KFC and Pizza Hut are both owned by the parent company Yum! Brands and are responsible for the cruel and archaic confinement of millions of egg-laying hens in tiny, filthy cages. These cages are so small and packed with birds that the hens can’t move or spread their wings. Often, their body parts are caught in the caging, resulting in fractured or broken bones, deformities, and severe feather loss. Some hens, exhausted or unable to move, are trampled to death by their cage mates. Those that don’t die from the abuse spend their miserable lives trapped with dead birds at their feet. Thousands of companies around the world are ditching cages. Global commitments to go cage-free are being made by some of the largest companies in the world, including Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes, Unilever, Nestle, Aldi, InterContinental Hotels, Sodexo, Marriott, Wyndham, Compass Group, Shake Shack, Famous Brands, Costa Coffee, and Barilla. Even low-end fast food and pet food companies are moving away from this horrible practice. KFC says that it believes "investing in the right recipe today is the most important ingredient to create a world of good for our people and communities tomorrow". Archaic animal cruelty shouldn't be an ingredient. Sign this petition telling KFC and Pizza Hut to get with the times.

Singapore is currently not on the travel corridor list for the UK. This means that all students returning/going to the UK have to serve 14 days in quarantine. Many overseas students do not have access to quarantine facilities without incurring significant cost, logistical issues and unnecessary stress. This makes it expensive, impractical and extremely difficult for them and their families.  The UK Government has specified these criteria for consideration in deciding which countries are on the travel corridor list. I have added the information relevant to Singapore beneath each point. Less than 20 cases per 100,000 over 7 days1.1 cases per 100,000 An estimate of the proportion of the population that is currently infectious in the countryLess than 0.01% Virus incidence rates and rates of change Very low.  Daily new Covid cases (mostly asymptomatic are below 100) Trends in incidence, deaths and hospitalisationsSince January 2020, 27 deaths in total. As of 29th August, 71 hospitalised (stable) and 0 in intensive care. This reflects a similar trend over the last 14 days. Imported infections identified through UK contact tracingThis information is not available to me in Singapore Transmission status and international epidemic intelligenceSingapore shares its epidemic intelligence openly (e.g. through WHO) Information on a country's testing capacity, testing regime and test positivity rateTotal number of unique persons swabbed: 133,100 per million An assessment of the quality of the data available and public health systemsThe Singapore Ministry of Health updates daily information about Covid-19. The Public Health System is excellent. Extent and effectiveness of measures being deployedExcellent, our cases have been under control for many months. Social distancing measures are in place and people take these measures seriously e.g. face coverings are compulsory except when eating, drinking or doing strenuous activities, washing hands frequently etc. Volume of passengers coming into the UK from that countryThis information is not available to me in Singapore Population size of the country5.8 million As of 29th August, Wales added Singapore to their travel corridor list. Please sign this petition to put Singapore on the travel corridor list!

Die Conversion Therapy, auch „Homo-Heilung" genannt, ist eine menschenverachtende „Therapieform“ bei der Homosexuelle „heterosexuell gemacht werden sollen“.  Als ich mich mit 17 geoutet habe, wusste ich schon lange, dass ich mich eher zu Männern als zu Frauen hingezogen fühle. Der Prozess zu sagen, „Mama oder Papa, ich bin schwul.“ hat drei Jahre gedauert. Ich bin sehr dankbar, dass meine Familie und Freunde mich unterstützen und mein Outing zum größten Teil positiv aufgenommen haben. Doch eine Vielzahl der Outings verläuft nicht so harmonisch, viele werden von ihren Eltern verstoßen, Kontakte zu Freunden brechen ab, der Boden unter den Füßen wird weggezogen. Noch schlimmer wird es jedoch dann, wenn Eltern ihre Kinder sogenannten „Homo-Heilern“ anvertrauen, die vorgeben Kinder und Jugendliche von der Homosexualität heilen zu können, sie „normal“ zu machen. Die Methoden dazu sind vielfältig und hinterlassen bei den Betroffenen z.T. lebenslange schwere geistige und körperliche Schäden, die sich irreversibel und unabdingbar auf die Zukunft der Betroffenen auswirken. Laut Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung, Panorama, Tagesspiegel, Zeit und Bento reichen die Methoden von Nackttänzen zu Trommelschlägen und eiskalten Duschen bis hin zu Gesprächstherapien in denen den „Betroffenen“ verdeutlicht werden soll, dass ihre sexuelle Orientierung falsch sei. In extremsten Fällen werden den „Patienten“ Videos von homosexuellen Handlungen gezeigt, wobei ihnen körperliche Schmerzen zugefügt werden. Dadurch soll die eigene Homosexualität mit Schmerzen in Verbindung gebracht werden. Es ist Zeit, dem ein Ende zu bereiten. Die in Fachkreisen Reparativ- oder Reorientierungstherapie genannte „Therapieform“ ist in der Europäischen Union bisher nur in Malta und in einigen Regionen Spaniens verboten. Die Deutsche Bundesregierung hat noch im März 2017 das Verbot abgelehnt. Die Deutsche Bundesärztekammer sowie der 117. Deutsche Ärztetag, sowie eine Vielzahl von Mediziner*innen und Expert*innen verurteilen diese Therapieform jedoch bereits seit Jahren. Wir fordern den zuständigen Bundesminister für Gesundheit, Jens Spahn (CDU) und die zuständige Bundesministerin für Recht und Verbraucherschutz, Katharina Barley (SPD) und jede Abgeordnete und jeden Abgeordneten im Deutschen Bundestag dazu auf, sich gegen diese Form der seelischen und psychischen Körperverletzung in Form der sogenannten „Homo-Heilung“ einzusetzen! In einem toleranten, progressiven Land wie Deutschland, sollte diese Praxis weder ausgeübt werden noch erlaubt sein! Zusammen setzen wir dem ein Ende!Nicht nur in Deutschland ist die Conversion Therapy noch immer erlaubt. Auch in anderen Ländern formt sich Protest gegen die unmenschliche Praxis. Zusammen können wir eine globale Bewegung starten: 

We friends would like to introduce the case of Wilfried Siewe, a German engineer of Cameroonian origin, who has been innocently detained since February 18, 2019 in Yaounde, Cameroon. Wilfried was on holidays since February 1, 2019 with his wife and two children ind in the Cameroonian capital. The family was due to return to Germany on February 18, 2019, as Wilfried a Siemens employee was supposed to return to work on February 20, 2019. On the morning of February 18th, 2019, Wilfried went to Nsimalen International airport to register for his return flight. After completing their depature formalities, he decided to stop in town to buy some books as a souvenir to take some final pictures before departing. While taking pictures of the justice building, he was arrested by police officers who made him delete the pictures. Nevertheless, this led to a provisional arrest by the police. He was then taken to a police station where his camera and mobile phone where searched. They found photos and videos of recent legal political demonstrations against the Cameroonian goverment in some European Countries. Some of these photos and the videos were those shared in large number on social netwoks and available to all.  He was also accused of taking pictures of public buildings and being in possession of books by Cameroonian politicians. The Cameroonian police accuses Wilfried Siewe to be a dangerous person who has organized political demonstrations against the Cameroonian regime. He was also accused of participating in the riots in the Cameroonian embassy in Berlin which took place on January 26, 2019. However Wilfried was demonstrably in another German City that day. Theses are the reasons for the arrest and charges against Wilfried. He has been detained since February 18, 2019—initially in the Yaounde court police station and since March 1st, 2019 in the Central Kondengui Prison. How can a foreign citizen be arbitrarily arrested simply for taking pictures, owning books sold in public library and for using social medias? Wilfried Siewe has so far gone through two military court cases, the last of which led to a six-month pre-trial detention. Hearings were supposed to be held, one was done so far but because the procesutor was absent, there are no further dates communicated. According to the latest information, it may take months and there is even a possibility of prolonging the pre-trial detention twice for 6 months each. One disturbing aspect of this case is  that the entire file on this case, including copies of his wife and children´s ID had been shared on social media for several weeks. These files reveal very private information about Wilfried Siewe and his family. Sharing those on the web exposes them to serious and continuing identity theft.   The German embassy in Yaounde was informed on the day of the arrest and the Foreign Office in Germany a few days later. The only official feedback from these institutions could be found in the aforementionned file. It does not contain an opinion on the case and no request for release. On May 2nd, 2019, Wielfried was taken from the prison without any prior notice and presented to the magistrate. As a result, his lawyer was not present at the time of the trial before the magistrate. The German embassy in Cameroon and the Federal Foreign Office appear very passive, and not willing to put any pressure on the Cameroonian government-despite the great reputation in the international political scene and its desire for worldwide respect for human rights. The Cameroonian government is actively engaging in brutal human rights violations and abuses by unlawfully detaining individuals and barring fair and timely investigations. A temporary release could have been requested at a minimum, allowing Wilfried to stay at home with his relatives during the time of investgation instead of locking him in a prison. We ask you therefore to sign this petition in order to put pressure on the Foreign Office and the German embassy in Cameroon. Germany has the the duty of protecting the fundemental rights of its citizens, Wilfried does not belong in a prison in Cameroon but with his family in Erlangen (Germany). Thank you and best regards,

Gutenberg is a new editor for the hugely popular WordPress content management system. It aims to make it easy to build posts and pages using a drag and drop builder. A great idea in principle. The team behind the project is dedicated and working hard to create their vision and this petition is in no way aiming to discredit their contribution to WordPress. However, there is a clear push back from the community against the Gutenberg plugin (which will become part of the core Wordpress code in v5), mostly because people feel it's not ready, and the amount of bug reports and issues open on their Github repository displays this. This petition is to ask the WordPress team to keep Gutenberg out of the core of WordPress and instead keep it as a plugin for users to install. In addition this petition asks that Gutenberg does not get integrated into the core until the community agrees that the time is right.

We issue this petition on World Environment Day with grave concern as to your recent comments regarding plastic bag usage, as reported in several news outlets including the Straits Times. We refer in particular to the absence of plans for a levy on plastic bags, or any meaningful legislation to curb the prodigious usage of them in our country. Singapore now stands with the ever-diminishing list of countries that avoid the critical issue of excessive plastic consumption. In this regard, we are sorry to say that Singapore stands on the wrong side of history. But this is something that you, in your role as Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, can address - not just for the good of your contemporaries, but also for all future generations. We face the prospect of a world weighed down by plastic - where the discovery of dead animals’ stomachs full of discarded plastic waste is the norm, not the exception. This is a world we cannot accept, and therefore which it is our responsibility to prevent. A plastic bag levy is a practical solution which will both draw attention to the often unthinking usage of multiple bags when fewer or none will do, whilst simultaneously generating revenue which can be used to develop alternative materials, recycling options, or even to promote other elements of the government’s environmental agenda. It makes little sense to avoid implementing a levy until an alternative material can be developed - this condemns our country and the surrounding region to potentially years more pollution on a vast scale, and is representative of nothing more than a policy void paired with permanent and harmful implications for the world. We must only look around us - to the many other countries in the world that have led from the front, for inspiring stories of how small changes can have powerful effects. In the UK, a 5 pence plastic bag levy led to an 83% drop in usage within one year. In Taiwan, an NT$1 charge for every plastic bag led to an 80% drop usage within a year. Australia achieved a 45% drop, Denmark a 60% drop - the list goes on, and on - and each example demonstrates that change is possible. Plastic bag usage is an addiction, and one that can be broken: For the good of all of us and all of the world around us. Dr Khor, you occupy a position of wisdom and responsibility within our government so we ask that you consider this when considering our petition. We ask that you look at not the short-term issues, but those of the long-term. In fifty years a generation will look back and wonder how people could so recklessly and persistently damage the world around them. And so we ask you to help us stand on the right side of history. This petition requests that you implement a levy on plastic bag usage, with a view to reducing overall usage of plastic bags in Singapore. We do not ask that you find an alternative, and thus we do not accept that a delay is necessary until an alternative can be found. Meaningful action can be taken now, and we ask that you take it. For those signing this petition, thank you for your action. Please leave your comments and stories below for Dr Amy Khor to read as well. Our voices must be heard.