White Tigers Maul Zoo Cleaner to Death

Last Thursday, white tigers attacked and killed a Malaysian working as a cleaner in the Singapore Zoo after the man jumped into their enclosure. It was reported in the papers that the man, apparently showing signs of distress and uneasiness, leapt into the moat of the white tiger exhibit and was attacked. The attack happened in full view of a number of people who tried to distract the tigers away from the man by throwing rocks at them. Keepers and other zoo workers managed to pull the man away when the tigers went back to their den obviously distracted by the raucous crowd. The man, however, died on the way to the hospital.



An endangered species, white tigers are mostly found in the wild in South Asia, predominantly in India. A full grown white tiger could weigh over 100 kg and 8 feet from nose to tail. Their distinctive color is actually due to a genetic condition that strips their fur of the orange pigment, leaving the animal with snow white fur, black stripes and blue eyes.

The zoo has temporarily closed the tiger exhibit.

America Votes

Today, Americans will decide who will be the 44th president of the most powerful nation in the planet. In this time of  uncertainty and unease, this exercise could very well act as a catalyst to calm down the turbulent global economic state of affairs. Or it could trigger the current global recession to further deteriorate. This new leader born out of this election is poised to steer a nation, nay, a world, reeling from the ill effects of the economic downturn. Whoever comes out the winner will face a challenge far worse than any of their predecessors in the past 70 years or so had faced. As it is, the whole word waits. Eagerly. 

When Wall Street Sneezed

...and the whole world caught the cold.

The Wall Street stock market took a severe beating yesterday sending off shockwaves amongst the global stock markets. The Asian market, for one, opened  in the red, down by several percentage points. Shades of the '97 financial crisis appear to be looming and the impact on the overall Asian economy is now being felt by businesses. Words of job cuts, hiring freeze, downsizing and the like, have started to spread around.

Investors are wary to put their money into the market under this volatile condition. The general public is jittery and apprehensive. Not even the substantial reduction in the global price of oil seems to dampen the impact of this financial meltdown. 

This crisis merits a thorough root cause analysis rundown. What went wrong? Why did things go wrong? Who are responsible for this? What can the public do to protect themselves from the rammification of such a crisis?

A rethinking of the global financial system, the way it operates, how it links the global economies in a fragile web, is ripe. Should there be a change in the system? A paradigm shift, as far as the mindset of all financial stakeholders are concerned, maybe. I am not well-versed in the internals of the financial system but I am one with those who think a change in the system is needed. 

I hope  this ends soon. Nonetheless, life goes on. 

Financial Sector Anxieties

The debacle that was Lehman Brothers has sent ripples of anxiety amongst financial institutions throughout the world. The American financial-services giant's collapse, hastened no less by the global financial sector meltdown, is a clear indication that no one, even among the established financial Goliaths, is safe in these trying times. Talks are rife that the next to fall is the American International Group (AIG); hopefully, this crisis is kept in check soon. Otherwise, the outlook would be bleak for the coming year, not just for the financial sector, but, I would guess, across many industries.

The bailout by the US government of AIG is a welcome news, a calming stroke, not only  to the already beleaguered company, but to the whole financial industry as a whole.  Merril Lynch buyout by the Bank of America was another shocker. And will not be the last, if my crystal ball is right. These are very interesting times indeed.