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The most dangerous parts of a flight are takeoff and landing. Rarely do incidents happen when a plane is cruising seven miles (11 kilometers) above the Earth. So the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jet well into its flight Saturday morning over the South China Sea has led aviation experts to assume that whatever happened was quick and left the pilots no time to place a distress call. It could take investigators months, if not years, to determine what happened to the Boeing 777 flying from Malaysia's largest city of Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The Home Ministry has done what countless monsters and space aliens could not: Vanquish Ultraman. According to a report by national news agency Bernama today, the ministry issued a ban on the publication of the Bahasa Malaysia edition of the comic book, “Ultraman the Ultra Power”, for allegedly containing elements detrimental to public order. “It is an offence under Section 8 (2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 for any person to print, import, produce, reproduce, publish, sell, distribute, offer to sell or have in his possession for any such purpose the banned publication,” the ministry said in a statement.

I sometimes get amused looks from North Americans when I tell them that I moved to Singapore. They tend to reflexively respond that I must be crazy to move to a country where "consuming even chewing gum is a crime." The interaction that happens between us leaves me thinking that they want to rationalize not having to do the hard work of understanding what other places are like.

Madam, I am concerned about many Home Team uniformed services turning to outsourcing as a response to increasing demand for services and manpower shortages. For example, in October 2013, the SCDF added only four more emergency ambulances to increase its fleet to 50 vehicles, but doubled the number of private ambulances to 20. Today, the number of Auxiliary Police Officers stands at 6,000 officers, compared with over 8,000 regular officers in the Singapore Police Force. At the Woodlands checkpoint, APOs make up 20% of officers. Recently, the Prisons Act was amended to expand the role of APOs to allow them to conduct inmate escort and patrols within prison premises.

A day after a new cost-of-living index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit dubbed Singapore the costliest city globally, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam downplayed the results by saying they did not quite reflect average Singaporeans’ ability to meet daily living expenses. Cost-of-living surveys like the one produced by the EIU “are really aimed at measuring expatriate costs of living in different parts of the world,” he said during a budget debate in Parliament on Wednesday.

The 1st regional LGBTQI Awards event in Asia is gaining steam with 10 individuals’ recipients, 3 corporates’ recipients, Sebastian Castro as Master of Ceremony and participation from regional LGBTQI organisations. prideSingapore, 3rd March, 2014 – Asia Pink Awards 2014, the 1st regional LGBTQI Awards event, is gaining steam with exciting developments that will mark a successful event that comes against the backdrop of the emergence of a progressive Asia. On 16th March, the Awards will announce 10 recipients from the individuals’ category and 3 recipients from the corporates’ category chosen by a distinguished panel of judges. Real life examples that anyone can stand up and fight for what’s right, these recipients come from all walks of life; politician, lawyer, social worker, activist, pastor, celebrity.

Carpenter’s Medal of Honor nomination stems from reports that, as a 21-year-old lance corporal, he intentionally covered a grenade to save the life of his friend, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Eufrazio on Nov. 21, 2010, as the two Marines were standing guard on a rooftop in the Marjah district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province. Both men survived the blast, but were badly wounded. Carpenter — whose Medal of Honor has not been officially announced — had serious injuries, including the loss of his right eye, the blowing out of his right ear drum, a fractured nose, and destruction of his lower jaw and cheek bones. Carpenter’s face is marked by shrapnel scars from the grenade’s explosion.

This is the second part of the two parts series, click here for the '5 Common Responses From Pro-Oppositions'. I am not here to judge whose responses are ridiculous or superficial, instead if you are guilty of these responses, maybe try and change your comments because they are getting uninteresting and it makes us (in either camps) question your intelligence.

I was quite shocked to learn that there are still Singaporeans who think it’s okay to publicly and openly discriminate against a minority group. I know this isn’t surprising to many out there, but I’ve been extremely sheltered for most of my life — I went to a convent school and the culture was incredibly inclusive. In fact, almost all my friends are from different races/religions/sexual orientations. Festive celebrations in my home might as well be a successful and happy initiative for a racial harmony campaign.

Cost of living in Australia has been a perennial topic amongst both our friends, families, and readers alike. After I saw this BBC article about how SG is the world's most expensive city, I'd better caution those of you from there who may be thinking of visiting or migrating to Oz. Not everything is cheaper here!