New York approves same-sex marriages

New York governor Andrew Cuomo has officially signed a law, which takes effect on July 24, that permits same-sex marriages, despite opposition from the largest and most influential religious groups. Many same-sex couples immediately started planning their marriages and celebrations broke out all over the city.

In my opinion, I think that this decision is wrong. Men and women were never meant to be with another person of the same gender, as seen from how babies can only be conceived naturally in a man-woman marriage and not a same-sex marriage. This is clear evidence that homosexuality does not follow the natural order of things. Homosexuality is a mindset that these people adopt, usually due to influences when they were young. People were never born homosexual. Homosexuality is not like birth defects such as autism, which are there when a person is born. A person can choose whether he or she wants to be homosexual or not, unlike an autistic person.

Future of Singapore Football

While I may not have watched the full match of the U15s Singapore football team take on Newcastle United's youth side and only half of the U16s take on Flamengo, the results from both matches and the way both the U15s and U16s showed great determination and fighting spirit is something that can reignite Singaporeans passion and support for local players. In the old days, players such as Dollah Kassim and Quah Kim Song had Singaporeans screaming their hearts out in support but nowadays, local football fever seems to have disappeared and the national team has been experiencing many problems, some of which resulted in the entire team being dropped from the national side recently. This is the result of a steady decline in the standard of local football so much until a recent video of young 10-year old American boys in a match resulted in a comment that the standard of the boys was the standard of the S-League. While I may not entirely agree with that comment, it shows just how poorly Singaporeans, or at least residents of Singapore, rate local football.
However, the recent success of the U16s, otherwise known as "The Cubs" in the Youth Olympic Games and the results the U15s and U16s have produced so far in the Canon City Lion Cup shows that Singapore football does have a hope after fall. The Singapore team, in all three occasions, were up against bigger, stronger and technically better opponents but they managed victory twice (U16s 4-3 Montenegro and U15s 4-3 Newcastle United) and one draw (U16s 1-1 Flamengo). While it was clear that the Singapore boys may not have the best technical ability as mentioned earlier, the fighting spirit was evident in all three matches. Half the battle is won when you believe that you can win and hence, I am looking forward to the time when these young boys grow up and don national colours as "The Lions" and I believe that when they do, Singapore's passion for local football will be reignited and the famous Kallang Roar will be heard once again.

Chinese authorities detain 74 people in latest lead poisoning scandal

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1132266/1/.html

172 people have fallen ill due to lead poisoning in eastern China and authorities have detained 74 people, suspending operations at hundreds of factories in the area. Many of the factories have been found to have violated environmental standards and levied fines which amounted up to 8.22 million yuan.

My opinion is that these 74 people, who are most probably the masterminds, are extremely self-centred and greedy. They are the heads of the companies that own the factories and are almost definitely wealthy, unlike many of their workers, who are probably middle-class people or poor people who need their jobs desperately. These 74 however, only cared about cutting costs and production time and did not spare a thought for their employees, especially those who are struggling financially. I do not think that the masterminds bothered to consider or knew and did not care about the consequences of doing so. When the operations were suspended in factories, the workers would be out of a job and those poor ones would have no income to sustain himself or his family. This may even lead him or her to commit rash acts such as stealing in order to survive, which may then land him in hot soup. Hence, by deciding to cut costs and production time via illegal means just to save some money which they do not really need, the 74, and any others that are responsible, have effectively doomed some of the workers in their companies. Hence, my opinion is that they are self-centred and greedy.

MRT vandal's jail term extended by two months to seven months

Oliver Fricker, 32, the swiss national that broke into an SMRT depot and vandalizing a train has had his five months jail term extended to seven months after the prosecution argued that his jail term for trespass should be increased.
Firstly, I feel that there is nothing wrong with graffiti. Graffiti is a beautiful work of art and is no different from wall murals. The only difference is that graffiti is not allowed in Singapore except for certain designated areas.
Graffiti is extremely creative and interesting and in fact, many consumers who saw the spray-painted train even thought it was part of some sort of advertisement or campaign SMRT was carrying out. Many did not think it was 'ugly' too. SMRT trains now are not exactly very creative, with them being either white with red lines or black with red lines. What I think SMRT should do is to perhaps designate a certain number of trains to be decorated with graffiti and the artists have to prove that they are capable of producing quality works of art. I feel that this will definitely be beneficial to many people as when they take the train to work early in the morning or back home after work late at night, the creativity of the graffiti on the trains will definitely catch their attention and lift their spirits.
However, I agree that Fricker's jail sentence for trespassing should be increased. His getting past the tight security at the depot may instigate greater treats than a graffiti artist. Already, there have been failed terrorist attacks on Singapore Changi Airport, including the plan hatched by the infamous Mas Selamat. By showing that as there is a way to get in, Fricker may have encouraged terrorists to try and carry out an attack on one of Singapore's major transport system, the Mass Rapid Transport system.

Russian dies in World Sauna Championship Final

On 7 August 2010, the annual World Sauna Championship Finals in Finland ended in a tragedy. Six minutes had gone by when the judges noticed something was wrong with the Russian champion, Vladimir Ladyzhensky. The event was stopped immediately and the Russian and his Finnish opponent, Timo Kaukonen, were brought to the hospital. Ladyzhensky died soon after he was brought to the hospital while Kaukonen suffered burns. The cause of his death is still unknown as all rules were followed and he had undergone a medical check-up before the event.
In my opinion, Vladimir Ladyzhensky made the wrong choice to take part in this competition. Although he had been certified medically, there is always a chance that something might go wrong. If I were the Russian, I would not take part in the competition. Firstly, the competition is extremely dangerous and can be life-threatening. Is it worth it to trade your life for money and fame? Definitely not. In the picture in the newspaper, I can also infer that Vladimir Ladyzhensky is an old man in his 50s or 60s. This would mean that it would be even more dangerous for him. Lastly, Vladimir Ladyzhensky's death would have a huge impact on his family members. They would definitely be very hurt and grieved over his passing. By taking this huge risk to enter the competition, Vladimir Ladyzhensky has paid the price and has caused his family and friends to suffer. Hence, I feel that he made the wrong choice to take part in this competition.

Russian dies in World Sauna Championship Final

On 7 August 2010, the annual World Sauna Championship Finals in Finland ended in a tragedy. Six minutes had gone by when the judges noticed something was wrong with the Russian champion, Vladimir Ladyzhensky. The event was stopped immediately and the Russian and his Finnish opponent, Timo Kaukonen, were brought to the hospital. Ladyzhensky died soon after he was brought to the hospital while Kaukonen suffered burns. The cause of his death is still unknown as all rules were followed and he had undergone a medical check-up before the event.
In my opinion, Vladimir Ladyzhensky made the wrong choice to take part in this competition. Although he had been certified medically, there is always a chance that something might go wrong. If I were the Russian, I would not take part in the competition. Firstly, the competition is extremely dangerous and can be life-threatening. Is it worth it to trade your life for money and fame? Definitely not. In the picture in the newspaper, I can also infer that Vladimir Ladyzhensky is an old man in his 50s or 60s. This would mean that it would be even more dangerous for him. Lastly, Vladimir Ladyzhensky's death would have a huge impact on his family members. They would definitely be very hurt and grieved over his passing. By taking this huge risk to enter the competition, Vladimir Ladyzhensky has paid the price and has caused his family and friends to suffer. Hence, I feel that he made the wrong choice to take part in this competition.

Should drug trafficker get death sentence?

Malaysian Yong Vui Kong, convicted of drug trafficking 47.27g of heroin and sentenced to the gallows, has hope. In Singapore, trafficking 15g or more of heroin will result in the death penalty. Their reasons include that he has become repentant in prison and that his death will not deter others from trafficking the drug.
In my opinion, he does not deserve the death sentence,even though he did surpass the amount of drug that warrants a death sentence by almost three times. Firstly, he did not harm anybody directly in any way. Some may argue that as the drug destroys a person's life, it is still the person's choice whether he or she wants to use the addictive drug. Hence, Yong cannot shoulder the blame alone.
Secondly, he is repentant over what he had done. I am sure that he is a first-time offender and did not know about the death sentence for trafficking over 15g of heroin. If he did, I am sure that he would not have done so. This is the other reason why I feel that he does not deserve the death sentence.
Instead, I think that he should be given a really long jail term, one of at least 10 years. I feel that first-offenders who traffic more than 15g of the drug should be given a long jail term, based on how much they traffic while second-time offenders should be the ones that go to the gallows.