Vietnam's 'knight rider' vigilantes help underfunded police bust crooks

Vietnam "street knight" Nguyen Thanh Hai (right) and his team ride as they patrol on a street in Thu Dau Mot city, Vietnam on May 24, 2018. REUTERS

01 June, 2018

HO CHI MINH CITY — Vietnam's "street knights", hurtling through the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, are not your typical medieval warriors.

Their stallions are scooters. They wear rubber flip-flops, not metal boots. And their shining armour is a tracksuit jacket billowing like a cape.

SAF acquires new fighting machines to do more with less, will reveal replacement for F-16 fighter jets soon

30 June 2018

CHANNELNEWSASIA

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is overhauling its arsenal, adding new warplanes, submarines and warships as it gears up for a future with fewer soldiers.

High on the agenda is the replacement for the ageing F-16 fighter jets, with Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen saying on Friday (Jun 29) that a decision will be made in the coming months.

“F-16s would face obsolescence beyond 2030,” Dr Ng said of the 30-year-old jets. “To plan for a replacement is not as if you are going to buy a new car, you actually need a lead time of eight to 10 years.”

For the past few years, speculation has swirled around potential replacements, with Lockheed Martin’s fifth-generation F-35 fighter emerging as top contender. As early as 2013, Dr Ng had told Parliament that the F-35 was one option.

But Singapore has consistently maintained that it would not be rushed into a decision.

“You need to know first of all what platform, what your needs are, how you are going to maintain. You also need to know how you are going to train your pilots, where you are going to train pilots, especially on such a small island,” Dr Ng said.

“We thought long and hard about it, taken our time to choose a replacement, and we would be making a definitive decision likely in the next few months.”

Vitamins, Supplements and Alternative Medicine.

[Two articles on Vitamins and Supplements. The point of the first story is not new: Vitamins and supplements do not work: 

The dietary supplement industry raked in over $32 billion in 2012, most of which profited from junk science, or at best, unproven claims.

That they are ineffective has been known for sometime. But there is a creeping realisation that they can actually be harmful.
 
The second notes that 1/3 of children are on alternative medicine. That may not work. And may instead be harmful.

It’s bad enough if you’re just wasting money; it’s much worse if you’re putting their health in danger.

Should you be giving your child unproven and possibly dangerous supplements or alternative medicines?]

Singapore opens its third desalination plant in Tuas

CHANNELNEWSASIA

28 June 2018

Lianne Chia

Vanessa Lim


SINGAPORE: Singapore on Thursday (Jun 28) opened its third desalination plant, boosting the country’s desalination capacity from 100 to 130 million gallons a day (mgd).

The Tuas Desalination Plant, which can produce 30 million gallons of drinking water a day, will help to meet up to 30 per cent of Singapore’s current water demand.

Spanning just 3.5ha - the size of three rugby fields - Tuas Desalination Plant is the country’s smallest plant to date.

Despite its size, the plant can produce the same amount of drinking water as SingSpring Desalination Plant, Singapore’s first such plant.

SingSpring occupies 6.3ha, nearly double the footprint of Tuas Desalination Plant. Advertisement

Both plants can produce up to 30mgd of drinking water, which is enough to supply to 200,000 households.

The first to be owned and operated by PUB, the Tuas plant will also be used to test new energy-saving technologies.

Singapore’s Water Cycle Wizardry

28 May 2010

IEEE Spectrum

Singapore’s toilet-to-tap technology has saved the country from shortages—and a large electricity bill

By Sandra Upson

Singapore began its journey to sovereignty with a mighty jolt. The island was still an exotic outpost of the British Empire when World War II delivered the shake-up. Japan’s army was preparing to invade from the Malay Peninsula, and the British forces beat a retreat to Singapore across the one bridge connecting it to the mainland. To thwart the Japanese troops, the Royal Engineers blew up the bridge behind them.

The blast sealed the island’s doom, for it also ruptured a critical pipeline that brought water from Johor, a Malay state. The people of Singapore discovered they had only a few days’ water stored in their meager reservoirs. The island was truly defenseless. The Japanese swiftly repaired the bridge, bicycled across the strait, and claimed victory.

Sixty-eight years later, this port city has both gained territorial independence and managed to bootstrap its way to wealth in spite of a lack of water and energy. And now, against all odds, complete water independence—from both Malaysia and even the weather—is within easy reach. Rather than flushing waste into the sea, the water utility collects the country’s wastewater, cleans it to pristine levels, and returns it to the public supply. Singapore has thus short-circuited the water cycle by reducing it to an island-ringing loop.

SAF scores an ‘A’ for securing Trump-Kim Summit against external threats: Ng Eng Hen

TODAY

30 June, 2018

SINGAPORE — Sentosa was not the ideal venue for the Trump-Kim summit given its exposure to potential threats from the sea, air and mainland, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Friday (June 29) in a wide-ranging interview ahead of Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Day this weekend.

But for planning to the last detail, the SAF scored an “A” in securing the historic meeting earlier this month against external threats, Dr Ng said.

On June 12, United States President Donald Trump’s historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un went without a hitch at the Capella Singapore hotel on Sentosa.

The meeting took place after a series of diplomatic flip-flops that initially saw the summit cancelled abruptly.

When the go-ahead was given finally, the SAF had a fortnight to prepare. “From a security perspective, it wasn’t the ideal situation,” said Dr Ng.

S’pore open to joint patrols with M’sia around Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks

By Kenneth Cheng

30 June, 2018

TODAY


SINGAPORE — Singapore and Malaysia could explore joint patrols in the waters around Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Friday (June 29), in response to his Malaysian counterpart’s suggestion a day earlier.

In an interview on Thursday, Malaysia’s Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu spoke about strengthening security cooperation in the entry lane to the Singapore Strait — near Middle Rocks and Pedra Branca — as an area in which the two countries could join hands.

When asked about this, Dr Ng supported Mr Mohamad’s views. “It makes no sense to deploy more resources around Pedra Branca or Middle Rocks if we can decide on a common plan,” Dr Ng said in an interview ahead of Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Day, which falls on Sunday.

Describing the newly appointed Malaysian defence minister’s views as “very enlightened”, Dr Ng added: “Even joint patrols with our agencies and their agencies, I completely agree with that.”

Pedra Branca, which belongs to Singapore, sits at the entrance to the Singapore Strait about 30km east of the country. Middle Rocks, which is under Malaysia’s control, are two clusters of rocks 1km south of Pedra Branca.

Right now, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand carry out joint patrols in the Malacca Strait for maritime security, including counter-piracy efforts.