More S'pore aid for farmers to curb burning

24 July 2009, ST

Director of Farmers' Association H. Baso Intang in Jambi, Indonesia. Singapore is urging farmers there to turn to aqua-culture so that they are less likely to burn forests. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

$800k more to be invested in haze fight; Jambi farmers urged to go into fishery

By Amresh Gunasingham SINGAPORE is encouraging farmers in Jambi, Sumatra to turn to aqua-culture, so as to steer them clear of slash-and-burn activities that cause haze. The project will involve training farmers to grow their technical expertise and skills. It is hoped that a thriving fish export industry can be developed to provide the province's 2.7 million population with an alternative means of subsistence, said Mr Joseph Hui, head of the National Environment Agency's (NEA) environmental protection division. 'The hope is that by convincing farmers and commercial operators to go into fishery, they are less likely to burn forests.' It is one of two new action programmes identified under Singapore's two-year-old collaboration with the province, focusing on the Muaro Jambi Regency, an identified fire-prone zone in Sumatra. At 524,600 hectares, it is about eight times the land area of Singapore. The $1 million Jambi plan dovetails with Indonesia's own national action plan to tackle land and forest fires, under which it aims to achieve a 75 per cent reduction in hot spots by 2012. The second programme involves the development of more advanced training to help farmers manage peatland areas, which are fertile ground for growing crops. The project aims to train the villagers how to maintain a peatland. Hydrologists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) will be roped in to map the training programmes as well as work out the best way to construct dams to keep the water level in the peatland areas high. During an El Nino year, such as this, when dry periods are prolonged, water levels go down in peatlands, making them very susceptible to fires, said Mr Foong Chee Leong, head of NEA's meteorological services division. 'Any small fire will spread to the peatland. Once the fire starts, there will not be enough water available to fight the fires except having to wait till the arrival of the monsoon rain.' An additional $800,000 will be invested by Singapore in the new projects. Jambi Governor Zulkifli Nurdin, revealing that peatlands make up to 40 per cent of the forested area in Jambi province, said fires there were especially difficult to contain. 'If peatlands burn, they are difficult to stop as many areas can be up to 8m deep. Once the fires start, we can do nothing about it.' But forest fires in Jambi are less and less of an occurrence over the last two years, the governor said, without revealing any figures. 'We know that in Riau, for example, there are serious fires currently, but in Jambi, we can see clean air.' Yesterday, 57 hot spots were detected in Sumatra, according to the NEA. Of these, there were just four hot spots in the Jambi province. The governor added that the provincial government had initiated many programmes aimed at improving the economic well-being of its people. One started five years ago, for example, has seen 600,000 hectares of land now used to cultivate rubber trees and palm oil plantations. amreshg@sph.com.sg 1. How did Singapore assist Indonesian farmers in controlling the haze problem? 2. What form of help did Singapore give to the farmers to improve their farming methods?

Q & A @ CCSS Forum

Dear 4E and 5N,

I've created two forums for you to clarify questions on your recent exams or your study of Geo or SS. Use the platform and let's have some meaningful discussions. See you there!
The two forum topics are:
4E/5N - Q & A Geography Elective
4E - Q & A Social Studies

Happiness is little happy moments

Here is something to keep in mind: People who appreciate small moments of happiness, laughter and joy through the course of each day tend to be happy people who are more likely to be resilient against adversity and more successful in jobs, relationships and health outcomes.

Researchers reached this conclusion after a series of studies that required 86 participants to submit daily 'emotion reports" that gauged their emotional status in detail over the course of the day.

The study showed that happy people do not need to be Pollyannas or deny the upsetting parts of life. However, these people have the ability to put greater stock in small, happy moments.

Savouring these blips of pleasure in everyday life, the study found, elevates one's mood overall and leads to more resilience against negative events.

The study, published in the current issue of the journal Emotion, was co-authored by researchers at University of California, San Francisco, the University of Michigan, University of Pittsburgh and Cornell University.

Los Angeles Times

9 killed, 52 hurt

Police inspecting the damage at the JW Marriott in Jakarta yesterday. Eyewitnesses say the first blast ripped through the right-side lobby of the Marriott at around 7.45am.-- PHOTO:
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST, 18 July 2009

JAKARTA: Nearly five years after the last terrorist attack in the Indonesian capital, explosions tore through two of its five- star hotels yesterday morning.

Among the dead who had been identified by press time were three Australians, a New Zealander and an Indonesian.
The bodies of other victims were said to be too mangled to be identified but were believed to be those of foreigners. Police said the casualties included citizens of Indonesia, the United States, Australia, South Korea, the Netherlands, Italy, Britain, Canada, Norway, Japan and India.
The Ritz-Carlton and the JW Marriott face each other and are separated by a small road. The blasts gutted both of their lobbies. The attack was the second on the Marriott. It was first hit by a car bomb in August 2003 that killed 12.
Eyewitnesses said the first blast ripped through the right-side lobby of the Marriott at around 7.45am.
At the time, well-known US business consultant James Castle was chairing his weekly breakfast meeting with 18 other high-level executives in a plush room just off the lobby.
Barely two minutes later, another explosion rocked the Air Langga restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton while guests were having breakfast.
Witnesses described grim scenes of bloodied survivors fleeing from the hotels. Television footage showed broken beams, shattered windows and a ruined buffet breakfast area in the Ritz-Carlton.
Mr Alex Asmasoebrata was jogging near the hotels at the time of the blasts.
'There was a smell like firecrackers, and then five minutes after that, there was an explosion at the Ritz-Carlton,' he said, adding that he saw a foreigner with a leg severed and two others with burns.
National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told Agence France-Presse that the bombs had been packed with nails, ball bearings, nuts and bolts to cause maximum carnage.
Indonesia's police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said two suicide bombers carried out the attacks, one at each hotel, using devices similar to those used in previous attacks by the Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
The group has links to Al-Qaeda and has been blamed for a series of bombings in Indonesia, including the 2002 blasts in Bali which killed more than 200 people.
Chief Danuri said the bombers used explosives similar to those found in a house in Cilacap, Central Java on Tuesday.
A sombre-looking President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - who had just received an overwhelming mandate for a second term partly on his record in fighting terror - condemned the attacks.
He vowed to hunt down those responsible for the crime, after visiting the hospitals where victims were taken to.
Speaking in a televised press conference, he also responded to speculation that the attacks were tied to the recent presidential election. He said he had received intelligence reports of plans for violence and anarchy linked to the results.
It was too early to say who was responsible, he said, but nothing should be ruled out, including the possibility that the attacks may have been politically motivated.
Dr Yudhoyono said that the JI terrorist group may not have been responsible.
But analysts such as International Crisis Group director Sidney Jones said that suicide bombings were characteristic of Noordin Top, a Malaysian fugitive master bombmaker who leads a splinter JI group. The group claimed responsibility for the last attack in Indonesia in 2005.
She said the attacks were least likely to be related to the presidential election because planning had to start much earlier.
Jakarta's benchmark stock index ended the day down only 0.6 per cent.
Ms Joanna Tan of Forecast in Singapore said Dr Yudhoyono's second term of office and relatively good performance in the economy should keep investor confidence supported.

lynnlee@sph.com.sg wahyudis@sph.com.sg With additional information from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press

Another terrorist attack. What are the consequences for Indonesia having hotels being bombed numerous times? Are there lessons for us to learn? Can we still take peace and security for granted?

Better Tools, Faster Aid

World Population Day

140 dead in Xinjiang violence

TV images showed protesters rocking a bus and the bloodied faces of people (above) caught up in the riots, which are believed to have erupted following a protest by Uighurs. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
TV images showed protesters rocking a bus (left) and the bloodied faces of people caught up in the riots, which are believed to have erupted following a protest by Uighurs. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

10 July, ST

URUMQI (CHINA): Violent riots erupted in China's restive Xinjiang region, killing at least 140 people in what is believed to be the country's worst ethnic unrest in decades.

More than 800 others were injured after the bloody clash between the police and ethnic minority Uighurs broke out on Sunday in the region's capital, Urumqi.
The authorities said there were 300 to 500 protesters, but other sources put the number at as high as 3,000.

The death toll was still rising, said the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Reports quoting witnesses said yesterday the unrest had spread to Kashgar, another Xinjiang city, where more than 300 people protested outside a mosque. No casualties were reported.

The unrest comes just 18 months after riots left at least 22 people dead in Tibet, another sensitive region in China.

The rioting is likely to alarm Beijing, coming just three months before events to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The riots were believed to have erupted following a protest by Uighurs demanding a probe into a clash between Han Chinese and Uighur factory workers in southern Guangdong province late last month which left two Uighurs dead.

Some accounts said the police turned violent when the assembly, which began peacefully, refused to disperse.

The Chinese government blamed the exiled World Uighur Congress (WUC) led by businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer, living in exile in the United States, for instigating the riots. But the Sweden-based Congress rubbished the accusation.

Dramatic images of the violence broadcast by China's state television showed people being attacked, cars being smashed and smoke billowing from burning vehicles.

Footage showed a woman being kicked by two people as she lay on the ground. Others, who appeared to be Han Chinese, sat dazed and bloodied.

Local television showed graphic photographs of people killed in the riots, with the faces of some victims beaten into a bloody pulp, reported AFP. One man had his throat slit.

Xinhua did not specify the ethnic identities of those killed, or whether they were civilians or police.

But it said the People's Hospitals in Urumqi treated 291 people, of whom 17 died. Among them, 233 were Han Chinese, 39 were Uighurs, while the rest were from other ethnic minorities.

'This is the worst unrest I have seen since coming to Urumqi 12 years ago,' a Han Chinese motel employee told The Straits Times. 'It was sudden and I don't really know what happened. I'm quite scared.'

Chinese media quoted Xinjiang governor Nur Bekri describing the situation as 'still seriously complicated'.

Thousands of riot police officers and paramilitary policemen have locked down Urumqi and set up checkpoints to catch fleeing rioters, said Xinhua.

Several hundred suspected rioters were arrested, with police still searching for another 90 people.

Yesterday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon led international calls for restraint in China.

Analysts say the violence highlighted the deeper problem of the Uighurs' resentment of the growing Han Chinese dominance in Xinjiang. The eight million Uighurs make up the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang, but not in Urumqi, which has attracted large numbers of Han Chinese migrants.

'The riots probably resulted from three sources of grievances,' said Professor Barry Sautman of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

'One, the failure of the authorities to satisfactorily resolve the killing of Uighurs in the Guangdong factory. Two, economic disparities between Han migrants and Uighurs.

'Third, restrictions on religious practices, like forbidding Muslim university students to fast during Ramadan.'

shpeh@sph.com.sg

Refer to previous post to download answer scheme.

Dear all,

I just rectified my problem. Please refer to the previous post for new instructions on how to download the answer scheme. So sorry...

How liveable a city is S'pore?

7 July 2009, ST

It is ranked 18th, 26th and 54th in different surveys. But such indexes reflect expat, not local, life

Tokyo. -- PHOTOS: ST FILE, LYNN GOH, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Montreal. -- PHOTOS: ST FILE, LYNN GOH, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

While Singapore (seen here) is ranked 18th in the global affairs magazine Monocle above Montreal, The Economist Intelligence Unit placed it in the 54th spot. But it was 26th in international consulting firm Mercer's quality of living survey, ahead of Tokyo. -- PHOTOS: ST FILE, LYNN GOH, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

In the latest issue of global affairs magazine Monocle, Singapore is ranked 18th in its annual Top 25 Most Liveable Cities 2009 index, above Montreal, Kyoto and Geneva. Zurich was top, followed by Copenhagen and Tokyo.

Yet, barely a month ago, global business intelligence company The Economist Intelligence Unit placed Singapore in 54th spot, out of 140 cities, in its annual liveability ranking, behind Osaka and Hong Kong and ahead of Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.

In international consulting firm Mercer's quality of living survey published in April, Singapore finished in the 26th spot - the highest placing among Asian cities including Tokyo.

What is one to make of the different rankings since they all purport to tell people the same thing: which cities are better or worse to live in, using criteria such as housing, health-care services and public infrastructure.

'They are just about as reliable as university rankings,' said assistant professor Alexius Pereira, a sociologist with an interest in globalisation at the National University of Singapore.

He added: 'These so-called rankings are specifically for expatriate living. And we all know expat life and local life can be worlds apart.'

Singaporeans who have lived in some of the cities featured in the rankings have also raised their eyebrows at the findings.

'Singapore is more 'liveable' than Tokyo? I wonder why I have never noticed that?' asked Dr Sim Choon Kiat, 41, when told that Mercer had ranked the Japanese capital below Singapore.

The research fellow, who has lived in Tokyo for 14 years, added: 'Well, it all depends on how the survey defines the word 'liveable' and what it means by quality of living.'

Mr Derrick Kon, Singapore global mobility leader of Mercer's information product solutions, agreed that any assessment of the quality of life would be subjective.

The sample size, the number of cities surveyed and the timing of the study can affect the results, he added.

While all three rankings have the same objective, they use slightly different criteria.

The Economist Intelligence Unit - the business information arm of The Economist Group, publisher of the international affairs magazine, The Economist - assesses the living conditions in 140 cities around the world. It assigns a rating for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories - stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

Mercer's rankings are also based on a point-scoring index and cover 215 cities which are analysed according to 39 factors, grouped in 10 categories.

These categories are political and social environment, economic environment, socio-cultural environment, health and sanitation, education, public services and transportation, recreation, consumer goods, and housing and natural environment.

Monocle goes beyond hard economic data and includes 'soft' factors such as hours of sunshine, ease of opening a business and a city's tolerance of alternative lifestyles.

Singaporeans who have lived abroad think that such rankings do not convey a true picture of what life in the cities is like.

Civil servant Sarah Lin, 25, who has lived in Kathmandu, London, Rome, New York and Cambridge, said: 'There are a lot of things about cities that can't really be tracked in indexes. I can't dispute the fact that Singapore is a very liveable city, but it's not the most exciting place to be.

'The best living experiences I've had were in places with infrastructures that cannot compete with Singapore but which have so much of their own identity and such strong cultures that you feel like the city itself is a living thing.'

frankiec@sph.com.sg

Now you can use your social studies skills of cross-referencing to check the reliability of the information. So which rank do you choose to believe?

SBQ 'N' Level 2003 and 2005 Answer Scheme

Dear 4EA and 4EB,

you can go to the school E-learning portal to download the answer scheme if you've not finished copying the answers that day.

1. Log in to the E-learning portal.

2. Click on 'lesson'

3. Click on 'Humanities'
4. Click on ' 2003 'N' Level Papers'

5. Click on the files to download the answer scheme.

For 5N1 & 5N2,

You can also download the answer scheme for 'Natural Vegetation' since I don't have time to let you copy. Go to the E-learning and follow the instructions above, when you reach step 4, click 'Answer Scheme for Natural Vegetation' to download the answer scheme.

All the best to all of you for your Prelims!

India to pour billions into upgrading infrastructure

An electrical linesman repairs cables amid a tangled mass of illegal wires in Allahabad. Power supply problems are one of the biggest grouses of foreign investors in India. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

4 July 2009, ST

Budget likely to give priority to fixing roads, ports and railways and boosting power supply

WHEN Mumbai unveiled a sea bridge meant to cut travel time to the downtown area by more than 30 minutes this week, public enthusiasm was so high that commuters instantly clogged the US$400 million (S$580 million) facility spanning Mahim Bay.

The bridge itself is a mere 5.6km long but the popular response underscores the demand for quality infrastructure in India, whose US$1.2 trillion economy is projected to grow at least 6.25 per cent this year, despite the global downturn.
Economists say India loses as much as two percentage points of growth each year because of its creaky railways, clogged ports, poor roads and inadequate power supplies.
On Monday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will unveil the government's budget for the fiscal year that ends next March 31. While he will probably announce new social spending, a road map for stake sales in government companies and measures to simplify taxation, the bet here is that infrastructure will be high on his list of priorities.
Indeed, not too long ago, government ministers routinely spoke of the need to spend US$150 billion on fixing the country's infrastructure. But national ambitions have soared since then.
'The government said it planned to spend about US$500 billion on infrastructure in the five years to 2012,' noted a senior finance ministry official. 'We estimate that figure will be a trillion dollars in the next five-year period.'
Every successful new project adds to the aspiration levels of a nation whose major growth driver is domestic consumption.
When glittering new airports opened in the southern cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore last year, Indians had a taste of world-class aviation facilities.
Next year, national capital New Delhi will get an international airport with some 80 aircraft bays. It currently has nine.
Power generation is the biggest of India's infrastructure priorities and will probably get significant attention from Mr Mukherjee.
Without cheap power to fuel industry and business, much of the benefits the country stands to reap from its young population risks being wasted if adequate employment is not assured for the millions graduating from schools and colleges.
Besides, power problems are one of the biggest grouses of the foreign investors now pouring into India in ever-larger numbers. The government's Economic Survey, citing a study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said India received US$46.5billion in foreign direct investments last year, an 85per cent jump from the previous year.
President Pratibha Patil, laying out the new government's agenda on behalf of the Cabinet, said last month that India would add 13,000MW of power every year with a greater focus on implementation. But even that is not sufficient to ease the brownouts that mark most parts of the country.
Likewise, highway construction is another laggard. In the last fiscal year, India's transport ministry awarded just eight highway projects against a target of 60.
'With new minister Kamal Nath at the helm, the odds favour faster progress as some systemic issues could be resolved,' said Citibank economist Rohini Malkani.
To be sure, many reform measures the world expects to see in India may well come outside the budget.
This week, the government raised pump prices, partly to ensure no dilution of attention from the social programmes it plans to unveil on Monday.
Announcements on enhanced foreign participation in India's insurance sector, for instance, require parliamentary approval. Later this year, New Delhi will also probably have significant announcements on aviation, and on allowing foreign universities to open campuses here.

velloor@sph.com.sg

This article is a good example of how India tries to alleviate uneven development within a country. Here are some questions to guide you in your reading:

1. What are some of the projects the Indian government has to improve the country's development?

2. How will these projects alleviate uneven development in the country?

3. What is the biggest complaint foreign investors have about India?

NDP 2009, What do you see?

This year's NDP song is by Electrico.

Vegetarians less likely to get cancer

3 July, ST 

In cancers of the blood, risk is 45% lower than for meat eaters: Study

LONDON: Vegetarians are 12 per cent less likely to develop cancer than meat eaters and the advantage is particularly marked when it comes to cancers of the blood, British researchers said yesterday.

Past research by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research has shown that eating lots of red or processed meat is linked to a higher rate of cancers of the oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, lung, endometrium and prostate.

The new study, entitled Cancer Incidence In British Vegetarians, involved more than 60,000 people and it confirmed a lower risk of both stomach and bladder cancer for vegeterians, Reuters reported.

But the most striking and surprising difference was in cancers of the blood - such as leukaemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma - where the risk of disease was 45 per cent lower in vegetarians than in meat eaters.

In the case of multiple myeloma, a relatively rare cancer of the bone marrow, vegetarians were 75 per cent less likely to develop the disease than meat-eaters.

The apparently protective effect of a vegetarian diet, however, did not seem to stretch to bowel cancer, a major killer, contrary to previous research.

And the study found that the incidence of cervix cancer was two times higher in vegetarians than in meat eaters.

The study has been published in the latest issue of the British Journal Of Cancer.

'More research is needed to substantiate these results and to look for reasons for the differences,' said Professor Tim Key, study author from the Cancer Research UK epidemiology unit at Oxford University.

Prof Key and his co-authors, from universities in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, followed 61,566 meat eaters and vegetarians for over 12 years, during which 3,350 of the participants were diagnosed with cancer.

The study looked at 20 different types of cancer and found the differences in risk were independent of other factors such as smoking, alcohol intake and obesity, which can all increase the chance of developing cancer.

'At the moment, these findings are not strong enough to ask for particularly large changes in the diets of people following an average balanced diet,' Prof Key was quoted as saying by the BBC.

His study noted that the differences observed 'might be linked to particular types of meat or to other dietary or lifestyle characteristics of non-meat eaters that were not adjusted for in the current analysis'.

Experts agree that the results of the study should be treated with caution, reported the BBC.

A spokesman for Cancer Research UK, which funded the research, said, 'These interesting results add to the evidence that what we eat affects our chances of developing cancer. We know that eating a lot of red and processed meat increases the risk of stomach cancer...But the links between diet and cancer risk are complex and more research is needed to see how big a part diet plays and which specific dietary factors are most important.'

Myeloma UK said this was the first data of its kind for the bone marrow cancer 'and for that reason we are treating it with caution'.

'Dietary advice to myeloma patients remains aligned with national guidance - that they should eat a healthy, balanced diet high in fibre, fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fat, salt and red and processed meat.'

Remember the 2009 'O' level question that we practised? The question on food has a figure showing the causes of death in DCs and it was stated that obesity can be one of the main factors affecting cancer. The article above kind of confirms what the figure says. Obesity is due to large consumption of food and perhaps the consumption of meat especially the fatty ones. So are you interested to be a vegetarian? Or at least for a start, consume more fruits and vegetables?