If a picture's worth a thousand words, photographer Edwin Koo's latest project has a lot to say about Singapore. Transit , the 3...

Singapore photographer captures life on the MRT

أبريل 17, 2015 محمد 0 Comments

Edwin Koo/Transit
If a picture's worth a thousand words, photographer Edwin Koo's latest project has a lot to say about Singapore.
Transit, the 37-year-old photographer's latest project, aims to "capture the daily theatre" of Singapore's multi-racial passengers on board its Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) trains.
"If you commute on the MRT and we are forced two inches in front of the doors, we'd all have the same reactions and share the same expressions and vulnerability," he told the BBC.
"The MRT is special to me perhaps because I grew up beside a train station. I would watch the old trains pass by my window everyday," he said.
He was inspired in 2011 when he returned to Singapore after a stint in Nepal, feeling like it was "a different country".
"I found that the trains in Singapore had become so crowded that it was difficult to board them during peak hours.
Out of frustration, I started to photograph what I saw at the doors."
Edwin Koo/Transit
Singapore's public transport system is seeing more commuters as its population grows
Edwin Koo/Transit
Slice of life - Mr Koo says he looks out for emotions and expressions on board the trains

The power (and peril) of social media

As a photographer, Mr Koo said he tries to "make it a point" to spend time with his subjects and environment.
But the nature of this project drove him to adopt a different approach.
"It's practically impossible for me to speak to the commuters during the photography process," he said.
So he took things a step further, and turned to social media.
Mr Koo's Facebook page, which currently has more than 5,000 likes, also sees users actively commenting on his photos and sharing them.
He has managed to identify 15 people so far, from his photographs.
"With social media, I realised that it's actually feasible to connect with the commuters I photographed," he said.
Among them, Singaporean housewife Teresa Lee, whose daughter Astrid got in touch after a friend spotted her mother's photo on Facebook.
Edwin Koo/Transit
Mr Koo managed to identify Teresa Lee (centre) after her daughter Astrid spotted her photo on Facebook
Edwin Koo/Transit
Madam Lee was also invited to the book launch of Mr Koo's Transit project
Edwin Koo/Transit
Another commuter Mridula Kolachina (centre) also left a comment on this photo
Mr Koo also said that his Transit project has seen its fair share of negativity online.
He told the BBC that he had seen some passengers in his photographs being "victimised by online trolls and insensitive netizens", and highlighted an incident involving a commuter whose photo was "unnecessarily" attacked online.
He then took down the post
His photographs were also recently featured on an internet forum "without his permission", he says, and prompted more "unkind" remarks.
"I want to leverage social media for its reach. But I also want to avoid the damage it is capable of," he said.
"If it comes down to that, I'll offer to remove the photos, delete the posts and even put up public notices to give voice to [my subjects'] concerns."

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To understand Arctic sea ice requires measurement of both area and thickness Although Arctic sea ice set a record this year for its lowest...

'3D Cryosat' tracks Arctic winter sea ice

أبريل 17, 2015 محمد 0 Comments

Arctic sea ice
To understand Arctic sea ice requires measurement of both area and thickness
Although Arctic sea ice set a record this year for its lowest ever winter extent - that was not the case for its volume, new data reveals.
Europe's Cryosat spacecraft routinely monitors the thickness of floes in the far north.
The thinnest winter ice it has ever seen was in 2013. This February, in contrast, the Arctic floes were about 25cm (17%) thicker on average.
The long-term trend is, however, still downwards, the Cryosat team cautions.
"Year to year, the numbers will jump about, and it just so happens that we've seen relatively high levels of Arctic sea ice thickness and volume in recent years," said Rachel Tilling from the UK's Nerc Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM).
CryoSat (Esa)
Cryosat is a satellite altimetry mission managed by the European Space Agency
"But sea ice volume is definitely the number people should watch, because it is the most reliable measure of how much ice is left. It's also what we need to understand the processes that have caused the Arctic climate to change which, in turn, will help us to build more accurate models of what may happen to sea ice in the future," the University College London researcher told BBC News.
The Cryosat team released its Arctic winter assessment here at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna, Austria.
The maximum extent of winter sea ice this year was called for 25 February at some 14.54 million sq km. That is the smallest winter maximum in the satellite record. It is, though, a two-dimensional view of the Arctic, and just considering extent can hide the fact that winds will sometimes spread out the floes and sometimes pile them up.
Measuring thickness, on the other hand, captures another aspect of the Arctic system's behaviour. Cryosat does this by detecting the height of the ice sitting above the ocean water. Combining both datasets - thickness and extent - allows scientists to compute changes in sea-ice volume.
This February, Cryosat saw average sea-ice floe thicknesses of just over 1.7m, giving a volume across the Arctic of nearly 24,000 cubic km. Back in the winter of 2013, following strong melting during the previous summer, floe thicknesses averaged 1.5m and the volume fell below 21,000 cu km.
Doing all of the data processing to produce thickness and volume numbers has been a time-consuming business for the Cryosat team, but the group is now able to turn out the information much faster than when the mission first launched in 2010. And to mark the spacecraft's fifth birthday in orbit, the team is switching on a new, near-real-time service to aid science and maritime activities.
Thick ice
Science and maritime activities in the Arctic need thickness data to stay safe
This is a web portal where users can get information on sea-ice thickness no more than two days after Cryosat makes the observations.
It is not a full sweep of the entire Arctic. Rather, it is a series of samplings across the region that should give anyone working in the far north a clearer idea of the conditions they are likely to encounter.
"To navigate thick sea ice, icebreaker ships with strengthened and streamlined hulls are needed," explained Prof Andy Shepherd, the principal scientific advisor to the Cryosat mission.
"With Cryosat, we're now able to provide users of the Arctic with information on sea-ice thickness in rapid fashion, which will be a step change from what has gone before."
The Leeds University researcher said that in setting up the service, Cryosat's mission was altering slightly.
Whereas before it was simply a scientific tool to study the climate and the changing environment, it is now acting more like the Sentinel satellites that Europe is currently launching to provide day-to-day operational data.
The European Space Agency's mission manager on Cryosat is Tommaso Parrinello. He told BBC News: "Timely and pan-Arctic knowledge of the sea-ice volume, throughout the year, is becoming a priority for a number of operational and forecasting services as the ice is replaced by water.
"For example, shipping companies require qualified information to operate and sail safely at all Arctic latitudes, and a mission like Cryosat has all the characteristics and the ambition to support such new developments."

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Mr Cameron says the UK's employment "miracle' would be put at risk by Labour David Cameron has hailed new figures which show ...

Election 2015: Jobless figures dominate campaigning

أبريل 17, 2015 محمد 0 Comments

David Cameron on a visit to a Fujitsu factory
Mr Cameron says the UK's employment "miracle' would be put at risk by Labour
David Cameron has hailed new figures which show unemployment is at a seven-year low - but Labour says too many jobs are part-time.
The prime minister said the coalition had overseen a "jobs miracle" and the UK had created more jobs since 2010 than the rest of the EU put together.
Unemployment fell by 76,000 to 1.84 million in the three months to February, official statistics show.
Labour welcomed the fall, but accused the Tories of ignoring low pay growth.
The economy moved centre stage again after Thursday's TV election debate, in which Labour leader Ed Miliband and four other party leaders clashed over the deficit, immigration, health and defence. Mr Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg did not take part.
In other election news:

'Full employment'

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in March fell by 20,700 to 772,400, the Office for National Statistics said. Separate figures showed average earnings rose 1.7% over the same period, down from 1.9% over the previous three months.
Mr Cameron said the UK had created two million jobs since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition came to power in May 2010 and was the "jobs factory of Europe".
"We are living through a jobs miracle brought to you by a Conservative government," he said.
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Analysis by economic editor Robert Peston
David Cameron may look at today's stats on unemployment and wonder why on earth his party is only neck-and-neck with Labour in the opinion polls, and not benefiting from record employment levels and a significant rise in inflation-adjusted pay.
Probably the most interesting stat for me was that regular pay - excluding bonuses - saw a 2.2% increase in February and a 1.8% rise in the three months to Feb. And for the first time since serious records began, that headline rise is the real rise - because CPI inflation is 0%.
It is striking that fears of employers significantly shrinking pay rises with the disappearance of inflation have not materialised: there is no sign in the UK of so-called bad deflation.
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Every new job, he said, was "giving families security, putting food on tables and helping people out of poverty".
"We are on the cusp of something special in our country: full employment, a job for everyone who wants one, if we stick to the plan, we can reach it," he said, claiming that Labour would put that at risk.
The PM has also been buoyed by remarks by International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde praising the strength of the UK recovery compared with the rest of the European Union.
Speaking in Washington at the organisation's spring conference, Ms Lagarde said the UK's strategy was "delivering results" and compared to the growth rates of other EU countries "it's obvious what's happening in the UK has worked".
The Tories' coalition partners are also claiming credit.
Liberal Democrat and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said: "With record numbers of people in work and the highest employment rate ever, people can see the difference Lib Dems have made in government.
"The balance, common sense, fairness and financial discipline praised by the IMF today are the things we have brought to government."
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna welcomed the fall in unemployment, saying it was a "huge issue".
But he accused the Conservatives of ignoring "the fact that 1.3 million people are working part-time at the moment who would like to be working full-time".
"They ignore things like the fact that on average people are earning £1,600 less now than they were in May 2010," he added.

'Momentum'

And launching his party's youth manifesto - which would ban unpaid internships or work experience after more than four weeks - Mr Miliband said "too often jobs in our country are low-paid, low-skilled and insecure".
"It is not just about zero-hours contracts. It is about the way our economy works generally.
Ed Miliband
The Labour leader has been campaigning in Lincoln
"Young people have done badly, with growing debt, an insecure job and owning a home a distant dream."
Mr Miliband said the Tories did not represent working people and that their policies benefited the richest in society.
Labour also seized on comments by Conservative minister Iain Duncan Smith that zero-hours contracts should be renamed as "flexible contracts", saying it showed "how completely out of touch David Cameron's Tories are with the lives of working people".

Debate fallout

As the dust settles on last night's TV debate, both the Conservatives and Labour are under pressure to explain what they would do if they failed to win enough seats to govern on their own.
Both insist they can win outright but neither have ruled out coalitions of some kind or a looser arrangement, where they could rely on the backing of other parties to get their legislation through Parliament.
During Thursday's debate, Mr Miliband rejected an offer from SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to "work together" to keep the Conservatives out of power, insisting again that he would not make a formal coalition with them.
Opinion polls have suggested the SNP is on course to win a swathe of seats in Scotland and to be in a powerful position in the event of an inconclusive result, but the Conservatives have said any arrangement involving them would be a "calamity" for the UK.
Subscribe to the BBC Election 2015 newsletter to get a round-up of the day's campaign news sent to your inbox every weekday afternoon.

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The US is running a nationwide initiative to improve computers and communications in schools Schools in Los Angeles are seeking comp...

US schools seek refund over $1.3bn iPad project

أبريل 17, 2015 محمد 0 Comments




President Obama with iPad
The US is running a nationwide initiative to improve computers and communications in schools
Schools in Los Angeles are seeking compensation from Apple over a $1.3bn (£870m) iPad-based education project that has gone awry.
They have sent letters to Apple and its project partners seeking refunds.
The project began in 2013 and aimed to give iPads and other computers to about 650,000 students.
It hit problems when students were able to bypass security systems on the tablets and because the computer-based curriculum was incomplete.

Cutting ties

In the letters, the LA Unified School District (LAUSD) said it was "extremely dissatisfied" with the way the project has been handled, according to a report in the LA Times.
The scheme was intended to be a way for poorer pupils to keep up with wealthier peers who already enjoyed access to tablets and other computer-based study aids.
The LA school district initially bought 43,261 iPads loaded with a maths and English curriculum designed by educational and training firm Pearson. A further 77,000 iPads were bought to be used in standardised tests.
Teachers, school heads and administrators were also expected to use the gadgets to improve lessons and the way schools were run.
"While Apple and Pearson promised a state-of-the-art technological solution they have yet to deliver it," said the letters sent to the two firms this week.
Lawyers acting for the school district are also believed to be considering legal action against the two main suppliers. In addition, the schools have cut ties with the firms and do not want them to be involved in any future development.
The letters come after repeated demands from the LA school district that Apple and Pearson improve the way the scheme was being run. In its complaints, the district said only two schools were regular users of the iPad-based curriculum and those that used it intermittently reported frequent problems.
Apple has not responded to requests for comment about the complaints.
In a statement, Pearson said it was "proud of our long history working with LAUSD and our significant investment in this groundbreaking initiative to transform instructional practices and raise expectations for all students".
The statement acknowledged the "challenges" there had been in implementing the project but said it stood by the "quality of our performance".
The Pearson/Apple deal was one part of a $1.3bn programme that included spending $700m on improving internet access at schools.
The superintendent in charge of the LA school district who drew up and oversaw the costly programme resigned after the problems with the scheme came to light.

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Members of the UN Security Council were moved to tears after they were shown a video of an apparent chlorine gas attack in north-west Syri...

Syria war: 'Chlorine' attack video moves UN to tears

أبريل 17, 2015 محمد 0 Comments

Members of the UN Security Council were moved to tears after they were shown a video of an apparent chlorine gas attack in north-west Syria last month.
The footage shows the unsuccessful attempts of doctors to revive three children all aged under four.
US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power described the meeting as "very emotional" and said those responsible will be held accountable.
The Syrian government denies it was responsible for the attack in Idlib.
Syrian doctors, confirming what activists reported after the attack on 16 March, told the UN Security Council that helicopters were heard flying above the village of Sarmin.
Media captionSamantha Power, US Ambassador to the UN: ''Individuals who are responsible for attacks like that will be held accountable''
There was then a thud and an overpowering smell of bleach before dozens of people began arriving at the local hospital with breathing difficulties.
The video showed the desperate attempts by doctors to revive the three children, aged one, two and three, their grandmother and parents.
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Jim Muir, BBC News, Beirut
Chlorine is not a very effective tool. It normally disperses swiftly in open areas, making it of scant use on the battlefield, but it can be fatal if inhaled heavily after exploding in an enclosed space, as appears to have happened in some recent incidents.
The most likely logic for its reported use is as psychological warfare, spreading fear by evoking traumatic memories of the much more serious chemical attacks in 2013.
Assuming the reports are true, there may also be an element of defiance and testing involved. Damascus knows it can count on Russian diplomatic protection unless the outrages are too blatant.
There is also some uncertainty about chlorine's status. It is not in itself designated or banned as a chemical weapon, and bears little relation to sarin or other deadly nerve agents, which Syria has been obliged to destroy or hand over.
line
Speaking to the BBC, Zaher Sahloul, President of the Syrian American Medical Society, who attended the meeting, said UN delegates were affected by what they saw.
"Some of them were crying. Clearly they were affected by what they have seen in the videos and what they have heard, many of them spoke outside the diplomatic language and many of them have said that this is outrageous and the perpetrators should be brought to justice," he said.
"Many of them suggested that the OPCW [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] should have a prompt and serious investigation."
A young Syrian sits on a bed at a clinic after a suspected chorine attack in Sarmin, Idlib province, Syria (17 March 2015)
The Syrian military denied the accusations, describing them as propaganda
Samantha Power, who also told reporters "if there was a dry eye in the room I didn't see it", said such testimony was being collected so that those responsible could be held to account.
"The long arm of justice is taking more time than any of us would wish right now, but this documentary record will be used at some point in a court of law," she said.
Activists in Idlib said that the Syrian government dropped five barrel bombs containing chlorine gas on the city on Thursday, while the UN Security Council was meeting.

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