Inspector Poh Wee Teck had assured Benjamin’s mother that her son would not be handcuffed, the Coroner’s Court hears.
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PM Lee visits Kremlin, meets Singaporeans
A little bit of Singapore was waiting for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday morning when he arrived in Russia’s capital for a four-day working visit yesterday.
He met about 30 Singaporeans working and studying here at a reception. Among them were computer science graduate Lim Loon Haw and Singapore Airlines’ Moscow station manager Derrick Leow.
Mr Lim, 25, said his attachment at software security company Kaspersky Lab has got him hooked on a field he had hardly given a second look.
“Cybersecurity is still not very popular in Singapore but here, in such a big company, I’ve been able to learn the breadth and depth of the field,” he said.
But like Mr Leow, 32, he has been pleasantly surprised by Moscow. The city is safe, the people are friendly, and the changing seasons are beautiful.
Mr Leow added: “Once you break the ice, the people are very friendly. It’s very different from how they are depicted in Hollywood.”
Before the reception, PM Lee visited Red Square and the Kremlin, Russia’s historic and political centre. At both tourist attractions, he met Singaporeans on holiday, including Mr Timothy Lim, 24, a student at New York University, and two students from Nanyang Technological University.
Said Mr Ignatius Wong, 25, a final-year accountancy student: “It’s such a coincidence to bump into Mr Lee here; we saw some members of the delegation wearing Singapore lapel pins and wanted to say hi.”
Later, PM Lee had lunch with members of the Singapore Business Federation delegation that is on a business mission to Russia.
Trade between Singapore and Russia has a lot of potential for growth, PM Lee had said in a wide- ranging interview with Tass news agency before his visit.
He hopes to give it a boost with the proposed free trade agreement between Singapore and the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Russia is a member.
He noted that the high-level Russia-Singapore Inter-Governmental Commission was set up in 2009 to beef up co-operation in such areas as trade, investment and education.
“There is active participation on both sides – government as well as business. But our trade is not in proportion to the potential,” he said.
Though bilateral trade has about quadrupled in the last 10 years, Russia is still “just our 21st largest trading partner”, he added.
In the same way, PM Lee said, “economic ties between ASEAN countries and Russia have been growing but (it is not) commensurate with the importance of Russia in the world. This is gradually changing”.
A proposed free trade pact between Singapore and the Eurasian Economic Union will boost Russia’s ties with individual ASEAN countries, which will “strengthen the ties between Russia and South-east Asia, and the ASEAN region as a whole”, he added.
PM Lee visits Kremlin, meets Singaporeans
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The Straits Times
PM Lee’s agenda includes meeting Russian businessmen and executives to “get them interested in Singapore a bit”.
The last Singapore prime minister to go on such a mission was the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who visited the then Soviet Union in 1990.
PM Lee also disclosed that there are advanced plans to build a Russian Cultural Centre in Singapore.
“We have found a site and it is a good location,” he said.
“I look forward to the day when we see a Russian Orthodox onion dome appearing in Singapore,” he added, referring to the architecture of Russian churches.
This article was first published on May 18, 2016.
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SIA sets up holding company to run Scoot and Tigerair, to be led by one CEO
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Trump would talk to Kim Jong Un about nukes, climate accord
NEW YORK – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, proposing a major shift in US policy toward the isolated nation.
In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters, Trump also called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord, said he disapproved of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in eastern Ukraine, and said he would seek to dismantle most of the US Dodd-Frank financial regulations if he is elected president.
Protesters turn violent at Trump rally
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The presumptive Republican nominee declined to share details of his plans to deal with North Korea, but said he was open to talking to its leader.
“I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him,” he said.
Asked whether he would try to talk some sense into the North Korean leader, Trump replied, “Absolutely.”
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks.
Trump, 69, also said he would press China, Pyongyang’s only major diplomatic and economic supporter, to help find a solution.
A look at North Korea’s Kim Jong Un
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AFP, Reuters
“I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China,” he said in the interview in his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Trump’s preparedness to talk directly with Kim contrasts with President Barack Obama’s policy of relying on senior US officials to talk to senior North Korean officials.
Obama has not engaged personally with Kim, but he has pushed for new diplomatic overtures to Iran and Cuba that produced a nuclear deal with Tehran and improved ties with Havana.
Sitting at his desk with an expansive view of Central Park, Trump spoke at length about his economic and foreign policy ideas in the half-hour interview. Facing him on his desk is a framed photograph of his father, the late Fred Trump. A wall displays framed photos of Trump with various celebrities, as well as numerous magazine covers on which he has appeared.
On Russia, Trump tempered past praise of Putin, saying the nice comments the Russian leader has made about him in the past would only go so far.
“The fact that he said good things about me doesn’t mean that it’s going to help him in a negotiation. It won’t help him at all,” he said.
An adviser to Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic presidential candidate, criticised Trump’s foreign policy comments, noting they came soon after Trump said he was unlikely to have a good relationship with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
“Let me get this straight: Donald Trump insults the leader of our closest ally, then turns around and says he’d love to talk to Kim Jong Un?” Clinton’s senior foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in a statement.
Trump “seems to have a bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen like Putin and Kim. But his approach to foreign policy makes no sense for the rest of us,” he said.
In the Reuters interview, Trump said he thought Cameron’s criticism of him was inappropriate but “I’m sure I’ll have a good relationship with him.”
CLIMATE ACCORD
Trump said he is “not a big fan” of the Paris climate accord, which prescribes reductions in carbon emissions by more than 170 countries. He said he would want to renegotiate the deal because it treats the United States unfairly and gives favourable treatment to countries like China.
“I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else,” he said.
A renegotiation of the pact would be a major setback for what was hailed as the first truly global climate accord, committing both rich and poor nations to reining in the rise in greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming the planet.
Trump has been criticised for offering far fewer specific policy proposals than Clinton, his likely rival for the Nov. 8 presidential election.
The New York billionaire said he planned to release a detailed policy platform in two weeks that would propose dismantling nearly all of Dodd-Frank, a package of financial reforms put in place after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
“Dodd-Frank is a very negative force, which has developed a very bad name,” he said.
Trump took a dim view of Clinton’s stated desire to put her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in charge of building up the US economy.
“The wife wants to make him in charge of the economy,” he said.
Clinton described Trump’s idea of dismantling Dodd-Frank as reckless. “Latest reckless idea from Trump: gut rules on Wall Street, and leave middle-class families out to dry,” she said on Twitter.
FINANCIAL BUBBLE?
Trump said he perceived a dangerous financial bubble in the tech start-up industry, with some companies selling shares at high valuations without ever turning a profit.
“I’m talking about companies that have never made any money, that have a bad concept and that are valued at billions of dollars,” he said.
Silicon Valley investors responded on Twitter by poking fun at Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again!” by repeating the phrase, “Make Bubbles Great Again.”
On the US Federal Reserve, Trump said that while he eventually wants a Republican to head it, he is “not an enemy” of current chair Janet Yellen, who was appointed by Obama.
“I’m not a person that thinks Janet Yellen is doing a bad job. I happen to be a low-interest rate person unless inflation rears its ugly head, which can happen at some point,” he said, adding that inflation “doesn’t seem like it’s happening any time soon.”
The real estate mogul said he would maintain the current level of benefits for Social Security recipients, a position championed by former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Trump said he would not raise the retirement age or impose a sliding scale of benefits depending on income levels.
Some Republican lawmakers have pushed for structural reforms to Social Security to extend its solvency.
The depleted Social Security Trust Fund, Trump said, would be replenished by the increased tax revenue that would flow into the government from the higher job growth spurred by his economic policies.
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JJ Lin jams with Apple CEO Tim Cook on GarageBand
Singapore singer JJ Lin has teamed up with Apple chief Tim Cook to promote Apple’s GarageBand, as the app aims to capture the international market with its latest update.
In a Facebook video posted on Lin’s Facebook page on Tuesday (May 17) morning, the 35-year-old is seen jamming with Cook on the app.
“Jamming my song The Key with a new friend Tim Cook on the new GarageBand! #timcook #garage,” Lin wrote in his post.
The video, shot in Beijing, has racked up nearly 70,000 views in slightly more than two hours. Lin, who flew to the Chinese capital for one day for the shoot, said in a press release that he felt like a star-struck fan when he saw Cook.
“I entered, said hello and he actually said he had been listening to my songs. I felt so honoured.” He said he had planned a lot of things to say to Cook, but his mind went blank when they met.
Apple announced in a press release on Tuesday that the update “celebrates the rich history of Chinese music” with the addition of new instruments and extensive Chinese language localisation throughout the app.
JJ Lin teams up with Apple’s Tim Cook to promote GarageBand
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Warner Music Singapore, facebook
The app, which allows users to create music or podcasts, now supports Chinese instruments such as the pipa, erhu and Chinese percussion.
There are also new sharing options to popular Chinese social networks QQ and Youku.
“As a musician I’m always looking for ways to take my music in new directions and GarageBand has been such a great tool for me to experiment and add new elements to my songs on-the-go,” Lin was quoted as saying in the press release.
“I love how the latest update to GarageBand adds traditional Chinese instruments along with brand new loops so I can play around with mixing traditional and modern sounds to create completely new styles.”
This article was first published on May 17, 2016.
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Singapore, Philippines central banks move to tighten cyber security
SINGAPORE/MANILA – Singapore’s central bank has asked banks to maintain a high level of security for their critical IT systems following recent cyber attacks using the SWIFT financial messaging system.
In the Philippines, the central bank was crafting more regulations to help banks and other financial institutions fend off cyber heists and minimise damage after any systems breach, a senior official said.
The actions come after Vietnam’s Tien Phong Bank said earlier this week it had interrupted an attempted cyber heist that involved the use of fraudulent SWIFT messages, the same technique at the heart of February’s massive theft from the Bangladesh central bank.
The two attacks through SWIFT, used by about 11,000 banks and institutions around the world, have sent tremors through the global financial industry.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore “expects financial institutions to implement strong controls in their IT systems as set out in the MAS Technology Risk Management Guidelines”, a spokeswoman said in response to media queries.
“This includes maintaining a high level of security for their critical IT systems, such as SWIFT.”
Singapore’s MAS would continue to monitor the security landscape and threats faced by the financial industry and provide guidance where necessary, the spokeswoman said.
Nestor Espenilla, the Philippines’ central bank deputy governor in charge of banking supervision, said cyber threats were growing.
“That basically reminds us that there is absolutely no room for complacency,” he told reporters. “We consider it to be a very serious threat that financial institutions should really be preparing for.”
Regulators were looking at requiring banks to immediately report cyber crime to contain the threat and to ensure financial institutions learn from each other, Espenilla said.
The additional measures would also elevate information technology standards of banks to align them with international norms, he said.
The central bank had also boosted its own defences, he said.
About $81 million stolen from Bangladesh in the cyber heist went to bank accounts in the Philippines and most remains missing.
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China, India face huge mental health burden: Study
Paris – China and India are home to more than a third of people with mental illness, but only a tiny fraction of them receive medical help, according to studies released Wednesday.
There are more people in the world’s two most populous nations coping with mental, neurological and substance use problems than in all high-income countries combined, the research found.
That burden will become much heavier in coming decades, especially in India, where it is projected to increase by a quarter by 2025.
China, meanwhile, will struggle with the rapid rise of dementia in its greying population, a by-product in part of strict birth control policies put in place more than 35 years ago.
Neither country is adequately equipped to deal with their mental health needs, according the trio of reports, published in medical journal The Lancet and The Lancet Psychiatry to mark the launch of the China-India Mental Health Alliance.
In China, only six per cent of people coping with common mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety disorders, or with substance abuse and dementia, even seek out a doctor, researchers found.
“The lack of mental health manpower in rural areas” is especially acute, explained Michael Phillips, one of the lead authors and a professor at Emory University in Atlanta and at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
More than half of those with full-blown psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia are not diagnosed, much less cared for, he said in a statement.
In India, the percentage of the population with untended mental health problems is equally small.
By contrast, treatment rates in rich nations is 70 per cent and up.
The divide between developed countries and these emerging giants is equally sharp when it comes to money spent.
Less than one per cent of national healthcare budgets in China and India is allocated to mental health care.
In the United States that figure is nearly six per cent, while in Germany and France it rises to ten per cent or more.
Both India and China have recently implemented progressive policies providing for the needs of their mentally ill, but reality on the ground has not yet caught up, the studies showed.
“The treatment gaps, especially in rural areas, are very large,” Vikram Patel, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said of India.
It could take decades for each country’s medical systems to fill these gaps, the reports concluded.
But the researchers suggest that a large cadre of traditional practitioners — yogis in India, Chinese medicine doctors in China — could be trained to recognise mental health problems and help with treatment.
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Import prices of Thai coconuts hit record highs amid dry weather
Local importers say Thai coconut prices have doubled due to the ongoing hot spell in the region and rising global demand for coconut products.
What Heng Swee Keat's stroke means for the average Singaporean
Most of you would have heard by now about Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat’s sudden collapse during a recent Cabinet meeting after suffering a stroke.
This has caused waves of concern among Singaporeans, with this being the most significant health issue suffered by a minister since the passing of former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
It is assuring to know that Minister Heng is now in stable condition. With the news of Minster Heng’s stroke, we have seen an outpouring of good wishes and get well soon messages on his Facebook page as well as on related news articles.
We look at what this means for the average Singaporean.
Importance Of Minister Heng Swee Keat
As the Minister for Finance, Heng Swee Keat is a minister that would strike most Singaporeans as one that the government cannot do without. He heads the Ministry of Finance and is a member of parliament (MP) representing Tampines Group Representation Constituency (GRC). Minister Heng also helms the Committee for Future Economy (CFE), a role which positions Singapore’s economic future.
He was the previous Minister for Education and also the Principal Private Secretary to former MM Lee Kuan Yew. Involved in politics since 1997, Minister Heng has more than 18 years of experience under his belt.
Minister Heng is well-known as someone who is earnest, respectable and humble. A core member of the leadership team bringing Singapore forward, many see Minister Heng’s potential in becoming the next Prime Minister.
Heng Swee Keat in ICU after having a stroke
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The Straits Times, The New Paper, Facebook screengrabs
Covering his roles
The question many of us might have now is: who then covers Finance Minister Heng’s duties? The government has been quick to respond to this public concern.
Minister of Finance
DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam was immediately appointed to cover for Minister Heng as the Finance Minister. Minister Tharman was the previous Minister of Finance before Minister Heng took over after the elections in 2015.
Minister Tharman has been serving as a Deputy Prime Minister since 2011 and is the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). He is also a MP of Jurong GRC and was also appointed as the Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies.
With his vast experience as a former Finance Minister, this interim appointment comes with little surprise and the Ministry of Finance is in good hands.
MP of Tampines GRC
PAP member Sin Boon Ann, a former MP of Tampines GRC, will be standing in for Minister Heng’s grassroots duties as the second advisor. Sin is the Deputy Managing Director of the Corporate and Finance Department of law firm Drew & Napier.
Although Sin is an unelected party member, his appointment to oversee constituency matters does not come without reason. From previous cases, such as the passing of PAP MPs Dr Ong Chit Chung in 2008 and Dr Balaji Sadasivan in 2010, PM Lee has said that a by-election is not necessarily called as there are other MPs within the GRC that are capable of looking after the ward.
Committee for Future Economy (CFE)
Minster for Trade and Industry, S Iswaran has been appointed as the Co-Chairman of the CFE. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Chan Chun Sing, will then fill Minister Iswaran’s vacated role as Deputy Chairman of CFE.
Be prepared at an individual, business and national level
The news of Minister Heng’s stroke came as a huge shock to Singaporeans. Most would think that Ministers have the best healthcare services provided, with regular medical checkups done. Furthermore, at 54 years of age, Minister Heng would be considered as a relatively young minister.
However, health issues can often come unexpectedly, be it young or old. We must all take the necessary precautionary steps for ourselves and for our loved ones by scheduling frequent medical checks and not to to take small symptoms too lightly.
This also serves as a reminder for us, to have the appropriate insurance policies in place. We need to be aware of what insurance policies we have as well as what we lack. It also raises the importance of saving up for rainy days, with our health being the top priority.
The reminder that any health issues can strike suddenly isn’t just limited to individual. Businesses face this “key man” risk as well. C-level executives of businesses may suffer illness without warning, thus sending the business to tackle ongoing challenges without their key man around. And as we learn in the past week, the “key man” risk also exists at the national level.
Even as we say people carry “an incredible load” within our organisation, be it running a business or a country, we must still remember to always have a backup plan should the worst happen. An insurance plan isn’t just about buying the right insurance policy; it is also ensuring that you have a fallback plan as well.
We are still not sure about Minister Heng’s condition though we are confident he is getting the best possible healthcare. The road to recovery is going to take time. While we hope for our minister to have a full and speedy recovery, it might be more prudent, on the national level, to plan for a cabinet that takes into consideration the possibility that Minister Heng may remain on the sideline for the foreseeable future.
Even when he returns, the “incredible load” that he was taking care of should be shared among more individuals within the government.
DollarsAndSense.sg is a website that provides bite-sized and relevant articles to help Singaporeans make better financial decisions.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2016 – 11:16
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CPF interest rates to remain unchanged
All CPF members will continue to receive at least 2.5 per cent interest on their Ordinary Account, and 4 per cent interest on their Special and Medisave Accounts from Jul 1 to Sep 30.
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