred miles from Pensiangan to Beaufort….Death and dying spread out the whole way…..When they surrendered, the survivors were suffering all forms of tropical disease. It was a death march of Japanese… Just another example of bloodshed that took place…' In a discreet conversation in Pensiangan in December 2021, one time Murut headman, Ansom bin Puntiang, told me the locals were distributed guns towards the end of the war, what they did with it Ansom declined to say. Neither did Maxwell explain what he meant 'by this time, the Muruts were masters of the route'. 'All empires become arrogant' – Commentator Has the world learnt from the horrors of wars for power and control, like Sabah's two death marches? 'Fundamentally no,' says Hugh White, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies and the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, Canberra. 'All empires become arrogant, it is their nature,' observes Edward Rutterford. 'The earth is littered with empires that once believed they were eternal,' noted Percy Bessshe Shelby. On a parting note from Cliff James: 'The temple of empires comes tumbling down, the names of the mighty forgotten. Here is a parable: Power never last.' Transformative tip from the 'Good Samaritan' So what virtues and values last? When will the nations drop their hostile minds and lust for power and domination? Here's just one transformative tip from the story of the Good Samaritan, who not only lived by extraordinary kindness but radically blind to ethnic superiority and racial barriers.
The Sun
5 hours ago
- The Sun
China offers cash rewards for hackers it says are Taiwanese military
BEIJING: Authorities in southern China announced on Thursday they were offering rewards of more than $1,000 for the arrest of 20 people they say are Taiwanese military hackers, drawing an angry reaction from Taiwan's defence ministry. The public security bureau in the Chinese city of Guangzhou said the hackers were part of the Taiwan military's Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command, and published their pictures, names and Taiwan identity card numbers. Rewards of 10,000 yuan ($1,392.25) will be offered to those who provide clues or cooperate in their arrest, it said in a statement carried by Chinese state media. The hackers were involved in organising, planning and premeditating attacks on key sectors such as military, aerospace, government departments, energy and transportation, maritime affairs, science and technology research firms in China as well as Hong Kong and Macau, Xinhua news agency said. Xinhua, citing a cybersecurity report, said the Taiwan 'information, communication and digital army' had cooperated with U.S. anti-Chinese forces to conduct public opinion and cognitive warfare against China, secretly instigate revolution and attempt to disrupt public order in China. Taiwan's defence ministry's Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command said in a statement it was not carrying out any 'corporate cyber attacks', and that China's offers of a bounty highlighted 'the rude and unreasonable attitude of the Chinese communists in intimidating and coercing the Taiwanese people'. 'Recent statements by the European Union, the United States and the Czech Republic condemning the Chinese communists' hacking organisations for carrying out cyber-attacks prove that the Chinese communists are not only a regional troublemaker, but a common threat to the global internet,' it added. A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that the Chinese allegations were invented, saying Beijing was trying to shift the focus from Czech and European scrutiny over alleged Chinese hacking activities there. 'They fabricated a false narrative to shift the focus. It's a very typical behaviour by the Chinese Communist Party,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter. China also said Taiwan had longstanding cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies as part of the United States' 'Asia-Pacific Strategy', calling it Taiwan's attempt to gain independence through relying on the United States. 'The US intelligence department has long provided personnel training and technical equipment support for Taiwan's 'information, communication and digital army', and many police stations have sent 'hunting' teams to Taiwan, to launch cyber attacks on China,' according to a social media post by an account linked to Chinese state television. Last week authorities in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, attributed a cyber attack on an unnamed technology company to the Taiwan government, saying Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party supported the 'overseas hacker organisation' responsible. In response, Taiwan said Beijing was peddling false information, and that it was China that was carrying out hacking against the island. China views Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan's democratically elected government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. Chinese courts and legal bodies have no jurisdiction in Taiwan, whose government has repeatedly complained about Beijing's 'long armed jurisdiction' efforts. ($1 = 7.1826 Chinese yuan renminbi)
