IF you’ve been waiting to buy an unsold balance flat from the Housing and Development Board (HDB), your luck’s going to change, thanks to the new HDB open booking plan.
The previous agony of unscheduled waits and biting of the nails at critical balloting moments may soon be a thing of the past. Under a refreshing change of policy, you can soon do so at any time instead of waiting for a twice-yearly sales exercise, says National Development Minister Lawrence Wong,
Introduced in 2017, the Re-Offer of Balance Flats (ROF) sales exercise pools together all flats that are unsold after previous Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercises.
The ROF is currently offered twice a year. From the middle of this year, home buyers can choose to book the remaining flats from the ROF pool at any time.
OPEN BOOKING
This HDB open booking plan will start with a batch of around 120 flats, Mr Wong wrote on the Ministry of National Development’s Housing Matters blog.
“Flat buyers can apply online anytime on a first-come, first-served basis, and book a flat by the next working day. This will effectively reduce their waiting time to book a flat to just one day,” he says.
Analysts have given the early thumbs-up to the HDB open booking plan. Real estate agency OrangeTee’s head of research and consultancy Wong Xian Yang says: “The ROF is more flexible, especially for families that have urgent housing needs but are not particular about location and flat type.
“For example, if I’m looking for a flat – maybe my first choice is in Punggol, but I don’t mind Sengkang – because the ROF pools together unsold flats from several estates, there’s a higher chance you’ll be able to find something.
“It’s also for families looking to move in soon, if they’re not willing to wait two-and-a-half to four years for a BTO flat.”
URGENT HOUSING NEEDS
The HDB reiterates that the ROF sales exercise is aimed at helping buyers who have more urgent housing needs or are less particular about location and other flat attributes. Under ROF, applicants do not have to indicate a flat type and location and can book any available units according to their eligibility.
Homemaker Jacqueline Tan, 44, of Bedok North, a mother of three teenagers, says: “This is the best news we’ve been waiting for a very long time. I just cannot wait for a few more months before we can choose to book the remaining flats from the ROF pool at any time.”
Mr Wong notes that past ROF sales exercises have been popular with buyers, with about 2,500 households having booked a flat under the scheme. Nearly two-thirds of them have collected the keys to their flats.
“With the increased range of options available, I hope that it will be easier and more convenient for potential homebuyers to find a flat that meets their different needs, preferences, and budget,” he says.
Benjamin Pwee, secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), announced on Thursday, February 7, that he is leaving the DPP for a new political party.
The Central Executive Committee received his resignation towards the end of last month and Mohamad Hamim is now DPP’s secretary-general.
Though he refrained from naming which particular party he is joining, he told Channel NewsAsia (CNA) that it will be an organization with “a much more longstanding, recognizable and credible senior leader.”
The leader of the party that Pwee is referring may be one of the main reasons for his decision. He said that the leader of that party has “parliamentary experience and a good strong and wide support base”.
Of the party he is joining, Pwee also said, “Their leadership is warmly welcoming of my team and me joining them, as they believe in teamwork, collaboration, and shared leadership.”
Pwee added that another 5 DPP members are also leaving the party and will be joining the new one where he will transfer. He told CNA that he would be the first to do so, and other members “will step down in due course”.
Apparently, it is the new party that will formally announce Pwee’s membership.
Pwee told CNA his reason for joining the new party, “There is no way small parties like DPP can mount a viable electoral campaign on its own, so this is a good time for my team and I to join the bigger party, to start being involved with their campaign preparations. Small parties make a lot of noise and fight for attention, but fundamentally do not have the effectiveness” to win over voters with successful campaigns.
He also said that he and the other DPP members who are joining him had in-depth talks with the new party. They have also met repeatedly.
Pwee’s timing seems particularly noteworthy, as talk is circulating of the next General Election being held by the end of the year. As such, opposition parties seem to be getting ready for the next round of voting.
All eyes are on Dr. Tan Cheng Bock as the figure around whom the opposition parties are organizing. Tan announced his return to politics on January 18, with a new political party called Progress Singapore Party. Opposition parties such as the Singapore Democratic Party, the People’s Power Party, the DPP, the Reform Party, the National Solidarity Party, the Singaporeans First Party and the People’s Voice Party, have invited Tan to lead a coalition of opposition parties.
Pwee says that he hopes his transfer to the new party will “encourage many other credible talented Singaporeans to step forward and join more significant political leaders”.
According to him, “There is definitely a continued strong desire for all opposition parties to come together to partner and collaborate under a common cause.”
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo recently cited that the Singaporean government assures the public that it will provide the necessary support for the young families, especially with regard to childcare provision.
At the start of the Lunar New Year, Teo visited some healthcare staff and patients of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).
She noted the government is very keen in responding to childcare needs, assuring accessible, quality and affordable health assistance will be readily available to the children and their parents.
For the minister, it has been a tradition to let her staff work during the Chinese New Year and promote the agency’s programmes during the festivities.
Teo noted how childcare areas have transformed for the past six years doubling its current locations nationwide. By 2023, she predicted the total childcare facilities will increase to 200,000. She said with this expected rate for the childcare sector expansion, this will bring a definite difference to the government’s focus for the future of Singapore’s young population.
The minister commended the painstaking efforts of young parents to raise a family. In her Facebook post, she noted, “I applaud the young parents. They can be sure that the Government will continue to strengthen support as Singaporeans pursue their aspirations for parenthood. In particular, we have been expanding access to good and affordable childcare, which is much needed by working parents.”
She made a call to the community, involving extended families, friends, employers, and close neigbours to take part in helping young parents to build on their marriage and do their best in their parenting duties, make them enjoyable, and celebrate every milestone of the relationship.
Teo said if we work together as a nation, we can make Singapore a ‘great place for families.’
In 2017, Teo reported Singapore’s fertility rate declined to 1.16. This was the average number of children per mother. It was the second lowest documented in the country.
For 2018 figures, the numbers have yet to be finalised, along with the discussion for the Parliament’s Committee of Supply Budget debate.
Currently, Teo said we should look beyond the numbers. At several communities in the country, the fertility rate is increasing. This brings an encouraging improvement. Also, the agency is getting consistent feedbacks of what support should be strengthened to promote quality lives of young Singaporean families.
Some of these are housing support, childcare activities, and flexible job arrangements. The minister said these are some of the areas that the government will address and prioritise to nurture the lives of the young children and their families.
As Facebook celebrates 15 years of virtual friendship, social science has compiled an expansive body of research that documents the public’s love-hate relationship with its best frenemy.
What many once viewed as a confidant has devolved into a messy codependence, mired by ambiguity and mistrust. It’s a relationship that’s both taken for granted, yet extremely high-maintenance, leaving users to wonder whether they should just move on with healthier friends.
But it wasn’t always like this.
Friendly beginnings
At its launch, Facebook was one of the most authentic social networking partners. Existing online networks, like MySpace, had influential parent companies that chaperoned their platforms, pestering users with ads and gimmicks. But Facebook promised something different: a genuine connection. It was an unexploited social space to live your best life – well before anyone hashbragged it.
Still today, a friendship with Facebook comes with plenty of perks. Most importantly, it is the friend who brings everyone together. Participating in this community is shown to strengthen relationships between close friends and casual acquaintances. Individuals can bond over community causes, shared identities and amusing videos. Facebook has been credited for helping organize coalitions that took down dictators and raised millions to fight disease.
Algorithms that foster day-to-day social comparison have also taken a toll on mental health. Recent research convincingly shows that Facebook use dampens individuals’ happiness – both immediately and over the long term. Using Facebook has been linked to depression and so many other negative psychological outcomes that it inspired a summary report of 56 studies on the topic.
Frenemies for now
Despite widespread calls to #DeleteFacebook in 2018, most users have maintained their profiles. Why? Because abstaining from Facebook means giving up a network that has social currency and value. The site boasts 2.2 billion users, nearly 30 percent of the global population. As members of Congress recently pointed out, Facebook has few market competitors, meaning it serves as a primary, if not the only, way for large groups to connect. It holds users together (or sometimes hostage) by maintaining relationships with all their friends.
For those who prefer Instagram or WhatsApp, know that Facebook owns those too, and is working to consolidate the technology behind them. Even people with the willpower to de-friend Facebook will still find their data swept up in content that others add to the platform and its affiliates. It’s nearly impossible to escape Facebook’s orbit.
In advance of its anniversary this month, Facebook attempted to restore fond memories by encouraging users to reminisce with the #10YearChallenge. The award for biggest transformation goes to Facebook itself – from altruistic friend to cagey frenemy.
Recapturing the public’s trust will require significant changes. Options for unaltered news feeds, transparent advertising, and user control of data and metadata would be good places to start. But currently, it’s unclear whether Facebook will make these changes to salvage its billions of friendships.
What China is to the world — a source of affordable goods — is the Filipino to English language teaching in China. The Chinese are turning to Filipino teachers to learn English at a low cost, with online English teaching centres connecting the two countries.
Filipino teachers are becoming increasingly popular among Chinese language learners as they are less expensive than others. Native English teachers from the US, UK, and Australia would be the first choice, if not for the higher fees they charge.
Several Chinese online teaching platforms have enticed Filipino teachers with better pay offers. These include 51 Talk, First Future, SinceWin, and Acadsoc.
The main target learners are kindergarteners to 12th graders (K-12). Busy hours for Filipino online teachers are usually before and after school hours. The teachers work on a contract basis and are paid per course. Teachers need to open up classes so that students can book with their classes.
“Online education is a hundred-billion-yuan market,” said Wu Jing, CEO of online teaching company Koudai Kids. “Chinese parents especially those from first- and second-tier cities have demanding requirements for their children’s education.”
Chinese students. (Photo: Screengrab from YouTube)
“Many of the parents resort to online education resources. English and mathematical logic are most popular classes,” he said.
According to 51Talk, there will be a shortage of 500,000 foreign English teachers in China. The company boasts of its 10 million registered students.
There is no doubting the importance of the Filipino to English language teaching in China.
The plan is to increase the number of Filipino teachers from 16,000 to 100,000 in the next five years to meet the growing demand.
According to 51Talk founder and CEO Jack Huang, “We believe that Filipino teachers are the best teachers, best online English teachers in the world to teach Chinese kids.”
“Naturally happy and friendly” Filipinos are a perfect fit to educate children ages 5 to 12 years, who make up about 80 per cent of 51Talk’s students, he said.
Even so, there are still Chinese parents who prefer Western teachers. But the thing is, Chinese parents are not good at English so they can’t distinguish a native English teacher from a Filipino teacher.
Filipino teacher in China. (Photo: Screengrab from YouTube)
To attract more students, Chinese online teaching platforms try to hire foreign teachers who have a good accent, are fluent in English and have good educational backgrounds.
Filipinos are a good fit because of the exposure of the average Filipino to English language and culture.
English is an official language in the Philippines. A lot of Filipinos sound like native speakers, having a clear American accent. Well-educated Filipinos are relatively fluent speakers and have better pronunciation.
A Chinese student wanting to learn English from a Filipino English teacher would only pay 40 yuan (US$5.93) for a 25-minute online course. An American teacher, on the other hand, would cost more than 120 yuan (US$17.60).
“The cost of teachers and technical maintenance in the Philippines is much lower. Managing the team is also more convenient because the country is in the same time zone as China,” said Wu Jing.
During the Boao Forum for Asia in 2018, Duterte personally started a “promotion” for Filipino English teachers in China.
The two governments signed an agreement under which about 2,000 Chinese universities will start hiring about 2,000 Filipino English teachers, according to Philippine Ambassador to China Chito Sta Romana.
“That shows the Chinese government’s recognition of Filipino English teachers which will convince more Chinese people that Filipinos can be good English teachers,” said Huang of 51Talk.
Online teaching pay depends on the length of work time, experience and their popularity. An online teacher gets an average earning of 3,000 yuan (US$445) per month; while the most popular teacher gets as much as 10,000 yuan (US$1,483) per month.
It could be an opportunity for online teachers too. Teaching English online is considered a relatively high-income job in the Philippines.
However, a lot of Filipino online teachers aspire to teach English in China. The reason for the attraction of the Filipino to English language teaching in China? The higher salary they would be getting.
The exodus of Filipino teachers to China would increase the number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). As of 2017, there were 2.3 million Filipino working abroad.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday night said that he will hold his second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam in a two-day summit, February 27 to 28.
Trump did not specify which city the summit will be held, but the public has considered Hanoi or Danang as prospects.
Trump made the announcement during his State of the Union address on Congress.
“If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed,” Trump said.
“Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is a good one,” he continued. “Our hostages have come home, nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in more than 15 months.”
One of Trump’s agenda in the upcoming summit is to persuade Kim to give up North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
“As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” said Trump in the address.
Last 2017, Trump made a threat that he will make a rain of “fire and fury like the world has never seen” on North Korea. But last June 2018, Trump and Kim met in a summit in Singapore where they had negotiations about peace.
Trump looks forward to the second summit despite North Korea’s lack of concrete plan with regards to its “denuclearization.”
According to Reuters, the presidential Blue House of South Korea said it welcomes Trump’s plan for the summit.
“The two leaders already took their first step in Singapore toward shaking off their 70-year history of hostilities. Now we hope that they will take a step forward for concrete, substantive progress,” said the Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom in a news briefing.
On the other hand, the National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said last week that intelligence officials do not believe that Kim will surrender North Korea’s nuclear weapons anytime soon. These weapons are the key to the survival of its administration. Satellite videos showed that North Korea continues to manufacture nuclear weapons in its factories.
Last year, North Korea released its political American detainees.
Vietnam as the most strategic geo-location for the summit
Vietnam has been viewed as the best location to conduct the second summit between the two leaders. It is a communist country with capitalist leanings and also has good ties to both the U.S. and North Korea.
In an analysis by AFP as published in Channel NewsAsia, it said Vietnam has many qualifications. For Kim, Vietnam is a short flight from Pyongyang. The communist country has also a tight security system, in which access for media and crowds are controlled.
Aside from that, diplomatic ties between Vietnam and North Korea date back to the 1950s.
This will be Kim’s first visit in Vietnam, an opportunity for him to learn about its post-war situation.
“(Kim) would be interested in seeing the Vietnam story for himself, that can be a good source of inspiration and reflection for him to think about the way he should take North Korea forward,” Le Hong Hiep, Vietnam expert from ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said in an interview with AFP.
Vietnamese people in general expressed delight toward the upcoming summit.
“Our country now has a new position and the world trusts us,” Pham Van Thau, a communist party member, said in an interview with AFP. “The summit will help the world understand more about Vietnam.”
Others believe that the visit could boost Vietnam’s prestige and potentially expand its tourism.
“We have a chance … to show everyone that Vietnam is a beautiful country and that the Vietnamese are friendly,” said Nguyen Hong Nhung, a masters student.
Growing a small business can be an arduous endeavor. Not only do business owners need to create, market and sell their product, they need to bring on the right people to their team in order to achieve their long-term goals. At the same time, money can be tight when startups are just getting off the ground. For this reason, hiring interns can be an attractive prospect for employers seeking to build a relatively inexpensive team. Here, we examine when it makes sense for startups and other small businesses to bring on interns and when they might be better off pursuing alternative options.
Valuable New Perspectives & Technology Savvy
Like any organisation, startups can always benefit from adding talented new employees to their teams. In Singapore, these hires can bring not only new ways of looking at business problems, but phenomenal educational backgrounds. Given the highly educated labor force in Singapore, startups have a great chance of finding bright students to join their teams as interns. For example, these interns may bring coveted skills in fields such as software engineering or data analytics, allowing them to make significant contribution for their companies.
Affordable Labor
The first thing that cash strapped startups might think of when considering hiring an intern is the low cost generally associated with these employees. The average wage for interns in Singapore tends to be much lower than the average wage in Singapore. For example, most estimates suggest that interns in Singapore earn about S$800 to S$1,000 per month, while the median wage in Singapore is S$3,800. This suggests that interns give businesses to hire relatively affordable, temporary workers to help with a variety of tasks. With that said, some interns earn as much as S$10,000 per month working at major international banks in Singapore according the the Straits Times. Ultimately, it is important to pay all of your employees a fair wage in order to ensure solid job performance and limit turnover. A good way to estimate the potential cost of an intern for your business is to search online job postings to see what other companies pay for work similar to that of your team’s.
Excellent Recruiting Opportunity
Regardless of how much you decide you need to pay your intern, it is crucial that you make sure their time is not only valuable to your business, but also to their own professional development. This is because an internship may end up being a great recruiting mechanism for your company. Your intern will be more likely to consider a full-time offer someday if you have given them the chance to grow with your business. Additionally, the intern will be more valuable to your team in a full-time role if you’ve given them the chance to learn the ropes and contribute meaningfully for your team. Finally, hiring an intern is less risky than a full-time employee, given that you will likely invest less time hiring and training an intern and will face a comparatively smaller setback if your intern does work well for your organisation.
Signs You Shouldn’t Hire an Intern
While the idea of hiring an intern may sound great, there are a few reasons you might not be in a good place to bring on this type of employee.
You Are Too Busy
If you are interested in adding a new team member in the form of an intern because you are up to your neck in work, you may want to think twice about the logistics of this hire. Unlike an experienced professional, interns require a significant amount of time invested in their training in order to make them valuable to your organisation. Not only that, interns often expect formal training in order to make their experience worthwhile. If you are too busy devout a few hours a week to training your new employee, hiring an intern may not be a good fit.
You Really Need Full-Time Help
Similarly, you do not want to hire an intern just for the potential cost savings. If you truly need an experienced professional to make your business grow, you may risk the quality and overall potential of your work by choosing a less qualified individual.
You Startup is Not Financially Strong Enough to Take on Additional Employees
Finally, if you business is not earning enough revenue to cover the cost of an intern, you may not be ready to hire additional workers. That said, if you desperately need more employees but do not have the funds to make it happen, you could consider raising more funds via equity or business loan. There are many offerings available to startups and SMEs in Singapore, which is very helpful for businesses with shorter track records as they often are denied from receiving bank loans. On the other hand, if you believe that you have enough business to justify hiring a new employee, but currently have a tight cash-flow situation you may want to consider a working capital loan in order to finance the day to day operations of your business.
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A man from Mumbai, India sued his parents for bringing him into the world. Raphael Samuel, 27 years old, said people should not give birth to babies without the latter’s consent.
Samuel is a self-described anti-natalist, are people who advocate that it is morally wrong to give birth to babies.
“Basically I want everyone in India and also the world to realize one thing: that they are born without their consent. I want them to understand that they do not owe their parents anything,” said Samuel in his YouTube video entitled WHY am I suing my parents? Wearing sunglasses and a fake beard, he elaborates on why people should stop having babies. The video has gone viral with 52,000 views as of the time of writing.
“And I also want to know that if we are born with our consent, we should be maintained for the rest of our life. We should be paid to live,” he added. “We came by our parent’s discretion. They go to certain joy by having us.”
“We will not be asked (to be born). It’s not even possible to be asked,” he further claimed.
Samuel runs a YouTube channel named ‘Nihil Anand’ and a Facebook page ‘Nihilanand’ in which he posts his anti-natalist sentiments.
In a Facebook photo Samuel shared, it was said that “procreation is the root of all evil. Stop. Having. Babies.”
In another meme he shared, it said that “Isn’t forcing a child into this world and then forcing it to have a career (akin to) kidnapping and slavery”
Nonetheless, Samuel claimed that he had a good relationship with his parents “I love my parents,” he said in an interview with The Print.
“My life has been amazing, but I don’t see why I should put another life through the rigamarole of school and finding a career, especially when they didn’t ask to exist.”
In another interview with LatestLY, Samuel claimed, “Procreation is the most narcissistic act on Earth. Ask anyone why they procreate it will always start with ‘I wanted.’ Introducing a child into a world that is suffering is wrong. An antinatalist’s agenda is to convince people to stop reproducing. Why? Because life involves a lot of suffering.”
Meanwhile, in another Facebook post of Samuel, he shared what his mother, Kavita, said about the incident.
“I must admire my son’s temerity to want to take his parents to court knowing both of us are lawyers,” she wrote. “If Raphael could come up with a rational explanation as to how we could have sought his consent to be born, I will accept my fault.”
It is unclear whether Samuel’s claims of suing his parents are real or it is just another internet stunt.
In an interview with the New York Times, Donald Trump called the talks on the US-Mexico border wall a “waste of time”.
Mr Trump indicated he would most likely take action on his own as he sought $5.7 billion (£4.4bn) for a wall on the southern border. But the Democrats argued that it was immoral and ineffective and denied the budget.
The US-Mexico border wall. (Photo: Screengrab from YouTube)
“I’ll continue to build the wall, and we’ll get the wall finished,” he said, implying a declaration of a national emergency to ensure the construction of the barrier.
“I’ve set the table,” Mr Trump said. “I’ve set the stage for doing what I’m going to do.”
With emergency presidential power, Mr Trump could bypass Congress and access the money and resources needed to complete the project. But the situation at the border, according to critics, does not constitute a true emergency and invoking one would be an abuse of power.
The division in Congress led to a 35-day government shutdown, the longest in US history. Federal operations would resume on 15 February if no budget was agreed.
Due to the funding issue, Mr Trump slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on her announcement that there would be no money for a wall in planned border security legislation.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Photo: Screengrab from YouTube)
The President added, “I’ve actually always gotten along with her, but now I don’t think I will anymore. I think she’s doing a tremendous disservice to the country.”
“If she doesn’t approve a wall, the rest of it’s just a waste of money and time and energy because it’s desperately needed.”
These other topics were also tackled in the interview:
Russian inquiry
The president said he had received assurances from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein regarding the Mueller investigation. This probe has consumed so much of his presidency.
“He (Rosenstein) told the attorneys that I’m not a subject, I’m not a target,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr Rosenstein was taking charge of the Mueller’s investigation until last November when the president transferred the control to acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker.
Both Mr Rosenstein and Mr Mueller have issued a statement on whether Mr Trump is a target in the investigation.
The Mueller’s investigation is still ongoing. There is still no submission of findings to the attorney general.
The President also insisted he “never did” speak to his long-time associate Roger Stone about WikiLeaks and the stolen Democratic emails it posted during the 2016 election. He also denied that he directed anyone to do such a thing.
When asked if did he ever instruct anyone to get in touch with Mr. Stone about WikiLeaks? “Never did,” the president claimed.
Mr Stone has been charged with seven counts in the Mueller inquiry related to the emails but has denied the charges.
Trump’s Moscow project
The President dismissed the issue of Trump Tower project his team was seeking to build in Moscow at the height of the 2016 campaign.
He argued that his lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s statement was wrong. Guiliani said that talks over the project had continued until the latter part of the presidential campaign.
Interestingly, Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former lawyer has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress at least three times about the project. This included telling Congress that the project was dissolved in January 2016.
In fact, negotiations continued through June 2016, when Mr Trump was already the Republican presidential nominee.
According to Mr Trump, his last conversation about the project had been in “early to middle” 2016. “Cohen might have been involved with the project “a little bit longer than that,” he stated.
“I was running for president; I was doing really well. The last thing I cared about was building a building,” he added.
His political future
Being the President and one of the top leaders of the world, Mr. Trump firmly said, “I love this job.” Though he dismissed speculations for re-election in 2020.
With regards to accusations that he was making money from the presidency, he said, “I lost massive amounts of money doing this job.” He called the presidency job, a “loser” financially.
“This is not the money. This is one of the great losers of all time. You know, fortunately, I don’t need money. This is one of the great losers of all time. But they’ll say that somebody from some country stayed at a hotel. And I’ll say, ‘Yeah.’ But I lose, I mean, the numbers are incredible.”
With the Democrats who were against his way especially on the “immorality” of his border wall, Mr Trump said the opposition party has “really drifted far left.”
Speaking of the next year election, the president did not fail to talk about Democratic candidates.
He expressed admiration for the Senator Kamala’s campaign kickoff attended by thousands of supporters.
“I would say the best opening so far would be Kamala Harris. I would say in terms of the opening act, I would say, would be her,” the US president said.
“Some of the others were very flat,” he added, in reference to another possible candidate, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
“I do think Elizabeth Warren’s been hurt very badly with the Pocahontas trap,” he stressed, alluding to senator’s effort to prove she has Native American heritage.
Last year, Mr Trump described her as a “fake Pocahontas” and challenged her to take a DNA test.
The results “strongly” supported a Native American ancestor but the subsequent DNA report concluded that “the vast majority” of Ms Warren’s ancestry was European.
“I think she’s been hurt badly. I may be wrong, but I think that was a big part of her credibility, and now all of a sudden it’s gone.”
Authorities in Gelang Patah in southern Johor, Malaysia, have arrested seven men reportedly connected with the kidnapping of a vegetable trader from Singapore. The unnamed victim is a businessman in his fifties, reported to be taken on January 27.
A small town near the Johor portion of the Second Link bridge at Tuas, Gelang Patah is near the Iskandar Puteri, formerly known as Nusajaya, township.
The alleged kidnappers were nabbed after the businessman’s family paid RM1 million (S$330,000) as ransom, according to Mohd Khalil Mohd Kader, the police chief of Johor.
The ransom amount was paid on January 31. One day after payment, the businessman was set free.
As soon as the victim was released, police sprung into action to catch the suspects.
As soon as the victim was released, police sprung into action to catch the suspects. In their endeavor to capture the kidnappers, police from Johor also found a portion of the ransom money, as well as some weapons.
By Friday, February 1, just one day after the Singaporean businessman was set free, police were able to round up some of the suspects. The others were captured by Saturday, February 2. A joint force from the Johor police and a special unit from Kuala Lumpur police headquarters went after the suspects, who are now being held under Malaysia’s Kidnapping Act and the Firearms Act.
The incident was confirmed by the police at Johor Baru on Wednesday, February 6. More information about the kidnapping of the Singaporean victim, as well as the arrest of the seven men, is expected to be announced at a news conference today, February 7.
