It took just three seconds for the car to travel 14.6m – cutting across two lanes, crashing through bushes and running over a pavement – before colliding into a railing.
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Alexandra Canal accident caused by ‘moment of inattention’: Coroner
Indonesia urges action as high-seas kidnappings surge
Jakarta – Indonesia called Monday on Malaysia and the Philippines to do more to secure their “unsafe” waters after the weekend abduction of sailors by suspected Islamist militants.
Armed men in a speedboat kidnapped the three sailors late Saturday from a Malaysian-flagged trawler in Malaysian waters off Borneo island and took them towards the strife-torn southern Philippines, officials said.
The kidnappers were apparently targeting Indonesian citizens, as three Malaysian sailors and an Indonesian who concealed his nationality were released from the same vessel, the military said.
It takes to 24 the number of Indonesians kidnapped this year in the vital waterway between the three countries, with Philippine Muslim militant outfit Abu Sayyaf accused of being behind all the abductions.
“This kind of incident cannot be tolerated at all,” said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.
“Serious efforts, I repeat, serious efforts, must be taken immediately both by the Philippine and Malaysian governments.” “This goes to show that the waters of Malaysia and the Philippines are unsafe,” added Indonesian armed forces chief Gatot Nurmantyo.
Abu Sayyaf leader declares support for Islamic State
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
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Separately, the Philippine military said Abu Sayyaf, which has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom, was behind the latest outrage.
The three new captives would add to the seven Indonesians and two Europeans already being held by the group, said Philippines military spokesman Major Filemon Tan.
In May, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to launch a coordinated patrol of the waters after the recent surge of kidnappings. Nurmantyo said that defence ministers from the three countries were due to meet in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday to further discuss the plan.
Of the Indonesians abducted this year, fourteen were released after being held in Abu Sayyaf’s stronghold in the southern Philippines but there was no information on whether a ransom was paid.
A further seven were kidnapped in the area last month, after which Jakarta banned Indonesian-flagged vessels from sailing to the Philippines.
Italian hostage released by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
The Star/ANN, AFP
A handful of Malaysian sailors have also been kidnapped this year.
Abu Sayyaf, who are based on remote and mountainous southern islands, this year beheaded two Canadian hostages after their multi-million-dollar ransom demands were not met, and in 2015 executed a Malaysian hostage.
The group is a loose network of a few hundred Islamist militants, formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
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Free child care may limit options, increase burden on taxpayers: MSF
The Government has spent about S$600 million on pre-school related efforts in 2015 – more than one-and-a-half times what it spent in 2012, the ministry says.
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Chinese "super brain" now assists police in investigations
It looks like Asia has a Sherlock Holmes of its own.
A man from Shandong province with a “super brain” is China’s most recent aid in police investigations.
Wang Yuheng was reportedly asked to assist police after he managed to outsmart an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) on a local reality television show.
His big win happened back in February 2015, when he was crowned “Super Brain”. However, things have since taken a spin and the 35-year-old has since been asked to assist in solving crimes.
According to South China Morning Post, Mr Wang’s superhuman observational skills had allowed him to solve a hit-and-run case that police spent eight months trying to figure out.
How did he do it?
By simply decoding “hidden clues” from surveillance footage.
His meticulous analysis of the footage allowed him to fill in missing details of the profile for the driver as well as the model of the car.
In the competition “Super Brain”, Mr Wang was given memory and facial recognition tests, reported NextShark.
One of the challenges on the show required him to use his photographic memory.
Mr Wang was able to correctly recognise a specific glass of water out of 520 nearly identical samples.
NextShark added that because Mr Wang’s abilities have proven to be useful to the force, he is currently assisting the authorities on a robbery case.
mldas@sph.com.sg
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TNP Euro 2016 Goal of the Tournament Contest
We have witnessed some amazing goals this Euro 2016, but which one was the goal of the tournament?
The New Paper has selected five absolute beauties and we are asking readers to help us decide which was the cream of the crop…
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Suspect in Holland Village bank robbery arrested in Thailand
SINGAPORE – The suspect believed to be involved in last Thursday’s (July 7) Standard Chartered bank robbery at Holland Village was arrrested in Bangkok on Sunday, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has confirmed.
“The Singapore authorities are currently…
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NDP 2016-themed trains will run till mid-August
In collaboration with SMRT and SBS Transit, four trains have been decked out in this year’s NDP theme, Building our Singapore of Tomorrow.
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Singapore: Australian expat gets fired after Pokémon Go rant on Facebook
AN AUSTRALIAN expat working in Singapore was fired from his job after posting a profanity-laced rant about the city state on social media.
Sonny Truyen, the vice president of digital marketing at a popular real estate website, appeared to be livid that the new augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go was not available in Singapore.
The game, which allows players to capture, battle, train, and trade virtual Pokémon who appear throughout the real world via their smartphones has become a craze in the U.S. since its launch on July 6.
Frustrated at the unavailability of the app, Truyens launched his diatribe which led to an online war of words with locals.
He started off by saying: “You can’t f**king catch Pokémon in this piece of f**king sh*t country.”
Mashable Asia reported that the exchange was captured by a user on local forum Hardwarezone.
Screenshot via Hardwarezone
According to Branding in Asia, netizens who launched an online ‘witch hunt’ soon found out that Truyen had only been in his new job at 99.co for about a week.
He joined after leaving his post as vice-president for growth in Malaysian-based iPrice Group, which he joined in March this year.
Prior to those two jobs, Truyen had also worked with eBay, First Rate and iCar Asia Limited with experience in Australia and the U.K., and described himself as a “battle tested digital marketer with 10 years’ experience directing marketing & technology teams at global arena”.
99.co’s CEO Darius Cheung on Sunday made an apology on the company’s blog.
“Sonny, an SEO specialist, started consulting with us last Monday, he has been a consultant with us for about a week when this incident happened,” Cheung said.
“We are a proud Singaporean company and we do not condone such language or behavior, we have terminated his engagement with us immediately, as soon as the incident came to our attention.”
The post Singapore: Australian expat gets fired after Pokémon Go rant on Facebook appeared first on Asian Correspondent.
Refrain from speculating on death of 26-year-old man in Yishun: Police
“Commenting, speculating on issues, which will have to be dealt with in court proceedings, may be sub judice,” says the Singapore Police Force.
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Suggestion for public dress code in Singapore sparks hot debate
Mini skirts, hot pants and shorts – how a woman dresses – became a point of contention after a The Straits Times reader wrote a forum letter suggesting a dress code, for both men and women, in public places.
The forum writer Mr Benjamin Sim Buke Huang was responding to a case where a dentist was jailed for molesting an MRT passenger who had been wearing shorts (“Dentist jailed 6 weeks for molesting woman on MRT”; July 2).
In the letter titled “Mind how we dress in public” published on July 9, he wrote that the molestation case reminded him of the kampung days, when adolescent girls were told by their parents not to wear hot pants or shorts in public as such attire was “too revealing” and did not reflect well on the girls’ modesty or upbringing.
Mr Sim urged parents to relook how adolescent girls – as well as adults – should dress when in public.
He brought up how women here wear shorts to many places, including to places of worship.
“This shows a lack of respect to others as well as for the religion,” he wrote.
While most agreed that appropriate dressing should be observed at places of worship, Miss Wang Weiqin, who wrote a separate forum letter to The Straits Times on July 10, found Mr Sim’s suggestion on having a dress code in public places “somewhat narrow-minded”.
Netizen Mika Sa commented on Mr Sim’s letter in a Facebook post: “I guess it should be dressing appropriately for the place or occassion. Being appropriate means dressing to respect the host, the (occasion), the venue and most importantly yourself.”
Many who reacted to Mr Sim’s letter felt like it was a case of victim-blaming.
Facebook user, Oliver Ming Kang, wrote: “Victim blaming at its best. It doesn’t matter even if someone shows up in underwear (ie, swimming pool). Crime is a crime and the blame should never be shifted to the victim.”
Another Facebook user Mingli Lin wrote: “If a man wore tight shorts and tank top, does it mean any random woman (or man) can touch his body?”
Mr Francis Cheng who disagrees that parents and society should dictate how girls and women should dress in public wrote in another letter published by The Straits Times on July 11: “Who are we to judge what is the right or wrong dress code in public, and where do we draw the line?”
“It is one’s personal right to choose how one dresses in public. One need not dress modestly to be respected.
“Modesty is a choice and not a requirement,” he added.
Mr Cheng made a point that women should be able to dress as they wish to express their confidence through their attire, and not according to someone else’s idea of what is proper.
He emphasised that what needs changing is how men are taught to regard and behave towards women. “If a man cannot stop thinking that a woman is a sex object because of how she dresses, that is his failing, not hers,” he wrote.
“If a woman makes a choice to wear a short skirt, it is her right to do so without harassment. Her attire should not give any man an excuse to exploit or molest her.”
Weighing in on the debate on women’s dressing in public, Facebook user Eileen Kee wrote: “(A) molester with intention to do sick act will still continue to do so regardless of the dressing of the victim.”
A Facebook user named Carla Castle suggested: “How about instead of focusing on the attire of the clothes we focus on educating people on not touching people in public?”
On the other spectrum, some netizens feel women have to dress responsibly. Netizen Illyanna Vee wrote: “(M)en should certainly control themselves, but women too have the responsibility not to put temptation in their way.”
“(G)irls, if your intention is not to gain attention with skimpy dressing then why do it?” wrote Bess Leow.
maryanns@sph.com.sg
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