WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE AS SINGAPORE KNOWS TOO WELL WITH ITS MAN MADE ANIMAL BRIDGE ACROSS THE BUSY HIGHWAY BKE ALLOWING ANIMALS TO CROSS FROM BUKIT TIMAH NATURE RESERVE TO THE CENTRAL CATCHMENT NATURE RESERVE

There are no signs, and no, the animals don’t read maps. But somehow, they have found their way to a 50m-wide bridge in the centre of a 2,000ha reserve.

"A lot of people were very sceptical - there is a whole long stretch of BKE, will the animals be able to find it?" said Ms Sharon Chan, who oversees the team managing the eco-link project.
Ms Chan, deputy director at NParks, said the team was extremely excited when camera traps captured footage of pangolins and palm civets using the link to cross between the Bukit Timah and Central Catchment nature reserves in October 2014.

A lot of people were very sceptical - there is a whole long stretch of BKE, will the animals be able to find it?

Ms Sharon Chan, Deputy Director at the National Parks Board (NParks)

Take the common palm civet, also called the musang or toddy cat, which is known for its odorous scent and taste for palm sap. More than one has been captured on cameras crossing the link every month, Ms Chan said.

The bridge, which was built just for animals, connects the 163ha Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, which is Singapore’s largest at more than 2,000ha.

http://graphics.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/Interactives/2015/11/feature-ecolink-BKE-national-parks/index.html

APPLE TURN OVER BACK TAXES AS THE EU TO MAKE A DECISION TO FORCE APPLE TO PAY A WORST CASE SCENARIO OF $19BILLION EURO - AS CEO COOK PLEADS FOR APPLE'S CASE TO THE ANTI TRUST CHIEF MS VESTAGER

Apple chief executive Tim Cook had a private meeting with the European Union's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager as EU regulators close in on a final decision into the iPhone-maker's tax deals in Ireland.

The Brussels meeting came on the same day as Taoiseach Enda Kenny described as "false and baseless" claims that Ireland is a tax haven for the company. Apple and the European Commission both confirmed that the talks took place but didn't elaborate on what was discussed.
Ireland may eventually be forced to recoup billions of euros in unpaid taxes from Apple. The probe is the most high profile investigation in an EU crackdown on tax deals between countries and multinationals that's also embroiled companies including Starbucks and a unit of car maker Fiat Chrysler in the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The EU is examining whether Ireland gave Apple a special tax deal in return for a pledge to create jobs in the country.

"As far as Ireland is concerned - and we've been very clear about this - we've dealt with all the issues about reputational damage, about comments that Ireland was some sort of tax haven which was completely without foundation and utterly untrue," Mr Kenny said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday.

"From our perspective we're very clear that our Revenue Commissioners have never done specific deals or a favourable deal with any particular company."

http://www.independent.ie/business/world/apple-chief-cook-meets-eu-commissioner-over-tax-row-34385910.html

THAAD TO MAKE A COME BACK AFTER PYONYANG N KOREA H-BOMB DETONATION - AS THAAD TO TAKE OUT ANY MISSILE THREAT LOADED WITH NUCLEAR COMING FROM THE COMMUNIST COUNTRY

Amid North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats, the stationing of advanced U.S. missile assets on the peninsula would boost the allies’ defense capabilities, a leading Washington think tank said Wednesday.

Speculation persists that Washington is seeking to deploy a unit of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in the South, though U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken reiterated that no decision has been made yet during a news conference in Seoul on Wednesday.

In a comprehensive 290-page report commissioned by the Pentagon on the Asia-Pacific rebalance strategy, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Seoul will benefit from the battery’s presence despite its ongoing program to develop a similar system on its own.

“The ROK (South Korean) military has expressed interest in developing an indigenous THAAD-like system, but U.S. experience with these types of systems suggests a multi-decade effort would be required to develop and deploy such a missile defense system,” the document said.

“Given the growing missile threat from North Korea, THAAD provides a valuable capability.”

While many Seoul officials acknowledge THAAD’s perceived contribution to peninsula defense, Seoul is wary of the stiff opposition of China and Russia, which view its deployment here as de facto participation in the U.S.-led global missile defense program that they say is directed at them.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160121000946

WHEN ALL THESE MANY MANY YEARS AND A CENTURY AGO IN THE WEST, WOMEN HAVE WON THE RIGHTS TO BE RESPECTED AND HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS THEN COMES ALONG THE MUSLIMS THAT CONSIDER WOMEN NOTHING MORE THAN TO BE GROPED AS SEXUAL TOYS AS THE WESTERN EU TAKES MORE MUSLIM MIGRANTS WHOSE CULTURE HAS BEEN ANTI WOMEN AND THE LEFTIST HAS NOW LET OUT OF THE BAG CONSIDER THE GERMAN AND SWEDISH FEMALES BEING ATTACKED IN THEIR COUNTRY JUST LIKE THE ARAB SPRINGS THAT SPRUNG IN EGYPT WHERE WOMEN WERE ATTACKED AND DENEGRATED AND STILL IS TODAY DUE TO THE CULTURE PERMEATING THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN- AND THE LEFTIST CHAOS STRIKES AGAIN TO CAUSE HARM TO THE FREE WORLD THAT HAS LEARNED AND OVERCOME THESE UNCONTROLLABLE BEHAVIOUR

Horrific details of another bout of sex attacks allegedly carried out by recently arrived refugees provoked more fury across the country tonight as calls to clamp down on mass migration continued to grow.
Police reports from the city of Dortmund released today claimed that a recently arrived refugee told one young woman that German girls are “just there for sex” after he approached her in the street and offered her money to sleep with him.

They also described a shocking incident in which three migrant men seemingly tried to impose Sharia Law on the streets of Germany, attempting to stone two women in public.
The disturbing reports are just the latest in an avalanche of revelations about refugee sex crimes to emerge since the sickening attacks in Cologne, when 1,000 migrant men went on the rampage raping and robbing women out celebrating New Year’s Eve.

The latest reports from Dortmund paint a terrifying picture of a city where it is now unsafe for women to go out at night for fear of being attacked and raped by refugees.
Both incidents allegedly happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, when packs of migrants targeted women who had been out for the night in Dortmund.
The police report, published by the Presse Portal website, reveal how at 3.48am a gang of several refugees approached a 25-year-old German woman and hurled “filthy” insults at her as she made her way home from the city’s train station.
When she ignored them one of the group - a man described as around 30 years old and “remarkably small” - apparently followed her and asked her to have sex with him in exchange for money.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/635359/migrant-sex-attacks-Germany-Dortmund-refugees-Merkel