The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and the United States Navy (USN) are taking part in the 18th Singapore-US Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise in the South China Sea from July 17 to 27, 2012.
The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), the United States Air Force (USAF), the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the United States Marine Corps will also participate in this year's exercise.
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AGC issues statement defending law of contempt in Singapore
The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) today issued a statement defending the law of contempt in Singapore, in response to posts by socio-political blogger Alex Au.
Mr Au last week posted a letter of apology on his blog over his June 18 post, "Woffles Wu case hits a nerve", which the AGC said scandalised the courts and misrepresented various facts in relation to the case. Mr Au also took down the post.
On Sunday, Mr Au, posted a new blog entry about contempt of the court. He titled it "Using power to give immunity to the powerful".
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Lawyer's condition called into question
On the first day of the hearing for what has been dubbed the "Hougang by-election case", a man turned up in court and tried in vain to get the judge's attention.
He eventually got an audience with Justice Philip Pillai after he had listened to all the arguments and wrapped up proceedings for the day: Uninvited, the man followed the judge, lawyer M Ravi - who was representing Hougang resident Madam Vellama Marie Muthu - and Chief Counsel David Chong from the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) into the judge's chambers. The uninvited man turned out to be a Law Society representative with a letter by Mr Ravi's psychiatrist which stated, among other things, that the lawyer is "currently unfit to practise law".
The case involved Mdm Vellama's application for the High Court to declare that the Prime Minister does not have unfettered discretion in deciding whether and when to call by-elections. Justice Pillai reserved judgment. But the spotlight was firmly on Mr Ravi.
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Lawyer calls doctor’s letter ‘ridiculous’
(This video was first posted on publichouse.sg)
On Monday morning (16 July) at the High Court, a representative from the Law Society of Singapore attempted to have lawyer Mr M Ravi disallowed from carrying out his legal duties in Court.
Mr Ravi was in court representing Hougang resident, Mdm Vellama Marie Muthu's bid for the High Court to declare that the Prime Minister does not have unfettered discretion in deciding whether and when to call by-elections. The hearing lasted an hour whereby Justice Pillai reserved judgment.
Read the Straits Times report here.
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SMRT hit with maximum S$2 million fine for December breakdowns
On Monday morning (16 July) at the High Court, a representative from the Law Society of Singapore attempted to have lawyer Mr M Ravi disallowed from carrying out his legal duties in Court.
Mr Ravi was in court representing Hougang resident, Mdm Vellama Marie Muthu's bid for the High Court to declare that the Prime Minister does not have unfettered discretion in deciding whether and when to call by-elections. The hearing lasted an hour whereby Justice Pillai reserved judgment.
Read the Straits Times report here.
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SMRT hit with maximum S$2 million fine for December breakdowns
No penalty will be imposed on SMRT for the CCL breakdown last September as it is not at fault for the damaged cable, says LTA. (Yahoo! photo)
SMRT has been slapped with a maximum fine of S$2 million for the twin breakdowns last December.
Transport regulator, the Land Transport Authority, said the fines -- S$1 million each for the Dec 15 and Dec 17 incidents on the North-South Line -- is the maximum penalty under the Rapid Transit Systems Act.
The LTA said in a press release that SMRT had failed to "exercise due diligence and vigilance expected of a public transport operator, and to maintain its network in good and efficient working condition".
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RBS ends contribution to Singapore lending rate panels
SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland has ended its contribution to Singapore's interbank lending rate panels, as banks assess their role in a global rate setting system under heavy scrutiny.
The move by RBS comes amid a review of its markets business that has seen it withdraw from setting other such reference rates in Asia, and a global investigation into rate fixing at the London interbank lending panel.
Bank of America and RBS on Monday did not appear on a daily page published by Thomson Reuters that lists contributors to Singapore's U.S. dollar and local currency interbank lending rates, also known as SIBOR.
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Singapore Temasek to issue 10.5-year, 30-year bonds
(Reuters) - Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings said on Monday it will launch a dual tranche bond offering, comprising 10.5-year and 30-year bonds, as it returns to the debt market after an absence of two years.
Temasek did not state the issue size, but benchmark issues typically exceed $500 million.It said proceeds will be used by "Temasek and its investment holding companies to fund their ordinary course of business."
Standard & Poor's and Moody's have rated the bonds AAA.
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Singapore New Home Sales Plunge in June From May
Private home sales by Singapore developers fell sharply for the second month in June, dropping 19 percent to 1,371 units from 1,702 in May, according to data released on Monday.
Including executive condominiums, a category of apartments reserved mainly for Singaporeans, June sales fell 16 percent to 1,725 units in June from 2,057 in May, data on the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) website showed.
New private home sales, excluding executive condominiums, had fallen 32 percent in May from April
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Private housing owners profit from market rebound
With encouraging new data, it has been revealed that private residential owners are benefitting from the recovery of the Singapore property market.
(Since
the recovery of the property market late 2009, private property owners
have been raking in considerable profits. Image courtesy of Thinkstock.)
Caveats lodged with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore revealed that these private home owners have collectively pocketed at least $20.3 billion in gross profits since the property sector recovered late 2009. And according to a report from research firm Square Foot Research, this finding explains the period%E2%80%99s robust developer sales.
And if you find the figure of $20.3 billion staggering, the report is quick to point out that actual profit figures should be higher, since gains from collective sales—more commonly known as en bloc sales—were not considered in the calculations.
The firm estimated the total value of collective sales from the second half of 2009 to the first half of this year to be over $5.5 billion. “Much of these profits presumably found their way back to the property market, fueling developer sales to more than $60.1b in the same period, based on caveats lodged,” explained the report.
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Why stronger Singdollar will not tame inflation
AFTER reading the report ('Dark clouds spell policy dilemma for MAS'; last Saturday), I am doubtful that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) can alleviate the problem of inflation and ailing growth simultaneously, solely by means of the exchange rate policy.
The exchange rate policy has been a powerful tool used by the MAS to meet our macro-economic goals.
However, in recent months, indicators have somehow shown otherwise. Inflation stayed at a relatively high rate even though the MAS allowed the currency to appreciate at a faster pace.
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What is the policymaker to do?
In his speech at the Yale-NUS College groundbreaking ceremony on July 6, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed the importance of an "appreciation of complexity" by graduates of the college. This cryptic remark underscores the fact that complexity science is now the rage in government and public policy.
The realisation that social, political and economic systems - that is to say, human systems - are best understood as complex systems that are dynamic, adaptable, emergent, self-organised and non-linear, has resulted in new tools and techniques available to policymakers. see box)
Given that government officials are increasingly encountering a daunting class of problems that involve complex systems, the emergence of complexity science has been timely and fortuitous. However, the full benefits of complexity science cannot be reaped unless there are accompanying shifts in the mindsets and expectations of policymakers.
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Briton jailed 4 weeks for kicking police officer
A recruitment consultant was jailed four weeks on Monday for kicking a police officer who had arrested him.
31-year-old Luke Raymond Chapman pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to 21-year-old police corporal (Cpl) Amirul Haikal Khairudin along Raffles Avenue on 17 September last year.
The Briton was detained at Esplanade Mall on that day for a case of outrage of modesty.
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HOME comments on Govt response to US human trafficking report
The Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) has issued a statement on the United States' latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, as well as the Singapore Government's response to the report.
It said it considered Singapore's Tier 2 ranking - given to countries that do not comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so - to be an "appropriate assessment".
The ranking recognised the efforts of the Government and the Inter-agency Taskforce on Trafficking in Persons (the Taskforce) in the past year - such as the launch of the National Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons - but also reflected the lack of adequate legislation in Singapore to address trafficking, HOME said.
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Singaporean businessman lost $70,000 to a China phone scam
Caveats lodged with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore revealed that these private home owners have collectively pocketed at least $20.3 billion in gross profits since the property sector recovered late 2009. And according to a report from research firm Square Foot Research, this finding explains the period%E2%80%99s robust developer sales.
And if you find the figure of $20.3 billion staggering, the report is quick to point out that actual profit figures should be higher, since gains from collective sales—more commonly known as en bloc sales—were not considered in the calculations.
The firm estimated the total value of collective sales from the second half of 2009 to the first half of this year to be over $5.5 billion. “Much of these profits presumably found their way back to the property market, fueling developer sales to more than $60.1b in the same period, based on caveats lodged,” explained the report.
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Why stronger Singdollar will not tame inflation
The bulk of inflationary pressures comes from rising property and car prices. -- ST PHOTOS: ALPHONSUS CHERN, DESMOND WEE
AFTER reading the report ('Dark clouds spell policy dilemma for MAS'; last Saturday), I am doubtful that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) can alleviate the problem of inflation and ailing growth simultaneously, solely by means of the exchange rate policy.
The exchange rate policy has been a powerful tool used by the MAS to meet our macro-economic goals.
However, in recent months, indicators have somehow shown otherwise. Inflation stayed at a relatively high rate even though the MAS allowed the currency to appreciate at a faster pace.
read more
What is the policymaker to do?
In his speech at the Yale-NUS College groundbreaking ceremony on July 6, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed the importance of an "appreciation of complexity" by graduates of the college. This cryptic remark underscores the fact that complexity science is now the rage in government and public policy.
The realisation that social, political and economic systems - that is to say, human systems - are best understood as complex systems that are dynamic, adaptable, emergent, self-organised and non-linear, has resulted in new tools and techniques available to policymakers. see box)
Given that government officials are increasingly encountering a daunting class of problems that involve complex systems, the emergence of complexity science has been timely and fortuitous. However, the full benefits of complexity science cannot be reaped unless there are accompanying shifts in the mindsets and expectations of policymakers.
read more
Briton jailed 4 weeks for kicking police officer
A recruitment consultant was jailed four weeks on Monday for kicking a police officer who had arrested him.
31-year-old Luke Raymond Chapman pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to 21-year-old police corporal (Cpl) Amirul Haikal Khairudin along Raffles Avenue on 17 September last year.
The Briton was detained at Esplanade Mall on that day for a case of outrage of modesty.
read more
HOME comments on Govt response to US human trafficking report
The Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) has issued a statement on the United States' latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, as well as the Singapore Government's response to the report.
It said it considered Singapore's Tier 2 ranking - given to countries that do not comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so - to be an "appropriate assessment".
The ranking recognised the efforts of the Government and the Inter-agency Taskforce on Trafficking in Persons (the Taskforce) in the past year - such as the launch of the National Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons - but also reflected the lack of adequate legislation in Singapore to address trafficking, HOME said.
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Singaporean businessman lost $70,000 to a China phone scam
(Photo / Screen grab from www.OMY.sg) A Singaporean businessman has been tricked of $70,000 by a phone scam in Guangzhou, China according to a report by Shin Min Daily. A Singaporean businessman who is known only as Danny received a call during a business trip there. The caller pretended to be his friend and said he required a sum of money due to an emergency. Danny proceeded to hand over RMB350,000 (approximately $70,000).Another businessman from Hong Kong is said to have fell prey to the same scam and lost over RMB600,000 (S$119,000).
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Needles found in sandwiches on 4 U.S.-bound Delta flights
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc said it was working with federal authorities after what appeared to be sewing needles were found in food on four U.S.-bound flights that left Sunday from Amsterdam, injuring one passenger
The needles were found in sandwiches made by the airline's Amsterdam caterer, Gate Gourmet, Delta spokeswoman Chris Kelly said in an email Monday. The FBI and Netherlands officials are investigating, Delta said.
"Delta is taking this matter extremely seriously and is cooperating with local and federal authorities who are investigating the incident," the airline said in a statement.
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Woman claims condo neighbour is using blood-stained underwear to bring her bad luck
(Photo / Wikimedia)
A fight between two neighbours in a condominium in Yew Tee has broken out.
On one side: Seemingly offensive fumes caused by burning incense.
On the other side: Blood-stained underwear as “weapon”.
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Jewellery in safety deposit box gone missing
A fight between two neighbours in a condominium in Yew Tee has broken out.
On one side: Seemingly offensive fumes caused by burning incense.
On the other side: Blood-stained underwear as “weapon”.
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Jewellery in safety deposit box gone missing
Picture for illustration purposes only. (Photo / Wikimedia)
A couple claims to have lost 45 jewellery pieces, worth at least $40,000, which they placed in a safety deposit box, says Lianhe Wanbao.
Tan Quan Gen, a 59 year-old maintenance manager, and his wife Feng You Zhen, a 59 year-old housewife, found that the jewellery that they placed in a Certis Cisco safety deposit box was missing when they went to deposit some important documents in the same box at noon on 11 July.
Mr Tan said that when they opened their safety deposit box, they found, to their horror, that the metal box that held their jewellery was missing. He said that the blue coloured box was usually placed in the deeper end of the safety deposit box. Mr Tan immediately notified security.
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