Australian has 'world-first' conscious brain surgery
Mon Sep 24, 5:20 AM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian man was conscious and spoke to his medical team during life-saving brain surgery in what doctors are claiming as a world-first procedure with cutting-edge technology.
John James said it was a strange experience to hear the doctors and nurses talking to each other as he lay on the operating table with a 1.5-centimetre (half-an-inch) hole in his head.
But he said he was confident throughout the April surgery to remove an aneurysm from his brain, which threatened to burst and kill him.
"The nurses looking after me, they were talking to me," the retired bus driver told a press conference in Canberra. "I could only see bits because I couldn't move my head at all."
"I wasn't worried whatsoever.... I was quite confident all the way through."
Doctors asked James to read the words and numbers on flashcards shown to him during the surgery so they knew they were not affecting his vision.
The team believes the combination of the technology and the small size of the hole in James's head, as well as the fact he was conscious throughout the operation, makes it a world first.
"As far as I'm aware reading the literature, this kind of thing done as a package has never been done before," Canberra Hospital neurosurgeon Vini Khurana said.
"So we were pleased. The result was obviously very good."
Virtual reality software, which created a three-dimensional image of James's brain, was used to allow the team to rehearse the operation to drain the blood from the aneurysm.
During the surgery, Khurana had a 3-D image of the brain projected onto one side of his eyepiece. On the other side he could see a close-up view of the brain through a microscope.
An ultrasound probe was also used to ensure that no more blood was flowing through the aneurysm after the drainage was completed.
"The technology we used was quite extraordinary," Khurana said.
"It's like GPS navigation that you use in the car being injected into your sunglasses as you drive."
James, who has since turned 78, initially went to the doctor because of problems with his vision and dizzy spells and scans revealed the potentially deadly aneurysm.
Surgery was required but because the aneurysm was behind his right eye the operation could have blinded him, which is why the doctors wanted him awake during the procedure.
The great-grandfather, who was sent home two days after the operation, said he felt fine after the surgery.
"I had to sit for an hour to make sure everything was alright," he said. "I just came back to normal after that."
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Singapore offers study grants for Filipinos
Singapore offers study grants for Filipinos
Inquirer
Last updated 08:15am (Mla time) 09/20/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- The Singapore government has opened the door to Filipino students wishing to avail themselves of 120 full-time courses given in five government polytechnic schools that offer a three-year diploma program.
The grants include tuition of SG$10,340 per year and permission to work at part-time jobs. On graduation, the students must work for the government or a private firm in Singapore for three years at an average start-up salary of SG$1,800. They can also apply for permanent residence in the city-state.
Toward this end, CSC International Consulting, which has offices in Singapore, the Philippines and Canada will conduct a free one-day seminar on such topics as the Singapore government polytechnic grants, the Singapore employment pass certificate and the Canadian skilled worker employment visa.
The seminar will be held on Sept. 22 at Cityland Tower, Chino Roces Avenue (in front of Don Bosco), Makati City.
Interested parties may obtain more information or make reservations by calling 0916-325-8726.
Inquirer
Last updated 08:15am (Mla time) 09/20/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- The Singapore government has opened the door to Filipino students wishing to avail themselves of 120 full-time courses given in five government polytechnic schools that offer a three-year diploma program.
The grants include tuition of SG$10,340 per year and permission to work at part-time jobs. On graduation, the students must work for the government or a private firm in Singapore for three years at an average start-up salary of SG$1,800. They can also apply for permanent residence in the city-state.
Toward this end, CSC International Consulting, which has offices in Singapore, the Philippines and Canada will conduct a free one-day seminar on such topics as the Singapore government polytechnic grants, the Singapore employment pass certificate and the Canadian skilled worker employment visa.
The seminar will be held on Sept. 22 at Cityland Tower, Chino Roces Avenue (in front of Don Bosco), Makati City.
Interested parties may obtain more information or make reservations by calling 0916-325-8726.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Rally champion Colin McRae dies with son in helicopter crash
From
September 16, 2007
Rally champion Colin McRae dies with son in helicopter crash
THE former rally driving champion Colin McRae was killed and his five year-old son feared dead in a helicopter crash yesterday afternoon. The aircraft came down in Jerviswood, Lanarkshire, half a mile from the family's home and burst into flames just after 4pm.
Jean-Eric Freudiger, McRae's agent, said the 39-year-old driver had been piloting the helicopter himself. Also on board were believed to be his son Johnny, another adult - said by locals to be a school friend of McRae - and another child. McRae's wife Alison and their daughter Hollie, 9, were not on board, friends said.
Strathclyde police said in a statement: "Four people were onboard the helicopter," adding "The bodies were found within the helicopter which is owned by Mr Colin McRae of Jerviswood House, Lanark. It is believed he was onboard the helicopter."
McRae became Britain's first World Rally champion in 1995. He was one of the country's most successful sportsmen, achieving 25 wins in World Rally events and 42 podium places. He was a flamboyant driver, inspiring one the world's best-selling computer rally games.
The helicopter came down within half a mile of McRae's 16th-century home, which has an adjacent helipad. The weather had been overcast, with southwesterly winds gusting to 30 knots and good visibility.
Officers with dogs and torches continued to comb the woodland near the crash into the night.
McRae's wife, a childhood sweetheart and his former co-driver, was taken back to the house under police escort shortly after 6pm.
McRae's friend the rally journalist Jeremy Hart, who flew with him several times, described him as a "very good, very measured pilot".
"Colin regularly flew all over the UK and into Europe," said Hart. "He knew the terrain and conditions at Jerviswood very well.
"As a sportsman he was a true hero. As a driver Colin was misunderstood slightly as being reckless but everything you saw with him came from pure raw talent as opposed to being learnt. He was the Michael Schumacher of rally driving.
"It's so ironic that he should die in a helicopter crash when he had competed and had brushed with death so many times as a rally driver."
Additional reporting: Paul Lamarra
Thursday, September 13, 2007
"RGS Teacher" swears at cashier in public with obscenities
"RGS Teacher" swears at cashier in public with obscenities
Originally posted by Foxwalk
12 September 2007 · 09:04 PM
Originally posted by Foxwalk
12 September 2007 · 09:04 PM
I was at Yishun MRT NTUC earlier today about 715pm, and I heard this commotion.
This woman was shouting at the top of her voice with all the f-words and other assortment of swear words at this cashier. Apparently the system overcharged her or something and the cashier had to scribble something on the receipt in order to refund the overcharged amount to the customer so that her cash total would balance for the day.
But this woman was totally rude and acting like an animal towards the cashier, who said nothing back for all her abuses. She claimed she was a "f-ing English teach at Raffles Girls' Secondary" and her father is in the police. Is this how educated people should act? Is this how a schoolteacher should behave? Is this how a teacher from Singapore's top school should conduct herself? It is such a small issue and did this even justify making a scene over, and one with all the obscenities one can find in the English language?
I wonder if she can be punished properly. An indian lady could not put up with her language told her to mind her language and reprimanded the security guard for not calling in the police for all the bad vocabulary that the "RGS teacher" was using. And the RGS teacher just kept swearing and swearing. The poor cashier just kept quiet and cried.
This is simply not right.
Woman flung off bus seat: Son upset with SBS staff
Sep 13, 2007
Woman flung off bus seat: Son upset with SBS staff
LAST SATURDAY, my elderly mother and aunt boarded SBS service 133 (vehicle No. SBS 312B) in Rochor Road. Both took a seat in the second row behind the driver. During the journey, the bus was travelling at a high speed.
At about 4.25pm, the driver made a fast and sharp turn at the junction of Lavender Street and Serangoon Road, flinging my mother from her seat. She landed flat on her back and couldn't get up.
A short distance away, the driver halted the bus - only to glance in the rear-view mirror. Two kind passengers, however, helped my dazed mother to her seat. The driver did not inquire or give assistance to my mother, and continued to speed off on his journey.
On reaching Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange at about 4.45pm, my mother and aunt approached SBS Transit Passenger Office and reported the incident to two officers at the service counter.
The male officer took down my mother's feedback and particulars. My mother and aunt then identified the driver at the office. The driver denied any incident had occurred during his journey. The female officer even warned my mother of false allegations and demanded that she bring in other witnesses - apart from my aunt. She even claimed my aunt was not a 'reliable' witness.
My mother later complained of back ache and I took her to a GP, who referred her to Changi General Hospital. There she was diagnosed with a fractured lower back and tenderness over her left shoulder and upper limb.
I am aghast at the actions of the bus driver. Nor do I condone the behaviour of the SBS counter staff. Till now, no one from SBS has called to inquire or follow up on my mother's feedback.
Stanley Lim Chee Hoe
Woman flung off bus seat: Son upset with SBS staff
LAST SATURDAY, my elderly mother and aunt boarded SBS service 133 (vehicle No. SBS 312B) in Rochor Road. Both took a seat in the second row behind the driver. During the journey, the bus was travelling at a high speed.
At about 4.25pm, the driver made a fast and sharp turn at the junction of Lavender Street and Serangoon Road, flinging my mother from her seat. She landed flat on her back and couldn't get up.
A short distance away, the driver halted the bus - only to glance in the rear-view mirror. Two kind passengers, however, helped my dazed mother to her seat. The driver did not inquire or give assistance to my mother, and continued to speed off on his journey.
On reaching Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange at about 4.45pm, my mother and aunt approached SBS Transit Passenger Office and reported the incident to two officers at the service counter.
The male officer took down my mother's feedback and particulars. My mother and aunt then identified the driver at the office. The driver denied any incident had occurred during his journey. The female officer even warned my mother of false allegations and demanded that she bring in other witnesses - apart from my aunt. She even claimed my aunt was not a 'reliable' witness.
My mother later complained of back ache and I took her to a GP, who referred her to Changi General Hospital. There she was diagnosed with a fractured lower back and tenderness over her left shoulder and upper limb.
I am aghast at the actions of the bus driver. Nor do I condone the behaviour of the SBS counter staff. Till now, no one from SBS has called to inquire or follow up on my mother's feedback.
Stanley Lim Chee Hoe
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Whose interests is Avpas really serving?
Sep 12, 2007
Whose interests is Avpas really serving?
THE Anti-Video Piracy Association of Singapore (Avpas) is a non-government group which claims that it was formed to protect the interests of the Singaporean video industry and to educate the public on the benefits of buying original video products.
Whose interests is Avpas really serving?
THE Anti-Video Piracy Association of Singapore (Avpas) is a non-government group which claims that it was formed to protect the interests of the Singaporean video industry and to educate the public on the benefits of buying original video products.
However, is this truly the case?
According to the Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), a government body, the Avpas website was created on April 21, shortly before Odex started issuing letters threatening legal action and demanding money from downloaders.
Consequently, during the Odex saga, Odex claimed to have received authorisation from Avpas in carrying out its demands for compensation. Is this merely a coincidence or is there more than meets the eye?
I believe that most Singaporeans, like me, have never known of the existence of Avpas prior to the Odex fiasco. It seemed to have been dormant since its creation and only appeared when Odex needed it to help justify their actions in demanding money.
Second, Avpas claims to represent the whole Singaporean video industry. If Avpas was really so, it should comprise mainly the major video industry players, such as MediaCorp, Poh Kim and Golden Village.
However, the facts show the exact opposite. The main Avpas committee is dominated by directors Peter Go and Steven Sing and staff from Odex, a small anime distributor. Even the Avpas office resides in Odex's office.
Moreover, the 'licensors' and 'associate members' in Avpas are all Japanese firms. The list of 'authorised titles' on the Avpas website also only consists of Japanese anime titles; and many, if not most, of those titles are not even sold in Singapore. Even links found on the Avpas page only lead to the websites of Odex and Japanese anime firms.
Why is Avpas only targeting anime and not other types of video, such as movies and TV dramas? Is anime the only type of video in Singapore?
Chen Liang
"NTUC Income...famous for being..."
NTUC income for car insurance is famous for being...u decide
Originally posted by marlerocks
Originally posted by marlerocks
guys, i had a car accident and this was my experience for my claims with NTUC income.
Situation:
I have arranged for my motor workshop to have my vehicle surveyed and repaired. NTUC said after surveying the vehicle that my vehicle only requires $7,500. My assigned workshop has already stated that my vehicle’s gear box and other parts are faulty and the charges incurred will definitely be more than $7,500.
However, NTUC did not heed my advice and told me not to listen to what my assigned motor workshop has to say. NTUC stated that they have the required professionals to do the correct assessment on my vehicle and NTUC’s job was to get the quality workshop to repair the vehicle and deliver it to me. NTUC did told me the car will be delivered to us within 10 working days. Afterwhich, i called the assigned workshop by NTUC and they told me it will be ready in a week.
As my assigned motor workshop was not able to come to terms with NTUC, NTUC has hired another workshop to work on my vehicle.
NTUC’s represenatative XXXX Choo has informed me of the my vehicle SFS****Y to be towed to NTUC’s assigned workshop to be repaired. The workshop called and told me that the car will be ready within a week, which is 13/09/07.
This morning, NTUC’s representative XXXX Choo called me and told me to be prepared for the loss of my vehicle, NTUC might sell it off at a market value.
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________
Argh how can they do this to me right?
I mean i paid for the insurance and i will be paying my excess, its own damage. Whats the blo*dy point of buying car insurance if they so niao in repairing my car? then this morning come out so much pattern so be prepared for my car to be considered car loss.
In the first place i already tell them say my car $7,500 not enough cause gearbox spoil and ths n that, they say they have the professionals to access. Fair enough, i let their professionals access and let NTUC assign to their quality workshop to repair my car. Now after the repair start, their car workshop say gearbox plus dunno what EU unit spoil then NTUC feed back to me. I mean, initially i already told NTUC spoil liao what... Den they are proving to me that their so called professional accessors aceessing my car not profressional at all, make so many darn mistakes! Make mistakes then try to make their problem MY problem. Now they want to sell my car at market value then i ask them what is their so called market value? they say they will have to discuss with the higher management to come up with a decision and they will need around 2 working days. 2 working days to discuss! omg, my car will be delayed by another 2 working days. by then im damn pissed liao..
Then after i told them if i didnt get a good terms by NTUC i shall report to CASE to settle it, lodge a complain and stuff. You know what? In about 1hour plus NTUC representative called back and say they will proceed with the repairs instead.
THEN WHY CALL ME IN TH MORNING 9am AND GIVE ME SO MUCH TROUBLE?
NTUC has brought about great inconveniences for my family and myself. I have not heard a piece of good news ever since my car was passed over to NTUC’s management. I now am a very unhappy customer due to the ineffectiveness due NTUC’s depth in handling motoring accidents. It makes me feel NTUC is trying all ways and means to save money when repairing my vehicle, when the cost is high in repairing, they asked to be transferred to another workshop, when the workshop say need more funds to repair, they want to sell my car! argh.
_________________________
i sent them an email too.
Dear Mr Low *** Mee(manager of claims),
1) In the first place why did the representatives of NTUC say that my vehicle only require $7500 to repair my car? My assigned workshop have already highlighted this very fact and i asked you guys to go check it out too. But you guys told me not to trust my assigned workshop and to trust NTUC instead. Fair enough, i trusted you guys. But my trust was misplaced. Are the professional surveyors representing NTUC inept in their job in surveying damaged cars and poor in giving a quote for repairs?
If this is so, i will have to inform all my friends and tell people of Singapore about this to be fair to them as i do not want them to undergo such a torturing journey like what i did.
2) NTUC's motto is to become a partner for a better life for their clients i assume. I hope you guys live up to your motto because currently none of the calls i have received from NTUC sounds like a giving me a better life.
3) Why must we undergo all these then NTUC go ahead to get my car fixed? I buy car insurance to repair my car, not to waste time on such nonsense.
I want a valid explanation from NTUC.
Thank you.
_____________________________
Guys, this was my experience with NTUC income car insurance. Damn sad and pissed.
guys please give your comments or advice.. thanks.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Gamers cry foul over choice of cybergaming national team
Sep 11, 2007
Gamers cry foul over choice of cybergaming national team
Winners at qualifiers not picked for the team, losing out on US$30,000 a year and chance to turn pro
By Oo Gin Lee
IT WAS meant to be a dream chance for cybergamers here: the opportunity to turn professional and be paid US$30,000 (S$45,700) a year to play in an international league - plus any prize money they win.
'I worked my guts out and played my best virtual football. It's hard for me to take this - it feels like my win amounted to nothing at all.'
MR MARCUS CHOY, who won his Fifa 2007 game category
Gamers cry foul over choice of cybergaming national team
Winners at qualifiers not picked for the team, losing out on US$30,000 a year and chance to turn pro
By Oo Gin Lee
IT WAS meant to be a dream chance for cybergamers here: the opportunity to turn professional and be paid US$30,000 (S$45,700) a year to play in an international league - plus any prize money they win.
But the local qualifying round of the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) ended on a sour note on Sunday with top local gamers crying foul over the final selection for the Singapore team.
The five-man Titans team, who won the overall Counter-strike game competition; Mr Marcus Choy, 22, who won his Fifa 2007 game category and Miss Goh Sze Lin, 27, who emerged victorious in the Dead Or Alive 4 game were all passed over.
In fact, it was the runners-up - and in the case of Fifa 2007, a semi-finalist - who were selected instead.
Mr Choy said: 'I worked my guts out and played my best virtual football. It's hard for me to take this - it feels like my win amounted to nothing at all.'
It was a particularly bitter pill for the Titans. Despite beating the relatively unknown team XTC, including by margins of 10-4 and 10-5, it was the losers who were eventually chosen for the CGS team. The Titans are currently the national champions.
Disappointment aside, the detail that has got the local gaming community talking is that the XTC team has been officially sponsored by the Singapore Gamers' Association (SGA) since July.
Mr Chris Soh, the founder and president of this association, is also the newly appointed manager of the Singapore CGS team.
This means that he was the one making the final choice on who would make it to the Singapore team over the weekend.
The Straits Times understands that Mr Soh has pumped some $30,000 of his own money into the association.
Also, under the terms of the SGA sponsorship, the gamer or gaming team must pay to SGA '50 per cent of all prize money as received from all approved events and tournaments'.
Said one gamer: 'We just don't know if the person who chooses the final team should also be so involved with one of the contenders.'
Some gamers also alleged that they felt pressurised to join Mr Soh's association.
Mr Prasad Paramajothi, 22, captain of the Titans, said: 'We and other gamers felt that there were hints that we had to join - otherwise we would not get drafted into the dream team to compete in the world league.'
Mr Soh yesterday dismissed the talk of a conflict of interest.
While he did try to get players to join the association, he said there was simply no link between joining up and getting chosen for the major league.
He told The Straits Times: 'The best players are not necessarily chosen for CGS. We look for a combination of skills, sportsmanship and how well the players can carry themselves on TV.'
Three winners in the qualifying round, however, did make it into the CGS team. They are Wilson Chia, 25, (Dead Or Alive 4, men's slot); and Aaron Aw, 27, and Jonathan Lee, 26, (the winner and runner-up for Project Gotham Racing 3, for which two slots were available).
The Singapore team will now take part in the Pan-Asian CGS competition in Kuala Lumpur next month.
Only the top four teams will get drafted and win the US$300,000 contract - which will mean an annual US$30,000 for each team member.
As for Mr Soh, as manager of the Singapore team, he stands to gain a US$50,000 contract if the team qualifies. He also plans to devote more time to the SGA and CGS.
He is currently serving out his notice period as a manager with the Infocomm Development Authority.
'I worked my guts out and played my best virtual football. It's hard for me to take this - it feels like my win amounted to nothing at all.'
MR MARCUS CHOY, who won his Fifa 2007 game category
Adult EZ-link fares for buses up from October
Adult EZ-link fares for buses up from October
Posted: 11 September 2007 1221 hrs
SINGAPORE: Adult EZ-link fares for buses will increase by between one and two cents from 1 October.
Senior citizen concessionary EZ-link bus fares, which are flat fares pegged to the lowest adult fare band, will go up by two cents.
But the Public Transport Council (PTC) has decided there will be no increase in train fares.
It said the public transport operators had applied for an increase in bus and rail fares.
After deliberating on their proposals, it approved an overall fare increase of 1.8 per cent for bus fares but no increase for rail fares this year.
The PTC added that the majority of commuters will see no increase or a small rise in fares.
Taking into account all public transport trips, five in ten trips will see no increase while one in ten trips will see a rise of one cent.
The remaining four in ten trips will see an increase of two cents per trip.
The last time the PTC approved an increase in bus and MRT train fares was in October last year when they went up by between one and three cents. - CNA/ir
Posted: 11 September 2007 1221 hrs
SINGAPORE: Adult EZ-link fares for buses will increase by between one and two cents from 1 October.
Senior citizen concessionary EZ-link bus fares, which are flat fares pegged to the lowest adult fare band, will go up by two cents.
But the Public Transport Council (PTC) has decided there will be no increase in train fares.
It said the public transport operators had applied for an increase in bus and rail fares.
After deliberating on their proposals, it approved an overall fare increase of 1.8 per cent for bus fares but no increase for rail fares this year.
The PTC added that the majority of commuters will see no increase or a small rise in fares.
Taking into account all public transport trips, five in ten trips will see no increase while one in ten trips will see a rise of one cent.
The remaining four in ten trips will see an increase of two cents per trip.
The last time the PTC approved an increase in bus and MRT train fares was in October last year when they went up by between one and three cents. - CNA/ir
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Chee Soon Juan on the annuities move
24 Aug 07
The latest move by the PAP Government to force Singaporeans to buy annuities is yet another despicable attempt to withhold the people's hard-earned CPF savings.
Already the Minimum Sum Scheme allows the Government to retain the citizens' retirement funds. Now the PAP wants to compel Singaporeans to buy annuity, making it even harder for them to survive their retirement years.
The annuity proposal is not a solution. It is a ploy. A ploy thought up by the PAP Government to strengthen its hold on CPF funds – funds that it then uses for its business ventures which are not transparent or accountable.
Worse, the ministers then use these businesses to tout their commercial prowess and demand that they be paid million-dollar salaries.
Let us be absolutely clear: The fact that Singaporeans do not and will not have enough funds to retire on is not because they are bad managers of their money and therefore need yet more Government intervention and supervision.
The fact that study after study shows Singaporeans having the highest savings rate in the world and yet retire as paupers point to one and only one conclusion: That their plight is a result of willful mismanagement of this Government.
The problem of insufficient retirement funds stems from the glaring fact that HDB flats are vacuuming up CPF savings.
For the overwhelming majority of the people who cannot afford private property, the HDB is the only means of housing. With the prices of the flats at current levels Singaporeans have had no choice but to use their retirement savings to pay for the monthly leases.
Worse, like most other public matters in this country, the cost of building the flats are kept secret. Then when the PAP wants to upgrade the flats and use them as threats during elections, they make the people dip more into their CPF to pay for the refurbishment.
Is it a surprise then that Singaporeans have little to live on when they retire?
This is a recurring nightmare for Singaporeans. The people are forced to bear the brunt of "solutions" to problems created by the PAP Government, problems that are wholly avoidable if not for the greed and short-sightedness of this Government.
The Stop-At-Two policy is another example where for years the Government introduced draconian measures to curtail the reproductive rate of the population only to discover that Singaporeans were not replacing themselves adequately. The "solution"? The Foreign Talent Policy.
The measure has flooded society with foreign workers and forced locals to compete with them for unconscionably low wages.
Such Government-say-people-do-with-no-questions-asked nonsense must stop. And the only way to stop it is for Singaporeans to exercise their freedoms of speech and assembly to send an unmistakable message to the PAP that they refuse to be fleeced and milked any longer.
Singaporeans must remember that democracy makes good economic sense, that is, without our political rights, there can be no economic rights.
Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party
The latest move by the PAP Government to force Singaporeans to buy annuities is yet another despicable attempt to withhold the people's hard-earned CPF savings.
Already the Minimum Sum Scheme allows the Government to retain the citizens' retirement funds. Now the PAP wants to compel Singaporeans to buy annuity, making it even harder for them to survive their retirement years.
The annuity proposal is not a solution. It is a ploy. A ploy thought up by the PAP Government to strengthen its hold on CPF funds – funds that it then uses for its business ventures which are not transparent or accountable.
Worse, the ministers then use these businesses to tout their commercial prowess and demand that they be paid million-dollar salaries.
Let us be absolutely clear: The fact that Singaporeans do not and will not have enough funds to retire on is not because they are bad managers of their money and therefore need yet more Government intervention and supervision.
The fact that study after study shows Singaporeans having the highest savings rate in the world and yet retire as paupers point to one and only one conclusion: That their plight is a result of willful mismanagement of this Government.
The problem of insufficient retirement funds stems from the glaring fact that HDB flats are vacuuming up CPF savings.
For the overwhelming majority of the people who cannot afford private property, the HDB is the only means of housing. With the prices of the flats at current levels Singaporeans have had no choice but to use their retirement savings to pay for the monthly leases.
Worse, like most other public matters in this country, the cost of building the flats are kept secret. Then when the PAP wants to upgrade the flats and use them as threats during elections, they make the people dip more into their CPF to pay for the refurbishment.
Is it a surprise then that Singaporeans have little to live on when they retire?
This is a recurring nightmare for Singaporeans. The people are forced to bear the brunt of "solutions" to problems created by the PAP Government, problems that are wholly avoidable if not for the greed and short-sightedness of this Government.
The Stop-At-Two policy is another example where for years the Government introduced draconian measures to curtail the reproductive rate of the population only to discover that Singaporeans were not replacing themselves adequately. The "solution"? The Foreign Talent Policy.
The measure has flooded society with foreign workers and forced locals to compete with them for unconscionably low wages.
Such Government-say-people-do-with-no-questions-asked nonsense must stop. And the only way to stop it is for Singaporeans to exercise their freedoms of speech and assembly to send an unmistakable message to the PAP that they refuse to be fleeced and milked any longer.
Singaporeans must remember that democracy makes good economic sense, that is, without our political rights, there can be no economic rights.
Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Assault and battery, police do nothing.
Originally posted by playtime
Very angry..
Was at a convenience stall and saw a customer quarreling with the cashier (lady), the customer looked like hes high or something and ready to attack her, but after shouted lotsa vulgarities he turned to leave.
I went to pay for my purchase, to cut things short..... then he got violent, rushed back in and attacked me while trying to attack the cashier, left me bleeding/bruised. Police called.
With the whole attack captured on CCTV and the casher as witness, the police say they wont do anything, up to me to take legal action on my own. WTF... no wonder low crime ... not follwed up what?! Somemore say the person is a karang guni, no point take action against him. What the point of having law "enforcers" when they dont enforce the law? Might as well just call them law "observers".
i'll be going to polyclinic later for medical report.
Then I will call up the police case officer to ask what will be done, most importantly, when I can get a hold of the CCTV footage of the assault.
I just can't understand it, even with CCTV coverage and the lady (intended victim) testifying that he was about to be attack her when he changed to assault me, he still walks free. She even thanked me because I indirectly saved her, if they were alone, she may be dead for all I know. The biggest ****... during the police questioning, he was drinking beer openly, macham he know nothing will happen. Very experienced like that.
Must I be a civil servant or a bus driver in order to be given justice? No wonder people these days go around beating people up. Think about it, if you pick on some old fella, kid, poor worker etc.. chances are, they dont know, cannot afford, scared to take civil action against you. Since police do nothing... hey.. free to do it again lor..
Was a crime committed?? Hell yeah... but no arrest.
Is that how police maintain a statistically "crime free" Singapore?? For everyone's sake, I hope not, my faith in our justice system is now severely dented. It can happen to your wife, hubby, kids, parents etc etc too.
Interestingly, todays ST forum also has a letter on such a situation. Well, mine will come soon if I dont get a good result from our men in blue.
Yellow Ribbon project a success... if you're rich, that is.
Sep 7, 2007
Durai secures $25,000-a-month CEO job in Abu Dhabi
By Clarence Chang, Senior correspondent
FORMER National Kidney Foundation chief executive TT Durai - who was sentenced to 3 months' jail in June for deceiving the NKF, but is now appealing his conviction - has secured a new high-paying job.
The 59-year-old has accepted the position of CEO of a new subsidiary company under Singapore-based real estate management firm Property Facility Services (PFS) - a job which will pay him $25,000 a month.
After the conclusion of Durai's appeal and possible sentence, he will be based full-time in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This revelation came to light in Durai's affidavit tendered to the High Court on Friday morning during his request for permission to travel overseas while out on bail.
New pay, new perks
In a offer letter signed by PFS chairman Dr Albert Hong and director Dr Shaika Al Maskari dated 21 June this year - ironically, the same day Durai was sentenced to jail - PFS told Durai that he would also be paid a 15 per cent share of the new subsidiary company's annual net profits.
This new Abu Dhabi firm will be sponsored by Tricon Healthcare, a member of the Tricon group.
Durai's contract is scheduled to run for 5 years from 1 August. Some of his duties - to help PFS provide healthcare services, human resource consultancy, manpower recruitment and other business development projects in the Middle East region.
Besides the $25,000 monthly pay and a share of profits, some of Durai's other perks include housing expenses, the use of a company car and a reimbursement of his travel, accommodation and entertainment expenses.
Durai accepted PFS' offer on 27 August.
Can you start work now?
His lawyer also included in his affidavit a separate letter by PFS dated 13 August, informing Durai that it wants him to start work in Abu Dhabi "as soon as possible" - pending the outcome of his appeal.
In fact, until his appeal is settled, Durai's new employers have told him his immediate services are "required" in the UAE for at least 7 days straight every month, during which he would be paid a pro-rated salary.
The court granted Durai's request to travel to the UAE, with his $100,000 bail to remain.
"Confident" of appeal success
Durai also said in his affidavit that he feels upbeat about his chances in his upcoming appeal to overturn his conviction and 3-month jail term - arguing that this means he has no reason to flee the country.
He wrote: "I am advised by my Counsel and verily believe that there are good prospects of appeal against my conviction... I am confident of my prospects of success."
Durai secures $25,000-a-month CEO job in Abu Dhabi
By Clarence Chang, Senior correspondent
FORMER National Kidney Foundation chief executive TT Durai - who was sentenced to 3 months' jail in June for deceiving the NKF, but is now appealing his conviction - has secured a new high-paying job.
The 59-year-old has accepted the position of CEO of a new subsidiary company under Singapore-based real estate management firm Property Facility Services (PFS) - a job which will pay him $25,000 a month.
After the conclusion of Durai's appeal and possible sentence, he will be based full-time in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This revelation came to light in Durai's affidavit tendered to the High Court on Friday morning during his request for permission to travel overseas while out on bail.
New pay, new perks
In a offer letter signed by PFS chairman Dr Albert Hong and director Dr Shaika Al Maskari dated 21 June this year - ironically, the same day Durai was sentenced to jail - PFS told Durai that he would also be paid a 15 per cent share of the new subsidiary company's annual net profits.
This new Abu Dhabi firm will be sponsored by Tricon Healthcare, a member of the Tricon group.
Durai's contract is scheduled to run for 5 years from 1 August. Some of his duties - to help PFS provide healthcare services, human resource consultancy, manpower recruitment and other business development projects in the Middle East region.
Besides the $25,000 monthly pay and a share of profits, some of Durai's other perks include housing expenses, the use of a company car and a reimbursement of his travel, accommodation and entertainment expenses.
Durai accepted PFS' offer on 27 August.
Can you start work now?
His lawyer also included in his affidavit a separate letter by PFS dated 13 August, informing Durai that it wants him to start work in Abu Dhabi "as soon as possible" - pending the outcome of his appeal.
In fact, until his appeal is settled, Durai's new employers have told him his immediate services are "required" in the UAE for at least 7 days straight every month, during which he would be paid a pro-rated salary.
The court granted Durai's request to travel to the UAE, with his $100,000 bail to remain.
"Confident" of appeal success
Durai also said in his affidavit that he feels upbeat about his chances in his upcoming appeal to overturn his conviction and 3-month jail term - arguing that this means he has no reason to flee the country.
He wrote: "I am advised by my Counsel and verily believe that there are good prospects of appeal against my conviction... I am confident of my prospects of success."
Friday, September 7, 2007
Singapore's pension reform plans spark rare protest
Reuters - Thursday September 6, 7:23 PM
Singapore's pension reform plans spark rare protest
SINGAPORE, Sept 6 - Singaporeans have started a rare protest against the government's pension reform plans with an online petition and a planned public protest action.
An online petition against the pensions reform had drawn nearly 600 online signatures as of Thursday, while on Saturday, activists will test Singapore's ban on demonstrations by staging a symbolic "black T-shirt" protest at a popular downtown mall.
Any public protest is rare in Singapore, where all outdoor demonstrations are banned and any public gathering of more than four people requires a permit.
The protest takes aim at plans to make it mandatory for all Singaporeans under the age of 50 to buy annuities and which would impose restrictions on how pension savings are invested.
"People are quite unhappy, partly about way the announcements about the pension reforms were made," political commentator Leong Sze Hian told Reuters.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the pension reform in his National Day speech last month, saying there was no choice as "people are living longer".
To cope with a rapidly ageing population, the government is upping the retirement age from 62 years to 65 years by 2015, and up to 67 beyond that.
In recent weeks, government ministers have talked about several planned changes to the Central Provident Fund , a mandatory retirement savings scheme for all Singaporeans that pays a lump sum upon retirement and can be used to pay for flats.
"There is concern, but the public ought to wait for more specific details on the changes, to be out later this month," Member of Parliament Halimah Yaacob told Reuters.
Singaporeans have turned increasingly to cyberspace as an outlet for their dissatisfaction.
The latest petition -- on Petitiononline.com -- has drawn 580 signatures over two weeks. In the past two years, petitions against a pay-and-perks scandal at a national charity and against the introduction of casino gambling drew thousands of signatures.
Saturday's protest -- announced on political blogs and online forums -- is set to test Singapore's limits on freedom of assembly, as organisers merely suggest participants turn up at 4 p.m. at the Centrepoint mall, dressed "partly" in black.
Law student and online activist Choo Zheng Xi told Reuters he does not expect a strong turn-out, as other small-scale protest actions in the past months have drawn a massive police presence as well as plainsclothes policemen filming protesters.
Singapore's pension reform plans spark rare protest
SINGAPORE, Sept 6 - Singaporeans have started a rare protest against the government's pension reform plans with an online petition and a planned public protest action.
An online petition against the pensions reform had drawn nearly 600 online signatures as of Thursday, while on Saturday, activists will test Singapore's ban on demonstrations by staging a symbolic "black T-shirt" protest at a popular downtown mall.
Any public protest is rare in Singapore, where all outdoor demonstrations are banned and any public gathering of more than four people requires a permit.
The protest takes aim at plans to make it mandatory for all Singaporeans under the age of 50 to buy annuities and which would impose restrictions on how pension savings are invested.
"People are quite unhappy, partly about way the announcements about the pension reforms were made," political commentator Leong Sze Hian told Reuters.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the pension reform in his National Day speech last month, saying there was no choice as "people are living longer".
To cope with a rapidly ageing population, the government is upping the retirement age from 62 years to 65 years by 2015, and up to 67 beyond that.
In recent weeks, government ministers have talked about several planned changes to the Central Provident Fund , a mandatory retirement savings scheme for all Singaporeans that pays a lump sum upon retirement and can be used to pay for flats.
"There is concern, but the public ought to wait for more specific details on the changes, to be out later this month," Member of Parliament Halimah Yaacob told Reuters.
Singaporeans have turned increasingly to cyberspace as an outlet for their dissatisfaction.
The latest petition -- on Petitiononline.com -- has drawn 580 signatures over two weeks. In the past two years, petitions against a pay-and-perks scandal at a national charity and against the introduction of casino gambling drew thousands of signatures.
Saturday's protest -- announced on political blogs and online forums -- is set to test Singapore's limits on freedom of assembly, as organisers merely suggest participants turn up at 4 p.m. at the Centrepoint mall, dressed "partly" in black.
Law student and online activist Choo Zheng Xi told Reuters he does not expect a strong turn-out, as other small-scale protest actions in the past months have drawn a massive police presence as well as plainsclothes policemen filming protesters.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Italian tenor Pavarotti dies at age 71
Italian tenor Pavarotti dies at age 71
By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer 4 minutes ago
ROME - Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C's and ebullient showmanship made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar, died Thursday. He was 71.
His manager, Terri Robson, told the AP in an e-mailed statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August.
"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness," the statement said.
Speaking from inside Pavarotti's home, which was guarded by police, Pavarotti's assistant Edwin Tinoco told Sky TG 24 television that Pavarotti's final days had been calm and spent at home.
For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his charismatic performances of standards like "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" came to represent what opera is all about.
In fact, "Nessun Dorma" was Pavarotti's last performance, sung at at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, in February 2006. His last full-scale concert was at Taipei in December 2005, and his farewell to opera was in Puccini's "Tosca" at New York's Metropolitan in March 2004.
It was the second monumental loss in the opera world in recent months. American soprano Beverly Sills, whose widespread popularity mirrored Pavarotti's, died July 2 at her home in New York. She was 78 and suffered from cancer.
Instantly recognizable from his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth, Pavarotti radiated an intangible magic that helped him win hearts in a way Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras — his partners in the "Three Tenors" concerts — never quite could.
"I always admired the God-given glory of his voice — that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range," Domingo said in a statement from Los Angeles.
"I also loved his wonderful sense of humor and on several occasions of our concerts with Jose Carreras — the so-called Three Tenors concerts — we had trouble remembering that we were giving a concert before a paying audience, because we had so much fun between ourselves," he said.
Pavarotti, who seemed equally at ease singing with soprano Joan Sutherland as with the Spice Girls, scoffed at accusations that he was sacrificing his art in favor of commercialism.
"The word commercial is exactly what we want," he said, after appearing in the widely publicized "Three Tenors" concerts. "We've reached 1.5 billion people with opera. If you want to use the word commercial, or something more derogatory, we don't care. Use whatever you want."
In the annals of that rare and coddled breed, the operatic tenor, it may well be said the 20th century began with Enrico Caruso and ended with Pavarotti. Other tenors — Domingo included — may have drawn more praise from critics for their artistic range and insights, but none could equal the combination of natural talent and personal charm that so endeared Pavarotti to audiences.
"Pavarotti is the biggest superstar of all," the late New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg once said. "He's correspondingly more spoiled than anybody else. They think they can get away with anything. Thanks to the glory of his voice, he probably can."
In his heyday, he was known as the "King of the High C's" for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes. In fact it was his ability to hit nine glorious high C's in quick succession that first turned him into an international superstar singing Tonio's aria "Ah! Mes amis," in Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" at the Met in 1972.
In the 1990s, Pavarotti's teaming with Domingo and Carreras became a music business phenomenon and spawned copycats such as the Three Irish Tenors.
Pavarotti starred in a film called "Yes, Giorgio" (though its failure scuttled his hopes for a Hollywood career) and appeared in a filmed version of "Rigoletto." He wrote an autobiography, "I, Luciano Pavarotti," and made more than 90 recordings.
From Beijing to Buenos Aires, people immediately recognized his incandescent smile and lumbering bulk, clutching a white handkerchief as he sang arias and Neapolitan folk songs, pop numbers and Christmas carols for hundreds of thousands in outdoor concerts.
His name seemed to show up as much in gossip columns as serious music reviews, particularly after he split with Adua Veroni, his wife of 35 years and mother of their three daughters, and then took up with his 26-year-old secretary in 1996.
In late 2003, he married Nicoletta Mantovani in a lavish, star-studded ceremony. Pavarotti said their daughter Alice, nearly a year old at the time of the wedding, was the main reason he and Mantovani finally wed after years together.
In the latter part of his career, some music critics cited what they saw as an increasing tendency toward the vulgar and the commercial.
He came under fire for canceling performances or pandering to the lowest common denominator in his choice of programs, or for the Three Tenors tours and their millions of dollars in fees.
He was criticized for lip-synching at a concert in Modena, Italy, his hometown. An artist accused him of copying her works from a how-to-draw book and selling the paintings.
The son of a baker who was an amateur singer, Pavarotti was born Oct. 12, 1935, in Modena. He had a meager upbringing, though he said it was rich with happiness.
"Our family had very little, but I couldn't imagine one could have any more," Pavarotti said.
As a boy, Pavarotti showed more interest in soccer than his studies, but he also was fond of listening to his father's recordings of tenor greats like Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Jussi Bjoerling and Giuseppe Di Stefano, his favorite.
Among his close childhood friends was Mirella Freni, who would eventually become a soprano and an opera great herself. The two studied singing together and years later ended up making records and concerts together, according to Elvio Giudici, an Italian opera critic.
In his teens, Pavarotti joined his father, also a tenor, in the church choir and local opera chorus. He was influenced by the American movie actor-singer Mario Lanza.
"In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror," Pavarotti said.
Singing was still nothing more than a passion while Pavarotti trained to become a teacher and began working in a school.
But at 20, he traveled with his chorus to an international music competition in Wales. The Modena group won first place, and Pavarotti began to dedicate himself to singing.
With the encouragement of his then fiancee, Adua Veroni, he started lessons, selling insurance to pay for them. He studied with Arrigo Pola and later Ettore Campogalliani.
In 1961, Pavarotti won a local voice competition and with it a debut as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme."
He followed with a series of successes in small opera houses throughout Europe before his 1963 debut at Covent Garden in London, where he stood in for Di Stefano as Rodolfo.
Having impressed conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti was given a role opposite Bonynge's wife, soprano Joan Sutherland, in a Miami production of "Lucia di Lamermoor." They subsequently signed him for a 14-week tour of Australia.
It was the recognition Pavarotti needed to launch his career. He also credited Sutherland with teaching him how to breathe correctly.
In the following years, Pavarotti made a series of major debuts, appearing at La Scala in Milan in 1965, San Francisco in 1967 and New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1968. Other early venues included Vienna, Paris and Chicago.
Throughout his career, Pavarotti struggled with a much-publicized weight problem. His love of food caused him to balloon to a reported high of 396 pounds in 1978.
"Maybe this time I'll really do it and keep it up," he said during one of his constant attempts at dieting.
Pavarotti, who had been trained as a lyric tenor, began taking on heavier dramatic tenor roles, such as Manrico in Verdi's "Trovatore" and the title role in "Otello."
Pavarotti often drew comparisons with Domingo, his most notable contemporary. Aficionados judged Domingo the more complete and consistent musician, but he never captured the public imagination like Pavarotti.
Though there appeared to be professional jealousy between the great singers, Pavarotti claimed he preferred to judge himself only against his earlier performances.
In the mid-1970s, Pavarotti became a true media star. He appeared in television commercials and began appearing in hugely lucrative mega-concerts outdoors and in stadiums around the world. Soon came joint concerts with pop stars. A concert in New York's Central Park in 1993 drew 500,000 fans.
Pavarotti's recording of "Volare" went platinum in 1988.
In 1990, he appeared with Domingo and Carreras in a concert at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome for the end of soccer's World Cup. The concert was a huge success, and the record known as "The Three Tenors" was a best-seller and was nominated for two Grammy awards. The video sold over 750,000 copies.
The three-tenor extravaganza became a mini-industry. With a follow-up album recorded at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 1994, the three have outsold every other performer of classical music. A 1996 tour earned each tenor an estimated $10 million.
Pavarotti liked to mingle with pop stars in his series of charity concerts, "Pavarotti & Friends," held annually in Modena. He performed with artists as varied as Ricky Martin, James Brown and the Spice Girls.
The performances raised some eyebrows but he always shrugged off the criticism.
Some say the "word pop is a derogatory word to say 'not important' — I do not accept that," Pavarotti said in a 2004 interview with the AP. "If the word classic is the word to say 'boring,' I do not accept. There is good and bad music."
It was not just his annual extravaganza that saw Pavarotti involved in humanitarian work.
During the 1992-95 Bosnia war, he collected humanitarian aid along with U2 lead singer Bono, and after the war he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Center in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills.
He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as an earthquake in December 1988 that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia.
Pavarotti was also dogged by accusations of tax evasion, and in 2000 he agreed to pay nearly roughly $12 million to the Italian state after he had unsuccessfully claimed that the tax haven of Monte Carlo rather than Italy was his official residence.
He had been accused in 1996 of filing false tax returns for 1989-91.
Pavarotti always denied wrongdoing, saying he paid taxes wherever he performed. But, upon agreeing to the settlement, he said: "I cannot live being thought not a good person."
Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York in July 2006 to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass, his manager Robson said at the time. He underwent surgery in a New York hospital, and all his remaining 2006 concerts were canceled.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease, though doctors said the surgery offered improved hopes for survival.
"I was a fortunate and happy man," Pavarotti told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published about a month after the surgery. "After that, this blow arrived."
"And now I am paying the penalty for this fortune and happiness," he told the newspaper.
Fans were still waiting for a public appearance a year after his surgery. In the summer, Pavarotti taught a group of selected students and worked on a recording of sacred songs, a work expected to be released in early 2008, according to his manager. He mostly divided his time between his home town, Modena, and his villa in the Adriatic seaside resort of Pesaro.
Just this week, the Italian government honored him with an award for "excellence in Italian culture," and La Scala and Modena's theater announced a joint Luciano Pavarotti award.
In his final statement, Pavarotti said the awards gave him "the opportunity to continue to celebrate the magic of a life dedicated to the arts and it fills me with pride and joy to have been able to promote my magnificent country abroad."
Faced with speculation that the tenor was near death, Mantovani, his second wife, told Italian newspaper La Stampa in July 2007: "He's fighting like a lion and he has never lost his heart."
Pavarotti had three daughters with his first wife, Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana; and one, Alice, with his second wife.
At his side when he died were his wife, Nicoletta; his four daughters; his sister, Gabriela; his nephews and close relatives and friends, Robson said.
By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer 4 minutes ago
ROME - Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C's and ebullient showmanship made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar, died Thursday. He was 71.
His manager, Terri Robson, told the AP in an e-mailed statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August.
"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness," the statement said.
Speaking from inside Pavarotti's home, which was guarded by police, Pavarotti's assistant Edwin Tinoco told Sky TG 24 television that Pavarotti's final days had been calm and spent at home.
For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his charismatic performances of standards like "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" came to represent what opera is all about.
In fact, "Nessun Dorma" was Pavarotti's last performance, sung at at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, in February 2006. His last full-scale concert was at Taipei in December 2005, and his farewell to opera was in Puccini's "Tosca" at New York's Metropolitan in March 2004.
It was the second monumental loss in the opera world in recent months. American soprano Beverly Sills, whose widespread popularity mirrored Pavarotti's, died July 2 at her home in New York. She was 78 and suffered from cancer.
Instantly recognizable from his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth, Pavarotti radiated an intangible magic that helped him win hearts in a way Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras — his partners in the "Three Tenors" concerts — never quite could.
"I always admired the God-given glory of his voice — that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range," Domingo said in a statement from Los Angeles.
"I also loved his wonderful sense of humor and on several occasions of our concerts with Jose Carreras — the so-called Three Tenors concerts — we had trouble remembering that we were giving a concert before a paying audience, because we had so much fun between ourselves," he said.
Pavarotti, who seemed equally at ease singing with soprano Joan Sutherland as with the Spice Girls, scoffed at accusations that he was sacrificing his art in favor of commercialism.
"The word commercial is exactly what we want," he said, after appearing in the widely publicized "Three Tenors" concerts. "We've reached 1.5 billion people with opera. If you want to use the word commercial, or something more derogatory, we don't care. Use whatever you want."
In the annals of that rare and coddled breed, the operatic tenor, it may well be said the 20th century began with Enrico Caruso and ended with Pavarotti. Other tenors — Domingo included — may have drawn more praise from critics for their artistic range and insights, but none could equal the combination of natural talent and personal charm that so endeared Pavarotti to audiences.
"Pavarotti is the biggest superstar of all," the late New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg once said. "He's correspondingly more spoiled than anybody else. They think they can get away with anything. Thanks to the glory of his voice, he probably can."
In his heyday, he was known as the "King of the High C's" for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes. In fact it was his ability to hit nine glorious high C's in quick succession that first turned him into an international superstar singing Tonio's aria "Ah! Mes amis," in Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" at the Met in 1972.
In the 1990s, Pavarotti's teaming with Domingo and Carreras became a music business phenomenon and spawned copycats such as the Three Irish Tenors.
Pavarotti starred in a film called "Yes, Giorgio" (though its failure scuttled his hopes for a Hollywood career) and appeared in a filmed version of "Rigoletto." He wrote an autobiography, "I, Luciano Pavarotti," and made more than 90 recordings.
From Beijing to Buenos Aires, people immediately recognized his incandescent smile and lumbering bulk, clutching a white handkerchief as he sang arias and Neapolitan folk songs, pop numbers and Christmas carols for hundreds of thousands in outdoor concerts.
His name seemed to show up as much in gossip columns as serious music reviews, particularly after he split with Adua Veroni, his wife of 35 years and mother of their three daughters, and then took up with his 26-year-old secretary in 1996.
In late 2003, he married Nicoletta Mantovani in a lavish, star-studded ceremony. Pavarotti said their daughter Alice, nearly a year old at the time of the wedding, was the main reason he and Mantovani finally wed after years together.
In the latter part of his career, some music critics cited what they saw as an increasing tendency toward the vulgar and the commercial.
He came under fire for canceling performances or pandering to the lowest common denominator in his choice of programs, or for the Three Tenors tours and their millions of dollars in fees.
He was criticized for lip-synching at a concert in Modena, Italy, his hometown. An artist accused him of copying her works from a how-to-draw book and selling the paintings.
The son of a baker who was an amateur singer, Pavarotti was born Oct. 12, 1935, in Modena. He had a meager upbringing, though he said it was rich with happiness.
"Our family had very little, but I couldn't imagine one could have any more," Pavarotti said.
As a boy, Pavarotti showed more interest in soccer than his studies, but he also was fond of listening to his father's recordings of tenor greats like Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Jussi Bjoerling and Giuseppe Di Stefano, his favorite.
Among his close childhood friends was Mirella Freni, who would eventually become a soprano and an opera great herself. The two studied singing together and years later ended up making records and concerts together, according to Elvio Giudici, an Italian opera critic.
In his teens, Pavarotti joined his father, also a tenor, in the church choir and local opera chorus. He was influenced by the American movie actor-singer Mario Lanza.
"In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror," Pavarotti said.
Singing was still nothing more than a passion while Pavarotti trained to become a teacher and began working in a school.
But at 20, he traveled with his chorus to an international music competition in Wales. The Modena group won first place, and Pavarotti began to dedicate himself to singing.
With the encouragement of his then fiancee, Adua Veroni, he started lessons, selling insurance to pay for them. He studied with Arrigo Pola and later Ettore Campogalliani.
In 1961, Pavarotti won a local voice competition and with it a debut as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme."
He followed with a series of successes in small opera houses throughout Europe before his 1963 debut at Covent Garden in London, where he stood in for Di Stefano as Rodolfo.
Having impressed conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti was given a role opposite Bonynge's wife, soprano Joan Sutherland, in a Miami production of "Lucia di Lamermoor." They subsequently signed him for a 14-week tour of Australia.
It was the recognition Pavarotti needed to launch his career. He also credited Sutherland with teaching him how to breathe correctly.
In the following years, Pavarotti made a series of major debuts, appearing at La Scala in Milan in 1965, San Francisco in 1967 and New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1968. Other early venues included Vienna, Paris and Chicago.
Throughout his career, Pavarotti struggled with a much-publicized weight problem. His love of food caused him to balloon to a reported high of 396 pounds in 1978.
"Maybe this time I'll really do it and keep it up," he said during one of his constant attempts at dieting.
Pavarotti, who had been trained as a lyric tenor, began taking on heavier dramatic tenor roles, such as Manrico in Verdi's "Trovatore" and the title role in "Otello."
Pavarotti often drew comparisons with Domingo, his most notable contemporary. Aficionados judged Domingo the more complete and consistent musician, but he never captured the public imagination like Pavarotti.
Though there appeared to be professional jealousy between the great singers, Pavarotti claimed he preferred to judge himself only against his earlier performances.
In the mid-1970s, Pavarotti became a true media star. He appeared in television commercials and began appearing in hugely lucrative mega-concerts outdoors and in stadiums around the world. Soon came joint concerts with pop stars. A concert in New York's Central Park in 1993 drew 500,000 fans.
Pavarotti's recording of "Volare" went platinum in 1988.
In 1990, he appeared with Domingo and Carreras in a concert at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome for the end of soccer's World Cup. The concert was a huge success, and the record known as "The Three Tenors" was a best-seller and was nominated for two Grammy awards. The video sold over 750,000 copies.
The three-tenor extravaganza became a mini-industry. With a follow-up album recorded at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 1994, the three have outsold every other performer of classical music. A 1996 tour earned each tenor an estimated $10 million.
Pavarotti liked to mingle with pop stars in his series of charity concerts, "Pavarotti & Friends," held annually in Modena. He performed with artists as varied as Ricky Martin, James Brown and the Spice Girls.
The performances raised some eyebrows but he always shrugged off the criticism.
Some say the "word pop is a derogatory word to say 'not important' — I do not accept that," Pavarotti said in a 2004 interview with the AP. "If the word classic is the word to say 'boring,' I do not accept. There is good and bad music."
It was not just his annual extravaganza that saw Pavarotti involved in humanitarian work.
During the 1992-95 Bosnia war, he collected humanitarian aid along with U2 lead singer Bono, and after the war he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Center in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills.
He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as an earthquake in December 1988 that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia.
Pavarotti was also dogged by accusations of tax evasion, and in 2000 he agreed to pay nearly roughly $12 million to the Italian state after he had unsuccessfully claimed that the tax haven of Monte Carlo rather than Italy was his official residence.
He had been accused in 1996 of filing false tax returns for 1989-91.
Pavarotti always denied wrongdoing, saying he paid taxes wherever he performed. But, upon agreeing to the settlement, he said: "I cannot live being thought not a good person."
Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York in July 2006 to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass, his manager Robson said at the time. He underwent surgery in a New York hospital, and all his remaining 2006 concerts were canceled.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease, though doctors said the surgery offered improved hopes for survival.
"I was a fortunate and happy man," Pavarotti told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published about a month after the surgery. "After that, this blow arrived."
"And now I am paying the penalty for this fortune and happiness," he told the newspaper.
Fans were still waiting for a public appearance a year after his surgery. In the summer, Pavarotti taught a group of selected students and worked on a recording of sacred songs, a work expected to be released in early 2008, according to his manager. He mostly divided his time between his home town, Modena, and his villa in the Adriatic seaside resort of Pesaro.
Just this week, the Italian government honored him with an award for "excellence in Italian culture," and La Scala and Modena's theater announced a joint Luciano Pavarotti award.
In his final statement, Pavarotti said the awards gave him "the opportunity to continue to celebrate the magic of a life dedicated to the arts and it fills me with pride and joy to have been able to promote my magnificent country abroad."
Faced with speculation that the tenor was near death, Mantovani, his second wife, told Italian newspaper La Stampa in July 2007: "He's fighting like a lion and he has never lost his heart."
Pavarotti had three daughters with his first wife, Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana; and one, Alice, with his second wife.
At his side when he died were his wife, Nicoletta; his four daughters; his sister, Gabriela; his nephews and close relatives and friends, Robson said.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
China hacked into Pentagon computer network: report
Sep 4, 2007
China hacked into Pentagon computer network: report
BEIJING - CHINA'S military successfully hacked into the Pentagon's computer network, raising fears it could disrupt the US defence department's systems, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The Chinese military's cyber attack was carried out in June following months of efforts, the London-based newspaper said, citing unnamed current and former US officials.
While the Pentagon declined to say who was behind the hacking, which led to the shutdown of a computer system serving the office of Defence Secretary Robert Gates, officials told the paper it was China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
'The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system,' the paper quoted a former US official as saying.
One senior US official reportedly said the Pentagon had pinpointed the exact origin of the attack.
The paper quoted another person familiar with the event as saying there was a 'very high level of confidence...trending towards total certainty' that the PLA was responsible.
The paper said both the US and Chinese militaries were widely assumed to conduct computer espionage on each other.
'But US officials said the penetration in June raised concerns to a new level because of fears that China had shown it could disrupt systems at critical times,' the Financial Times reported.
A spokesman for the Chinese defence ministry declined to comment on the report. China's foreign ministry also declined to comment immediately, asking for questions to be faxed through.
Reports of China hacking into German government systems were also raised last week between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
German weekly Der Spiegel reported that espionage programmes traced to the PLA had been detected in computer systems at Dr Merkel's office, the foreign ministry and other government agencies in Berlin.
'We in the government took (the reports) as a matter of grave concern,' Mr Wen said after meeting Dr Merkel
China hacked into Pentagon computer network: report
BEIJING - CHINA'S military successfully hacked into the Pentagon's computer network, raising fears it could disrupt the US defence department's systems, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The Chinese military's cyber attack was carried out in June following months of efforts, the London-based newspaper said, citing unnamed current and former US officials.
While the Pentagon declined to say who was behind the hacking, which led to the shutdown of a computer system serving the office of Defence Secretary Robert Gates, officials told the paper it was China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
'The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system,' the paper quoted a former US official as saying.
One senior US official reportedly said the Pentagon had pinpointed the exact origin of the attack.
The paper quoted another person familiar with the event as saying there was a 'very high level of confidence...trending towards total certainty' that the PLA was responsible.
The paper said both the US and Chinese militaries were widely assumed to conduct computer espionage on each other.
'But US officials said the penetration in June raised concerns to a new level because of fears that China had shown it could disrupt systems at critical times,' the Financial Times reported.
A spokesman for the Chinese defence ministry declined to comment on the report. China's foreign ministry also declined to comment immediately, asking for questions to be faxed through.
Reports of China hacking into German government systems were also raised last week between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
German weekly Der Spiegel reported that espionage programmes traced to the PLA had been detected in computer systems at Dr Merkel's office, the foreign ministry and other government agencies in Berlin.
'We in the government took (the reports) as a matter of grave concern,' Mr Wen said after meeting Dr Merkel
ODEX caught with pants down.
Subtitles must be done accurately: Censors
Letter form Tan Lee Cheng, Senior Asst Director (Film Standards), Board of Film Censors
We refer to the article "Japanese anime firms close ranks with Odex" (Aug 31).
Mr Peter Go, managing director of Odex, is said to have commented that the subtitles of some of his anime series had to be tweaked to conform to the Board of Film Censors' (BFC) requirements.
This statement is not correct and the BFC would like to take this opportunity to clarify its position.
Subtitles are usually provided by distributors to reach out to a wider audience or to translate content that may be in a foreign language (example, Japanese anime). There are occasions when the quality of translation may be the cause of poor subtitling. This has nothing to do with the classification process but it is still worthwhile for distributors to address as consumers would expect to have accurate translation of purchased works.
It is also the distributor's responsibility to ensure that subtitles reflect the true content of an anime (that is, animation) especially its dialogue and commentary. If subtitles are not accurate, they can mislead the viewer and also make it difficult for the BFC to classify an anime accurately.
The BFC has never asked for subtitles to be tweaked. We require that subtitles accurately reflect the content of a film or video so that we can classify the content accurately. Inaccurate subtitles also do no service to the community or to the young who may be misled into thinking that an anime is suitable for them when it could be meant for a higher age group.
As the ratings for videos (including anime) range from G to M18, there is sufficient leeway to allow for the subtitling of mature content without subtitles having to be tweaked.
We urge all distributors to translate and subtitle their content accurately so that they can provide an informative service to viewers.
Letter form Tan Lee Cheng, Senior Asst Director (Film Standards), Board of Film Censors
We refer to the article "Japanese anime firms close ranks with Odex" (Aug 31).
Mr Peter Go, managing director of Odex, is said to have commented that the subtitles of some of his anime series had to be tweaked to conform to the Board of Film Censors' (BFC) requirements.
This statement is not correct and the BFC would like to take this opportunity to clarify its position.
Subtitles are usually provided by distributors to reach out to a wider audience or to translate content that may be in a foreign language (example, Japanese anime). There are occasions when the quality of translation may be the cause of poor subtitling. This has nothing to do with the classification process but it is still worthwhile for distributors to address as consumers would expect to have accurate translation of purchased works.
It is also the distributor's responsibility to ensure that subtitles reflect the true content of an anime (that is, animation) especially its dialogue and commentary. If subtitles are not accurate, they can mislead the viewer and also make it difficult for the BFC to classify an anime accurately.
The BFC has never asked for subtitles to be tweaked. We require that subtitles accurately reflect the content of a film or video so that we can classify the content accurately. Inaccurate subtitles also do no service to the community or to the young who may be misled into thinking that an anime is suitable for them when it could be meant for a higher age group.
As the ratings for videos (including anime) range from G to M18, there is sufficient leeway to allow for the subtitling of mature content without subtitles having to be tweaked.
We urge all distributors to translate and subtitle their content accurately so that they can provide an informative service to viewers.
Japanese, Korean anime are booming, not ailing
Sep 4, 2007
Japanese, Korean anime are booming, not ailing
I WRITE to correct the claims made by Odex director Peter Go in the article, 'StarHub must give names of illegal anime downloaders' (ST, Aug 14).
Quoting from the article: 'Mr Go said the South Korean anime market, once the largest after Japan, collapsed several years ago due to piracy problems. This prompted Japanese studios making anime to band together to mount the crackdown here as they were worried Singapore, although not as big a market, would end up the same way.' And 'illegal downloads, available online since the late 1990s, have cut deeply into the profits of producers and distributors'.
However, this is false.
According to the December 2006 issue of Reason magazine (twice named one of the United States' 50 Best Magazines by the Chicago Tribune): 'The global sales of Japan's animation industry reached an astonishing $80 billion in 2004, 10 times what they were a decade before. It has won this worldwide success in part because Japanese media companies paid little attention to the kinds of grassroots activities - call it piracy, unauthorised duplication and circulation, or simply file-sharing.'
These activities, claimed by Odex to be illegal and piracy, are widely known as 'fansubbing', or the distribution of Japanese anime with amateur translation and subtitling by fans. They have proven to be a free and far-reaching source of promotion by exposing people to anime, which would have been costly and risky if done by commercial distributors.
A great example is The Melancholy Of Suzumiya Haruhi, which shot to worldwide popularity due to fansubs. It is reasonable to say that fansubs have contributed to the continuous and massive growth of the Japanese animation industry.
The Korean animation industry is also very much alive. According to recent articles this year by PRZoom and ee-
ProductCenter, the 'South Korean animation industry is the third largest behind the US and Japan' and 'it accounts for 30 per cent of the total output in the global animation market'. The sheer size of the Korean animation industry shows it is far from collapse.
Chen Liang
Japanese, Korean anime are booming, not ailing
I WRITE to correct the claims made by Odex director Peter Go in the article, 'StarHub must give names of illegal anime downloaders' (ST, Aug 14).
Quoting from the article: 'Mr Go said the South Korean anime market, once the largest after Japan, collapsed several years ago due to piracy problems. This prompted Japanese studios making anime to band together to mount the crackdown here as they were worried Singapore, although not as big a market, would end up the same way.' And 'illegal downloads, available online since the late 1990s, have cut deeply into the profits of producers and distributors'.
However, this is false.
According to the December 2006 issue of Reason magazine (twice named one of the United States' 50 Best Magazines by the Chicago Tribune): 'The global sales of Japan's animation industry reached an astonishing $80 billion in 2004, 10 times what they were a decade before. It has won this worldwide success in part because Japanese media companies paid little attention to the kinds of grassroots activities - call it piracy, unauthorised duplication and circulation, or simply file-sharing.'
These activities, claimed by Odex to be illegal and piracy, are widely known as 'fansubbing', or the distribution of Japanese anime with amateur translation and subtitling by fans. They have proven to be a free and far-reaching source of promotion by exposing people to anime, which would have been costly and risky if done by commercial distributors.
A great example is The Melancholy Of Suzumiya Haruhi, which shot to worldwide popularity due to fansubs. It is reasonable to say that fansubs have contributed to the continuous and massive growth of the Japanese animation industry.
The Korean animation industry is also very much alive. According to recent articles this year by PRZoom and ee-
ProductCenter, the 'South Korean animation industry is the third largest behind the US and Japan' and 'it accounts for 30 per cent of the total output in the global animation market'. The sheer size of the Korean animation industry shows it is far from collapse.
Chen Liang
Saturday, September 1, 2007
ODEX: Poor subtitles because of censorship laws
Poor subtitles because of censorship laws
By Liew Hanqing
September 01, 2007
THE subtitles were tweaked because of Singapore's censorship laws.
Click to see larger image
That's one of the reasons why subtitles on some of its anime series are not accurate, said managing director Peter Go of local anime distributor Odex.
Anime fans have long criticised Odex's products saying they are inaccurately subtitled.
He was speaking at a press conference to announce the support of the Japanese copyright owners in its appeal against its case against Pacific Internet.
It has successfully obtained court orders to force SingNet and StarHub to reveal alleged illegal downloaders' identities, but its case against Pacific Internet was thrown out of court.
The company, which began a widespread crackdown on illegal anime downloading in May, has got flak from netizens for the quality of its anime subtitling.
Netizens have posted screen captures of illegal anime fansubs (fan-subtitled anime), comparing their subtitles to those on Odex's 'inaccurately subtitled' anime releases.
But why the discrepancy?
Mr Go said the subtitles of certain anime series had to be tweaked to conform with the Board of Film Censors' requirements.
He cited the example of popular anime series Fruits Basket, which contained content deemed too risque.
'We need to abide by the board's regulations - the series cannot have certain religious connotations, be too violent or touch on issues like homosexuality,' he said.
So Odex had no choice but to tweak the themes slightly.
In an earlier interview with The New Paper, Mr Go said that in response to the escalating popularity of fansubs relative to Odex products, the company decided to hire fansubbers (or fans who subtitle illegal copies of anime) to do subtitling work for their products.
But that backfired after fansubbers turned in sub-standard work, with inaccurate translations and grammatical errors.
At a press conference yesterday, Mr Go and Odex director Stephen Sing stood by the quality of their DVDs, which they say local anime focus groups have trouble distinguishing from the same titles released in Japan.
The main reason for its loss of more than 60 per cent of its sales since 2005, it says, is rampant illegal downloading here.
According to data collected by BayTSP, the US company hired by Odex to identify the IP addresses of illegal anime downloaders, Singapore has the highest per capita rate - one in 10 - of illegal anime downloading in the world.
Odex has used this data in its ongoing attempt to get local ISPs to reveal the identities of those identified by BayTSP as illegal downloaders.
Yesterday, Japanese copyright owners, including Media International Corporation, Toei Animation Enterprises Ltd and TV Tokyo Medianet Co Ltd gave Odex letters of authorisation, granting it permission to act on their behalf against illegal downloaders.
Representatives of the Japanese companies said they were prepared to act individually in support of Odex's appeal if the court required them to do so.
Said Mr Yukio Kawasaki, manager of the content business division of TV Tokyo Corporation: 'The best way to solve the problem (of illegal downloading) is through our licensees in each country.
'This is because the licensees can take action quickly. In this case, Odex is a very important partner to us.'
By Liew Hanqing
September 01, 2007
THE subtitles were tweaked because of Singapore's censorship laws.
Click to see larger image
That's one of the reasons why subtitles on some of its anime series are not accurate, said managing director Peter Go of local anime distributor Odex.
Anime fans have long criticised Odex's products saying they are inaccurately subtitled.
He was speaking at a press conference to announce the support of the Japanese copyright owners in its appeal against its case against Pacific Internet.
It has successfully obtained court orders to force SingNet and StarHub to reveal alleged illegal downloaders' identities, but its case against Pacific Internet was thrown out of court.
The company, which began a widespread crackdown on illegal anime downloading in May, has got flak from netizens for the quality of its anime subtitling.
Netizens have posted screen captures of illegal anime fansubs (fan-subtitled anime), comparing their subtitles to those on Odex's 'inaccurately subtitled' anime releases.
But why the discrepancy?
Mr Go said the subtitles of certain anime series had to be tweaked to conform with the Board of Film Censors' requirements.
He cited the example of popular anime series Fruits Basket, which contained content deemed too risque.
'We need to abide by the board's regulations - the series cannot have certain religious connotations, be too violent or touch on issues like homosexuality,' he said.
So Odex had no choice but to tweak the themes slightly.
In an earlier interview with The New Paper, Mr Go said that in response to the escalating popularity of fansubs relative to Odex products, the company decided to hire fansubbers (or fans who subtitle illegal copies of anime) to do subtitling work for their products.
But that backfired after fansubbers turned in sub-standard work, with inaccurate translations and grammatical errors.
At a press conference yesterday, Mr Go and Odex director Stephen Sing stood by the quality of their DVDs, which they say local anime focus groups have trouble distinguishing from the same titles released in Japan.
The main reason for its loss of more than 60 per cent of its sales since 2005, it says, is rampant illegal downloading here.
According to data collected by BayTSP, the US company hired by Odex to identify the IP addresses of illegal anime downloaders, Singapore has the highest per capita rate - one in 10 - of illegal anime downloading in the world.
Odex has used this data in its ongoing attempt to get local ISPs to reveal the identities of those identified by BayTSP as illegal downloaders.
Yesterday, Japanese copyright owners, including Media International Corporation, Toei Animation Enterprises Ltd and TV Tokyo Medianet Co Ltd gave Odex letters of authorisation, granting it permission to act on their behalf against illegal downloaders.
Representatives of the Japanese companies said they were prepared to act individually in support of Odex's appeal if the court required them to do so.
Said Mr Yukio Kawasaki, manager of the content business division of TV Tokyo Corporation: 'The best way to solve the problem (of illegal downloading) is through our licensees in each country.
'This is because the licensees can take action quickly. In this case, Odex is a very important partner to us.'
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