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5th Floor 5 Room Pinnacle@Duxton Flat Sold for $918,000

SINGAPORE – A second Pinnacle@Duxton unit has been sold on the resale market.

The five-room, 106 sq m flat on the fifth floor of the iconic Housing Board project at Tanjong Pagar went for $918,000 on Monday.

A 43-year-old DWG agent who handled the transaction said the buyers, who paid fully in cash, are a local couple in their 60s and their daughter who are downgrading from a private property. The sellers are a local couple in their mid-40s, who live with their two young children.

“The flat is on a very low floor, so the current owners were more realistic with the price,” said the agent, who declined to be named. “They bought the flat for under $400,000,so they are quite happy with the selling price.”

This sale comes after the five-year minimum occupation period for most home owners at the project ended last month. Last week, The Straits Times reported that a four-room flat between the 34th and 36th storeys was sold for $900,000.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

January 8, 2015
NGOs Hindering Aid Operations By Authorities In Flood-Hit Areas In Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – The intention may be good, but “random acts of kindness” are not helping flood victims.

Groups or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that go around randomly “dumping” aid items to flood-hit villages in the east coast are upsetting planned disaster relief efforts by the authorities.

“For example, during our recent visit to Kuala Krai, we saw aid items, especially clothes, being strewn by the sides of the road because these NGOs were oversupplying the items to the same villages,” said Datuk Wira Bahari Datuk Abu Mansor, vice-chairman and head of National Disaster Management for the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS).

He said donated clothes were strewn everywhere and soaking in mud.

Dr Bahari said the situation was quite bad and it was crucial for the government to step in to organise the aid distribution.

“NGOs themselves should be educated on the structure of disaster management and the proper way to hand out relief items to flood victims.

“What is happening now is that villages located nearer to the main roads are getting more than their share of aid, while those in remote locations are left with nothing,” he said.

He added that “random acts of kindness” were also hampering the aid providers as they made long trips to remote villages only to find that some NGO had already given assistance to these areas.

Dr Bahari said the disaster management team was now initiating the second stage of their relief efforts.

“The waters are slowly receding but we now have to help the victims rebuild their homes, including houses, which were totally swept away by the floods.

“In fact, we now have an over supply of food items and are in need of electric rice cookers, kettles, stoves, mattresses, pillows, cooking utensils and cleaning utensils.”

He said blankets and sarongs were still needed, as most victims did not have a proper dry place to sleep or even sit.

On Tuesday, The Star reported that “disaster tourists”, who want to see for themselves the scenes of flood devastation and post selfies and other “I was there” pictures on Facebook or Twitter, were adding to the woes of the people by coming in large groups and clogging up areas with their vehicles. They were also getting in the way of services and volunteers who are trying desperately to reach the victims.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

January 8, 2015
Automatic Aircraft Tracking Should Be Made Mandatory

Doha: Aircraft tracking should be mandatory and planes should have technology that automatically tracks them, says the chief of Qatar Airways.

Group chief executive His Excellency Akbar Al Baker addressed the hot button issue of aircraft tracking during the global launch of the A350 XWB, the latest Airbus aircraft in Doha, Qatar on 7 January.

“I sit on the board of governors with IATA (the International Air Transport Association). IATA should be leading on this issue of automatic tracking of planes… We are insisting that now it should be mandatory that aircraft should be automatically tracked,” he said.

Aircraft tracking has come under scrutiny in the wake of mishaps, like the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370 in March last year, and the AirAsia QZ8501 crash while it was en route from Surabaya to Singapore.

Such tracking technology is in the pipeline for Qatar Airways, said Al Baker. The airline is working with a provider that helps to transmit flight data recorded in the plane’s black box recorder continuously to a data centre on the ground. “All flight data being recorded in the black box will be received continuously in an operating centre on the ground. Once all the bugs are removed, Qatar Airways hopes to be the first airliner to introduce this on all our airplanes,” he elaborated.

“No CEO can give a guarantee that they will always have an accident-free operation,” he said, adding that passengers and cabin crew have also gotten injured while travelling in clear weather. “What is important is that we train our crew to the highest standards so that they avoid getting into troubles that are unforeseen in an airplane.”

“[Southeast Asia] has thousands of planes flying in that airspace and the rate of accidents is still one of the lowest in the world,” he added.

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

January 8, 2015
Man Impersonates Policeman To Obtain Contact Details Of Prostitutes

He wanted an excuse to obtain the contact details of prostitutes, and hopefully call them back for cheap sex at a later date.

So Yusri Abdul Wahab, who had dreamed of one day joining law enforcement, decided to impersonate a police officer and conduct checks on sex workers in Geylang.

At about 10pm on May 7 last year, he entered a room in Lorong 22 Geylang containing about 10 prostitutes, flashed a makeshift police pass, and asked to see their work permits. He made a show of checking the documents, all the while speaking into his earpiece and pretending to speak to a “colleague”.

Someone grew suspicious, and called the police.

On Wednesday, he was jailed for four months for the offence. His total term comes to eight months, after including punishment for stealing camera equipment during his real job as a pest control officer.

No restitution has been made for the thefts, which involved almost $32,000 of items and got Yusri sacked. These were committed on four occasions between January and May 8 last year, at two private homes in Swettenham Road near Queenstown.

Yusri came up with the policeman ruse after taking medical leave from his real job.

The court heard he had been inspired by a television show, in which a character had hatched a similar ploy.

To carry out the plan, Yusri bought police paraphernalia from Peninsula Shopping Centre, including a leather pass holder and various logos to attach to his polo t-shirt. He had a photograph of himself taken and inserted it into the pass holder.

District Judge Low Wee Ping called Yusri’s impersonation “shocking”, noting he had gone to the extent of buying items to perpetuate the deception.

Yusri pleaded guilty to three charges in all, with another two taken into consideration. For impersonating a police officer, he could have been jailed for up to two years and fined.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

January 8, 2015
Proof That Foreigners Are Depressing Wages

A TRE reader who works at an engineering company in Marsling sent us this job application for the position of Sales Co-ordinator. The applicant stays in JB and takes about 25 minutes to cross the causeway on bus.

After currency conversion, the reader can expect a 280% pay increase. At the same time, she would be competiting for a job with a local polytechnic graduates with 2-3 years of experience.

What do you think?

Source: www.tremeritus.com

January 8, 2015