Teen Murder Shocks Singaporeans

A gruesome murder, a raging debate about Singapore’s national identity and a former pilot’s riveting tale of trauma after surviving Singapore’s worst-ever air disaster dominate this week’s headlines.
The week got off to a grisly start with the shock stabbing and murder of 19-year-old Darren Ng Wei Jie in Downtown East when a staring incident turned ugly on Saturday.
Four attackers slashed Darren several times on his back, limbs and abdomen with choppers in a violent brawl in full view of stunned by-standers. The second-year Republic Polytechnic student later died from his multiple stab wounds at Changi General Hospital.
All four have been charged with murder, although one of Darren’s attackers is himself in critical condition after jumping off a three-storey balcony in a desperate attempt to escape police arrest.
The incident has since generated great debate over gang-related activities and violent youth behaviour.
As Darren’s friends and relatives reel from a tragic case of teen violence, debate raged online, and later in traditional media, about what it means to be Singaporean.
Triggering the discussion were comments made by 23-year-old Nanyang Technological University student, Lim Zi Rui in a Ministerial Forum organised last Friday.
The final-year aerospace engineering student engaged guest-of-honour Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong in a lively dialogue over what he believed was young Singaporeans’ increasing loss of national identity.
“When I was younger, I was very proud of being a Singaporean… But that was about five, ten years ago. Five years later, with all the changes in policies and the influx of foreign talent, I really don’t know what I’m defending anymore,” he said.
In reply, SM Goh simply said, “If this is happening, it is very serious. If the majority feel they don’t belong here, then we have a fundamental problem. Then I would ask myself: What am I doing here? Why should I be working for people who don’t feel they belong over here?”
Over 2,000 comments flooded the Yahoo! Fit-to-Post blog, many sympathising with the young student.
Just days later, results of a poll revealing that young Singaporeans are proud of their country were released, sparking another firestorm on the issue.
While some readers endorsed the survey findings and said they agreed with it, others questioned the timing of the survey results and questioned its credibility.
“I am proud to be Singaporean and am glad that I was born here,” wrote jaymichaeljohnson.
Others like reader entebbe, however, asked for “a more credible poll across a wider range of age and income groups to get the real feel” of the situation.
And even as the work week ended with a Qantas plane making an emergency landing at Changi Airport, an inspirational real-life survival tale served to remind us how precious life can be.
In an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Singapore, Singapore Airlines (SIA) First Officer Cyrano Latiff, 46, spoke of his uphill struggle to rebuild his life and career after surviving Singapore’s worst-ever aircraft disaster.
Cyrano was one of three pilots of the ill-fated SQ006 flight that crashed in Taiwan in 2000, killed 83 passengers and crew members on board.
“It was a difficult period for my family as my three kids back then were still young,” Cyrano revealed. “I must give all the credit to my wife. She is a very strong person who kept the family together,” he said of his wife, who works as a service quality consultant in the food and beverage industry.
Cyrano’s account of his traumatic experience on the day of the tragedy, which was later published in Today newspaper and Shin Min Daily News, drew messages of support and encouragement from Yahoo! Fit to Post readers.
Reader chancl wrote, “I salute your bracery, tenacity and resilience. You are an inspiration to not only your students but to all Singaporeans.” Read more at http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/04/week-in-review-teen-attack-shocks-sporeans/

British Author Shadrake Found Guilty ( British Author Guilty Of Insulting Singapore's Judiciary )

From Left: Lawyer, M. Ravi and British author, Alan Shadrake speaking to the media. (Photo: Yahoo! SEA).
British author, Alan Shadrake, 76, was found guilty of contempt for scandalising Singapore’s judiciary system.
During the three day hearing last month, Deputy Senior State Counsel Hema Subramanian, told the High Court that at least 14 statements in the 219-page book entitled, “Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice In The Dock”, constituted a direct attack on the judiciary.
Ms Subramanian argued that those statements alleged or insinuated that the Singapore courts bowed to pressure from foreign governments, favoured the rich and privileged and were used as a tool by the ruling party to muzzle political dissent.
Summarising his 80-page judgement, High Court Judge Quentin Loh ruled that 10 of the 14 statements had scandalised the judiciary.
He noted the statements in Shadrake’s book insinuated that “judiciary in Singapore is not impartial and independent” and that judiciary decisions “are biased against the weak, poor and lower-educated”.
Judge Loh mentioned that Shadrake’s case was not about individual opposition against the death penalty and said that individuals can and have the right to air views on the death penalty in public.
The judge also highlighted that 6,000 copies of Shadrake’s books have been sold till this date and if left unchecked, those reading the book would believe in his claims and might lose confidence in the country’s administration of justice.
While Judge Loh has reserved sentence till next week, Shadrake faces a possible jail term, a fine or both for contempt of court...... P.S I didn't write finish the whole thing so you'll have to read at Yahoo News! Here is the website http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/03/british-author-guilty-of-insulting-spores-judiciary/ I'm sorry that it is troublesome.

Suspected Serial Molester Arrested ( ' HeartBeat Molester ' Arrested )

A man believed to be the “Heartbeat Molester” was arrested by police for his involvement in at least 20 outrage of modesty cases.
In its statement, police said that a 47-year-old man was arrested at his home in the Sengkang area.
Police have been looking for the suspect since 1999, but he has been able to evade capture due to the age of his victims who were unable to give a proper description.
However, last month, police managed to obtain and release images of the man captured for the first time on closed-circuit television (CCTV). A member of the public who saw the published CCTV images tipped off the police.
The molester was believed to be back on the prowl after lying low for seven years, and was linked to three cases in Hougang, Punggol and Sengkang in the past two months.
Targeting young girls between the age of 8 to 12 years old, his tactic sees him approach his lone victim at void decks or lift lobbies, pretending to ask for directions to a non-existent flat with a made-up unit number.
Conversing in either English or Mandarin, he would then ask his victim to lead the way and then bring her to a secluded staircase landing to commit the offence.
In some cases, he would pretend he needed to rest and would place the victim’s hand on his chest to “feel” his heartbeat. He would then tell his victim he had a weak heart. Sometimes, he was bold enough to move his victim’s hand down to his other body parts.
While investigations are still ongoing, he could be jailed for up to 10 years and caned if found guilty.
On a separate incident, police also issued a warning on Wednesday about a “bogus” policeman, who has been outraging the modesty of women by conducting searches on them.
The Straits Times reported that between February and October this year, six reports were filed. All the victims said they have been approached by a man in plainclothes at the void deck or corridor claiming to be a police officer.
In these cases, the culprit would use different reasons to conduct a search on the victim, claiming among other things, that he was checking for drugs and underage cigarette smoking. He would then use the opportunity to molest them.
The victims are aged between 12 and 36, and the incidents took place mostly in Pasir Ris, Choa Chu Kang, Woodlands and Boon Keng. The culprit has also been known to flash fake “police” passes of various colours to bolster his claim of being a police officer.
Police have advised the public that the proof of a police officer’s identity is his warrant card. A genuine warrant card will carry identification features such as the police crest, the photo of the officer, his name and identification number.
Impersonating a public servant carries a fine and a jail term of up to two years. Read more at http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/04/heartbeat-molester-arrested/

Three Charged For Downtown East Murder

Darren Ng Wei Jie (left) died from his injuries after being attacked with choppers at Downtown East.
Three of the four men arrested for the death of 19-year-old Darren Ng Wei Jie in Downtown East last weekend have been charged in court for murder.
The three men are 21-year-old Tang Jia Min, 20-year-old Ho Wui Ming and 19-year-old Chen Wei Zhen.
According to The Straits Times, the fourth man, 18-year-old Edward Tay Wei Loong, hit his head while putting up a struggle against the police, causing internal bleeding within the skull and is now in the intensive care unit of Changi General Hospital. He is currently in a neck brace and guarded by two police officers. He is not allowed to receive any visitors.
The four suspects — who are students and full-time national servicemen — were hiding in a chalet at the SAF Yacht Club in Tanah Merah Coast Road when the police came to arrest them.
The fight last Saturday reportedly started when Darren and his friends got into a staring incident with another group of about 10 teenagers at the Pasir Ris resort and amusement complex.
The incident then turned into a violent brawl and Darren is believed to have been slashed several times on his back, limbs and abdomen by his attackers, who were armed with choppers.
The second-year industrial and operations management student from Republic Polytechnic later died from his multiple stab wounds at Changi General Hospital.
According to Today, Darren’s father, Mr Francis Ng, said at his son’s memorial service last night, “My son died because of his love for his friends.”
Darren’s childhood friend, girlfriend, elder sister and parents took turns to give their eulogies of a “cheerful” young man with “a heart of gold” to a crowd of 400 friends and relatives. Read more at http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/03/three-men-charged-for-downtown-east-murder/

Awning Saves Plummeting Baby ( Toddler Survives Seven-Floor Fall In France )

PARIS (AFP) - – An 18-month-old boy survived after falling seven floors and bouncing off a Paris cafe awning into the arms of a passer-by, witnesses said Tuesday.
"My son saw a little boy on a balcony. He had gone right outside the railing... I said to myself I mustn't miss him," the toddler's saviour, local doctor Philippe Bensignor, told AFP, recounting Monday's drama.
"I had time to move from side to side to get in the right position," he added. "The little boy was fine. He cried a little bit but calmed down straightaway."
An official involved in investigating the incident said the boy had been left alone in the family apartment in northern Paris with his sister by their parents, who were taken into custody afterwards.
"It's a real miracle," said the cafe's barman, who gave his name as Gaby, pointing to a small tear in the awning where the toddler bounced off.
"We were closed yesterday but the mechanical device for closing the awning wasn't working." Read more at http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101103/tts-france-children-offbeat-509a08e.html

Aussie Teen In Whale Controversy ( ' Dude , It's a Whale ' , Says Boy Who Rode Sea Giant )

SYDNEY (AFP) - – An Australian teenager who climbed onto a whale and rode on its back has said he never intended to hurt the animal and had been acting instinctively when he put his arms around the massive sea creature.
Sam Matheson, 14, said he was with a friend at Middleton Beach in Albany south of Perth when he saw the animal not far off the Western Australian coast and decided to take a closer look.
"I swam out to it and put my arms on it, sort of laid against it for about 20 or 30 seconds. I was out of the water from the waist up," the keen surfer told Perth's Sunday Times.
"It was like a leather texture, like a really smooth leather, really soft. It wasn't even scary, it was like, 'Dude, it's a whale'."
The teen said the whale, which he estimated to be about 14 metres (46 feet) long, did not even notice him until he laid on it.
"Then it lifted up its tail, it went under and it pulled me down at bit, but I was fine and I swam back to the rocks," he said.
Matheson said he did not realise that it was illegal or dangerous to swim within 30 metres of a whale and that he now regretted his actions.
"If I had known it was illegal I wouldn't have done it," he told the paper.
The story of the teen whale rider made headlines after a witness photographed the boy clambering on the southern right whale, prompting officials to warn the public that doing so was illegal and potentially fatal.
They said the teenager was lucky to have escaped injury and the incident could easily have ended tragically had he been in the way of a tail slap or breaching action.
Matheson was let off with a warning but harassing protected species carries a maximum fine of 10,000 dollars (9,890 US dollars) under environmental laws. Read more at http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101101/tap-australia-animal-environment-whale-5a1703c.html

MBS Rapped For Failing To Collect Entry Levy ( Marina Bay Sands )

Integrated resort Marina Bay Sands (MBS) has been issued a warning by the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA).
This was over an incident in May, when 15 diners walked through the MBS casino without paying the S$100 levy, reported Today.
The patrons had been dining at the Imperial Treasure restaurant, situated within the MBS’ casino area on the second floor, when they discovered the two lifts, their only exits, were out of order.
MBS staff told them they had to pay the S$100 levy to exit by the casino but the diners refused. After a half-hour standoff, they walked through the casino without paying.
A CRA spokesperson said the diners entered the casino “for the purpose of exiting the premises and did not pay the entry levy”.
She said, “This could have been avoided if MBS had properly and promptly informed the diners of available alternative exit routes.”
An MBS spokesperson told the same paper, the IR has enhanced accessibility of the restaurants situated within the casino area and security staff have been trained to direct customers to the nearest exits.
MBS apologised for the “inconvenience caused to our guests at that time”.
Under the Casino Control Act, MBS could have been liable for disciplinary action – including having its casino licence cancelled or suspended – or fined up to S$1 million, for failing to collect entry levies from Singapore citizens and permanent residents. Read more at http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/03/mbs-rapped-for-failing-to-collect-entry-levy/

Man Pulls Shark ' s Tail To Save Woman ( In Australia )

PERTH, Australia – Officials say a female diving guide was bitten on the thigh and buttocks by a shark but was saved when another swimmer pulled the shark's tail.
Frank Pisani of Fremantle Sea Rescue said Sunday that an unidentified man grabbed the shark by the tail as it bit Elyse Frankcom in waters about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Perth.
Pisani said Frankcom started to sink to the bottom but the man grabbed hold of her and brought her to the surface and back on board the boat.
Frankcom had been guiding a group of people on a dive with dolphins on Saturday.
Department of Fisheries spokesman Tony Cappelluti says the 10-foot (three-meter) shark was either a great white or a whaler shark.
Frankcom is in stable condition after surgery Sunday. Read more at http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20101031/twl-as-australia-shark-attack-33df70f.html

Alchohol ' More Dangerous Than Heroin ' ( Alcohol More Harmful Than Heroin , Crack Cocaine : Study)

LONDON (AFP) - – Alcohol is more harmful than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine, a new study by British researchers said Monday.
Scientists looked at the dangers to both the individual and to wider society and found that alcohol was the most dangerous substance, according to the study by the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD).
The results fly in the face of long-held opinions about which drugs pose the greatest dangers, with the authors claiming they demonstrate "the present drug classification systems have little relation to the evidence of harm."
"They also accord with the conclusions of previous expert reports that aggressively targeting alcohol... is a valid and necessary public health strategy," said the authors.
Drug experts on the committee devised their own system to judge substances and believe their consensus provides a valuable assessment which could guide policymakers.
The research, published in medical journal The Lancet, looked at the how much a drug harms the human body as well as other factors such as what its use costs the health care and prison systems.
Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine -- or crystal meth -- were found to be the most deadly. But when the wider social effects were factored in, alcohol was the most dangerous, followed by heroin and crack cocaine, said the study.
Substances were given a mark from zero to 100 based on certain criteria, with alcohol scoring 72 overall followed by 55 for heroin and 54 for crack.
One of the study's authors was David Nutt, a former British government drugs adviser during the previous Labour administration.
He was sacked after a disagreement with the government over the decision to upgrade the classification of cannabis.
The ISCD says its remit is to investigate and review scientific evidence relating to drugs, free from political concerns. Read more at http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101101/tts-science-health-alcohol-britain-cac1e9b.html

Zipping Around China In Light Speed ( A Bullet Train To Beijing )

The bullet train from Tianjin arrives in Beijing before passengers can get too comfortable on their plush swivel chairs. Travelling at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, the train takes just 30 minutes to pull up at Beijing South Railway Station.The ride is so fast that it takes less time to reach Beijing by bullet train from Tianjin then it takes to navigate the traffic congested roads from Beijing international airport into the heart of the capital.

When it was launched in 2008, before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government said the train was the fastest in the world. Tianjin, about 115 km east of the capital, is a port city with a very different vibe from the country's capital. Tianjin hosted some of the soccer events of the Beijing Olympics and it revamped its waterfront area for the Games. The fast connection between the two cities opens up a wide array of tourist destinations for visitors to China. Even the train ride to Beijing gives visitors a glimpse of panoramic views of the Chinese countryside and farmers at work in their fields.

For only US$15 per ticket for a deluxe seat, which comes with a herbal tea, or as low as US$8 for a seat in the cheapest class, the bullet train is a tourist attraction in and of itself.

 

Meanwhile, visitors who want to spend a little time in Tianjin before moving onto the sights and sounds of Beijing can enjoy a wide range of attractions in this northeastern Chinese city. Among them is the Dabei Monastry, a Ming Dynasty monastery, a Qing Dynasty Confucian Temple and a wooden mosque that dates back to 1644.

The street life in Tianjin is enticing as well with street vendors spilling onto narrow lanes, and a wide array of streets with houses in traditional Chinese architectural styles. There is even a quixotic street called Machang Dao which is lined with staid English homes. Tianjin has an excellent antique market with many bargains as few foreigners shop there and prices are lower than antique and thrift markets in Beijing.

For architecture buffs, the Beijing South Railway Station, the train's destination in Beijing, is an awe-inspiring building. It took just three years to build the sprawling train station which has glass walls and a glass roof. The station is even larger than the Bird's Nest stadium where the 2008 Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies and athletic events were held. The station generates its own electricity thanks to more than 3,000 solar panels on its roof.

Upon arrival in Beijing, visitors can get into the city by switching to Subway line 4, or they can grab a taxi or bus into the centre where the Forbidden City and many other tourist attractions await them. Read more at 

 http://sg.travel.yahoo.com/inspirations/199-a-bullet-train-to-beijing?cid=today