Wednesday 20 February 2013
Singapore-KL travel to benefit from new high-speed rail link
THE proposed high-speed rail system linking Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in 90 minutes is set to be a game changer for travel between the two cities, as airlines and bus companies mull over how to remain competitive.
Scheduled for completion in 2020, it will dramatically cut the journey between the two cities, which currently averages eight hours by rail. Ticket prices and end-point station locations have not yet been announced.
The agreement, touted to be the biggest joint infrastructure project by the two countries, was unveiled by Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak as they wrapped up their annual leaders’ retreat in Singapore yesterday.
Responding to the development, Sebastian Yap, a committee member of the Express Bus Agencies Association, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “This is a huge blow to our routes between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, but this is all part of the developing technology today so we have no choice but to embrace it.”
Yap said that coach operators would have to change the way they operate and added that buses could offer travellers the option of visiting other cities in Malaysia apart from Kuala Lumpur.
Lotus Ooi, general manager, Konsortium Express Tours, agreed. “We will have to look at new options now to complement each other (in order) to meet changing market demand,” he pointed out.
Logan Velaitham, CEO of AirAsia Singapore, however, felt there would be minimal impact on the LCC. “We compete against our cost at all times and not against others’. In addition to a cost strategy, AirAsia adopts a ‘value innovation’ strategy by carefully studying market relevance and embracing technology to help improve efficiency and stay relevant in the ever-changing market.” (See CAPA’s detailed analysis on air traffic impact.)
Apart from the planned fast trains, the two leaders visited joint projects in Johor and broke ground for the first of two wellness projects in Medini Iskandar, reported local broadsheet The Straits Times. The two-hectare Afiniti in Medini North will have a wellness centre, shops, residences, a corporate training centre, as well as a 310-unit serviced apartment managed by CapitaLand’s Ascott. The other project, Avira, will be located at Medini Central.
The prime ministers also witnessed the signing between CapitaLand, Temasek Holdings and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings for a waterfront township to be built on a manmade island in Danga Bay, which will have a marina, a shopping mall, office space, homes and recreational facilities.
Singapore-KL travel to benefit from new high-speed rail link
Tuesday 19 February 2013
Hackers target Singapore Yahoo! users
YAHOO! users in Singapore have been warned about spam e-mail that could leave them vulnerable to attacks by hackers.
A government information watchdog has advised them not to click on the links in these messages – even those that are supposedly sent by friends.
The warning was issued last Friday in a bulletin on the website of the Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team (SingCert).
It said that there have been reports of spam e-mail from Yahoo! accounts containing links to sites selling “work-from-home” schemes and packages.
If users click on them, they could allow hackers to infect their computers with viruses and hijack their e-mail accounts in order to flood their contacts with spam.
“Users are advised not to click on such links and should not enter in any personal particulars to these websites if prompted,” read the warning.
The watchdog, a unit of technology regulator Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), said Singapore users’ e-mail accounts appeared to have been hacked into, but did not explain how this happened. It also said the local attack resembled a global one that apparently started last month.
This involved hackers exploiting a loophole on a Yahoo! webpage and infecting millions of e-mail accounts, according to several press reports.
In Singapore, many users have posted complaints on chatroom sites such as HardwareZone and even MyCarForum following what appears to have been widespread hacking that began last Thursday.
SingCert has warned people with Yahoo! e-mail addresses to change their passwords and use different ones for different online accounts.
It was the watchdog’s first alert about spam from Web-based e-mail accounts in three years. Typically, its warnings – which come once or twice a month – are about vulnerabilities to potential hacking in Web browsers and operating systems.
Security expert Assurity Trusted Solutions, a subsidiary of the IDA, also advised all Web users to activate the “two-step verification” process offered by some service providers such as Gmail and Facebook.
This technique uses a one-time password, good for only one log-in, to provide an added layer of online security.
Yahoo! offers two-step verification, but only in certain markets including the United States and Indonesia. Singapore users do not have the added layer of security.
The company’s Singapore spokesman said: “We take security very seriously and invest heavily in measures to protect our users and their data, and work diligently to fix any vulnerabilities that are found.” — The Straits Times / Asia News Network
Hackers target Singapore Yahoo! users
The nanny - a new-born career for Singapore women
The nanny – a new-born career for Singapore women
Posted: 20 February 2013 0821 hrs
SINGAPORE – More women here are signing up to be trained as confinement nannies amid rising demand, with participants of one programme drawing salaries of up to S$2,600 – equivalent to the average monthly starting pay of a fresh graduate.
Under the Confinement Nanny Training Programme, jointly offered by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and Thomson Medical Centre, participants undergo a seven-day course comprising both theory and practical lessons, and have to pass an audit before being successfully certified as trained confinement nannies. They will also have to complete a confinement assignment within six months of completing the course.
The programme, launched last May, is aimed at attracting economically inactive women back to work, while “addressing the acute shortage of confinement nannies”. The WDA subsidises 90 per cent of the course fees.
According to the authority, more than 80 individuals have enrolled in the programme to date, with 60 having completed their training. For a 28-day assignment, they can command up to S$2,600 if they stay-in, and as much as S$1,900 for non stay-in jobs, a spokesperson from the Thomson Medical Centre said.
Homemaker Ang Pek Lan, 52, underwent the training in August last year. While she had experience taking care of children, Ms Ang felt that the programme taught her the intricacies of caring for newborns and their mothers. “Previously, there were steps which we blindly followed because of old wives’ tales, but I’ve learnt why certain herbs are good for mothers, or how to better care for babies by keeping a logbook,” she said.
The joint Confinement Nanny Training Programme conducted by the Women’s Initiative for Ageing Successfully and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital has also seen an increase in participants – from 19 in 2010, to 32 in 2011 and 34 last year.
Agencies TODAY spoke to said demand for confinement nannies has risen amid tight supply – about 20 per cent over the past year due to the Dragon Year effect, with demand rising slightly in the years before, driven by expatriates here.
Ms Jo Tan, owner of confinementnanny.com, said mothers are also starting to request a longer confinement period, up to four months. But she, as well as other agencies, said the supply of nannies has been the issue, with a high turnover rate in the industry.
Although more Singaporeans are being trained as confinement nannies, they demand higher pay which Singaporean customers do not want to meet.
PEM Confinement nanny agency estimated that locals request more than S$3,000 a month, as compared to the Malaysians’ rate of about S$2,000 a month.
The industry also faces challenges in rising costs. Agencies, for example, were told recently that the work permit application costs for a confinement nanny will rise by S$10 to S$30 per permit, TODAY understands.
Faced with a declining birth rate, agencies were sanguine about the future, saying that as long as demand is more than supply, which causes fees to remain high as is the case now, revenues should remain stable.
- TODAY/sf
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The nanny - a new-born career for Singapore women
Singapore home sales rise 43pc in wake of cooling action
Singapore home sales rose 43 per cent last month as buyers rushed in after the government announced cooling measures to ease prices.
Home sales increased to 2,013 units in January from 1,410 units in December. There were 22,699 sales for all of last year.
“This is a bit of an abnormality and the increase was a bit of a surprise,” said Nicholas Mak, executive director at SLP International Property Consultants. He said developers had extended office hours on the eve of the curbs.
“February will be lower than January because this is when the effects of the cooling measures will be felt,” Mak said.
Singapore home prices reached a record high in the fourth quarter amid low interest rates, raising concerns of a housing bubble and prompting the government to introduce its seventh round of cooling measures.
Singapore has been attempting to rein in prices since 2009, when the government barred interest-only loans for some housing projects and stopped allowing developers to absorb interest payments for apartments still being built.
Mak said the curbs were also partly offset by price cuts by developers, some offered through rebates.
He expects prices for so-called mass-market homes to increase between 1 per cent and 5 per cent this year.
For high-end homes, or those in prime districts, prices may rise 2 per cent or decline as much as 8 per cent depending on buyers’ reactions to the measures, Mak added.
Singapore’s property index has risen to the highest in almost five years. The measure has climbed 2 per cent since the curbs were announced last month, recovering from a 1.6 per cent decline on the first trading day after the measures.
Knight Frank cut its estimates for new home sales for 2013 by 20 per cent after the measures and expects sales to range between 12,000 and 14,000 units this year.
“Despite the strong sales volume in January, there could be a potential decline in demand for private homes for the next two months in first quarter this year by about 10 to 15 per cent, as the private residential market fully absorbs the impact of the seventh round of property cooling measures,” property broker, Knight Frank, said.
The latest measures include an increase in the stamp duty for homebuyers of between 5 percentage points and 7 percentage points, with permanent residents paying taxes when they buy their first home.
Singaporeans will also have to pay the levy, starting with their second purchase.
The government also tightened loan-to-value limits for buyers seeking a second mortgage, referring to the amount they are allowed to borrow relative to the value of their properties.
The payment will also rise to 25 per cent from 10 per cent starting from the second loan, it said.
Singapore home sales rise 43pc in wake of cooling action