Tuesday, 5 June 2012

Singapore curbs window cleaning amid maid deaths

(AP) ? Singapore has tightened rules on window cleaning following the deaths of nine maids who fell from high-rise apartments this year.

Maids are no longer allowed to clean the outside of windows above ground level unless they are supervised, and window grills must be installed and locked during cleaning, the Manpower Ministry said in a statement late Monday.

The ministry said it plans to notify all households with maids of the new rules, which are effective immediately, and employers who fail to comply may be permanently banned from hiring maids.

The ministry said it also plans to introduce legislation later this year that would double the fine and maximum jail sentence for employers who fail to provide maids with a safe working environment. The new penalties would be a fine of 10,000 Singapore dollars ($7,750) and a 12-month jail term, the ministry said.

Singapore is under pressure to improve the working conditions of foreign maids, who live full-time in one in five households in the city-state of 5.2 million people. In March, the government pledged to mandate at least one day off a week for maids starting next year.

Last month, a court fined an employer SG$5,000 and barred her from hiring domestic workers in the future after a maid fell and died from her fifth-floor apartment last year while cleaning windows standing on a stool.

The ministry said seven of this year's nine maid deaths were due to dangerous window cleaning or hanging of laundry; the other two deaths remain under investigation. More than 90 percent of Singapore residents live in high-rise apartments.

Local media Monday featured dramatic front-page photos of a 29-year-old Indonesian maid as she fell from her employer's 12th floor apartment window Sunday. She was grabbed and rescued by neighbors one floor below.

The nine maids who fell to their deaths were from Indonesia, which supplies about half of Singapore's 200,000 maids. The Indonesian Embassy in Singapore in recent months had called for a ban on maids cleaning the outside of windows.

Associated Press

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Saturday, 21 April 2012

A Mind-Breakingly Massive Image of 25,000 Stars Being Born [Image Cache]

Images of deep space are serenely beautiful. So much so that it's easy to forget just how immensely violent and massive everything is out there. Over at the Bad Astronomy Blog, Phil Plait shares an incredible image of the Carina Nebula, a window into the heart of the Milky Way: More »


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The Koch Brothers ? Exposed! (Rolling Stone)

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Hamas: any peace deal with Israel would be 'truce'

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Friday, 20 April 2012

Norwegian gunman describes hunting down teenagers

One of the survivors from Utoya, Siri Seim Soenstelie (left), her sister Thea and their father Erik Soenstelie talk at the Oslo courthouse at end of day five of the ongoing terror- and murder case against Anders Behring Breivik . Siri and her father have published a book about their experiences. The survivors had a tough day in court Friday, as Breivik delivered a detailed description of the killings on Utoya island which left 69 people dead. (AP Photo/ Lise Aserud, Pool)

One of the survivors from Utoya, Siri Seim Soenstelie (left), her sister Thea and their father Erik Soenstelie talk at the Oslo courthouse at end of day five of the ongoing terror- and murder case against Anders Behring Breivik . Siri and her father have published a book about their experiences. The survivors had a tough day in court Friday, as Breivik delivered a detailed description of the killings on Utoya island which left 69 people dead. (AP Photo/ Lise Aserud, Pool)

Defendant Anders Behring Breivik, centre, in court at the start of the 5th day of his mass killing trial in Oslo, Norway, Friday April 20, 2012. Confessed mass murderer Breivik testified Thursday in a chilling account of his preparations for the massacre of 77 people. (AP Photo / Heiko Junge, POOL)

Defendant Anders Behring Breivik, centre, in court at the start of the 5th day of his mass killing trial in Oslo, Norway, Friday April 20, 2012. Confessed mass murderer Breivik testified Thursday in a chilling account of his preparations for the massacre of 77 people. (AP Photo / Heiko Junge, POOL)

Defendant Anders Behring Breivik, centre, talks to an unidentified official in court at the start of the 5th day of his mass killing trial in Oslo, Norway, Friday April 20, 2012. Confessed mass murderer Breivik testified Thursday in a chilling account of his preparations for the massacre of 77 people. (AP Photo / Heiko Junge, POOL)

Defendant Anders Behring Breivik has his handcuffs removed in the courtroom as the 5th day of his mass killing trial starts in Oslo, Norway, Friday April 20, 2012. Confessed mass murderer Breivik testified Thursday in a chilling account of his preparations for the massacre of 77 people. (AP Photo / Heiko Junge, POOL)

(AP) ? Norwegians who lost loved ones on Utoya island relived the horror Friday as far-right fanatic Anders Behring Breivik described in harrowing detail how he gunned down teenagers as they fled in panic or froze before him, paralyzed with fear.

Survivors and victims' relatives hugged and sobbed, trying to comfort each other during the graphic testimony.

"I'm going back to my hometown tonight. My husband, he's going to drive me out to the sea, and I'm going to take a walk there and I'm going to scream my head off," said Christin Bjelland, whose teenage son survived the attack.

Breivik's defense lawyers had warned their client's testimony would be difficult to hear. Still, the shock was palpable in the 200-seat courtroom as the self-styled anti-Islamic militant rolled out his gruesome account, without any sign of emotion.

A man who lost a son squeezed his eyes shut, his pain palpable. A man to his left put a comforting hand to his shoulder, while a woman to his right clutched onto him, resting her forehead against his arm.

Tore Sinding Bekkedal, a 24-year-old survivor of the massacre, left the courtroom during Breivik's testimony.

"I could not care less about what he says or the way he says it," Bekkedal said. "I do not care about him as a person."

Breivik has confessed to the July 22 bombing-and-shooting rampage that killed 77 people ? 69 on Utoya and eight in Oslo. But he rejects criminal guilt, saying the victims had betrayed Norway by embracing "Islamic colonization."

Looking tense but focused, Breivik spoke calmly about the shooting rampage, beginning with a ferry ride to the island, where the governing Labor Party holds its annual summer youth camp. He was disguised as a policeman, carrying a rifle and a handgun. He also brought drinking water because he knew he would become parched from the stress of killing people.

Breivik's first victims were Monica Boesei, a camp organizer, and Trond Bentsen, an off-duty police officer and camp security guard.

"My whole body tried to revolt when I took the weapon in my hand. There were 100 voices in may head saying 'Don't do it, don't do it,'" Breivik said.

Nonetheless, he pointed his gun at Berntsen's head and pulled the trigger. He shot Boesei as she tried to run away. Then as they lay on the ground, he shot them both twice in the head.

Breivik said the first shots pushed him into a "fight-and-flight" mode that made it easier to continue killing.

He couldn't remember large chunks of the 90 minutes he spent on the island before surrendering to police commandos. But he recalled some shootings in great detail, including inside a cafe where he mowed down young victims as they pleaded for their lives.

Some teenagers were frozen in panic, unable to move even when Breivik ran out of ammunition. He changed clips. They didn't move. He shot them in the head.

"They cannot run. They stand totally still. This is something they never show on TV," Breivik said. "It was very strange."

The main goal of the trial, now in its fifth day, is to determine whether Breivik was sane or insane ? two medical evaluations have come to opposite conclusions.

"He's completely emotionless," said Paal Groendal, a psychologist who watched Friday's hearing but was not among those who examined the confessed killer.

"He remembers details about smashed windows. But he doesn't remember if it was a boy or girl he shot. .... It seems like he doesn't remember people. To him they are details," Groendal said.

Breivik hunted down victims, luring teens from their hiding places by telling them he was a police officer who was there to protect them. When they came out, he gunned them down.

He said his goal was to kill all of the nearly 600 people on the island. He said he had considered wearing a swastika to instill fear, but decided against it because he didn't want people to think he was a Nazi.

"You will die today Marxists," Breivik recalled shouting.

One man tried to attack him. "I push him away with one hand, and shoot him with the other," Breivik said.

Another man tried to "dodge the bullets by moving in zigzag, so that I couldn't shoot him in the head," he said. "So I shot him in the body instead, quite a few times."

Breivik said he deliberately used "technical" language in order to keep his composure.

"These are gruesome acts, barbaric acts," he said. "If I had tried to use a more normal language I don't think I would have been able to talk about it at all."

Earlier, Breivik said he took to the Internet to glean information, studying attacks by al-Qaida militants, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

He paid particular attention to the World Trade Center bombing in New York and McVeigh's 1995 attack on an Oklahoma City government building, which killed 168 people and injured over 600.

Breivik said he also read more than 600 bomb-making guides.

He called al-Qaida "the most successful revolutionary movement in the world" and said it should serve as an inspiration to far-right militants, even though their goals are different.

"I have studied each one of their actions, what they have done wrong, what they have done right," Breivik said of al-Qaida. "We want to create a European version of al-Qaida."

Breivik claims to belong to an anti-Muslim network called the "Knights Templar," which prosecutors say they don't believe exists.

If declared sane, Breivik could face a maximum 21-year prison sentence or an alternate custody arrangement that would keep him locked up as long as he is considered a menace to society. If found insane, he would be committed to psychiatric care for as long as he's considered ill.

____

Associated Press reporter Bjoern Amland and APTN senior producer David MacDougall contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Police Car Auction Wisconsin Rapids - Buying Car on Police Car ...

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Celebrity Scoop

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Fashion Designers Support President Obama [The Frisky] Jersey Shore’s Vinny G Talks About His Battle with Anxiety [HollyWire] NBC Stars Share Tips on Being Green [...]

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