American Buddhist Net

Was accused of molesting 23 women in elevators, stairwells, homes

Fri., June. 13, 2008

SINGAPORE - A Singapore man with a penchant for sniffing women's armpits was sentenced to 14 years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane for molesting his victims, a local newspaper reported Friday.

The 36-year-old, who the Straits Times said was mentally unstable, had previous convictions for drug and sex-related offences.

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SINGAPORE (AFP) — A California-based blogger who allegedly accused a judge of "prostituting herself" has been arrested and charged in Singapore, his lawyer and a court document said Monday.

Gopalan Nair, a former Singapore lawyer who is now a US citizen, was arrested in the city-state Saturday and charged Monday with insulting a public servant, his lawyer Chia Ti Lik told AFP.

Nair, 58, was later remanded in custody for one more week as the authorities said they needed to investigate further, Chia told reporters.

He is due back in court next Monday.

"We can confirm that Gopalan Nair, a US citizen, was arrested on May 31," a US embassy spokesman said, adding that "we are monitoring the case closely."

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His blog: Lee Kuan Yew: If bloggers who defame me identify themselves, I will sue them!

May 30, 2008
By SETH MYDANS

Mr. Lee, we get to meet at last.”

The most dogged critic of Singapore’s former prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, was finally able to confront his accuser this week in open court, as the prime minister sat in the witness box.

Mr. Lee, 84, has often used the battlefield of the courtroom and the weapon of the libel suit to keep opponents quiet. But this week, for the first time, he was forced to face one of his critics in court — and his antagonist, Chee Soon Juan, an opposition politician, made the most of his moment.

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May 18, 2008
By April Chong

YOUNG, educated and holding a white-collared job: This could describe the average credit-card holder - but it also describes the growing breed of practising Buddhists here.

Radiation therapist Melissa Koh, 25, for example, started taking Buddhist classes a few years ago, just before she began working and needed 'spiritual help' to sort out what she wanted in life.

'I can apply the teachings of mindfulness, compassion and impermanence to what I do every day,' said the young woman, who has since moved on to volunteering with Buddhist groups and is organising a conference for Buddhist youth in August.

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17 May 2008
By Chio Su-Mei

SINGAPORE : The Singapore Buddhist Lodge plans to co-fund the building of earthquake-proof schools in Sichuan province.

These schools will also double up as disaster shelters.

The Lodge has been involved in building schools in rural China for more than 20 years.

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May 4, 2008

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore may be one of Asia's wealthiest nations but soaring food prices have hit its poor hard, as can be seen by the queues at the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, which serves daily free vegetarian meals.

For Tay Soon Kin, a cleaner, the meals dished up by temple volunteers have been a much-needed helping hand as soaring food prices hit Singapore's poor.

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SINGAPORE (AP) — A Singapore television station has been fined for airing a show that depicted a gay couple and their baby in a way that "promotes a gay lifestyle," the city-state's media regulator said Thursday.

The Media Development Authority fined MediaCorp TV Channel 5 $11,000, it said in a statement on its Web site.

The station aired an episode of a home and decor series called "Find and Design" that featured a gay couple wanting to transform their game room into a new nursery for their adopted baby.

The authority said the episode contained scenes of the gay couple with their baby and the presenter's congratulations and acknowledgment of them as a family unit "in a way which normalizes their gay lifestyle and unconventional family setup."

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Same-sex couples tend to get along better than others

A travesty of injustice in Texas

Agreement to develop the Mekong region promises to boost trade, reduce poverty

April 1, 2008
By Nirmal Ghosh

BANGKOK - A NEW road now makes it possible to drive from Singapore to Beijing, connecting markets and also mirroring an ancient trade route that once linked South-east Asia to southern branches of the Silk Road in the 13th century.

Spanning thousands of kilometres, it winds along modern highways and through rice paddies and tea plantations, making its way through Malaysia, Thailand and Laos before entering China.

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Friday, March 21, 2008
Neo Chai Chin

THEY may not hold a Tibetan passport, and some have never lived in their motherland. But gathered at a meditation centre in Geylang listening to a news podcast downloaded from website Radio Free Asia, their passion for the Tibetan cause is clear.

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3/4/2008

Singapore is the best city in the world for Asian expatriates to live in due mainly to its quality of life and low crime rate, a survey released Tuesday by ECA International showed.

Sydney was rated second in the survey, with third spot shared by Melbourne and Kobe in Japan, the human resources firm said.

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Singapore - The Singapore High Court dismissed a bid to save a 65-year-old Buddhist temple site from government acquisition, but a Bodhi tree regarded as sacred will not be chopped down, news reports said Tuesday. Devotees of the temple had filed a suit against the acquisition, alleging a violation of the constitution.

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Sat Feb 23, 2008 4:41am GMT

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singaporean professor who nicked bras and panties has pleaded guilty to stealing women's underwear from a university dormitory, a local newspaper reported on Saturday.

The 39-year old man -- an associate professor in a Chinese university -- was charged for taking women's underwear from a university hostel's clothes-line last December, the Straits Times reported.

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Catholics in Singapore have forced Topshop to yank the cosmetic range LOOKin' Good from its shops, claiming that the usage of the Christ figure in marketing is disrespectful.

The products featured two woman gazing alluringly at a very handsome Jesus.

The products in the range include "Virtuous Vanilla" lip balm, "Get tight for Christ" body cream, and "Redeem yourself in His eyes" eyeliner.

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SINGAPORE (AP) — A cosmetics range with cheeky taglines that extolled the virtues of "Looking Good for Jesus" has been pulled from stores in Singapore after some Roman Catholics complained the items were disrespectful, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Promising to "Redeem your reputation and more," the product line included a "virtuous vanilla"-flavored lip balm and a "Get Tight with Christ" hand and body cream, as well as bags and other items sold by British retailer Topshop and produced by Blue Q, The Straits Times said.

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Singapore - Catholic priests and nuns are dwindling so rapidly in Singapore that those in the vocation fear they might be unable to keep pace with the numbers of faithful in the city-state, The Sunday Times reported Sunday. Archbishop Nicholas Chia, head of Singapore's 200,000-member Catholic community, confirmed the decline. The average age of priests and nuns is 55 years.

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By MarketWatch
Last update: 9:25 a.m. EST Jan. 15, 2008

The Singapore government's main investment vehicle agreed to increase the amount it planned to inject into Citigroup "apparently to cover" the approximately $2 billion Citi had unsuccessfully sought from the government of China, a person familiar with the situation said Tuesday.

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November 23, 2007 7:19 a.m. EST
Paul Icamina - AHN News Writer

Singapore (AHN) - The largest Burmese Buddhist temple in Singapore closed its doors Friday to activists who have been using it as a venue and even as a mailing address as they protest human rights violations and call for democracy in Myanmar.

Participants clad in red T-shirts have been holding massive prayer sessions at the temple, distributing pro-democracy leaflets, since the ruling junta in Myanmar cracked down on peaceful protesters in September, the Bangkok Post reported.

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By Theresa Tan
Nov 19, 2007

THE Buddhist monk mired in controversy over irregularities in the books of the Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre is now facing another set of questions - over his doctorate.

Venerable Ming Yi's resume says he holds a PhD in philosophy from a 'Mannin University' in Ireland, but checks by The Straits Times with the British Council, the Irish Embassy here and the Irish education authorities showed that neither the university nor its qualifications were recognised there.

Through a spokesman, Venerable Ming Yi said at the weekend that he did his doctorate through distance learning, but never checked if the university awarding the degree was recognised.

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By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 01 November 2007 1957 hrs

SINGAPORE : The Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) in Singapore is hosting a rare exhibition called the Nalanda Trail, which is about how Buddhism spread from its birthplace in India, to China and Southeast Asia.

Opening the exhibition on November 1, Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo told Channel News Asia that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will unveil a star piece at the exhibition. This will be done during a reception at ACM for leaders from the East Asian Summit on November 21.

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By Ai Lin Pang/AP Writer/Singapore
October 8, 2007

A Singapore opposition leader and his party members were arrested Monday after protesting Singapore's trade ties with Burma's hard-fisted junta outside the city-state's presidential grounds.

"The Singapore Democratic Party's four-person representation was arrested by Singapore's plain-clothed police once they began their protest in front of the Istana," the SDP said in a statement.

Police did not immediately comment when contacted.

Earlier Monday, SDP Secretary General Chee Soon Juan and party members failed to deliver a petition to the ambassador at the Burmese embassy. They then proceeded to the Istana with a petition to the Singapore government and placards with a photo of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

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High anxiety sweeps through Asian stock markets once more, and central banks in Japan, Australia, and Singapore turn on the cash spigot

by Ian Rowley
August 10th, 2007

If Japanese financiers expected a quiet day of trading ahead of next week's extended holiday break for obon, the Buddhist festival of the dead, they sure didn't get one. Following overnight market carnage in Europe and the U.S. triggered by continuing concerns about the U.S. subprime mortgage market, Japan's Nikkei 225 index hemorrhaged 406.51 points, falling 2.4% to 16764.09 in Aug. 10 trading. That came after the Dow Jones industrial average lost 387.18 points, or 2.83%, to 13270.68 on Aug. 9.

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PAUL CHUA, the father of Asian bodybuilding, has given more than 40 years to the development of bodybuilding in Singapore, including 29 as president of the Singapore Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (SBBF), the post he relinquished recently. But he still remains vice-president of the Internationl Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) . Today, Chua tells BERNARD PEREIRA some of his unforgettable experiences.

July 30, 2007

FOR a moment, you'd think your eyes were deceiving you. But on closer examination, you'll see the unmistakeable gait.

And you'll know it must surely be Paul Chua, the former Singapore Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (SBBF) president.

With his head shining like a gypsy's crystal ball, he stands beneath layers of saffron robes of a Buddhist monk.

Chua, who recently relinquished his post after 29 years as Singapore's bodybuilding supremo, has been a Buddhist all his life, even living out the spartan monk's lifestyle for two short (seven-day) spells.

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Malaysia Sun
Saturday 28th July, 2007
(ANI)

Patna, July 28 : Some selected idols of Lord Buddha dating back to the 8th century AD are being sent from the Patna Museum to Singapore for an international exhibition.

Sixteen idols of Lord Buddha are to be displayed at the Ancient Civilisation Museum for an exhibition on "Buddhist Philosophy and Buddhist Art", in October this year, said Sahdev Kumar, the museum's director.

"The idols are primarily from Nalanda and Kurkihar and they hold utmost importance, as Lord Buddha spent most of his time there only," he added.

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22 July 2007 2149 hrs

SINGAPORE : Some people are still continuing to question the authenticity of the Buddha tooth relic housed in the temple along South Bridge Road.

The tooth relic is stored on the fourth floor of the temple which usually does not allow any photography.

But given the current interest, it has made an exception.

No one is allowed to enter the chamber, but from the outside, you can see the stupa which contains the tooth relic.

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International group seeks to revive ancient Indian university

July 13, 2007
Singapore: An international advisory panel on the revival of the ancient Indian university of Nalanda is holding its first meeting in Singapore from Friday through Sunday, organisers said.

Economist Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate, heads the high-powered group.

On the agenda is funding for the project and governance structure, said Singapore's foreign ministry.

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