Posts tagged: news
Yahoo! News:
Many commuters have also complained about SMRT’s bad communication of the disruption.
Skyee Alfonso said, “Bus bridging service was only activated after an hour. No instruction and no help was given by SMRT staff to show the commuter where to take the buses.”
Themis Thng agreed and added, “Commuters at Raffles Place MRT Station did not even know about train service (being) down as the on screen panel only reflects “Do not board”. No station master at the station telling them also. No announcement heard either.”
This worries me. The second breakdown this week and they’ve yet to get their corporate communications in order. I really fear for any emergency.
It looks as if SMRT has no effective emergency commuter-management SOPs.
OK…I reported it on air and now I’m getting into trouble for it?? TheCC line is DOWN rite? I did nothing wrong rite?
— Hossan Leong (@HossanLeong) December 14, 2011
So, someone got censured for reporting facts. If this is the direction that the media in Singapore is going to take, I’m beyond certain that their demise is understated.
[via]
Yahoo! Southeast Asia has filed a memorandum of appearance with the courts to defend itself against allegations by Singapore Press Holdings that the digital media company had infringed on its copyright.
“We intend to vigorously defend ourselves against this suit,” said Yahoo! Southeast Asia Managing Editor Alan Soon. “Our editorial business model of acquired, commissioned and original content is proven.”
In its claim, SPH cited 23 articles which it alleged were reproduced from its stable of newspapers without permission. Yahoo! has denied the allegations in an earlier letter to SPH’s lawyers.
Looks like they’ve got bored with their old gun and found a new one. This will be an extremely interesting case—23 articles are alleged to be reproduced without permission. I’d like to see for myself.
BBC News:
A Tibetan nun has set herself on fire near a restive monastery in western China, in the ninth such incident in recent months, reports say.
It is as clear as day that the Tibetan people do not welcome the suppressive colonisation of Tibet by the PRC government.
It puzzles me greatly why the PRC government so expansionist and hungry for territory. They have sufficient natural resources, land, and human resources, only lacking in ethics and morals in their society.
Now, infringing upon the sovereign rights of another territory, for what gain? More suppression of the innocent?
The Straits Times:
The man who has been linked to the Temasek Review sociopolitical website was arrested last month for offences under the Parliamentary Elections Act.
Revenge?
The Wall Street Journal reports:
BlackBerry users around the world experienced further disruptions in service Wednesday, the third consecutive day of problems that have now spread further into Asia.
Looks like RIM is in a hurry in the race to the bottom. At this rate, I’m not sure if it’ll take until end of 2012 for them to lose all their customer-base at the rate they are haemorrhaging users. Half a million a month of users are switching away from BB; after this incident, what do you think?
A letter written to New Nation, applauding the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore’s move to suspend the ad by Abercrombie & Fitch.
Much of the letter reads like a satirical piece, here are a few gems:
My daughter is turning 16 this year, and I actually forbid her from dating until she’s mature and ready. To make sure of that, I’ve added my daughter on Facebook to check that her photos are clean. I scan her profile for boys who make inappropriate advances. And so far, I’m proud to say, my daughter’s Facebook wall is clean. I only see updates that has to do with Bejeweled Blitz and schoolwork.
…
I fear for my son too. Can you imagine how ads like this could influence him? He’s going to BMT soon, where he will interact with all sorts of boys. My husband tells me that they sleep in the same bunk and share the same toilets. The army sergeants talk foul language and crack dirty jokes.
He has been a good boy. He never gets into trouble with girls. In fact, he told me he’s waiting for the ‘right one’, and doesn’t wish to flirt around. He has a healthy social life with his guy friends, going for swims, hiking trips, and sleepovers.
So you have to understand why I was upset when my two children saw the ad. All parents should be concerned about what such erotic images can do to young, impressionable minds. They are easily influenced by the Western media and the violent computer games they play. That is why I set the password in the home PC.
…
Recently, the government has been talking a lot about opening up. They brought in the casinos, Crazy Horse, and bar top dancing. Now, are they going to encourage homosexuality by allowing such inappropriate images in public space?
…
By the way, foreign workers should be kept in check just in case they get drunk, violent, and start raping our daughters. In fact, I believe Bangladeshi workers who hold hands in public should be warned by the authorities, because that is not the right image of manhood that we want to promote to young Singaporean men.
Really made my day.
A fire has intensified at Royal Dutch Shell’s largest refinery, its half-a-million barrel per day Singapore plant, sending a plume of black smoke over the city-state.
To think that I first heard of this event via foreign press, is highly amusing.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Representative Ron Paul what we should do if a 30-year-old man who chose not to purchase health insurance suddenly found himself in need of six months of intensive care. Mr. Paul replied, “That’s what freedom is all about — taking your own risks.” Mr. Blitzer pressed him again, asking whether “society should just let him die.”
And the crowd erupted with cheers and shouts of “Yeah!”
Great. Republicans are behaving as if compassion for fellow human beings is a chore.
President S R Nathan’s office has been approving the use of past reserves to fund land reclamation projects since 2001 and land acquisition for the Selective En-Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) since 2002.
I don’t know about you, but I find it extremely troubling to have heard about this through a report of an interview, almost 10 years after the fact. Especially when it was claimed that in 2009, it is the first time that the government is tapping into the reserves to fund its budget deficit.
After that report, the state-controlled press became dead silent on this matter.
Leong Sze Hian, from the TOC, writes in his article, “How much of the Reserves has been really used?”:
To the best of my knowledge, I do not think anyone in Singapore knew about the use of the Reserves in the past.
Was this ever disclosed in Parliament or reported in the media?
…
Finally, I am rather surprised that with this explosive disclosure now, no one has asked or answered the obvious question – how much of the Reserves has been used?
A news website run by China’s defence ministry said Thursday the nation’s aircraft carrier should handle territorial disputes, despite government assurances the vessel posed no threat to its neighbours.
One word about the PRC government: Dangerous.
Keivin Liwan Wai Yin was 19 when he had sex with the 15-year-old girl at his home in Hougang between June 1 and Oct 31, 2009.
The offence came to light when the victim reported to the police in February 2010 after she was found to be pregnant. She was admitted to hospital and had a miscarriage.
Sounds typical… but here comes the shocker:
A DNA profiling done showed that Liwan was not the biological father of the foetus.
Does that mean that the girl had multiple sexual partners? Then, why only this NSF got convicted?
Japan voiced concern Tuesday over China’s growing assertiveness and widening naval reach in the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean and what it called the “opaqueness” of Beijing’s military budget.
I’m now inclined to think that the growth of PRC’s military-might may actually bring instability to the region. After all, Beijing is not known to be a bunch of peace-loving people. They will use force just to get what they want. Just think about the “liberation of Tibet”.
NYTimes Opinion Pages: