Twentyfirst century

SINGAPORE: A former branch manager at a food court was jailed 10 months on Friday (Aug 23) for pocketing more than S$34,600 from the company over eight months. Neo Say Lam, 42, started working at Food Junction in Century Square shopping mall in August 2017. His duties included the collection of cash sales from all tenants, depositing these into the company's bank account, monitoring tenant sales and managing the branch's petty cash. Between September 2018 and May 2019, Neo began taking portions of the end-of-day sales from the food court tenants for himself instead of depositing the entire sum. He took between S$100 and $200 for his own use. In total, he embezzled S$34,637.79 from the Food Junction outlet to pay off his gambling debts. A Food Junction human resource manager filed a police report in May this year, saying Neo had stolen cash from the company. Neo pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust by misappropriation. Deputy Public Prosecutor Asoka … [Read more...] about Former Food Junction branch manager jailed for pocketing S$34,600 from Century Square outlet

A new book that unravels the nuances of world cinema harkens back to the 10th century philosopher Abhinavagupta (924-1020), a highly revered Kashmiri Shaiva master, as it pays tribute to his commentary on the "Natyasastra" (an ancient treatise on dramaturgy) and the concepts of "Rasa Siddhanta" (theory of aesthetic experience) and "purusartha" (life-pursuits). "Abhinavagupta was a great scholar who had meticulously developed Kashmir Shaivism school of non-dualistic philosophy dealing with epistemology, metaphysics, aesthetics with an unbelievable coherence. Sadly, we have given up on understanding our heritage to western scholars who try to understand Tantra, Indian Epistemology, and complicated metaphysical aspects of Indian classical philosophy," author Prachand Praveer, a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT-Delhi, told IANS in an interview of his book "Cinema Through Rasa – A Tryst with Masterpieces in the Light of Rasa Siddhanta" (DK Printworld). "This book uses the … [Read more...] about Understanding nuances of world cinema through 10th century Kashmiri philosopher Abhinavagupta

LAUSANNE: The world’s biggest financial scandal, over missing billions from Malaysian state-run development fund 1MDB, has left the country’s former prime minister Najib Razak facing charges of corruption – charges which he denies. In addition to bringing down a government, the scandal’s effects have reached as far as Switzerland, where Swiss bank BSI was forced to close after over 140 years of trading. The 1MDB fund was overseen by Najib as prime minister, financial minister and chairman of the advisory board, and was controversial from the outset in 2009. When in 2014 it was reported that 1MDB had amassed US$11 billion in debt, posing a threat to the Malaysian ringgit, the scandal began to unravel. READ: 1MDB scandal - a timeline Documents leaked to the Sarawak Report in 2015 revealed how money appeared to have been funnelled out of the fund via a close friend of the prime minister, Malaysian tycoon Jho Low. He has denied any wrongdoing, but is currently facing an … [Read more...] about Commentary: How the 1MDB scandal brought down a century-old Swiss bank

In his first major foreign policy speech, Blinken called for revitalising US alliances and re-engaging international institutions to deal with China, which he described as the only nation with capabilities to "seriously challenge" the global order. "Several countries present us with serious challenges, including Russia, Iran, North Korea. And there are serious crises we have to deal with, including in Yemen, Ethiopia and Burma, but the challenge posed by China is different," he said. "China is the only country with the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to seriously challenge the stable and open international system, all the rules, values and relationships, that make the world work the way we want it to." Blinken vowed to make the United States’ relationship with China "competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be, and adversarial when it must be." The Secretary of State emphasised that "the common denominator is the need to engage China from a … [Read more...] about Blinken Says US Relations With China Biggest Geopolitical Test for US in 21st Century

TOKYO (Bloomberg) - Japan's ambition to hold a successful Olympic Games in the face of the pandemic looks increasingly imperiled, after a top official's sexist remarks undercut public support and sparked rare criticism from sponsors. With less than six months to go until the planned opening ceremony on July 23, Japan is pressing ahead with an event meant to draw attention back to an Asian power often overshadowed by China. But anger is simmering over Yoshiro Mori, the 83-year-old head of the organising committee, who last week publicly disparaged women for talking too much. Despite calls for the gaffe-prone former prime minister to step aside, he remains on the job. The Tokyo Olympics organising committee announced it would hold a meeting of its council and executive board Friday to discuss the latest setback for the virus-delayed event, which the government hopes won't become the first Olympics cancelled since World War II. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) … [Read more...] about Tokyo Olympics sponsors upset, frustrated by Mori’s sexist remarks

Surfing may have started in China, long before anyone elsewhere picked up a board to ride a wave. The origin of surfing is usually traced to Polynesia, but research by Italian surfing historian, writer and coach Nicola “Nik” Zanella, points at a wave-riding culture in China that existed at least since the Song dynasty (960AD to 1279). Zanella, who graduated in Chinese studies and learned Mandarin in China, came across descriptions of wave riding in classical Chinese literature, and then told the story in a self-published book Children of the Tide. The birthplace of Chinese wave riding was not a tropical coast, but the fierce waters of the world’s largest tidal bore on the Qiantang River in Hangzhou, where the tide drives waves up to 5m high far up the river. Now an extreme surfing event – Battle at the Silver Dragon – is held there, but the surfers taking part may not know that the Chinese Emperor once watched locals ride these same waves, and poets wrote verses about their … [Read more...] about Did surfing start in China 1,000 years ago?