SINGAPORE: A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) regular serviceman was found dead at Changi Naval Base on Monday (Jun 12), the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) said. His body was found at about 8.50am and the Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defence Force were activated. MINDEF said that his death wasContinue Reading
Mr Shanmugam said that the side effect of the EIP is that, over time, if someone is of a minority race living in a place where the Chinese EIP has been reached, they have to sell to a minority. This could mean taking a longer time to sell, and thereContinue Reading
SINGAPORE: More flats will be set aside to temporarily house families, with the supply doubling to 4,000 units over the next two years, announced Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann on Monday (Jun 12).
Speaking at the Institute of Policy Studies’ 35th anniversary conference, Ms Sim said the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has achieved its target of increasing the supply of flats under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) from 800 units in 2021 to 1,800 units in 2023.
She added there will be close to 2,000 flats under the scheme by the end of this year.
The scheme helps to temporarily house families as they await the completion of their new flats.
Ms Sim also said the PPHS application rates have “come down significantly” from more than 20 times in 2021, to around three times now.
“But we understand that buyers who booked their flats in the past two years have experienced longer waiting times because of the delays caused by COVID-19. So, HDB is hard at work to increase the PPHS supply further, doubling it again to 4,000 units over the next two years,” added Ms Sim.
“We hope these efforts will bring about some relief to the young families and to support their parenthood journeys.”
During her speech, Ms Sim also said HDB is studying ways to further maximise the available pool of PPHS flats, as there is sustained demand for such flats while supply remains limited.
This includes requiring flat sharing for the larger PPHS units.
“This will allow more homebuyers awaiting their HDB flats to benefit from subsidised market rental,” added Ms Sim.
The 64-year-old is in the midst of collaborating with the Singapore University of Social Sciences to come up with a Continuing Education and Training (CET) course on beekeeping.
The course will be rolled out by November and it will include learning about how to relocate bee hives.
His hope is that those who learn about bees can pursue a business through the knowledge gained, he said.
“Relocation doesn’t pay that well yet. But I hope to raise the status of this. This is a very dedicated service,” he said.
Many people contact exterminators with their beehive problems but these companies tend to outsource the business as the skills required are completely different from extermination.
“Most homeowners, when they have bee nests in their houses, they just want it gone. They’re not so concerned about whether it’s saved, or it is killed. Their concern I will say a lot of the time is price, they just want to pay a market rate of about S$100 (US$74) to have it gone,” said beekeeper Clarence Chua.
Bee hive relocation, on the other hand, comes at a higher price tag of up to S$450 because of the risk and equipment involved.
Mr Chong, who also provides bee relocation services, said that the process is “not that simple”.
“If it’s (the hive) easily accessible, it’s easier, the task can be completed within a short period of time. But some of them are more difficult (to handle) so they take a lot of time and effort because it takes a lot of time. And then most people are not willing to pay the amount,” said Mr Chong.
Mr Chua, who is also founder of The Sundowner, a nature-based experience centre, said he has been twice as busy in the past few months, an uptick he takes as a good sign.
It means more customers are now thinking twice about killing off hives, he said.
Getty ImagesThe western Indian state of Gujarat is on high alert as an extremely severe cyclone is due to hit parts of it on Thursday.
Biparjoy – a cyclone over the Arabian Sea – is predicted to move towards the state’s coastline in the next two days.
Heavy rains and high tides have been forecast in several coastal districts in the state.
People have been told to avoid visiting beaches and fishermen have been asked to not go out into the sea.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday that the cyclonic storm was likely to move northwards until 14 June and then move “north-northeastwards and cross Saurashtra and Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) by noon of 15 June”.
It added that the storm could have a “maximum sustained wind speed of 125 to 135kmph (77 to 84 mph)” and could go up to 150kmph.
Biparjoy – which means disaster or calamity in Bengali language – has intensified into an “extremely severe cyclonic storm” – the second highest category used by the IMD to classify tropical storms.
Until Saturday, the cyclone was expected to avoid Gujarat and move towards Pakistan’s coastline.
However, India’s weather department has now issued warnings to local authorities in Gujarat and has asked them to make preparations to evacuate people if needed.
People in coastal areas have been asked to stay indoors on the day the cyclone is likely to make landfall.
The Gujarat government has deployed national and state disaster response teams in areas likely to be affected by the cyclone.
The cyclone is expected to bring rains to a few other states along India’s western and southern coast as well. The IMD has forecasted heavy rains in some regions in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa states in the coming days.
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EPAAround 13,000 people have been evacuated in north-east Philippines as the country’s most famous volcano, Mayon, continued to ooze lava.
Riding lorries and buffalo-drawn carriages, people living within the “permanent danger zone” or six-kilometre radius fled to shelters.
Known for its “perfect” conical shape, Mayon started spewing lava last week.
But evacuations only began over the weekend as volcanic activity intensified, setting of alerts.
More people could be evacuated if Mayon’s unrest intensifies in the coming days, said Teresito Bacolcol, the country’s chief volcanologist.
It is currently under the third highest warning in a five-tier system that forecasts the threat of a hazardous or explosive eruption. It is technically erupting, albeit at a slow pace, with lava oozing from the crater, scientists say.
Located in a farming peninsula called Bicol, Mayon is among the country’s most active volcanoes. It has grown restive in recent weeks with more frequent earthquakes and rocks falling from its crater.
“There’s the danger of a fast-moving current of volcanic gases and rocks from the crater,” Bacolcol told local media. “It will be difficult to outrun those currents.”
An eruption in 1814 killed 1,200 people and buried an entire town. But the perimeter was declared off limits, resulting in fewer casualties after recent eruptions in 2013 and 2018.
As Mayon glowed a fiery red, tourists have also begun to camp out in hilltops to witness the volcanic spectacle. Mayon, which Guinness describes as the world’s “most conical” volcano, is a tourist favourite. Local officials have designated viewing points where thrill-seekers can marvel at its glowing crater.
“Last night, Mayon again put on a show as lava flowed from its crater,” Eugene Escobar, a disaster response official in the region, said on Monday in a TV interview.
Philip Balselle, a French tourist, told ABS-CBN News that he felt lucky that his Philippine holiday this year coincided with Mayon acting up. He joined about a dozen tourists at a lookout point in a nearby town.
“It’s the first time in my life that I’m seeing Mayon, and there’s volcanic activity,” said Filipino tourist Joseph Palasigue from the capital Manila, which is around half a day’s drive away.
Mayon’s beauty is part of Filipino folklore pop culture. It’s name is derived from the local word for beautiful lady, daragang mayon.
A Filipina beauty queen, Catriona Gray, won the 2018 Miss Universe competition wearing a gown that is inspired by lava flowing down Mayon’s slopes. Her mother hails from Albay province, where the volcano is located.
Mayon is among the Philippines’ 24 active volcanoes. In recent days, two others – Taal and Kanlaon – have also been put under close watch for signs of unrest.
While recent eruptions have not directly resulted in many deaths, powerful typhoons in the past have triggered volcanic mudflows that proved fatal.
In 2006, Typhoon Durian washed volcanic debris from Mayon’s slopes, burying villages and killing about 200 people. At least 10 people were killed in volcanic mudslides from Super Typhoon Goni in 2020.
Over the weekend, a powerful typhoon from the Pacific missed the Mayon area.
SINGAPORE: KidZania will return to Singapore in the first quarter of 2024, said theme park developer Sim Leisure Group (SLG) on Monday (Jun 12). The theme park, an indoor family attraction that allows children to role-play different jobs, first opened in Singapore in April 2016 on Sentosa Island but closed permanentlyContinue Reading
ELD said that prospective candidates are encouraged to use the digital services for candidates at its website to prepare the application form for the CoE. The form must be printed and submitted to ELD with all the supporting documents no later than the fifth day after the Writ of Election is issued.
The ELD public counter is now located at Novena Rise, after it moved in 2021 from its Prinsep Link location.
The PEC issues the CoE no later than the eve of Nomination Day and applicants will be notified of the application outcome.
ELD said that the upcoming Presidential Election may be held at any time from Jun 13, and if it has not been held by the expiration of the term of the incumbent President, it should be held shortly after. President Halimah Yacob’s current term ends on Sep 13.
“We are unable to comment further on the timing of the upcoming Presidential Election, as this is a matter for the Prime Minister to decide,” ELD said in a response to the media.
In the last PE in 2017, the applications for CoE were opened on Jun 1 and the Writ of Election was issued on Aug 28. Nomination Day was Sep 13, 2017.
Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam is the only person who has announced his intention to run for the presidency, but observers have suggested that Harvey Norman Ossia’s founder George Goh could be a contender.
Getty ImagesFinishing as the second best team in the world over four years and two cycles isn’t such a bad thing. By losing two successive finals of the World Test Championship, however, India have blotted their copybook somewhat.
It is possible that India lost the final on the opening day when they won the toss and asked Australia to bat first. Australia might have done the same – but they had better fast bowlers. Was that why India bowled first, so they wouldn’t have to face them first up? Was it a defensive move? It is one of cricket’s enduring cliches – attributed to players from WG Grace to Bishan Singh Bedi – that when you win the toss, bat. If you have to think about it, think for a bit and then bat.
Another of the game’s received wisdoms, the mantra of captains from Tiger Pataudi in the 1960s to Clive Lloyd in the 1980s is: play your best bowlers.
When the best bowlers in the West Indies were all fast bowlers, Lloyd played four of them; when India’s strength was spin, they played the spinners. It may have been lopsided, but including a token spinner in Lloyd’s team or a token medium pacer in Pataudi’s served no purpose. Thus even a wicketkeeper once opened India’s bowling as did star opening batter Sunil Gavaskar!
At a pinch, the choice at the Oval could have been between Jayadev Unadkat, whose left arm medium pace would have added variety and the great Ravichandran Ashwin, their most successful bowler in the two-year cycle. If claiming 474 Test wickets only entitles you to carry drinks to the field, Ashwin might begin to think he is in the wrong business.
India might still have been bowled out for 150 in the first innings and Ashwin might not have taken any wickets in the fourth, but at least it would show the team management’s thinking was sound.
For those who felt that the Rohit Sharma-Rahul Dravid combination of captain and coach might be too timid and the team required an aggressive duo at the top, the result was the same in 2021 with the more belligerent Virat Kohli-Ravi Shastri combo. India got the team selection against New Zealand wrong on that occasion and sought to make up this year, but two wrongs don’t make a right.
Having got the fundamentals wrong, India were playing catch up from day one at the Oval. Australia reserved their best for the best – Kohli got a beauty in the first innings from Mitchell Starc which he was good enough to nudge; in the second he was beaten by a Scott Boland beauty and fell to a blinder in the slips by Steve Smith.
India lacked that kind of fire. On the second morning, with Smith batting on his overnight 95, Mohammed Siraj presented him with two half volleys to virtually guide him to his century.
All kinds of excuses will be trotted out for India’s no-show: the IPL, the Duke’s cricket ball with which the match was played, the earliest Test at the Oval ever, the inconsistent bounce in the wicket, the fact that Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul were missing from the team, but many of these applied to Australia too.
As has often happened in the recent past, a couple of good deliveries dismiss a couple of the top batsmen, a couple of poor strokes lead to more dismissals, and suddenly everyone is trying to work out how many first class fifties the No.8 batsman has scored.
Who would have expected Cheteshwar Pujara to let the wrong ball go and be bowled in the first innings or play the upper cut to the wrong ball and get caught behind in the second? And he is the only player not to have played the IPL! Ironically, India’s best batter in the contest, Ajinkya Rahane (89 and 46), doesn’t have a central contract!
Why do India consistently fall at the last or the penultimate hurdle in ICC tournaments?
Ten years is a long time to wait for a title – they last won the Champions Trophy limited overs in England in 2013. It is dangerous to seek a pattern here, for there cannot be one. White ball, red ball, tournaments at home, tournaments away, different captains and coaches, different times of the season – there are too many variables. Keep harping on it and the word chokers threatens to pop up. But India aren’t chokers.
They have won in England and Australia, in Sri Lanka and South Africa. They aren’t simply tigers at home and lambs abroad as they once were.
In the last 30 years, they have won significantly more away Tests than they have lost (124-80). The results of the last two World Test Championship finals cannot take away from that record.
Suresh Menon is an author and columnist
SINGAPORE: When his friend from secondary school asked him for help in obtaining cannabis, a man agreed and asked his contact for assistance. The contact was nabbed by Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers after making the transaction with a Malaysian man at a hospital car park. Singaporean Mohamed Rafi MohamedContinue Reading
