A shocking video circulating online shows a man kicking and stomping on another guy multiple times, while the latter lay on the ground with his face covered.
The incident occurred at Golden Mile Complex on Oct 11, at around 3am.
Several Stomp contributors alerted the citizen journalism website to the video, which shows the attacker, who was in a white shirt, shouting at a group of three guys while the victim lying on the ground.
A case of voluntarily causing grievous hurt occurred at Golden Mile Complex on Oct 11, at around 3am. A 25-year-old man was conscious when conveyed to the hospital.
Full story here: https://goo.gl/B2QfPM
A 22-year-old Singaporean, believed to be the man who was seen attacking another guy at Golden Mile Complex, was taken back to the crime at around 2pm today (Oct 15).
A video of the assault, which occurred on Oct 11 at around 3am, triggered many angry comments from netizens after it went viral.
It showed the perpetrator repeatedly kicking and stomping on his victim, who lay on the ground with his face covered.
Police arrested the suspect last night (Oct 14) and are investigating the case of voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
Man repeatedly kicks and stomps on guy during dispute at Golden Mile Complex
Commuters, including those who attended the Downtown Line 3 (DTL3) open house, experienced delays after a train fault at Hillview MRT Station today (Oct 15) at around 1pm.
Hillview station is located on Downtown Line 2.
Stomp contributor Sergio, who was at Bedok North MRT Station, alerted Stomp to the incident and shared a video that he filmed.
There was no train service between Bukit Panjang and Beauty World stations during the delays that lasted for almost an hour.
According to The Straits Times, trains were put on hold down the line, resulting in some trains on the DTL3 being affected.
Commuters were informed of the fault through announcements on board and told to disembark at Ubi station.
Sergio said: "I heard that the trains dwelled longer along all stations of the Downtown Line.
"The staff onboard the trains handled the situation professionally and although it is indeed frustrating to be stuck in such a situation, the staff lessened the anger."
Train services resumed at 1.21pm, SBS Transit said on Facebook.
A young woman's attempt at smuggling drugs across the Singapore-Malaysia border was foiled last week.
The 23-year-old Malaysian was driving alone in a Malaysia-registered car at the Woodlands Checkpoint when Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers stopped her for further checks.
The incident occured at about 8pm on Oct 13, according to an ICA statement.
An ICA officer found a bundle of blue-coloured 'Ice' - which is a form of the potent stimulant drug methamphetamine - that weighed about 208g, inside the rear passenger seat cup holder. It was estimated to be worth over $20,000.
The woman was arrested and referred to the Central Narcotics Bureau for further investigations.
ICA added that Home Team agencies will continue to conduct checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent "attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands."
When a reporter from the Chinese evening daily found her last week, the elderly woman was seated outside the CK departmental store just gazing at the passing crowds.
Right beside her was a market trolley that held her only belongings - a blanket and a few bags.
She has no money and her mobile phone has run out of power, but kind strangers have made sure that she doesn't go hungry.
Although she wanders the streets, her identity card showed a Kim Tian Road address.
Madam Tan and her husband, who died in 2011, ran a char kway teow stall near Orchard Road and Tanglin Road when they were younger, she said.
She lived with her youngest daughter for nine years at her Kim Tian Road flat but they had a falling out.
So, Madam Tan moved to live with another daughter in her Henderson road rental flat.
Photo: Lianhe Wanbao
But when her children suggested sending her to a nursing home after she suffered an injury in March this year, Madam Tan left for the streets.
"I didn't want to lose my freedom, so I chose to sleep outside," she told Lianhe Wanbao.
When asked if she needed help, the elderly woman said that she hopes for a roof over her head as living on the streets is uncomfortable.
However, Madam Tan's daughters told the Chinese evening daily that they found it difficult to get along with their mother because of her temper.
They also struggled to support her with their low incomes.
As Madam expressed a wish to live by herself, her youngest daughter said that she put her up at a backpackers hostel while they looked for a suitable accommodation for her.
She had also given her mother her usual $100 allowance on Oct 7 before the elderly woman went missing.
Photo: Lianhe Wanbao
The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has since found Madam Tan temporary lodging in a welfare home and added that it will provide appropriate assistance to the family after understanding their circumstances.
JAKARTA/BANGKOK - Singapore, the dominant hub for aircraft maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) in southeast Asia, the world's fastest-growing aviation market, is under threat from low-cost rivals in nearby Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
As the cheaper challengers look to muscle in on a lucrative market - with annual output of S$8.9 billion, Singapore accounts for a quarter of all Asia's MRO business - Singapore-based MRO firms are having to scramble higher up the value chain.
With government backing, the maintenance arms of national carriers Garuda Indonesia, Thai Airways International and Malaysia Airlines are looking to follow the example of Singapore Airlines' SIA Engineering Co and boost revenues from providing services to rival carriers.
"This is a real threat for the Singapore-based MRO companies," said Corrine Png, CEO of transport research firm Crucial Perspective.
"The lower end and more labour-intensive heavy maintenance work for the more common aircraft models will face more competition from these locations given their much lower labour costs."
SETTING UP NEXT DOOR
Shares in Garuda Maintenance Facility AeroAsia Tbk (GMF AeroAsia) began trading last Wednesday after the company raised $95 million from an IPO.
The shares fell 9 per cent in the first three days of trading, though Png noted liquidity was hampered by Garuda selling only 10 per cent to the public.
The maintenance offshoot of Indonesia's national carrier wants to raise another $200 million by selling a 20 per cent stake to a potential strategic partner - to help it expand existing operations and build a new maintenance facility on Batam Island - just 31 km (19 miles) off Singapore's coast.
GMF AeroAsia has a longstanding partnership with Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance, which said last month it signed a letter of intent with GMF AeroAsia to "move up" that partnership.
It declined to say whether it planned to buy a stake.
GMF AeroAsia CEO Iwan Joeniarto told Reuters the company aims to be a global top-10 MRO provider by revenue from 2021 - it currently ranks 13th - citing a strategic location and manpower costs a fifth lower than Singapore as its competitive advantages.
He said revenue from the Garuda Group currently makes up close to two-thirds of GMF's total, and he wants to switch that to 40 per cent, with the rest coming in from new customers.
The $50 million Batam facility, targeted to open in 2019, will seek US and European regulatory certifications that would give it a broader customer base, Joeniarto said.
In Thailand, the government wants to turn U-Tapao airport near Pattaya into a maintenance hub with help from investors including Airbus, which signed a memorandum of understanding with Thai Airways in March to develop a major MRO facility.
Kanit Sangsubhan, Secretary-General of Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor Office, said he expected a formal joint venture agreement would be signed in the first quarter of next year.
An Airbus spokesman declined to comment on the timing.
Thai Maintenance, the MRO arm of Thai Airways, does 70 per cent of its work for the national carrier, but that could drop to 50 per cent over time as it attracts outside customers, Kanit said.
"There are plans to eventually spin off Thai Maintenance as its own company," he added.
Malaysia Airlines, which this month gained European approvals to perform major modifications and repairs in avionics, aircraft structure and cabin interiors, intends to take on more third-party contracts over the next 18 months, CEO Peter Bellew said.
Last week, Airbus bought the 60 per cent of Malaysia's Sepang Aircraft Engineering it didn't already own for an undisclosed price.
The Kuala Lumpur-based facility, which has opened a second hangar that can handle two A320s at a time, serves several southeast Asian airlines including Singapore-based low-cost carriers Scoot and Jetstar Asia.
SINGAPORE MOVES HIGHER
SIA Engineering, which now earns only a third of its business from Singapore Airlines, has set up a joint maintenance centre with Philippine low-cost carrier Cebu Air near Manila - a cheaper location than Singapore.
And rival Singapore Technologies Engineering, the world's biggest MRO firm, has a large facility in Guangzhou, China.
As the threat grows at the low-end, the Singapore government is looking to move up the value chain, focusing on research and development and high-tech aerospace manufacturing work in partnership with companies like Rolls-Royce Holdings.
Rolls-Royce, SIA Engineering and the Singapore government are investing up to S$60 million in a joint laboratory to work on advanced manufacturing technologies involving 3D printing and robotic solutions.
Professor Tan Sze Wee, executive director of Singapore's Science and Engineering Research Council, part of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, said the city-state had in the past competed for MRO work based on productivity and cost.
"But the MRO sector as a whole, which leverages on the larger Asia aerospace sector, is a growing pie," he said.
"There are more players coming in from low-cost sites. We will be starting to segment this not just because of productivity or costs but for the more advanced technology. You need the talent to do that, which will take a while for regional countries to catch up."
The incident happened last Thursday (Oct 12) in a secondary school in the north region of Singapore.
In a telephone interview with Stomp, the concerned father, Stomp contributor Jeffrey Pay said that the bullying had been ongoing for nine months.
The male student, from the National Cadet Corps (NCC), would heap insults on Jeffrey's daughter, who was in another uniformed group, calling her 'fat' and criticising her marching.
Said Jeffrey: "In the beginning, she just found it irritating.
"However, gradually she became affected and angry over the remarks.
"I think the boy is just mischievous and doesn't realise the psychological damage he's doing to my daughter."
According to Jeffrey, although he had alerted school staff and even the Ministry of Education (MOE) to the boy's behaviour before, the bullying continued.
On Oct 5, Jeffrey's daughter was helping to arrange furniture in the classroom for her upcoming examinations.
However, she carelessly knocked against the boy's chair, and he allegedly hurled a vulgarity at her.
The incident affected his daughter deeply, Jeffrey revealed.
"She told me that her mind went blank during the examinations.
"She got back the paper later and found out that she really failed.
"She told me that she didn't want to live anymore.
"I told her that she shouldn't give up as it will disappoint her teacher and uniformed group supervisor."
Upset over the constant turmoil that she had been put through, the father wrote emails to the MOE and NCC headquarters.
However, he was told that the school would be in better position to mete out disciplinary actions against the boy.
Jeffrey then called the vice principal of the school to complain about the situation.
He added: "She told me that the school had already counselled the boy, and informed his parents of his actions.
"The school was also delaying his confirmation as a trainee prefect.
"When I heard that, I snapped.
"How can the school still allow this person to be a prefect, a student leader?"
Jeffrey decided to call the police.
After the incident on Oct 12, Jeffery said that both he and his daughter received many 'hate mails' from students and acquaintances of the boy.
However, the numbers have gone down recently, he acknowledged.
A spokesperson for the school told Stomp that since the incident, the school has engaged Jeffrey several times to explain that it has taken counselling, discipline and reconciliation actions.
Said the spokesman: "These actions are in line with our school values, practices, rules and regulations.
"Our purpose is always to educate the students involved so that they will learn from the incident, mend relationships and not make the same mistakes in future."
In response to a Stomp query, a Police spokesman said: "Police confirm that a report was lodged and the complainant has been advised on his legal recourse."
Circles.Life has once again shaken up the telco industry in Singapore with the launch of a 'try-before-you-buy' business model.
Named Circles Switch, consumers can now get a taste of the Circles.Life experience for free before deciding to buy a full plan. Circles Switch offers customers a free SIM-only line with 20 GB monthly local data, 100 minutes of talk-time and 20 SMS messages.
The plan also promises no hidden costs whatsoever - no delivery charges, no registration fees nor SIM card costs.
Photo: Vulcan Post
Running from today till 31 Dec 2017, it is targeted at customers who are about the end their contracts with other telcos, and "are tired of being tied to lock-in contracts and want to experience a new way of life where they can surf, post, game and stream without constantly worrying about busting their monthly data caps or the inflexibility of contracts".
Rameez Ansar, co-founder and director of Circles.Life said: "In March, we shook the market with our 20 GB for $20 data upgrade plan which made bountiful data available to the customer at affordable prices. We are ready to challenge the status quo again and invite others still not on Circles.Life."
"We want people to feel the power of an end-to-end digital telco service. We want people to feel the power of a Circles.Life no-contract plan over so called 'subsidised' 24-month contract plans. We want people to feel the power of 20 GB /month. Circles Switch makes it possible for people to try out our service for free. We are doing this because we are confident they will switch to a full Circles.Life plan."
With Circles Switch, consumers will automatically switch over to a full Circles.Life base plan after the free period is over.
Those who wish to cancel the plan would need to do it anytime before the free period is over to avoid being charged.
INCREASING LOCAL MARKET SHARE, INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
15-month-old Circles.Life is confident of hitting their local market share target of three to five per cent 2 years earlier than expected.
With a focus on customer empowerment and customer satisfaction, they have managed to clinch an industry-leading Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 54, - "significantly above the competitive average of -25".
The telco also has plans to go regional starting 2018, with Indonesia confirmed as their next stop.
They are currently operating at Block 71 in Jakarta and are focused on building the local team there.
Added Ansar, "We aim to launch our mobile service in Indonesia by next year."
In a report by The Straits Times, SMRT has announced that its maintenance team "will have their bonuses cut" - according to SMRT chairman Seah Moon Ming on Monday (Oct 16). This followed the team's failure to properly maintain a flood-prevention system at Bishan MRT station.
In the report, Seah said that it was a maintenance lapse which had led to the flood in a tunnel between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations, rendering services along a stretch of the North-South Line inoperable for 20 hours.
On that note, SMRT has already removed and redeployed senior executive Ng Tek Poo, who was in charge of maintenance and systems as a result of the incident.
Flooded tunnels caused massive disruption to train services, affecting thousands of commuters
In a press conference to address the disruption on Oct 7 and 8, SMRT group chief executive Desmond Kuek said that Ng was removed so that an investigation into the team's entire workflow, processes and culture could be done in a more open and transparent way.
In fact, Kuek commented: "It may not end up as one person. There will be a whole process of disciplinary proceedings and investigations that we will have to allow to take its proper course."
Apologising to commuters for the disruption, Kuek said that since the massive MRT breakdowns in December 2011, SMRT has "gone into overdrive" to address maintenance issues arising from age-related serviceability issues.
This included beefing up the SMRT Trains team by increasing staff strength from 3,500 to 5,300 currently. Additionally, Kuek highlighted that the number of engineers has tripled to nearly 500 now.
He added in the report that performance incentives were also tied to a basket of measures, of which safety and reliability was given the "greatest weight".
Kuek said that there has been much criticism about the rail operator's work culture. He commented: "Indeed, many of our major disruptions in the past have been attributed in some part, or all, to human error or failure. We regret that this is so."
While much progress has been made to inculcate a positive work culture in SMRT, there remain some "deep-seated cultural issues" within the company that has needed more time than anticipated to root-out, he remarked. However, Kuek said that it would be wrong to paint everyone in SMRT with the "same brush".
On that note, he said: "Nine in 10 of our people are incredibly committed, professional and commuter-focused."
"They are Singaporeans too, with family members and friends who commute, and work hard under challenging conditions to deliver the best possible public transport service for all our commuters," he continued.
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Two Singapore-based universities, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS), emerged at the top of the latest QS Asia University Rankings released today, reaffirming the country's excellence in tertiary education.
The two Singapore-based universities were followed by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) [located in Hong Kong] which was ranked third, while Universiti Malaya (UM) [located in Malaysia], was ranked 24th, and the Singapore Management University [located in Singapore] came in at 71st place.
TOP 10 UNIVERSITIES IN ASIA
1. Nanyang Technological University (NTU) [location: Singapore]
2. National University of Singapore (NUS) [location: Singapore]
3. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) [location: Hong Kong]
4. KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology [location: South Korea]
5. University of Hong Kong (HKU) [location: Hong Kong]
6. Tsinghua University [location: China]
7. Fudan University [location: China]
8. City University of Hong Kong [location: Hong Kong]
9. Peking University [location: China]
10. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) [location: Hong Kong]
Featuring 450 of the top universities in Asia, the ranking released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is based on a methodology which considers 10 performance indicators, including factors considered particularly important in this part of the world, such as the number of staff with a PhD, and each university's proportion of inbound and outbound exchange students.
Along with the rankings, QS also provided a deeper analysis of the top 10 universities, here are the top five.
1. NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY (NTU)
Climbing two places and knocking the National University of Singapore out of the top spot this year, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is now the highest-ranked university both in Singapore and Asia. The tertiary institution received the highest score in the whole ranking for citations per faculty member (a measure of research impact).
A young university, NTU was established in 1991, and has consistently been ranked first in the QS Top 50 Under 50. NTU was also featured among the world's best for 31 subjects, including top 10 positions for chemical and civil engineering.
The university has a student population of about 32,400 and has the largest university campus in Singapore, at 200 hectares.
2. NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (NUS)
National University of Singapore (NUS) students boarding the campus shuttle bus.Photo: The Straits Times
Despite dropping a place to rank second in Asia in 2018, National University of Singapore (NUS) has nonetheless received the highest score in the entire ranking for employer reputation, and is only one place behind NTU for citations per faculty member.
NUS was featured among the world's best for 36 subjects, including positions in the top 10 for chemical and civil engineering, chemistry, materials science, architecture and statistics.
Founded in 1905 as the King Edward VII College of Medicine, today NUS has around 38,600 students, almost 10,000 of whom are studying at postgraduate level.
3. THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (HKUST)
Up one place this year, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is another one of the youngest top universities in Asia in this list, having been founded in 1991.
The university was also featured in the QS Top 50 Under 50, ranked in second place, just after NTU.
HKUST has around 14,200 students and boasts an attractive 60-hectare campus in an area of natural beauty on the Clear Water bay peninsula, a short drive from central Hong Kong.
4. KAIST - KOREA ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Climbing two places this year, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology was founded in 1971 as the first research-orientated science and engineering university in South Korea.
It's located in Daejeon, a city known for its innovation in science and education, and also has a campus in capital city Seoul.
KAIST currently has around 10,600 students, with a larger proportion of postgraduates than undergraduates.
5. UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG (HKU)
Despite dropping three places to rank fifth in Asia this year, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) is nonetheless consistently one of the top universities in Asia.
HKU is Hong Kong's oldest university, having been established in 1911, and has since gained international recognition for its achievements as a research-led comprehensive university.
HKU has an enrollment of 28,744 students, including 9,215 international students.
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