august coup的八卦，Yahoo名人娛樂都在討論

The recent decision by the authorities to repatriate 1,200 Myanmar nationals currently held under Malaysian custody to the Myanmar Navy could prove risky to the wellbeing of the detainees.

Myanmar is currently gripped by a military coup and ensuing political crisis - with its ruling party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi (National League for Democracy) and the President, Win Myint being held under house arrest. The current military rule, and past UN backed findings of genocide perpetrated against the Rohingya community justify concern on incoming Myanmar detainees to the country. [1]

Although Malaysia’s director-general of immigration, Khairul Dzaimee Daud had clarified that the Myanmar nationals to be returned would not include UNHCR “cardholders,” or Rohingya refugees, the Immigration Department has yet to verify the detainees’ actual status through discussions with the UNHCR. The latter has been denied access to immigration depots since August 2019.

Earlier this year, Malaysia’s Parliamentary Accounts (PAC) had recommended that the Home Ministry restart its negotiations with the UNHCR to resolve the registration of refugees held in immigration depots. [2] The decision to repatriate detainees, before fulfilling the recommendations of the PAC is most disappointing and puts great risk on human lives.

Such actions also hinders earlier efforts to provide healthcare support to the Rohingya community through the then Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development’s collaboration with the Qatar government; as well as the recently laudable pronouncements of providing Covid-19 vaccines to adults in the country, including undocumented foreigners.

We ask that the Home Ministry (Kementerian Dalam Negeri) and consequently the immigration department reconsider its decision, pending a thorough engagement with UNHCR and like minded organizations. A humanitarian and principled approach, as has been done in the past, would prove to be in line with our principled position of protecting everyone in facing this pandemic.

- Nurul Izzah Anwar (MP of Permatang Pauh)
- Nor Azrina Surip @ Nurin Aina (MP of Merbok)

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41566561
[2] https://m.malaysiakini.com/news/552288

[ udn.com 聯合新聞網 專欄 / UDN Column] 當秘密客都不秘密了，#米其林 還能是米其林嗎？ / Is Michelin Guide an unexpected victim of the COVID-19 pandemic? (English below)

2021 年的台北台中米其林指南在今天下午公布。大家有看轉播或關注結果嗎？你是否想過，在全球疫情肆虐的當下，出入境如此不方便，究竟是誰來擔任評鑑員呢？這麼多餐廳，難不成全部都是由本地評審嗎一一拜訪嗎？

法國米其林評鑑從去年就面臨各種質疑，今年更出現了一個可能 #完全動搖米其林運作根本 的危機，那就是八月開始實行的 #健康通行證（pass sanitaire）制度。由於需要在進入餐廳前出示有真實姓名的健康通行證，相當於無法再以假名用餐，若餐廳要求登記聯絡方式，甚至連電話號碼也會曝光，無論是知名的食評家、還是在米其林評鑑季的評鑑員都無可遁逃。一旦餐廳知道誰是手上握有生死大權的評鑑人員，自然不可能以平常心對待。這會讓有百年歷史的米其林評鑑徹底失去公信力嗎？

點連結閱讀全文 👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻 https://tinyurl.com/y8tpv2s7

*****
The Michelin Guide Taipei-Taichung 2021 results have just been announced this afternoon. Although the event itself is seen as an encouragement and support to the whole restaurant industry during the pandemic. However, the credibility of assessment is not without doubt.

In France, the Michelin Guide has been suffering since last year as lots of restaurants were closed for more than half of the year and it’s questionable how the inspectors could finish the assessment on time. This year, a new problem arises which could even shake the basis that the Bibendum stands on, which is the anonymity.

Starting in August, all diners are required to show a valid health pass at the entrance of a restaurant. As everyone is controlled, it is not possible to get your seat under a fake name. To those famous restaurant critics, it seems that the day enjoying a peaceful meal without being noticed is far gone; to the Michelin inspectors who try every possible way to erase their traces, it is disastrous. Will health pass be the coup de grâce to the highly respected restaurant guide that boasts more than 100 years of history? Read the full post here 👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻 https://tinyurl.com/y8tpv2s7

#yingc #guidemichelin #michelinguide #michelinstars #covid19 #passsanitaire #healthpass #秘密客 #米其林密探 #新冠肺炎 #健康護照 #疫情之下的法國餐飲業 500輯

這款大家應該都很熟，原為二戰運輸機C-47原，在1960年代越戰期間，改裝成空中砲艇「AC-47」，代號「幽靈」(Spooky)，綽號被稱「噴火神龍」(Puff, the Magic Dragon，出自1963年發表的美國流行歌曲〈魔法龍帕夫〉)

美軍在C-47的兩個窗開口上，以及所有左側的貨艙門上安裝3挺M134機槍(Minigun)，其主要功能是為地面部隊實行近距空中支援，可以提供綿密的火網支援，有效火力覆蓋約為一個平均直徑47.5公尺的微橢圓面，由於在越南戰場上得到實戰驗證，獲得駐越美軍的尊敬與仰賴，這也是美軍首個空中砲艇的始祖

#VietnamReviited
The Douglas AC-47 Spooky (also nicknamed "Puff, the Magic Dragon") was the first in a series of gunships developed by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. It was designed to provide more firepower than light and medium ground-attack aircraft in certain situations when ground forces called for close air support.
In August 1964, years of fixed-wing gunship experimentation reached a new peak with Project Tailchaser under the direction of Capt. John C. Simons. This test involved the conversion of a single Convair C-131B to be capable of firing a single GAU-2/A Minigun at a downward angle out of the left side of the aircraft. Even crude grease pencil crosshairs were quickly discovered to enable a pilot flying in a pylon turn to hit a stationary area target with relative accuracy and ease. The Armament Development and Test Center tested the craft at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, but lack of funding soon suspended the tests. In 1964, Capt. Ron W. Terry returned from temporary duty in Vietnam as part of an Air Force Systems Command team reviewing all aspects of air operations in counter-insurgency warfare, where he had noted the usefulness of C-47s and C-123s orbiting as flare ships during night attacks on fortified hamlets. He received permission to conduct a live-fire test using the C-131 and revived the side-firing gunship program.

By October, Capt. Terry's team under Project Gunship provided a C-47D, which was converted to a similar standard as the Project Tailchaser aircraft and armed with three miniguns, which were initially mounted on locally fabricated mounts—essentially strapped gun pods intended for fixed-wing aircraft (SUU-11/A) onto a mount allowing them to be fired remotely out the port side. Captain Terry and a testing team arrived at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, on 2 December 1964, with equipment needed to modify two C-47s. The first test aircraft (43-48579, a C-47B-5-DK mail courier converted to C-47D standard by removal of its superchargers) was ready by 11 December, the second by 15 December, and both were allocated to the 1st Air Commando Squadron for combat testing. The newly dubbed "FC-47" often operated under the radio call sign "Puff". Its primary mission involved protecting villages, hamlets, and personnel from mass attacks by VC guerrilla units.

Puff's first significant success occurred on the night of 23–24 December 1964. An FC-47 arrived over the Special Forces outpost at Tranh Yend in the Mekong Delta just 37 minutes after an air support request, fired 4,500 rounds of ammunition, and broke the Viet Cong attack. The FC-47 was then called to support a second outpost at Trung Hung, about 20 miles (32 km) away. The aircraft again blunted the VC attack and forced a retreat. Between 15 and 26 December, all the FC-47's 16 combat sorties were successful. On 8 February 1965, an FC-47 flying over the Bong Son area of Vietnam’s Central Highlands demonstrated its capabilities in the process of blunting a Viet Cong offensive. For over four hours, it fired 20,500 rounds into a Viet Cong hilltop position, killing an estimated 300 Viet Cong troops.

The early gunship trials were so successful, the second aircraft was returned to the United States early in 1965 to provide crew training. In July 1965, Headquarters USAF ordered TAC to establish an AC-47 squadron. By November 1965, a total of five aircraft were operating with the 4th Air Commando Squadron, activated in August as the first operational unit, and by the end of 1965, a total of 26 had been converted. Training Detachment 8, 1st Air Commando Wing, was subsequently established at Forbes AFB, Kansas. In Operation Big Shoot, the 4th ACS in Vietnam grew to 20 AC-47s (16 aircraft plus four reserves for attrition).

The 4th ACS deployed to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam, on 14 November 1965. Now using the call sign "Spooky", each of its three 7.62 mm miniguns could selectively fire either 50 or 100 rounds per second. It can be seen in action here. Cruising in an overhead left-hand orbit at 120 knots air speed at an altitude of 3,000 feet (910 m), the gunship could put a bullet or glowing red tracer (every fifth round) bullet into every square yard of a football field-sized target in potentially less than 10 seconds. And, as long as its 45-flare and 24,000-round basic load of ammunition held out, it could do this intermittently while loitering over the target for hours.
In May 1966, the squadron moved north to Nha Trang Air Base to join the newly activated 14th Air Commando Wing. The 3rd Air Commando Squadron was activated at Nha Trang on 5 April 1968 as a second AC-47 squadron, with both squadrons redesignated as Special Operations Squadrons on 1 August 1968. Flights of both squadrons were stationed at bases throughout South Vietnam, and one flight of the 4th SOS served at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base with the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. The superb work of the two AC-47 squadrons, each with 16 AC-47s flown by aircrews younger than the aircraft they flew, was undoubtedly a key contributor to the award of the Presidential Unit Citation to the 14th Air Commando Wing in June 1968.
One of the most publicized battles of the Vietnam War was the siege of Khe Sanh in early 1968, known as "Operation Niagara". More than 24,000 tactical and 2700 B-52 strikes dropped 110,000 tons of ordnance in attacks that averaged over 300 sorties per day. During the two and a half months of combat in that tiny area, fighters were in the air day and night. At night, AC-47 gunships kept up a constant chatter of fire against enemy troops. During darkness, AC-47 gunships provided illumination against enemy troops.

The AC-47D gunship should not be confused with a small number of C-47s which were fitted with electronic equipment in the 1950s. Prior to 1962, these aircraft were designated AC-47D. When a new designation system was adopted in 1962, these became EC-47Ds. The original gunships had been designated FC-47D by the United States Air Force, but with protests from fighter pilots, this designation was changed to AC-47D during 1965. Of the 53 aircraft converted to AC-47 configuration, 41 served in Vietnam and 19 were lost to all causes, 12 in combat. Combat reports indicate that no village or hamlet under Spooky Squadron protection was ever lost, and a plethora of reports from civilians and military personnel were made about AC-47s coming to the rescue and saving their lives.

As the United States began Project Gunship II and Project Gunship III, many of the remaining AC-47Ds were transferred to the Vietnam Air Force, the Royal Lao Air Force, and to Cambodia's Khmer Air Force, after Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed in a coup by General Lon Nol.

A1C John L. Levitow, an AC-47 loadmaster with the 3rd SOS, received the Medal of Honor for saving his aircraft, Spooky 71, from destruction on 24 February 1969 during a fire support mission at Long Binh. The aircraft was struck by an 82-mm mortar round that inflicted 3,500 shrapnel holes, wounding Levitow 40 times, but he used his body to jettison an armed magnesium flare, which ignited shortly after Levitow ejected it from the aircraft, allowing the AC-47 to return to base. #Phoenix