Like straight out of a movie, Arkady Babchenko, a dissident Russian journalist who was reported murdered in Kiev on May 29, showed up the next day in the televised briefing about his very own murder. Turns out the 41-year-old critic of Putin was in an elaborate plot together with the Ukrainian authorities. The critic successfully […]
ROBOTS ARE LISTENING
Amazon Echo is now the creepiest technology in the market. The device’s virtual assistant, Alexa mistakenly heard a series of commands over words that were spoken while the woman was having a conversation with her husband that sent the recorded message to someone on their contacts lists without them knowing. The woman from Portland, Oregon, […]
NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA HELD SURPRISE MEETING TO REAFFIRM PEACEFUL COMMITMENTS
What happened? South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un met in a surprise meeting on Saturday (May 26). The two leaders met for two hours at the heavily militarized border, exchanging views on the implementation of the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration. The historic declaration sees both Koreas agreeing to improve relations […]
WHEN YOU GRANT WOMEN’S RIGHTS REFORMS BUT ARRESTS WOMEN’S RIGHT ACTIVISTS
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman granted the right for women to drive, ending a decades-old ban that the conservative kingdom has previously enforced. This seems to be great news for women’s activists until many of them were arrested for ‘dissent’. At least 7 prominent women’s rights activists who previously campaigned for the right to drive […]
SO CLOSE YET SO FAR
Uh-oh, what happened now? North Korea cancelled its highly anticipated talks with South Korea two hours before the two nations were scheduled to meet on May 16. The last-minute cancellation by North Korea was to protest the joint military drills between the US and South Korea. The large-scale drills, called ‘Max Thunder’ (sounds like a […]
WOULD YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE SPEAKING TO A ROBOT?
That was the question on everyone’s mind when Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed its new A.I. technology, Google Duplex. A demo was played during Google I/O on the 8th May, showcasing how Google Duplex calls and chillingly imitates a human being when scheduling an appointment with an actual person over the phone (It literally just […]
TRUMP AND KIM JONG-UN TO COME TO SINGAPORE
What happened? Our sunny (maybe too sunny) little island has been chosen for the summit between the US and North Korea that will take place on June 12th. Singapore was selected because of its political neutrality between the two countries, with strong ties with the US and a North Korean Embassy on her soil. Its […]
GOODBYE INUKA
Singapore’s last beloved polar bear, Inuka, was euthanized on the 25th April. Inuka was 27 years old, which translated to roughly 70 human years. He outlived a polar bear’s average lifespan of 15-18 years in the wild and 25 years in captivity. Due to his old age, Inuka had suffered from age-related ailments like arthritis, […]
GRABCAR, GRABBIKE AND NOW GRAB SCHOOL BUSES
Grab is launching its new shuttle service targeted at students and school staff, boasting it to be more efficient and personalized than traditional bus operators. Expected to have its first pick-ups in May, Grab Shuttle will crowdsource similar pick-up and drop-off points to accumulate enough demand before starting a route (this sounds like UberPool on […]
AMAZON WORKERS PEE IN BOTTLES IN ‘PRISON-LIKE’ CULTURE
You must be kidding me. Nope, these workers aren’t 3-year olds stuck in a car on a long road trip. They work as ‘pickers’ for Amazon’s fulfilment centres in Rugeley, central England, tasked with retrieving items that people had ordered. Undercover author James Bloodworth discovered the terrible working conditions in the warehouse when he was […]