THIS WEEKEND: Gain City Expo w/ deals on Air-conditioners, Home Appliances, Electronics, IT products & more (28 – 30 Oct)
Gain City Expo at Singapore Expo & Megastore from 28 – 30 Oct 2016
The Gain City Expo will kick off with a bang from 28 October 2016 at Gain City Megastore at Sungei Kadut and Singapore Expo Hall 6B.
SINGAPORE – The world’s largest floating solar photovoltaic cell test-bed measuring 1ha and containing 10 different solar photovoltaic systems was launched on Tuesday (Oct 25) by Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli.
The $11-million test-bed – the size of about 100 five-room Housing Board flats located at Tengeh Reservoir in Tuas – will, over the next six months, be used to study the performance and cost-effectiveness of the various systems.
Speaking at the Asia Clean Energy Summit held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Mr Masagos said that being sustainable should not be considered as an alternative or a trade-off to economic development.
“Rather, the pursuit of clean and renewable energy development is a venture into greater opportunities and growth, and also a necessary step into the green era,” he said.
Each solar photovoltaic system has a capacity of 1 kilowatt peak and will be studied with some 100 sensors and the results pitted against one another.
The floating system will also be compared against a 20 kilowatt peak roof-top system that has been constructed in the vicinity of Tengeh Reservoir.
Eventually, the two best-performing floating solar photovoltaic systems will be chosen and placed on a larger trial of 2 megawatt peak capacity.
The test-bed is an initiative by the Economic Development Board (EDB) and national water agency PUB.
The scientific evaluation of the various solar photovoltaic systems will be conducted by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (Seris).
Examples of systems being tested include one that uses bi-facial solar cells which allow sunlight to enter from both sides, and another that has an “active cooling” feature where water is pumped onto the solar cells to cool them down to improve their performance.
PUB will also study the environmental impact on the reservoir. This includes the impact on water quality and biodiversity of the reservoir as a result of the photovoltaic installations.
Floating solar photovoltaic cells are becoming an increasingly attractive way for Singapore to harness sunlight due to limitations in roof space, and also for their higher performance.
Previous research suggests that they can be up to 20 per cent more efficient than roof-top systems in tropical countries, and 5 per cent more efficient in temperate countries.
This is brought on by cooling effects provided by the water body the solar panels are floating on.
“As a highly dense city state with limited space for solar deployment, Singapore is placing emphasis on building up urban solar capabilities which include floating solar as a key focus area. Singapore is also positioned as a living lab for companies to test and commercialise innovative urban solutions,” said Mr Goh Chee Kiong, executive director for cleantech at EDB.
“We are confident that the floating photovoltaic test-bed will serve as an important reference for local and international companies to scale up their solar technologies for global markets,” he said.
EDB has also recently secured five new investments across the fields of solar, microgrids, smart grids and energy management in Singapore worth a total of $50 million in cumulative business expenditure over the next five years.
This article was first published on October 26, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
The robot, PictoBot, can paint a wall 90 square metres in size in an hour, whereas it would take a team of two painters more than 1.5 hours to do the same job.
Source link
The Singapore Table Tennis Association’s (STTA) announcement last night that Feng Tianwei “does not fit” in its current plans for rejuvenation was as baffling as it was sudden.
Essentially, the STTA is dropping the world’s No. 6 women’s player – a three-time Olympic medallist at that – from the national set-up.
The shock move came a day after the association sacked world No. 58 Li Hu, Singapore’s second-highest ranked male player, for breaking house rules, including bringing his girlfriend to stay at the STTA hostel overnight.
Feng, 30, is a stalwart who has been at the heart of Singapore table tennis’ glories.
The manner in which she was dismissed – like an executioner’s axe swiftly severing ties – left the sharpest impression.
In one fell swoop – four succinct sentences tucked in the middle of an otherwise lengthy statement – the STTA made it clear that it has no intention of letting Singapore’s most successful athlete play any further role.
No press conference was called by the STTA, at which Feng could also have been present to talk about her departure from the squad.
It is believed that she met the association’s leadership only in the late afternoon yesterday – which would mean Feng learnt of her fate after many in the fraternity had already got wind of it.
The Straits Times understands that there had been hints of the decision a day before.
Surely, there are better ways of parting with an athlete who has consistently delivered the sport’s greatest sporting feats – among them beating China to win a historic world team title in 2010.
The association cited its ambition for “youth development” and a need to be “future ready” in its push for Tokyo 2020 as reasons to refresh the team – all of which are commendable, more so after a disappointing outing at the Rio Olympics.
Having returned empty-handed for the first time in three Games, a post-mortem for Singapore’s best-performing sport was definitely warranted.
But if the goal is to make a swift return to the Olympic podium, then dropping one’s best and most experienced player seems a strange move.
Feng’s age – she will be 34 come 2020 – seems to have been a major factor in the STTA’s decision. For someone who has struggled of late with form and chronic injuries, the STTA’s scepticism is not completely unfounded.
Still, for the leadership to make such a drastic move is shocking, especially given its timing.
It is no secret that tensions have been running high within the association, after a public fallout between the women’s team and former national head coach Jing Junhong at the end of last year.
Jing was later redeployed to become chief coach of youth development instead. Still, as the wife of STTA technical director and former national paddler Loy Soo Han, her link to one of the association’s decision-makers inevitably raises concerns about a conflict of interest.
Jing, 48, ironically, is one of a few who can vouch that a significant achievement is not out of the question for older athletes late into their careers.
She herself was 32 when she finished fourth at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. That breakthrough helped pave the way for Singapore’s subsequent table tennis achievements.
No one questioned Jing’s age, passion or “fit” then.
Even if Feng’s career as a player is on the wane, surely her unrivalled experience is something that cannot – and must not – be written off.
One wonders why the STTA sees fit to deploy three-time Olympian Gao Ning, 34, as a mentor and offer him a role as a player-coach, but sees no such value in a far more successful Feng.
While the STTA’s intention to groom up-and-coming talent like Zhou Yihan, 22, and Lin Ye, 20, for the future is laudable, choosing to leave Feng completely out of the equation, and not tap her skills and experience in this critical and difficult transition, is bewildering.
If it is indeed personal squabbles and the souring of relations that have led to this breakdown, why should Singapore sport – and the marked progress it has made in recent years – be made to pay the biggest price?
What goes on within the walls of the STTA’s Toa Payoh headquarters has always been something few are privy to, but the peculiarity of this episode suggests that a bigger malaise is brewing.
No national sport association can sack two of its best players in quick succession, have athletes fight their coach, and have some of its most notable local talents walk away from the sport, without questions being asked over how it is run.
This article was first published on October 26, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
SINGAPORE – Former Manchester United stars Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville, who have teamed up with Singapore billionaire Peter Lim on property developments in Manchester, are seeking to bring their football-themed hotels and cafes to Asia.
Giggs and Neville are…
Source link
She cut the packet open to pour the rest of the milk into his bottle, only to find a 5cm-long object that looked like fish skin.
Source link
The Singapore inventors behind the Rotimatic, the world’s first automated flatbread maker, tell CNA Insider why despite the challenges and almost going broke, they never gave up.
Source link
SINGAPORE – The Republic’s industrial production in September grew much better-than-expected from a year earlier, led by solid increases in electronics and pharmaceuticals output.
Manufacturing output rose 6.7 per cent from a year earlier in September, data…
Source link
The two schools in an O-level exam mix-up have admitted they could have done more to ensure their students took the correct mathematics paper.
They also urged the affected students to refocus on their remaining exam papers.
Still, some parents whose kids were affected by the mix-up last week are unhappy that their children’s preliminary exam results will now be considered as part of the assessment.
They said such papers, taken before national exams like the O levels, are typically tougher, and students may not be as well prepared for them.
Last Thursday, 73 Secondary 5 students – 24 from Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School and 49 from Woodgrove Secondary School – took the wrong O-level mathematics paper after a mix-up in the subject codes during registration.
They took the maths Paper 1 from the revised syllabus with subject code 4048, when they should have been given the paper from the old syllabus with the code 4016.
One parent, who declined to be named, said his son had a stressful weekend as a result of the mix-up.
“It is not easy for our kids to just forget, and focus on other papers.” Other parents, however, believe their children will be given a fair grade.
Pastry chef Sabariah Yacob, 50, whose daughter Mira Shafiqah, 17, was one of the Woodgrove students affected,said: “The mistake has been made. There is no use worrying… Instead, we should give our kids the support for their next few papers.”
After the schools learnt of the error last Thursday, they immediately notified the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) to ensure the students took the maths Paper 2 the next day under the correct syllabus.
Students will not have to re-sit the paper, confirmed SEAB, which said they will be “fairly assessed”.
Besides the students’ performance in the school preliminary exam, SEAB will consider factors such as the circumstances of the incident, their performance in the other maths paper and the cohort’s performance.
The exam board told The Straits Times that “the use of schools’ preliminary examination results is part of the existing processes for candidates who are affected by unforeseen circumstances”.
A Woodgrove Secondary spokesman said yesterday: “The school regrets our oversight in checking the exam codes and will take measures to review the registration processes for future exams.”
An Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary spokesman said the school has reached out to the students and their parents to understand their concerns.
“We acknowledge that such an error could have been avoided if the exam codes were checked more thoroughly and will work with MOE to review the registration process for future exams.”
This article was first published on October 26, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
Filming himself torturing and killing a young Indonesian woman, British investment banker Rurik Jutting veered between boasting, remorse and describing the pleasure he derived from sexually brutalising the first of two victims.
Footage taken from four hours of recordings on Jutting’s mobile phone formed the core of the prosecution opening on the second day of a murder trial in Hong Kong that has grabbed global attention.
The 31-year-old Cambridge University graduate has admitted killing Sumarti Ningsih, a 23-year-old single mother, and another Indonesian woman, Seneng Mujiasih, in his luxury high-rise apartment two years ago.
But he has pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds of”diminished responsibility”, while pleading guilty to the lesser crime of manslaughter.
The four women and five men on the jury clenched their jaws and, at times, diverted their eyes as they endured an opening 20-minute segment of the torture of Ningsih. Tears welled up in the eyes of one middle aged male juror.
Appearing topless, overweight and unshaven, Jutting appeared on camera, at times showing Ningsih’s body, and spoke with chilling calm in a series of monologues that he described as”narcissistic ramblings”.
Read also: Hong Kong double murder: Graphic torture video to be shown to jury
While the video was not shown to the public in the courtroom, journalists covering the trial could hear the audio. “I just killed someone, first person I ever killed, I cut her throat in the bathroom … to be precise I cut her throat while she was bending over licking dirty toilet bowl,” he said.
Jutting, who had held a high flying job at Bank of America in Hong Kong before his arrest, at one point filmed himself taking cocaine as he explained how he tortured Ningsih. “I treated her as a non person, a sex object. And that turned me on.”
Bespectacled and wearing pale blue shirt, Jutting was flanked by three policemen as he watched what he had done on a video recording a judge said had been found on his iPhone.
Jutting, who had attended Winchester College, one of Britain’s most prestigious private schools, shut his eyes, sometimes covering his face with his hand rather than look at the screen in front of him.
BRITISH SCHOOLGIRLS
Jutting used a belt, sex toys, a pair of pliers and his fists to torture Ningsih over three days before eventually slitting her throat with a serrated-edged knife, according to the prosecution.
On the recording, Jutting spoke in a relaxed, soft voice as he taunted, bullied and mutilated Ningsih, a single mother who had been visiting Hong Kong on a tourist visa. “Its better than being beaten isn’t it? Do not cry, take it like a good girl,” Jutting said as he described how he was going to put his fist into her.
Jutting called his victim ‘Alice’ as he tormented her.
While threatening to cut off her nipples he calmly said:”This doesn’t really hurt does it? You deserve some water don’t you? Just one more before some water.” After that video, others showing Jutting and Ningsih’s mutilated, naked body were screened in an open court room.
In one, Jutting spoke of a “fantasy” to kidnap three teenaged girls from Wycombe Abbey, a girls’ boarding school in High Wycombe, a town northwest of London.
Read also: UK banker on double murder charge grins leaving HK court
As he listened to that passage, Jutting shook his head in the courtroom while holding a hand over his face.
In one scene he urinated into a beer glass as he expressed fears of being jailed in Hong Kong, planning to return to Britain to co-operate with authorities.
In another, he played the song Disturbia by pop artist Rihanna as he lays out freshly purchased hardware store”goodies” he plots to use on another victim – a hammer, and nails, pins and sandpaper.
DEPRESSED AT WORK
Prior to the jury selection on Monday, Deputy High Court Judge Michael Stuart-Moore warned potential jurors that if they were unable to cope with viewing extreme violence they should excuse themselves.
The defense and prosecution were largely in agreement over the physical evidence, Stuart-Moore had advised the jurors on the first day of the trial.
He told them that the outcome could rest on psychiatric and psychological testimony to determine whether it was a case of murder or manslaughter.
Murder carries a mandatory life sentence, while manslaughter carries a maximum of life though a shorter sentence can be set.
The women’s bodies were found in Jutting’ s apartment after he had called police.
Ningsih’s remains were discovered in a suitcase on the balcony, while the body of the second victim, 26-year-old Seneng Mujiasih, was found inside with wounds to her neck and buttocks, the prosecutor told the court.
Mujiasih, a domestic helper, was working in a bar when she met Jutting, according to the prosecution.
Jutting, who spoke of his addiction to drugs and alcohol, also alluded several times to paying for sex, and referred to Ningsih as his prostitute. At one point he moved the camera to show his large belly and lowers it to glimpse his genitals. “Killing her may have been kindness, living with that would have haunted her,” he is heard saying.
As he prepared to hide the body in a suitcase Jutting questions whether he has a problem as he feels excited.
Soon after his arrest in November, 2014 Bank of America had said Jutting had worked there until recently, but did not say exactly when or why he left. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday.
Jutting spoke of his role as the bank’s vice president and head of Structured Equity Finance & Trading (Asia) and expressed”job depression”.
During one section Jutting remarks that after killing Ningsih, he felt most guilty about not being in the office to close a “financing deal for a literally soulless project.”
“Newly unemployed, soon to be unemployed, part time rapist and murderer,” he says after musing over future plans to kidnap, torture and rape young girls.
