SINGAPORE – Sales of new private homes in the Republic more than doubled in March with two newly launched projects dominating sales compared to February, when activity was subdued amid the Chinese New Year holidays.
Developers sold a total of 843 units last…
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Developers’ sales more than doubled in March
Consumers, brands scramble after China crackdown on cross-border shopping
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Football: Klopp evokes Istanbul in Liverpool comeback
LIVERPOOL – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp revealed he had evoked the spirit of the club’s famous Champions League fightback in Istanbul to inspire his team to Europa League victory over Borussia Dortmund.
Two-nil down at half-time in Thursday’s quarter-final second leg, and 3-1 behind on aggregate, Klopp reminded his players of the memorable night in May 2005 when former captain Steven Gerrard inspired his team-mates to come back from 3-0 down and overcome AC Milan in a penalty shoot-out.
Divock Origi immediately reduced the arrears and although Marco Reus then struck back for Dortmund, goals from Philippe Coutinho and Mamadou Sakho teed up a storming Anfield finale that saw Dejan Lovren head home a stoppage-time winner to complete an extraordinary 5-4 aggregate win.
“It was a good atmosphere in half-time, honestly, because I was satisfied with the game; not with the goals, but with the game in general,” Klopp said after the victory over his former club.
“I told the lads I was not there, but a few Liverpool players who are a little bit older and work as experts for television, they were 3-0 down at half-time and won a Champions League final.
“Even when it’s not really likely, it’s for sure possible and we should try it. When we scored, everybody could see it – something happened in the stadium. You could hear it, you could feel it and you could smell it.” Dortmund’s third goal on the night, brilliantly set up by Mats Hummels and scored by Reus in the 57th minute, momentarily looked to have taken the wind out of Liverpool’s sails, but Klopp said that his side’s response revealed their depth of character.
“That’s the moment in football and in life where you have to show character,” said the German, who succeeded Brendan Rodgers last October.
“That’s what the lads did. That was pretty cool to watch. Of course to come back in a game like this against this highest quality opponent and win, you need a little bit of luck.
“But I think everybody who saw the game has to say it’s deserved.” Liverpool will learn their last-four opponents in Friday’s draw and while Klopp warned that there was still a long way to go in the competition, which his club have previously won three times, he said that his side had established a benchmark for future performances.
“We will 100 per cent get a real strong opponent in the semi-final. And we have to be there again, everybody,” he said.
“But for tonight (Thursday), it was brilliant, outstanding, wonderful, emotional. Everything. I will not forget it because it’s special. Now we have to carry on and do things like this more often.” Thomas Tuchel, who succeeded Klopp at Dortmund, was still struggling to make sense of what had happened in his post-match press conference.
“If you expect an explanation, I probably have to disappoint you because an explanation would mean that things are logical or tactical or at least in moments you see where a game goes to the other side,” he said.
“None of this happened. We had a great reaction on the first goal of Liverpool and we scored a third one.
“With the equaliser it was an atmosphere where everybody, except our supporters, believed it was meant to be.” With Dortmund’s Bundesliga hopes fading after they fell seven points behind Bayern Munich, Tuchel urged his players to clear their heads in time for their German Cup semi-final against Hertha Berlin on April 20.
“We have to turn disappointment into energy and grit in our approach,” said the 42-year-old, who had seen his team go 2-0 up inside nine minutes through Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
“In Berlin the target is to reach the final, so we shouldn’t be too afraid of where we are now. Our task is to deal with the disappointment as quickly as possible.”
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Swimming: Ledecky grabs gold as Phelps, Franklin settle for consolation wins
LOS ANGELES – Michael Phelps made a low-key start to the Mesa Pro Swim on Thursday, but his win in the 200m freestyle consolation final was a confidence booster in an event he’s found tough in his comeback.
“I swam that like I used to always swim it,” said Phelps, who smashed the 200m free world record at the 2007 world championships before making it one of his eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games in yet another world record.
“I kind of just stepped on the gas in the first hundred, and that’s when I swim my best 200 free.” Phelps, the 18-time Olympic gold medallist juggling preparations for the Rio Games and plans for the arrival of a baby boy with fiancee Nicole Johnson next month, just missed out on qualifying for the championship final in the event.
His winning “B” final time of 1min 48.21sec would have given him bronze in the championship race won by Conor Dwyer in 1:46.61.
“I think the biggest thing I had tonight is I was able to get confidence back in that race,” Phelps said. “I haven’t really swum that race well in a long time.” Phelps, always cagey about just what his Olympic programme plans are, said he wasn’t sure if he’d tackle the 200m free at the US Olympic trials in June.
But he wants to keep improving at least enough to challenge for a spot on the US 4x200m free relay team in Rio.
“I’m pleased with it,” Phelps said.
Dwyer’s time tied him for sixth-fastest in the world this year. Venezuela’s Christian Quintero was second in 1:48.10 and Phelps’s old foe Ryan Lochte was third in 1:48.85.
US freestyle phenomenon Katie Ledecky won the women’s 200m free in 1min 55.71sec.
Ledecky, who set her latest world record in the 800m free at the Austin Pro Swim in January, showed her preparations for the Rio Games in August remain right on track.
Allison Schmitt was second in 1:56.52 and Maya Dirado third in 1:58.64.
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Missy Franklin, like Phelps shut out of her championship final, settled for a victory in the 200m free consolation heat in 1:58.64 – nearly two seconds faster than her qualifying time.
Ledecky said she missed racing against Franklin, but she didn’t think there was cause for concern about her US team-mate.
“Everybody’s at different points in their season,” Ledecky said. “She had a better swim tonight.” Dana Vollmer, who set a 100m butterfly world record en rout to Olympic gold in London, then retired to start a family, signalled her comeback bid is gaining pace with a 100m fly win in 56.94sec – fourth-fastest in the world this year.
Vollmer, whose son Arlen was one year old in March, was comfortably ahead of runner-up Kelsi Worrell (57.27).
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Book that chronicles history of research in Singapore launched
April 15, 2016 12:18 PM
SINGAPORE – From a time where there was a lack of engineers and technical workers to a world-class research and development (R&D) hub today, Singapore has come a long way, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Friday (April 15).
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Friday, April 15, 2016 – 11:53
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Zero chance of haze like last year in region, says Indonesian official
SINGAPORE – There is “zero chance” that any haze this year will be as severe as last year’s episode – where air quality hit hazardous levels and forced the closure of schools in Singapore and in the region – the head of an Indonesian agency recently set up to…
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Rescuers scramble for survivors after deadly quake hits Japan
MASHIKI – Rescuers were rifling through the remains of collapsed building in southern Japan on Friday, after a powerful earthquake left at least nine people dead and injured hundreds, sparking fires and buckling roads.
Tens of thousands of people fled their homes after the 6.5-magnitude quake struck the southwestern island of Kyushu on Thursday night, leaving lumps of broken concrete strewn in the streets.
Houses collapsed, factories stopped work and a high-speed train was de-railed, while the roof of the treasured Kumamoto castle in the southern city of the same name was also damaged.
“There was a ka-boom and the whole house shook violently sideways,” Takahiko Morita, a resident of nearby town Mashiki, said in a telephone interview with public broadcaster NHK.
Strong quake strickes southwestern Japan
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“Furniture and bookshelves fell down, and books were all over the floor.”
Dozens of aftershocks followed the quake, which hit about 9:26 pm (1226 GMT) on Thursday evening, and officials warned the death toll could rise as rescuers scoured the collapsed structures.
As rescue workers toiled through the night, an eight-month-old baby girl was pulled from the rubble alive and unharmed, NHK reported.
“As far as we can tell from infrared images from a police helicopter, there appears to be a significant number of houses destroyed or half-collapsed,” said disaster minister Taro Kono.
“There are fears the number of injured could rise.”
Rescuers are concentrating their searches in Mashiki, a town near the epicentre of the quake where most deaths have been recorded.
On the streets, the remains of collapsed Japanese-style houses – many of then aged, wooden structures – could be seen, and damaged roof tiles lay in piles.
Scores of people spent the night huddled in front of the town hall, some in tears, while others wrapped themselves in blankets to ward off the nighttime chill.
“I’m so scared of the aftershocks that I cannot sleep,” 94-year-old Tomiko Takahashi told Jiji Press.
By Friday morning, the government said it had confirmed at least 860 people had been injured, at least 53 seriously. An official from the local Kumamoto disaster agency said at least nine were dead.
“We are combing through Mashiki where the damage was serious to see if there are any people who are still seeking rescue,” said government spokesman Yoshihide Suga.
Gen Aoki, a Japan Meteorological Agency seismologist, urged residents to be on guard for more aftershocks and warned rain in coming days could make the situation worse.
“Please do not go near damaged houses and structures that are about to collapse,” he said at an early morning briefing.
Nuclear plants in the region were unaffected, but several major manufacturers including Honda, Bridgestone, and Sony said they had suspended operations at factories in the area.
Train services on Kyushu were temporarily halted after Thursday’s earthquake and a super fast bullet train derailed – luckily while it was empty – said Yusuke Nanri, a spokesman for operator JR Kyushu.
Some 1,600 military personnel were joined by nearly 2,000 police officers and more than 1,300 firefighters to help in the search and rescue efforts, Suga said early Friday.
The initial quake, which struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), was followed two and a half hours later by another measuring 6.4 magnitude, according to Japan’s meteorological agency. The US Geological Survey measured it a smaller 6.2 magnitude.
In total, more than 100 earthquakes rocked the region after the first hit, and officials warned the could continue for a week or so.
Japan’s two sole operating nuclear reactors, located on Kyushu, were functioning normally, an official at the Sendai plant told AFP.
Japan, one of the most seismically active countries in the world, has been particularly on edge over the vulnerability of nuclear power plants after a massive undersea quake on March 11, 2011, that sent a tsunami barrelling into the country’s northeast coast.
Some 18,500 people were left dead or missing, and several nuclear reactors went into meltdown at the Fukushima plant in the worst atomic accident in a generation.
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India, S'pore can do a lot more together
IN A candid exchange of views, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Reserve Bank of India’s governor Raghuram Rajan had some 250 businessmen, industrialists and policymakers glued to their seats for more than an hour.
The two were part of an interactive session at the Singapore Symposium 2016 held in Mumbai on April 7. Themed Partnering for Growth in Uncertain Times, the symposium was organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore.
In his opening address, Mr Tharman noted that Singapore and India could do a lot more together. Mr Tharman, who is also the Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, listed the following areas of further collaboration – productivity and finance; air connectivity; education and skills training; and smart cities development.
“It frankly gives me confidence in India, not just based on what’s been happening in the last few years – GDP growth being about 7 per cent – I have confidence that this is now a new journey, and a journey that we in Singapore want to be part of, want to contribute to and want to benefit from at the same time.”
Singapore and India share a close bilateral political and economic relationship. Recent collaborations include developing two townships and setting up a skills centre in the northern state of Rajasthan and helping southern Andhra Pradesh state to build its new capital city. In the past 10 years Singapore’s investments in India grew from $653 million to $12.2 billion.
At the interactive session later with Mr Rajan, Mr Tharman called for greater coordination against exchange rate volatility. “We can’t keep hoping that the US Fed will postpone normalisation of interest rates,” he said.
The Singapore Symposium series provides a platform for Singapore leaders to engage with Indian political, business and academic communities.
The first two series were held in Delhi in 2009 and 2012. The inaugural Singapore Symposium was helmed by Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the second by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The Singapore Symposium 2016 is the fourth edition of the series in India and fifth in the South Asian region. The Confederation of Indian Industry was the co-partner in Mumbai. Book launch On the same evening, DPM Tharman launched a commemorative book in Delhi along with India’s minister of state for power, coal, new and renewable energy Piyush Goyal at The Growth Net Summit 2016.
The book is to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between India and Singapore. Titled, Looking Ahead: India And Singapore In The New Millennium, the book is a joint publication by ISAS and Ananta Aspen Centre in Delhi. Historian and board member of ISAS Professor Tan Tai Yong is co- editor of the volume, together with Mr A.K. Bhattacharya, from India.
Sithara Doriasamy is head of communications and strategic events at ISAS, NUS.
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