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Teo Chee Hean: No Indication Of Heightened Threat To Singapore From ISIS

There is no indication of a heightened threat to Singapore specific to the Republic’s support to the coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), said Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean in Parliament on Wednesday (Jan 29).

However, the violence in Syria and Iraq continues and raises the overall threat level in every country, as ISIS still attracts extremists and encourages its overseas supporters to carry out attacks on home soil, using all means available, Mr Teo said.

He was responding to a question posed by MP Alex Yam Ziming on whether there were heightened threat to Singapore, and whether additional measures are required to address issues of self-radicalisation.

ADDRESSING IDEOLOGY

On the second question, Mr Teo said self-radicalisation is a problem as it can lead to “lone-wolf” attacks.

“We have had instances of Singaporeans becoming self-radicalised even before the Syrian conflict. ISIS has, however, worsened the threat through its widespread and effective use of social media to radicalise and recruit foreign fighters and supporters,” he said.

There is growing international recognition of the need to “deal upstream with the ideology that fuels jihadist terrorism”, said Mr Teo, who added Singapore will be hosting the East Asia Summit Symposium on Religious Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration in April this year.

“The Symposium will share best practices among participating countries and build capability to counter the terrorists’ radical ideology,” he said.

Source: www.channnelnewsasia.com

January 30, 2015
More Digital Speed Enforcement Cameras To Be Installed By Year End

Speeding motorists will soon find it harder to slip past the authorities, with 20 digital speed cameras to be installed at 11 locations around Singapore by the end of the year.

Six of the 11 locations already have mobile speed laser cameras, while the remaining five have no speed cameras. The colourfully-painted digital speed cameras, which will complement the mobile speed laser cameras, are able to operate around the clock, even during inclement weather. These cameras will also have enhanced capabilities to better identify speeding vehicles.

This was announced by the Traffic Police today (Jan 29), as it revealed that there has been a 6.5 per cent increase in speeding violations, adding that the offence is the major cause of fatal and injury accidents.

There were 278,545 accidents last year with 42 related fatalities, up from 261,540 in 2013 with 39 fatalities.

Describing the offence as “one of the very bad habits motorists (in Singapore) have”, Assistant Commissioner (AC) Sam Tee, the Traffic Police Commander, said the police are working harder to reduce the number of speeding violations.

The police are also continuing with the replacement of film red light cameras with digital ones, with 30 more to be up by Sept 30, adding to the 120 already in place.

There were 971,871 vehicles on the road last year. The number of fatal traffic accidents and fatalities, which has been on a downward trend, has dipped. There were 149 fatal accidents last year, compared with 150 in 2013, while the number of fatalities fell to 154 from 160 in 2013. In 2012 and 2011, there were 162 and 192 fatal accidents, respectively.

The number of fatal accidents that involve running the red light also fell last year to four from eight in 2013.

Other concerns raised by the Traffic Police include the increase in the number of elderly pedestrians killed on the road — from 17 in 2013 to 25 last year. These were mainly caused by motorists who were not alert and turning vehicles that failed to give way to pedestrians when traffic lights were in the favour of pedestrians.

And of the 25 elderly pedestrian fatalities recorded last year, seven occurred while they were jaywalking.

AC Tee said this is an area of serious concern, given Singapore’s ageing population. He said more efforts would be put into educating the elderly on how to look after themselves on the road.

“The hearing and observation skills (of the elderly) are different from those who are more able bodied. We also urge road users to pay more attention to them,” he said.

There were fewer persons arrested for drink-driving last year following a step up in enforcement operations — from 3,019 in 2013 to 2,954 last year — but the number of injury accidents rose 2.5 per cent, from 7,598 cases in 2013 to 7,791 cases last year. The number of fatal accidents due to drink-driving dipped from 14 to 10 cases last year.

The number of motorcyclists and pillion riders injured in accidents rose 5.7 per cent to 4,631 last year.

AC Tee said motorists must realise that every traffic rule violation poses a danger to themselves and to other road users.

Here’s where the digital speed cameras will be:

AYE towards City

AYE towards Jurong

Boon Lay Way towards Commonwealth Avenue West

Boon Lay Way towards Jalan Boon Way

Bukit Batok Road towards Chua Chu Kang Road

Bukit Batok Road towards Jurong Town Hall Road

BKE towards PIE

BKE towards Woodlands

Holland Road towards Farrer Road

Holland Road towards Grange Road

Loyang Avenue towards Tampines Avenue 7

PIE towards ECP

PIE towards Tuas

SLE towards BKE

SLE towards CTE

Upper Thomson Road towards Lornie Road

Upper Thomson Road towards Sembawang Road

Yishun Avenue 1 towards Lentor Avenue

Yishun Avenue 2 towards Lentor Avenue

Yishun Avenue 2 towards Sembawang Road

Source:www.todayonline.com

January 30, 2015
10 Catholic Priests In Spain Charged Over Sexual Abuse Of Teenage Altar Boy

A Spanish judge charged 10 Catholic priests over the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage altar boy, court papers showed Wednesday, in a case in which Pope Francis intervened.

Their accuser, now aged 25, says he was raped and made to perform sex acts with priests at a villa with a swimming pool, according to a written ruling by the judge in the southern city of Granada.

It is the latest in a series of paedophilia scandals involving members of the Catholic Church, and the biggest such legal case known so far in Spain.

Judge Antonio Moreno formally accused 10 priests and two lay people of sexually abusing the boy or being complicit in such acts from 2004 to 2007.

The victim alleges “continuous sexual abuse by a group of priests of the diocese of Granada, from 2004 when he was 14 to 2007 when he was 17.”

The young man said he became an altar boy at the age of seven at the church presided by the leader of the group and was later invited to houses run by the priests.

The lead priest made the boy give him massages, which led to a series of acts of sexual abuse, the ruling said.

The victim said the group’s leader told him he had a promising career as a priest ahead of him and chided him for resisting, according to the ruling. It said the priest described himself as being like a father to the boy.

The young man, identified in the ruling as a member of the Catholic institution Opus Dei, now suffers anxiety and is undergoing psychological treatment, it said.

It is the most serious such case ever in Spain “in terms of the numbers of abusers and the system of abuse,” said Jose Manuel Vidal, head of religious news website Religion Digital, which first reported the affair.

“They set up a kind of sect within the church itself.”

– Pope steps in –

The case was opened in early November and the judge had ordered investigations to be kept secret until he issued the ruling indicting the suspects. He has yet to rule whether some of the alleged deeds happened too long ago to be tried.

Pope Francis revealed after the case was launched that he had ordered a Church investigation when the unidentified man wrote a letter telling him of the abuse.

“I called the person and I told him, ‘Go to the bishop tomorrow,’ and then I wrote to the bishop and told him to start an investigation,” Francis told reporters on November 25.

The Argentine pontiff said the case cause him “very great pain, but the truth is the truth and we should not hide it.”

At least one other person now aged 44 has also accused one of the priests of abuse in the early 1990s.

The Archdiocese of Granada said in mid-November that it had suspended a number of priests pending the court probe.

The Archbishop of Granada Francisco Javier Martinez and several other priests prostrated themselves on the floor of the city’s cathedral during a mass in November in a gesture of apology to victims of abuse.

Pope Francis has taken a tough stance on clerical child abuse since taking over in 2013 from Benedict XVI.

But a victims’ support group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the pope should be tougher.

“The judge in the case has made it clear that covering up child rape is a despicable crime,” it said in a statement on Wednesday reacting to the Granada ruling.

“Pope Francis should send the message that this behaviour is not going to be tolerated in his Church by immediately firing Granada’s Archbishop.”

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

January 30, 2015
Khaw Boon Wan: Plans For Buddhist Temple and Commercial Columbarium In Sengkang Will Not Proceed

Singapore’s minister for national development Khaw Boon Wan on Thursday said he would not allow plans for a Buddhist temple and commercial columbarium in Sengkang to proceed. He also said his ministry would “find a way” to deliver the Chinese temple the land was originally earmarked for.

Responding to multiple questions filed by three different MPs, he said in Parliament that it was the first time the government allowed a secular company to win the tender for the plot of land in Sengkang’s Fernvale estate, located near to two upcoming Build-To-Order HDB projects as well as an executive condominium.

The case of the Sengkang Chinese Temple plot raised the ire of Singaporeans who had purchased flats under the project — the company, Eternal Pure Land, opted to build a Buddhist temple with a commercial columbarium on the area, plans that would-be residents said they did not know about before they opted to purchase homes there.

Several requested refunds, expressing concern that the presence of the columbarium would impact the resale value of their flats, while others said they did not want to expose their children to “these things so young in their lives”, according to previous local media reports on the issue. Some 400 disgruntled people also attended a dialogue earlier this month with MP Lam Pin Min, who oversees the area.

Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Khaw said the tender process, in place since 1991, has always allowed both religious organisations and secular companies to participate, because religious organisations often form companies to engage in such tenders on their behalf.

“The assumption is that only companies affiliated to religious organisations would participate in such tenders,” he said.

The minister explained that the tender was awarded to Eternal Pure Land with the impression that the company was a vehicle for a religious organisation to build a Chinese temple, noting that a commercial columbarium is different from the columbarium services provided by religious organisations alongside temples.

“We now understand that [Eternal Pure Land] is actually a private company without any religious affiliation. From what we know, the plan of the company is to run a commercial columbarium on the site,” he said. “This is not in line with our plan for the Places of Worship site.”

The company had placed a winning bid of $5.2 million for the plot of land in July last year.

“Having reached such a situation, I’ll find a way to try to unwind this,” he continued. “The key point is for that Sengkang site we want the Chinese temple and we will deliver that, for that Sengkang site we do not want a commercial columbarium and we won’t have one.”

Khaw said his ministry is currently reviewing the existing land tender process for places of worship, working with religious groups to tighten eligibility requirements for tenderers.

“The Sengkang temple case has highlighted the necessity for such a review. I will provide more information when the review is completed,” he said.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

January 30, 2015
Reforms And Reshuffles As New King Ascends To Saudi Throne

RIYADH – Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman ordered a lavish payout to all state employees on Thursday and reshuffled some top government jobs while keeping in place the oil, foreign, finance, defense and interior ministers.

The top oil exporter will pay two months of bonus salary to all state employees and pension to retired government workers, he said in a series of decrees read aloud on state television a week after Salman succeeded his brother Abdullah as king.

He removed two of the late king’s sons from big jobs, making Faisal bin Bandar Riyadh governor instead of Turki bin Abdullah and reinstating Khaled al-Faisal as Mecca governor less than two years after he was replaced by Mishaal bin Abdullah.

The two jobs are usually held by senior princes and have sometimes been stepping stones to higher positions.

In a possible indication of Salman’s approach to social reform, he also replaced several top religious officials, removing two clerics known as comparative liberals who headed the Justice Ministry and Religious Police.

He also appointed Mohammed Jadaan, a lawyer, as the new head of the Capital Market Authority, the state regulator for the stock market which will open to direct foreign participation later this year.

He kept in place veteran Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. The Labour, commerce, transport and economy and planning ministers were also kept unchanged.

He appointed new ministers of agriculture, education and information and a new head of the intelligence services.

He also merged the education ministry and higher education ministry and abolished the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Minerals Affairs, replacing it with a new body, according to the text of a royal decree read out on state television.

The king, who took power a week ago after Abdullah’s death early on Friday morning, also kept in place the late king’s son Miteb as Minister of the National Guard, an important strategic post.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 30, 2015