NIRMAL GHOSH China making strides in radio broadcast race THINKPAGE36 SALMA KHALIK Hey doc, please slow down and speak plainly THINKPAGE38 PHOTOS: SISTERS’ ISLAND MARINE PARK, DIOS VINCOY JR FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES, JAMIE KOH, LIM SIN THAI, TAN HSUEH YUN THINK PAGE39 THINK PAGE39 Now Ann Teoh wants to help poor girls with a dream Now Ann Teoh wants to help poor girls with a dream Hard slog to success Hard slog to success THINKPAGE40 THINKPAGE40 Conservationists spent decades to get Singapore’s first marine park Conservationists spent decades to get Singapore’s first marine park Worth fighting for Worth fighting for SUNDAY LIFE!PAGE6 SUNDAY LIFE!PAGE6 Julka’s got $30K in the bank, and counting Julka’s got $30K in the bank, and counting Just 5 and a top model Just 5 and a top model TOP NEWSPAGE6 TOP NEWSPAGE6 Parents pay to prepare kids to ace talent scheme Parents pay to prepare kids to ace talent scheme Direct School Admissions Direct School Admissions IN THE BIG JUICE FAD IGNATIUS LOW I confess: I hate durian PAGE12 PAGES 2&3 My perfect ryokan retreat PAGES8&9 TAN HSUEH YUN WARREN FERNANDEZ Sure you want to party like there’s no tomorrow? THINKPAGE37 Melissa Lin More than 2,000 grassroots volun- teers will be trained to go door to door and teach residents how to prevent the spread of dengue. Singapore is in the midst of its peak dengue season, which coin- cides with the dry months between June and October. There were 520 new cases between last Sunday and 3.30pm last Friday, bringing the tal- ly to more than 11,600 infections this year. Two deaths have also been re- ported, with the latest being an 85-year-old man who died last week. Second Minister for Environ- ment and Water Resources Grace Fu, who launched the nationwide dengue education and prevention drive yesterday, expects the fight against the disease to be “equally challenging” as last year’s. That was when Singapore had its worst dengue epidemic with more than 22,170 people falling ill. According to the National Envi- ronment Agency (NEA) less than two weeks ago, Choa Chu Kang re- corded the biggest dengue cluster here with 316 cases – eclipsing the high of 233 infections in a cluster in Tampines last year. And while weekly dengue cases this year peaked in the first week of this month at 891 cases, numbers may still climb as the coming months are expected to be hot, warned Ms Fu. The key to preventing the spread of the disease is to ensure small dengue clusters do not grow bigger, she said. This is where the volunteers can step in, by spreading the message in small dengue clusters, leaving NEA officers to focus their efforts in areas where there are bigger out- breaks. “As the number of active clus- ters grows, NEA has to focus on the real big ones, so we need additional and ongoing help from the commu- nity,” she said, stressing the need to get residents to take charge of cleanliness in their own areas. “It’s important for every one of us to be always on the lookout.” The volunteers, accompanied by at least one NEA officer, will go door to door handing out around 100,000 copies of a checklist across 87 constituencies from now until October. The checklist comes in the form of a door hanger. It includes steps that residents can take to keep their homes and neighbourhoods mos- quito-free, such as turning over un- used pails and removing stagnant water. Dengue is a viral infection transmitted by the female Aedes mosquito, and according to NEA, homes are where most mosquito breeding habitats are found. Yesterday, 300 volunteers from the People’s Association’s Commu- nity Emergency Response Team were taught prevention measures at the anti-dengue drive in Yishun. Ms Fu, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Sec- ond Minister for Foreign Affairs, lat- er visited three homes to spread the message. One of the volunteers, 24-year-old undergraduate Joseph Ong, said raising awareness among his neighbours about dengue bene- fits him as well. “If there is a high dengue threat around my home, I won’t feel se- cure either,” he said. [email protected] A young boy found wandering along Marina Promenade last Monday is believed to have come to Singapore with his father, who then left him here and returned to Hong Kong. A 45-year-old man has been arrested in Hong Kong in connection with the case, police in Singapore said yesterday. See >>Top News Pages 2-3 Swimmer Joseph Schooling and shooters Jasmine Ser and Martina Veloso came up just short in their quests for medals at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games yesterday. And SEA Games marathon champion Mok Ying Ren (right) also withdrew from his Glasgow race with a shin injury. See >>Sport Pages 46-48 index weather/tides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L13 tv listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L14 horoscopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L14 For the first time, the parents of a passenger who died in the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 tragedy have arrived at the crash site in eastern Ukraine. “We have promised our daughter we will come here,” Mrs Angela Dyczynski said yesterday, stricken by the scene of devastation. With her was her husband George Dyczynski, a doctor. The Australian couple left flowers for their daughter Fatima, a space scientist who was among the 298 people killed on the flight believed to have been downed by a missile strike on July 17. “We believe she’s alive,” Dr Dyczynski told The Australian newspaper before arriving in Ukraine on Friday. He said they wanted to find their only child. “We are still at the site and we are now visiting another piece of wreckage,” he said yesterday. See >>Top News Page 4, World Page 18 and Think Page 37 PHOTO: AFP Over 2,000 volunteers to spread message; number of infections crosses 11,600 mark To subscribe, call 6388-3838 or go to sphsubscription.com.sg Door-to-door drive to warn residents about dengue HK boy ‘dumped in Singapore’ No joy for S’pore athletes at Games Parents’ grief at MH17 crash site JULY 27, 2014 ■ 88 PAGES IN FOUR PARTS ■ MCI (P) 072/02/2014 90 cents **