Israel's response to Hamas attack has 'gone too far', but severing ties would not help Palestinians, says Singapore

SINGAPORE: Israel's military response to the Oct 7 Hamas attack has "gone too far", but severing diplomatic ties with the country would not resolve the situation nor reduce the suffering of Palestinians, Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said in parliament on Thursday (Feb 29).

Remarks by President Biden at a Campaign Reception | Salt Lake City, UT

August 10, 2023

Private Residence
Salt Lake City, Utah

THE PRESIDENT: Please, please sit down. Thank you. Well, first of all, you know, I had forgotten about that incident. It was the time when there was a lot of discussion going on in the administration: would we recognize same-sex marriage.

And I was rai- — I was a lucky man. I was raised by a father who was a — thought everyone was entitled to be treated with dignity. I remember when I was — I hadn’t thought about this a long time. I remember when I was a kid, I — I was a lifeguard at a country club, but I wanted to — I was — got deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement. And so, I wanted to work in what they called “The Bucket,” which was a public housing complex — a large complex on the east side of Wilmington — and — which was all African American.

And they had the — like all big cities, they had three major swimming pools. One on the east side, which is where they — a thousand African American kids a day would come and swim in this big pool. And I wanted to be a lifeguard there. 

Commentary: What Elon Musk misses about how this generation works

Young people who are prepared to quit if they cannot define work on their own terms aren't selfish or immature. Employers who want to ban working from home need to understand a crucial mindset shift, says the Financial Times’ Gillian Tett.

FILE PHOTO: Working at home and in the office in a hybrid work arrangement. (Photo: iStock)

Gillian Tett

18 Nov 2022

LONDON: The great attrition of employees shows no signs of slowing. Recent reports from management consultant McKinsey suggest that as many as 40 per cent are considering leaving their jobs, usually to seek a different type of career or “non-traditional work”, including temporary or part-time roles.

According to one survey, money is an issue, but it’s definitely not the only issue. “Meaningfulness of work” and “adequacy of workforce flexibility” around issues such as working from home are also front of mind.

The key, it seems, is a sense of personal control, both to define how and where work happens, as well as how it aligns with workers’ personal values.

Commentary: Dissecting Singapore’s rare offer of a live TV debate to Richard Branson and what his refusal means

AFP, Raj Nadarajan/TODAYUltimately, the Government’s position must prevail in the court of domestic public opinion,
which has shown robust support for and confidence in Singapore’s approach to drugs, including the use of the
discretionary death penalty, says the author.

BY EUGENE K B TAN

November 2, 2022

After nine days of silence, British billionaire Richard Branson has turned down an invitation to a live televised debate in Singapore with Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam on the Republic’s approach towards drugs and the death penalty.

In a statement addressed to the Singapore minister on Monday (Oct 31), Mr Branson said a TV debate was not a suitable platform for a complex issue like the death penalty.

Branson says no to TV debate with Shanmugam, says conversation on death penalty 'needs local voices'

A composite photo showing British billionaire Richard Branson and Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.
(Photos: AFP, CNA)

31 Oct 2022

SINGAPORE: British billionaire Richard Branson declined the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) invitation to a debate on Singapore’s approach towards drugs and the death penalty, saying the conversation “needs local voices” and that a television debate “cannot do the complexity of the death penalty any service”.

It's a man's world: No more women leaders in China's Communist Party

Veteran politician Sun Chunlan was absent from the Central Committee list published on state media
(File photo: AFP/Leo Ramirez)

24 Oct 2022

BEIJING: The Communist Party Congress has laid bare the striking gender imbalance in the upper echelons of Chinese politics, with not a single woman making the 24-person Politburo for the first time in at least a quarter of a century.

As Xi Jinping and his allies concentrated power over the weekend, the party's highest-ranking woman leader retired.

Cock-a-doodle-don't: Sin Ming resident spends $7,000 on soundproof windows to block out roosters' crowing

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

CHING SHI JIE

Xu shared that her family had installed soundproof windows to prevent the roosters from disturbing their sleep. 
Shin Min Daily News

How far would you go to get a good night's sleep?

One woman, fed up with roosters' crowing under her block for years, recently spent a large sum of money on soundproof windows so she'd get some peace at night.

58-year-old Xu said that the number of roosters appearing under her block along Sin Ming Avenue has increased over the past three years, Shin Min Daily News reported on Tuesday (Sept 13).

There are now more than 20 free-roaming chicken in the estate, the frustrated housewife said.

"They would fly up to the trees and crow at 2 or 3am. Closing the doors and windows didn't help [to block out the noise].

WP calls for BTO eligibility age for singles to be lowered, boost in HDB flat supply

In an adjournment motion, Workers’ Party MP Louis Chua asked the Government to take “urgent and decisive steps” to increase the availability of HDB housing.

HDB flats in Singapore. (File photo: TODAY/Ooi Boon Keong)

Chew Hui Min

13 Sep 2022 

SINGAPORE: Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Louis Chua on Tuesday (Sep 13) made a case for lowering the age at which Singaporean singles can apply for a new Housing Board (HDB) flat to 28, while urging the Government to up the supply of public housing for all.

159,000 low-wage workers will earn at least S$1,400 from Sep 1

A cleaner wiping a table at Sims Vista Market and Food Centre.
(Photo: Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment)

01 Sep 2022 

SINGAPORE: About 159,000 lower-wage workers will earn at least S$1,400 under a new local qualifying salary (LQS) requirement that kicks in on Thursday (Sep 1).

Commentary: Overturning of Roe v Wade abortion decision has upended the US midterm elections

With the US Supreme Court overturning the right to abortion, will Roe v Wade unify Democrats or rally Republicans in the November midterm elections? Yale-NUS College’s Trisha Craig says domestic politics could affect America’s role as global leader in uncertain times.

A celebration outside the Supreme Court, Friday, June 24, 2022, in Washington. after its decision
to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Trisha Craig

08 Jul 2022

SINGAPORE: Abortion in the United States has been a highly partisan issue for decades. Politically, it is often summed up by where one stands on the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion.

So when the US Supreme Court – with a conservative majority of judges - overturned Roe v Wade on Jun 24 after a draft decision was leaked in May, it was expected but no less stunning.

New Public Defenders Office will provide legal aid to those with per capita household income up to S$1,500: MinLaw

Public defenders under the new office need not be called to the bar, the Ministry of Law said.

• A proposed public defender's office will provide criminal legal aid to Singaporeans with a per capita monthly houshold income of up to S$1,500
• The Ministry of Law tabled a Public Defenders Bill on Monday (July 4) in Parliament 
• The public defender's office will work together with the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, which also provides legal aid to the needy
• Public defenders in the new office need not be called to the Bar, but must have the necessary skills and education qualifications

LORAINE LEE

July 4, 2022

Austere and ‘tight' approach to managing prison conditions has kept suicide, assault rates low: Shanmugam

Singapore’s prison capacity is currently at about 70 per cent, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said.

• The "austere" regime and environment in Singapore's prisons were deliberately designed, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said
• The Singapore Prison Service's "tight approach" has, among other things, kept suicides among prisoners low compared with other jurisdictions, he said
• Mr Shanmugam was responding to increased interest in prison conditions following the airing of a CNA documentary 
• Mr Shanmugam said that Singapore's approach in managing the prisons have also led to lower assault rates compared to some other jurisdictions, where gangs informally run the place
• The minister also explained why certain race-based data relating to crime are not disclosed publicly, and how the Government arrives at this decision in consultation with various community groups

TAUFIQ ZALIZAN

July 4, 2022

BBC asked Shanmugam about S'pore's 'social controls', 'draconian' drug laws and Section 377A. Here's how he responded

Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam (left) was a guest on BBC journalist Stephen Sackur's podcast HardTalk.

• Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam was a guest on the BBC's HardTalk programme, hosted by British journalist Stephen Sackur
• Mr Sackur questioned the minister on Singapore's "social controls" and controversial laws such as the death penalty
• Refuting facts presented by the journalist at several points, Mr Shanmugam set out why the Republic takes a tough stance on drugs
• He also explained Singapore's approach on Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises gay sex

June 29, 2022

The Armed Uprising of 2024 (Or the Second American Civil War)

[These are excerpts from: 

Newsweek January 07 - 14, 2022

It makes a case for how American politics have become so fractured and the schism between Republicans and Democrats is widening into an unbridgeable chasm. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) have struck down a New York law that requires applicants for concealed carry permits to show that they have an actual need for a concealed weapon. This means anyone in New York can carry a concealed firearm. And that means that the next Storming of the Capital could be by armed protestors. The suggestion is that this schism might well lead to the Second American Civil War.]

A growing number of RADICALIZED REPUBLICANS are willing to grab their guns if the next presidential election doesn't go their way

DAVID H. FREEDMAN




MIKE “WOMPUS” NIEZNANY is a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran who walks with a cane from the combat wounds he received during his service...

...Nieznany is no loner. His political comments on the social-media site Quora received 44,000 views in the first two weeks of November and more than 4 million overall. He is one of many rank-and-file Republicans who own guns and in recent months have talked openly of the need to take down—by force, if necessary—a federal government they see as illegitimate, overreaching and corrosive to American freedom...

Commentary: With egg freezing, Singapore women aren’t forced to sacrifice career and self to become mothers

The ageing population and total fertility rate have long been topics of national discussion. With elective egg freezing set to be allowed, the Institute of Policy Studies’ Kalpana Vignehsa discusses what this means for Singapore women.

With egg freezing, Singapore women aren’t forced to sacrifice career and self to become mothers. (Illustration: Rafa Estrada)

Kalpana Vignehsa

15 Apr 2022 

SINGAPORE: If things go as we hope, my family will soon welcome our much-awaited second child. Getting here hasn’t been smooth – obstetricians consider this a “geriatric pregnancy” due to my “advanced maternal age”.

Still, I count myself lucky. Last year, I had a heartbreaking miscarriage late in my first trimester, a few months before this pregnancy. Two close friends had stillbirths and others struggled through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). 

Benz Hui claims S'poreans are spoiled by the govt & like to complain

An observation the actor made while living in Singapore.

Karen Lui 

April 13, 2022

 

Complaining is a national hobby in Singapore, and even Hong Kong veteran actor Benz Hui agrees.


In a video interview with Lianhe Zaobao, the 73-year-old shared his observations of Singaporeans during his prolonged stay in Singapore due to the pandemic.

Singaporeans are complain kings and queens

Towards the end of the interview, he described himself as someone who speaks his mind, unlike some people who are afraid of doing so.

Without mincing his words, Hui candidly remarked, "Singaporeans have been spoilt by the government and like to complain."

Commentary: Countries that focus the most on happiness may make people feel worse

Measuring a country’s subjective levels of happiness has become something of an international sport, say two researchers, but focusing on happiness may backfire, say two researchers.

A woman is seen smiling. (Photo: Unsplash/Constantinos Panagopoulos)

Brock Bastian

Egon Dejonckheere

20 Mar 2022 

MELBOURNE: Have you looked at the international rankings of the world’s happiest countries lately?

Measuring a country’s subjective levels of happiness has become something of an international sport. People look with interest (and a little jealousy) to nations such as Denmark, which consistently tops the world happiness rankings.

It has also led to Danish practices such as the “hygge” lifestyle gaining popularity elsewhere. If only we could add more cosiness to our lives, perhaps we would be as happy as the Danish!

Commentary: Even Google agrees there’s no going back to the old office life

As the workforce rethinks how and why they work, employers who don’t provide flexibility will lose out in the war for talents, says this professor.

FILE PHOTO: The Google office located in Singapore. (Photo: Tang See Kit)

Libby Sander

09 Mar 2022 

GOLD COAST, Australia: The great enforced global experiment in working from home is coming to an end, as vaccines, the Omicron variant and new therapeutic drugs bring the COVID-19 crisis under control.

But a voluntary experiment has begun, as organisations navigate the new landscape of hybrid work, combining the best elements of remote work with time in the office.

Yes, there is some push for a “return to normal” and getting workers back into offices.

But ideas such as food vouchers and parking discounts are mostly being proposed by city councils and CBD businesses keen to get their old customers back.

A wide range of surveys over the past 18 months show most employees and increasingly employers have no desire to return to commuting five days a week.

The seismic shift in employer attitudes is signalled by Google, long a fierce opponent of working from home.

Migrant worker’s tale of inequality grips China, then is erased

Jialun Deng/The New York Times

A migrant worker, who revealed a parallel universe to well-off Chinese, became a symbol of inequality that the Chinese government had to erase.

February 13, 2022


HONG KONG — He visited 28 places in the first 18 days of 2022, including a puppet theater, a few luxury residential compounds and a shopping mall in the heart of China’s equivalent of Silicon Valley.

He didn’t go to any of these places for fun. He was often there in the wee hours when they were deserted, to unload concrete and sand from trucks that weren’t allowed in the city until after midnight. He would be gone before day broke.

The migrant worker, surnamed “Yue,” toiled in obscurity until he tested positive for Covid-19 and authorities released the extensive details of his movements. After that, he became known as the hardest working person in China.

Commentary: Worrying signs COP26 is being set up for failure

There are worrying signs to suggest these most consequential of climate change talks are being set up for failure, says a climate researcher.

Anthony Burke

30 Oct 2021

CANBERRA: In just days, the most consequential climate meeting in human history begins in Glasgow, Scotland.

The Earth has warmed by up to 1.3 degrees Celsius since 1880. Devastating fires, cyclones and weather are wreaking havoc around the world.

And current emissions trends put the world on a path toward 3 degrees Celsius of catastrophic heating by 2100, which would trigger tipping points such as the melting of the poles, the loss of the Amazon rainforest, and a drastic slowdown in the Atlantic ocean circulation.

Under the Paris Agreement, this year countries must submit new nationally determined commitments (NDCs) to reduce emissions consistent with holding global heating well below 2 degrees Celsius and as close to 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible.

Yet a recent United Nations assessment of existing NDCs estimates that they will only hold heating to 2.7 degrees Celsius – and then only if they are implemented. The UN’s recent Production Gap report, which finds that countries are planning to produce 190 per cent more fossil fuels by 2040 than is consistent with the 1.5 degrees Celsius guardrail, puts the sincerity of these commitments in doubt.