I refer to this week’s VoicesTODAY topic, “Is xenophobia a growing problem?” Any claim of xenophobia among Singaporeans must be substantiated, for it drives a wedge in our relatively cohesive society. Singapore residents, including foreigners who have lived here for several years, are merely unhappy about overcrowding. Having too many people on a small piece of land, with public infrastructure that is overtaxed, causes discomfort and stress due to intensifying competition for limited resources such as housing and cars. The unhappiness is not directed at foreigners.

We should be aware of is being overcharged on buses. I was shocked to see that a mere 10 min bus ride on a Basic SBS Bus Service 66 was charged $1.86. Investigation by Transitlink showed that the system recorded my boarding place at Science Centre when in fact I was at the eastern side of the island. I don't think everyone looks at the card readers every time they tap on and off to know if they've been overcharged. How much extra money are buses making from unsuspecting customers?

SINGAPORE: He loved his mother, who lived with his family, but under the heavy influence of drugs, Mohamed Redha Abdul Mutalib stabbed her to death two years ago in their Eunos Crescent flat. In what is believed to be a rare case, the former healthcare assistant at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) was on Wednesday acquitted of murdering Asnah Aziz on grounds of temporary insanity. Issuing his verdict, High Court judge Tay Yong Kwang said Redha, 32, was of unsound mind and incapable of knowing his act constituted murder.

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is gearing up for a bruising showdown over the global priest sex abuse scandal, forced to defend itself publicly for the first time against allegations it enabled the rape of thousands of children by protecting paedophile priests and its own reputation at the expense of victims. The Holy See tomorrow (Jan 16) will be grilled by a United Nations (UN) committee in Geneva on its implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which among other things calls for signatories to take all appropriate measures to protect children from harm and to put children’s interests above all else.

A former Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) information technology analyst was jailed for 10 months on Wednesday for underage sex.
Ramos Lobaton Alan, 26, pleaded guilty to two counts of having sex with a 15-year-old student in a room at a flat in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.