Nifty on 14 may 2014

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Ukraine's defence minister accused Russia on Wednesday of preparing to potentially store nuclear weapons in Crimea and warned that Moscow could attack Ukraine to ensure water supplies for the annexed peninsula. Andrii Taran, speaking just before an emergency NATO meeting with allied defence and foreign ministers, also said he could not rule out a possibility that Russian forces in Crimea could "undertake substantive military provocations" this year. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, in a move that triggered Western sanctions against Moscow. "Crimea's infrastructure is being prepared for potentially storing nuclear weapons," Taran told the European Parliament's sub-committee on defence. "The very presence of nuclear munitions in the peninsula may spark a whole array of complex political, legal and moral problems." Taran provided no evidence for his assertion but said Russia was massing 110,000 troops on Ukraine's border in 56 battalion-sized ... » Learn More about As NATO meets, Ukraine says Russia could store nuclear weapons in Crimea

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia on Tuesday to withdraw troops from Ukraine's eastern border in what the alliance says is Moscow's biggest build-up since 2014, ahead of an emergency meeting of allied foreign and defence ministers. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba flew to Brussels for talks with Stoltenberg a day after Kyiv accused the Kremlin of ignoring its request for talks between the two countries' presidents over a build-up of Russian troops near its border. "In recent weeks Russia has moved thousands of combat-ready troops to Ukraine's borders, the largest massing of Russian troops since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014," Stoltenberg said. Russia has said it moves its forces around as it sees fit, including for defensive purposes, and has regularly accused NATO of destabilising Europe with its troop reinforcements in the Baltics and Poland since the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea. "Russia must end this ... » Learn More about NATO demands Russia end Ukraine build-up, West examines options

MANILA, Philippines — More than 162,000 individuals have been fully vaccinated or received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) reported Wednesday. Data from the DOH and the NTF showed 162,065 Filipinos have been given their second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 162,000 individuals have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, data from the DOH and NTF COVID-19 shows @inquirerdotnet pic.twitter.com/Vtr77w4cex — Krissy Aguilar (@KAguilarINQ) April 14, 2021 Meanwhile, some 1,093,651 Filipinos have been inoculated with the vaccine’s first dose. The government has recently started simultaneously vaccinating health workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities. With the arrival of 500,000 procured CoronaVac developed by China’s Sinovac, the DOH and NTF said the country already has more than three million doses of vaccines. Of this figure, 2.8 million doses were ... » Learn More about Over 162,000 Filipinos fully vaccinated vs COVID-19

A reenactment of the first baptism in the Philippines was held at Plaza Sugbo where the Magellan’s Cross sits. PHOTO BY NESTLE SEMILLA CEBU CITY—Filipinos play a key role in spreading Christianity to the world in the course of their employment as migrant workers, the representative of Pope Francis said on Wednesday (April 14) at the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the first baptism in the Philippines. “Keep the flame of faith alive,” said Archbishop Charles Brown, papal nuncio to the Philippines and the Pope’s representative in the celebration. Brown lauded Filipinos for accepting Christianity five centuries ago and sharing it with the world. The Christian faith, he said, started in Asia where Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and summoned apostles to spread his mission of bringing people back to God. The faith was brought to Europe and found its way in the Philippines. “Now, Filipinos bring that faith to the world, not as explorers or colonizers, but in many cases as ... » Learn More about 500th year of first baptism in PH: Filipinos hailed for spreading Christianity worldwide

SINGAPORE - An average of 3,920 transnational couples a year between 2015 and 2020 applied to undergo an assessment before they say "I do" that looks at the likelihood of the foreigner qualifying for a long-term visit pass after the marriage to the Singaporean. The Pre-marriage Long Term Visit Pass Assessment also allows such couples to "exchange key information about themselves", including their spouses and children from previous marriages, their income and criminal records, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It was introduced in January 2015 amid a significant number of transnational marriages here. In 2019, 4,426 Singaporean men wed non-resident brides - making up one in five marriages involving at least one citizen, according to the Government's Population In Brief 2020 report. Social workers and lawyers who work with foreign wives said some of these couples marry after meeting a few times, or after a very brief courtship, and hardly know their ... » Learn More about S’poreans marrying foreigners: 3,900 couples a year do pre-marriage visa assessment before saying ‘I do’

SINGAPORE - The sole Covid-19 case reported in the community on Wednesday (April 14) has been linked to three other cases in the country, prompting the Ministry of Health (MOH) to announce a new local cluster. The patient, a 44-year-old Papua New Guinea national is in Singapore on a short-term visit pass, having arrived in Singapore for a work project on March 25. The three other people in the cluster were on the same flight into Singapore, said MOH. Two of the cases, who had tested positive on April 1, were close contacts of a previously reported case - a 50-year-old Columbian national who arrived from Papua New Guinea for a work project. He tested positive for the coronavirus infection on March 30. The 44-year-old Papuan had previously tested negative for the virus five separate times - including once at a pre-departure test in Australia on March 23 and on arrival in Singapore on March 25. MOH said that prior to being quarantined on April 1, he was on a ... » Learn More about S’pore reports new Covid-19 cluster after man from Papua New Guinea with links to 3 other cases tests positive

SINGAPORE (THE NEW PAPER) - One was asked whose bodily fluids she would like to drink, while another watched her peers re-enact an incestuous rape scene. These were just two examples of the sexualised activities that hundreds of freshmen were made to participate in some of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) orientation camps in the past two months. Some students said they attended the camps to make friends, but they were instead pressured to take part in increasingly sexualised activities. A 19-year-old freshman whom we shall name Chloe told The New Paper that she left the room after she became uncomfortable during an activity called “burning bridges” that required her to answer inappropriate questions. The questions touched on taboo subjects such as which man’s bodily fluid she would want to drink, who among them is the sluttiest, and who would never get married and die alone, she said. The girl had to lie on the floor, then the guy pretended to kick open a door ... » Learn More about Students say NUS orientation camp games increasingly sexualised; some told to re-enact rape scene

SINGAPORE - Siblings Nathan and Phoebe Foong have been waking up for school, where they stand to attention for the National Anthem during assembly, before heading to the canteen. The catch? They are actually at home. Their parents, Elvin and Esther Foong, devised "Naph School", an amalgam of the first two letters of the children's names, after the family were asked to self-isolate under a leave of absence (LOA) request. The family's LOA was issued after their trip to visit Mrs Foong's father in Johor during the recent March school holidays. Nathan, nine, and Phoebe, seven, will return to school on April 2 . According to the Education Ministry, less than 10 per cent of students and staff across all schools are on LOA or stay-home notice (SHN), which aim to prevent the spread of Covid-19. They are both 14-day self-isolation measures, typically following overseas travel. Some families with young children are concerned about supporting their offspring's learning away from ... » Learn More about Staying at home during Covid-19 outbreak: How to plan activities with your kids, and take ‘sanity breaks’

As a consultant emergency physician at National University Hospital, Dr Ong Pei Yuin has had to tend to potential Covid-19 patients. The 42-year-old strives to calm and reassure them as she tests them for the disease. She understands their emotional turbulence: She herself was a Sars patient. When Covid-19 hit Singapore in January, she felt a dreaded sense of deja vu. "Oh, it was like Sars all over again. I don't want to go through it all over again." In 2003, she contracted the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), never felt sicker in her life and was warded for 14 days in hospital. She was 26 then, a first-year medical officer at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the designated hospital to treat Sars patients. She was also a bride-to-be. It started with a high fever that refused to break. And she almost blacked out one morning after getting out of bed. She remembers the unremitting fever, the chills and the body aches. She also came down with pneumonia. "It was the ... » Learn More about Sars survivor helps tend to potential Covid-19 patients

KUALA LUMPUR: A man assaulted two of his bodyguards and pointed a gun at one of them, threatening to kill him. The suspect, a 43-year-old man, was supposedly upset that his two bodyguards were fasting during Ramadan. Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Mohamad Zainal Abdullah said they received a report on the incident at 3.04am on Wednesday (April 14). "The complainant, a 26-year-old bodyguard, claimed that he was with his colleague at a condominium on Jalan Pinang here when the suspect asked if they were fasting. "When they responded that they were, he got angry and slapped the complainant," he said when contacted on Wednesday. He said the complainant and his colleague then followed the suspect to his house at Batu Nilam, Klang. "The suspect then allegedly beat them with a cane. "He then pointed a gun belonging to his colleague at the complainant and threatened to kill him," he said, adding that police were now tracing the whereabouts of the suspect. ACP Mohamad Zainal said ... » Learn More about Man assaults his two bodyguards, threatens one with a gun