Jessie J - Flashlight

China’s new payments system points way to de-dollarised world

The mainland recently launched the China International Payments System (“CIPS”), enlisting an initial group of 19 domestic and international banks. As a cross-border yuan payments system it represents a major step in Beijing’s ambition to increase the distribution and improve the efficiency and international popularity of its currency. But, it is more than a payment transaction regime.

40 Bad Habits That Give You Belly Fat

Yahoo

10 Top Afternoon High Teas in Singapore

Yahoo

Wine investors cry foul over dealings with 2 companies

They invested a total of more than $500,000 with Singapore-based wine investment companies, The Bottled Wealth Holdings (TBW) and Australian Wine Index (AWI), from as early as 10 years ago. Both firms were placed on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Investor Alert List in August this year as complaints grew.

CIA pulled officers from Beijing after massive cybertheft of US federal personnel records

The CIA pulled a number of officers from the US Embassy in Beijing as a precautionary measure following the massive online theft of personal data of federal employees, current and former US officials said.

Legal complaint filed against Valencia’s owner

Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, who owns Spanish club Valencia CF, has been hit by a legal complaint by former club vice-president Miguel Zorio.

The Phuket property nightmare

The sparkling seas and warm beaches of Phuket are a magnet for sun-seeking holiday-makers and, increasingly, for foreigners seeking a comfortable and cost-efficient retirement. More than 100,000 foreigners have settled on the island - though some now bitterly regret it.

BBC

Ten reflections on GE 2015

On Cooling-off Day, a good friend invited me to lunch with a group of eminent Singaporeans. I decided to use them as a focus group and asked them to predict whether the PAP’s popular vote would go up or down.

Chinese American scientists reveal agony of being accused by US of passing secrets to China as charges are dropped

Two Chinese American scientists who were indicted by the United States for spying only to see their charges abruptly abandoned spoke out Tuesday against the ordeal they had been put through.

Chinese firms accused of theft sue for defamation

Two Singaporean men are being sued for defamation after allegedly claiming that three Chinese companies and two executives had embezzled state-owned assets in China.

The suit is being brought by Qingdao Bohai Construction Group, Qingjian Group, its Singapore subsidiary Qingjian Realty, and Chinese nationals Du Bo and Yuan Hongjun.

US prosecutors drop fraud charges against professor accused of offering secret technology to China

Federal prosecutors sought to dismiss charges on Friday against a Temple University physics professor who was accused of scheming to provide secret US technology to China after being confronted with statements from physicists that investigators had misunderstood the technology.

Ipoh: A new haven

Link

Singapore's army of online 'trolls' at front line of campaign to shape opinion at home, in West

Deep inside a four-story building in the Presidential palace, hundreds of workers tap away at computers on the front lines of an information war, say those who have been inside. Known as "PAP IB"" the men and women work 12-hour shifts around the clock, flooding the Internet with propaganda aimed at stamping PAP's vision on Singapore, and the world.

‘What reconciliation?’ Chinese WW2 veteran refuses Japanese firm’s offer to pay for his forced labour

A Chinese veteran who was spirited away to Japan as a forced labourer to work at Mitsubishi during the Pacific war has come to Hong Kong to tell his story, after he refused the Japanese conglomerate’s offer of a “reconciliation agreement”.

How AIM-AHPETC Affects Your Life and Your Town Council

Dirty & shameless PAP in the $2 AIM scandal.

Link

China property developers to buy back Tianjin blast homes

People whose apartments were damaged in explosions in the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin can sell their homes to a group of property developers or choose to have the government renovate them, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Improper activities by American officials

Singapore-United States ties were roiled in September 1965 after it was revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had offered the Singapore Government US$10 million to hush up the arrest of an American intelligence officer.

China’s ‘debt termites’

There is no better metaphor for the economic challenge facing China than the futuristic architectural masterpiece designed to house the country’s state television network, CCTV.

Xi faces resistance to political agenda

On the morning of July 24, Hebei party chief Zhou Benshun attended a meeting to promote one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature projects, a plan to boost growth by building a “supercity” that would integrate Beijing with the region around it. But by the evening, Zhou’s career was over, and he faced years in jail after the party announced it was investigating him on corruption charges.

Thai police look into Turkish connection in Bangkok blast

Thai police on Thursday said they were looking at arrivals of Turkish nationals in the days before a Bangkok bomb attack that killed 20 people, but said they had not ruled out any group or possibility.

Reuters

Filipino who made ‘xenophobic, inflammatory’ remarks convicted under Sedition Act

Philippine national Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 28, who made disparaging remarks about Singaporeans on Facebook earlier this year, pleaded guilty to three charges on Wednesday (Aug 26).

Japan warns China against frequent yuan devaluations to prop up economy

The irony in his statement was not lost on analysts, who pointed out that last week’s two successive daily yuan devaluations by the People’s Bank of China had resulted in only a 3 per cent drop in the yuan-dollar rate, while Japan’s own currency, the yen, has crashed 35 per cent in value over the past two years.

Fuck the Japs.

Asian dating apps from Peekawoo to Paktor offer group dates, group chats and chaperones

Move over Tinder - a crop of dating apps in smartphone-addicted Asia are offering to recruit friends for group dates or send along a chaperone to steer the course of romance.

Retooling Singapore’s economic engine for the next lap

As Singapore surveys the future landscape on its 50th birthday, it has come to the striking realisation that the staying on the frontier of the global economy will entail having a markedly different game plan from that of playing catch-up.

Irish ducks all the rage in Singapore restaurants

Ducks from Ireland are all the rage with restaurants here, with at least 13 serving them.

China’s jobseekers think local as Beijing’s policy switch takes shine off foreign firms

To be, or not to be? That was the question facing Chinese railway signalling engineer William Shen for three years: should he stay where he was, working for a well-known German manufacturing conglomerate, or move on and join a private Chinese firm formed only six years ago?

China plan to expand importance of Singapore

In response to expected flat world trade growth abroad and moderate economic activity at home, China is packaging a series of initiatives to help bolster both. The plans will significantly expand Singapore’s importance to South-east Asia’s financial, trade and logistics services.

Thailand ‘exploring possible Uygur revenge plot’ in Bangkok bomb attack investigation

The probe on who could be behind the deadly blast in central Bangkok is focusing on a revenge motive by Uygur militants as it has now emerged that Thai authorities received intelligence that Chinese tourists could be a target of attacks.

Not so sweet on sugar daddy dating sites

“Sugar dating” sites, which pair young women with rich older men willing to pay lavishly for companionship, have, in recent years, begun targeting people in Singapore. And hundreds have been signing up, leading to some to call for them to be banned as they could draw young women into prostitution.

Abe Stokes History Wars by Avoiding Apology

The Diplomat

Should the United States Be Blamed for Japan’s Historical Revisionism?

Given the controversy surrounding Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, it is perhaps worthwhile to briefly reexamine some of the root causes that lead to conservative Japanese revisionism.

The Diplomat

WWII: how did Japan and Germany become global powerhouses?

Germany and Japan rose from the ashes of World War II to become global economic powerhouses in a few decades. But how did they achieve this remarkable feat so quickly, and what is the legacy of these parallel economic "miracles" today?

AFP

The issue of US 'neutrality' in South China Sea disputes

However, China will likely consider this statement in the context of other US policy statements and actions on these (and other) issues between them, as well as the positions of the disputants. In doing so, China is likely to draw the conclusion that the US is being disingenuous and hypocritical and is actually supporting rival claimants against it.

WWII wounds in Asia continue to fester

Unless Mr Abe makes a really dramatic gesture - for example, going in atonement to Nanjing and/or bowing in front of the Seoul memorial to the sex slaves - it is unlikely that the Japanese national consciousness will be awakened and hence, that genuine reconciliation will occur.

‘Made by China’ is what Chinese consumers want now

The rapid inroads made in China by domestic smartphone makers like Xiaomi, for example, suggest danger ahead for international brands. There’s a very real risk that the emergence of Chinese consumers will be more of a local story than a global one. Overseas companies that take them for granted do so at their own peril.

Men need more sex than women so decriminalise UK sex trade

Decriminalising prostitution in Britain could reduce levels of rape and sexual assaults on women, a think tank said, which described attempts to control the sex trade as ineffective and a waste of public money.

Claims that Mahathir’s cronies donated to opposition

Business tycoons close to former premier Mahathir Mohamad have been accused of giving money to the opposition in the 2013 general election, as questions continued to swirl around the US$700 million (S$960 million) donation deposited into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal accounts.

Japan revisionists deny WW2 sex slave atrocities

BBC

Luxury brands cut China sales forecasts

China’s economic slowdown is casting a long shadow over the glittering world of global luxury brands.

Jungle Vegas: How China’s gamblers are pouring into a casino in Laos’ notorious Golden Triangle

It’s nine in the morning and the gaming tables are still going strong. As croupiers take bets from the overnight die-hards, several exhausted gamblers sleep nearby, one still clutching a wad of betting slips.

China’s military needs to ‘upgrade weaponry, extend surveillance into western Pacific’

China’s People’s Liberation Army needs to broaden its air surveillance and attack capabilities to the western Pacific including the area near Japan to ensure its command of the air, according to an official study.

Singapore motorists entering Malaysia must register vehicles; RM20 entry fee starts on Oct 1

Singapore vehicles entering Malaysia are required to be registered with Malaysia’s Road Transport Department (RTD) or they would be refused entry in a new rule that will come into effect on Sept 1.

US spied on Japan government, companies: WikiLeaks

The US spied on Japanese politicians, its top central banker and major firms including conglomerate Mitsubishi, according to documents released by WikiLeaks on Friday, in the latest revelation about Washington's snooping on allies.

AFP

Gaza: 'Israeli war crimes' followed soldier's capture - Amnesty

Amnesty International says there is "strong evidence" Israel committed war crimes in Gaza following the capture of a soldier by Hamas in last year's war.

BBC

Japanese firm poised to apologise and pay compensation to Chinese wartime labourers

Japanese firm Mitsubishi Materials has decided to apologise and pay compensation of 100,000 yuan each to Chinese wartime labourers and their families, sources with direct knowledge of their negotiations said Thursday.

U.S. Fears Data Stolen by Chinese Hacker Could Identify Spies

American officials are concerned that the Chinese government could use the stolen records of millions of federal workers and contractors to piece together the identities of intelligence officers secretly posted in China over the years.

China’s historic quest for a peaceful rise

China is the first new great global power to emerge in over a century.

Ex-PetroSaudi exec fingers Malaysians in 1MDB scandal

Thai police said Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo, who is in custody and expected to be charged with blackmailing his former employer, PetroSaudi, has given a full confession and identified about 10 people who bought documents from him to use to attack Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Former agent: I was abandoned by MI5 after breakdown

A former MI5 spy has broken cover to give the BBC an unprecedented account of his life in service - and describe his anger at the way he was treated.

BBC

China meat smuggling crackdown stokes risky underground trade

On a dusty industrial lot in northern Hong Kong, a group of travellers sheltered in the shade away from the pressing July heat, packing old cloth bags and backpacks with Styrofoam to protect a more precious cargo: smuggled meat.

Wartime 'Abenesia' bad for Japan's international reputation

With the world watching, in his historic address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, the first ever by a Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe surprised nobody by missing a great opportunity to dispel worries and tensions he raises with his revisionist views on history.

CNN

Poor intelligence, porous borders stymie Chinese control of Uighurs

Reuters

Japan cinema legend Miyazaki joins protests against move to widen military role

Japan cannot use military strength to counter China, Hayao Miyazaki, famed director of the Oscar-winning film "Spirited Away", said on Monday, as he joined a chorus of protest against a change in Japan's security policy.

Reuters

Japan should be explicit over war sorrow: animator Miyazaki

Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki, whose last film was accused by some South Koreans of glamourising war, said Monday Japan needed to clearly state its remorse over its imperialist past.

Clamping down on egotourism

It used to be fine to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower or Mount Everest, but that's not good enough any more. Now tourists have to put themselves in the picture. It's about 'me', not about the place that I visit.

Turkish embassies in Southeast Asia ‘gave fake travel documents to Uygurs fleeing China’

Turkish embassies in Southeast Asia have been accused of helping Uygurs from the restive Xinjiang region to flee from China by issuing questionable travelling documents, Chinese state media reported on Friday.

Martial arts star Yu Chenghui passes away

Yahoo

Reopen murder case of AmBank founder

Malaysian opposition veteran Lim Kit Siang has asked the police to reopen its investigation into the murder of Arab-Malaysian Development Bank (AmBank) founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi.

Singapore’s freedom of speech in question: former NTU journalism professor

Yahoo

NUS sacks law professor, Sundram Peter Soosay, who attacked cabby

The National University of Singapore on Monday (Jun 29) terminated the appointment of Sundram Peter Soosay, the assistant law professor who was sentenced to four months jail last Friday for punching and causing hurt to a taxi driver.

Dino Petrus Johannes van Deijzen, cabby attacker’s jail term raised to 3 months

He beat up a cabby who threatened to call the police if he did not pay the fare, failed to apologise, and instead portrayed himself as the victim.

Torture ‘not okay’: Former FBI agent

As for those who say torture is justified, in light of the people that lose their lives in terror attacks, Mr Soufan said: “Your job is not to prosecute and not to take revenge to get the truth and get the information. So just because somebody murdered, somebody raped, does not mean it is okay to torture that individual.

Tired of protest and conflict, Hongkongers give July 1 pro-democracy march the cold shoulder

As thousands of Hong Kong protesters flocked to Victoria Park for the July 1 pro-democracy march, some chose to give the annual ritual the cold shoulder.

El Nino and its effects on the world

Yahoo

Most of the out-of-date frozen meat found in China from United States

Expired frozen meat smuggled into China, sometimes decades old, is mainly old food reserves from the United States and is distributed to smaller cities around the country before it is sold to food stalls and small restaurants, according to a newspaper report.

Japan’s Unesco bid omits history of slave labour, former POWs claim

Former US prisoners of war have expressed “serious reservations” about Tokyo’s application to have several industrial facilities recognised as World Heritage sites, saying many were used as “industrial prisons” for slave labourers in the Second World War.

Dark condos point to supply overhang

A year after lensmen from The Business Times put together a photo essay on “dark condos” to highlight the rising vacancies in the private housing market, they have gone in search of an update of the situation.

Beijing to move local government out of city centre

For more than 65 years, government officials in Beijing have tried to emulate China’s imperial rulers, working and living in the city centre near the emperor’s old palace, the Forbidden City.

About 60 people demonstrate outside Singapore Trade Office in Taipei; call for Amos Yee’s release

About 60 people demonstrated outside the Singapore Trade Office in Taipei on Friday morning, calling for teenage blogger Amos Yee to be freed.

One driver explains how he is helping to rip off Uber in China

James Li was unhappy with his pay as a security guard in Shanghai, so he started driving on weekends for Uber Technologies Inc. He’s almost tripled his pay - in part by scamming the company.

5 things you might not know about Buddhism

There are around 488 million Buddhists in the world - or about 7 per cent of the global population - making it the fourth largest religion in the world, according to the Pew Research Center (2012). Buddhism began in Asia, and the vast majority of all Buddhists (nearly 99 per cent) still live in the Asia Pacific region. Only two other regions – North America (3.9 million) and Europe (1.3 million) – have more than 1 million Buddhists.

Yahoo

Pakistan privacy activists slam alleged Internet hacking by British intelligence as unethical

Pakistani rights campaigners have urged Islamabad to take action to protect the privacy of its citizens after leaked top-secret documents appeared to show British intelligence had gained access to almost all the country’s Internet users.

Law firm in Dallas Buyers Club action accused of bullying tactics

Lawyers representing film studio had used threats of criminal proceedings to advance civil claims, says NGO

Dutchman Dino Petrus Johannes van Deijzen jailed three weeks for attacking cabby

Another white trash giving the same lame excuse that he acted out of character for the assault.

Housing glut to worsen before tapering from 2017: UOB report

Singapore’s housing glut will worsen in the near future as more public and private units come on stream and only start to ease from 2017, with the government potentially reviewing property cooling measures, a report by UOB Global Economics and Markets Research said.

Meili Snow Mountain

Meili Snow Mountain (梅里雪山) on Yunnan's border with Tibet has many names, and depending on who is viewing its awe-inspiring grandeur, represents many different things. Soaring to heights of over six kilometers above sea level, the massif is as mysterious as it is immense.

GoKunming

The women seeking rich older men to pay their university fees

"It's been euphemistically referred to as "mutually beneficial, transactional dating" but is the growing world of "sugar daddy" relationships just a sanitised term for sex work?

BBC

Asian Migrants Say Australia Paid Smugglers to Turn Back

Australia is committing bribery.

Almost 200 academics sign petition urging Abe to apologise for Japan’s wartime past

Japanese academics have urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to renew apologies for the country’s imperialist past and offer to compensate victims of its wartime brothel system, in the latest intervention from educationalists.

When Americans Ruled Beijing

The Americans, like all other allied nations, were also heavily engaged in looting and pillaging. A U.S. diplomat, Herbert G. Squiers, filled several railroad cars with loot. Assaults on civilians were also not uncommon.  For example, Stephen Dwyer, a U.S. Marine, forced his way into a Chinese home wielding a bludgeon to “brutally assault and strike a Chinese child of tender years… driving it from its home and thereby hastening its death.” He then went on to rape the two women living in the house.

The Diplomat

Japan emperor's WWII 'remorse' a prod to Abe

Link

Qigong gaining popularity as a healing tool in the West

Qigong is a thousand-year-old discipline that integrates physical postures, breathing techniques and focused intention to heal the body and mind. Some of its therapeutic benefits, scientifically proven in China, are now being studied and promoted in the West.

Link

Asia wants positive US-China ties: Singapore's PM Lee

Every country in Asia hopes that the relationship between the United States and China will be positive, and no one wants to have to pick sides between the two giants, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday.

Heirs of the ‘Secret War’ in Laos

It marks the treachery of the United States government, which went into an unknown country, waged years of war, and then dropped everything in a moment’s notice.

Today, most Americans know nothing about the Secret War. A classified operation, C.I.A. officials easily terminated the effort when everything went awry. It was a disposable war, intended to look like it never happened.

Japanese academics urge 'comfort women' reckoning

Japanese academics have called on the conservative government to face up to its responsibility over "comfort women", echoing an open letter from leading foreign scholars urging an honest accounting for wartime wrongdoing.

Link

4 Reasons Why China Is No Threat to South China Sea Commerce

US diplomacy is not served by exaggerating or inventing military threats, such as threats to commercial shipping.

The Diplomat

NSA planned hack of Google app store to plant spyware on phones

The US National Security Agency (NSA) developed plans to hack into data links to app stores operated by Google and Samsung to plant spyware on smartphones, a media report said Thursday.

Abe’s Japan Cannot Apologize for the Pacific War

Yasukuni Shrine will continue to compromise any apology that Japan’s leaders can offer.

Link

Strangled by Ivy

The first part of my advice squarely parallels what William Deresiewicz, former professor at Yale University, mainly wants to convey in his book released last year, Excellent Sheep. In it, he argues Ivy-League students lack imagination, avoid risk, and are more likely to conform. Those who get into Harvard are indeed excellent and driven, but the system also makes them "anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose." The madness of credentialism as well as lust for prestige and success drive students to head "meekly in the same direction, great at what they're doing but with no idea why they're doing it."

Link

Abe’s refusal to offer apology diminishes Japan

China and South Korea’s ire over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech to the US Congress is to be expected, given that he chose to gloss over Japan’s war of aggression in East Asia during World War II.

The rise of China's sugar daddies and a 'broker for gold diggers'

More than 100,000 men join website hooking up the mature and affluent with younger partners

Japan academics call on Tokyo to face history

A group of nearly 200 academics, including Pulitzer Prize winners, has published an open letter calling on Japan to face up to its World War II crimes, including its system of sex slavery.

Link

Letter

Free Parking in Singapore

11 Car Parks in Singapore You Didn’t Know Had Free Parking

Link

Does Australia have double standards for Bali Nine duo?

BBC

China 'seriously concerned' at New Zealand hack attempt report

China's Foreign Ministry expressed serious concern on Monday after a newspaper reported that New Zealand and U.S. intelligence services planned to hack into a data link between Chinese government buildings in Auckland.

Reuters

New Zealand PM happy to talk to China about spy claims

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Monday invited Chinese officials to quiz him about reports that Wellington worked with US intelligence on a plan to hack Chinese diplomatic communications.

Link

Revealed: the team behind China’s Operation Fox Hunt against graft suspects hiding abroad

Man leading hunt for corrupt officials overseas reveals the qualities that make his team tick

Former Filipino nurse charged with sedition and giving false info to police

Filipino Ed Mundsel Bello Ello, who was sacked by Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), faces two charges of publishing a seditious comment on his Facebook account and three of lying to the police.

If Only—To The Memory Of Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015)

Catherine Lim