When the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen launched its subway’s new Line 11 last month, it came with something not usually found in subways – a business-class section.

Photos circuating online recently showed huge disparity between the riderships for the two sections of the trains – extremely crowded regular sections and very roomy business-class sections with just a few passengers.

Shenzhen Metro’s Line 11, also known as the Airport Line, connects the city’s downtown areas and some suburban areas to its airport.

The business-class fares, between 6 and 30 yuan (between S$1.20 and S$6.10), are three times as expensive as standard fare (2 to 10 yuan). Each train has six standard train cabins and two business-class cabins.

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

internet

Reacting to the photos, some people have criticised the metro company for pursuing profits over public service, Shanghaiist reported.

“The company should always have people’s best interests at heart. Public transportation is supposed to be a public service available to all residents of China,” one person wrote online.

Others have complained that social-class divides should not exist in the subway service, and called the business-class initiative a waste of public resources.

In response to calls to scrap the division, officials from the company said that the business-class cabins fill up during the weekends, even if they look to be empty on weekdays.

Shanghaiist said that Shenzhen Metro, in an effort to placate the people, has announced that it will increase train frequency on Line 11 “to better meet commuters’ needs”.

With our MRT system bursting at the seams, will something like this be adopted in Singapore?

sinsh@sph.com.sg

MANILA – More than 300 suspected drug users, pushers and dealers have been killed by police or vigilantes across the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30.

Thou shall not kill.

The Sixth Commandment is the message for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that will emanate from a mass which the Archdiocese of Manila will hold Monday afternoon (July 25) as he delivers his first State of the Nation Address (Sona) to Congress.

The mass will mark the launching of the “Huwag Kang Papatay” (Thou Shall Not Kill) campaign, which aims to bring together the families of the victims of extrajudicial killings that have come with the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs.

Those people-drug users, pushers and dealers-can no longer change their ways because they are already dead, according to an official of the Archdiocese of Manila.

“We believe, especially in the Year of Mercy, that we have a chance of showing our love of God. But because of this (the extrajudicial killings), there’s no more love because there’s no more life who will ask for forgiveness and mercy,” Fr. Atilano Fajardo said over Radio Veritas on Saturday.

Fajardo is the director of the Manila archdiocese’s Public Affairs Ministry, which will hold the Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church on San Marcelino Street in Ermita district.

The Mass, which will start at 5pm, includes prayers for the victims of the extrajudicial killings and police operations and their families.

Churchgoers have been asked to wear black and bring candles for a programme that will start at 4:30pm, by which time President Duterte will have begun to address Congress.

Since Duterte took office on June 30, more than 300 suspected drug users, pushers and dealers have been killed by police or vigilantes across the Philippines.

More than 10,000 drug dependents have turned themselves in to police out of fear for their lives.

During the campaign for the May 9 presidential election, Duterte promised to stamp out illegal drugs and wipe out crime within the first six months of his presidency.

Duterte, who has been linked to vigilante killings in Davao City, where he served as mayor for 23 years, gave the police the go-signal for a merciless campaign against drugs even before he took office.

Catholic Church officials have slammed the “lack of moral outcry” among the public over the killing of drug suspects.

Anti-crime blitz sweeps Philippines as Duterte comes into power

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AFP, Reuters

Robbed of their rights

Fajardo said the killings were equivalent to robbing the suspects of their right to due process and a chance to change their lives.

“We will pray for the souls of our slain brothers. We invite the families of those slain to attend,” Fajardo said.

He said he would make a personal appeal to Duterte concerning the extrajudicial killings.

Masses will be held at St. Vincent de Paul Church every last Monday of the month as part of the campaign against extrajudicial killings, Fajardo said.

Campaigners will wear black shirts marked “Huwag kang Papatay” and posters will be put up in schools, churches and public vehicles to drum up support for the campaign

“There will be talks and forums on the Sixth Commandment and how [extrajudicial killings are] becoming the new normal. We are consolidating all [opponents] of extrajudicial killings,” Fajardo said.

“We denounce the extrajudicial killings happening in the country, done by men in uniform, by vigilantes and other groups … under the baton of the maestro. We uphold due process of law and the dignity of human life,” he said.

The latest to fall in the government’s narcotics campaign was a suspected drug lord, Chinese national Meco Tan, who was killed by police in Valenzuela City early on Friday.

Duterte has said some local officials, including governors and mayors, are among the protectors of drug syndicates, although he has not named them.

On Saturday, Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad urged Duterte to name those local officials in his address to Congress on Monday.

“I want to hear in the [State of the Nation Address] the names of those governors and mayors allegedly coddling illegal drug syndicates,” Jumoad said in a statement.

Duterte has named five high-ranking police officials allegedly protecting drug syndicates.

The five officials-Chief Supt. Bernardo Diaz, retired Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo, retired Chief Supt. Vicente Loot, Chief Supt. Joel Pagdilao and Chief Supt. Edgardo Tinio-have denied the president’s accusations.

Romblon Bishop Arturo Bastes also issued a statement, saying Duterte should respect the rule of law in his campaign against drugs.

“I hope he will respect human rights by not introducing the death penalty and by following the rule of law in punishing drug offenders,” Bastes said.

Zhang Feng, an expert on lubricating oil at a research institute in Beijing, dined twice at a hotpot restaurant in Chengdu, Sichuan province, during his nearly five-day stay in the city. “The hotpot was one of the elements that took me to Chengdu as a tourist with my wife and daughter in the middle of the month,” he said. But he added that he had misgivings. He worried that the oil in the hotpot might not be as good as it appeared.

According to Li Zhiqiang, a restaurateur in Chengdu, “Recycled oil is used as a soup base in many hotpot restaurants to enhance the aroma.”

Now, restaurants will have to change. The provincial Health and Family Planning Commission formulated a compulsory regulation earlier this month to ban substandard materials in the hotpot soup base.

“The regulation will take effect on Jan 15, and any hotpot restaurant in the province that fails to meet its requirement will be punished,” said Fan Chuan, an information officer for the commission.

The province announced a similar regulation to standardize hotpot soup base in 2006. But it was only a recommendation to restaurants and did not impose penalties for noncompliance.

Under the new regulation, restaurants will be barred from using oils or additives containing excessive pollutants.

“Without regulation, restaurants might use oil from the guts of a pig, cat or dog instead of standard beef tallow. For aroma enhancement they might use spices grown in fields with excess chemical fertilizers or heavy metals,” said Li, who worked in the catering industry for 22 years.

Hailing the new regulation as a good measure to ensure food safety, some netizens have wondered if restaurants will comply.

“About 70 per cent of the hotpot restaurants are large ones and buy their materials for soup base from processing plants. If the government food watchdog keeps an eye on the plants, materials from them will meet the requirements,” Li said. “The other restaurants are small and might make the soup base themselves. It is difficult to monitor them.”