Ang Mo Kio police officers reject bribe

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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152177808194408&set=a.449307704407.236365.56706929407&type=1

Corporal Jason Lee (left) & Sergeant Ng Chee Yong (right)

Two Police officers from Ang Mo Kio North Neighbourhood Police Centre have been commended for rejecting a bribe from a suspect whom they arrested for trespassing.

On 25 August 2013 at about 4.30 am, the officers came across the suspect coming out of a construction site along Cactus Road.

When interviewed, the suspect could not provide a satisfactory explanation on why he was in the construction site.

The suspect then attempted to bribe the officers, who flatly rejected it and warned him that bribery was an offence.

Undeterred, the suspect again blatantly offered money to the officer to let him go. The suspect was placed under arrest for both Wilful Trespass and attempting to bribe police officers.

Assistant Commissioner Keok Tong San, Commander of Ang Mo Kio Police Division for their integrity in rejecting the bribes. Assistant Commissioner Keok added, "Their act is a testament to the high level of integrity in the Singapore Police Force.”

Motorcyclist dies in multi-vehicle accident at Jurong East

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http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/motorcyclist-dies-in-multi-vehicle-accident-at-jurong-east#scpshrtu

A motorcyclist died on Tuesday morning in an accident at the junction of Jurong East Street 11 and Jurong Town Hall Road.

Two buses, a car and a taxi were involved in the accident that happened at about 7.10am.

The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

One of the bus drivers was arrested.

Police investigations are ongoing.

China Internet hit by 'largest ever' attack

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http://www.digitalone.com.sg/news/article/26545

China has been hit by the "largest ever" attack on its Internet structure, crashing the country's .cn servers, according to a government-linked agency.

The national domain name resolution service came under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack for around two hours early on Sunday, the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) said in a statement.

DDoS attacks are attempts to overload a server with a huge number of requests, so that it interrupts or suspends its functions.

A second wave of the assault in China two hours later grew into "the biggest of its kind ever", CNNIC said, without giving any indication of who might have been responsible.

"The resolution of some websites was affected, leading visits to become slow or interrupted."

Singaporeans pick 28 new Superbrands

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http://business.asiaone.com/sme-central/news/singaporeans-pick-28-brands-superbrands-accolade

Consumers have chosen their favourite brands in the Superbrands programme 2013.

Superbrands is a programme for established consumer brands in Singapore. Participation in the Superbrands programme is strictly by invitation only.

A total of 28 brands were chosen by 1,500 Singapore consumers in a study done by BDRC Asia. Some of the brands chosen include Samsung, Royal Umbrella, Sheng Siong and The Straits Times.

The research also revealed that most Singaporean consumers (74%) trusted brands which have been awarded the Superbrands accolade.

BPL: Villas-Boas bracing for Bale exit

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http://sg.sports.yahoo.com/news/villas-boas-bracing-bale-exit-005816221.html

Andre Villas-Boas insists Gareth Bale's move from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid has yet to be concluded, but expects negotiations to move on within the next 48 hours.

Bale was in Madrid when his Spurs teammates beat Swansea City to secure a second successive Premier League win, and is expected to switch to the La Liga club in a world record £86 million (100 million euros, $134 million) transfer.

But speaking after the Swansea win, Tottenham manager Villas-Boas said: "There is interest from Real Madrid. Whether the transfer will happen or not, hopefully you will have more news in the next couple of days, but at the moment there is nothing I can tell you."

BPL: Rooney shines in lacklustre Old Trafford draw with Chelsea

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http://www.todayonline.com/sports/football/rooney-shines-lacklustre-old-trafford-draw

Manchester United's draw with Chelsea was mission accomplished for Jose Mourinho and Chelsea, who left Old Trafford with the one point they coveted; but how they would have loved to have returned home with the outstanding Wayne Rooney too.

The Manchester United striker was the sole real redeeming feature of a really poor game, a damp squib when some had expected fireworks.

Rooney worked so hard for 90 minutes, three times going close to scoring but he found John Terry and Petr Cech in indomitable form for Mourinho’s defence.

Mourinho had surprised many by starting without a recognised centre-forward, reported The Daily Telegraph, playing André Schurrle upfront, almost advertising a vacancy for Rooney who demonstrated why Mourinho wants him and why Moyes dare not risk letting him go.

Playing off Robin van Persie, Rooney linked midfield and attack, had United’s best chance of the half and never stopped showing for the ball.

He started by trying to dribble past Gary Cahill, drawing cheers from United’s fans, and immediately chants of his name from the Chelsea fans.

To the tune of Sloop John B, they sang “we’ll see you next week, Wayne Rooney, we’ll see you next week”.

F1: Hamilton targets Singapore as a turning point

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http://sg.sports.yahoo.com/news/hamilton-targets-singapore-turning-point-104758640.html

Lewis Hamilton hopes Singapore can be a springboard for success in the battle to rein in Red Bull's runaway Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel chalked up his fifth win in 11 races at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The German is 58 points ahead of 2008 champion Hamilton, who moved up to third overall for Mercedes.

"That's big gap, a huge gap. It's going to be very tough to close that but I'm going to keep pushing," said Hamilton.

Italy is up next, the final round of the European season at the fastest track of all, before Formula One heads east to Singapore, South Korea and Japan and circuits more suited to Hamilton's Mercedes.

"The guys will work over the next few days to try and understand where we were slower (in Belgium). Maybe we will be able to unlock something before the next race but if not, then I'm hoping that Singapore onwards will be much better."

Cenotaph War Monument vandal gets 3 months’ jail, 3 strokes of cane

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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/cenotaph-vandal-gets-3-months-jail-3-strokes-cane

A security officer who vandalised the Cenotaph War Monument has been jailed for three months and ordered to be given three strokes of the cane.

Mohamad Khalid Mohamad Yusop, 33, also had to foot the repair cost of S$208. He had used a can of red spray paint to write an “X”, followed by the word “Democracy” on the monument on April 23.

District Judge Lim Tse Haw yesterday described the act as “highly anti-social” and “very selfish”.

The monument was built in 1920 to commemorate the 124 soldiers from Singapore who were lost in World War I. It was later dedicated to the memory of those who died in World War II.

“These soldiers sacrificed their lives so that we can enjoy the peace that we have today,” the Judge told Mohamad Khalid. “By your actions, you have shown great disrespect to the memory of our war dead and hurt the feelings of their descendants.”

Mohamad Khalid could have been fined up to S$2,000 or jailed up to three years and caned between three and eight strokes.

Woman Arrested After Spraying Baby With Soy Sauce

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http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2013/08/26/woman-arrested-after-spraying-baby-with-soy-sauce/

Officers carted off a woman from an International District restaurant Saturday after she sprayed a baby with soy sauce and doused other patrons with chocolate milk, ruining what had undoubtedly been a perfectly delightful afternoon Dim Sum.

Just before 1 pm, officers were called to the Dim Sum King at 6th and Jackson (Seattle) after a 52-year-old woman walked into the restaurant, told everyone to “go back to China,” began flipping over guests’ plates, spit on a man and then squirted him and his baby with soy sauce.

One of the victims called 911, and officers pulled up to the restaurant to find several people standing outside, covered in food.

When officers contacted the suspect—who was carrying a container of chocolate milk—she became very animated and slapped an officer in the arm.

Officers then arrested the woman and booked her for harassment and assault on an officer.

Fake fund-raisers still soliciting donations for Yellow Ribbon Project

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http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/fake-fund-raisers-still-soliciting-donations-yellow-ribbon-project-201

Two years after their misdeeds were first highlighted, fake fund-raisers are still soliciting donations under the name of the Yellow Ribbon Project.

Ice cream, toys and key chains were recently being sold in public and door to door for between $10 and $20 - but the project said it was not conducting any public fund-raising.

Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday that a group of teenage "Yellow Ribbon Project members" have been trying to sell the items to residents and shopkeepers in Bukit Timah and Holland Village.

The Yellow Ribbon Project has not authorised anyone to do so.

More HDB resale flats being sold with zero COV

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http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/more-hdb-resale-flats-being-sold-with-zero-cov#scpshrtu

More people are selling their Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats in the resale market without a cash premium.

The Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) said transactions involving zero Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) have more than tripled, from 14 in January to 49 in July.

The overall median COV dipped to a low of S$20,000 in July, the lowest since 2011.

SRX now said it is seeing more people selling their flats even below that level - without any cash premium.

Christine Li, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee, said: "Previously, it took about four to six weeks to close a deal. But now, it is taking longer. Some can be as long as four months. The buyer pool is shrinking because of the January cooling measures as well as the ramp up in BTO (Build-to-Order) supply. The seller actually has to compete with the BTOs to offer buyers the same kind of deals they can look for in the market."

According to SRX data, from the beginning of the year till July, 164 zero-COV transactions were recorded.

The top five towns that have seen the most zero-COV transactions are Jurong West, Hougang, Woodlands, Punggol and Sengkang. These are places where new BTO projects were launched by the HDB in the past year.

Property analysts have said that even though HDB resale flats are being sold with zero cash premium at valuation level, property sellers are still likely to make a profit from their transaction.

Nicholas Mak, executive director for research and consultancy at SLP International Property Consultants, said: "If they were to have bought their flats brand new from the government, they would have bought it at a price that is below the current market price. Or even if they were to buy it as resale flats five years ago, during the financial crisis, chances are they would have bought it at a price that is cheaper than today."

COE refinements to be finalised in a few weeks

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http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/coe-refinements-to-be-finalised-in-next-few-weeks#scpshrtu

Tweaks to the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system will be finalised in the coming weeks, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) as it wrapped up its public consultation exercise on Monday.

LTA said it has received diverse views from over 3,700 people who gave feedback.

Most of them agreed that the current way the COEs are categorised -- based on engine capacity -- should be reviewed.

Most felt that categorisation should be based on the Open Market Value (OMV) of the car. More than 60 percent of those who took part in LTA's online survey felt that Category A should be set aside for cars with OMV of not more than S$20,000.

Some voiced concern that the criteria, such as OMV and engine power, could be circumvented.

Others suggested keeping engine capacity as a criterion, but factoring in other criteria such as engine power. They felt this will be good as engine power can be reviewed every few years to keep pace with technological developments.

A majority of those surveyed also supported the proposal to levy a surcharge on multiple-car owners.

But LTA said there was a lack of consensus on whether the levy should be imposed on an individual or a household -- and whether it should be a one-off or a recurring surcharge. There were also concerns that a surcharge could penalise bigger households, and that this could be easily circumvented.

Many also wanted a pay-as-you-bid system for COEs, where every successful bidder pays exactly what he or she has bid.

There was also a strong perception that motor dealers are driving up COE premiums and should be banned from bidding, but some said this would be more inconvenient for buyers.

But others felt this would not help, as long as there is a strong demand for the limited supply of COEs. Some also felt that such a ban could be easily circumvented by buyers who may ask dealers to bid in their name. A good number of buyers also prefer to have the convenience of dealers bidding for them.

LTA said whatever its decisions on the COE refinements, the industry and buyers will be given ample time to adjust.

Expect haze comeback as hot spots spike in Sumatra

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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/spectre-haze-hot-spots-spike

With a “sharp increase” in the number of hot spots detected in parts of Indonesia over the past few days, a shift in the wind direction could bring back the haze, the National Environment Agency (NEA) warned yesterday.

The number of hot spots detected yesterday was 488 — similar to that recorded when Singapore experienced its worst bout of haze on record in June, when the PSI hit 401.

As at 7pm yesterday, the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading was 24 to 32, and the 24-hour PM2.5 reading was 12-15 micrograms per cubic metre.

The NEA said dry weather conditions are expected to prevail in central and southern Sumatra, while the low-level winds over Singapore are expected to blow from the south or south-east.

The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre, hosted by the Meteorological Service Singapore, has placed Sumatra on Alert Level 2 — out of three levels — of its regional warning system for the fire and haze situation. Level 2 is activated when 150 hot spots or more are detected on two consecutive days, with dry weather conditions persisting and prevailing winds blowing towards other ASEAN countries.

The public — including the elderly, pregnant women, children and those with chronic medical conditions — can still continue with normal activities for the day. The NEA said it will update the public if there are any changes in the haze situation.

Ho Yeow Sun received over $500,000 in bonuses, advances

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http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/city-harvest-church-trial-singer-ho-yeow-sun-received-over-500000-bonu

Pop singer Ho Yeow Sun received more than half a million in bonuses and advances, including a $30,000 birthday cash gift and an $80,000 "special performance bonus for hits in the US or the United Kingdom" in 2006.

But to divert attention from some of these extra takings, leaders of City Harvest Church allegedly doctored documents to show that sponsors had given the money to her as "personal gifts".

These details emerged on the first day of the second leg of the trial involving six church leaders accused of misusing millions of church funds. The high-profile trial had resumed after a three- month break.

Yesterday, prosecutors tried to show that Ms Ho's former management company, Xtron Productions, was a puppet company controlled by the church's leadership, including founder Kong Hee, who is her husband.