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14-year-old boys got lost in MacRitchie forest trying to find WWII Japanese shrine

aseanpr
4 minutes

SINGAPORE (THE NEW PAPER) - On a whim, two teenagers decided to look for the remnants of a World War II Japanese shrine and ended up lost for several hours in the forest at MacRitchie Reservoir. Broadrick Secondary School student Richard Goh, 14, found out about the Syonan Jinja shrine while searching the Internet for interesting places to explore last month. When he told his classmate Soo Xiang Lin, also 14, they decided to take a bus to MacRitchie Reservoir to look for it, arriving at the Lornie Road entrance at 3pm on Oct 18. The boys, who did not inform their parents of their plan, had no food or water because they assumed there would be vending machines there. Clad in T-shirts, shorts and track shoes, they took the Terentang Trail suggested by Apple Maps until they reached an opening, which they used to enter the forest. It was 5pm by then. They met a man who was also looking for the shrine, but he soon gave up his search. The boys pressed on and realised they were lost at 6.45pm when their attempt to follow pieces of orange plastic tied to surrounding trees led them deeper into the forest. Richard told The New Paper last week: "There was that sense of hopelessness when I real...

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Rise in cyber security threats as more people work from home: Cisco survey

aseanpr
3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Businesses in Singapore have seen a significant increase in cyber security challenges as more people work from home amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey commissioned by American tech giant Cisco has revealed. Of the nearly 3,200 companies from 21 countries polled in the survey from June 16 to Sept 4, Singapore made the largest shift to remote working in Asia-Pacific. About six in 10 organisations here said they experienced at least a 25 per cent increase in cyber threats since the pandemic started. These threats included connections to malicious sites on the Internet and phishing attacks. However, less than half, or 42 per cent of companies, said that they were "very prepared" to cope with these threats and transition to working remotely. Around half, or 54 per cent of companies, indicated that they were "somewhat prepared", while 3 per cent said they were "not prepared" for the transition. The remaining one per cent said they did not know whether they were prepared for it. The survey, conducted by local public opinion and data company YouGov, gathered data from 3,196 companies across 21 countries, including the United States, China and Germany. It showed that in the As...

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Garment workers hanging by a thread amid price-cut demands

elean
4 minutes

DHAKA • Millions of garment workers could lose their jobs, with global brands demanding price cuts and delaying payments to suppliers which are desperate for orders to survive the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers said yesterday. Suppliers have been asked to make their prices an average of 12 per cent cheaper than last year, research by the Centre for Global Workers' Rights (CGWR) at Penn State University in the United States found, describing such practices as "leveraging desperation". In a survey of 75 factories in 15 countries, suppliers said they had to wait an average of 77 days for payment, compared to 43 days before the pandemic, raising fears of further factory closures in an industry employing 60 million people worldwide. "We are seeing a dramatic squeeze down of price, reduced orders and late payment," said Mr Mark Anner, director of the CGWR and author of the report. "This worries me for the well-being of the suppliers and the workers. This will affect the small and medium suppliers first." Fashion companies cancelled orders worth billions of dollars earlier this year as Covid-19 shuttered stores worldwide, leading to wage losses of up to US$5.8 billion (S$7.9 billion), acc...

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Fashion brands accused of exploiting millions of workers at risk of layoffs amid Covid-19

elean
4 minutes

DHAKA (REUTERS) - Millions of garment workers could lose their jobs as global brands are demanding price cuts and delaying payments to suppliers who are desperate for orders to survive the new coronavirus pandemic, US researchers said on Friday (Oct 16). Suppliers have been asked to make their prices an average of 12 per cent cheaper than last year, research by the Center for Global Workers' Rights (CGWR) at Penn State University found, describing such practices as "leveraging desperation". In a survey of 75 factories in 15 countries, suppliers said they had to wait an average of 77 days for payment, compared to 43 days before the pandemic, raising fears of further factory closures in an industry employing 60 million people worldwide. "We are seeing a dramatic squeeze down of price, reduced orders and late payment," said Mark Anner, author of the report and director of the CGWR. "This worries me for the wellbeing of the suppliers and the workers. This will affect the small and medium suppliers first." Fashion companies cancelled orders worth billions of dollars earlier this year as Covid-19 shuttered stores worldwide, leading to wage losses of up to US$5.8 billion, according to pre...