Huat Zai

Moon Lau don't have, Krystl Kung kym?

Most people, who haven't been trained, rotate their hip when they do front kick, the blur is probably from the movement.

Is Ky

SINGAPORE: The latest Edelman Trust Barometer report has suggested that trust in the Singapore Government has improved, even though economic optimism among Singaporeans has dipped to a record low. Widely recognized as a leading source of insights into the state of trust in governments, businesses, charities and the media around the world, the Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual survey that is based on online interviews with a representative sample of the general population in different countries around the world. The 2023 report on Singapore, released on Wednesday (15 Mar), was based on interviews with over 1,000 individuals aged 18 or older living in Singapore. Only 36 per cent of those interviewed said they believe life for their families will improve economically in the next five years. Representing a 7 per cent dip from last year’s results, this is the lowest level of economic optimism in the 23 years Edelman conducted the survey. Source: Edelman Trust Barometer 2023 Singaporeans were also divided when it came to trusting in each other. 46 per cent of respondents said that the social fabric “that once held this country together has grown too weak to serve as a foundation for unity and common purpose,” while 44 per cent said that the lack of civility and mutual respect today is the “worst” they have ever seen. Only 30 per cent of respondents said they would willingly help someone they strongly disagreed with if that person was in need. Some Singaporeans responding to the survey results on social media were not surprised. One netizen said that the lower levels of trust in Singapore’s social fabric are the “result of competitive society. We compete with each other in our education system and we continue to compete in our job career. We were taught we win when other lose, then what do you expect?” Another suggested that the Government should do more to better integrate all Singaporeans, especially new citizens: “So many years of kindness movement has gone down the drain. Inevitable when new residents do not try to integrate into local culture and locals do not feel the need to give in to others because they no longer believe in the need to be kind.” Meanwhile, most Edelman survey respondents also expressed deep-seated concerns about job loss and rising costs. A whopping 90 per cent of employees said they worried about potential job losses, while about 70 per cent of all respondents expressed concerns about inflation, climate change or nuclear war. Despite some of the more troubling statistics, the report said that trust in the government had increased by 2 points from last year. 76 per cent of respondents said they trusted the People’s Action Party-dominated government. Source: Edelman Trust Barometer 2023 https://theindependent.sg/trust-in-government-rises-even-as-optimism-for-singapores-future-dips-to-record-low-edelmans-new-report/

If that becomes a reality, I'll definitely seize those lunches. I just might not come back

Associate Professor Jamus Lim, Workers’ Party Member of Parliament for Seng Kang GRC, is proposing the idea of funding a network of international schools in major regional capitals within ASEAN that offer the full Singapore curriculum, with the aim of reducing frictions for families relocating for career opportunities. He believes that Singapore international schools—modeled on a curriculum that permits seamless exit and reentry into local schools— can significantly reduce frictions to families choosing to relocate for a few years, as one (or more) member pursues career opportunities. “These schools would charge the same nominal miscellaneous fees (with no school fees for Singaporean students). The levels would mimic those here, so you can plug-and-play between Hanoi and Hougang, Jakarta and Jurong, or Bangkok and Buangkok.” In a recent Facebook post, Asst Prof reiterated his proposal, which he had mentioned in Parliament last month. Broaden international and regional perspective among Singaporeans He recalled his personal experience of working in different locations worldwide when he was younger and emphasized the value of approaching old problems with a fresh perspective informed by experiences from elsewhere. “Many people who gain such perspectives do so from living abroad; whether it is by studying, or working, or just extensive travel. ” This is because when people are thrust into an alien environment, they are forced to confront their preconceptions and assumptions. “If you’ve moved away from home before, you’ll know what I mean,” Asst Prof Lim gave examples of even simple tasks, like figuring out brands of cereal or instant noodles available in a new city or navigating bus routes, that could be intellectual challenges. However, those who settle down would be able to benefit from the entire learning process, including developing a sense of self-reliance and problem-solving capability. “You also learn how to be sensitive to how folks from different cultures think, and come to accept that your way of looking at an issue may not translate into something that appeals to the market at large. ” Jamus Lim encourages Singaporean PMETs to seize opportunities to be posted to other ASEAN capitals He then came to the point that some hiring managers in today’s PMET market rue how Singaporeans may not have such an international, especially regional, perspective. Even those who have studied abroad have typically done so in other advanced economies such as Europe, Japan, Australia, or the United States, rather than in emerging and developing countries where the modus operandi and business challenges are quite different and unique. “So it is little surprise that—given how I strongly believe that the future of Singapore’s economic model should be oriented more regionally rather than globally—I think that our PMETs should seize opportunities to be posted to other ASEAN capitals, for short stints.” But there are barriers to doing so, of course. Some of it is language, although that can be learned and English is a global business lingua franca. Some of it is reluctance to take a chance. Yet another is being able to convince parents to pull their kids out of the school system, only to reinsert them a few years later, wrote Asst Prof Lim. While some may question the use of taxpayer funds to support these schools, Asst Prof Lim argued that Singaporean families relocating abroad are still contributing to the system and that subsidies already exist for a Singapore international school in Hong Kong. “What if there aren’t enough Singaporean students in those countries? Well, we can start small, then scale up as needed. ” Asst Prof Lim noted that Enterprise Singapore is currently promoting local firms to expand globally. “This suggestion extends that initiative to another dimension—education—which many families regard as one of the key dealbreakers when choosing whether or not to move.” During the Committee of Supply 2023 debate in Parliament last month (28 Feb), Asst Prof Lim said the purpose is to provide a subsidised Singaporean education for Singaporean children following their parents overseas and reduce the frictions associated with moving their families to different countries. “By reducing the frictions associated with moving their families to a different country, it offers positive incentives for our local professionals to relocate and thereby upgrade their experience and exposure to the region, which is often cited as a reason for local middle managers being skipped over for promotion.” “They would pay comparable supplemental fees just as any student enrolled in a local school would. And they would take the same common exams – PSLE, “O” or “N” Levels – at the appropriate time and level, ” Asst Prof Lim proposed in his speech. MOE provides funding and teaching support to the Singapore International School in Hong Kong In November last year, Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang confirmed that MOE provides funding and teaching support to the Singapore International School in Hong Kong. Singaporean students there can get a subsidy in absolute dollars to offset part of their school fees. Asst Prof Lim further asked if there was any strategic reason why set up an International school in Hong Kong, and not anywhere else. In reply, MOS Gan explained that the Singapore International School in Hong Kong was set up in the 1990s. “There was a time when there were many Singaporean adults who were working in Hong Kong and with a sizeable number of children who wanted to have Singapore style and Singapore curriculum type of education in Hong Kong.” She added that MOE extended assistance to the community in Hong Kong, so that this would ease the Singaporean students’ integration to our education system when they return back to Singapore. MOS Gan said MOE has looked into the demand, and while there are many Singaporeans working overseas in many large cities out there, not all are staying in the same place, and some cities are large. “And secondly, not all parents want Singapore style and Singapore curriculum type of education for their students.” MOS Gan said a lot of the consideration is driven by the demand from the parents. “We also consider the resources needed, the resources in terms of educators, as well as funding that has to be made available to these international schools.” https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2023/03/17/jamus-lim-encourages-singaporean-pmets-to-seize-opportunities-to-be-posted-to-other-asean-capitals/

You don't cheese pie later take umbrage then you know

Kicking Tarja out was the worst decision of Nightwish and the best thing that happened to her..

Thousands of people are believed to have lost their savings after investing in a cryptocurrency trading app called iEarn Bot. Experts who have investigated the company say it could be one of the largest crypto scandals to date. Trading in cryptocurrencies has become popular, with people often promised large rewards over short periods. But law enforcement agencies warn of a growing number of scams and recommend investors conduct "due diligence". 'The money just disappeared' Roxana, not her real name, is from Romania. She says she lost hundreds of euros when she invested in iEarn Bot. She asked not to have her identity revealed as she fears her professional reputation might be damaged. Customers buying the bots - like Roxana - were told their investment would be handled by the company's artificial intelligence programme, guaranteeing high returns. "I invested in a bot for one month," Roxana tells the BBC. "You could see in the app how many dollars the app was creating: there were graphics showing how the investment was progressing. "It looked quite professional until, at some point, they announced maintenance." At that point, for some time, withdrawals from the app were frozen. "Some people started to say 'I cannot withdraw... what is happening'," explains Roxana. "I made the request to withdraw and the money just disappeared. The portfolio became zero - but I was never credited on my wallet with any money." In Romania, dozens of high-profile figures, including government officials and academics, were persuaded to invest via the app because it was sponsored by Gabriel Garais, a leading IT expert in the country. Mr Garais says he too was fooled into investing his own savings in the app and lost his money. But Roxana insists, had it not been for Garais's sponsorship, she would have never considered investing. "We had the knowledge to think this might be a scam," she says, "but the fact that, in between us and the company there was a reputable teacher, meant that we didn't check too much - we didn't doubt too much." What happened in Romania is not an isolated incident. Nor is it unique to Romania. When Silvia Tabusca, a Romanian organised crime expert from the European Center for Legal Education and Research, began looking into iEarn Bot, she discovered that many people in other countries had also lost their money in the scheme. What surprised her most was the scale of the operation. Image caption, Silvia Tabusca, an expert in organised crime, has been surprised by the scale of the operation "From what we have seen, the number of investors is quite high," she says. "In Indonesia, for example, they [iEarn Bot] claim they had 800,000 customers." "At first the app works very well," says Ms Tabusca. "When they have enough investors and enough money invested in a specific country, they don't allow that country to withdraw any more - and they open other countries." iEarn Bot presents itself as a US-based company with excellent credentials, but when the BBC fact-checked some information on its website, it raised some red flags. The man whom the site names as the company's founder told us he had never heard of them. He said he has made a complaint to the police. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, alongside companies such as Huawei and Qualcomm, are all named as "strategic partners" of iEarn Bot, but they too said they have no knowledge of the company and they are not working with it. On the website, the company does not provide any contact information. When the BBC checked the history of its Facebook page, we learned that until the end of 2021, the account was advertising weight-loss products. It is managed from Vietnam and Cambodia. iEarn Bot places a big emphasis on pushing investors to recruit more people to join the app. "The way people in this company operate is more similar to a Ponzi scheme, than an actual business," says Ms Tabusca. The BBC has also seen chat conversations where people, who claim to be from iEarn Bot's customer service, told investors that in order to withdraw their money, they must pay a 30% fee. "Some people were quite desperate to get their money back, so they paid the fee - but they still couldn't withdraw," says Ms Tabusca. The BBC has repeatedly approached iEarn Bot for comment but so far it has not responded. Recruitment events In some countries, such as Nigeria and Colombia, local leaders were pushed by iEarn Bot mentors - with whom they only ever communicated on Telegram - to organise recruiting events. Andres, from Colombia, said he actively recruited people to join the app. He still believes the company is legitimate. "They had their registration in the US that showed they were legit," he says. "And they were paying." In his country, withdrawals were stopped in December. People were told the company was transforming investment in USDT - a well-established cryptocurrency - into a new coin called iBot, which had the same value. Investors were asked to be patient until March, when the new coin was expected to be officially launched. But people are still waiting to access their money. "[People] took loans to invest. They used money from other sources, many people were affected," says Andres. "As the local leaders did not have answers, people started to get angry." With the help of an analyst, the BBC managed to identify one main crypto wallet that received payments from about 13,000 potential victims, for a profit of almost $1.3m (£1m) in less than one year. But we could not track down where and to whom the money went. For investigators, this is a common issue. "One of the challenges is to identify and attribute who the illicit actor is, where the value is going, and then being able to take investigative steps and law enforcement action," says John Wyman, chief of the FBI's new Virtual Assets Unit. Investigations in this sort of scheme, he says, go global quickly. Such investigations require international co-operation and may take longer, but he insists that those responsible are eventually brought to justice. Image caption, Mr Wyman says educating people on investment risks is key to stopping scammers The FBI set up the Virtual Assets Unit last year in order to respond to the growing number of crimes using virtual currencies. It invites people who have been victims of scams to make a complaint on the FBI's dedicated page. But law enforcement agencies maintain the best way to fight scammers remains prevention. "Knowledge - and doing some due diligence before the investment - it's critical," says Mr Wyman. "It's like everything else: if it sounds too good to be true, it often is." https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64939146?at_link_id=F03AB0FC-C5AE-11ED-A627-89B87E934D9D&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_medium=social&at_campaign_type=owned&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_format=link&at_link_type=web_link&at_link_origin=BBC_News&at_ptr_name=facebook_page