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OSLO – Singapore will soon make its first deposit into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s largest secure seed storage facility.
The seeds of a Singapore-developed rice variety – called Temasek rice – will be deposited next Tuesday into the “doomsday vault”, which currently contains the seeds of more than 4,000 plant species, including crops such as beans, wheat and rice.
Temasek rice is naturally bred to be hardy and is able to withstand extreme weather conditions such as floods and drought.
Seeds are stored in the facility to regenerate food supplies in the event of catastrophes such as natural disasters, and as a backup for other seed banks.
The vault is situated on Spitsbergen island in the remote Svalbard Archipelago, located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, where geological stability and low humidity provide an ideal storage environment.
Yesterday, a seed deposit ceremony was held at the Natural History Museum’s Botanical Garden in Oslo and was attended by Norway’s Queen Sonja and Mrs Mary Tan, wife of President Tony Tan Keng Yam, who is in Norway on a state visit.
The contribution is part of an agreement between Singapore’s Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) and the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre.
TLL chief operating officer Peter Chia handed over the seeds of seven unique rice varieties to Norway’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, Mr Jon Georg Dale.
This article was first published on October 11, 2016.
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Migrant worker Shi Shenwei turns up at the construction site where he’s helping to build a new temple.
It’s the start of another gruelling 10-hour day on the job.
But Shi has another string to his bow.
The 23-year-old’s achieved internet stardom with a series of self-taught fitness routines he practices on site.
He now has more than a million followers on the Chinese app Kuaishou.
He’s also been invited do strut his stuff on several major Chinese talent shows.
Most of his fellow workers are relatives and his cousin films his workouts with multiple smartphones strategically placed for a variety of angles.
A surge of internet broadcast apps in China and the ready availability of smartphones has led to the discovery of talents like Shi, whose fans include gymnasts, bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts.
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Changes to the elected presidency and Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) schemes were introduced in Parliament yesterday, bringing them one step closer to being effected.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean tabled the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Bill, draft laws of the proposed changes, which will be up for debate at the next sitting of Parliament, likely to be next month.
The changes are part of a larger review of the political system, first raised by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during the debate on the President’s Address in January.
Most of them were covered by the White Paper released last month, which set out the Govern- ment’s response to recommendations by the Constitutional Commission set up to review the elected presidency scheme.
The key changes include:
Reserved elections
An election will be reserved for a particular racial group if there has not been a president from the group for the five most recent presidential terms. This applies to the Chinese, Malay and Indian and other minority communities.
A committee will be set up to determine whether an individual satisfies the legal definition of being a member of these communities for the purposes of the election.
Similar committees are set up before general elections to determine if candidates for the Group Representation Constituency scheme belong to the Malay, Indian and other minority communities.
Meanwhile, any open election will be open to people of all races, including those who do not fall under the major racial categories.
Parliament will decide when the clock starts on the reserved elections, which will determine if the upcoming presidential election due next year needs to be reserved for any particular racial group.
More stringent criteria
A candidate from the private sector must have helmed a company with at least $500 million in shareholder equity to qualify, instead of $100 million in paid-up capital now.
The shareholder equity threshold will have to be reviewed at least once every 12 years – that is, two presidential terms – by the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC).
The PEC can recommend that the sum be raised, but not lowered. Parliament will then decide if the recommendation should be adopted.
Removal over false statements
Even after being elected, the president can be removed from office if he is found to have made false statements to the PEC, which certifies a candidate’s eligibility to run for president.
This includes situations when a candidate has intentionally made a false or misleading statement, or knowingly failed to state a fact that is important in determining his eligibility.
More advisers, more consultation
The Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA) will be enlarged to include two more members, bringing the total to eight.
The president must also consult the CPA before exercising most of his discretionary powers, such as over fiscal matters.
The council must state the number of votes for or against its recommendations, and the grounds for these recommendations. Similarly, if the president withholds his assent to Supply Bills, he must publish his reasons for doing so in the Government Gazette.
Recrafting entrenchment provisions
A set of provisions that “entrenches”, or protects, the presidency by making it difficult for Parliament to amend the office, will be recrafted into a two-tier system.
The first tier covers the establishment of the elected presidency, while the second tier has to do with the president’s powers to safeguard the reserves and make key public- service appointments.
To introduce changes to the first-tier provisions, the Government must get either the president or the CPA’s support, or the support of more than half the electorate in a national referendum.
To pass the changes, they must be supported by a two-thirds parliamentary majority. For the second-tier provisions, the Government must get a three-quarters parliamentary majority to pass any changes.
The recrafted provisions will not be brought into force for now.
More NCMPs
The maximum number of NCMPs will be increased from the current nine to 12, and they will be given the same voting rights as elected MPs.
This article was first published on Oct 11, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
He was collecting money from a customer at his drinks stall when he heard a loud crash.
When Mr Zhang realised what had caused the sudden sound, he was shocked. Several ceiling boards in the coffee shop had fallen onto the floor and smashed into pieces.
“It was a very loud bang. There was a lady walking past and it nearly hit her,” the drinks stall operator told The New Paper yesterday.
The incident happened at 12.40pm yesterday at Nan Heong Ho Kee coffee shop at Block 148, Silat Avenue, in Bukit Merah.
Mr Zhang said he immediately called his mum, who owns the drinks stall, and the person-in-charge of the coffee shop to tell them what had happened.
It was the first time in his nine years of working at the coffee shop he had encountered something like this, he said.
A woman, 30, was walking towards the drinks stalls when she was nearly hit by the falling ceiling boards.
Her father, who went to the coffee shop afterwards, told Shin Min Daily News that his daughter was in shock.
STARTLED
A regular customer, who wanted to be known only as Raju, 49, a manager, told the evening daily he was having his lunch when the ceiling boards fell.
He said: “The entire incident happened in less than five seconds. A family of five who were sitting at the corner were startled.
“Their two children, who look no older than 10 years old, ran out immediately. Others also ran for their lives.”
The affected area was about half the size of a badminton court. Broken pieces of the ceiling boards were all over the floor. Four to five fluorescent light holders and a few pieces of wire were also left dangling in mid-air.
After the incident, the person-in-charge of the coffee shop, who wanted to be known only as Mr William, 55, told TNP he had left the coffee shop for about half an hour when the ceiling fell.
He said: “My owner bought over the coffee shop eight years ago and we had a major renovation. The ceiling was new.”
He said that he had hired workers to remove the affected ceiling, light holders and wires to ensure that the area is safe and will not affect customers.
“We will be changing the entire ceiling and this will take about a week.
“The cost is not known yet. Business will be as usual during this period,” said Mr William, adding that he has engaged a contractor to review the situation.
huienl@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on October 11, 2016.
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Ng Boon Cheng, 40, from Lian Lee Wooden Case Maker Co Pte Ltd, was charged with 20 counts of receiving kickbacks from foreign workers, said a press release on Tuesday (Oct 11) from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
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THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced Tuesday that it is withdrawing the merchant bank status of Falcon Private Bank Ltd over “serious” breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations as well as improper conduct by senior management at both the bank’s island state branch and its headquarters in Switzerland.
In a statement, MAS said it has also fined Falcon Bank SGD4.3 million (US$3.1 million) for 14 breaches of the “MAS Notice 1014 – Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism”, and slapped financial penalties on two other banks for similar reasons – SGD1 million (US$725,000) on DBS Bank Ltd (DBS) for 10 breaches and SGD1.3 million (US$942,000) on UBS AG’s Singapore branch for 13 breaches.
The authority said the actions were taken following supervisory examinations conducted on fund flows involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) that took place between March 2013 and May 2015. It added that it partnered several overseas counterparts for the probe, in particular the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma).
This is the second Swiss bank ordered shut by Singapore over violations linked to 1MDB, the state investment firm founded by Malaysia’s scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009. 1MDB is currently the subject of numerous multi-agency probes across the world, as well as a civil lawsuit filed recently by the United States’ Department of Justice (DoJ).
SEE ALSO: Singapore: Another 2 BSI bank officials charged amid probe into Malaysian state fund
In May, MAS kicked out BSI Bank for similar violations – its first time shuttering a financial institution in 32 years – and referred six members of staff to the Public Prosecutor to determine if they had committed crimes.
Yesterday, two former senior private bankers at BSI Singapore were charged with various criminal offences for failing to disclose information on suspicious transactions to a Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer. Most of the offences relate to Low Taek Jho, a businessman linked to 1MDB who had accounts with BSI Singapore.
#Singapore clearly brooks no misconduct amongst its financial institutions #1MDB #rightsignal pic.twitter.com/YquC0toBBP
— Anita Gabriel (@AnitaGabrielBT) October 11, 2016
Earlier, the Attorney-General’s Chambers had also charged Yeo Jiawei as the first BSI Singapore employee who faced 11 charges for various offences.
MAS in its statement Tuesday noted that after uncovering several weaknesses in Falcon Bank’s controls for client acceptance and transaction surveillance in 2013 – for which the bank paid a SGD300,000 (US$217,000) fine and MAS urged it to strengthen AML controls – another inspection in 2015 discovered more and even larger regulatory breaches and “serious failings” by the bank’s Swiss head office and its Singapore branch manager.
It said it withdrew Falcon Bank’s merchant bank status after taking several factors into account, namely that its head office failed to guard against conflict of interest when handling the accounts of a customer associated with former board chairman Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny; the improper conduct of its Singapore branch manager and several senior managers at the head office, which contributed to the breaches; and that the bank has demonstrated “a persistent and severe lack of understanding” of Singapore’s AML requirements and expectations.
SEE ALSO: Singapore: BSI Bank to be shut down due to ‘gross misconduct’ amid 1MDB scandal
“Taking into account the totality of Falcon Bank’s conduct, MAS’ assessment is that the merchant bank will be unable to comply with these requirements and expectations going forward,” the statement said.
On DBS and UBS, MAS said its inspections related to the 1MDB scandal uncovered deficiencies in the on-boarding of new accounts, weaknesses in corroborating the source of funds, inadequate scrutiny of customers’ transactions and activities, and failure to file timely suspicious transaction reports.
These lapses, it said, relate to specific bank officers who failed to carry out their duties effectively and were not due to control weaknesses within the two institutions.
It said it has admonished the two banks and called for probes on the lapses, as well as directed both institutions to appoint an independent party to confirm that rectification measures have been effectively implemented and to report to MAS once this is done.
In the statement, MAS managing director Ravi Menon said: “Keeping Singapore a clean and trusted financial centre is a shared responsibility. The board and senior management of each financial institution play a pivotal role.
“They must put in place robust mechanisms to detect suspicious activities, promote strong risk awareness among their staff, and empower their compliance and risk management people. Most of all, they must set the tone from the top – that profits do not come before right conduct.
“MAS will work closely with the industry to ensure that standards are kept high and will take strong deterrent actions against institutions that fall short.”
The post Singapore: Swiss bank shuttered; two others fined over 1MDB scandal appeared first on Asian Correspondent.
If you’ve seen photos of former Hong Kong actress Belinda Hamnett recently, you may have noticed something different about her.
The 41-year-old made a comeback to the entertainment industry in 2015, only to be on the receiving end of harsh criticisms about her ‘crooked’ nose and unrecognisable looks.
British-born Hamnett, who grew up in Singapore, denied getting Botox or plastic surgery, but blamed a fall she sustained while in Singapore two years back for her changed appearance, adding that the medical cost here was too high for her to seek treatment.
At a recent event in Hong Kong recently, netizens once again expressed shock at photos which showed the actress with a prominent nose bridge but flattened and uneven nose flaps.
According to reports, Hamnett admitted to undergoing several operations for her broken nose, but it did not heal properly each time, leaving her wary of further procedures.
At the same event, Hamnett also announced that she has started working at a German pharmaceutical firm as a practice development executive, and would ‘slowly’ make her exit from showbiz a second time.
Asked if she would be a ‘lab rat’ for her new company, Hamnett welcomed the idea, saying: “Because of my injured nose, I need medical cosmetology. I have gone through operations for my nose, but each time the trauma is great and it also got infected. I don’t wish to go through a similar experience.”
As for she feels about her appearance now, Hamnett expressed that she feels fine emotionally, but shares that she ‘won’t dare do modelling shoots like before’.
Hamnett won the Miss Asia pageant in 1997, and went on to star in many TVB serials. In 2010, she quit TVB and returned to Singapore. According to ENT entertainment, she was here helping her older brother take care of his electronic here, while Toggle reported that she came to advance her career in medical cosmetology.
candicec@sph.com.sg
YANGON – The dart hits a fleeing street dog in the thigh, the bright orange tip sagging against his brown and white fur as he slows to a halt, his limbs succumbing to the sedatives.
The mutt is one of more than 100,000 strays that roam the streets of Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, sleeping in doorways, nosing through rubbish and barking their challenges to each other late into the night.
He is actually one of the lucky ones – the sedated animal is among several hundred that will be vaccinated and neutered during a three-month city campaign in Yangon’s southern Lanmadaw township.
Loved by some and loathed by others, local authorities have for years tried to contain the swelling packs of dogs by feeding them poisoned meat.
But animal rights activists have lobbied the government to change tack, arguing that the killings do little to contain the population or stop the spread of rabies.
As the drugs kick in, a worker muzzles the limp dog and ties his paws together with twine.
He is carried to a makeshift operating table outside, where he is swiftly dealt with by a vet and placed next to several other sleeping dogs.
Later, the animals will be released back onto the streets with red collars.
“I love the dogs,” said local resident Moe Lwe Lwe, who has been feeding them rice and curry for 18 years and helps with the sterilisation programme.
“They are very cuddly. I am nuts for them.” Myanmar has the second-highest rate of rabies in Southeast Asia, according to the World Health Organisation, although vaccination programmes have helped stem the number of cases.
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Some say authorities dislike neutering because of the belief held by Buddhists, the religious majority in Myanmar, that karmic retribution will leave you infertile in your next life.
Leaving poisoned meat, on the other hand, is seen as free of spiritual consequences because the dogs opt to eat the food on their own.
Others say sterilisation is an expensive option for a country where one in four lives below the poverty line.
But images of dog corpses strewn across the city’s pavements spread on social media have shocked the public.
In response, Yangon officials signed an agreement with US animal NGO Humane Society International in March to begin a city-wide vaccination and sterilisation scheme.
The joint-programme has yet to get started, but the charity said it hopes to emulate the success of similar campaigns in countries like Nepal, India and Bangladesh.
Other animal-lovers like Terryl Just, an American who founded the Yangon Animal Shelter which cares for some 500 rescued dogs, argue the animals could become a tourist draw for the city.
“We’ve adopted some out to the States – LA, Seattle, Washington, California – to people who have visited Yangon,” she said.
“Tourism is huge and booming and I think interest in the dogs is growing as you have more expats coming in, and more awareness.”
ZAMBOANGA CITY – President Duterte has offered a P2 million (S$57,000) reward for anyone who can give information about police officers engaged in the illegal drug trade and other criminal activities.
“P2 million per head, special price because they are police,” the President told members of the regional police command here on Monday afternoon.
Mr. Duterte said policemen who were engaged in drugs, whom he called “ninja,” were committing treason.
Chief Supt. Billy Beltran, police director for Western Mindanao, said it was the first time they heard the President announce the reward.
“We will ask for guidance about it. I am sure the President has particular guidance to be released soon,” Beltran said.
He said about 30 ninja policemen from Camp Crame, Region 3 and Region 7 had been reassigned to Western Mindanao. Of the total, four had gone absent without leave, he said.
