05/08/2025

TUESDAY | AUG 5, 2025

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Ex-top cop accused in objectionable material case

Over 3,000 Boeing workers go on strike SEATTLE: More than 3,200 union members who assemble Boeing’s fighter jets in St Louis and Illinois went on strike yesterday after rejecting a second contract offer the previous day. Boeing Defence said it was ready for the work stoppage and it will implement a contingency plan that uses non-labour workers. According to the company, the rejected four year contract would have raised the average wage by roughly 40% and included a 20% general wage increase and a US$5,000 (RM21,178) ratification bonus. It also included increasing periodic raises, more vacation time and sick leave. “We’re disappointed our employees in St Louis rejected an offer that featured 40% average wage growth,” said Dan Gillian, Boeing vice-president and general manager of the St Louis facilities. The offer was largely the same as the first offer that was overwhelmingly rejected one week earlier. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ District 837 “deserve a contract that reflects their skill, dedication, and the critical role they play in our nation’s defence”, said District 837 head Tom Boelling. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg downplayed the impact of a strike when talking with analysts on Tuesday about second-quarter earnings, noting that the company had weathered a seven-week strike last year by District 751 members, who build commercial jets in the Northwest and number 33,000. “I wouldn’t worry too much about the implications of the strike. We’ll manage our way through that,” he said. District 837 workers assemble Boeing’s F-15 and F/A-18 fighters, the T-7 trainer, and the MQ-25, an aerial refuelling drone being developed for the US Navy. Boeing’s defence division is expanding manufacturing facilities in St Louis for the new US Air Force fighter jet, the F-47A, after it won the contract this year. – Reuters Chinese national held over spying links SYDNEY: Australian police said yesterday they had charged a Chinese national with “reckless foreign interference”, accusing the woman of spying on local Buddhists for Beijing. Assistant police commissioner Stephen Nutt said the unnamed woman had been covertly gathering information on the Guan Yin Citta Buddhist association in Canberra. Nutt said she was working under the command of China’s Public Security Bureau, the country’s main domestic law enforcement body. “We allege the activity was to support the intelligence objectives of China’s Public Security Bureau,” said Nutt, from the special investigations division of the Australian Federal Police. “It is a crime carried out by, or on behalf of, a foreign principal involving covert or deceptive conduct.” The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is an Australian permanent resident. She was arrested and charged with “reckless foreign interference” after police raided a number of houses in Canberra. “During the searches, a number of items, including electronic devices, were seized and will undergo forensic examination,” police said in a statement. Reckless foreign interference carries a maximum of 15 years in prison. China’s security apparatus has long been accused of infiltrating community organisations to keep tabs on expats and dissidents. But it is rare that a major trading partner such as Australia so bluntly links Beijing to a covert influence plot. – AFP

o New Zealand court identifies suspect

He was on leave for six months before his resignation in May. Judge Black remanded McSkimming on bail, and he will reappear before the court in November. New Zealand’s police commissioner, Richard Chambers, has refused to speak to the media, other than a statement in May acknowledging McSkimming’s resignation. Chambers beat McSkimming to win the police commissioner role last November. A month later, McSkimming was put on leave. In an email last month to police staff, reported by Radio New Zealand, Chambers said he was aware people felt “angry and feel let down”. “I feel the same,” Chambers said. Police Minister Mark Mitchell has also declined to comment on the case, but has expressed concern about the reputational damage it could cause. “I hope that the public see through and realise that we have got an outstanding police force, we’ve got incredible police officers,” Mitchell said last month. “In this case, even though it involves one of our most senior police officers, you’ve seen that action was taken very quickly to make sure that that public confidence can be maintained.” – AFP

WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s former deputy police commissioner lost the right to anonymity yesterday after he was charged with possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material. Jevon McSkimming was arrested in June and charged with eight counts of possessing objectionable material, but the courts had prevented media from reporting his name or other details of the case. Appearing in Wellington District Court yesterday, McSkimming opted not to seek an extension of the suppression order. His lawyer, Letizea Ord, told Judge Tim Black “there is not a further application in respect of name suppression. It’s accepted that it can lapse today”. He is yet to enter a plea. Asked as he left court if he had a message for the public, McSkimming said: “No.” The 52-year-old is alleged to have possessed child exploitation and bestiality material between specific dates. One of the charges states the offences

McSkimming leaving the district court in Wellington yesterday. – AFPTV/AFPPIC

happened between July 2020 and December 2024. McSkimming was suspended from his job on full pay in December 2024, when an investigation into his conduct was launched. Details of those allegations cannot be reported.

ALL LIVES MATTER ... Dutch citizens marching against femicide (the women or girls because of their gender) in Rotterdam on Sunday during a nationwide protest organised by Dutch feminist group Dolle Mina. – AFPPIC intentional murder of

‘Plastic pollution grave and growing health threat’ PARIS: Plastic pollution is a “grave, growing and under-recognised danger” to health that is costing the world at least US$1.5 trillion (RM6.35 trillion) a year, experts warned. The experts called for the delegates from nearly 180 nations gathering in Geneva to finally agree to a treaty after previous failed attempts. plastic called microplastics, which have been found throughout nature and in human bodies. The full effect of microplastics on health are not yet fully known, but researchers have sounded the alarm about the potential impact of this ubiquitous plastic.

Philip Landrigan, a doctor and researcher at Boston College in the United States, warned that vulnerable people, particularly children, are most affected by plastic pollution. “It is incumbent on us to act in response,” he said in a statement. “To those meeting in Geneva: please take up the challenge and the opportunity of finding the common ground that will enable meaningful and effective international cooperation in response to this global crisis.” The researchers also warned of tiny pieces of

A review of the evidence, which was carried out by leading health researchers and doctors, was published yesterday ahead of fresh talks in Geneva to seal a treaty on plastic pollution. “Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding US$1.5 trillion annually,” said the review in The Lancet medical journal. Comparing plastic to air pollution and lead, the report said its impact on health could be mitigated by laws and policies.

The amount of plastic produced by the world has risen from two million tonnes in 1950 to 475 million tonnes in 2022, the report said. The number is projected to triple by 2060. Yet less than 10% of all plastic is recycled, it added. The report also announced a new effort to track the impact plastic pollution has on health, the latest in a series called The Lancet Countdown . – AFP