CPF 'meets retirement needs of majority'

THE CPF scheme would run into problems if it sought to provide for the full retirement needs of everyone, rich or poor, the man in charge of running it has said.

A glimpse into Osama's mind

WHAT'S riveting about the documents taken from Osama bin Laden's compound, beyond the headline items about plots to kill American leaders, is the way they allow the reader to get inside the terrorist mastermind's head.

South Korea scales back e-textbook revolution

SEOUL: South Korea has rolled back its ambition to swop traditional textbooks for digital ones in schools, concerned that students would have little experience with real life and also develop an addiction that would be depressive when they have no access to electronic gadgets.

Lies, more lies and damned by lies

THE historian Victor Davis Hanson recently wrote a brutally clear-eyed piece in The National Review, looking back at America's different approaches to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan and how, sadly, none of them could be said to have worked yet.

Farmland deals land foreigners in the soup

PARIS: Is it investment? Or a land grab?

Within a few years, acquisition of foreign farmland has become an issue with plenty of explosive potential for the environment and security.

Singaporeans in danger of extinction?

Singaporeans are in danger of disappearing by 2100 if they continue not having enough babies.

Iran issue looms over US economy, says Forbes

THE United States will go to war with Iran, elect a new president and move on to a new gold standard in the next five years. Bold predictions indeed.

A political crisis will not stop China

MY BOOK shelves in London groan with titles such as Eclipse: Living In The Shadow Of China's Economic Dominance and When China Rules The World. But travel to China itself, and you will find plenty of people who are sceptical about the notion that the country is a rising superpower.
By Gideon Rachman

'New breed of terrorists who act alone'

PARIS: Just a few weeks ago, Mohammed Merah partied at a nightclub, and an acquaintance noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Another friend said the former car body shop worker liked to talk about 'cars, bikes, girls and sports'.

Competition over water 'could fuel instability'

WASHINGTON: Drought, floods and a lack of fresh water may cause significant global instability in the coming decades as developing countries scramble to meet demand from exploding populations while dealing with climate change, according to a US intelligence report.

Retire on CPF savings? Think again

YOUNG graduates, take heed. If you began work recently with a starting pay of around $2,560 and plan to buy a five-room flat by the time you're 30, do not count on your Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings to take care of your retirement needs, warns labour economist Hui Weng Tat.

Reflections on the Maria Hertogh riots

I WAS 26 years old when the Maria Hertogh riots erupted in December 1950. I was then working with the Public Works Department in Johor Baru but I came to Singapore regularly as I had enrolled as a part-time student at the Institute of Commerce at Middle Road for the London Chamber of Commerce examinations. My fellow classmates used to share with me concerns over the rising tension within the Muslim community over the controversy.

Sec 2 elearn

Project I
History Made Everyday

Project II
What would you include if you had the chance to decide the important events in the History of Singapore? This is your opportunity to write your own history of Singapore according to YOU!

• A History of Singapore by 2D

• A History of Singapore by 2I

Should Petain Road be renamed?

IN SINGAPORE, unlike many newly independent countries, we do not have a policy of de-colonising the names of streets and places. As a result, our streets have kept the names given to them by the British colonial administration. I approve of this policy because we should not deny the past and wipe out part of our history.

Bo Xilai's downfall and China's future

A DECADE ago when Mr Hu Jintao and Mr Wen Jiabao were installed as China's President and Premier, respectively, one could have been fooled into thinking that the process by which they were selected ran like clockwork. Indeed, some apologists for Beijing's authoritarian rule have argued that the way in which the Communist Party picks its leaders is a model of technocratic rule. Prospective candidates for top slots are groomed over years in the most demanding jobs the vast country has to offer. The competition is ferocious. But the process lacks some vital ingredients. It is neither transparent nor accountable.

S'pore among big arms importers

SINGAPORE has emerged as the world's fifth-biggest weapons importer in the last five years, says the latest report of a Swedish security and military think-tank.

Naysayers want all works halted

AFTER more than two hours of listening to officials last night, representatives of several environment and heritage groups emerged from the closed-door meeting unconvinced that a road had to be built across part of Bukit Brown Cemetery.

Sec 3 elearn Part II: Persuasive Techniques

Another skill valuable in the Humanities is the ability to develop critical and creative thinking such as the skills of evaluating and interpreting information through making inferences, analysing evidence, and drawing well-reasoned and substantiated conclusions.

The costs of a (brain) damaging war

FIVE years ago, I saw a television report about Iraq war veterans in California who were being treated for a new kind of brain injury. I was stunned to watch a female soldier who could no longer recognise her daughter. So I tracked down the therapist treating her and began a nine-month journey in which I interviewed dozens of vets with traumatic brain injuries and their families, eventually turning their heart-rending stories into a play.

Rogue soldier's case highlights war stress

WASHINGTON: Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, the US soldier accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan last week, was deployed four times to Iraq and Afghanistan over a decade, a record of combat that at the very least suggests high levels of stress.

Sec 3 elearn Part I: How many sides to a coin?

The Social Studies course aims to to develop students to be information-literate and adept in process skills so that they will be able to acquire, manage and use information critically and with insight. One of these process skill is the ability to compare and contrast diverse perspectives and views in any issue.

Up to half of world's food goes to waste

CHICAGO: Cleaning your plate may not help feed starving children today, but that time-worn advice of mothers everywhere could cut food waste, help the environment and make it easier to feed the world's growing population.

Edusave Character Award as vital and valuable as its academic equivalent: MOE

WE THANK senior writer Sandra Davie ('Cash for character sends a wrong signal'; Tuesday) and readers for their feedback on the new Edusave Character Award, and for the opportunity to reiterate the rationale behind it.

A school by any other name?

WHAT'S in a label? Plenty, if a debate that has surfaced in recent weeks is anything to go by.

Why some people hate everyone

One of my all-time favourite thinkers is Greek philosopher Heraclitus (535-475 BC).

Cash for character sends a wrong signal

EDUCATION Minister Heng Swee Keat announced a new Edusave award last Thursday - one that he hopes will encourage character building in young Singaporeans. Teachers will nominate students for the annual Edusave Character Awards to be given to those who demonstrate exemplary values and civic responsibility through their behaviour and actions.

Having no oil may yield the best resource

EVERY so often, someone asks me: 'What's your favourite country, other than your own?' I've always had the same answer: 'Taiwan.' 'Taiwan? Why Taiwan?' people ask.

Oh, what tension over the maid's day off

Do you know what a 'big But' story is? The day-off-for-maids-law story is one example.

'Senile' Osama shunned by Al-Qaeda

RAWALPINDI: Osama bin Laden spent his last days sidelined by Al-Qaeda and slipping into dementia, possibly betrayed to the Americans by a jealous wife and his own deputy, a Pakistani investigator says.

Lure of hidden truths

A week after the Oscars, Rodrigo Garcia, director of period drama Albert Nobbs, is upbeat.

Debate over giving cash for showing good values

THIS is one instance where some people feel monetary rewards are not appropriate. While many welcome the new Education Ministry's Edusave Character Award, they question the need to link a cash value to it.

Britain's capital of misery

IF IT does not do much for this city's morale to discover that east, west, north, and south-east London are among the least happy places in Britain, it must be dire for the poor wretch who has just been told that it is now official: He is male, middle-aged, divorced and living in London, and therefore Britain's most miserable person.