Bill introduced to protect private home buyers






SINGAPORE: Amendments to the Housing Developers (Control & Licensing) Bill was introduced in Parliament on Wednesday to protect the interests of home buyers of uncompleted private residential properties.

Last year, the Housing Developers Rules were amended to better protect home buyers.

Developers now have to provide scaled location plans, unit floor plans and detailed breakdowns of a unit's floor area to home buyers to enable them to make better-informed decisions.

Key amendments to the Act have been made in the areas which include more comprehensive and timely information to the public, enhancing governance of developers and increasing the penalties for offences.

- CNA/fa



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Narendra Modi as popular as Nehru: Ashok Singhal

ALLAHABAD: Amid demand by some BJP leaders for projecting Narendra Modi as the party's prime ministerial candidate, VHP leader Ashok Singhal said on Wednesday the Gujarat chief minister enjoys the same popularity as that of the first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru.

"It is for the first time since the days of Jawahar Lal Nehru when a leader has come to enjoy such a massive popularity across the country," Singhal told reporters here at the ongoing Mahakumbh congregation.

The statement of the former VHP chief came shortly ahead of the proposed visit of BJP national president Rajnath Singh, who is likely to meet senior Sangh Parivar leaders and attend a meeting of the central advisory committee of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Making it clear that the VHP functions according to its 'maryada' (decorum) and 'seema' (limitations), he said, "We will not violate peace by engaging ourselves in politics. Our sole concern is the welfare of the Hindu community."

Senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia had yesterday ducked queries on the likelihood of VHP pressing for projection of Modi as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate.

"I will only say the VHP is committed to helping the Hindus achieve what is their due," he had said when asked about the possibility of VHP pitching for Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

"As stated on a number of occasions, we favour a Hindutvavadi parliament sensitive to the majority community's needs," the VHP international working president had said.

On Singhal calling Modi "Hindu Hriday Samrat", he said "We are engaged in a collective effort. This is not the time to ponder over personal likes and dislikes".

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The Real Richard III


It's a question that actors from Laurence Olivier to Kevin Spacey have grappled with: What did Richard III, the villainous protagonist of Shakespeare's famous historical drama, really look and sound like?

In the wake of this week's announcement by the University of Leicester that archaeologists have discovered the 15th-century British king's lost skeleton beneath a parking lot, news continues to unfold that helps flesh out the real Richard III.

The Richard III Society unveiled a 3D reconstruction today of the late king's head and shoulders, based on computer analysis of his skull combined with an artist's interpretation of details from historical portraits. (Related: "Shakespeare's Coined Words Now Common Currency.")

"We received the skull data before DNA analysis confirmed that the remains were Richard III, and we treated it like a forensic case," said Caroline Wilkinson, the University of Dundee facial anthropologist who led the reconstruction project. "We were very pleasantly surprised by the results."

Though Shakespeare describes the king as an "elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog," the reconstructed Richard has a pleasant, almost feminine face, with youthful skin and thoughtful eyes. His right shoulder is slightly higher than the left, a consequence of scoliosis, but the difference is barely visible, said Wilkinson.

"I think the whole Shakespearean view of him as being sort of monster-like was based more on his personality than his physical features," she reflected.

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People are naturally fascinated by faces, especially of historical figures, said Wilkinson, who has also worked on reconstructions of J.S. Bach, the real Saint Nicholas, the poet Robert Burns, and Cleopatra's sister.

"We make judgments about people all the time from looking at their appearance," she said. "In Richard's case, up to now his image has been quite negative. This offers a new context for considering him from the point of view of his anatomical structure rather than his actions. He had quite an interesting face."

A Voice From the Past

Most people's impression of Richard's personality comes from Shakespeare's play, in which the maligned ruler utters such memorable lines as "Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York," and "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"

But how would the real Richard III have expressed himself? Did he have an accent? Was there any sense of personality or passion in his choice of words?

To find out more about the mysterious monarch, Philip Shaw, a historical linguist at University of Leicester's School of English, analyzed the only two known examples of Richard III's own writing. Both are postscripts on letters otherwise composed by secretaries—one in 1469, before Richard became king, and one from 1483, the first year of his brief reign.

Shaw identified a quirk of spelling that suggests that Richard may have spent time in the West Midlands, or perhaps had a tutor who hailed from there.

"I was looking to compare the way he spells things with the way his secretaries spell things, working on the assumption that he would have been schooled to a fairly high level," Shaw explained.

Read about National Geographic explorers on our Explorers Journal blog

In the 1469 letter, Richard spells the word "will" as "wule," a variation associated with the West Midlands. But Shaw also notes that by 1483, when Richard wrote the second letter's postscript, he had changed his spelling to the more standard "wyll" (the letters 'i' and 'y' were largely interchangeable during that period of Middle English).

"That could suggest something about him brushing up over the years, or moving toward what would have been the educated standard," Shaw said, noting that the handwriting in the second example also appears a bit more polished. "One wonders what sort of practice and teaching he'd had in the interim."

Although it's hard to infer tone of voice from written letters, there is certainly emotion in the words penned by Richard III.

In the 1469 letter, the 17-year-old seeks a loan of 100 pounds from the king's undertreasurer. Although the request is clearly stated in the body of the letter, Richard adds an urgent P.S.: "I pray you that you fail me not now at this time in my great need, as you will that I show you my good lordship in that matter that you labour to me for."

That could either be a veiled threat (If you don't lend me the money, I won't do that thing you asked me to do) or friendly cajoling (Come on, I'm helping you out with something, so help me out with this loan).

"His decision to take the pen himself shows you how important that personal touch must have been in getting people to do something," Shaw said.

The second letter, written to King Richard's chancellor in 1483, also conveys a sense of urgency. He had just learned that the Duke of Buckingham—once a close ally—was leading a rebellion against him.

"He's asking for his Great Seal to be sent to him so that he can use it to give out orders to suppress the rebellion," Shaw said. "He calls the Duke 'the most untrue creature living. You get a sense of how personally let down and betrayed he feels."

Shaw said he hopes his analysis—in combination with the new facial reconstruction—will help humanize Richard III.

"He probably wasn't quite the villain that Shakespeare portrays, though I suspect he was quite ruthless," he said. "But you probably couldn't afford to be a very nice man if you wanted to survive as a king in those days."


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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation













Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.


The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's office spent nearly two years investigating Armstrong for crimes reportedly including drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy -- only to suddenly drop the case on the Friday before the Super Bowl last year.


Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.


Today, a high level source told ABC News, "Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole."


According to the source, who agreed to speak on the condition that his name and position were not used because of the sensitivity of the matter, "Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation."


An email to an attorney for Armstrong was not immediately returned.


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Earlier Tuesday, during a Department of Justice news conference on another matter, Birotte was confronted with the Armstrong question unexpectedly. The following is a transcript of that exchange:


Q: Mr. Birotte, given the confession of Lance Armstrong to all the things --


Birotte: (Off mic.)


Q: -- to all thethings that you, in the end, decided you couldn't bring a case about, can you give us your thoughts on that case now and whether you might take another look at it?


Birotte: We made a decision on that case, I believe, a little over a year ago. Obviously we've been well-aware of the statements that have been made by Mr. Armstrong and other media reports. That has not changed my view at this time. Obviously, we'll consider, we'll continue to look at the situation, but that hasn't changed our view as I stand here today.


The source said that Birotte is not in the loop on the current criminal inquiry, which is being run out of another office.


Armstrong confessed to lying and using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.


READ MORE: Armstrong Admits to Doping


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Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.


Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He has been given a Feb. 6 deadline to tell all under oath to investigators or lose his last chance at a possible break on the lifetime ban.


PHOTOS: Olympic Doping Scandals: Past and Present


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Strengthening security at the nation’s airports



In pursuit of safeguarding the public, Liddell, a federal security director based in Syracuse, has written a book that is now used to train TSOs. It’s called the “National Standardization Guide to Improving Security Effectiveness.” Tasks at each duty area have been inventoried and cataloged, and the “knowledge, values and skills” associated with the airport security jobs have been identified under what Liddell describes as a systems approach to training.


As important as it is to use X-ray machines and explosive trace-detection equipment and to have the correct rules and procedures in place, Liddell said transportation security relies on the skills of the people responsible for it.

“People performance is the cornerstone,” he said. “When I set out to improve things, I look at the people. I look at their proficiency, their skill in doing something and how well they’re doing that job.”

Even when people have the skills to do their jobs, they don’t necessarily do them well each time, especially when conditions can vary with each day and every passenger. To keep performance high, TSOs are tested covertly at unexpected times. A banned item will be sent through a checkpoint and the reaction and activities that take place are monitored.

Whether or not TSOs spot contraband, everyone at that checkpoint during the test participates in an “after-action” review. “It’s the learning experience that’s relevant,” Liddell said. “We’re doing a review of actual performance and you can always improve.”

Liddell is sensitive to the pressure that airport security personnel face. TSOs have the tough of performing multiple tasks under constant camera surveillance and public scrutiny, often interacting with tired or irritated travelers. The testing and training helps them continually up their game.

Thirty airports around the country that helped test the training system and now use a version of it. Paul Armes, federal security director at Nashville International Airport, was interested in creating such a system with a colleague when they both worked in Arizona, but it “never got traction.”

When he learned about what Liddell was doing, he was eager to participate. “Typical of Dan, he built it himself and practiced it so he had hard metric results, and then he started reaching out to some of us, working with his counterparts around the country to get a good representative sample,” Armes said. “He sees things others don’t see sometimes and he has the capability to drill down into the details.”

Liddell began the “pretty long process” of analyzing how people were performing at checkpoints in 2009. He sat down with subject-matter experts to produce the task inventory he now uses. In 2010, he improved the review and reporting process that occurs after covert tests events and instituted the security practices he refined at the other New York airports he oversees, including Greater Binghamton, Ithaca and four others. “I love breaking it down,” he said. “I’ve got a quest for improvement.”

In a less sneaky version of the television show, “Undercover Boss,” Liddell went through the new-hire training program for his employees to understand as much as he could about the jobs and the training provided for them, he said.

If pursuing knowledge is in Liddell’s genes, it may be because his parents were both in education. His father was a high school principal and his mother was a fifth-grade teacher. His teaching manifested itself instead in the training realm, where he strives to educate security employees as effectively as possible, inside the classroom and out.

“It’s always a challenge to meet that right balance of really great effectiveness and really great efficiency,” he said. “There are always challenges. It’s what gets me up in the morning, trying to improve.”



This article was jointly prepared by the Partnership for Public Service, a group seeking to enhance the performance of the federal government, and washingtonpost.com. Go to http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/fedpage/players/ to read about other federal workers who are making a difference.

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MP proposes amendment to motion on White Paper on Population






SINGAPORE: Member of Parliament (MP) for Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency, Liang Eng Hwa, has proposed an amendment to the original motion being debated in Parliament on the White Paper on Population.

He said reflecting the concerns raised by Singaporeans, he proposes to amend the motion to further reinforce the point that Parliament supports maintaining a strong Singaporean core.

This is by encouraging more Singaporeans to get married and have children.

He said: "A key thrust of strengthening our Singaporean core in the workforce is to help enhance the employability of Singaporeans and prepare Singaporeans for the competition. We need to help our citizens better maximise our so-called 'home ground advantage' and benefit from the job opportunities available and get higher salaries.

"What would work against the strengthening of Singaporean core is where foreigners are seen to be taking up jobs that Singaporeans can do. There are clearly still many examples of that in some sectors. We need employers to be more conscious of that."

Mr Liang also wanted to add clarity to the motion by recognizing that the population projection beyond 2020 is for the purpose of land use and infrastructural planning and not a population target.

The MP stressed that Singapore's leaders will not get the buy-in from Singaporeans on the country's long term plans if it has not demonstrated that the government is serious in resolving the current bottlenecks.

He said: "We need to invest big to create space and capacity to cope with higher population and to sustain a high quality living environment. We also need a long term economic strategy that can continue to create good and fulfilling jobs for our citizens.

"Bearing in mind, come 2020, we will have at least 16,000 Singaporeans per year graduating from local universities and many others from the polys and ITEs. We need to keep creating good employment for these graduates every year.

"Economic growth sustains our financial ability to pay for the higher social spending so that our retired citizens can age with dignity and security. Too low an economic growth will change that equation and things may balance out. That is exactly what this population White Paper and Land Use Plan is all about. And I agree with DPM Teo that it is about doing the balancing acts. And that every issue is interlinked with one another and so you can't just take one piece and say we should do more or do less."

Mr Liang said the government also needs to assure Singaporeans that the population policies are meant to benefit citizens.

- CNA/xq



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Kerala rape case: I am innocent, in eyes of God and court too, Kurien says

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three police investigations and the apex court had exonerated him of involvement in the 1996 Suryanelli rape case, Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurien said on Tuesday and asserted that he was innocent in the eyes of God too.

"Please note that I have been cleared by three different police investigation teams; besides the apex court exonerated me and the final discharge in the case following a private petition filed by the victim came from the Kerala high court. In the eyes of God also I have done no wrong," Kurien said.

The horrific case in Suryanelli in Kerala's Idukki district took place in January 1996 when a 16-year-old was threatened, abducted and abused by a bus conductor. She was brutally sexually assaulted for 45 days by 42 men. The victim had named Kurien as among those who exploited her in 1996.

The case is back in the spotlight after the Supreme Court on January 31 ordered a retrial, setting aside the acquittal in 2005 by the Kerala high court of all but one of the 35 accused.

Exuding calm and confidence in the face of an aggressive Left opposition, the Congress leader said that it was all about politics.

"My name surfaced ahead of the then Lok Sabha election; and then at the next election came the girl's private complaint. Hence, there is no doubt that it is just nothing but politics."

He added that he had not proceeded with the defamation case that he had won. The case had named then chief minister EK Nayanar and the victim.

"I did not go ahead with it because by then Nayanar had passed away. If I wanted, I could have sought compensation from the girl for maligning me. I did not do it.

"Mind you, if I had gone ahead with it, then this present round of media bashing would not have happened," said he.

"In my discharge granted by the Kerala high court, it asks who will compensate me for tribulation that I have been subjected to for almost a decade.

"While the prosecution (then Left government in 2007) was arguing against me, the police investigation report gave me a clean chit. I am happy my party is fully with me because they know the entire case," added Kurien.

He said his family had stood by him like a rock from day one.

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Space Pictures This Week: A Space Monkey, Printing a Moon Base

Illustration courtesy Foster and Partners/ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced January 31 that it is looking into building a moon base (pictured in an artist's conception) using a technique called 3-D printing.

It probably won't be as easy as whipping out a printer, hooking it to a computer, and pressing "print," but using lunar soils as the basis for actual building blocks could be a possibility.

"Terrestrial 3-D printing technology has produced entire structures," said Laurent Pambaguian, head of the project for ESA, in a statement.

On Earth, 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, produces a three-dimensional object from a digital file. The computer takes cross-sectional slices of the structure to be printed and sends it to the 3-D printer. The printer bonds liquid or powder materials in the shape of each slice, gradually building up the structure. (Watch how future astronauts could print tools in space.)

The ESA and its industrial partners have already manufactured a 1.7 ton (1.5 tonne) honeycombed building block to demonstrate what future construction materials would look like.

Jane J. Lee

Published February 4, 2013

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Sarai Sierra's 2 Young Boys Don't Know Mom's Dead













The two young sons of slain New York mom Sarai Sierra are under the impression that their father has gone to Turkey to bring their mother home - alive.


Sierra, whose battered body was found near a highway in Istanbul over the weekend, was the mother of two boys aged 9 and 11.


Steven Sierra, who went to Istanbul in search of his wife after she disappeared nearly two weeks ago, told his children that he was going to Turkey to bring their mom home.


"The father will be speaking to them and it's something that's going to be hard and he's going to be talking to them when he comes back," Betsy Jimenez, the mother of Sarai Sierra, said today during a family news conference.


State Representative Michael Grimm said Steven Sierra's biggest concern is telling his children that mom's not coming home.


"It's going to be the hardest thing he's ever going to have to do in his life," said Grimm, who added that the Staten Island family isn't sure when Steven Sierra will be able to bring home his wife's body.


An autopsy was completed Sunday on Sarai Sierra, 33, but results aren't expected for three months. Turkish officials however said she was killed by at least one fatal blow to her head.


A casket holding the Staten Island mother was carried through alleyways lined with spice and food stalls to a church, where the casket remained on Monday.


Turkish police hope DNA samples from 21 people being questioned in the case will be key to finding the perpetrators, the Associated Press reported, according to state run media.








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Earlier this week, it was also reported that Turkish police are speaking to a local man who was supposed to meet Sierra the day she disappeared, but he said she never showed.


After an intense search for Sierra that lasted nearly two weeks, her body was found Saturday near the ruins of some ancient city walls and a highway. Sierra was wearing the same outfit she was seen wearing on surveillance footage taken at a food court and on a street the day she vanished, Istanbul Police Chief Huseyin Capkin said.


Sierra's body was taken to a morgue, Capkin said, and was identified by her husband.


It did not appear she had been raped or was involved in any espionage or trafficking, Capkin said.


Betsy Jimenez said Monday that her family has many unanswered questions such as what happened to her daughter after she left her hotel room to go and take photographs of a famous bridge.


"They're still investigating so they might think it might be a robbery, but they're not sure," said Jimenez.


Sierra, who had traveled to Istanbul on Jan. 7 to practice her photography hobby, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was due to board a flight home to New York City.


Dennis Jimenez, Sierra's father, told reporters Monday that he didn't want her to go on the trip.


"I didn't want her to go. But, she wanted to go because this was an opportunity for her to sightsee and pursue her photography hobby because Turkey was a land rich with culture and ancient history and she was fascinated with that," said Jimenez.


While in Istanbul, Sierra would Skype with her family and friends daily, telling them about how amazing the culture was.


Sierra's best friend Maggie Rodriguez told ABC News that she was forced to pull out of the trip at the last minute because she couldn't afford it. That's why Sierra traveled alone.


Her husband, Steven Sierra, and brother, David Jimenez, traveled to Istanbul last Sunday to meet with American and Turkish officials and push the search forward.






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Why immigration reform in 1986 fell short



More than a quarter-century later, however, that law has not turned out to be the triumph that Reagan envisioned. Instead, those on both sides of the immigration debate see it as a cautionary lesson.


As President Obama and lawmakers from both parties begin to take their first tentative steps toward again rewriting the nation’s immigration laws, opponents warn that they are repeating the mistakes of the 1986 act, which failed to solve the problems that it set out to address. Critics contend that the law actually contributed to making the situation worse.

An estimated 3 million to 5 million illegal immigrants were living in the United States when the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed. Now there are upwards of 11 million. And the question of who gets to be an American, far from being settled, has been inflamed.

The latest proposals contain the same three components as the 1986 law: a legalization program — and a possible path to citizenship — for those who are in the country illegally, stepped-up enforcement along the border, and measures to discourage employers from hiring workers who lack proof of legal residency.

“This is the same old formula we’ve dealt with before, including when it passed in 1986, and that is a promise of enforcement and immediate amnesty,” Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said last week
on the Laura Ingraham radio show. “And of course, the promises of enforcement never materialize. The amnesty happens immediately, the millisecond the bill is signed into law.”

But immigration experts note that the country has undergone big changes since then. And the experience of what went wrong after 1986 might help policymakers get it right this time.

“There’s just an entirely different mentality,” said Doris Meissner, who was commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service during the Bill Clinton administration and who now directs immigration policy studies at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.

Technology affords new means of enforcing sanctions against hiring illegal immigrants, for instance, and Americans in the post-9/11 world may have lost some of their squeamishness about carrying tamper-proof government identification or submitting personal information to a national database. Meanwhile, businesses are eager to come up with a legal system of immigration that can more quickly adapt to their constantly changing labor needs.

Still, “the problem is always in the details, and that was certainly true in 1986. Once the debate got into the details, the compromises proved to be counterproductive,” said Susan F. Martin, director of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration, who in the 1990s served as executive director of the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform.

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