Four Singaporeans among more than 1,000 alleged trafficking victims rescued in the Philippines

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SINGAPORE: Four Singaporeans were among the alleged trafficking victims rescued by the Philippines police after a raid in Manila on Monday (Jun 26) night. 

Responding to CNA’s queries, a spokesperson for Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Thursday that its embassy in Manila is in contact with the relevant Philippine authorities.

It has also reached out to the affected Singaporeans to render consular assistance. 

“Currently, we have verified that there are four Singaporeans among those rescued,” added the ministry.

On Tuesday, the Philippine police said they had rescued more than 1,000 people allegedly trafficked into the country to work for an online casino in Manila. 

Chinese, Vietnamese, Singaporean and Malaysian victims were among those found when police raided buildings in the capital on Monday night.

People from Indonesia, Pakistan, Cameroon, Sudan, and Myanmar were also found inside the compound.

More than 2,700 people were detained during the raids – over 1,500 were Filipinos.

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Singapore has ‘a vested interest’ in ensuring US-China communication lines are good: Ng Eng Hen

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GENERAL LI’S SPEECH WAS” Really Apparent.”

Dr. Ng responded that many officials had expressed their admiration for General Li’s speech and that he was” really clear” in his attitude when questioned about his thoughts on it.

” I’m glad he did so in a composed manner. Whether you like the information or never depends on the viewer, but the quality was in terms of where the dark lines were and how they would affect different countries. Each nation may include to make a choice, he continued.

Dr. Ng gave a ministerial speech on Sunday morning in which he provided examples of” as new as ten years ago” regular exchanges between American and Chinese officials. The defense officials of the US and China last traveled to one another in 2018.

People may forget that they were at that, and I think that’s something you can aspire to, Dr. Ng said to the media.

I can tell you that it takes time for men from different militaries to click together. That is the process of developing connections. Therefore, we want( the US and China) to develop that kind of relationship, and we are assured that they will do so in the future.

We’re really onlookers, but as I said, we aren’t uninterested observers. We have a responsibility to ensure that the US-China contact ranges are reliable.

Dr. Ng even expressed some opinions regarding a Chinese warship that, according to the US military, maneuvered” in an unsafe manner” close to an American Warship passing through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday.

According to Dr. Ng, all nations are” involved when either great or fast-moving objects move nearby” to one another.

And that’s why, ASEAN, we’ve been working very hard to prevent that ,” he continued, citing two set of rules for impromptu air and sea occurrences between members of the group.

Incidents have occurred, and that is precisely what we are saying. Who are you going to phone if it happens? Ghosts? ” Dr. Ng chuckled.

Dr. Ng stated that some people had told him that” we would have needed one very much if there was no such thing at the moment” when assessing how this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue had turned out.

Therefore, he continued,” So in that sense, it’s an assurance that the Shangri – La Dialogue plays a role and that it naturally fills in the gaps today.

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Experience and preparation are key, say climbers after Singaporean goes missing on Mt Everest

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Dr Kumaran Rasappan, an orthopaedic surgeon at the National University Hospital who summited Everest in 2012, echoed Mr Lim’s advice.

“They should definitely have tried other mountains, including 6,000m, 7,000m, 8,000m peaks before attempting Everest. I think that’s the minimum, no matter how fit you are, because the body responds very differently at altitudes above sea level,” Dr Kumaran added.

“Training at sea level is also important to get the physique, but having previous experiences at high altitude is important not only for the physique but for the psychological difficulties you may face.”

The 39-year-old, who obtained an international diploma in mountain medicine in 2018, said that altitude sickness can strike due to a variety of factors like the rate of ascent and how acclimatised a climber is.

Those who have mild symptoms of acute mountain sickness may recover by resting and taking medication. But those who come down with HACE or HAPE should get to lower altitudes with the help of steroids or supplemental oxygen, Dr Kumaran said.

Despite all this, the climbers said that even the most experienced ones can get into trouble and succumb to the elements.

In April, Mr Noel Hanna, a mountaineer from Northern Ireland who had climbed Everest 10 times, died while descending from the peak of Annapurna mountain (8,901m) in Nepal.

Ten people have died on Everest this climbing season, including a Malaysian and a Chinese climber, double the average of five climbers who die on the mountain every spring. Another Malaysian has been missing since Friday.

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Singapore hopes China will restore pre-pandemic visa-free arrangement, flight connectivity: Lawrence Wong

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Mr Wong also responded to a question on how Singapore’s fourth generation (4G) leadership will deepen ties with China. He said the relationship between the two countries has been built on mutual trust developed over generations, through years of friendship and working together on multiple projects. These projects include theContinue Reading

Singapore’s FM Vivian Balakrishnan meets Chinese leaders, both countries reaffirm strong ties

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Dr Balakrishnan also had extensive discussions with Mr Qin over a delegation meeting and dinner, said MFA. “The ministers took stock of the substantive and forward-looking partnership between Singapore and China, anchored by institutional bilateral mechanisms such as the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation and the three government-to-government projects inContinue Reading