Top Glove shares sink after US seizure order over forced labour

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Compare with the ongoing boycott on cotton from Xinjiang, China due to alleged reports of human rights abuse of the Uighurs. Note how China appears unaffected by it (due to its huge domestic market and economic prowess that it can use as a leverage to force foreign firms to think twice about the boycott, or making it 'painful' for them to do so for a sustained period of time) and how Malaysia is affected more when its palm oil and glove products are boycotted in the West -- potential rebuttal on the effectiveness of boycott in pressuring firms to adhere to ethical business practices

Link to concepts of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), Fair Trade, and ethical businesses....

Factories belonging to Top Glove were found to be a major source of Covid-19 infections in Malaysia last year. 

imposed the penalties against the Malaysian firm after having found "sufficient information to believe that Top Glove uses forced labour in the production of disposable gloves

a blow to Top Glove and comes as Malaysia's main industries - palm oil and gloves - grapple with intense scrutiny over poor labour practices.

Climate change will deepen income inequality, say experts

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Compare with how the current pandemic has aggravated or revealed income inequality too....

projected economic damage from climate change is estimated to reach US$1.7 trillion (S$2.3 trillion) per year by 2025 and about US$30 trillion annually by 2075, if the current warming trend continues.

The most severe impacts will be felt in developing countries, due to factors such as higher dependence on agriculture and vulnerability to extreme heat

Obscene images of women re-emerge on Telegram

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an increase in technology-enabled sexual violence cases.

the harassment, intimidation, stalking and threats that often accompany the obtaining and sharing of intimate images. We have also witnessed the shame, confusion and depression, including suicidal ideation, on the part of victims.

need to redouble efforts to hold online platforms accountable for enabling and, in some cases, profiting off non-consensual images

it was hard to control groups on social media, as shutting down one did not stop another from being formed

H&M boycott following Xinjiang cotton row: When China protests with its purse

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If you subscribe to the view that there are indeed human rights abuses to the Uighurs in Xinjiang (this is an allegation by the West based on anecdotal evidence, with claims of 'genocide' being carried out), then this is a good example of how the business community taking the 'ethical' path to appeal its consumers may actually be futile, coz China's domestic market is so big that it can still survive without these firms from the West. In fact, it can even use the appeal of its lucrative huge domestic market access to pressure foreign firms not to boycott it....

While trying to appeal to the local market, many international firms are cognisant that they cannot have separate messaging and standards - especially in areas like corporate social responsibility and sustainability - for China and the rest of the world.

Just last year, Disney faced criticism when it thanked the Xinjiang government for facilitating the filming of the Mulan live-action movie.

Yet in spite of calls for a boycott of the film outside China, the film made US$23.2 million (S$31.2 million) in the mainland, a lion's share of the movie's US$37 million global box office earnings.

"If (companies) choose the wrong side on Xinjiang and other sensitive issues to (China), then their business can be destroyed overnight.

"Many governments try to pressure multinationals to conform to certain standards but none do it as well as China because of the sheer size of the market,"

Keen on green, but at what cost? Poll maps out S'porean attitudes to eco-friendliness

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all for living the eco-friendly life mapped out under the Singapore Green Plan 2030 - as long as it costs him nothing and does not inconvenience him.

All his appliances at home - from the television to the refrigerator to the washing machine - are water- and energy-efficient models that cost him more money. But that is a small sacrifice for the greater good

having more energy-efficient buildings and improving Singapore's resilience to the impact of climate change, such as by boosting local food production.

Singapore's lack of land for large solar farms and access to renewable energy sources as impeding its efforts to decarbonise its energy sector more rapidly.

Consider food security: Will people be willing to consume novel foods, such as plant-based and cultivated meat? As far as energy is concerned, will the public be willing to accept clean but controversial sources, such as nuclear energy?

 the higher costs of cleaner vehicles and the inconvenience in looking for charging points or waiting for the vehicle to charge up

"Climate action will not slow long-term growth, it is climate inaction that will exacerbate disasters and derail sustained growth."

NAC survey on digital arts consumption: Local content preferred, free content is still king

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Music remained the most popular digitally consumed art form, commanding more than 70 per cent of the respondents' attention across three surveys.

For qns on technology and the arts....

Actress Shim Eun-woo apologises for school bullying

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Relate to 2020 AQ on apology.

The rising star, whose role in The World Of The Married was her first big one, not only apologised to her former classmate, but also to her co-stars in her upcoming projects, which are likely to be affected by this spate of adverse publicity.

Note that apologizing is an admission of one's complicity or guilt, removing the room for any shred of doubt that your diehard fans may cling on to in their blind support for you. Celebrities may thus resist it to avoid tarnishing their image, which has repercussions on their popularity and support from their fanbase, and by extension, the sponsorships they can get.

Apologizing could also originate not from own will, but pressure....pressure to not affect their upcoming productions and the colleagues they work with....

High level of confidence in Govt here: Study

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Relate to 'A' level 2018 AQ on youth and politics....

almost two-thirds of Singaporeans are not interested in politics

Most Singaporeans had confidence in the Government...mainland China had a higher confidence rate, with 94.9 per cent of Chinese indicating confidence in their government.

While close to two-thirds of those surveyed felt the Government has the right to keep people under video surveillance in public areas, they disapprove of monitoring people in private situations and without their prior knowledge.

Ellen DeGeneres loses 1 million viewers after apologies for toxic workplace

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Relate to 2020 'A' level AQ on apologies, esp those by celebrities.....

Floating solar farm among world's largest

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In land-scarce Singapore, the success of such a sea-based floating system could pave the way for more of such projects to tap energy from the sun here and in the region.

But note that such a method has downsides:

=aesthetically not pleasing...metallic and too shiny, compared to the waters of the sea

=less space for water sports

=Singapore, being a major port-of-call, has many ships and vessels in our waters. Having these huge solar farms at sea may eat into the space ships need to move about freely..

Note that there are also limits to S'pore availing herself to renewable energy coz no major rivers for hydro-electric power, no land space for wind farms and safety buffer required by nuclear, too densely populated (making it risky in case of a nuclear catastrophe), surrounded by islands and large land mass, which shelters it from the strong wind needed for harnessing wind energy....

In turbulent times, the young need the arts more than ever

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As poet and dramatist Bertolt Brecht famously observed: "In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times."

Giving prisoners, and their families, a second chance

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There are four main reasons why a society sends a criminal to jail - retribution for wrongful behaviour, removal of the criminal from the environment, deterring future illegal acts, and rehabilitating the offender.

rehabilitation often gets the least attention. But it often has the biggest payoff.

employers hiring former offenders will receive more government support through the Jobs Growth Incentive scheme.

Giving people a second chance is not just about giving them a job or helping them stay out of prison. It is about believing in them and building a relationship of continuing support where trust, forgiveness and reconciliation are in abundance.

Cat in a spat: Scrapping Dr Seuss books is not cancel culture

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Kids and teens, like adults, need to see themselves in the books they read, and young white readers need to see other cultural groups as something more than illegal, or violent, or criminal.

Swiss agree to outlaw facial coverings in 'burqa ban' referendum

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Why sensitive issues are best discussed 'behind closed doors'

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"Public, aggressive pressure on such an issue can only make compromise harder. Any government concession to religious pressure will cause other groups to take note and adopt similarly aggressive postures," he said. "Race and religion will become increasingly polarising and this will harm all of us, especially the minority communities."

If Big Tech has our data, why are targeted ads so terrible?

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Personalised advertising is the dirty fuel that powers some of the world's biggest tech giants. 

Data is supposed to be the new oil - a resource so valuable it warrants multibillion-dollar market valuations.

Just as mail services cannot open letters and use information inside to make money from advertisers, so campaigners say browsing histories and other online data should be treated as private.

Internet giants are so effective at wielding the data they collect that they can predict and influence the behaviour of millions of people - a scare story promoted since the 2016 victories of Brexit and Mr Donald Trump.

"There is not enough distinction between correlation and causation," he says. "Look at eBay."

the people clicking on search ads were the ones already planning to buy something on the site. eBay was wasting millions of dollars.

Relate to 2017 'A' level AQ on swarm mentality and sharing of data....

Create space to learn from failure: Inventor

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"Success tells you nothing. Failure tells us that something is wrong... why it was wrong and how you might overcome it,"

"Because if you fail, you have the experience of failure, and you have to work out how to get the right answer. Whereas if you always know the right answer, you haven't really gone through much thought."

he [i.e. British entrepreneur and inventor James Dyson] had a recent failure that cost him £500 million (S$930 million) - his electric car project, announced in 2017, was scrapped in 2019.

People have always tried to come up with the right answers, he said, but starting with a solution that does not work or is "stupid" will set a person on a different path from others.

Yangon residents flee to rural areas amid deadly crackdown

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"We believe the police and the military are using the system to track demonstrations and protests. It is like a digital dictatorship - the regime is using technology to track and arrest citizens, and that is dangerous

Globalisation still has a lot going for it, and has benefited everybody in Singapore: PM Lee

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Citing the example of Covid-19 vaccines, he noted that not every country can make its own vaccines, and countries that can do so need to cooperate with one another.

"Globalisation will be under pressure, but the imperative for countries to cooperate, for businesses to operate across many geographies, to tap resources, to bring skills and talents and experiences together, and then serve markets all around the world

What's wrong with a Tom Cruise TikTok, reanimating people on video?

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a visual effects artist worked with a Tom Cruise impersonator to create startlingly accurate videos imitating the actor.

training his computer model to create Cruise's facial expressions, first feeding it video of random faces before focusing on Cruise

When optimists talk about the possible strengths of the technology, they often point to its uses in advocacy, where it can put a face to issues and create deeper emotional connections.

anti-gay and lesbian purges in Chechnya, used the technology to shield the identity of at-risk Chechens.

The technology could also have a destabilising effect on global affairs, as politicians claim that videos, including genuine ones, are fake in order to gain an advantage...Last year, a Republican candidate for a House seat in the St Louis area in Missouri claimed that the video of African-American George Floyd's death in police custody had been digitally staged.

earliest deepfaked pornography took hours of video to produce, so celebrities were the typical targets. But as the technology becomes more advanced, less content will be needed to create the videos, putting more women and children at risk.

These questions make you feel uncomfortable, something feels a bit wrong or unsettling, but it's difficult to know if that's just because it's new or if it hints at a deeper intuition about something problematic."

Qns:

1. 'Technology has made life better but not easier.' Discuss.

2. To what extent is advancement in artificial intelligence beneficial? (NYJC J2 Mid-Yr 2018)

St Matthew's Church, kindergarten to be restored as part of police complex

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Note how these buildings were initially slated for demolition for make way for new MRT line...

The exterior/facade of buildings is preserved but interior is repurposed for a use different from its original...

Old buildings have witnessed the past of the nation and have the function of telling this story to successive generations, esp those who were not born when those past events occurred....

Old buildings also foster sense of belonging...they provide a sense of familiarity and comfort in a fast-changing landscape, esp those old buildings we grow up with....particularly crucial for an ageing population where the elderly risk feeling dislocated and alienated in an environment that undergoes rapid changes.....think of the idea of feeling like a foreigner in ur own country, when the physical surroundings of ur own country no longer looks like the familiar environment u r used to.....

The church and kindergarten ceased operation in 1998, two years after it was gazetted for acquisition to make way for the North-east MRT line.

telling stories of what we have been through, leaving behind a legacy for more of our generations to come

Qns:

1. To what extent is the pursuit of continuous economic growth a desirable goal?

2. The key criterion for good government is how well the economy is managed. Is this a fair assessment?

3. Only modern architecture and modern art have a place in today’s world. How far is this true of your society?

4. ‘We shape our buildings, but then our buildings shape us.’ To what extent is this true of your society?

The oxygen of Asean

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Note the opening BANG using anecdote/analogy/metaphor of oxygen

As a region, South-east Asia was never pre-ordained for peace. It is by far the most diverse region of planet earth, with over 250 million Muslims, 150 million Christians, 150 million Buddhists, and millions of Confucianists, Taoists, Hindus and even communists in the mix.

It is true that Asean is a relatively weak organisation. It has none of the robust rules that tie together the European Union. Yet, paradoxically,.... the strength of Asean comes from its weakness. Because Asean is weak, everyone trusts it. 

Why is all this important to Singapore? No other country in the world has international trade that is 3.1 times the size of its gross national product. Our open economy needs to be surrounded by an ecosystem of peace and prosperity. Asean provides both.

Qns:

1. To what extent is it possible ‘to make the punishment fit the crime’?

2. How far is it possible for one country to forgive another for its past actions?

3. ‘Countries experiencing conflict should be left to sort out their own problems.’ How far do you agree?

4. How far should countries have relations with others whose human rights record is poor?