This is on “medical advice” from the Chef de Mission of Team Singapore at the Games Ho Cheng Kwee after Yap Qian Yin took ill on Wednesday.
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Paralympics: Singapore sailors withdraw from event after one falls ill
Elected Presidency review: Govt’s response 'pragmatic' but ensures candidates can do the job, analysts say
While the Government did not accept some recommendations of the Constitutional Commission’s report, the divergence was small and “not surprising”, analysts say.
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Executive condominiums top list for private sales in Aug
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Fewer vacancies than job seekers, a first in four years
The slowing economy has cast a pall over the labour market, with more people losing their jobs and companies having fewer job openings in the second quarter of this year than in the first quarter.
Also, for the first time in four years, there were fewer vacancies than job seekers, according to data released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday.
This means workers have to moderate their expectations for pay and job prospects and be prudent in spending, said DBS economist Irvin Seah.
“The writing is on the wall.
“We will continue to see a softening labour market because of further risks to economic growth,” he added.
The overall unemployment rate rose to 2.1 per cent in June this year after taking into account seasonal fluctuations which could include Chinese New Year and the school holidays.
It was 1.9 per cent in March.
For Singaporeans, unemployment rose to 3.1 per cent in June, from 2.6 per cent in March. The rate for Singaporeans and permanent residents combined rose from 2.7 per cent to 3 per cent over the same period.
Job vacancies, which have been falling steadily since last year, hit 49,400 in June.
As a result, the ratio between job opening and jobless person fell below 1 for the first time since June 2012.
“It may be increasingly difficult to characterise the jobs market as tight,” said Citi economist Kit Wei Zheng, noting that wage growth could slow.
The ministry, in a separate statement, gave total employment growth in the first six months of this year, saying it picked up against the same period last year despite manufacturing continuing to shed workers.
But local employment fell slightly by 200 in the first half of the year, less than the drop of 8,900 in the first half of last year.
Meanwhile, a net 11,800 foreign employees were added in the first half of the year, excluding foreign domestic workers.
The bulk of these, or 9,300, were work permit holders, many of whom found work in the food and beverage and administrative and support services industries.
This brought the total number of workers in Singapore to 3,673,400 as of June.
joseow@sph.com.sg
Additional reporting by Olivia Ho
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Boo Junfeng's Apprentice is Singapore's Oscar entry for foreign film category
SINGAPORE – Homegrown film-maker Boo Junfeng’s acclaimed psychological death penalty drama Apprentice has been picked as Singapore’s entry to the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
The film made its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in May in the Un Certain Regard section. Hollywood Reporter had hailed the movie and said that it “should help further consolidate Boo’s own reputation as one of the region’s names to watch”.
Boo, 32, is currently attending the Toronto International Film Festival. He says in a statement: “We have been very encouraged by the response to the film in Singapore and around the world, and this news comes as another big boost for us.” The film had an eight-week run in theatres in Singapore.
It is his second feature after the coming-of-age drama Sandcastle (2010).
The Oscar selection was made by the Singapore Film Commission, whose director Joachim Ng says the work “explores complex and sensitive themes while preserving an honest insight to the characters’ internal conflict and emotions”.
The deadline for submission is Oct 3. Nine finalists in the category will be shortlisted on Jan 17, and the final five nominees will be announced on Jan 24. The ceremony will take place on Feb 26.
Previous picks by SFC include the compendium 7 Letters in 2015, Sanif Olek’s Sayang Disayang (Lover Is Loved) in 2014 and Anthony Chen’s award-winning Ilo Ilo in 2013. None have been nominated by the Academy.
bchan@sph.com.sg
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Lady Gaga says new album Joanne is a tribute to family roots
NEW YORK – Lady Gaga said Thursday (Sept 15) that her new album will be named after her late aunt and explore her family heritage.
The superstar, revealing details of her first contemporary pop album in three years, said it will be called Joanne and come out on Oct 21.
Joanne was the name of a paternal aunt who died at age 19 after struggles with lupus.
The 30-year-old singer, born as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in New York, was named after her aunt and said that Joanne’s death left a lifelong scar for her father, who was younger.
Gaga said that the album, which includes a song entitled Joanne, explored her reconnection with her family after she took a step back from the limelight.
The album’s release will represent “such a day of healing” for her family, she told Apple Music’s Beats One radio.
“Every one of those (songs) is extremely autobiographical and all about me as my father’s daughter, as my mother’s daughter, just an Italian American city girl that is now venturing out into new territory,” she said.
She described Joanne as “the woman of my past that is… helping me bring more of my honest woven self into the future.”
Lady Gaga became one of the most successful artists of the 21st century with her brand of provocative synthpop, defined by brazen sexuality and ultra-flamboyant outfits.
But after 2013’s Artpop album, she took a step back by recording pop standards accompanied by a tour with Tony Bennett, the classic crooner who recently turned 90.
Lady Gaga last week released the first track off her album, Perfect Illusion, a return to nightclub-ready pop.
The singer has said she is working on the album with veteran music producer Mark Ronson as well as Kevin Parker of Australian psychedelic rockers Tame Impala and arthouse rock singer Florence Welch.
In the Beats One interview, Lady Gaga said she is also working with country songwriter Hillary Lindsey, known for Little Big Town’s hit Girl Crush.
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China launches space laboratory Tiangong-2 into space
BEIJING – China launched its second experimental space laboratory on Thursday (Sept 15), part of a broader plan to have a permanent manned space station in service around 2022.
In a manned space mission in 2013, three Chinese astronauts spent 15 days in orbit and docked with an experimental space laboratory, the Tiangong 1, or “Heavenly Palace”. Its successor, Tiangong 2, lifted off on a Long March rocket just after 10pm from the remote launch site in Jiuquan, in the Gobi desert, in images carried live on state television.
The Shenzhou 11 spacecraft, which will carry two astronauts and dock with Tiangong 2, will be launched sometime next month. The astronauts expect to remain in Tiangong 2 for about a month, testing systems and processes for mid-term stays in space and refuelling, and conduct medical and other experiments.
The smooth launch imparts a high-tech sheen to week-long celebrations of China’s National Day, starting Oct 1, as well as this week’s Mid-Autumn Festival holiday that coincides with the full moon.
China will launch a “core module” for its first space station some time around 2018, a senior official said in April, part of a plan for a permanent manned space station in service around 2022.
Advancing China’s space programme is a priority for Beijing, with President Xi Jinping calling for the country to establish itself as a space power, and apart from its civilian ambitions, Beijing has tested anti-satellite missiles.
China insists its space programme is for peaceful purposes, but the US Defence Department has highlighted its increasing space capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed to prevent adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis.
China has been working to develop its space programme for military, commercial and scientific purposes, but is still playing catch-up to established space powers the United States and Russia.
China launches moon rover “Jade Rabbit”
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China’s Jade Rabbit moon rover landed on the moon in late 2013 to great national fanfare, but soon suffered severe technical difficulties.
The rover and the Chang’e 3 probe that carried it there were the first “soft landing” on the moon since 1976. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had accomplished the feat earlier.
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Singapore exports growth flat in August after July slump
Non-oil domestic exports registered flat growth last month, after a slump in July which saw exports declining by 10.6 per cent.
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Yip Pin Xiu wins 2 Paralympic gold medals at Rio
Once again, national swimmer Yip Pin Xiu has created a big splash at Rio 2016 by becoming the first Singaporean to win two Paralympic gold medals at the same Games.
Earlier this morning (Friday, Singapore time), the 24-year-…
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More SMRT staff disciplined over track accident that killed two trainees
More SMRT employees, including “senior management”, were disciplined for their role in the track accident on March 22 that killed two trainees.
In an internal mail to staff on Wednesday, SMRT Trains managing director Lee Ling Wee said two employees had been dismissed but several others had also been disciplined.
“Besides the two dismissals, verbal and written warning letters were issued to staff across several grades,” Mr Lee wrote.
He also alluded to pay cuts and, possibly, demotions.
“Individual performance grades were recalibrated downwards across various levels of the Trains team, including senior management,” he said.
Mr Lee’s communication came after The Straits Times reported on Wednesday that two SMRT employees had been sacked over the fatal accident, including the driver of the train which knocked down the two trainees.
2 SMRT staff die in incident on MRT tracks
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Stomp, The Straits Times, Berita Harian
On March 22, Nasrulhudin Najumudin, 26, and Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari, 24, were among 15 men on the track near Pasir Ris station when they were hit by an oncoming train.
It is understood that the driver may not have seen the workmen on the track and, if he had seen them, did not sound the horn, as required.
According to insiders, the train had switched tracks moments before hitting the workers. Train drivers have no control of track switching.
A second employee, said to be part of the work team on the track that day, was also dismissed.
It is understood that a senior controller of the network’s Operations Control Centre had also left following the accident.
In his mail to staff, Mr Lee said: “Our disciplinary process is fair.
“We do not single out any staff or department to bear the responsibility when things go wrong.”
He added that there had been previous dismissals for safety breaches.
“We did this in an all-out effort to never again repeat safety lapses,” he wrote.
Since the tragedy, SMRT has set up a Track Access Management Office “to control access to railway tracks”.
Mr Lee also said any staff member, regardless of rank, can “call a time-out if they feel safety is compromised”.
SMRT said in April that failure to follow safety measures had led to the accident.
Lapses include allowing a train to ply in automatic mode while workers were on site, not deploying watchmen to look out for approaching trains, and failing to provide early warning to the work team.
christan@sph.com.sg
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