S.Korean gaming addict accused of killing son

summary:

Internet gaming addict South Korean mother accused of killing her three-year-old son. She plays about ten hours a day. The mother beat and strangled him after he disturbed her by urinating on the floor and cried. Furthermore she's mad at him as she was tired and want to get some rest after playing game. The body was discovered only after three days when her in-laws reported the death to police.

Comment:

This is a sad case that's reported. A mother killing their own children is unacceptable, furthermore the reason is because she's tired after playing online games. She must have been a serious game addict. She haven't been doing house chore as her house is describe as like a trash site. In this world, there's many game addicts. I believe that due to much games, people get easily agitated when their tired or they can't live without it. There's many cases of game addicts doing harm such as a 15-years-old boy committing suicide after killing mother for scolding him over computer games. Too much video games can cause people to suffer from social withdrawals, physical aliments, aggressive behavior which is like mentioned above. They will also ignore responsibilities such as failing to eat proper meals or do their work. There should learn how to control their addicts and not rely too much on the net for comfort.

Japan defense reviw warm of China's military might

summary:
Japan and China's relationship is deteriorated sharply in September because of collisions between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats near China. Japan call China's military raise a source of international concern. Also North Korea is considered as an urgent and grave upgraded. North Korea's missile and nuclear programmed as a "pressing and serious destabilizing factor". In response, more Patriot interceptor batteries will be deployed, and the number of warships which can shoot down missiles will be increased in Japan but Japan's military is forbidden by the country's constitution from offensive action.

comments:
It is considered that the relationship between Japan and China is serious. I was surprised when Japanese patrol boats and Chinese trawler were collision. After that the program of visit Shanghai International exhibition was postponed the day before departure day. After those things, Japanese media often broadcast about relationship between Japan and China. And next problem is between South Korea and North Korea. Even if Japan increase military, Japan can't attack other couturiers because of constitution so I don't need to increase and train Japanese military. We have a military only defence for ourselves. Japan should consider having military only for defence or change the constitution but it is difficult to change constitution. Because Japan is already know warfare from World War2. Japan doesn't want to do same mistake again. It is important that how Japan correspond to China without no bad stimulus.

X100042
-Yuno

US man is HIV-free after stem cell transplant

summary:

An American man is still HIV-free more than three years after receiving a stem cell transplant. This is the first ever cure of virus thats causes AIDS. However this is used by a highly ricky technique. The man is known as "berlin Patient" this cure would not work for most of the 33million people with HIV worldwide. This is a operation of using a rare genetic mutation that is naturally resistant to HIV. However, the process is not easy. Hence they are still researching on another alternative to replicate the same process in the cells without going through the same risky process.

Comment:

There's a slight success in finding cure for HIV. This is better than none despite the risk. This is a great start for the researchers. I believe that if this method can be improve with less risk involved. This will allow those that's living with HIV to be cured and they would not die from it. Furthermore, if they're cured from HIV, they will not be isolated from the society. When a cure is found, non HIV positive will not get contracted from this disease. Lesser people will be drag into being HIV positive. However, everyone should still be cautious. Even if a cure is found, there could be another more deadly diseases which will evolve from this. As when a cure is found, one day, the diseases will be immune to the medicine. Everyone should protect themselves. By using safety precaution, this will lesser the risk of getting the diseases. If we're taking precaution in the first place, lesser people will die from AIDS.

Japan knife rampage on buses leaves 13 injured

Story: Japan knife rampage on buses leaves 13 injured. A Japanese man wield with knife went on rampage on two packed buses on Friday, slashing at least four people leaving 13 injured, mostly school students.

Yuta Saito is 27-year-old and unemployed. The attack happened during the morning rush hour outside Toride railway station, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Witnesses subdued the knife-man also sustained some injuries.

The drivers of the two passenger buses later recounted the ordeal that sent panicked passengers fleeing from the crowded vehicles. The bloody knife attack evoked memories of another, far deadlier stabbing spree in which the attacker also ran down pedestrians with a truck in 2008.

Tomohiro Kato, 28, is still on trial for his rampage in which he killed seven people -- three with the truck and four by stabbing them -- and wounded 10 more in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics and manga comic culture district.


Comments:
I feel that the authorities should have done something during the incident.
Fortunately, no lives were lost. However, more actions should be done.
The public should also be well informed if such scenarios should occur anytime, anywhere so that they are prepared.

It is unfortuante that such events are often unpredictable and fortunately it does not occur daily, thus it is irrelevant if the Government should include "x-rays" in buses before passengers board.

-Claire

ZoukOut 'molester' arrested

SUMMARY: A 21-YEAR-OLD foreigner was arrested for molesting someone early on Sunday morning at ZoukOut, the annual dance party on Sentosa, which attracted an estimated 30,000 revellers.
A 23-year-old party-goer who did not want to be named said she saw the man being taken away, and that he did not look drunk.
Organised by Zouk, this outdoor music festival saw some 30,000 party goers descend on Siloso Beach at Sentosa.
For 12 hours, starting from 8pm, party goers danced through the night as famous DJs like Tiesto and David Guetta played their songs.

COMMENT: There has been various reports regarding molesters during parties like ZoukOut, and even during the Countdown party. I feel that party-goers should be more aware of their surroundings. Even if girls want to wear bikinis during the party, they should always have guy friends who look out for them while having fun. Even better, if they fear being molested, they should not be going to these parties. They should be aware that the place will be very crowded. This news has caused some people to post racist comments guessing the molester's race; and most of them think it's an Indian guy. I think this should not happen. The race of the molester could be Chinese or a Malay, why do people zoom in into Indians? People should stop being so narrow-minded. It's not fair to the Indians out there.

Former maid turned technician lands scholarship

Summary:


Former maid Miss Jourgina Dagoplo's Singapore employers funded her which allowed her to continue her education. Before receiving this opportunity, Miss Jourgina had already been working in Singapore for 13 years. Her kind employers offered her a chance to study by funding her and that made her obtain a ITE skill certificate which earned her a spot in IBM in the year 2005, with a monthly income of $1,050 which was double the pay she earned as a helper. Apart from the ITE certificate, she also graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with the Diploma Electrical and Electronics Engineering. However, since she has already stayed in Singapore for 18 years, her visa permit has expired, thus she had to return to her country. Back there, she received a scholarship to study in a private school - Informatics. The couple are continuing to support her by giving her an allowance for the next 2 years until her studies complete.


Comments:
I feel that despite many cases with maid issues that are either abuses or robbery, there are still some stories that are so different. More and more maids are receiving benefits from their employees, which also tells us that yes a family with a helper can get along. Abuses and other cases should be prevented. I must say that Miss Jourgina is really lucky to be able to continue studying that allowed her to earn a scholarship, her employers should have felt proud of it. As my household has a maid too, I have actually asked her what she thought about continuing study, she said she wanted to earn money first then continue her studies next time as she has many siblings. One of the helpers I have had before, looked after me for 12 years ever since I was born, my mother taught her many culinary skills like cooking Chicken Rice, when she returned to the Philippines, this gave her the opportunity to set up a business selling Chicken Rice. Now, she is happily living in her country able to support herself even though she didn't continue studying. 


I must say that there are good employers with good helpers, there are also average employers, with average helpers, and the other extremes. However, this proves us that having both helpers and employers can work together having an unexpected result at the end of the period spent together. 

"hacktivits" threaten websites if Assange is extradited

Summary:

an army of computer hackers is planning to bring down British government website if Mr Julian Assange, founder of wikileaks, is extradited to Sweden. They have hacked the website for Dutch police, MasterCard,Visa and Paypal. This happened when they companies announced that they will not donate to the anti-secrecy organisation.

Comments:

the recent cyberattack which is in support of wikileaks has caused trouble to Visa and the Dutch police website. Visa was down for a day. This was a warning given. However, in my opinion, there's pros and cons about this anti-secrecy organisation. The pros would be for example, they leaked out the documents about North Korea and Myanmar. The two countries have always been close. It was said in the documents that Myanmar is building nuclear sites with help from North korea. This allows the US to react over Myanmar's instability and aversion to change. Without this documents, some things may not be able to come to light. However, too much of this leaked document can prone terrorist attack. The documents are raw. Some documents may spark anger from people when they happen to read some negative comments in the wikileaks.

Kitten found dead in Sengkang: Another victim of animal abuse?

Summary: STOMPer Kiefer Goh is preparing to bury this kitten that his mother found dead under block 183B at Sengkang. There seems to be a puncture wound under its neck and the STOMPer wonders if this is a case of animal abuse.
The STOMPer appeals:
"This cat was found at Sengkang 183B around 10pm on 9 Dec.
"It appears to have been punctured from its lower jaw into its mouth.
"Its eyes were bloodshot and I suspect that was due to strangulation.
"The cat was only a kitten and no bigger than 1 foot long.
"It was already dead when my mother carried it to my house. We are preparing to bury it.
"If anyone has more information about this case, please contact the authorities.
"I hope the government will start doing more to help these poor animals."

Comment: As much as I hate cats, I still think that this isn't the right way to treat your pet. Just a few weeks ago, a video was posted online showing a girl sitting on a huge glass with her pet rabbit under the glass. The rabbit was squashed. While watching the video, I was horrified. The girl was still smiling and laughing. If you own a pet, it is your responsibility to take care of it! Not hurt it, or even go to the extend of killing it. Even if you killed your pet, isn't it common sense that you bury it properly. Not leave it at the void deck. I really think the government should pass a specific law for these irresponsible owners.

Nor Atiqah
103924B

Singapore Red Cross reports woman for pocketing $90,000

Summary:
The Red Cross Society has declared that they would stop fund-raising until investigations into a misappropriation of funds have been done. One of the Red Cross Society's employees who started off as a temporary administrative assistant staff of the finance department in the year 2009 who was then made a permanent staff had been reported for a total theft of $90,000 over the period starting February 2010. She admitted that she was guilty. This is the first time the charity encountered such an incident ever since the year 1949. This has resulted to Red Cross secretary-general Christopher Chua making an apology to donors that helped.


Comments:
I feel that these people should not be let scot-free. Money donated by tax-payers and other people are hard earned, yet they are willing to donate to these charities to help those in need. However, she took advantage and nabbed that $90,000 which could have been used to save many lives and maybe improve the standard of living of those in need. Yes, these people might have their reasons for doing so, but it is still a crime. Just because of her foolish act of taking that $90,000, Red Cross has to stop fund-raising which would mean the poor would have to suffer. I believe that this would definitely bring down the donation amounts after fund-raising events start again. 

Stunt goes horribly wrong on German prime-time TV

Summary:
A contestant, Samuel Koch, in one of Germany's most popular TV shows was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital as he suffered severe spinal injuries. The TV programme is one that allows contestants to attempt to perform or show daring feats. Upon attempting his stunt, which was to leap lengthways over a moving car wearing spring-loaded stilts, Samuel met an unfortunate mishap. As a result, he lay motionless on the floor. Koch was immediately sent to the hospital, fortunately he managed to regain consciousness and could speak. His operation lasted for about 2 and a half hours. 
Thomas Gottschalk, the host of the show stated that over the 29 years since the programme started, there were many participants performing very dangerous stunts like a young man who jumped over a house on a skateboard and the worst suffered a broken leg. The host also stated that if he had known that Samuel would attempt such a dangerous stunt, he would not have allowed him to perform.


Comments:
I feel sorry for Samuel Koch as all he wanted to do was probably to gain fame and also a chance to shine. However, is it that necessary to perform such dangerous stunts in order to win? I find that he was lucky that it was just a spinal injury, something worse off like death might have happened. Gaining fame or popularity should not include risks that might end your life. Yes, it might have been something to wow about if he succeeded, but to me, it is just not right. Now he has spinal problems, which would probably disallow him to walk properly and cause many disruptions to his daily life he had before. Why go to such extents just to win a TV program? Now, even if he is recovering, his life would not be the same anymore.

Bird-flu steps complete: Japan

summary:
Last Sunday, the Shimane prefecture announced that it has taken all preventive measures against bird flu since a local poultry farm was fund infected last week. All 21,500 chickens at a farm have been killed and incinerated. No new cases of avian flu have been reported, surveillance will be maintained within a 10-km radius of the infected farm. Shimane governor said Sunday at a meeting of the local task force that he will try to compensate the poultry farm and neighboring farm tasted positive for bird flu in preliminary tests. the virus was identified as the often deadly H5N1 strain.

comments:
Last year, there is swine flu and it run riot and a lot of people died. The swine flu came from Mexico to Japan on April. In Japan, the season for flu is from beginning of autumn to end of winter. The swine flu of last year was unusual. It took a long time to produce new antibiotic because the virus was very strong. And i t was few amount. That why a lot of people died. If this bird flu infect with people, it is serious problem. I don't want it to infect people and I don't want to see same incident again. The government should do some provision as soon as possible.

Yuno
-100042

Malaysian 14-year-old's marriage sparks debate

Story:
The public marriage celebration in Malaysia between schoolgirl Siti Maryam Mahood (14 years old) and teacher Abdul Manan Othman (23 years old) celebrated their marriage at a mosque in the capitl Kuala Lumpar, after a religious Sharia court approved the union, has triggered a call for a fresh debate on child marriage.

Abdul is the girl's family friend. Siti knows that it is hard trying to juggle two roles, as a student and a wife.

Muslims below 16 who want to get married must obtain the permission of the religious courts. Those of other religions aged below 17 must have the consent of civil authorities.

In Malaysia, Muslims make up about 60 per cent of the 28 million population. For certain issues including family law they are subject to Sharia which operates in parallel with the civil legal system.

Comments:
I feel that every states practices different culture.
To me, I feel that there should be a standard age of minumum of 18 years old.
This is because, if the female is married at the age of 16, she will be holding on to a lot of responsibilities. And at such a young age, majority of the youths are merely learning how to undergo responsibilities.

I feel that before the couple gets married, that is if the female is below 18 years old, they should be counseled and it should be thought of.

-Claire

Caught for inciting violence

Summary: POLICE arrested on Monday a 15-year-old male for inciting violence online following the recent murder at Downtown East. On Nov 4, the suspect posted comments claiming he was associated with a gang. He also challenged other users to a fight, even stating a specific date, time and place. The suspect is released on bail and is still under investigation. The director of the Criminal Investigation Department, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Ng Boon Gay, said the police are 'taking a tough stance on gangs'. 'Those who think they can hide behind the anonymity of the Internet should think twice and be warned that statements which are deemed to cause fear or incite violence are against the law,' he added.

Comments: I think the teenager is proud to be a member of the gang, and he probably feels that people will be afraid of him after he posted the comments online. Obviously, he was just 'inviting danger' to himself when the police arrested him. Even though we have the liberty to post anything online, we should still be mindful of what we post. We should not post something that might hurt someone's feelings, or even something that might get ourselves in danger. This isn't the first news about teenagers/internet users getting arrested because of what they say online. Several others have served their time for posting racist remarks, and other sensitive issues.

Nor Atiqah
103924B

China tackles cyberwarfare

Summary: BEIJING - CHINA'S army should seriously consider how to deal with cyberwarfare amid severe threats to online and information security, after authorities detained hundreds of hackers. 'The spread of information is developing at an unprecedented rate... bringing severe challenges to information and Internet security,' the state-run People's Liberation Army Daily reported. 'Military commanders must seriously consider how to deal with the issue of cyberwarfare.' The comments come just days after Chinese authorities said they had detained more than 460 suspected hackers and closed a number of websites that teach people how to hack, warning that cyberattacks were rampant across the nation. According to a notice on the Ministry of Public Security's website posted on Tuesday, police had cracked a total of 180 hacking cases within China, which has the world's largest online population of at least 420 million users.

Comments: Cyberwarfare is a serious case. If it's not handled properly, it could mean all the websites to 'close down'. No one would risk their accounts being hacked or their personal information to be exposed online. For the fact that there are a number of websites that teaches people how to hack, it makes the internet much more 'unsafe' than it already is. I personally feel that the China authorities should get some professionals to work together and find out more about the websites which teaches people how to hack, and try to prevent people from accessing the website. If they have to, they should just stop people from having internet connection, filter out all the 'hacking websites', then connecting it again.

Nor Atiqah
103924B

Japanese manufacturing activity falls as exports shrink

summary:
Japanese manufacturing activity reduce for a three months running from September as a strong yen hit exports. The Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) stayed below the 50 threshold. The index for new export orders fell to 46.9 from 48.4 compare with previous month. Also, new figures showed Japan's unemployment rate rose to 5.1% in October.

comments:
Strong yen is a serious problem for Japan. It is started from September 2008, after Riemann shock. Before Riemann shock, Japanese yen was 100 yen level against US$1 but after Riemann shock, Japanese yen have shot up. After 2 years, Japanese yen had continued ups and downs between about 85 yen to 100 yen but last month at length, Japanese yen marked 80.40 level. High Japanese yen rate is welcomed to people who go abroad but exporting company get huge shock. If Japanese yen increase 1 yen, exporting company gets 100 million yen damages. After Riemann shock, a lot of company got damage so they have reduced salary, employee or etc. These days, unemployment rate going up and job hunting is becoming difficult because of strong yen. A lot of university students can't get job before graduate. If they can't get job, most of them go to graduate studies because job hunting is easy for students compare to graduates. Usually in Japan, we begin to job hunting in second semester of year 3 so I begin to job hunting next October but I'm very afraid of that it is possible I can't get job. Above all I think that government should make some policy to control yen. If yen is going strong more than now, it is very difficult to readjust Japanese economics.

Yuno
-X100042