Week 23, 2006: Haze returns! MTV retrenches 84! Police arrest music pirates!

This is "News in Singapore", keeping track of events in Singapore since General Elections 2006.

A thick haze has blanketed Singapore for more than a week. It is caused by large scale forest fires in Indonesia. These fires are caused by plantation owners and farmers to clear the land for their crops. As a result of the haze, Singapore's air quality index has been in the moderately unhealthy range for a few days and Singaporeans were advised to stay indoors. If nothing else, perhaps this will spur more horizontal tangos and increase the nation's birth rate.

This is not the first time that a haze has enveloped the region. It has been an ongoing problem since the mid-1990s. Singaporeans have become increasingly irritated with the lack of a clear resolution. After all, they voted for a government that boasts about fixing problems, so fix this already, dammit!

MTV Networks Asia retrenched 84 employees this week. This makes up about half of its workforce here. The move was in response to the company's move to shift resources to local operations. Many of the affected ex-employees shouted, "I want my MTV!" to no avail. Video killed the radio star. And MTV Asia killed the employee morale.

Police raided seven homes for illegal song downloads. The arrested suspects were aged between 14 and 32 years old. The crackdown was conducted in conjunction with the Recording Industry Association of Singapore, which has been campaigning against music piracy. When asked for comments, many youths simply shrugged their shoulders and went back to their BitTorrent programs. Meanwhile, the RIAS, with its deep pockets and political backing, will continue hunting down song downloaders like the hardcore, nose-thumbing, left wing liberal junkies that they are.

This has been "News in Singapore", keeping track of events in Singapore since General Elections 2006.

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