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Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to meet in Vietnam

The Independent
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Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to meet in Vietnam

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.

3 Reasons Your Startup Should Hire an Intern

The Independent
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3 Reasons Your Startup Should Hire an Intern

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.

Educational Attainment by Country

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.

Median Gross Monthly Income From Work of Employed Residents

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.

The article 3 Reasons Your Startup Should Hire an Intern originally appeared on ValueChampion.

ValueChampion helps you find the most relevant information to optimise your personal finances. Like us on our Facebook page to keep up to date with our latest news and articles.

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Source: VP

Man sues parents for giving birth to him without his consent

The Independent
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Man sues parents for giving birth to him without his consent

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.

Watch Samuel’s video here:

Trump, in NYT interview, calls border wall talks ‘waste of time’ and denies investigations

The Independent
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Trump, in NYT interview, calls border wall talks ‘waste of time’ and denies investigations

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:

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

“A better crowd — better crowd, better enthusiasm.”

“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.”

 

 

7 arrested in Malaysia in connection with kidnapped Singaporean businessman

Anna Maria Romero
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7 arrested in Malaysia in connection with kidnapped Singaporean businessman

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.

Bombings in Mindanao, Philippines continue as election nears

The Independent
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Bombings in Mindanao, Philippines continue as election nears

A series of bombings terrorized several cities in Mindanao, Philippines last week.

On Jan 27, two consecutive explosions in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, a city in the southernmost part of Mindanao, killed 21 and injured more than a hundred people.

Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) hidden in backpacks were detonated by a cellphone, according to authorities.

Among those killed include civilians attending mass, military personnel, and police deployed at the site.
Three days later, a grenade exploded at a Maharlika mosque in Talon-Talon, Zamboanga that killed 2 and injured 3 people as they slept.
Authorities have yet to confirm whether the bombings in Jolo and Zamboanga are connected.
On Feb 5, a day before an important plebiscite on the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), three separate grenade blasts shook the region of Lanao del Norte. The first was in Kauswagan, followed by another blast at gas station near Maranding, and the last at the Mindanao State University High School at Sultan Naga Dimaporo.
None were reported to have been injured or killed in the Lanao del Norte blasts.

Peace negotiations

The Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), ratified just last Jan 25, addresses the need of Muslims for self-government and aims to replace the current Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao which was deemed too reliant on central Manila government.

The BOL is considered the fruit of peace talks that spanned decades between the Philippine government and rebel groups.

Despite the rising violence, military officials insist that “everything is under control” and that people should practice their right to vote during the Feb 6 BOL plebiscite.

Suspects

ISIS initially claimed responsibility for the bombings in Jolo. But military authorities have arrested five suspects linked to the Abu Sayyaf to the cathedral bombings.

Two Indonesian nationals are prime suspects for the suicide bombing in Jolo along with three Filipinos who guided the foreigners.

The government of Indonesia has reached out and offered assistance in verifying the identities of the alleged suicide bombers.

Security measures

Thousands of military and police forces were deployed in Lanao del Norte for the Feb 6 BOL plebiscite for added security measures.

Davao City, the home of President Duterte, recently banned the use of backpacks in fear of a repeat of the Jolo bombing. The city has also been riddled with hoax bomb threats that were spread through text messages.

Metro Manila, the capital, has heightened security measures in malls and transport terminals. Similar to airport policies, citizens riding the Manila MRT are now banned from bringing water and other beverages in bottles.

Presidential spokesperson Panelo says that the country is still “a safe haven” and that the violence is unlikely to spread to other outside cities.

Martial Law

Mindanao has been under Martial Law since the 2017 Siege of Marawi where the ISIS-affiliated Maute group seized control of the city, clashing with Philippine military forces for over five months.

Martial law in Mindanao has been extended until Dec 31, 2019 in fear of another Marawi incident. The Philippine government argues that the recent church and mosque bombings justify the extension of martial law.

These recent bombings add to a long history of violence and religious extremism in Mindanao amidst peace negotiations and various stakeholders’ efforts for just and lasting peace.

GrabFood delivery personnel gives cancelled order to homeless man, a promising initiative

The Independent
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GrabFood delivery personnel gives cancelled order to homeless man, a promising initiative

Singapore – Cancelling an order via an online booking may be as simple as clicking a button but for some finding a meal to avoid blacking out from hunger could take hours. This is especially true for Singapore’s supposed non-existent homeless population. Thanks to a GrabFood delivery guy, a bridge was formed between the two scenarios mentioned above by giving cancelled orders to homeless people.

Ah Kai, through his Facebook post shared to the page of GrabFood Delivery Rider Singapore, showed that with some quick thinking, one can reduce unnecessary waste and fill a stomach with one stone. He wrote: “Customer cancel order so we plan give to homeless ppl who need. Today we help ppl another days ppl will help us. #provision should not be rejected.”

Instead of letting his cancelled order get the best of him, he chose to send some blessing to someone else by giving what appeared to be a McDonald’s order to a homeless man.

This could be a great start to an initiative already popular in the U.S. called “pay it forward” which is geared towards helping the homeless community acquire meals paid for in advance by others. And according to Ah Kai’s post, they plan to continue this kind of activity.

The act of kindness garnered a lot of respect from the online community with many being enlightened on ways that they can help. Such as sending a free meal to the drivers themselves like what a GrabFood customer did last year when he had to cancel his order and decided to give it to the driver instead.

An example of an incredible young man’s journey in promoting a pay it forward system.

See the post below:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3161212797462574&set=gm.829126390773018&type=3&theater

There are many ways to pay it forward.

Opposition politician and former presidential candidate both agree that Malaysia’s healthcare system trumps Singapore’s

Obbana Rajah
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Opposition politician and former presidential candidate both agree that Malaysia’s healthcare system trumps Singapore’s

Following the news that Malaysia ranks top for its healthcare system, opposition politician Lim Tean and former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian took to social media to very publicly concur.

Leader of the party People’s Voice, Lim took to Facebook on Thursday, Feb 7 and said, “I am shocked and surprised to learn that Malaysia takes TOP spot in the world’s ranking for the best healthcare system”.

https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesVoiceSingapore/posts/2214942198773974?__xts__[0]=68.ARBNyA2miFbZ0nCb2c8QGPN-vjiTAFqcadg9KX17WhaKTTXuz9yvBVex6WeVCzxdhm9P84DHVlUT-Pyz4yXPN4UwgHHWGJAMaXYJbAFVL4djw_CarTTKiHVri6nLN1s8vUPD6szXTMSkepUjspsPemQh8bZO3Fkhc74lSn6yZW22us8I2rnqSFywPJeY19jatgER0dh-YsMNI60ihnBzub18oJNT8FgRQ4-oCdZqdjGPxlS95g7ZNy7DUHrec5Gy9QPh9WY8j9-V5T_JsB4434NwVVVjE1NjJZfdolx-_XWnWP7fuEzqceTWKSaIwaQfCCNRsdmkXrGEGn9YGX5djJeivIHD&__tn__=-R

Malaysia, with a score of 95 out of 100, was ranked first in the Best Healthcare in the World category of the 2019 International Living Annual Global Retirement Index.

Lim Tean also added that the main reason he thought Malaysia was ranked top was because of the cost of healthcare. He said, “It appears that healthcare is very affordable in our neighbouring country and services are TOP notch”.

According to Lim, “Over in Singapore, healthcare costs are ridiculously expensive, waiting times insanely Long and there are not enough hospital beds!”

While Lim Tean criticized the current system, he made no indication of possible suggestions or changes he would like to make. He only noted, “Like our broken CPF System, our Healthcare services need a total revamp which puts Citizens’ interests FIRST! Peoples Voice will be unveiling our plans to revamp our Nation’s healthcare system in due course”.

Former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian also expressed similar sentiments, except his point of view seemed to be sustained. He wrote, “we may not believe totally in the ranking in this article, but Malaysia must be doing something right, for them to receive this ranking”.

He continued, “Singapore may have a better health care system in the top quality of the hospital, medical specialists and the use of technology, but it is far too expensive”.

While Mr Tan felt that Singapore did have a better healthcare system than Malaysia, he expressed that it was unaffordable for ordinary people.

https://www.facebook.com/kinlian/posts/2480704518668852?__xts__[0]=68.ARBCZrgPLarhMOhrLda_e73S6xba5kYj25NChc9lpp6ONdfm7DUwFIuBDjtqQ4mstpM2jB80fKgQR3LQQLipIp6A_d1HCTqziBNrosBsR_9QgaGn1J4XYMve_fdkVVLOBOZm2gJBHQWyp5i4LBR-h1557yaDRdh8S7q0Py86wyIb2NUdalB1rLmLo0HuZOCP5SqhXIoRS8SLin4fdU-pKoKgxgh8lt118ZAEtmC8An4WID7jhXFsowN5kCZx-RFwdtQbcd6ub1K944VLSCKsbCYR6XH3SUMdKyA3L_kICyrQiJ7MM0SwbiGrzVYuU9Wha2sYdKitjTa7BhaZC39OsA&__tn__=-R

Singapore did not place in the top six of the 2019 International Living Annual Global Retirement Index. France ranked second, with Thailand coming in third.

Many other Singaporeans agreed with both Lim Tean and Tan Kin Lian.

 

Why mainland Chinese no longer want to live in Geylang

Anna Maria Romero
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Why mainland Chinese no longer want to live in Geylang

Geylang has been firmly entrenched in Singapore for around 20 years as an enclave for workers from mainland China. Known as the Lion City’s red-light district, Geylang became a tightly knit community because of the low cost of food and rent, and its closeness to the city center.

However, things have begun to change for Geylang, as the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. Due to the fact that the sex trade has largely moved online, in addition to stricter labor policies, as well as tighter security after a 2013 riot, the future of the place dubbed ‘Little Chinatown’ may now be in question.

One worker who arrived in Singapore in 2013, Hu Fengkai, said, “The whole place has changed in the past two years because everyone is leaving. Soon enough, I will have no one else here and I will have to leave too.”

Many of the workers from China started arriving during Singapore’s construction boom shortly after the financial crisis in Asia in 1997, because of higher pay, as well as the ability to visit family back home easily. They settled in Geylang, especially at Wing Fong Court and Sunny Spring. Since these condominiums were flanked by brothels, they were considered undesirable by locals.

Paying S$150 per month for room, a fee that could be divided amongst themselves, was half of the rental fees they would pay in the country’s ‘official’ Chinatown district.

These savings were very important to the workers. According to Luke Tan, who works for the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME), “When you are a migrant worker in a foreign land, even the smallest cost can impact you greatly. In a place like Geylang, workers are able to save more because of the low costs of things.”

Sex workers from mainland China followed soon after. The women did not work for brothels licensed by the Government and managed to avoid periodic health exams. They were much sought-after in the country, where the majority is Chinese.

Geylang began to show more and more signs in Chinese, with even restaurants and cuisine reflecting the new residents.

However, some locals were less than thrilled with these developments, and by 2009 were writing letters to newspapers about how Geylang was becoming more and more Sinicised and was losing its multicultural atmosphere.

However, illegal trade also flourished in Geylang, particularly the illicit sales of liquor and cigarettes. Three years ago, over 5,600 cartons of contraband cigarettes from China were seized by the country’s Customs officials. Chinese nationals have also been arrested for selling contraband cigarettes over WeChat, a messaging app.

Some mainland Chinese were also openly operating gambling dens in Geylang. Despite repeated raids, these dens kept sprouting.

However, things took a turn in 2013, due to a riot in Little India, which is close to Geylang. Workers who had had too much to drink rioted after one Indian died in a traffic accident.

The country’s police force started a crackdown, which also affected Geylang as police felt that the area had “a hint of lawlessness.” A curfew for alcoholic beverages was imposed on weekdays and completely banned on weekend in Little India and Geylang.

They also increased the frequency of raids in the area, and installed cameras, which put a damper on the sex trade as well as gambling dens. At the same time, government policies concerning foreign workers had begun to shift.

The result was that fewer mainland Chinese have come to Singapore in the last few years.

This has affected Geylang, with establishments catering to the mainland Chinese beginning to close down.

Additionally, the sex worker trade had been moving online, to better escape detection from authorities.

SCMP quotes one longtime Geylang resident as saying, “Geylang is increasingly quiet and businesses are suffering. No alcohol and no girls. There’s no reason to come to Geylang any more.

The Chinese are slowly leaving. In a few years, Geylang won’t be ‘Little Chinatown’ anymore.”

This startup uses AI to convert complex data into memorable visual stories

e27
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0
This startup uses AI to convert complex data into memorable visual stories

Gramener augments human intelligence by extracting insights from heterogeneous data sources and converting them into memorable stories for decision making

Recent reports have highlighted the alarming rate at which species are being categorised as endangered. India has high-profile cases of endangered species like the Bengal tiger, Asiatic lion or the red panda. This environmental crisis requires cutting-edge solutions that can track and help combat the loss of biodiversity.

New-age technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have the potential to find solutions to problems such as these.

Data science company Gramener could probably help in this regard.

This Singapore- and US-based firm has created a deep learning AI application that, for example, can track salmon and fish populations over time in order to detect changes in the habits and decline of the salmon species — making what used to be a labour-intensive effort into an automated tool.

“Our purpose is to augment human intelligence by extracting insights from heterogeneous data sources and converting them into memorable stories for decision making,” Gramener Co-founder S. Anand tells e27. “We help organisations and clients analyse data and consume insights. We build custom Big Data analytics and visualisations on our platform and bring expertise to data, design and business.”

Gramener was founded in 2010 by Anand (CEO), Naveen Gattu (COO), Mayank Kapur ( CDO) and Ganes Kesari (SVP– Analytics & AI Labs).

“Data generation and analytics are not sufficient for making decisions. Automated insights and narrative stories not only help you consume data easily and consistently, but also help cross the analytics chasm. Humans don’t  understand data or models innately. Design principles derived from an understanding of human perception help visualise these and absorb their implications subliminally,” Anand observes.

Also Read: Is data science still among the sexiest jobs of the 21st century?

In addition to helping organisations and government agencies to address pressing environmental issues, Gramener’s products are also used by companies across various other sectors for various purposes, including:

Financial services: Offers a suite of data visualisation and analytics solutions for retail banks, corporate banks, investment banks, asset management, insurance and regulatory bodies.

The Gramener team

Retail and consumer goods: Offers retailers, malls, consumer goods and product companies visual analytics for in-store insights, product and channel performance, as well as optimizing supply chain performance.

Healthcare: Helps pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, clinics and healthcare providers visualise sales performance, improve the service operations, and communicate better with customers and channels.

Agriculture: Helps agricultural, commodity and food organisations analyse and visualise data on their purchases, identify factors driving productivity, and forecast prices for improved inventory management.

Marketing: Helps marketing teams understand customer behaviour, uses this to segment customers based on their actions, and recommends product, pricing, or promotions for each closely defined segment

HR: Offers solutions for corporates to improve their talent recruitment, performance improvement and attrition defense – using text analysis, Machine Learning, data visualisation and narratives.

Media: Partners with various media organisations for digital content and data journalism, data-driven market research, communication through infographics and consumer insights via advanced analytics and visualisation (In the Assembly elections in India in 2018, the company worked with a leading TV news channel for election analytics).

“A leading print media organisation approached us for a solution that could automatically tag the three million images it hosts with the people (faces), objects and texts present in the images. We worked with them, and now it has a scalable web service that lets users upload images and accurately recognise people, objects and texts in the images within seconds,” he shares.

The company has also worked with ‘Microsoft AI for Earth’ and ‘Nisqually River Foundation’ to automate identification of fish species. Gramener’s solution processed the video feed from the cameras, extracted images, and classified the type of fish based on a pre-trained neutral algorithm. The interface allows  biologists and non-technical users to interact with ease.

“Our products are deployed in critical business functions in Fortune 500 enterprises, government and non-profit organisations across the world to solve complex business problems and enable business users towards data-driven leadership,” shares Anand, himself a data scientist and a Gold Medalist from IIM Bangalore.

Anand reads three key trends in the market — data visualisation, cognitive research and business-driven analytics. “Data visualisation is no longer in the realm of pure numbers. Text analysis is relatively mature and is being applied routinely to various problems. Even a pure text corpus like The Mahabharata (Hindu mythology) can be visualised. Images, audio and video are rapidly becoming analysable and visual sable.

Secondly, cognitive research. What we know of the human eye and brain is increasingly making its way into practical visualisations. For example, most men can name only 11 colours (women can name about 15), but can differentiate between over a million colours when placed next to each other. So, while a heatmap that places regions adjacently can be coloured with millions of shades, a bubble chart should have 11 colours at most. Such rules of thumb and now baked into the software people build for data visualization these days.

Thirdly, business-driven analytics. Analytics is shifting more towards business users or consumer driven, this has been the evolution,” he explains.

But data science business is a challenging industry. Visual analytics requires a combination of statistics, programming and design. Finding good people with one of these talents is hard. The combination is near impossible.

“Another challenge is the longer sales cycle. Almost every person on the business side understands the value of analytics instantly. Once we hit the next stage of sales closure, however, there is the learning curve around how to classify Analytics (software? service? consulting?) and how to price it (by number of users? reports? templates? rows of data?). We spend a fair bit of time educating our enterprise customers and evolving our commercial models,” he adds.

Although bootstrapped, Gramener has been operationally profitable from the third year of its inception. “We have proven ourselves in the enterprise market with various customer accolades, analyst recommendations. We have devised value driven engagements models, GTM strategies scalable with partners and stickiness with our clients.”

Gramener is now looking to raise growth capital, and is having conversation with a few chosen partners, who can “enable our growth plans and be part of our growth story”.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

The post This startup uses AI to convert complex data into memorable visual stories appeared first on e27.

Source: E27

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