A man who was using his phone while feeding his daughter failed to notice her choking on the milk.
The father, Mohamed Shiddiq Sazali, 28, was sentenced to 6 months’ jail on Monday (Nov 20) for causing his daughter’s death.
The incident happened at a unit in Block 4, Telok Blangah Crescent on Oct 12, 2015.
Five weeks before the incident, the baby, Reyhana Qailah Mohamad Shiddiq had just been discharged from a hospital where she was treated for a broken skull — after her father accidentally dropped her.
Shiddiq was also given a concurrent sentence of three months’ jail for causing grievous hurt to his daughter through a negligent act, endangering her personal safety.
During the trial, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Stephanie Koh said that Shiddiq had displayed a high degree of negligence which caused the death of his 3½-month-old daughter.
DPP Koh said that Shiddiq clearly prioritised his mobile phone game over the welfare of his daughter.
Court documents revealed that he had been playing the game before the mother of the child, Ms Nurraishah Mahzan, 32, entrusted the baby to him before leaving the house.
Shiddiq placed the child on his lap and used one hand to play his game, while the other to hold the bottle to the baby’s mouth.
DPP Koh added:
“While this in itself falls short of the appropriate level of care, it is further aggravated by the fact that the accused was not even looking at the deceased as he fed her.
“He was looking at his phone, on the left side of the bed, while he held the deceased on his right side.”
She added that Shiddiq showed a blatant disregard for the child’s safety, ignoring her signs of distress.
The baby was fighting and rejecting the milk bottle, but Koh continued to hold the bottle to her mouth.
She continued thrashing around for two minutes before she apparently choked on the milk.
A forensic pathologist said that the milk bottle in the baby’s mouth could have resulted in the blockage of her upper airway, and introduced an element of ‘mechanical asphyxia”, which led to her death.
He also stated that the incident was ‘entirely avoidable’, reported The Straits Times.
DPP Koh also said: “The accused showed a general irresponsible and lax attitude towards his caregiving duties.”
For causing death by negligence, Shiddiq could have faced up to two years in jail and/or fined up to $5,000.
Shiddiq had also been sentenced to reformative training for insulting of modesty and rioting, back in 2008.
The North Korean soldier who was shot while defecting to the South across the inter-Korean border has regained consciousness, and reportedly expressed liking K-pop music and American TV shows playing in his ward.
His doctor, Lee Cook-jong, said at a press conference in Suwon on Wednesday that music and TV has been playing in the ward to help the patient relax and gain emotional stability.
Lee said the soldier reacted favourably to “Gee,” a song by Girl’s Generation, and expressed fondness of K-pop girl groups.
Lee also mentioned the former soldier liked American TV and films, including “CSI,” and they had watched “The Transporter,” together. He added that the entertainment had been deliberately chosen to be played in the ward, as contents concerning current events could overwhelm the patient.
“I had some conversations with the soldier, and it sounds like the positive images he had of South Korea motivated him to defect,” Lee said.
The 24-year-old soldier, identified only by his surname Oh, is recovering from two major surgeries following injuries he sustained from being shot. Lee said it would take at least a month for the soldier to become stable enough to undergo an investigation from military authorities.
Caught on video: North Korea defector’s border dash
SINGAPORE: All she ever wanted to do was make music.
Dewi Nur Fatikah was happily playing the drums and performing in shows in Jakarta with a band, while working in a factory to save up enough to open a music studio – when her dreams were put on an abrupt hold.
Her mother fell sick, and Ms Dewi had to return to her hometown last year to care for her. She died from lung disease, which left the grief-stricken young woman shattered, lonely and lost.
“When my mother died, I felt that I didn’t have anyone else in this world because all my siblings were married and had their own families,” she said. “At home, I always thought of my mother and cried.”
But when the tears dried, she remembered her mother’s dying wish: For her to find success.
“I thought, I need to go abroad to continue my efforts, to fulfil my mother’s wish for me to succeed. With music, I can.”
And so, she forced herself out of the rut, packed her bags, and left Indonesia to come to Singapore in December to work as a maid – hoping to eventually make enough, about 100 million rupiah (S$10,000), to start that studio she always wanted.
It turned out to be a move that almost cut her off entirely from the thing she loved most – her music.
NO MUSIC, NO LIFE
She struggled with her new life in Singapore and her first employer. Not allowed to have a mobile phone and rest days, she was cut off from her friends and relatives. She became homesick and miserable.
Constantly working, the 30-year-old had no time for her music, and it left her wondering whether she did the right thing in leaving home.
“(It was) work, work and work all the time. I felt stressed. I constantly thought of my mother and cried,” she said. But with seemingly little choice, she soldiered on.
When she feels sad, she writes songs to express herself.
Relief came nearly three months later, when she was granted a transfer to another employer, one who was understanding and let her have her days off – and the freedom to pursue her interest in music.
She could, for example, play the guitar (borrowed from a friend) after her chores were done; take strolls along nearby East Coast Park in her downtime, or use her mobile phone to keep in touch with her friends.
POIGNANT LYRICS
She also came across the Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training (FAST), a non-profit organisation for maids. Its clubhouse for them to unwind became just the thing for her musical journey in Singapore.
Heading there almost every Sunday, Ms Dewi started off practising on the guitar, which gave her “a new spirit”.
And when a talent contest organised by FAST came up, she signed up for the solo singing category, performing a self-composed song.
Songwriting has always been an outlet for this shy woman to express her emotions, and in one of her compositions, Gapai Satu Mimpi (Reach For A Dream), she writes that in “reaching for a dream in your life, facing all trials, don’t ever grow weary – life is something to fight for”.
She explained: “Whenever I feel sad or something, I’ll play the guitar and compose my own song.”
She reached the finals of the talent contest, performing hits like Evanescence’s My Immortal, Josh Groban’s You Raise Me Up, and Europe’s The Final Countdown along the way. But she did not win.
Something else, however, came out of the contest: She met a fellow maid who played the guitar, and together they helped to form a band with other musically inclined maids.
AN INTROVERT TRANSFORMED
There were some communication issues at first, as Ms Dewi was the only non-Filipina in the band. Her newfound friends spoke mostly in Tagalog, and it did not help that her command of English was poor.
“I wasn’t comfortable with my English,” she said in Bahasa Indonesia. “Sometimes if they spoke English and I didn’t know some of the words, I just kept quiet.”
She never felt isolated, however, adding that “even though we come from different countries, we have one goal: To make music”.
Dewi’s FAST bandmates, who are all Filipinos.
They jam every Sunday. An introvert who comes alive on the drums, the self-taught musician looks every inch the rock chick in her cropped vest, black T-shirt, camouflaged trousers and trendy sneakers, confidently holding the groove with her band.
She focuses on nothing but the music once she starts drumming, her head rolled back as if soaking in every ounce of energy from the music. Now and then, she glances at her bandmates with a glow in her eyes and a smile.
But once she puts down her drumsticks, she is back to her usual self again – bashful, and somewhat sheepish. The transformation is over.
WATCH AND LISTEN: Dewi’s music, and her story (5:07)
HER EMPLOYER, HER SUPPORTER
The band has performed a few times in public, including during Indonesia’s Independence Day celebrations in August and at a foreign domestic worker event at Singapore Polytechnic last month.
Next month, a bigger challenge awaits Ms Devi – a Christmas performance where they will be performing festive songs. As a Muslim, she has never heard any of the festive songs before. But, she said: “I’ll follow whatever the music is because I’ll enjoy the music, whatever the song may be.”
Already, she has fans: Her employer Poonam Kaushik and his family, who turned up at last month’s event to support her after she secured tickets for them.
Dewi’s employer Poonam Kaushik has been supportive of her passion, after hearing her band perform.
They liked the performance and were surprised at her talent. The headbanging drummer was also a far cry from the helper who went about her work quietly at home every day.
“Initially, we were like, how serious would this be? But she was putting so much into it (playing the drums),” said Mr Kaushik, who has employed Ms Dewi for about eight months. “It makes sense for us to encourage her to go all the way.”
They are even considering buying her a keyboard, so that she can expose their children to more music.
Mr Kaushik said they make efforts to ensure that Ms Dewi is comfortable at home. “If (we) have somebody who’s stressed, depressed or angry, my kids (and) my wife will be impacted.”
“She’s very hardworking, and she wanted to pursue music which didn’t hamper her day work. So I felt, okay, please go ahead.”
For Ms Dewi, the benefit of having free time to spend on her music has been immeasurable. “Music is my soul,” she said simply.
A LONG WAY HOME
Her case is “a good example that even domestic helpers, given an opportunity, can express themselves the way they want to”, said Mr William Chew, executive director of FAST.
The idea of having a Fast band was a recent development, as the organisation realised that there were hidden talents like Ms Dewi’s among the community.
“I think they (the band members) are very happy that they have (this) chance,” said Mr Chew. “The way they strum away and sing and play the drums, it looks like they’re just venting everything out of their system.”
The band performing at a community function.
The non-profit, which started with 500 members some 12 years ago, has close to 8,000 members today.
Among other things, it prepares them for life after Singapore, training them in areas like food and beverage, hospitality and even reflexology skills so that they can operate a small business and be self-sufficient when they return home. Said Mr Chew:
If they can go home and move on to do something better than what they’re doing now, this is what we’d be most happy about.
For Ms Dewi, who paid off her agency fees only recently, it is a long way to her S$10,000 target, but she knows that she will get there, even if she has to continue working here after her current contract ends.
Not only does she hope to earn an income from operating a music studio, she also aspires to cut her own album and sign to a recording label.
She admits that there are naysayers back home, like some of her friends, who do not believe she will make it all the way.
“Before I came to Singapore, sometimes I felt that it wouldn’t be possible too, but I have to achieve it because of my parents’ words, especially my mother’s,” she said. “I love music, and I’d like to show them that I can succeed.”
While they were rumored to be dating in 2014, they went public with their relationship in September 2015 during the L.A. premiere of “Scream Queens.”
Though separated years earlier, Paltrow finalized her divorce from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin in 2016. Falchuck was married to TV producer Suzanne Bukinik until 2013.
The North Korean soldier who sustained multiple gunshot wounds as he crossed the border to defect to the South last week has regained consciousness and will survive, his doctor said on Wednesday.
“The patient will not die,” surgeon Lee Cook-jong at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon said in a press briefing.
Lee said that it will take about a month for the soldier to recover enough to be interrogated by the authorities.
“The patient is fully conscious,” Lee said in a statement released ahead of the briefing.
“But he is showing signs of depression due to much stress from the gunshot injuries and two major surgeries. The Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Department will do an assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Caught on video: North Korea defector’s border dash
The soldier will continue to receive treatment in the intensive care unit for a few more days until it is clear there won’t be further infections, Lee said, adding that the hospital will then closely consult with related agencies regarding the patient’s treatment and transfer.
The soldier was shot multiple times by North Korean border guards as he ran across the border and through the truce village of Panmunjeom on Nov. 13. He was taken to Ajou University Hospital at 4:53 p.m. that day by the US Forces’ DUSTOFF casualty evacuation team.
Visiting the dentist may be one of the least prioritized activities in a person’s life. That is, unless there’s a pretty dental assistant waiting to greet and help out patients at the clinic.
Enter Ningxuan Chen, a dental assistant based in Taiwan. She’s already quite an internet star, with around 27,000 Instagram followers.
Aside from her pretty face, Chen also has pearly-white teeth. One can say it’s good marketing for the clinic she works in.
As noted by Taiwanese media organisation ET Today via SoraNews24, there are no specific qualifications needed to become a dental assistant. This opens up positions for those with some physical advantages, like Chen, to apply for the job.
Apart from helping the dentist with appointments and other tasks, having someone like Chen assist patients might make dental appointments less traumatizing for some.
Visiting the dentist may be one of the least prioritized activities in a person’s life. That is, unless there’s a pretty dental assistant waiting to greet and help out patients at the clinic.
Enter Ningxuan Chen, a dental assistant based in Taiwan. She’s already quite an internet star, with around 27,000 Instagram followers.
Aside from her pretty face, Chen also has pearly-white teeth. One can say it’s good marketing for the clinic she works in.
As noted by Taiwanese media organisation ET Today via SoraNews24, there are no specific qualifications needed to become a dental assistant. This opens up positions for those with some physical advantages, like Chen, to apply for the job.
Apart from helping the dentist with appointments and other tasks, having someone like Chen assist patients might make dental appointments less traumatizing for some.
Some might even feign having toothache just to get a glimpse of Chen’s lovely smile.
Chen does not only share her photos from the office; she also uploads pictures from her private life, such as this photo of herself enjoying a day at the beach –
An Indian soldier shot dead a journalist following a dispute in the country’s third high profile media killing in barely three months, police said Wednesday.
Sudip Dutta Bhaumik was shot dead Tuesday at a paramilitary base in the remote northeastern state of Tripura.
The soldier opened fire after Bhaumik, a crime reporter, requested a meeting with a top officer at the headquarters of the Second Tripura State Rifles near the state capital of Agartala, media reports said.
“He was shot dead inside the office of the commander by a soldier after they argued and scuffled over some issue,” local police chief Abhijit Saptarshi told AFP.
He said the accused soldier claimed the shot was fired in a scuffle after the journalist tried to snatch his rifle.
The soldier has been arrested, the officer added.
The journalist worked for the leading Bengali newspaper Syandan Patrika in Tripura where several tribal militant groups oppose Bengali-speaking immigrants.
India’s media has been shocked by a series of killings this year.
One reporter was lynched by a mob on September 20 during clashes between police and warring political factions near Agartala.
His mutilated body was found the next day.
In September gunmen shot dead renowned journalist Gauri Lankesh in the southern city of Bangalore, amid allegations that she was targeted for her views on right wing Hindus.
No arrests have been made in the case.
Bhaumik’s murder brings the number of reporters killed in India since the early 1990s to 30, according to Committee to Protect Journalists figures.
India was ranked the deadliest country in Asia for journalists by Reporters Without Borders in 2015.
In April, the press freedom group ranked India 136th of 180 countries in its world press freedom ratings. Despite criticism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly voiced his commitment to press freedom.
Step aside Taylor Swift, because Beyonce is officially the highest-paid woman in music. According to Forbes, she earned US$105 million pretax this year.
The article also stated, “Lemonade was a hit with both critics and fans, giving Beyonce her sixth solo No. 1. The ensuing Formation World Tour, much of it falling into our list’s scoring period, grossed a quarter of a billion dollars.”
Joining Queen B on the list are Adele who earned US$69 million, giving her the number two spot. Taylor Swift came in third with US$44 million and Celine Dion got the fourth spot by earning US$42 million this year. Finishing off the top five is Jennifer Lopez with US$38 million.
The 5 most well-paid Asians in Forbes’ list of highest paid celebrities
After announcing their list, Forbes brought up the issue of equality in the music industry. “Despite the success of the female stars on the list, there are regrettably still more than twice as many men than women among music’s top-earning stars.” We hope the women on this list continue to change that.
