SINGAPORE – The Year of the Dragon is a good year to have babies, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as he focused on the importance of families at the heart of Singapore's society in his annual Chinese New Year message on Thursday (8 February).

“One important element of family life is having and bringing up children. It is a great joy for parents to bring kids into this world and to watch them learn and grow, reaching one milestone after another and growing up year by year,” he said.

The dragon is a symbol of power, strength, and good fortune, and Chinese families consider a child born in the Year of the Dragon especially auspicious. “So now is as good a time as any for young couples to add a ‘little dragon' to your family.” PM Lee - who was also born in the Year of the Dragon - added.

Efforts made to support parenthood in Singapore

This is not the first time that PM Lee has urged Singaporeans to make more babies. He had acknowledged before that the decision to have a baby is a very personal one, but given the declining birth rates in Singapore, he has continued to encourage couples to do so in what could be his final few months as prime minister.

“I still hope that more Singaporean couples will decide to have more children, and to have them earlier," he said, adding that couple may not realise “how quickly it gets harder with each passing year”.

Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), shared in Parliament in February 2023 that the resident total fertility rate (TFR) in Singapore dropped to its lowest-ever level of 1.05 in 2022.

This was partly because it was the Year of the Tiger, which generally has fewer births. Singapore's TFR had increased the year before in 2021, but it was driven by a fall in the number of females of childbearing age.

With the lower fertility rates and longer life expectancies, the proportion of those aged 65 and above in Singapore is set to rise further over the next few years.

In his message, PM Lee also pledged to build a “Singapore made for families”, citing the recent change to double government-paid paternity leave from two to four weeks as one of the efforts to support marriages and parenthood. “I am confident they will find parenthood a deeply rewarding and fulfilling journey," he added.

PM ended by wishing all Singaporeans good health and a happy Chinese New Year, saying, “Entering the Dragon year, let us press forward with optimism and determination.”

SINGAPORE: Android users in Singapore will automatically be blocked from installing apps from unverified sources, with a new security feature that Google plans to progressively roll out in the coming weeks.

It is part of a trial to better protect users against malware scams and was developed in partnership with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA).

"Singapore will be the first country to begin a phased pilot of this feature on Android devices in the next few weeks," Google said in a media release, adding that this builds on the existing Google Play Protect malware protection system.

When users try to install a potentially risky app from sources such as web browsers or messaging platforms - a process known as sideloading - Google's latest security feature will automatically block the app if it demands suspicious permissions such as access to restricted data like SMSes and phone notifications.

Such permissions have been abused by scammers to read users' one-time passwords or spy on screen content, for instance.

Android users will be served an explanation if attempts to download a suspicious app are blocked.

This is Google's latest effort to safeguard mobile users against malware scams.

In a previous update of Google Play Protect - a security program built into Android devices - users were recommended to conduct a real-time app scan to better detect whether an app may be infected with malware. When the scan was completed, users were notified about whether it could be safely installed.

Eugene Liderman, director of Android security strategy at Google, told CNA that this real-time scanning enhancement to Google Play Protect was fully rolled out in Singapore in November 2023.

It has helped identify over 515,000 potentially harmful apps and blocked or warned users almost 3.1 million times when they attempted to install such apps, according to Mr Liderman.

He added that the latest feature that will be rolled out in the coming weeks will offer "vital protection" to many mobile users.

FIGHT AGAINST MALWARE SCAMS

The issue of malware-related scams targeting Android users has made headlines in recent months, raising questions about whether Android devices are more susceptible.

More than 750 cases were reported in the first half of 2023, with victims losing more than S$10 million (US$7.4 million), the police said last September.

Scam victims are often directed to download an Android package kit (APK) file through sources such as websites, messaging apps or file managers.

Google said its newest security feature is designed to look out for suspicious permissions such as access to restricted data like SMSes and phone notifications.

"Based on our analysis of major fraud malware families that exploit these sensitive runtime permissions, we found that over 95 per cent of installations came from internet-sideloading sources," it added.

"The fight against online scams is a dynamic one. As cybercriminals refine their methods, we must collaborate and innovate to stay ahead. Through such partnerships with technology players like Google, we are constantly improving our anti-scam defences to protect Singaporeans online and safeguard their digital assets,” CSA deputy chief executive Chua Kuan Seah said.

Google added that more anti-scam features are in the pipeline.

"This pilot in Singapore is just one of many new things to come to help keep our users safe," said Mr Liderman.

"We will be closely monitoring the results of the pilot to assess its impact and make adjustments as needed. We will also continue to work with other ecosystem partners, as deep industry collaboration and joint user education are key to fighting this evolving threat.”

Besides rolling out new cybersecurity features, Google will also support CSA by continuing to assist with malware detection and analysis, sharing malware insights and techniques, as well as creating user and developer education resources.

!historychads

@carpathianfriendly your favorite ching chong

FREMONT- Ian Miles Cheong was revealed to be the first recipient of Elon Musk's Neuralink brain device implant thanks to the inherently low risk that drilling into his brain would damage anything functional anyways, company officials and doctors said today via a press release.

Nadia Samson, a spokesperson for Neuralink spoke about the ground-breaking first human test subject.

"All of the preliminary scans showed very little overall activity, so the whole thing seemed pretty low risk," Samson said. "Of course, we didn't realize he was actually a citizen and resident of Malaysia. We figured he was based in the US because of the sheer amount of posts about American politics, but once we had that little wrinkle ironed out, getting the paperwork done was simple enough -- no doctor seemed to care."

Musk, who was reportedly heavily involved in the process of selecting Cheong as the first patient, had a somewhat different reason why the online commentator made for such a good test subject.

"You need to start with someone whose brain is working perfectly. Right? Not just a little bit -- like, really working perfectly," Musk said. "This guy responds to all my tweets with the best stuff. Pictures of me, memes of me, endorsements of me, quotes from me. This guy's brain is functioning at maybe 110% capacity honestly."

Musk offered more details on the exciting next step in the tech startup's achievement.

"Ian's been a good test subject. He didn't freak out about the pile of bloated chimp corpses or ask about side effects like everyone else did," Musk said. "Those chimps went woke and now they're broke. At any rate I assured him we have a separate mass grave prepared for all our human test subjects should it come to that."

Cheong himself spoke about the chance to be the world's first Neuralink recipient.

"If Elon is behind it I know it's going to be brilliant, so there was no real hesitation on my part about whether or not I wanted to do the procedure," Cheong said. "Heck, I started drilling the hole myself before I even got the email back that they would take me."

At press time Elon Musk and a team of engineers were working diligently to understand if Cheong's recent rapid fire, unanswered Twitter replies to Musk all about how great the billionaire looks in a cowboy hat were a sign of the implant malfunctioning or just Cheong being himself.

https://9gag.com/gag/aKErzvO#comment

@Xena-5214

Boring hole bump

SINGAPORE – A man lost his appeal that only 50 per cent of a three-room flat owned by him and his mother before she died should be included in the pool of matrimonial assets to be divided upon his divorce.

Even though splitting 50 per cent of the flat's value was what he and his former wife had agreed on, a district judge earlier ruled that 100 per cent of the flat's value should be counted in the pool of marital assets to be divided.

The husband appealed the decision.

The man and his mother bought the flat seven years before his marriage in 1989, and he became its sole owner after she died in 2022.

In a judgment on his appeal which was released on Dec 27, 2023, High Court Senior Judge Andrew Ang said that the flat is the couple's matrimonial home where they lived and raised their only child. As it was their matrimonial home, he ruled that the entire value of the flat would be counted in the pool of marital assets to be split between them.

Justice Ang said that the couple's agreement is but one factor in the overall assessment, adding that “it remains critical for the court to consider all the circumstances of the case when determining the proper weight to be given to such an agreement”.

The judge also rejected the man's argument that the 50 per cent share of the flat he inherited after his mum's death should be excluded from the marital pool, as it was an inheritance.

While a section of the Women's Charter that defines matrimonial assets provides an exception for assets that are inherited, this exception does not apply if the inherited asset is considered a matrimonial home, Justice Ang said.

The couple's flat is considered their matrimonial home, and hence, their matrimonial asset, the judge said.

The couple lived in the flat through their union, which lasted about 30 years even though they led separate lives for the bulk of that time, and raised their daughter there.

The property at the heart of the case is a three-room flat in Chai Chee that the man and his mother bought in 1982 for $40,500.

The flat was bought under joint tenancy, which means all the co-owners have an equal share in the property, regardless of the individual's contribution to the purchase.

In 1989, the man tied the knot and the newly-weds, together with the man's mother, moved to live in the flat. The couple's names, ages and occupations were not stated in the judgment.

A year after their daughter was born in 1993, the marriage fell apart.

Justice Ang wrote: “Parties (referring to the couple) took to sleeping in different rooms owing to constant arguments and ceased all physical and emotional intimacy and development.”

He added that the pair kept communication to a minimum, such as when it was necessary and regarding matters pertaining to their daughter's care, education and health.

In 2019, they filed for divorce.

The couple had agreed that the husband and his mother each owned 50 per cent of the flat, which was fully paid up and worth $305,000 at that time.

And they agreed that only the husband's share of the flat, or 50 per cent, would be counted in the matrimonial pool of assets to be divided.

Justice Ang said the man's argument that the flat was bought before the marriage is “irrelevant” once the flat became the matrimonial home.

“Indeed, matrimonial homes are subject to the court's power of division upon dissolution of the marriage, even if they were acquired before the marriage,” he added.

The judge said the couple had not thought about what would happen should the man inherit his mother's share of the flat if she died after they had reached an agreement.

The couple had decided to split only the man's share of the flat, as they arrived at an agreement before his mother died.

Justice Ang said: “To therefore visit upon the wife the consequence that she is entitled to share in only 50 per cent of the matrimonial flat notwithstanding the fact that the husband has since become entitled to 100 per cent of the property by way of survivorship would, in my view, not be just and equitable.”

Mr Lim Chong Boon, head of family law and litigation at PKWA Law Practice, explained that matrimonial assets encompass all the properties acquired during the course of a marriage.

Typically, properties that are obtained before the marriage are not considered a marital asset, unless they are regularly used by the family, among other criteria.

Likewise, assets that are inherited are not automatically classified as matrimonial assets, but there is an exception to this inheritance rule if an asset is used as a matrimonial home.

The law makes it very clear that any property that is inherited will be considered a matrimonial asset if it was used as a matrimonial home, Mr Lim said.

Ms June Lim, a director at Focus Law Asia, said that the type of ownership of a property does not impact the court's power to divide the property in a divorce.

A person may have bought a flat before marriage in his or her sole name, or with another person like his or her parents, but the status of the flat as a matrimonial home makes 100 per cent of its value subject to division under the Women's Charter.

PKWA's Mr Lim noted that a private agreement, as in this case, on the division of marital assets is highly persuasive, but it is not binding and the courts have the final say.

He said that to ensure that an agreement, whether it is a pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement, made by the couple becomes ironclad and binding, it has to be turned into a consent court order.

Lawyers typically submit draft consent orders for the court to approve and issue.

He said: “The consent court order becomes binding on both parties, and it becomes extremely difficult to change it.”

Hole bump

The Thai food was so good

!leafs is this revenge for having too many people over there?

I think they anticipated a huge crowd but it's pretty empty

Can they beat daddy Starbucks?

Lol I remember back then the top EM1 class got the "cars" and bicycles, everyone else were pedestrians.

Our school allocate by the most recent test result. My result was usually quite bad but for that day miraculously was good enough for bicycles.

However, when trying out the bike at the park, I was so short that I have to tip toe when stationary on the bike and wasn't very stable. The person in charge thought I was scared and didn't allow me to ride. Very sad :(

In hindsight, it was probably for the better because I was so blur that I didn't even know how to read a map then and had to follow a classmate that could.

I remember getting rammed by my classmate in the pedal car while I was riding a bike. 10/10 realism

I never really liked this park, I remember the bad memories when in Primary School, we had a field trip. And when I was role-playing as a pedestrian, one of those "die die must follow the rules" prefects gave me a fine for "not raising my hand when crossing the road".

First of all, frick her. And second of all, frick the automobile industry for trying to brainwash children using the park to serve as peasants to the vehicles (brainwashing children to raise their hands when crossing the road innit?)

And yes, for those wondering, the park was built with the support of oil and gas companies, why else did y'all think Shell allowed a replica of their petrol station to be built there?

most sane /r/frickcars poster

Maybe 2022 was the outlier with "patchy rain" (still rain I guess) but after just getting caught in the fricking heavy rain (the big-butt gay umbrella I was using didn't work because the rain was relentless) I seemed to remember how every Christmas was the same shitty weather every year so I decided to check if I was right and

Maybe if we had freezing weather I'd be seeing snow here

Source: https://www.worldweatheronline.com/singapore-weather-history/sg.aspx

I know the end of the year is the monsoon season here but that's still quite the record

And I left my home when it was so sunny and hot out fricking tropical weather

Anyway have a blessed and happy Christmas dramatards, just ranting because I'm soaked