Local data recovery company provides rapid RAID service

This is definitely an important service especially if your business relies on data stored on hard drives. For us home users just remember to backup those photos and mp3’s. Trust me, it will save you a lot of headaches later on.

“CBL Data Recovery Technologies (S) Pte Ltd (CBL) announces the availability of its Rapid RAID Recovery Service designed to reduce corporate server downtime, accelerate server restoration and expedite the recovery of data when corporate RAID arrays fail. CBL staff will personally collect the failed hard drives from the customer, take the drives to the CBL laboratory for evaluation, provide a detailed quote, and then proceed with the data recovery upon receipt of the customer’s approval. In the meantime, IT staff can rebuild the RAID array often described as infallible in anticipation of receipt of the successfully recovered data.” (story)

Refer to the Thai PM by grabbing your nose

Sign-language interpreters in Thailand have run afoul of some governing party supporters by holding their noses to refer to the new prime minister.Samak Sundaravej, chosen Monday as the first elected prime minister since a Sept. 2006 coup, has been nicknamed “Mr. Rose Apple Nose” because many claim his nose resembles the fruit. (story)

Lin Dan loses match and temper

World number one Lin Dan has refused to apologise for his part in an ugly scuffle with South Korea singles coach Li Mao during the final of the Korea Open Super Series at the weekend.Lin, beaten by Korean Lee Hyun-il in Seoul on Sunday, appeared to throw his racquet in fellow-Chinese Li’s direction after protesting a line call awarding a match point to Lee.

The hurled racquet sparked a shouting match between Lin and Li, and play was halted for about two minutes as match officials struggled to restrain world champion Lin. (story)

NTUC aims to help 35,000 find better jobs

35,000 Singaporeans will be given a leg-up by the labour movement to chart new careers or get better-paying jobs. This target, announced by labour chief Lim Swee Say during the National Trades Union Congress’s annual workplan seminar on Tuesday, marks a significant increase over the 26,800 it reached out to last year.

Among those who stand to gain include low-wage earners, those who have left the workforce such as housewives and retirees, as well as professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).

Many of them will be hot-housed at the upcoming Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). A one-stop shop for skills upgrading, job placement and career consulting, among other services, the centre will be officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday.

The cogwheels of assistance for such groups have been in motion since last year, when the labour movement implemented a host of programs to help them secure jobs. (story)

Child drowns marring new swimming program at school

New Town Secondary, the drowning of Danial Syawal Jailani, 12, was a terrible start to its swimming program. It was the first year the school decided that its Secondary One students should have swimming lessons during physical education classes.

And it was Danial’s third lesson in Clementi Swimming Complex.

It is unclear how he drowned.

His parents said he was a strong swimmer, whom they often took to public pools and to the beach.

Classmates agree that he was no novice. (story)

Changi Airport handles a record 36.7 million passengers in 2007

Singapore’s Changi Airport handled record passenger traffic of 36.7 million in 2007, up almost 5 percent from the previous year, the government said Monday. Last year’s passenger traffic broke the previous record of 35.03 million set in 2006 and was driven by strong growth in China and India, the airport operator, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, said.

Emerging markets like Vietnam, Russia and South Africa also contributed to last year’s record showing, it said. (story)

Promising student dies in vehicle crash

She had the world at her feet but death robbed medical student Lee Nian Ning of a brilliant future.The straight As student, former state swimmer and accomplished Girl Guide was on the double-decker express bus from Penang to Kuala Lumpur which crashed near Slim River on Friday.

Nian Ning, 21, a Public Service Department (PSD) scholar at the University of New South Wales in Australia who was on her way to visit friends in Kuala Lumpur, was among three passengers who perished when the driver lost control of the bus and slammed into a divider.

“We learnt that the driver had 13 summonses against him. Why had the company not screened him and realized that he was not competent to drive that bus? (story)

David Rasif’s legal troubles piling up

The high Court on Monday issued a warrant of arrest against a friend of David Rasif who had helped the fugitive lawyer move $985,000 to Vietnam.The development came at the end of a hearing into a multi-million dollar civil suit brought by an American couple to recover some of the $10.7 million they had entrusted to Rasif’s firm to buy a house.

Rasif, last seen in Bangkok in June 2006, is a wanted man after absconding with $12 million in clients’ funds.

The defendants include a high-end jewellery store where Rasif went on a $2 million shopping spree as well as pub owner Freddy Lim Soon Kiang, his long-time friend. When the trial began in June last year, the court heard that Mr Lim had opened a bank account in Ho Chi Minh City.

He helped Rasif move US$620,000 - the equivalent of S$985,180 at the time - from the clients’ account of his law firm to the Vietnam account. (story)

Pakistan gunmen release children hostages, surrender

Gunmen who took up to 250 Pakistani school children hostage in a northwestern town on Monday freed them all and surrendered to tribal elders, a government spokesman said.”All the children have been released and the criminals have surrendered to the jirga,” said interior ministry spokesman Javel Iqbal Cheema. A jirga is a council of tribal elders. Cheema said none of the children were hurt.

Violence has spread across Pakistan in recent months, seeping out of remote tribal regions that are sanctuaries for al Qaeda and Taliban militants and into cities and towns, raising fears about the stability of the nuclear-armed U.S. ally. (story)

Na Hoon-a drops trou to prove he’s still got “it”

South Korean crooner stunned a live, national TV audience on Friday by dropping his trousers and saying he was ready to prove he had not been castrated or dismembered in a love quarrel.Na Hoon-a, who can still fill concert halls with legions of his middle-aged fans, spoke at a packed news conference to deny rumours he had been castrated or had his penis cut off by a Japanese ‘yakuza’ gangster.

Media reports have said the gangster was angry the 60-year-old singer had a fling with one of his favourite South Korean actresses.

‘Do I have to show you, or would you just believe me?’ Na asked.Saying he was ready to prove he had not been damaged ‘down there”, he jumped on a table, slightly lowered his pants and was revealing his underwear when the live TV broadcast cut away, with surprised reporters heard shrieking in the background. (story)