A new High Court ruling here may create problems for car owners on both sides of the Causeway. The court has held that insurers of Malaysian- registered vehicles involved in accidents in Singapore cannot be forced to pay up. Currently, insurers settle claims based on the contracts signed with the vehicle owners. But this new ruling could bring such arrangements into review. Justice Kan Ting Chiu ruled in a judgment earlier this week that the relevant Singapore law for third-party risks and claims applies only to insurers of Singapore-registered vehicles for collisions on roads here. Similarly, a road accident victim who seeks damages in a Malaysian court for an accident caused by a Malaysian vehicle in Singapore will also not be able to sue the Malaysian insurer in a Malaysian court for the same reasons.
This means that accident victims can pursue the claim against only the offending motorist, and not against the latter's insurer. But insurers and lawyers The Straits Times spoke to said that while the judge had made clear the position in law, in practice, insurers are still obliged to honour such claims based on the contracts signed with their clients. Senior lawyer Niru Pillai, who represents several insurers on both sides of the Causeway, said the contract signed between the insurer and the insured obliges the insurer to pay up, and it is sacrosanct. 'The judgment does not accord with the practical realities on the ground. The fact of the matter is, insurers do not walk away from their contractual liabilities.' In the case for which the judgment was delivered, Malaysian motorcyclist Lee Choon Keng, 30, had serious leg injuries after a collision with a Malaysian-registered motor trailer and a Singapore car. The accident occurred on Jan 13, 2006, along the Ayer Rajah Expressway. Mr Lee subsequently sued the drivers of both vehicles.

Here is what will happen if you land at Changi Airport and have been in Mexico in the past week: You will have to fill in a form declaring that you were there. After that, you will have to stay at home for seven days under a Home Quarantine Order which is backed by law. For those who are visiting Singapore but have also set foot in the epicentre of the swine flu epidemic, they will be put up in chalets, hotels or flats. No, it does not matter if the returning traveller or tourist is feeling perfectly fine. This 'interventionist' approach is needed as the virus can slip past thermal screening at border checkpoints as symptoms may not haven yet shown up. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that other affected areas might be placed on the list too, but for the moment, a start will be made with travellers who have been to Mexico.
As during the Sars crisis, those quarantined will get calls to check if they have developed symptoms. If so, an ambulance will convey them to the Communicable Disease Centre for a thorough assessment. Under the Infectious Diseases Act, those who contravene the order can face a fine of up to $10,000 and up to six months in jail. Asked why New York, with more than 90 cases, was not on the list, given that more Singaporeans go to the city than Mexico, Mr Khaw said that it could well happen later. Besides Mexico and New York, California, Kansas and Texas in the United States, and Nova Scotia in Canada, are considered swine flu affected areas.

The pair of undergraduates who sauntered through Holland Village in the buff in January have paid for their prank. They were fined $2,000 each on Thursday, the maximum fine for an obscene act. Court papers state that Eng Kai Er, 24, and Jan Philip, 21, did what they did 'to seek thrill'. Considering that all those who witnessed their stroll through Holland Village on a busy Saturday evening saw every bit of them there was to see, the pair used umbrellas to keep their faces hidden from press photographers waiting at the Subordinate Courts on Thursday. Philip was in a full suit with tie, and Eng, in a black skirt suit and cap, sunglasses and a face mask. The A*Star scholarship holder, who is pursuing a biomedical science course at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, was heard saying to photographers from behind her mask: 'You won't get anything.'
In mitigation, their lawyer William Chan said they did try to check whether public nudity was an offence before their stunt.
Philip, an exchange student at the National University of Singapore, looked up the Penal Code, which said obscene acts were illegal, but he did not realise that public nudity was considered obscene and hence, was an offence. He told Eng about his findings. But Mr Chan said their walk down Lorong Mambong, which has several restaurants and watering holes, took place 'at the spur of the moment'. Their lawyer also tried to explain their actions in the context of their experience of a different culture: 'While certain things are accepted overseas, they may not be in Singapore. They are students. Perhaps they were immersed in a different culture,' he said, adding that their act took place late at night, not in broad daylight or near where children were around.

Oil rose above US$51 (S$75) a barrel on Thursday in Asia as investors took heart from optimistic comments from the US Federal Reserve that the worst recession in decades is likely easing. Benchmark crude for June delivery was up 49 cents to $51.46 a barrel by afternoon in Singapore, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract on Wednesday gained $1.05 to settle at $50.97. Investors have brushed off recent dismal news - such as the 6.1 percent contraction in the US economy in the first quarter - and pointed to so-called 'green shoots,' positive signs that the economy may be turning around. Federal Reserve policymakers said at the end of a two-day meeting on Wednesday that while the economy is still receding, the pace of decline 'appears to be somewhat slower' than the last time they met in mid-March. Investors, cheered by signs that US consumer spending is growing, sent the Dow Jones industrial average up 2.1 per cent on Wednesday.
'Investors are looking ahead and betting that the worst economic declines are over,' said Victor Shum, energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. 'In the past few weeks, investors have pretty much ignored any bad news.' This month prices have crisscrossed $50 a barrel as surging crude inventories tempered renewed optimism about the economy. The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that oil inventories jumped by 4.1 million barrels for the week ended April 24, more than twice what was expected by analysts, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. US stores of crude have reached levels not seen since Aug 31, 1990. Government data also show that petroleum consumption is down to 18.4 million barrels a day, the lowest since May 28, 1999.

Guangzou with China's rising affluence, increasing numbers of infertile couples have been seeking surrogate mothers to bear them babies.In recent years, officials have largely turned a blind eye to this underground womb-for-rent industry that defies the country's strict childbirth laws. Now, there are signs the authorities are starting to crack down by forcing some surrogate mothers to abort their fetuses. In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, three young surrogate first-time mothers were discovered by authorities hiding in a communal flat. Soon afterwards, district family planning and security officers broke into the flat, bundled them into a van and drove them to a district hospital where they were manhandled into a maternity ward, the mothers recounted to Reuters. 'I was crying 'I don't want to do this',' said a young woman called Xiao Hong, who was pregnant with four-month-old twins.'But they still dragged me in and injected my belly with a needle,' the 20-year-old told Reuters of her ordeal which happened in late February.
The woman, who declined to give her full name for fear of reprisals, said the men had forced her thumbprint onto a consent form before carrying out the abortion. Another of the surrogates, who said she'd come from a village in Sichuan province, recounted how officers made her take pills then surgically removed her three-month-old fetus while she was unconscious. 'I was terrified,' the 23-year-old said. A spokesman for the Guangdong Provincial Family Planning Commission Zhong Qingcai declined to be formally interviewed by Reuters, but said authorities were investigating. The official Guangzhou Daily newspaper quoted district family planning officials as saying the women were all unmarried and acting as 'illegal' surrogates. It added the three had 'agreed' to undergo 'remedial measures' in accordance with the law. But the head of the surrogacy agency caring for the mothers, disputes this version of events.'It's an absolute crime,' said Lu Jinfeng, the founder of the 'China Surrogate Mother' website (www.aa69.com) which has run for over five years without encountering any problems like this. 'By forcefully dragging people away like this to undergo an abortion is a savage illegal act that violates human rights.'

South Korean police said on Friday they would charge nine people in the case of a TV actress who committed suicide after suggesting she had been forced to provide sexual favours to advance her career. Police said the nine, who were not detained, would face various charges such as coercion, physical assault or defamation. Three are entertainment agency officials, two are television programme-makers, three are bankers and one is a businessman. A probe into five other suspects has been suspended until the actress's former agent returns from Japan, police said in a statement.
Police have issued an arrest warrant for the man identified only as Kim and have formally asked Japan to deport him. Kim is suspected of having forced actress Jang Ja-Yeon to have sex with influential figures in the entertainment and media industry to promote her career, a police spokesman told AFP earlier. The former agent has protested his innocence. Jang, 26, hanged herself at her home in early March, leaving a note reading: 'I am a powerless young actress who can't fix what is so evidently wrong.' Media reports say the note contains names of people who had drinking parties or sex with her but police declined to give details. Jang starred in 'Boys Over Flowers", the nation's most avidly watched soap opera.

Four out of 10 workers laid off last year were foreigners, according to latest figures from the Manpower Ministry (MOM). The proportion is a 10-year high, and analysts say it shows that contrary to popular belief, Singaporeans have not unfairly borne the brunt of layoffs in the current recession. 'A lot of foreigners are employed in lower-skilled service industries which slowed down in the later part of last year, so they have been affected,' said Nanyang Technological University economist Choy Keen Meng. A total of 16,880 workers lost their jobs last year, double the figure for 2007. Of these, 13,920 were retrenched and 2,970 had their contracts terminated prematurely.
The bulk of those in the latter group - 2,380 - were foreigners. Of the 13,920 retrenched, 9,770 were locals - Singaporeans and permanent residents - and 4,140 foreigners. As MOM pointed out, the proportion of foreigners laid off last year broadly reflects their presence in the workforce. Foreigners made up 36 per cent of Singapore's workforce last December. In actual numbers, they form 1.2 million of Singapore'sl population in June, driving it to a record 4.84 million. The number of layoffs last year is the highest since 2003.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is intiating a new 'think-tank' to enhance education and teaching methods at the university. Professor Tan Chor Chuan, the president of NUS, announced the launch of the new Teaching Academy at the University Awards 2009 presentation ceremony yesterday evening. The Academy will be involved mainly in areas such as pedagogy research and innovations aimed at improving teaching methods in NUS for its staff and students. Its fellows will also serve as mentors to younger academics at the university, to help them in developing new approaches to education.
The Academy will comprise 18 members at first. These will include past University Award winners as well as other distinguished faculty. NUS hopes to expand the number of fellows to 30 over the next five years. Professor Tan expressed confidence in the success of the new initiative, saying, 'The Teaching Academy will inspire and nurture future generations of outstanding educators, and enable NUS to make great strides forward in educational quality and innovation.' -No comments

Over a period of 16 months, a full-time national serviceman trailed girls as young as nine into lifts, threatened them with a penknife, then forced them to secluded spots where he sexually assaulted them. On Friday, Huang Shiyou, 22, paid a heavy price for his crime spree in the eastern part of Singapore between April 2007 and July last year. The cleancut young man was jailed for 32 years and ordered to be caned the maximum 24 strokes after he pleaded guilty to five charges - for aggravated molest, sexual assault and attempted rape - involving two of his nine victims, a nine-year-old primary school pupil and a 14-year-old secondary school student. His lawyer, Mr Chia Kok Seng portrayed his client as a good person who crumbled under depression from a failed relationship and had problems adjusting to life in the army. But Justice Chan Seng Onn said a long deterrent sentence was justified to protect the public against serial sex offenders.
Said the judge: 'Words cannot sufficiently describe the extent of the trauma, suffering and distress that you have caused to the very young victims of the horrendous sexual crimes.'
Justice Chan agreed with Deputy Public Prosecutor Shahla Iqbal that Huang had deliberately and systematically targetted young victims who were alone and had used a penknife to frighten them into submission. In passing sentence, the judge took into consideration another nine charges involving seven other victims aged nine to 13. Oh my god, this is really stupid, real stupid.

Australia will not go to Chennai for the Davis Cup tie against India next month due to security concerns, Tennis Australia said on Saturday. Australia were told by the International Tennis Federation on Friday that they must play their Davis Cup in India despite their objections on security grounds. Australia had appealed against the decision to play the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group I third round tie in Chennai from May 8-10, but the ITF said they were satisfied with the security conditions in the Indian city. 'We asked for the tie to be moved because we have major security concerns for the players, particularly during the (Indian) election,' Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said in a statement.
'The ITF decision has left us with no other option. We cannot send the team. It is extremely disappointing. 'It would be irresponsible of us to send our players into an area of such high risk.
'Davis Cup is very important to us but some things are more important than tennis,' Pollard said. Australia risks a one-year suspension from the competition.

A man who stole about $218,000 worth of welding cable wires from his employer was jailed for 42 months on Friday. Mohamed Sofi Mokri, 36, was a company driver with Nexus Sealand Trading at the time of the thefts from the company's warehouse at Tuas South Street 1. The court heard that he was heavily in debt in May last year when he asked his colleagues, K. Subramaniam Kathiranu KK, 41, and Kannan Sangalam, 44, if they were interested in stealing welding cable wires stored in the warehouse where they worked. He knew that the two were in need of money and could easily steal the items without being detected.

He had liaised with a buyer and told him to collect the cable wires from the warehouse. He admitted to three counts of theft of 316 rolls worth almost $160,000 between last July and September and had two other similar charges considered. He has a previous theft conviction.
The case against the other two employees and the buyer are pending. He could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined on each of the charges.

A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) regular serviceman collapsed on Friday morning after completing a mass run at the SAFTI Military Institute Sports Complex. P. Jegathesan, 45, was taking part in the 3 kilometres run as part of the SAF Commanders' Sports Day when he fell unconscious at 8.30am.
He was immediately evacuated to the army medical centre where doctors tried to resuscitate him and subsequently sent to the National University Hospital (NUH). Two SAF doctors and a medic continued their attempts to revive him on the way to the hospital but to no avil. Jegathesan was pronounced dead at 9.49 am at NUH. He was the Chief Warrant Officer of the Republic of Singapore Air Force Air Combat Command's transport group. The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) is investigating the incident.

It was jealousy that drove Wu Yun Yun - opposition party member Tan Lead Shake's China-born wife - to stab her 34-year-old brother-in-law to death and to slash his wife. Wu, 26, suffered from major depression which qualified her for the defence of diminished responsibility, the High Court heard on Friday. Originally charged with murder, the Singapore permanent resident pleaded guilty to committing culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, by stabbing Tan Lead Sane, 33, and to attempted culpable homicide for her attack on 36-year-old Madam Huang Meizhe. Justice Kan Ting Chiu adjourned sentencing for six months to allow psychiatrist George Joseph Fernandez to monitor Wu's mental state. The senior consultant of the Institute of Mental Health testified that he needed this time to check if her mental condition would improve.
The couple shared a house in Paya Lebar Crescent with Madam Ng, her eldest son Tan Lead Hand, and Mr Tan Lead Sane and his wife, who is also from China. Wu became jealous of Mr Tan Lead Sane and his wife, as they appeared to be more 'loved' by her mother-in-law. She began to think about killing her brother-in-law and in early June last year bought a fruit knife and hid it. At 5.30am on June 28, Wu stabbed Madam Huang in the neck. The commotion woke Mr Tan Lead Sane; he was stabbed twice in the chest and once in the abdomen. When Madam Ng tried to stop Wu leaving the house, she too was slashed. Wu later called her husband and surrendered before being arrested. She could be jailed up to 20 years or for life.

Eighteen people were killed and three injured in an explosion at a mine in central China, an official said Saturday, in the latest deadly accident to hit the nation's coal industry.
The tragedy struck on Friday afternoon at a mine in Chenzhou city in Hunan province when a detonator and explosives warehouse blew up, an employee at the city's coal industry bureau, who would only give his surname Li. Up to this morning we have confirmed there are 18 dead and three injured.
Mr Li said the victims were in dormitories next to the warehouse at the time of the explosion.
According to the official Xinhua news agency, a further two people were missing, and police have said the detonators and explosives might have been illegally bought and stored. China's coal mines are notoriously dangerous. Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in collieries last year, but independent observers say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are covered up.

Eleven Taiwanese fishermen were rescued and two remained missing after their boat capsized near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea, Taiwan's coast guard said on Saturday.
The boat sank near the islands known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese after it was involved in a collision with a Panamanian oil tanker on Friday, a coast guard official said. Rescuers from Taiwan and Japan were continuing to search for the missing fishermen, including the skipper of the boat, the official said.
The Diaoyu islands are at the centre of a heated territorial dispute between Taiwan, China and Japan, which all claim the uninhabited islets. Japan's dispute with China has intensified in recent years after rich gas reserves were found nearby. Last year, Japan apologised after a Taiwanese fishing boat sank near the disputed islets following a collision with a Japanese patrol ship.

A new Jersey man who is divorcing his wife has accused rock star Bruce Springsteen of having an affair with her. Springsteen, who is married to singer Patti Scialfa, was accused by Arthur Kelly of Red Bank, New Jersey, of having an affair with his wife, Ann Kelly, in papers filed in Monmouth County Superior Court on March 27. A spokesman for Springsteen told local media the musician stood by a statement he posted on his website in 2006 following rumors of infidelity.
In the statement, Springsteen wrote of his marriage that 'our commitment to one another remains as strong as the day we were married.' Mr Kelly's divorce papers said: 'The defendant (Ann Kelly) has committed adultery with one Bruce Springsteen, who resides in Rumson, New Jersey, and Colts Neck, New Jersey, at various times and places too numerous to mention.' Arthur and Ann Kelly have been married for 17 years and have two daughters, aged 10 and 12. Springsteen and Ms Scialfa were married in 1991 and have three children. Springsteen was previously married to actress Julianne Phillips, and they divorced in 1989.

The National Enquirer has published confronting new pictures of cancer-sufferer Patrick Swayze claiming the actor now weighs only 47.6 kilos said reports on Thursday.
Battling pancreatic cancer, the actor is reported to be in 'good spirits' and taking his battle 'one day at a time'.
"You know what, he's doing what everybody else is doing, he's taking it one day at a time," friend Whoopi Goldberg revealed on British TV. "He does not have an expiration date on his backside - none of us do - we just know at some point it's going to happen and that's how he's looking at it. " The star of hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost revealed in January this year that he was scared after having been diagnosed. "Yeah, I'm scared. Yeah, I'm angry. Yeah, I'm (asking), 'Why me?,"' he told American TV's Barbara Walters in an interview. "You can bet that I'm going through hell, and I've only seen the beginning of it."

A teenager who had sex with a 10-year-old girl in late 2007 and early last year was placed on 18 months' probation yesterday. Xia Yun, 19, who pleaded guilty to two counts of carnal connection, was 17 when he had sex with the girl in his Woodlands home on Nov 9, 2007. When they had sex again a few weeks later, she had turned 11. Two other similar charges were taken into consideration. He was in court with his parents, who signed a bond of $5,000 to ensure his good behaviour. A permanent resident, Xia looked relieved after Community Court Judge Soh Tze Bian decided to place him on probation instead of sending him to jail.
Under the probation order, Xia, who is now married with a two-month-old son, has to do 100 hours of community service work. The girl he had sex with came to know Xia, who is now waiting to be enlisted into national service, in December 2006 when she was surfing a multi-player online gaming website. They began contacting each other through calls and text messages. Soon after he sent her a love poem on Valentine's Day of 2007, they became a couple and met often in Tampines.

Rats were writhing on pieces of cardboard laid out between stalls at the Geylang Serai Temporary Market when pest controllers got there on Thursday morning. Rows of them were stuck in the green glue, part of traps laid out the night before, in an effort to spring clean the temporary structure, now infamous for the Indian rojak stall which is the focal point of Singapore's worst outbreak of food poisoning.
By noon, pest controllers had cleared away 61 rats, said Mr Kwok Kim Poh, who oversees the day-to-day running of the market for its management committee.Whether the rats have a role in the food poisoning that has affected at least 144 victims since last Friday and caused two deaths is uncertain.Stallholders said that because the cleaners do not work after 7pm, plates with leftover food are left at the centre overnight - drawing the rats. Direct contact with the rats or their urine and droppings can cause Weil's Disease. This starts with influenza-like symptoms and can end in kidney failure.

A couple who caused a stir by strolling down naked along Lorong Mambong earlier this year were charged in court on Thursday. Jan Philip, 21, a Swedish student on exchange programme, and Eng Kai Er, 24, a university student in Sweden, are accused of appearing nude in public at Holland Village at about 11pm on Jan 24. Both were clad in black suits when they appeared before District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan.
Their lawyer, Mr William Chan, asked for an adjournment to write in to the Attorney-General's Chambers. If convicted, both may be fined up to $2,000 and/or jailed for up to three months. As Philip is a foreigner, he was offered bail of $5,000 but Eng, a Singaporean, need not post bail. Philip's passport was impounded. They will be back in court on April 30.

Frictional force

Without frictional force, you will slip and fall easily when your shoes does not have enough friction. If there are too much friction, you will trip and fall easily! It increases frictional force. It will help you to lessen the chance of falling. It does not really help when you are stepping on the water.Too much frictional force is also bad. So, it must have neither too much frictional force when it comes in contact with the ground.

I feel that it is very helpful as it produces frictional force. Frictional force prevents us to fall easily. This is how useful frictional force are!

Hong Kong's chief executive defended its compliance with global financial reporting standards after a G-20 row nearly saw it cited as a tax haven, the South China Morning Post said on Saturday. Donald Tsang said the territory's government had introduced legislation to allow information to be shared with foreign authorities cracking down on tax evasion. He was speaking after Hong Kong and Macau avoided being named on a list of tax havens worldwide drawn up by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

It followed a row at Thursday's G-20 summit in London, where China strongly opposed a French proposal to name the two territories. Eventually the dispute was resolved - reportedly after the intervention of US President Barack Obama. Mr Tsang told reporters that Hong Kong - where corporate tax is 16.5 per cent and personal income tax 15 per cent - had 'very transparent and very competent and well-respected banking and financial services.

Authorities in northern China said on Saturday they were trying to solve a job losses row that sparked protests by factory staff, but a protester said workers remained skeptical and angry. The factory, which employs around 4,000 people, had been shut for a week when the march began, another worker said on Friday. Employees angered by the closure of the factory set out on bicycle and foot from Baoding in Hebei province to Beijing to present a petition to the government, a centuries-old tradition.

They were angered by a factory restructuring plan that includes cutting jobs, and said a severance offer was insufficient. Local authorities talked them out of the march and provided buses to bring them back to Baoding, 'The workers are unhappy but no one cares, so we decided to march to Beijing to petition,' said Mr Yang. 'Many workers were at the factory a long time and given only a small severance. How can you not get angry?demonstrators said. Officials and protesters said there was no violence.

Sixteen miners were trapped in a colliery in north-eastern China that flooded on Saturday in the latest accident to hit the country's deadly coal industry, state media reported. The accident occurred early on Saturday at a mine in the city of Jixi in Heilongjiang province, it said. Twenty-two miners had been in the colliery at the time, with six managing to escape. Rescue efforts were under way, it said.

Official figures showed that more than 3,200 workers died in China's notoriously dangerous coal mines last year, but independent observers say the actual figure could be higher, as many accidents are covered up.

A Thai court sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for posting altered pictures on the internet that were deemed insulting to the kingdom's revered monarchy. Suvicha thakhor alias Chinnapat was convicted of violating computer and strict lese maheste laws after his arrest in north-east Nakkon Phanom province in February.

Do not insult. This is the consequences of insulting. If you want to insult other people, you will have to face the music... So, do not insult people.

Cambodian and Thai troops fought heavy gunbattles on their disputed border yesterday, leaving as many as four soldiers just days before a key regional summit. Soldiers traded rocket, machine gun and mortar fire near an 11th century khmer temple following a brief exchange of shots earlier in the day, officials from both sides said.

Harmony is important. If everyone is going for war, there will be no harmony. We must live in harmony to fight the people attacking us. We should team up and help one another and not having war.