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

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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.

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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.