DIGGING IN THE MUD FOR THE MISSING

----------------------------------

FUNCHAL (Madeira) - Portugal was expected to announce three days of mourning after flash flooding on the island of Madeira killed at least 42 people.

Troops and other rescue workers on Sunday continued to dig through mud-filled houses to find those missing. "It is very probable that we will find more bodies," said Mayor Miguel Albuquerque.

A shopping centre in Funchal was also completely destroyed and firefighters feared there were people trapped in an underground parking lot which was still under water. The government rushed medical and rescue teams including divers and sniffer dogs and relief supplies to the Atlantic island.

A special Cabinet meeting was to be held yesterday to discuss the period for mourning as well as financial aid to rebuild Madeira's destroyed roads and bridges. The regional government says it has no estimate yet of its financial needs.

Madeira's social issues affairs secretary Francisco Ramos told reporters the disruption to phone lines had made it difficult to establish how many people needed to be rescued because many of them just could not be contacted.

A morgue has been set up at the airport, where local official said they had not yet been able to identify all the bodies.

Football star Cristiano Ronaldo, Madeira's most famous native, expressed shock and promised help for relief efforts. "It is a huge catastrophe," said the world's most expensive footballer, who was born in a poor district of Funchal.

Britain said a British national was among those who died on Saturday when torrents of muddy water swamped buildings and streets on the island. It was the first confirmed death of a foreign national in the disaster. AFP

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

----------

Related articles by Zemanta

• 4 missing after Madeira flash floods kill 42 (msnbc.msn.com)
• 4 Still Missing After Madeira Flooding Kills 42 (abcnews.go.com)
• Madeira floods: rescue crews find body buried in car by landslide (guardian.co.uk)
• Madeira: toll from flood disaster expected to rise (telegraph.co.uk)
• 4 missing after Madeira flash floods killed 42 (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Four missing in Madeira after fatal floods (ctv.ca)
• Madeira looks for 32 missing after island's floods (msnbc.msn.com)
• Madeira Authorities Hunt for Missing (online.wsj.com)
• Madeira floods: tourists urged not to cancel holidays (telegraph.co.uk)
• Madeira: 19 missing people located, are fine (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

The hard truth about raising a family in SG...

Image via Wikipedia

YES, WE WANT KIDS, BUT ...
--------------------------

SINGAPORE - Young Singaporean couples want to have children - but they are apprehensive about taking the first step towards parenthood or delaying it for practical reasons.

Most want to focus on careers and being together, while some want more family support. The cost of having babies is also an issue.

These were the key findings of a survey of 50 young Singaporeans at focus group discussions conducted by voluntary welfare organisation, I Love Children (ILC) last year.

ILC president Joni Ong was not surprised.

"The results show that, as expected, establishing their career, waiting for their finances to be built up, even trying to find more time for couplehood - those were some of the reasons that came up."

So, why have the survey? "The whole idea is it is going to serve as an impetus for us to have a quantitative study, some time towards the end of this year, where we're going to survey 1,000 young people on how we can help them," Mrs Ong explained.

Even before that, the VWO is coming up with its Maybe Baby campaign in April, where it wants those between 21 and 39 to start talking about parenthood.

"We want them to come forth and share with us their issues, whether it be work-life balance, whether it be career establishing, and things like that.

"We want to have a forum to discuss such things so there'll be seminars, there'll be life talk shows, there'll be expert advice panelists," said Mrs Ong.

The campaign follows the Prime Minister's recent call to couples to have more babies.

Singapore's resident total fertility rate slid to 1.23 last year - the lowest level ever. This means the country was short of at least 10,000 babies.

To help couples get over their parenting fears, an ILC bus highlighting the joys of parenthood will make its way around Singapore to the heartland shopping malls as well as the community centres from next month onwards.

The revamped three-year-old ILC bus made its debut with 70 young couples and Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports over at the Chingay Parade on Saturday.

A one-stop Web portal will also be launched in May to share parenting tips and the kinds of financial assistance available.

From TODAY, Monday, 22-Feb-2010
----------

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Fatal Error of The Singapore Model? (neatorama.com)
• The Maman Wars: French Feminists Concerned About "The Ideal Mother" [Mom Dieu] (jezebel.com)
• Singapore Withdraws Red Carpet for Foreigners With Eye on Vote (businessweek.com)
• Singapore Growth to Slow (online.wsj.com)
• French philosopher says feminism under threat from 'good motherhood' (guardian.co.uk)
• Tuesdays are Your Turn - Work/Life Balance (What's That?) (theasthmamom.com)
• Should the Government Help Provide Child Care? (blogs.wsj.com)
• Singapore moves to curtail immigration (starting-points.blogspot.com)
• Bring on the Daisies, and Those Acts of Kindness (nytimes.com)
• Who knew Singaporians liked them some Carrie Underwood? (nashvillegab.com)

A novel place to hawk credit cards

Talk about flexibility and ingenuity…

-----

by Alicia Wong

05:55 AM May 13, 2009

YOU'VE seen them at bus interchanges and inside shopping malls - and now, credit card promoters have even set up shop at hawker centres.

One bank, Standard Chartered, has engaged marketing company Appco to promote its Platinum credit card, which it is now doing, at hawker centres, for instance, at Holland Village and Adam Road.

At the Adam Road hawker centre yesterday afternoon, Today spotted four promoters outside one of the entrances. Theirs was a casual set-up - a table, chairs, banner, laptop and printer.

Dressed in office wear and toting brochures, the promoters said they had been stationed there for the past week to catch the lunch and dinner crowds.

They look out for likely applicants and approach them as they enter, or else wait for the diners to finish their meal and leave. "It's (a good strategy) because we get a different crowd everytime ... no one eats at the same place all the time," said one promoter.

Another promoter said they were not allowed to enter the hawker centre and speak to people while they ate, as that would be akin to touting.

Diners who are interested can apply for a Platinum credit card on the spot. They just need to produce their identification card and access the Internet to print a copy of their monthly CPF contribution statement as proof that they earn more than $30,000 a year.

Today understands they average some 10 sign-ups a day.

Some patrons were surprised at this novel marketing move. One civil servant said: "This is quite inappropriate. People would like to enjoy their food, rather than make a decision (whether or not to get a credit card)."

But permanent resident Serge Landry, 44, who was spotted flipping through the brochure and trying to decide if he should sign up, felt it was "good if you have the time to listen".

When contacted, Appco said it needed its client's approval to comment; StanChart was unable to respond by press time.

From TODAY – Wednesday, 13-May-2009