Weekly news round-up: Lee Kuan Yew resigns, planking gone wrong, and Angry Birds now free

ANOTHER week, another hit of the biggest headlines. This week we tell you everything you need to know about the resignation of two of Singapore’s most important cabinet ministers, the dangers of ‘planking’, and Angry Birds online for free.

Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong. Photos: Wikicommons

Former Singapore prime ministers resign from Cabinet

Singapore’s Mentor Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong have announced their unexpected resignation from Cabinet following a watershed general election.

In a joint statement, released on Saturday May 14, the two former prime ministers said it was time for “a younger generation to carry Singapore forward into a more difficult and complex situation.”

Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore’s first prime minister and a ‘founding father’ of the nation. Goh Chok Tong succeeded him in 1990 and again in 2004, before handing the reins over to Lee’s son, current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Planking death

Planking, the latest fad sweeping the nation, has led to the death of 20-year-old Acton Beale, who fell to his death while ‘planking’ on a 7th-floor balcony railing.

Planking is when a person lays face down on his or her stomach with their arms to their sides in an unusual space. They then photograph it. So far, the planking Facebook page has more 90,000 likes and invites users to post pictures of themselves performing the deadly stunt.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the incident was tragic and advised young people not to put their safety at risk for the sake of peer pressure.

Experts have also come out and condemned both the Facebook page and the dangerous planking trend.

Angry Birds free online

Fans (and procrastinators) might want to stay away! You can now play the extremely popular and addictive Angry Birds game for free on the web.

The game has been a runaway hit on iPhones and other smartphones for the last two years and basically involves catapulting birds at vicious and very gleeful looking pig heads – pretty clever huh?

The online version of the game should work on most browsers, but is best played on Google Chrome, which also has specially designed Chrome levels.

The game also comes in SD and HD versions, for those who want the extra special Angry Birds experience!