Police arrested four men on Monday evening in connection with the brutal murder of a teenager in Downtown East last Saturday.The four men, aged between 18 and 20, were arrested about 48 hours after Mr Darren Ng Wei Jie was hacked by choppers in cold blood and in front of shocked passers-by at the resort and amusement park in Pasir Ris.
Officers from the Special Investigation Section of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) established the identities of the suspects and, with this lead, were able to swiftly round up the four men. The case has been classified as murder, which carries the death penalty. Investigations are still ongoing.
Mr Ng, 19, a Republic Polytechnic student, was set upon by a group of 10 people at about 6pm. He and two friends were believed to have been involved in a staring incident with the group earlier. The group set upon him with choppers, but he managed to run towards a row of restaurants, where he crashed into a glass panel. Witnesses said members of the group caught up with him and continued hacking him. After the assailants fled, Mr Ng's friends dragged him away, leaving a trail of blood.
For more, http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_597771.html
Merapi Erupts Again
Indonesia’s most active volcano which claimed at least 36 lives last week spewed more searing clouds of gas and ash Sunday, triggering fresh panic among locals. The volcano erupted three times last Tuesday, once last Friday, once last Saturday and again Monday morning.For more, http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_595772.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/01/indonesia.volcano.erupts/index.html
Thai Floods Kill 57
Heavy downpours that caused rivers to burst around Thailand have killed 57 people in nearly two weeks of flooding. Prime Minister Abhisit said the flooding was the country's worst in 40 or 50 years due to heavy rains that dumped larger-than-normal amounts of water into dams and reservoirs and aggressive housing and business development that has affected natural drainage channels. More than 4 million sandbags were used to erect walls this week in Bangkok along stretches of the Chao Phraya River, resulting in minimal flooding in Bangkok.
For more, check out http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_596064.html
Tsunami Death Toll Reaches 449
On 26th October 2010, a three-metre (10 feet) tsunami pounded on remote islands off the coast of West Sumatera and swept away villages. By Sunday evening, death count has increased to 449 persons. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, meanwhile, cut short a state visit to Vietnam to deal with two major disasters that struck Indonesia in less than 24 hours. The country's most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, 800 miles to the east, erupted at dusk on Tuesday, sending up searing ash clouds and killing more than two dozen people.
Disaster officials were still trying to reach more than a dozen villages on the Mentawais - a popular surfer's destination that is usually reachable only by a 12-hour boat ride. The 7.7-magnitude quake that struck late Monday just 13 miles beneath the ocean floor was followed by at least 14 aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.2.
Surprisingly, an 18-month-old baby has been found alive in a clump of trees days after the devastating tsunami, an official says. He says a 10-year-old child discovered the baby in a clump of trees on Pagai Selatan island on Wednesday. Both his parents are dead.
For more, http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/10/31/indonesia.disaster/index.html
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/baby-found-in-trees-698021.html
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_595764.html
Malaysia Set on Nuclear Energy
The Cabinet is set to give its green light to build the country's first nuclear power plant by 2021 as stipulated in the recently unveiled Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), but the choice of location remains a secret. Prime Minister Chin Fah Kui explained that the government was deliberately looking at nuclear power as an option not only to meet Malaysia's growing electricity demand post-2020, but also to further diversify the country's energy mix and to ensure future energy security.
For more, http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_596079.html
Paid for Philippine Massacre
A Philippine police officer on Wednesday testified in court that he was paid about US$350 (S$455) by a powerful Muslim clan scion to help carry out the country's worst political massacre. Inspector Rex Ariel Diongon said he received the money from Andal Ampatuan Jnr to set up the police checkpoint that stopped the convoy of a rival politician in the southern province of Maguindanao last year. The convoy carried relatives of Esmael Mangudadatu who were going to file his candidacy to run against Ampatuan Jnr for provincial governor.
'Do you know who our enemies are? Are you capable of killing them?' Mr Diongon quoted Ampatuan as saying. He recalled answering 'yes', but said he only did so out of fear. He said Ampatuan paid him 15,000 pesos (about S$455 dollars) for the job, adding that he saw at least three other police officials receive pay-offs as well.
When the convoy, carrying Mangudadatu's wife and other relatives, their lawyers and 32 journalists arrived, Mr Diongon said his men stopped their vehicles, allowing Ampatuan and his gunmen to take the passengers away.
For more, http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_595955.html
Red Shirts Call for Probe
Thailand’s 'Red Shirt' anti-government movement has urged the International Criminal Court to investigate possible crimes against humanity by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government. The petition argues that the country's political and military leadership are 'criminally liable' for actions taken during two months of mass opposition protests in April and May that left more than 90 people dead, mainly civilians. The Red Shirts, many of whom support fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, accuse the government of a 'massive cover-up', according to details posted on the website of Thaksin's Canadian lawyer Robert Amsterdam.
For more, http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_595876.html
Equal Opportunities at 38,000 Feet
A worldwide shortage of airline pilots has given women in Malaysia a chance to break into a profession that is notoriously male dominated. And it's the world's fastest growing airline that claims to be giving them the opportunities. AirAsia has 17 female pilots -- not that impressive when you realize that they have 700 male counterparts-- but still not a bad record in a country that is deeply conservative.
The International Society of Women Airline Pilots estimates there are about 4,000 female pilots worldwide, out of 80,000 pilots in total -- that's 5 percent, so AirAsia's 2.4 per cent of female pilots might not sound much to boast about.The organization also points out that most of those 4,000 female pilots are in the U.S. There are no figures available for the number of female pilots across Asia, but in a country where Islam is the main religion and society is very traditional, Air Asia's achievement in Malaysia is suddenly seems more impressive.
For more, http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/10/28/malaysia.female.pilots/index.html
Vietnam targets 12m visitors
Vietnam anticipates earnings of US$8.9 billion (S$11.6 billion) in 2015 as it looks forward to welcoming 12 million foreign visitors and hosting 28 million domestic travellers, according to a tourism development draft for 2010 to 2020.
During this period, the Vietnam tourism sector will promote products rather than images. The country's tourism sector has so far created specific tourism products to attract visitors. The industry will also need to focus on attracting more tourists from the European Union, North America and Australia.
For more, http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_596081.html
No comments:
Post a Comment