A series of blasts that has killed two people and injured several others has left the Texas state capital of Austin on edge.

Authorities responded late Tuesday en masse to the scene of another reported explosion, which turned out to be unrelated to the previous cases and caused by an “incendiary device,” not an explosive package, according to Austin police.

In the early morning hours, a package exploded at a FedEx facility in Schertz, outside of San Antonio and approximately 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Austin.

Officials connected that blast to four other bombings since early March, which killed two people and injured several more.

There were no serious injuries in the incident that saw a package at a FedEx sorting facility detonate.

“It was mailed from Austin, it was to an Austin resident and it blew up on the conveyor belt,” state attorney general Ken Paxton told KXAN television.

US Congressman Michael McCaul, the head of the House Homeland Security Committee who said he had spoken to law enforcement, added: “All these devices are very similar.”

Law enforcement confirmed they had found another package connected to the bombings at a separate FedEx facility near the Austin airport.

That package was discovered early in the day.

FedEx said it “secured and turned over to law enforcement” the second package, sent by “the individual responsible” for the blasts.

The company said in a statement that it had also provided “extensive evidence related to these packages and the individual that shipped them collected from our advanced technology security systems.”

The finding could be significant to investigators looking for evidence in their efforts to identify the perpetrator or a motive.

As the series of bombings held Austin on edge for another week, the White House weighed in for the first time since the crime wave began.

“The bombings in Austin are terrible. Local, state and federal law enforcement working hand in hand to get to the bottom of it,” Trump said.

“This is obviously a very, very sick individual or maybe individuals. These are sick people, and we will get to the bottom of it.”

– ‘Absolutely no clue’ –

Despite hundreds of police officers and federal agents working the case, authorities appeared to have few leads.

“We have no clue who this is, absolutely no clue,” Texas Congressman Brian Babin told the Fox Business Network.

“I’m sure the FBI and the law enforcement agencies that are looking into this have some tips, some clues, but I haven’t heard anything about it.”

Senator Ted Cruz said he had spoken to Austin’s mayor and police chief about the “coordinated attacks,” saying no effort should be spared to catch the bomber and “put him behind bars before anyone else’s life is at risk.”

“It’s truly horrific what is happening in Austin,” Cruz told reporters in Washington.

Austin’s police chief Brian Manley said the bombings seemed to be evolving.

The first three explosive devices were concealed in packages left at residents’ doorsteps. A fourth was detonated with a tripwire, which Manley said suggested a perpetrator who “shows a higher level of sophistication, a higher level of skill” than initially believed.

“And with what just occurred in Schertz, Texas, we’ve now brought in a new element that that device was actually going through one of the carrier services, instead of being hand-delivered,” Manley told an Austin city council hearing.

More than 1,200 calls have come in from residents since police urged them to report suspicious activities and items, Austin police said.

“I will reach out to the suspect or suspects and ask that you contact us… communicate with us so that we can put this to an end,” Manley said.

Authorities increased the reward offered for information leading to an arrest, bringing the total bounty to $115,000.

The 23-year-old Pongpeera Disapirom from Bangkok, Thailand, received his diploma from President Rodrigo Duterte, along with 281 graduates of PMA “Alab Tala” Class of 2018.

Ranked 254th in the class, Disapirom became the sixth Thai to pass the academy’s rigorous academic and military training.

He joined the academy in 2014, and had become fairly fluent in Filipino.

“I will use what I have learned in the academy to help resolve problems in my country. It was an honor to be part of the military exchange program,” he told reporters here.

The program allowed foreign students like Disapirom to study in PMA and Filipino cadets to enroll in military schools abroad.

Foreigners

Disapirom, who will serve as a junior officer in the Royal Thai Army, was popular among his “mistah” (classmates) because of his communication skills in Filipino, said Lt. Col. Reynaldo Balido, chief of the PMA public affairs office.

A Thai, Thaval Sawangpunka of Class 1960, was the first foreign cadet to graduate from PMA.

In 1978, Ho Sun Yee, a Singaporean, topped his class and received the presidential saber. His class also had the most number of foreign cadets, although only Ho completed training.

The spectacle was captured by a bewildered netizen named Mulong Sermonia who was inside a vehicle when he saw the video playing on the digital billboard.

When Sermonia realized what was happening, he took out his phone to record the display. In the video, a man can be seen on top of his partner, humping away. His face, however, was not shown thus making him unrecognizable.

It seems TeamViewer was used to air the video. TeamViewer is a computer software application used for Internet-based remote access and support, as well as file transfer and desktop sharing. Those who use the software can connect to any computer or server from afar as if they were sitting right in front of it.

Image: Screengrab from Facebook/Mulong Sermonia

Image: Screengrab from Facebook/Mulong Sermonia

Sermonia told INQUIRER.net that he and his companions were laughing when they saw the video on the billboard.  “Natatawa na kami nang makita namin,” said Sermonia. A lot of people witnessed the scene too, including the passers-by and drivers of other vehicles. “Meron mga nakahintong naka-motor, yung ale napahinto at ibang mga driver ng van, L300 yata yun.”

(We were laughing when we saw it. Some who were riding motorbikes even stopped. A lady also stopped, and other drivers, including a driver of an L300 van, I think.)

Thus far, it is unknown whether the airing of the pornographic video on the digital billboard was a prank or made out of malicious hacking. It may just also be a product of carelessness from those in charge of the said billboard.

The 51-year-old declared her candidacy with a two-minute campaign video posted on Twitter that showed her at home with her wife and children, riding the subway, taking one of her children to school and speaking at liberal political causes.

The move confirmed speculation that Nixon would challenge incumbent Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. If elected, Nixon — who is a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump — would be New York state’s first woman and first openly gay governor.

The actress and liberal activist, who has campaigned for gay marriage, public schools and access to women’s health care, announced that she was “sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than they do about us.”

“Our leaders are letting us down. We are now the most unequal state in the entire country with both incredible wealth and extreme poverty. Half the kids in our upstate cities live below the poverty line. How did we let this happen?” she said in the video.

“Something has to change. We want our government to work again — on health care, ending mass incarceration, fixing our broken subway.

“Together we can win this fight,” finished the New York-born and raised Nixon, who said she grew up with her mother in what she called “a one-bedroom, fifth-floor walkup.”

The Trump presidency has seen a surge in women — particularly Democratic women — running for office. Only eight of the current 50 US state governors are women.

In 2004, Nixon accepted an Emmy award — the highest accolade in US television — for her role as Miranda Hobbes from Trump, the fellow celebrity-turned-politician whose current presidency she publicly opposes.

Read also: Trump on Oprah: She won’t run in 2020 but I’d win anyway

Left-field candidate 

New York, the fourth most populous state in the United States, goes to the polls to elect a governor on November 6. But Nixon remains a left-field candidate with Cuomo very much the favored contender ahead of the Democratic Party primary on September 13.

Despite the stardom brought by her role alongside Sarah Jessica Parker on the hit HBO comedy from 1998-2004 that spawned two movies, a recent Siena College poll found that Cuomo is overwhelmingly favored by Democrats to Nixon by 66 to 19 percent.

The governor, who is seeking his third term, has downplayed the competition and Nixon has never previously run for office.

“I’m not nervous about whoever runs,” Cuomo said last week. “They’ll be people who run. That’s called elections and that’s fine.”

Considered a potential Democratic presidential candidate for 2020, Cuomo is shored up by a bevvy of powerful supporters, but it remains unclear whether he will be badly damaged by the recent conviction of a close friend and aide for bribery.

According to The New York Times, Cuomo’s name was mentioned 163 times during Joseph Percoco’s eight-week federal trial.

Nixon, who is close to left-leaning New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, echoes some of the language used by 2016 Democratic Party presidential contender Bernie Sanders, who electrified the left before ultimately losing to Hillary Clinton.

Her campaign fundraising page stipulates that she “won’t be accepting any corporate contributions” and that “instead our campaign will be powered by the people.”

If Trump has proved a celebrity can win office as a political novice, the mother-of-three is far from the first US actor to venture into politics.

Republican president Ronald Reagan got his political start after acting as a two-term governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born body builder, also served as California governor from 2003-2011.

And Former television comic Al Franken — for whom Nixon once campaigned — was Democratic senator of Minnesota from 2009 until early this year, when he was forced to step down over sexual misconduct allegations.//AFP

Daphne — the oversized mascot of the Cockburn Masters Swimming Club in Perth — made a bid for freedom on March 11, drifting out into the Indian Ocean and sparking an appeal for help along Australia’s west coast.

Read : Giant yellow duck goes missing off Australia

Reports of sightings flooded in, including one from 440 kilometres (270 miles) away. But on Monday a local fisherman revealed that he had spotted the escaping bath toy on the day of its disappearance — just 30 kilometres off shore.

“No-one knew about a missing duck at that point, we didn’t know where did it come from,” Tony Gibb told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It looked perfect. It was fully inflated, there was no damage to (it) whatsoever.” The fisherman towed Daphne back to shore, and said he would return the inflatable soon.

Swimming club president Peter Marr, who made a daring — but ultimately fruitless — dash to catch the duck after it blew away, quipped that he was in “delicate negotiations, and we want Daphne back”.

Giant inflatable rubber ducks drew international attention in 2007 when Dutchman Florentijn Hofman created one as an artwork.

Hofman’s 18-metre-tall (59-feet) bath toy travelled to different cities around the world, ranging from Brazil to Australia, and spawned many replicas.

Calls for investigations came on both sides of the Atlantic after Facebook responded to explosive reports of misuse of its data by suspending the account of Cambridge Analytica, a British firm hired by Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar and Republican John Kennedy called for Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to appear before Congress, along with Google and Twitter’s CEOs.

The lawmakers said the companies “have amassed unprecedented amounts of personal data” and that the lack of oversight “raises concerns about the integrity of American elections as well as privacy rights.”

Facebook’s chief of security Alex Stamos said his role has shifted to focusing on emerging risks and election security at the global social network.

Stamos revealed the change after The New York Times reported that he was leaving Facebook in the wake of internal clashes over how to deal with the platform being used to spread misinformation.

“Despite the rumors, I’m still fully engaged with my work at Facebook,” Stamos said in a message posted on his verified Twitter account.

“It’s true that my role did change. I’m currently spending more time exploring emerging security risks and working on election security.”

Stamos advocated investigating and revealing manipulation of news at the social network by Russian entities, to the chagrin of other top executives, the Times reported, citing unnamed current and former employees.

– Profiles weaponized? –

Senator Ron Wyden asked Facebook to provide more information on what he called a “troubling” misuse of private data that could have been used to sway voters.

Wyden said he wants to know how Cambridge Analytica used Facebook tools “to weaponize detailed psychological profiles against tens of millions of Americans.”

In Europe, officials voiced similar outrage.

Vera Jourova, the European commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, called the revelations “horrifying, if confirmed,” and vowed to address concerns in the United States this week.

According to a joint investigation by The New York Times and Britain’s Observer, Cambridge Analytica was able to create psychological profiles on 50 million Facebook users through the use of a personality prediction app that was downloaded by 270,000 people, but also scooped up data from friends.

Cambridge Analytica denied misusing Facebook data for the Trump campaign.

Elizabeth Denham, Britain’s Information Commissioner who regulates the sector in the country, announced her office would seek a court warrant on Tuesday to search Cambridge Analytica’s computer servers.

She said the company had been “uncooperative” to requests for access to its records and missed a Monday deadline stipulated.

Meanwhile, Facebook said it has hired a digital forensics firm to examine how the data leak occurred and to ensure that any data collected had been destroyed.

Facebook shares skidded 6.8 percent by the close of the Nasdaq on concerns about pressure for new regulations that could hurt its business model.

Shares slipped another percent or so to $170 in after-market trades.

The sell-off spread to other technology giants on Wall Street including Apple, Google-parent Alphabet and Netflix. Asian markets extended the losses, with Tokyo-listed Sony down, Samsung falling in Seoul and Tencent retreating in Hong Kong.

– ‘Self-regulation not working’ –

Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University professor who studies social media, said the disclosures will increase pressure to regulate Facebook and other social media firms, already under scrutiny for allowing disinformation from Russian-directed sources to propagate.

“Self-regulation is not working,” Grygiel said.

Daniel Kreiss, a professor of media and communications at the University of North Carolina, said Facebook failed to live up to its responsibilities on election ads.

“The fact that Facebook seems to make no distinction between selling sneakers and selling a presidential platform is a deep problem,” Kreiss said.

Brian Wieser at Pivotal Research maintained that the revelations highlight “systemic problems at Facebook,” but that they won’t immediately impact the social network’s revenues.

David Carroll, a media professor at the Parsons School of Design, said Facebook and others will soon be forced to live with new privacy rules such as those set to take effect in the European Union.

“Facebook and Google will have to ask users a lot more permission to track them,” Carroll said. “Most people are going to say no, so I think it’s going to have a huge impact on these companies.”

Carroll has filed a legal action in Britain calling on Cambridge Analytica to disclose what data was gathered and used on him.

An undercover investigation of Cambridge Analytica by Britain’s Channel 4 said executives boasted they could entrap politicians in compromising situations with bribes and Ukrainian sex workers, and spread misinformation online.

The executives claimed to have worked in more 200 elections across the world, including Argentina, the Czech Republic, India, Kenya and Nigeria.

The British firm said it “strongly denies” the claims from Channel 4 as well as reports on misuse of Facebook data.

“Facebook data was not used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump presidential campaign,” a statement read.//AFP

Selangor prosecution director Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad, when contacted, confirmed the matter. Iskandar said a notice of urgency was filed yesterday before a Shah Alam High Court deputy registrar.

The prosecution filed a notice of appeal on March 15, the same day the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court meted out a bound over for five years on a good behaviour bond of RM20,000 to Datin Rozita Mohamad Ali.

In the meantime, 50,000 people have signed a petition demanding equal justice for rich and poor alike after Rozita escaped jail time for abusing her Indonesian domestic helper.

The petition, started by “Equal Justice For Malaysians” on Saturday on petition site change.org, obtained the targeted 50,000 signatures just before 7pm yesterday.

According to the website, the petition will be forwarded to Prime Minister Najib Razak and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said.

Rozita was charged with having abused Suyanti Sutrinso, then 19, using a kitchen knife, a steel mop, a clothes hanger and an umbrella.

She allegedly caused multiple injuries to the victim’s head, hands, legs and internal organs between 7am and noon on Dec 21, 2016, at a house in Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

“What message are we sending to our people and children? Malaysia needs to seriously look at our human rights issues,” the petition text said.

The Indonesian Embassy, when contacted, said it would respect and monitor the court process as it was still ongoing because the prosecution has filed an appeal.

“The embassy will not interfere and is confident that the Malaysian legal process will prevail,” the embassy told The Star.

Rozita was initially charged under Section 307 of the Penal Code with attempted murder, facing life imprisonment or up to 20 years in jail.

However, the charge was later amended to causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means under Section 326 of the Penal Code which carries imprisonment of up to 20 years.

Rozita pleaded guilty to the lesser charge and judge Mohammed Mokhzani Mokhtar sentenced her to be bound over for five years on a good behaviour bond of RM20,000.

Deputy public prosecutor V. Suloshani had urged the court to mete out a jail sentence to serve as a deterrent against the accused, adding that the incident had gone viral on social media.

However, Rozita’s lawyer Datuk Rosal Azimin Ahmad applied for the good behaviour bond, saying that his client had repented.

The British data analysis company, hired by the 2016 Trump campaign, said the source of the accusations — which it called “a former contractor” — was “misrepresenting himself and the company”.

“This Facebook data was not used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump presidential campaign; personality targeted advertising was not carried out for this client either,” it said in a statement.

According to a joint investigation by The New York Times and Britain’s Observer, the firm was able to create psychological profiles on 50 million Facebook users through a personality prediction app that was downloaded by 270,000 people but also scooped up data from friends.

Facebook has responded by suspending Cambridge Analytica’s account and pledging to probe the allegations, but has pushed back against the claim of a major breach, suggesting misused data was limited to a far smaller group of users.

Its share price plunged on Monday, as officials on both sides of the Atlantic called for investigations.

Elizabeth Denham, Britain’s Information Commissioner who regulates the sector in the country, announced her office would seek a court warrant on Tuesday to search Cambridge Analytica’s computer servers.

She said the company had been “uncooperative” to requests for access to its records and missed a Monday deadline stipulated.

“The information commissioner is seeking a warrant to obtain information and access to systems and evidence related to her investigation,” Denham’s office said in a statement.

It added Facebook had agreed to “stand down” from its own search of the company’s London premises “at the information commissioner’s request”.

“Such a search would potentially compromise a regulatory investigation,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, fresh allegations against senior executives at Cambridge Analytica emerged on Monday evening.

The company’s chief executive Alexander Nix was secretly filmed by Britain’s Channel 4 News saying it could entrap politicians in compromising situations with bribes and sex workers, using ex-spies to dig up dirt on opponents.

He also said the firm secretly campaigns in elections around the world, including by operating through a web of shadowy front companies, or by using sub-contractors.

A Cambridge Analytica spokesman told the news programme it does not use “untrue material for any purpose”.

“We entirely refute any allegation that Cambridge Analytica or any of its affiliates use entrapment, bribes, or so-called ‘honey-traps’ for any purpose whatsoever,” the spokesman added.

The 51-year-old declared her candidacy with a two-minute campaign video posted on Twitter that showed her at home with her wife and children, riding the subway, taking one of her children to school and speaking at liberal political causes.

The move confirmed speculation that Nixon would challenge incumbent Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. If elected, Nixon — who is a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump — would be New York state’s first woman and first openly gay governor.

The actress and liberal activist, who has campaigned for gay marriage, public schools and access to women’s health care, announced that she was “sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than they do about us.”

“Our leaders are letting us down. We are now the most unequal state in the entire country with both incredible wealth and extreme poverty. Half the kids in our upstate cities live below the poverty line. How did we let this happen?” she said in the video.

“Something has to change. We want our government to work again — on health care, ending mass incarceration, fixing our broken subway.

“Together we can win this fight,” finished the New York-born and raised Nixon, who said she grew up with her mother in what she called “a one-bedroom, fifth-floor walkup.”

The Trump presidency has seen a surge in women — particularly Democratic women — running for office. Only eight of the current 50 US state governors are women.

In 2004, Nixon accepted an Emmy award — the highest accolade in US television — for her role as Miranda Hobbes from Trump, the fellow celebrity-turned-politician whose current presidency she publicly opposes.

Left-field candidate

New York, the fourth most populous state in the United States, goes to the polls to elect a governor on November 6. But Nixon remains a left-field candidate with Cuomo very much the favored contender ahead of the Democratic Party primary on September 13.

Despite the stardom brought by her role alongside Sarah Jessica Parker on the hit HBO comedy from 1998-2004 that spawned two movies, a recent Siena College poll found that Cuomo is overwhelmingly favored by Democrats to Nixon by 66 to 19 percent.

The governor, who is seeking his third term, has downplayed the competition and Nixon has never previously run for office.

“I’m not nervous about whoever runs,” Cuomo said last week. “They’ll be people who run. That’s called elections and that’s fine.”

Considered a potential Democratic presidential candidate for 2020, Cuomo is shored up by a bevvy of powerful supporters, but it remains unclear whether he will be badly damaged by the recent conviction of a close friend and aide for bribery.

According to The New York Times, Cuomo’s name was mentioned 163 times during Joseph Percoco’s eight-week federal trial.

Nixon, who is close to left-leaning New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, echoes some of the language used by 2016 Democratic Party presidential contender Bernie Sanders, who electrified the left before ultimately losing to Hillary Clinton.

Her campaign fundraising page stipulates that she “won’t be accepting any corporate contributions” and that “instead our campaign will be powered by the people.”

If Trump has proved a celebrity can win office as a political novice, the mother-of-three is far from the first US actor to venture into politics.

Republican president Ronald Reagan got his political start after acting as a two-term governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born body builder, also served as California governor from 2003-2011.

And Former television comic Al Franken — for whom Nixon once campaigned — was Democratic senator of Minnesota from 2009 until early this year, when he was forced to step down over sexual misconduct allegations.