Peter Lim, the owner of Spain’s Valencia football team, has lodged a police report over online claims falsely linking him to get-rich-quick schemes.
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Billionaire Peter Lim lodges police report over get-rich-quick claims
Teenage attacker of Medan church is obsessed with ISIS leader: Minister
JAKARTA – A knife-wielding Indonesian teen who tried to attack a priest at a church during a Sunday service was “obsessed” with the extremist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a senior minister said on Monday (Aug 29).
Indonesian authorities are increasingly worried about a resurgence in radicalism in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, driven in part by a new generation of militants inspired by the ISIS.
“From the cellphone that was seized by security forces, this youth was obsessed with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” Chief Security Minister Wiranto told reporters, referring to the leader of the Middle Eastern militant group.
General Wiranto, who goes by one name, said a note was found in the attacker’s backpack that said “I love al-Baghdadi” but added the suspect had no known links to existing militant networks.
There were no serious casualties in the latest attempted attack, which happened in a church in Medan, northern Sumatra.
Police said the attacker had attempted to stab the priest, who suffered minor injuries, and detonate a crude home-made bomb but failed after being restrained by other worshippers.
The suspect, identified as 17-year-old Ivan Armadi is under interrogation. Police seized bomb-making materials from his home after the attack and said he had learned to assemble a bomb through online research.
Counter-terrorism officials have said there are hundreds of ISIS sympathisers in Indonesia, where the vast majority of Muslims practise a moderate form of the religion.
The country suffered its first ISIS-linked attack in January, when four people died in a gun and bomb assault.
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From weekend warrior to the Paralympics: Diroy dreams big
Following Russia’s ban from the Rio Paralympics, Singaporean shot put and javelin ace Diroy Noordin hopes to take full advantage by bringing home a medal.
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'Missile practice' caused deadly Taiwan misfire: prosecutors
Taipei- An unsupervised Taiwanese naval officer who decided to experiment with a missile launcher and accidentally fired towards China was one of three people charged Monday (Aug 29) over the fatal incident.
The misfiring of the supersonic “aircraft carrier killer” last month struck a damaging blow to the military’s image, embarrassing new president Tsai Ing-wen and angering Beijing.
The Hsiung-feng III (Brave wind) missile hit a Taiwanese trawler, killing the skipper on board and injuring three other crew members.
The misfire – the biggest military slip-up since Beijing-sceptic Tsai came to power in May – sparked an uproar in Taiwan and drew a stern rebuke from China.
Prosecutors in the southern port city of Kaoshiung revealed Monday that naval officer Kao Chia-chun had been left alone in the master control room for as long as seven minutes.
Kao decided to practise without a supervisor, despite the system being in “combat mode”, prosecutors said in a statement marking the end of their investigation.
“(He) did not ultimately notice that missiles no.3 and no.4 were already in ‘live-fire’ mode and went on to press…’allow launch’, ‘launch missile’, and ‘confirm'”, prosecutors stated.
One of the missiles travelled for about two minutes, automatically searching for a target before locking onto the fishing boat in the waters off Taiwan-administered Penghu island.
Kao was charged with negligence leading to death and injuries, as well as damaging weaponry.
His supervisor Chen Ming-hsiu and lieutenant Hsu Po-wei, who was responsible for overseeing weapons, were charged with neglecting official public duties leading to catastrophe.
Chen should have been supervising but left Kao alone during the incident on July 1, the statement said.
President Tsai last week called for the defence ministry to hammer out a new strategy and improve its performance, while attending an annual military exercise simulating China attacks.
The mainland is the biggest military threat to self-ruling Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a breakaway province to be reunified.
Tensions have risen across the strait under Tsai as Beijing does not trust her traditionally pro-independence party.
According to Taiwan’s defence ministry, there are 1,500 Chinese missiles aimed at the island.
China launched some of the missiles into waters off Taiwan in 1995 and 1996 in an attempt to deter voters in the island’s first democratic presidential elections.
Last month’s misfire coincided with China celebrating the 95th anniversary of the Communist Party.
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Monday, August 29, 2016 – 13:55
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Zika discovery: 3 doctors raised alarm after fever spike in August
SINGAPORE – The three doctors at Sims Drive Medical Clinic who raised the alarm that led to the discovery of the first locally-transmitted Zika cases said they first sensed something amiss in the second week of this month.
Dr Tan May Yen was the first to flag…
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Taiwan raises Zika travel notice for Singapore
Taiwan’s Centre for Disease Control has raised the travel notice level for Singapore to Level 2 for the Zika virus.
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Tang Wei gives birth to baby girl
Chinese actress Tang Wei announced on her personal Instagram on Saturday that she gave birth to a healthy and beautiful baby girl.
Tang, wife of Korean film-director Kim Tae-yong, uploaded a photo of herself with the Chinese caption, “To everyone, today I gave birth to a 3.41kg baby girl. She is very healthy.”‘
Fans have sprung to congratulate her on becoming a mother, and have showered her with support and love.
Tang first met Kim while filming “Late Autumn” in 2009 and reportedly began dating him in 2013 during a visit to Korea for a commercial shoot.
The couple got married on the remote Swedish island of Faro in 2014, and later had a formal ceremony in Hong Kong.
Read also: 5 things we love about Chinese actress Tang Wei
More Chinese-Korean celeb pairings
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Residents, businesses in Sims Drive cluster unfazed by Zika situation
Only one individual Channel NewsAsia spoke to has taken preventive measures against mosquito bites.
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Jail and fine for couple behind Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint for tax evasion
SINGAPORE – A husband and wife team behind famous Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint have each been sentenced to four weeks of jail for evading nearly S$55,000 in income taxes.
They were also each ordered to pay a penalty of S$164,751.45, three times the amount of the…
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Lost and alone? She understands
Ms Porsche Poh’s fingers each bear deep scars, a reminder of when she was 18 and her mother died, leaving her to fend for herself.
“I was lousy at opening cans, even though I did it every day,” said the 45-year-old, whose father died of heart disease when she was seven. “I couldn’t cook so I depended on canned food.”
The orphan and only child also lost the roof over her head because she was not old enough to keep the flat.
Eventually, she opted to join the police force so that she could take shelter in its barracks during the training season.
These life experiences enable her to relate to those who are mentally ill, said Ms Poh, who is now executive director of mental health advocacy organisation Silver Ribbon.
Now in its 10th year, the organisation is arranging its second Asia-Pacific mental health conference to celebrate its birthday. It will be held on Oct 6 and 7, just before World Mental Health Day on Oct 10.
“When people with mental illness tell me that nobody will understand how alone and lost they are, I will share my story with them and they realise that they are ‘richer’ than me in many ways,” said Ms Poh, who is single.
“Those that are suicidal will tell me that they have no other option, but I always tell them that they have choices to make in life.”
For instance, Ms Poh is used to having her dinner alone at McDonald’s on the eve of every Chinese New Year when families usually gather for a reunion meal.
She does not join her extended family and friends in their Chinese New Year celebrations as she does not wish to impose on them.
She uses the time to visit beneficiaries with mental illnesses, such as depression, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. She has been doing so for the past decade, since Silver Ribbon was launched in 2006.
“I feel for this group of people because I’ve worked with them before and having gone through many low points myself, I know that it is likely that I would have broken down if I had been less psychologically strong,” said Ms Poh.
In her late 20s, she left the police to join the early psychosis intervention programme at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to do something “more meaningful”.
During her time there, she identified several issues that left her dissatisfied. People were not coming for treatment early because they were worried about the cost and side effects.
Others recovered and left the psychiatric hospital, but could not find jobs outside because of the stigma of once having a mental illness.
So when she applied for and received a grant of $100,000 to start a mental health Voluntary Welfare Organisation, she quit her job and rented a space at IMH in late 2005.
Then, the stigma surrounding mental health work was strong.
“I reached out to many partners for collaborations and projects but they turned away,” said Ms Poh.
Many people were surprised that she managed to get the late former President S R Nathan to officially launch Silver Ribbon in 2006.
“I just wrote to him from my heart about the challenges people with mental illness face and what we hope to do about it and I think he could sense the sincerity,” she said.
Today, Silver Ribbon has four centres and employs eight staff. It offers services such counselling and job placement and runs events to raise awareness of mental health issues.
Silver Ribbon is known for its work in promoting the destigmatisation of mental illnesses and pushing for employment opportunities for the mentally ill.
It also hopes to provide support for migrant workers who suffer from serious psychological distress and get employers to provide equal job opportunities for those with mental health issues by removing the need for potential workers to declare any history of mental illness on job application forms.
Ms Poh may be its executive director, but she takes on a number of mental health cases herself. Her weekends are usually spent attending to people with problems. They are referred to her by neighbours, friends, grassroots leaders or even via social media.
“Some of my friends caution me about accepting friend requests on Facebook, but I don’t draw boundaries because there is just a thin line between sanity and insanity,” said Ms Poh.
She also gives mental health talks in various churches on Sunday. She became a Christian two years ago.
“I was from Fairfield Methodist where I scored A in Bible Knowledge class, but I held back from believing because I used to blame God for taking away my parents,” she said.
“I have since come to terms with it and I hope to help my clients to try to understand life through the challenges they face.”
HELPLINES
SILVER RIBBON:
6386-1928
SAMARITANS OF SINGAPORE (SOS):
1800-221-4444 (24-hour)
INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH’S MOBILE CRISIS SERVICE:
6389-2222 (24-hour)
CARE CORNER COUNSELLING CENTRE (for Mandarin speakers):
1800-353-5800
SINGAPORE ASSOCIATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH:
1800-283-7019
TINKLE FRIEND (for primary school-aged children):
1800-274-4788
This article was first published on August 29, 2016.
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