The 53-year-old molested the mentally disabled teen in a shower cubicle at a swimming complex and then went to his home days later and sexually assaulted the boy in his own bed.
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Ex-police officer jailed for sexually abusing autistic boy
3 new members appointed to board of Tote Board
SINGAPORE – The permanent secretary to the Ministry of Social and Family Development is one of three new members that have been appointed to the board of the Singapore Totalisator Board (Tote Board).
In a statement on Wednesday (May 25), the Finance Ministry (MOF) said that the appointment of Mr Chew Hock Yong, who is also a former chief executive of the Land Transport Authority, took effect from May 1 this year.
Aside from Mr Chew, the other two new appointments are full-time volunteer Ms Anita Fam and Far East Organisation advisor Mrs Fang Ai Lian. Their appointments will take effect from Jun 1.
Ms Fam serves as a board director in many voluntary welfare and non-profit organisations in the healthcare and social service sectors. Meanwhile, Mrs Fang is also active in the voluntary and philathropy sectors, having served as chairman of the Charity Council and president of the Home Nursing Foundation.
The Tote Board is a statutory board under MOF. It channels funds received from Singapore Pools, the Singapore Turf Club and the collection of casino entry levies to support projects that help to uplift the community and vulnerable groups in Singapore.
The three new members will replace two current board members, Mr Kon Yin Tong and Mr Patrick Lee Kwok Kie, who are stepping down after each serving for six years.
With the new appointments, the board of the Tote Board will comprise 11 members, including chairman Moses Lee.
seanyap@sph.com.sg
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New standard for handling frozen seafood launched
Called TR49: 2016 Cold Chain Management of Frozen Fish and Seafood, it covers the application and observance of temperature control for the cold chain management of raw and minimally processed frozen seafood.
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Manatee abandoned by mother is River Safari’s animal icon
SINGAPORE – A Wmanatee abandoned by its mother and hand-raised by aquarists in River Safari is now the park’s wildlife ambassador for threatened wildlife.
Born on Aug 6, 2014, the female West Indian manatee’s life had been “in serious danger” without its…
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S Korea court rejects same-sex marriage
SEOUL – A lawsuit filed by a prominent gay film director and his partner seeking legal status for their same-sex marriage was rejected by a South Korean district court on Wednesday in the first case of its kind.
Movie director Kim Jho Gwang-Soo and his long-time partner Kim Seung-Hwan, held a wedding ceremony in Seoul in September 2013 and submitted their marriage registration form to their local authority – only for it to be rejected.
While homosexuality is not illegal in South Korea, same-sex marriage is not recognised and the country remains deeply conservative about matters of sexual identity.
The couple challenged the decision with a lawsuit filed in July last year, but the ruling on Wednesday sided with the local authority.
“Circumstances have changed concerning marriage … but unless there is separate legislation, a same sex union cannot be recognised as marriage under the existing legal system”, the Seoul western district court said in a statement.
“Related laws, including the constitution and civil law, are premised on the notion of a conjugal bond meaning a union involving different sexes,” it said.
The two Kims are the most high-profile gay couple in South Korea and the lawsuit they filed over their marriage licence was the first of its kind.
“We regret the court decision … but we did see it coming,” Kim Seung-Hwan told AFP, adding that the couple intended to appeal the ruling.
The couple’s lawyer Ryu Min-Hee said the lawsuit had argued that civil law should be viewed through a “gender-neutral” prism that upheld equal rights provisions in the constitution.
“When in doubt, all laws should be interpreted in a constitutional way,” she said.
“We’re disappointed but we’re not done yet,” she added.
Ryu’s legal team had always acknowledged that the likelihood of a district court judge declaring same-sex marriage legal was extremely slim.
Gay and transgender South Koreans live largely under the radar in a country where many still regard homosexuality as a foreign phenomenon.
But gay rights campaigners were buoyed by the US Supreme Court ruling in June last year that made same-sex marriage legal throughout the United States.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 16:28
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MAS launches native orchids series coin set
SINGAPORE – A set of 10 silver proof S$1 coins each featuring an orchid species was launched on Wednesday (May 25), and will be issued on June 24.
Named The Splendour of Native Orchids Series, the coin set with a mintage of 4,000 celebrates the beauty of…
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Suspected motorcycle thief arrested
The man was arrested at about 6pm on Tuesday, after a 22-year-old man reported on May 21 that his motorcycle was stolen along King George’s Avenue.
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Japan's Abe visits Shinto holy site before G7 summit
JAPAN – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday made a pilgrimage to the Ise Grand Shrine, the holiest site in Japan’s Shinto religion, a day before he hosts a Group of Seven (G7) summit nearby.
Abe is expected to escort other G7 leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama to the expansive grounds of the shrine in central Japan on Thursday before they gather for the two-day annual meeting.
Abe, who like other Japanese leaders pays his respects at the shrine every January to mark the new year, has said the grounds are a good place to get a sense of the true Japanese spirit and culture.
Japanese wartime leaders used state Shinto ideology to mobilise the masses to fight World War Two in the name of a divine emperor, but Japan’s post-war constitution established the separation of church and state.
Abe sparked outrage in China and South Korea for his December 2013 visit to Yasukuni Shrine for war dead in Tokyo, seen in those neighbouring countries as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
Far less attention was paid to what some see as his equally symbolic participation in October that year in a ceremony at Ise Shrine.
The ritual is held every 20 years, when Ise Shrine is rebuilt and sacred objects representing the emperor’s mythical Sun Goddess ancestress are moved to a new shrine on the same grounds.
Abe became only the second premier to take part in the centuries-old ritual, and the first since World War Two, drawing attention to a conservative base that wants him to steer the nation back toward a traditional ethos mixing Shinto myth, patriotism and pride in an ancient imperial line. “He’s making these associations between his administration and sacred sites,” said John Breen, a professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto. “Ise is particularly important to him.” The shrine is made up of two main sets of buildings, the Inner and Outer Shrines. Abe will show the G7 leaders the Inner Shrine, dedicated to sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami.
Ordinary citizens can only view the buildings, said to hold religious articles such as a sacred mirror, from behind fences that leave only the rooftops visible.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 16:20
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Israel PM reaches deal for ultra-nationalist party to join govt
JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached a deal with a hardline nationalist party to join his government, negotiators said Wednesday, forming what is being called the most right-wing government in the nation’s history.
Under the agreement, Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beitenu party will join Netanyahu’s coalition, adding five lawmakers to his previously wafer-thin parliamentary majority.
Lieberman, who has spoken of harsh measures against Palestinian “terrorists”, is to take over the key role of defence minister.
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, a negotiator for Netanyahu’s Likud party, told public radio the deal had been reached, while Lieberman’s spokesman confirmed it to AFP.
A spokesman for Lieberman, a longtime politician who has previously served as foreign minister and lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, said the deal would be signed in parliament at 0800 GMT.
The move to hand the defence ministry to the 57-year-old hardliner has sparked deep concern among Israeli centrist and leftwing politicians, as well as among some of Netanyahu’s Likud colleagues.
Religious nationalists from the Jewish Home party already hold key cabinet positions in Netanyahu’s government.
Moshe Yaalon, a Likud member who resigned as defence minister on Friday and who has also served as armed forces chief, warned of a rising tide of extremism in his party and the country as a whole.
Former Labour prime minister and defence minister Ehud Barak went even further, saying Israel’s government “has been infected by the shoots of fascism.” But others say that Lieberman is above all a pragmatic politician who aspires to be prime minister one day, noting also that he will face opposition from the security establishment if he seeks to carry out some of his most controversial ideas.
An example of his provocative style was recently on display in comments directed at Ismail Haniya, Islamist movement Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip.
Lieberman said he would give Haniya 48 hours to hand over two detained Israeli civilians and the bodies of soldiers killed in a 2014 war “or you’re dead”.
In 2001, the former nightclub bouncer advocated bombing the Aswan Dam in Egypt, accusing Israel’s Arab neighbour of supporting a Palestinian uprising.
The deal brings to a stunning conclusion weeks of speculation over Netanyahu’s efforts to expand his government, which has held only 61 of the 120 seats in parliament since elections in March 2015.
Netanyahu had earlier engaged in negotiations with Labour party leader Isaac Herzog to join the government before turning to Lieberman instead.
Besides Lieberman becoming defence minister and another member of his party becoming immigrant absorption minister, the government agreed to allocate approximately 1.4 billion shekels ($363 million, 325 million euros) to pensions of elderly Israelis.
Lieberman, born in the ex-Soviet republic of Moldova, sought the arrangement to benefit immigrants from the former Soviet Union, his main electoral support base.
“These are the two major issues that are important to our constituency, and significant achievements,” Lieberman’s spokesman told AFP.
He had also pushed for the government to institute the death penalty for Palestinian “terrorists,” but Lieberman backed away from the demand in the talks.
A watered-down version is thought to have been agreed upon that analysts say is unlikely to significantly change current policy. There have been no executions in Israel since 1962.
Netanyahu has sought to ease fears over Lieberman’s expected appointment, saying he will continue to seek peace with the Palestinians and oversee the defence ministry’s policies, which include control over most of the occupied West Bank.
Negotiations with the Palestinians have been at a complete standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 16:11
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You've been served pizza … by a robot
MasterCard on Wednesday announced a partnership with Pizza Hut Asia to bring humanoid Robot Pepper to its stores by end-2016, to assist with taking orders and payments.
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