A train captain was sent to Changi General Hospital (CGH) after lightning reportedly struck an MRT train on the East-West Line after 4pm today (Nov 20).
In response to Stomp media queries, a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said SCDF was alerted at 4.20pm, and one ambulance was dispatched to Tanah Merah MRT Station.
A man was conveyed to CGH “in a conscious and alert state”, said the spokesperson.
The Straits Times reported on the lightning strike at 5.30pm today and said that the incident resulted in journey times between Tanah Merah and Paya Lebar stations to be delayed for at least 10 minutes.
The newspaper understands that the affected train has been withdrawn from service.
Here is SMRT’s statement in full:
“A westbound train heading towards the city stalled as it was approaching Bedok MRT station. Passengers were detrained at Bedok station, and the train was withdrawn from service for investigation. After the incident, the Train Captain, who said he was unwell, is receiving medical attention.
“In response to media queries, we are currently investigating this incident as a possible lightning strike.
“We would like to share that each train is protected by a “Faraday Cage”. This is an enclosure formed by conductive material that blocks electric fields and electric currents such as lightning strikes. The cage conducts current around the outside of the enclosed space with none passing through the interior. If lightning strikes, the electric current will travel through the outside shell of the train, not through the cabin, and pass through the wheels to the track. The train is grounded to the track.”
In a previous incident on May 11, 2016, a train on the North-South Line was crippled by lightning, disrupting southbound services between Yishun and Yio Chu Kang stations.
Trains on surface lines are occasionally struck by lightning but SMRT has said that occupants are protected and unlikely to be injured in such an event.
Photo: The Straits Times Graphics
A video that went viral in August earlier this year shows what happens when lightning strikes a train on Tokyo’s Odakyu Electric Railway. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the incident.
SINGAPORE: In what has been a momentous year for Singaporean foil fencer Amita Berthier, the 16-year-old added another feather to her cap on Monday (Nov 20) after finishing second at a Junior World Cup event in Guatemala.
Amita was unbeaten in the competition, sweeping aside rivals in the poules and the knock-out rounds before falling to eventual gold medallist Lydia Casillas 15-11 in the final.
In doing so, the 2017 SEA Games gold medallist is now the first Singaporean to have medalled at an individual event at the Junior World Cup.
It is not the first time that Amita has faced 19-year-old Casillas. She lost to the Mexican in the same competition last year where she finished sixth, while Casillas went on to win silver in 2016.
Speaking to Channel NewsAsia, Amita said that she was “overwhelmed” by the extent of her good form.
“It’s definitely a milestone in my fencing career,” she said. “It’s definitely a motivation to want to make it to the podium more often in more Junior World Cups in the future.”
She added: “Overall I’m really happy with my fencing yesterday and the fact that I managed to fence well throughout, so it was a good competition.”
AN EVENTFUL 2017
Having also won bronze in the World Junior and Cadet Championships in April, as well as progressing to the last-32 of the senior World Fencing Championships, Amita is already looking forward to ending 2017 on a high.
“For the rest of the year, I have two more competitions coming up. One is going to be a senior competition in Portland,” she said. “The other is a Junior World Cup competition in Havana, which is for the Under-20 age-group.”
Amita Berthier (left) in action at the World Junior and Cadet Championships in Bulgaria earlier this year. (Photo: International Fencing Federation)
Amita, who turns 17 in December, added: “I’m pleased that this year is one of my best years in fencing so far. I wasn’t expecting this year to be good for me … it could definitely have been better but I’m satisfied with the results I’ve gotten so far.
“My form has been stable – even if I didn’t make the podium, I got solid results. For me personally I reached my expectations – so I would say that this year was the best ever.
“I want to continually do better next year, as it’s a different level … I’ve aged out of the Under-17 category, so I’m moving into a different category where the competitors are different.
“I’m the youngest in the Under-20s right now and it’s definitely a challenge I love.”
CLIMBING THE RANKINGS
Even though the year is winding down, the fencing season will not be over until early next year, according to her coach Ralf Bissdorf, who trains Amita at the Marx Academy in Boston.
“There are eight destinations for the Junior World Cup series and we’re only going to go to six. We will skip two destinations, because for the world rankings only six results for the Junior World Cup count towards the standings,” he said.
Singapore’s Amita Berthier in action at the 2017 SEA Games. (Photo: Noor Farhan)
“You can go to eight and then take the best six results, or you can go for just six competitions.
“Amita has already done three of them, and so she’s going for three more. There’s one in Cuba in December, and another in January, followed by another in February.”
Amita will next be competing at the North American Cup in Portland, which is a senior-level event.
According to coach Bissdorf, it is important for Amita to be competing in such high-level events to help her develop her skills further.
“It’s definitely important to be competing in such high-level competitions. When I was coaching in Singapore, my task was to help tackle the Asian level,” said the German coach.
“Ultimately the world stage is where you want to compete at. These competitions are our focus and our current goal is to do well in this Junior World Cup.
“She has moved up from 18 to 12 in the world rankings and we’ll try to climb it a little more.”
It is something of a secret to newer dragonboaters in Singapore: A rarely mentioned incident that thrust the sport into the public eye for the first time in its 30-odd-year history, and shook the entire nation, says Gavin Chian.
He was part of the national dragonboat team in 2007, when five of its members drowned during a competition in Cambodia.
Chian did not travel to Phnom Penh for the race, but clearly remembers the paranoia, misconceptions and negativity stirred up in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.
Yet skip 10 years ahead and he – along with dozens of other athletes, coaches and officials – agree that the deaths ultimately played a part in shaping the local dragonboat scene.
Today, the sport is thriving with climbing mass participation rates and growing success in elite competition globally.
“The event helped trigger some shaking up of the whole ecosystem,” said Bryan Kieu, current coach of the women’s national team and a former national paddler who started in 2000. “Attention, resources and energy were pooled to make things happen.”
The driving forces at the beginning were surviving members of the crew in Cambodia, who either continued as athletes or left previous professions to become coaches. Crucially, some later joined the governing Singapore Dragon Boat Association (SDBA) to take on important management roles.
“They wanted to strive for better results, for our late teammates,” said Andrew Ng, who was part of the national setup in 2007, and continues to paddle today. “And for all the goals set together with them, which had not yet been achieved.”
The Singapore men’s dragonboat team celebrating a historic bronze medal at the 2015 SEA Games – their first podium finish since 1993 (Photo: Sport Singapore / Action Images)
“DO THINGS MORE SERIOUSLY”
In 2009, the men’s national team took part in the world championships for the first time. This was an important moment in the renaissance of the sport in Singapore, but Adrian Low – a member of the squad then – remembers how the trip to Prague was financed by the paddlers themselves, as they pushed to reach higher goals in the wake of the tragedy.
“There was much willingness and determination. The team persisted in going regardless of the financial difficulties,” said the 39-year-old veteran of the sport, who was also part of the ill-fated 2007 crew in Cambodia.
Since then, national teams, both male and female, have gone on to make their debut at the 2010 Asian Games, win medals at the Asian Championships in the same year as well as in 2012 and 2016, and secure a handful of bronze medals at the 2013 and 2015 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
The latter feats were especially noteworthy given the quality of the regional competition, with the Philippines and Indonesia often emerging as world champions.
The Singapore women’s dragonboat team pose for photos with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after winning a bronze medal at the 2015 SEA Games (Photo: Sport Singapore / Action Images)
“Every year, our performances tend to close in on the stronger nations,” said Kieu, who previously coached the men’s national team as well.
These major achievements can be traced to how the community was “determined to do it right, and move forward on a fresh note” in the months after the Cambodia tragedy, he recounted.
When a recruitment drive was held in 2008 to rebuild the national team, hundreds turned up, to everyone’s surprise. “We weren’t expecting that number. We ended up doing the testing and selection over a few days,” said a former official, who declined to be named.
“Some said they were there because of the five, that they wanted to chip in and help out.”
Said dragonboat coach Ng Kim Hwa: “Many looked to the five paddlers as national heroes – many aspired to have their discipline, dedication and physique.”
In the years that followed, SDBA put in a conscious effort to “do things more seriously” on the national team front, said the official.
Squads were only allowed to compete at overseas races sanctioned by international or Asian governing bodies. SDBA also increased the number of coaching and steering courses, and funds were spent on hiring foreign technical expertise.
“Both ground-up and top-down, there have been significant improvements in every area,” said Chian, who now coaches while co-owning a dragonboat events company.
Employees from Volvo participating in a team-bonding dragonboat session (Photo courtesy of DBI)
“MORE PADDLES THAN RACKETS”
Chian’s business, Dragon Boat Innovate (DBI), has also seen a surge in requests from local corporate groups in recent times. “At last count, we engaged more than 70,000 participants over the past six years,” said the 30-year-old, who acknowledged that his career choice had been influenced by his stint with the national team.
Anecdotal evidence also points to the growing popularity of the sport. As coach Ng described: “If you take the MRT, you will see more people carrying dragonboat paddles than, say, badminton or tennis rackets.”
“In the past, the main events were the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival, Singapore River Regatta,” he added. “Today, we also have the DBS Marina Regatta (DBSMR), PA Paddlefest, Jurong Island Race, Singapore National Games, Tug of War etc., etc.”
It is the annual DBS-backed regatta, set against the Marina Bay skyline, which perhaps stands out for paddlers and the general public alike. Originally conceived with help from DBI and SDBA, it kicked off in 2012 with 2,000 paddlers competing in seven categories.
Paddlers In The Pink, a dragonboat team made up of breast cancer survivors, in action at the 2016 DBS Marina Regatta (Photo courtesy of DBS)
Come 2017, there were 3,000 paddling across 14 categories at what is now Singapore’s largest watersports festival, said Karen Ngui, head of group strategic marketing and communications at the bank.
SDBA has also taken steps to seed the sport amongst youths, said former national paddler Sean Chua, now a teacher.
“Every student in my secondary school would have gone through at least one dragonboat session during their four years, as it’s recognised as an enriching program for teamwork,” he observed. “And many schools actually go to Kallang for dragonboat all year round, for school camps. They are very popular these days.
“With almost every polytechnic and university collaborating with SDBA to have dragonboat as a CCA, it’s also helped the sport grow.”
Members of the Nanyang Polytechnic dragonboat team preparing for training at the Kallang river (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
A LEGACY… TO WHAT END?
Yet the Cambodia incident’s most tangible footprint may lie in the area of safety protocols. The five paddlers died after strong currents upended their boat and sucked them under a pontoon – leading to unresolved debate over whether life vests would have saved them.
Nonetheless, SDBA pushed a mandate for the national team to wear life vests during training and racing – whether local or overseas, and even if not practiced by other competitors or required by event organisers. Tests are also conducted to ensure all national team paddlers can swim and tread water without life vests, said Kieu.
The rule for compulsory use of live vests extends to mainstream dragonboating activities as well, on top of a ban on nighttime paddling.
Dragonboaters at Kallang river on a weekend (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
Another former national paddler turned coach, Cheryl Tay, said the accident continues to serve as a reminder to be more vigilant and to never underestimate the environment.
“The incident taught us never to take safety for granted,” added Lam Yi He, a current member of the national team.
Chian concluded: “While in hindsight, it’s frustrating and saddening that it took such a tragic event for dragonboat here to grow by leaps and bounds, I think our brothers watching over us will be happy to see the state of our sport today.”
But a member of the Cambodia crew, who stayed on to compete as an athlete and later served as an official, said the milestones of the last 10 years “meant nothing”.
“I’d rather not have all these achievements – if I could have the five of them back.”
This is the fourth part of a series marking the 10th anniversary of an accident in Cambodia which left five Singaporean national dragonboaters dead. Read the first, second and third parts.
SINGAPORE: Several Uber users in Singapore have complained this month of being charged for rides they never took, often in faraway places.
The victims, who held cards from different banks, were charged in foreign currencies which included the US dollar, Euro and British pound.
Daphne Maia Loo, a personal trainer, said she noticed something was amiss when she was withdrawing cash from an ATM and realised that her bank balance did not seem quite right.
In a Facebook post on Monday (Nov 20), she posted a screenshot of her bank account showing several transactions charged by Uber, with one coming up to £154 (S$276).
Ms Loo told Channel NewsAsia that she has noted 15 unauthorised transactions on her OCBC debit card so far, but there are still pending transactions which have not been reflected in her bank statement.
When she contacted Uber, the company said they would reverse all the charges, but only after Ms Daphne had submitted a fraud claim for every unauthorised transaction with her bank.
“I’m pretty sure I will get back my money (most of it anyway),” she told Channel NewsAsia via Facebook Messenger. However, due to the forex conversions, Ms Daphne said she assumed she would not get refunded for a “few dollars”, which she would let slide.
“All the bookings for Uber charged on my card were not made from my Uber app,” she said, explaining why she did not receive any billing notifications from Uber via the app or email.
“My card was used on someone else’s Uber app – someone based in UK – as the charges were in GBP.”
Ms Loo, who said she would not be using Uber anymore, was informed by the company that they have blocked the account which used her card details.
Another user who preferred to remain anonymous said she had a huge shock when she checked her bank account transactions on Sunday.
One Facebook user said she lost more than S$1,300 within 5 days due to unauthorised transactions.
There were more than 30 unauthorised transactions made from Nov 13, adding up to S$1,300. She called DBS Bank immediately to cancel her card.
The 25-year-old told Channel NewsAsia that Uber has called her to say that they were reviewing the case and will refund her. While she said she would still use Uber’s services, she will pay by cash instead.
A media coordinator, who also wished to remain anonymous, told Channel NewsAsia that three unauthorised transactions totalling about S$92 were made using her Citibank credit card in Euros and Canadian dollars last Friday (Nov 17).
She was informed of the suspicious transactions by the bank, which would be issuing her a new card, she said.
A few other users also said they were victims of similar scams on social media. Facebook user Richard Toh posted on Nov 3 that about 75 transactions on both Uber and Nintendo Europe, which came up to more than S$4,000, were made on his DBS credit card over two weeks.
Another Facebook user Sheela Narayanan shared on Nov 14 that her credit card was used to pay for Uber rides in Europe.
This is not the first time such reports have been made against the company. In Singapore, there were reports of such fraud earlier this year, and last year, The Guardian newspaper reported that Londoners received shocking bills for such “phantom rides” in Mexico and New York.
Channel NewsAsia has contacted Uber for its response.
SINGAPORE: In a first for the two-decade-old President’s Star Charity, the public can give back to the community by doing more than just donating.
“This is the first year that the show is actually going out to the community,” its producer Lee Chew Yen said. “We want to mobilise residents to actually come out and participate with our artistes and become part of the show.”
During the 24th edition of the annual show, which will take place on Dec 10, people will be able to join up with radio personalities like Joakim Gomez and Sonia Chew to pack and distribute goody bags to needy families.
The show is working with the South West Community Development Council to identify where these families live and ensure they get what they need. The distribution location has not yet been announced.
“Hopefully residents can come down and participate in the packing and sharing,” Ms Lee said. “We have our own volunteers but we need a lot more hands on the ground.”
This message will be pushed out during the show itself and through artistes’ social media profiles, she added.
In another first, President Halimah Yacob will be making her maiden appearance as guest-of-honour on the show.
“The President’s Star Charity is a valuable fund-raising platform to help the less fortunate in society,” Mdm Halimah said.
“Over the years, it has inspired and rallied Singaporeans from all walks of life to come together to help others in need.”
This togetherness is in line with the theme for this year’s show, “It takes all of us”, a multi-cultural approach that Ms Lee hopes will remind every Singaporean of the “people amongst us that really need help”.
“Every member has a part to play in helping the community, and together we can build a more caring and inclusive society,” Mdm Halimah added.
The President’s upcoming debut has gone down well with artistes like veteran local singer Rahimah Rahim, who will be making her fifth appearance on the show.
Singer Rahimah Rahim with a powerful rendition of You To Me Are Everything. (Photo: Jeremy Long)
“I feel really honoured and proud to be performing in front of President Halimah Yacob,” she said in Malay. “I hope my performance will help the charity and entertain viewers.”
Indeed, this year’s show will feature a star-studded line-up that includes local and international celebrities like Rebecca Lim and Grammy Award-winner Daniel Powter, best known for his chart-topping hit Bad Day.
And in the name of charity, the artistes will team up with music groups and cultural organisations to perform a medley of multi-cultural items.
For example, artistes Pierre Png, Glenda Chong, Paige Chua and Paul Foster will partner the Gunong Sayang Association to perform a dance while serving traditional Peranakan desserts.
Members from the Gunong Sayang Association talk traditional Peranakan desserts with (from left) Gurmit Singh, Paige Lim and Glenda Chong. (Photo: Jeremy Long)
Actress Rebecca Lim will go on the piano with the TENG Ensemble, a group that blends traditional and contemporary tunes, to perform four childhood songs in Mandarin and Malay.
“I always look forward to the President’s Star Charity because I feel that I’m in a very blessed position,” Ms Lim said. “I think it’s a responsibility for us to spread a certain kind of positivity, not only to the people that we love but just everyone around us.”
“I really hope that everyone who watches the President’s Star Charity will donate generously,” she added.
The TENG Ensemble uses a mix of Western and Chinese musical instruments, like the cello and pipa. (Photo: Jeremy Long)
The public can call in to make donations of S$10, S$50 and S$100, or donate any amount online or through the Dash app. Proceeds will go to 52 charities under the President’s Challenge.
The President’s Star Charity 2017 will be shown live on Channel 5 and Toggle from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
SINGAPORE: The Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) will take remedial action to comply with town council financial rules, it said on Monday (Nov 20), after it was flagged for unsatisfactory corporate governance in the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) Town Council Management Review for FY2016.
“AHTC has reviewed our statutory auditor’s comments. We will strive to keep all inadvertent administrative errors to a minimum and comply with the Town Council Financial Rules (TCFR),” chairman Pritam Singh said in a statement.
The review rates the town councils “green”, “amber” or “red” on five indicators: estate cleanliness, estate maintenance, lift performance, arrears management and corporate governance.
AHTC was banded “red” for corporate governance, the only town council out of 16 to receive the worst rating. It was banded “green” for estate cleanliness and lift performance, and “amber” for estate maintenance and arrears management.
AHTC noted in its statement on Monday that the town council’s rating for arrears management improved from “red” to “amber” for the first time since 2011.
However, it was rated “red” for corporate governance for having three audit observations, one of which was for a waiver of quotation, which was done to continue with a service provider at the same charges.
AHTC said it called for quotations for a human resources system in August, inviting six vendors, but only the existing service provider responded.
“The town council assessed it would have been more viable to continue with the existing service provider for one more year, as the service provider had confirmed it would not increase its charges for services rendered,” it said.
A second lapse was that the fixed asset count report was not certified as required. AHTC said that there were “no adverse findings or anomalies” in two fixed asset sightings that were conducted during the financial year, but that the report was not certified as required under the TCFR.
To fix this, AHTC said that it has drawn up a fixed asset checklist with a column specifically requiring certification by a key officer of the council.
A third lapse was because a quarterly transfer to the sinking fund was late by three days, due to staff oversight in signing the bank instructions, AHTC said. The town council said it has enhanced its internal system to monitor key deadlines.
The town council has appointed Baker Tilly Consultancy (Singapore) as its internal auditor for two years to check on the AHTC’s internal control procedures, it added.
AHTC also that said it recorded an operating surplus of about S$4 million this financial year and plans to devote a portion of it to town improvement works next year. The surplus is due to new contracts secured at favourable rates, it said.
“For example, the total amount of savings arising from the town council’s contestable energy contract is about S$1.2 million over two years.”
It also reported that it has been working with KPMG to rectify a list of control matters previously identified for resolution, and that 76 per cent of the audit points have been resolved. The town council expects to resolve the outstanding audit points by early next year.
It added that while lift performance was banded “green”, it has seen a “distinct pattern of rising lift expenses”.
“We anticipate these higher charges to have a significant impact on the town council’s operating costs in the years to come,” Mr Singh said.
SEOUL – A year after her dazzling gold medal-winning performance at the Vancouver Games, figure skater Kim Yuna delivered an impassioned speech to the International Olympic Committee that helped sway the vote to bring the 2018 Winter Games to South Korea.
Dubbed the “Face of Pyeongchang” after crisscrossing the globe to garner support for the bid, Kim’s charm offensive was equally effective in Korea as she helped sell the vision of a home Olympics on snow and ice despite the country having little prior interest in winter sports.
Even after her retirement from competition in 2014, the nation’s favourite athlete has played a key role in preparations for Pyeongchang – from carrying the Olympic flame off a flight from Greece to fronting global advertising campaigns as an honorary ambassador for the Games.
But while there is no escaping Kim’s shadow ahead of the Games, she will be missing from the one place her fans long to see her most – on the Pyeongchang ice, skating for Olympic gold and South Korean glory.
Kim’s retirement has left the host nation without a true winter sports “hero” to get behind and some see that as a major factor behind sluggish ticket sales.
“Is it any wonder Koreans have lost interest in the Games now that their star athlete is gone?” asked Lee Dae-taek, director of the Center for Sport Culture.
“Kim Yuna and the short track team were responsible for boosting interest in the Winter Olympics here,” he told Reuters, adding that with so few successful local athletes competing in Pyeongchang, ticket sales were bound to lag.
Less than three months before the world’s top winter sports athletes arrive in Pyeongchang, figures from organisers show that of 750,000 tickets earmarked for domestic sale, only 177,000 (23.6 per cent) had been snapped up.
“Who wants to go see the Games when South Koreans are losing all the time?” Lee added.
YUNA, ONLY YUNA
Roger Park, a professor at Hanyang University’s Sports Industry Department, said that without Kim Yuna, South Korea did not have a high-profile sporting “hero” to carry the Games.
“The only way to spark interest is through storytelling – the tale of an athlete going in search of further Olympic success, or the hard-luck story of another looking for redemption,” Park added.
“But right now we just don’t have any such athletes. And I don’t see enough efforts from the government or Olympic committee in promoting Winter Olympians.” For many South Koreans, interest in winter sports started and finished with their figure skating queen.
“I don’t really know anyone other than Kim Yuna,” said 19-year-old Jung So-yeon when asked who she would be cheering for during the 2018 Games.
Lee Chae-won, 14, told Reuters she hoped the Games would make more South Korean athletes household names.
“I can’t think of any (winter sports) athletes other than Kim Yuna,” she said. “I hope the coming Olympics will be an opportunity for us to get to know more of them.” SECURITY CONCERNS Former Prime Minister Han Seung-soo downplayed Kim Yuna’s absence and said it was political upheaval that had served to dampen enthusiasm for sport.
“Interest in the Pyeongchang Olympics has been declining mainly due to the political chaos which prompted candlelight vigil across the country, ultimately ousting former President Park Geun-hye,” Han, who led Pyeongchang’s unsuccessful bid for the 2014 Games, told Reuters.
But while South Korea was indeed caught up in the maelstrom of a president’s impeachment, Park was removed from office eight months ago and new President Moon Jae-in has since restored a sense of calm to domestic politics.
Some observers have also highlighted the impact of security concerns on ticket sales, though worries about North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are more likely to drag on international purchases rather than domestic sales.
With the clocking ticking down to the Games, there seems little time to craft a new narrative of Korean athletes going for gold at the 2018 Olympics.
The short track team should add to their record 21 golds while the patchwork ice hockey squad woven together by former Stanley Cup winner Jim Paek has the potential to deliver the kind of ‘David v Goliath’ storyline the country can respond to.
However, the stage could also be set for an ‘anti-hero’ to ruin the mood with Russian short track skater Viktor Ahn ready to return to his native South Korea seeking to end is incredible career on a high.
Ahn won his first three Olympic golds for Korea in Turin but after losing his place in the team due to injury and falling out with the Korea Skating Union, switched allegiance to Russia and won three more in 2014.
His Sochi success sparked an outcry in South Korea as the country demanded to know why Ahn had felt forced to defect.
While Russia’s participation remains in the hands of the IOC due to continuining concerns about its anti-doping programme, Hanyang professor Park said a repeat performance by Ahn in February could spoil the Pyeongchang party.
“As host nation, South Korea wants to win as many medals as possible,” added Park. “So (if Ahn wins) it would give rise to a sense of bitterness.”
Mumbai – An Indian ruling party politician has been left red-faced after a video of him urinating in public went viral on World Toilet Day, despite government efforts to stop people relieving themselves in the open.
Ram Shinde, a minister for water conservation in the western state of Maharashtra, was filmed answering the call of nature in a field by the side of a road Saturday.
The clip spread online the following day. November 19 marks the United Nations’ official World Toilet Day, which aims to raise awareness about the health risks caused by a lack of lavatories.
Shinde – a member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – defended his actions with an excuse familiar to many, effectively saying: “When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go”.
“I have been travelling continuously for the last one month reviewing the Jalyukta Shivar scheme,” he told the Press Trust of India (PTI), referring to drought-prone Maharashtra’s water conservation programme.
“Continuous travelling in high temperatures and dust made me ill. I was suffering from fever and when I couldn’t find a toilet while travelling, I had to relieve myself in the open.” India is notorious for its lack of toilets. Some 70 per cent of Indian households do not have them while around 600 million people, nearly half the population, defecate in the open, according to UNICEF.
Three years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to build toilets for everyone by 2019.
The government has so far helped install more than 50 million lavatories across the country of 1.25 billion people and has been encouraging citizens to break old habits and use them.
Calls by AFP to Shinde’s mobile phone went unanswered Monday.
PTI and other news outlets said the incident occurred on a stretch of road between the cities of Barshi and Solapur in the south west of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the state capital.
Tokyo – Japan’s “Twitter killer”, who is suspected of murdering and dismembering nine people he met on social media, was charged with his first count of homicide on Monday.
Takahiro Shiraishi, 27, is believed to have lured his mostly female victims – aged between 15 and 26 – to his apartment near Tokyo, where he killed them and cut up their bodies.
He has admitted murdering all nine, and was Monday charged with the homicide of Aiko Tamura, 23.
Shiraishi, who allegedly stashed bits of bodies in coolers around his small apartment, is believed to have made contact with suicidal victims on Twitter and offered to help them die.
After Tamura went missing in October, her brother managed to hack into her Twitter account and noticed a suspicious handle, according to local media.
The brother helped police find and follow Shiraishi, who was arrested last month when investigators found him in his apartment with the festering remains of nine people.
Police say Shiraishi choked Tamura on October 23 and then hanged her body inside his apartment “to murder her.” “He has told investigators that none of (his victims) truly wished to die. They merely wanted someone to talk to,” a spokesman said.
He is ultimately expected to be charged with murdering all nine victims, but Japanese police routinely take an incremental approach to dealing with suspects in cases where multiple crimes have been committed.
The strategy allows them to hold their suspect for extended periods until they are sure that their entire case is watertight.
HELPLINES
Samaritans of Singapore (SOS): 1800-2214444
Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-2837019
