SINGAPORE – A 28-year-old IT promoter took upskirt videos of 33 women, and then rated the victims based on his perception of how pretty they were, a court heard.

Ryan Er Wei Kiat would give one to four stars for his victims, with four being the prettiest, and catalogued the videos in folders on his computer. He also tried to capture the faces of his victims in his videos.

He managed to escape after he was caught red-handed at an MRT station in 2015 but was tracked down by police a month later.

On Tuesday (Oct 4), Er was jailed for 15 weeks, after he pleaded guilty to 10 out of 33 charges of insulting the modesty of a woman. The remaining counts were taken into consideration in sentencing.

A district court heard that a woman who was travelling up an escalator at Somerset MRT Station at about 11.15am on Aug 24, 2015, felt a touch on the back of her right thigh, between her legs.

“When she turned around, she saw Er standing close behind her and retracting his hand from under her dress. His hand was holding onto a mobile phone,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Michael Quilindo.

Suspecting Er to have taken an upskirt photo of her, the victim asked Er to show her the contents of his Samsung Note 2 phone. But he refused and tried to leave by walking away. He also fiddled with his phone.

“A tussle then ensued and Er briefly showed a few photographs to the victim in his mobile phone’s gallery. Er then managed to escape from the scene,” said DPP Quilindo.

Er’s identity was established by police through closed-circuit television footage and follow-up investigations.

He was arrested at home on Sept 28, 2015, and admitted to taking a video of the victim’s inner thigh and underwear on Aug 24.

He had stored the video, which also captured the victim’s face, on his computer.

The computer also had videos of the inner thigh and underwear of various other unknown women. They were taken between July and September 2015.

Er admitted taking the videos at unknown locations in Singapore on his mobile phone. He would transfer upskirt videos he took to his computer and catalogue them into folders.

“He would also rate the victims based on his perception of the beauty of the targeted woman, on a scale of one to four stars, with four being the prettiest,” said DPP Quilindo.

In mitigation, Er’s lawyer Amarjit Singh Sidhu said his client was very contrite and undergoing counselling. Er had acted out of impulse due to stress from school and the loss of his father in 2008, Mr Singh added.

Er, who got a diploma in mobile and wireless computing from Temasek Polytechnic, also wrote a letter of apology to his victims, which he submitted to the court.

The maximum punishment for insulting the modesty of a woman is one year’s jail and a fine.

This article was first published on October 05, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – Three out of four fish species commonly eaten here are unsustainable, said the World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore (WWF-Singapore), as it called for more to be done before these species disappear from the oceans – and restaurant menus – forever.

Unsustainable species include the Indian threadfin, also known as the ngoh hur, used in fish porridge; silver pomfret, commonly used in Chinese dishes; and yellowbanded scad, or ikan kuning, a key ingredient in nasi lemak.

On Tuesday (Oct 4), WWF-Singapore launched a guide which assesses the environmental sustainability of more than 40 popular seafood species in Singapore.

Its chief executive Elaine Tan said that Singapore has a “big role” to play in protecting the oceans as the country is one of the biggest consumers of seafood in the world per capita. People in Singapore consume about 22kg of seafood per person yearly, more than the global average of 20kg.

“We are squandering one of our greatest natural resources by failing to manage our fish stocks sensibly,” said Ms Tan. “The Seafood Guide empowers everyone in the supply chain to make conscious choices that prevent the further exploitation of fish stocks.”

A sustainable seafood business forum, which brought together retailers, hoteliers, restaurants and suppliers from the seafood industry was held on Tuesday (Oct 4) to discuss these issues. At the forum, industry leaders such as seafood supplier Global Ocean Link and integrated resort Marina Bay Sands said they will source their seafood responsibly and pave the way for the rest of the industry to follow suit.

This article was first published on October 05, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – People who are older than 70 could be more prone to falls as a result of low blood pressure, a local study has found.

The 2013 study, which involved patients from Geylang Polyclinic, found that around one in 10 of these patients has a form of low blood pressure called orthostatic hypotension.

This is a condition in which blood pressure drops when a person changes his or her posture, such as from lying or sitting down to standing up. People who have this condition are more prone to falls.

While the study did not find the causes of orthostatic hypotension, researchers noted links between the condition and patients who are older than 70, physically inactive at work and have had light-headedness or dizziness in the past year.

There are also links between the condition and people who have medical conditions which affect blood circulation, such as congestive cardiac failure, stroke and kidney disease.

A total of 364 patients aged 64 to 98 participated in the study conducted by SingHealth Polyclinic researchers and medical students from the National University of Singapore.

This article was first published on Oct 4, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – Kai, one of two Singapore-born manatees, is doing well despite the death of Junior, the other manatee, in Guadeloupe on Sunday (Oct 2).

The manatee Kai, seven, remains under the close supervision of the local veterinarians and keepers at the National Park of Guadeloupe, the River Safari told The Straits Times on Tuesday (Oct 4).

Junior and Kai were sent to Guadeloupe, a French territory in the Caribbean, in August to take part in the world’s first manatee repopulation programme. The male manatees will be joined by 10 females from other zoos. Any offspring from the group will be released into the wild.

But on Oct 2, Junior, the younger of the two at six years old, died. A blood analysis taken during a routine health check on Sept 30 had showed indications of renal failure.

“River Safari is saddened by the passing of Junior the West Indian manatee… Ahead of the manatees’ move, vets and aquarists of the two parks carefully planned logistics to ensure a smooth journey, and also spent considerable time preparing and conditioning the animals. Junior and Kai had been settling in well at their new home,” said a River Safari spokesman in a statement.

Guadeloupe National Park director Maurice Anselme has said that tissue samples would be analysed to determine the cause of death.

Known locally as “maman d’lo” or mother of the sea, the West Indian manatee was an important part of the French Caribbean island’s ecology before being hunted to extinction in the early 1900s.

This article was first published on October 05, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has approved the world’s first dengue vaccine Dengvaxia for use in Singapore following a seven-month expedited review of the potential benefits and risks.

It will be made commercially available in several months’ time. Sanofi has not yet said how much it will cost, although its its head of Global Medical Affairs, Dr Ng Su-Peing, has said that the company’s goal is to make the vaccine “as commercially accessible as possible”.

Studies have shown that overall, the vaccine is effective at reducing dengue by 60 per cent, and reducing severe dengue by 84 per cent.

Against the Den-1 and Den-2 strains – which account for three-quarters of the dengue cases in Singapore – the vaccine’s efficacy is 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively, compared with 75 and 77 per cent for the other two strains.

The HSA’s decision to approve the vaccine was based on 24 clinical studies carried out by Sanofi Pasteur – the company manufacturing the vaccine – which involved 41,000 people.

The vaccine is approved for use in anyone aged 12 to 45 years, as studies showed that the risk of hospitalisation from dengue was reduced in those above 12 years old but also showed that the vaccine was not very effective in those aged above 45.

The HSA said it is prepared to revise its age guidelines when more data is available.

Importantly, the vaccine was also 81 per cent effective in people who had already had a dengue infection previously, compared to 38 per cent in those who had never had the virus.

Younger children who had never had dengue also ran a higher risk of hospitalisation if they contracted the virus after being vaccinated, although this was not seen in older children.

The HSA therefore advises those who have not had dengue to speak with their doctors on whether or not they should get the vaccine.

The Health Ministry does not recommend rolling out this dengue vacine as a national programme as it “would not be a clinically and cost-effective means to tackling dengue infection in Singapore”. This means that subsidises and Medisave cannot be used to pay for vaccination.

Professor Ooi Eng Eong, who is deputy director of the emerging infectious diseases programme at Duke-NUS Medical School, said: “The impact vaccination would have on the overall incidence of dengue in Singapore will depend tremendously on the number of people who become vaccinated.

“The larger this number, the greater impact vaccination would have on reducing the number of dengue cases in Singapore,” said Prof Ooi, who is also a scientific advisory board member on dengue for Sanofi.

The vaccine was launched late in 2015 and is currently approved for use in nine other countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines.

This article was first published on October 05, 2016.
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