South Korea: World Scout Jamboree disaster blamed on government

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Participants in the 25th World Scout JamboreeReuters
By Jean Mackenzie
Seoul correspondent

The South Korean government has denied being responsible for the disastrous World Scout Jamboree last year after being held to blame by investigators.

Tens of thousands were evacuated from the campsite last year due to problems with the food and medical facilities.

Independent findings have been critical of the Korean Scout Association and the government, which it said side-lined the scout group and took the lead role in organising the event.

But the government has denied this.

In a statement, it said it had only played a supporting role to the Korean Scout Association.

“It is not true at all that the direct cause of the event’s failure is the government’s involvement,” it said.

Described as the world’s largest youth camp, the jamboree – or festival – gathers young scouts from around the world every four years. The Jamboree held during the height of summer last August was riddled with problems from the start.

Children fainted in the 40C heat, without enough food to eat.

The report released by the independent panel said medical facilities were inadequate with some clinics not hooked up to electricity. There was also a shortage of basic supplies, such as saline solution to keep people hydrated.

Participants hosing themselves off to stay cool at the site as a heatwave grips South Korea

Reuters

The UK contingent withdrew more than 4,500 child scouts due to the problems with many other countries following suit.

In its scathing report, investigators accused the South Korean government of deliberately misleading international and national scout organisations, over the state of the preparations.

“In terms of safety, security, safeguarding of young people, medical support, food and dietary requirements, sanitation and hygiene… there were significant challenges and deficiencies, as well as a failure to consistently deliver core services – at the standard promised,” the report read.

It also said the Korean government becoming the “de factor organiser” had exacerbated the event’s problems and caused several “structural and co-ordination complications”.

The independent report also accuses the Korean government of hindering the review into the jamboree, by not providing information to the investigators.

“Regrettably, government officials were unable to provide much-needed information, especially on the financial statements relating to the event”, it said.

But the government has refuted this claim. It said it did not receive a request for information while the World Scout Organisation was preparing its report.

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Singapore's economy boosted by Taylor Swift, Coldplay shows; over half of concertgoers 'likely' from overseas

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SINGAPORE: Singapore’s economy was boosted by a” surge in tourism activity” in the first quarter of 2024 due to concerts by British rock band Coldplay and American pop star Taylor Swift, the Monetary Authority of Singapore ( MAS ) said on Friday ( Apr 26 ).

Both functions played at the 55, 000- power National Stadium- Singapore’s largest venue- with Coldplay’s music taking place in January and Swift’s displays happening in March.

More than half of the audience, according to MAS’s most recent economic review, came from abroad, and” these recitals took place over the course of 12 days in total.”

Coldplay sold more than 200, 000 cards to their first four shows in Singapore, while more than 300, 000 cards to Swift’s music were snapped up. &nbsp,

In the first three weeks of the year, there were 4, 353, 500 foreign visitors immigrants, according to figures from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). That is a 50 % increase over the same period last year and a 26 % increase over the same quarter in 2023.

In comparison to the same period last year, Singapore’s market increased by 2.7 % in the first quarter of the year. &nbsp, In the last quarter of 2023, the business grew 2.2 per share.

Despite a rebound in producing activity, the first quarter saw modest growth, with the clusters for biomedicals and electronics experiencing subpar progress.

According to MAS, activity in the modern solutions cluster was likewise slowed, mainly as a result of the financing and healthcare sectors. &nbsp,

The huge- scale music could have generated tourism records of between S$ 350 million ( US$ 257 million ) to S$ 450 million, according to projections by private- industry experts, MAS noted.

Based on faulty assumptions, such as the spectators ‘ length of stay in Singapore, the estimates were made.

This is a 6 percent increase over the typical monthly tourism receipts from Q1 to Q3 of last year, according to the report. That would have provided a boost to areas such as air travel, hotel, art, financial and more.

In contrast to 77 % in the previous quarter, hotel occupancy increased by 80 % in the first two months of the year, according to MAS. &nbsp,

CNA reported in February that demand for flights and hotel increased by up to 30 per cent&nbsp, around Swift’s musical times. &nbsp,

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Orpheus Pledger: Home and Away star arrested after Australian manhunt

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Mugshot of Mugshot of Orpheus PledgerVICTORIA POLICE
By Hannah Ritchie
BBC News, Sydney

Orpheus Pledger, the original Home and Away star, has been detained following a three-day police chase in Australia.

Mr Pledger, 30, is facing four fees for allegedly assaulting a female, officials say.

He was released on bail on Monday to go through a clinical evaluation mandated by the judge, with the only requirement being that he come back the following day.

However, when he failed to appear in court, the authorities made an arrest warrant and made an appeal for public knowledge.

The artist was detained in Melbourne on Thursday, Victoria Police said. They did not offer more information. 

His director, Craig McMahon, informed the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that despite not having spoken with his buyer this year, he had been shocked by the abuse allegations.

He added that Mr. Pledger had been dealing with mental health problems.

The artist has been a part of American television for more than 20 years.

He spent three years playing Mason Morgan in the Home and Away cast in 2016.

Prior to that, he appeared on the favorite soap opera Mates, as well as TV displays Silversun and CrashBurn.

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Shi Wei Da Satay Bee Hoon closing at the end of April after 30 years in the business

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TEOCHEW PORRIDGE BUSINESS SAME STALL AS

Kim Song merely sells his Satay Bee Hoon at 4 p.m. Another stalls earlier in the day sells Teochew cereal at the same barn ( the porridge business is highlighted on the signboard because the kiosk also sells Satay bee ho in smaller print ).

Adeline confirmed that the Teochew cereal company ‘ owner sold the stall in response to a netizen’s remark on her Facebook post.

Some more customers have expressed their grief in the comments area. One netizen reminisced:” I have been eating at your daddy’s barn since I was 14 years older”.

MIGHT Resume IN THE FUTURE

However, there might be desire for enthusiasts. In her Instagram news, Adeline wrote:” We may have great news to share in the near future”, and asked bloggers to keep tuned to the stall’s FB webpage. &nbsp,

Adeline said she’ll “update on our Twitter website once the decision has been made,” but there are still no concrete ideas in the works. &nbsp,

” Let my uncle sleep first, he works very hard. Who knows, ( maybe he will soon get bored and want to cook again ), he cannot sit still at home”, she explained. &nbsp,

Shi Wei Da Satay Bee Hoon is at# 01- 41 Bedok 85 Market, 85 Bedok North St 4, Singapore 460085. Available Mon, Wed, Fri- Sun 4pm- 8pm. Closed Tue &amp, Thur. On April 30 is its last day of activity. More data via&nbsp, Facebook. &nbsp,

This tale was originally&nbsp, published&nbsp, in 8days. &nbsp,

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Man gets 20 days jail for neglecting 43 cats in flat without food, water in NParks biggest animal cruelty case

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According to Ms. Farisha,” the only source of water was from a faucet dripping onto the bathroom ground of the unit, where it was discovered that the toilet floor was dripping with unclean brown water, probably from faecal contamination.” Drinking from a tainted water supply makes it easier for parasitesContinue Reading

Why India's household savings are at a 47-year-low

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Labourers push a handcart loaded with baskets of fish from a port in Mumbai on August 30, 2022AFP

Soutik Biswas

By Soutik Biswas
India editor

For years, India has been a country of savings. They frequently put away a sizable portion of their income at the expense of existing consumption for potential security.

However, everything is now glaringly wrong. According to recent statistics from the Reserve Bank of India, net household savings for India was at a 47-year lower. Household online savings are the full income and assets families have, like deposits, stocks and benefit, minus any money they owe, like loans and debts.

Savings shrank to 5.3 % of the gross domestic product ( GDP ) in the financial year 2023, down from 7.3 % in 2022. One analyst called this tumble “dramatic”.

In the same time, home bill has dramatically increased. The second-highest level since the 1970s was the monthly debts of 5.8 % of GDP.

As families increasingly rely on debts to energy consumption, their savings ultimately erode. The more they borrow, they dedicate more of their earnings to repaying debts, leaving less for benefits.

Nikhil Gupta, an analyst at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, claims that non-mortgage loans account for a large part of India’s growing family debt. More than half of these mortgages are for agriculture and business purposes. ( An interesting aside: In 2022, non- mortgage debt in India matched Australia and Japan, and surpassed many other major nations, including the US and China. )

A woman watches an Ikea mobile display unit in Mumbai on November 26, 2019. - Ikea, which opened its first store in India in August 2018, is seeking to wow India's burgeoning middle class with its Nordic-cool furniture and fittings, as well as products suited to local tastes, and is aiming to open 25 outlets in the country by 2025.

AFP

Mr Gupta even found that while borrowing for usage- credit cards, consumer durables, weddings, health emergencies, for instance- makes up less than 20 % of total home loan, it was the fastest- growing section.

What does the pattern of small savings and high debt mean for India’s economy, which is the fifth-largest in the world? Would increased borrowing and spending signal potential optimism, or do they issue warnings about problems like declining incomes, inflation, and economic stress?

” There is some amount of customer trust. Some Indians have hopes for future revenue growth that will be sufficient. Or they simply want to live well straight now rather than consider what may happen in the future, according to Mr. Gupta.

” Is there a change in]the Indian ] thinking about spending]more]? Maybe”, he says, adding that it’s not obvious yet what is driving this.

What about taking out a loan when there is a financial crisis or need, usually during a crisis or economic pain? Mortgage defaults may be avoided quickly due to prolonged distress borrowing. On the other hand, if the creditors are doing their homework, why do they continue to contribute to uncreditable lenders in the midst of a financial issue?

Residential buildings in Mumbai, India, on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. Wealthy Indians living abroad are snapping up luxury homes in the country, with the investment play driving an unprecedented boom in sales of top-end properties

EPA

A key problem, according to Mr Gupta, is the lack of granular detail in the official data on the borrowers. What types of jobs do they perform? How many people have gotten loans from? ( One borrower can take multiple loans. ) What purpose do they intend to pursue with the loans? What is their repayment history?

Some clues are available. The majority of household debt growth in the last ten years was driven by’credit widening’, an increase in the number of borrowers, according to Mr. Gupta and fellow economist Tanisha Ladha at Motilal Oswal, as opposed to higher loans per borrower or higher loans per borrower. It is preferable to have more people take out larger loans than it is for each borrower.

Similar to Nordic nations, Indian households have an estimated 12 % of their income used to service loans, according to the study. This ratio is higher than that of China, France, the UK, and the US, all of which have higher household debt levels. Higher interest rates and shorter loan terms in India contribute to the difference, which results in a relative higher DSR despite lower debt-to-income ratios.

In September, the finance ministry of India rebuffed concerns about reducing savings and increasing borrowings, claiming that people were profiting from low interest rates to finance purchases like cars, student loans, and homes.

Additionally, it stated that more people were taking out loans to purchase things like homes and cars, which is” not a sign of distress but of confidence in the future employment and income prospects.”

Zico Dasgupta and Srinivas Raghavendra of Azim Premji University, however, sound a note of caution. According to the two economists, the decline in savings and the rise in debt” spent concerns about debt repayment and financial fragility” in The Hindu.
Other G20 countries have the lowest per capita income, but economist Rathin Roy is concerned about the country’s growing dependence on borrowing. The government borrows to fund basic services and subsidies, while households borrow to consume, he noted in Business Standard. This reduces the already “declining flow of financial savings” and increases the cost of borrowing.

According to Mr. Gupta and Ms. Ladha, India’s financial or macroeconomic stability is not threatened by the current high level of borrowing in a year. However, if this trend persists, it may be questioned as to how long it will last.

In her new book Lilliput Land, Rama Bijapurkar, a business consultant, writes that” consumer India’s consumption is situated at the crossroads of high aspirations for a better life, woefully inadequate quality and quantity of public goods and amenities, and modest incomes which are also unstable.”

In other words, the Indian consumer is engaged in a skilled balancing act.

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The ex-flight attendant who became the first female boss of Japan Airlines

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Mitsuko Tottori, president of Japan Airlines Co., speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan.Getty Images
By Mariko Hiya
Company writer

When Mitsuko Tottori was announced as the new boss of Japan Airlines ( JAL ) in January, it sent a shockwave across the country’s corporate sector.

Ms. Tottori had started her career as a member of the house squad, which was not only the airline’s first female manager.

The headlines ranged from” first woman” and” first former flight attendant” to “unusual” and” no way”!

She was even described by one website as” an alien molecule” or” a mutant,” which made mention of her years working for Japan Air System ( JAS ), a much smaller airline that JAL purchased 20 years ago.

” I did n’t know about an alien mutant”, Ms Tottori laughs as she spoke to me from Tokyo.

In summary, she was n’t a member of the prestigious class of traders that the airline had ordinarily assigned to its top position.

Out of the last 10 people who held the post, seven were educated at the country’s major universities. A young school with a lower standard for women’s education is the only one where Ms. Tottori graduated.

With Ms Tottori’s interview, JAL has joined the less than 1 % of Japan’s major corporations led by women.

” I do n’t consider myself to be the first woman or former flight attendant,” he said. I want to act as an individual so I did n’t expect to get this much attention”.

However, she adds,” I realize the public or our employees do n’t always see me that way.”

Her nomination even occurred two days after the flight attendants from JAL were praised for successfully removing people from a helicopter that had collided with a shoreline guard aircraft during landing.

After the incident on the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, Japan Airlines Flight 516 blew up in flames.

The navy plane had five members of the six crew members who passed away, along with the commander. But, within days of the incident, all 379 people on board the Airbus A350- 900 had carefully escaped.

The rigorous training of the company’s aircraft staff was instantly in the spotlight.

Ms. Tottori first became aware of the importance of aircraft health as a previous flight attendant herself.

The deadliest one plane accident in aircraft history, which involved 520 people on Mount Osutaka, occurred four months after she started working as a flight attendant there in 1985.

According to Ms. Tottori,” Every member of staff at JAL is given the opportunity to face Mount Osutaka and communicate with those who remember the incident.”

At our health promotion center, we also display plane debris, so instead of just reading about it in a book, we “look with our own eyes and think with our own skin” to find out about the incident.

Although her promotion to the top position came as a shock, JAL has experienced rapid change since going bankrupt in 2010, making it the country’s biggest business loss since the financial sector.

The airport was able to continue operating thanks to significant state-backed funding, and the company underwent a radical reform with a new table and management.

Its lord was subsequently- 77- year- older retiree and ordained Buddhist priest, Kazuo Inamori. Without his transformative power, it is unlikely that a head like Ms. Tottori would have been able to lead JAL.

I spoke with him in a 2012 meeting. He asserted that JAL was a haughty business that did n’t give its customers any thought.

Under Mr Inamori’s leadership the organization promoted citizens from frontline activities, like pilots and engineers, rather than from administrative posts.

” I felt very uncomfortable because the company did n’t feel like a private firm at all”, Mr Inamori, who died in 2022, told me. ” Many former federal officers entered the business using bright parachutes.”

Since then, JAL has come a long way, and it is not surprising that its first female senator is receiving such attention.

The Japanese government has made an effort to increase the number of female leaders in the nation for about ten years.

After failing to do so by 2020, it now wants a fourth of the authority roles in major corporations to be filled by people by 2030.

” It is not just about the business leaders ‘ mindset, but it is also essential for people to have the confidence to become a administrator”, says Ms Tottori.

” I hope my session will inspire other people to try things that they had previously been averse to trying.”

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How 2 mums pooled their savings to buy their kids’ childcare centre and save it from closing down

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The two ladies next began their eager search for a new home, which had to be close to the previous location in order to accommodate the children.

In the event of a fireplace, the earth floor had to be used as a shelter for the kids. It required a drop-off location for driving kids. Additionally, the building’s restrooms and exterior space were required.

Over eight weeks, the couple viewed 30 places, travelling as far as Bukit Merah, but were unable to find a suitable one. Some parents decided to resign their kids during this time due to uncertainty.

” It was very difficult. Every day, we looked at Property Guru and kept hitting refresh”, said Ang.

” Every day, we had never sleep”, Poh chimed in.

Suddenly, they found a page in Ang Mo Kio and proceeded to change the whole class, all while juggling their business work and motherhood.

A SCHOOL FOR THEIR OWN Kids

Now, both Ang and Poh have two children each in the class, turning five and three this time. When they built the college, their kids were at the forefront of their minds.

An interior treadmill with a rock-climbing walls, an outdoor play area with trampolines, a liquid enjoy table, and an obstacle course are provided for the new grounds, along with Montessori areas with materials like shaft boxes for numerical skills, as well as a song part with drums and wire instruments.

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Police probe over 300 suspected scammers and money mules; more than S$9 million lost

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SINGAPORE: More than 300 suspected scammers and money mules are being investigated following a two- week operation, said the police on Thursday ( Apr 25 ). &nbsp,

The 214 people and 95 people are aged between 16 and 75. &nbsp,

The 309 people are believed to be involved in more than 1, 600&nbsp, cases of scams, comprising generally purchase scams, online like scams, career scams, friend impersonation scams, and e- commerce scams.

Victims of these scams reportedly lost over&nbsp, S$ 9 million ( US$ 6.6 million ), said the police.

The defendants are facing charges of cheating, money fraud, or providing transaction companies without a license.

Those convicted of cheating&nbsp, face up to 10 times ‘ prison and a good. The crime of&nbsp, cash fraud carries a sentence of up to 10 years ‘ prison, a fine of up to S$ 500, 000, or both.

If found criminal of&nbsp, providing pay companies without a licence, criminals face&nbsp, a fine of up to S$ 125, 000, a prison term of up to three years, or both.

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