20000 people in Sri Lankan died in a fight. Why must they fight? What is the purpose of fighting? It is of no use to fight over a matter... especially a small one. The death poll estimated that almost/more than 1000 people died in Sri Lankan per day. At least 1000 will die... Isn't it pitiful for the victims? I feel sad for them. If they do not cherish the life that the god gave them, they should not even ask for peace. Fighting ended when Sri Lankan troops crushed Tamil Tiger rebels accused of holding tens of thousands of civillians as human shields. Citing its own investigation, the paper said most of the 20000 deaths were caused by the government.

Sri Lanka has insisted its forces stopped causing heavy weapons on April 27 and respected a no-fire zone where 100000 men, women and children were sheltering. Confidential United Nations documents indicated 7000 civiliants hd died in the no-fire zone up to the end of last month, noting that journalists had been barred from the conflict zone. So pitiful... If they do not want to live, they should also not sacrifice people who wants to live. Cherish your life... Do you?

Guess what? Singpore was attacked by swine flu! 3 more H1N1 cases happened.
Their symptoms are relatively mild and all of them are in stable condition, said a statement from Ministry of Health on Thursday night.
The latest patients, bringing the total cases so far to four, are:
-A 43-year-old woman Permanent Resident who returned to Singapore from San Francisco via Manila on Tuesday at 5.50pm. She was on Singapore Airlines flight SQ917 and was seated at 33H. She became unwell while on board.
-A 28-year-old American woman who is working here. She returned to Singapore from Honolulu via Tokyo on Tuesday 11.53pm on United Airlines, UA803. She was seated at 33C.
-A 28-year-old Singaporean man who returned to Singapore from Chicago via Hong Kong just past midnight on Monday. He was on United Airlines, UA895 and was seated at 55H.
MOH said contact tracing of their close contacts, including passengers on the same flights, is ongoing. They will be quarantined and provided with antivirals. Passengers who sat within three rows in front and behind the affected person who have not been contacted by MOH yet should call the ministry hotline at 1800-333 9999 to enable the authorties to check on their health condition expeditiously. The affected rows for SQ917 are 30-36; for UA803, rows 30-36 and for UA895, rows 52-58. The ministry again reminded those who have travelled in the past one week to affected countries to seek immediate medical attention once they develop influenza-like symptoms.
They should call 993 for an ambulance. 'This will help minimise the risk of infecting those around them, especially people who are at higher risk of severe illness and complications of influenza,' said MOH. 'It is with the cooperation of the public that we can together help prevent the spread of the virus in Singapore and prevent unnecessary illness or death.' The Ministry has reminded all medical practitioners and healthcare institutions to continue to be vigilant to suspect cases. Singapore on Tuesday confirmed its first case of Influenza A (H1N1). The country's first victim was a Singapore Management University (SMU) undergraduate back from New York, where she was on a 10-day study mission.
Earlier on Thursday, three people in close contact with the first patient - her boyfriend and two travelling companions, a lecturer and another SMU student - cleared flu tests.

Wikipedia has blocked the Church of Scientology from editing entries at the communally-crafted online encyclopedia due to an unrelenting battle over the group's image. A 'longstanding struggle' between admirers of Scientology and critics of the group prompted Wikipedia on Thursday to bar online edits from computer addresses 'owned or operated by the Church of Scientology and its associates'. An array of editors believed to have taken sides in a Scientology public-image war at Wikipedia have also been barred from tinkering with topics related to the church. 'Each side wishes the articles within this topic to reflect their point of view and have resorted to battlefield editing tactics,' senior Wikipedia editors said in arbitration committee findings backing the decision.
'The worst casualties have been biographies of living people, where attempts have been repeatedly made to slant the article either towards or against the subject, depending on the point of view of the contributing editor.' A church spokeswoman downplayed the development, saying the Wikipedia arbitration committee is part of a routine process for handling conflicts at the website. 'Do Scientologists care what has been posted on Wikipedia? Of course,' said Karin Pouw. 'Some of it has been very hateful and erroneous. We hope all this will result in more accurate and useful articles on Wikipedia.'

Can she do it? Or will she crack? It's testing time for Susan Boyle, the Cinderella-like Scottish church volunteer who may or may not be a world-class singer. She goes on stage Saturday night in the finals of 'Britain's Got Talent,' even as tabloid newspapers call her a foul-mouthed lout and some critics suggest she isn't all that great at the microphone. All this untested amateur singer who suffers from learning disabilities has to do now is outshine nine other tough competitors on live television in front of millions of viewers in Britain and a huge Internet audience around the world. The pressure would rattle a pro - even Aretha Franklin admits she wasn't at her best at President Barack Obama's inauguration - and there are signs Boyle is feeling the heat. Already this week she lost her cool during a confrontation with two reporters that saw the police intervene, and, according to one contest judge, contemplated pulling out of the competition to soothe her frazzled nerves. Judge Piers Morgan has called for everyone to back off and give Boyle room to breathe. He said she would carry on, no matter what.
'She is one tough lady who has had to fight since the day she was born,' he wrote on his blog Friday. 'There is no way she's going to quit now as some of the papers seem to be suggesting, trust me.' 'Britain's Got Talent' has mesmerised Britain all week as a bizarre range of competitors vie for the finals. The last two finalists will be chosen Friday night under complex rules that give both call-in voters and the three celebrity judges a say. All 10 finalists then compete Saturday, with the winner announced at the end of the show. The prize: 100,000 pounds ($159,000) and a chance to perform before Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Show. It won't be shown live in the United States, or streamed over the Internet, meaning US fans will have to rely on video sharing sites like YouTube, where videos will be posted by fans and by the show's producers once it ends at on Saturday evening. Boyle sailed through her last test - a performance Sunday of 'Memory' from 'Cats' - although she started poorly and did not seem to captivate the audience as much as in her first round, when no one knew her dowdy looks masked a soaring, evocative voice.

Germany's finance minister says a high-level meeting in Berlin has approved a plan for Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc to move ahead with a rescue of General Motor Corp's Opel unit. Peer Steinbrueck says the agreement was reached early on Saturday. The agreement will see Opel put under the care of a trustee later on Saturday. The two companies were earlier presenting their plan to senior German officials and representatives of the US Treasury to win their support and ensure the release of 1.5 billion euros in financing that Opel desperately needs to survive over the coming months. 'We are seeing progress,' the official said, requesting anonymity. Sources at GM and Magna also said the talks were going well. An agreement between GM and Magna is a first step toward securing the future of Ruesselsheim-based Opel, which has been under GM's control for the past 80 years and traces its roots in Germany back to the 19th century.
The German government has been scrambling to safeguard Opel's future before GM files for bankruptcy, a step which is expected to come by Monday. A first round of talks collapsed amid mutual recriminations on Thursday morning, prompting Berlin to set a new round of negotiations for Friday. Italian carmaker Fiat, Magna's main rival in the battle for Opel, pulled out of talks, leaving the door open for Magna, a company that was started by Austrian emigre Frank Stronach in a Toronto garage nearly half a century ago. Magna plans to use Opel to push into Russia, Europe's fastest-growing car market before the economic crisis hit. The company, which has 70,000 employees in 25 countries, supplies components and systems to many of the world's leading carmakers, including fuel tanks and radiator grilles for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and fuel filters for the BMW

Police went into a school in Bintulu town in northern Sarawak to arrest two 14-year-olds suspected of raping a 13-year-old student from the same school. The Form Two students were arrested on Friday following a police report lodged by the Form One girl. The alleged rape was said to have occurred during school hours inside the compound of the school on Thursday. 'We have placed the two suspects under arrest pending further investigations,' said Bintulu Police Chief Supt Sulaiman Abdul Razak.
'We have also referred the girl to the hospital for a medical examination. I cannot reveal more details for now,' he said. It is believed that in her report, the girl said she was attacked by the two boys while she was walking around the school. She claimed the two teenagers had dragged her into an isolated place behind the main office building and school block, where they took turns to rape her. Wow! I thnik the schoolboys have watched too much shows on "raping"...

Embattled former President Roh Moo Hyun - a reformist shamed by a corruption scandal that tarnished his image as a 'clean' politician - jumped to his death while hiking in the mountains behind his rural home in South Korea, his lawyer said. He was 62. Mr Roh was hiking in Bongha village when he threw himself off a steep cliff around 6.40am on Saturday, lawyer Moon Jae In told reporters in the southern city of Busan. He said Mr Roh left a suicide note. Mr Roh was taken to Busan National University Hospital, where he was declared dead several hours later. A self-taught lawyer who lifted himself out of poverty to reach the nation's highest office, Mr Roh prided himself on his clean record in a country with a long history of corruption. He served as president from 2003 to 2008. But he and his family have been ensnared in recent weeks in a burgeoning bribery scandal. The suicide - the first by a South Korean president - stunned the nation. South Koreans nationwide huddled around TV screens watching news broadcasts.
President Lee Myung Bak said Mr Roh's 'sad and tragic' death was 'truly hard to believe', spokesman Lee Dong Kwan said.
Mr Roh, who after leaving office moved to Gimhae, some 280 miles (450km) south of Seoul, had gone for a walk in the mountains behind his house. He was accompanied by a security guard, Busan police said. Part way up, Mr Roh hurled himself off a 100-foot (30-metre) -high cliff known as Owl's Rock, the Yonhap news agency said. Police said they were still investigating the circumstances of Mr Roh's death. Later on Saturday, Mr Roh's coffin, draped in dark red, was taken into his home as his children, sobbing, followed the casket to the village community centre. Mr Roh is survived by his wife, Kwon Yang Sook, son Roh Gun Ho and daughter Roh Jeong Yeon. Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.

German President Horst Koehler won a second five-year term on Saturday, a victory that gave a symbolic boost to Chancellor Angela Merkel's hopes of forming a centre-right government after a national election this September. Mr Koehler, a former International Monetary Fund head and a member of Ms Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, secured the required majority by a single vote in the first round of voting by a special parliamentary assembly. That was enough to see off a challenge from centre-left Social Democrat Gesine Schwan, who was bidding to become Germany's first female president - a largely ceremonial job. The popular 66-year-old won 613 votes in the 1,224-member parliamentary assembly, made up of lower-house lawmakers and delegates nominated by state legislatures. Ms Schwan, who had hoped to force further rounds of voting, won 503. The presidency is supposed to be above the political fray and carries little real power, but Ms Schwan's challenge shook up the usually genteel election process and raised doubt over Mr Koehler's re-election.
The vote came before Ms Merkel and Social Democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier, her foreign minister, face off in a Sept 27 national election in which both hope to end their tense 'grand coalition' of Germany's biggest parties. As opposition leader, Ms Merkel installed Mr Koehler in 2004 with the help of the pro-business Free Democrats, her preferred future coalition partner. They backed Mr Koehler's re-election, along with a smaller centre-right group. Ms Merkel and the Free Democrats' leader, Guido Westerwelle, appeared together to congratulate Mr Koehler. 'Every election has its own dynamics, but it is no secret that we are working to achieve a majority together,' Ms Merkel told reporters. 'Today we achieved what we wanted together.' Senior conservative ally Horst Seehofer described the outcome as 'a clear signal' for a centre-right victory later this year. Still, Ms Merkel failed to secure such a victory in 2005, a year after Mr Koehler was first elected. Mr Koehler himself said he was 'looking forward to the next five years.' He said Germany has 'a lot of work ahead of us' to emerge from the global crisis that has hit its export-driven economy hard, 'but we will make it'.

A royal chauffeur allowed two undercover journalists into Buckingham Palace for cash and let one of them sit in Queen Elizabeth II's Bentley car, a newspaper reported on Saturday. The News of the World tabloid said the security breach took place after two of its journalists, posing as wealthy businessmen from the Middle East, paid a chauffeur 1,000 pounds (S$2,300). The Bentley is used to drive the queen on state occasions. A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said: 'Any security matter is taken very seriously and we will look into these allegations. 'London's Metropolitan Police also said they were worried by the report, which featured in early editions of Sunday's News of the World. 'We are naturally concerned about the issues raised by this story and are liaising with palace officials about their staff security arrangements,' Scotland Yard said in a statement.
The apparent breach would not be the first time security at Buckingham Palace and other royal palaces has been violated in recent years. In 2003, a journalist from the Daily Mirror newspaper got a job as a footman at the queen's London residence with a false reference. This allowed him access to the queen's breakfast table and the bedroom where then US president George W. Bush and his wife were due to stay on an imminent state visit. At Windsor Palace - the queen's favourite home, just west of London - two journalists from the Sun newspaper claimed to have smuggled a fake bomb past security days before the wedding of Prince Charles and wife Camilla in the town in 2004. And in 2003, Aaron Barschak, a comedian dressed as Osama Bin Laden, gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party at Windsor. It is not known whether Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip were at Buckingham Palace when the latest apparent breach took place.

Japan health officials said swine flu has infected 200 people in the country, even as the government shut down schools and cancelled community events in affected cities. Australia reported two confirmed cases, while Taiwan reported its first confirm case - a foreign national who arrived in Tao Yuan.-CDC says 47 US states and District of Columbia have combined 5,469 confirmed and probable cases. Most probable cases are eventually confirmed. The outbreak has switched from one initially linked to schools or travellers to one with true community-wide spread in much of the country, said CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat. Twenty-two states are reporting widespread or regional flu activity, particularly in the Southwest and Midwest. Health officials say Missouri man with swine flu has died, and testing is under way to determine if the disease caused his death.
New York City health department says it's investigating death of a 16-month-old boy as possible case of swine flu. WHO says drug manufacturers won't be able to start making a vaccine until mid-July at the earliest. The virus isn't growing very fast in laboratories, making it difficult for scientists to get a key vaccine ingredient. WHO urges drugmakers to reserve some of their vaccine for poor countries, asking them to donate at least 10 percent of their production or offer reduced prices for countries that could otherwise be left without vaccines if there is a sudden surge in demand. Japan says it will phase out airport quarantine checks after 41 more swine cases were confirmed in the port city of Kobe and nearby Osaka. A total of 176 cases have been confirmed in Japan, making it the world's fourth-most infected country.

National rugby coach Danny Tauroa has called on his men to stand up and be counted in today's crunch match against Hong Kong. The Lions must win their Asian Five Nations encounter at the Hong Kong Football Club ground if they hope to retain their place among the continent's elite.
Disappointed by the narrow 19-22 loss to Kazakhstan last Saturday, when his men were leading at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium until 10 minutes from time, Tauroa has called on them to be 'ruthless' and minimise mistakes today. After opening their campaign with a 0-65 loss to South Korea last month, the Lions were let down by basic errors against Kazakhstan.
The losses have left them bottom of the five-team table and on the brink of relegation, as the last-placed side will drop to Division One.
A win may not be enough though. With an intimidating encounter looming against powerhouses Japan at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium next Saturday, the Republic must win tomorrow's game and need Hong Kong to lose in Kazakhstan next week, on top of that, to avoid the drop. Tauroa is not worrying about Japan though, as he keeps his team fully focused on today's task. Having studied videos of their opponents' matches, he highlighted their forwards as a possible weakness. He said: 'They have looked a bit lazy in the ruck and sit in their defence too much. We've worked on our scrums this week and will look to be aggressive from the start, running the ball at them as often as possible.'

The newest 'local international' school here has seen enrolment boom since it first began accepting students two years ago. In fact, St Joseph's Institution (International) now has about 40 expatriate children on the waiting list for its primary section, which has filled all its 320 places for the new academic year beginning in August, said principal Andrew Bennett at the school's official opening on Friday. The success of SJI (International) mirrors that of the two other similar schools here - ACS International and Hwa Chong International, both of which opened in 2005 and have seen enrolment grow five or six times since then. On Friday, the chairman of the SJI (International) board, Mr Lawrence Da Silva, retraced the school's successful arc since it first began accepting students in 2007.
Its pioneer batch had just 112 students, and this has grown to 725, all of whom are enrolled in the school's 12-year programme, which leads up to the International Baccalaureate.
Demand is so strong that the school, in Thomson Road, expects enrolment to grow to 1,000 by next January. In his speech at the event on Friday, guest-of-honour Dr Tony Tan, a patron of the SJI International Leadership Council, a group of old boys who raised funds and helped set up the school, pointed to one factor in its success. Dr Tan, an old boy of SJI himself, said the school's Lasallian mission provides for a unique learning environment. This mission aims to provide students with the skills and knowledge to lead productive lives, while inculcating sound moral values wthin the context of Singapore's multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-cultural society.

The hipster shopping scene is getting hotter. At least 50 retail stores at two locations are set to open this year to cater to the young adult crowd. Relatively unburdened by mortgages, kids and retirement concerns, this group is still thronging the malls. One of the new locations is at Ngee Ann City, where the space that housed the former Sparks disco will be turned into a chic lifestyle cluster called the Eighth Floor at the end of the year. Next month, a new retail enclave with a concept of small stalls called The Ramp will woo shoppers at the new Orchard Central mall. It is called The Ramp because stalls will be located on the connecting ramps of the fifth and sixth floors. The new shopping locations add to other established locations in town targeting the youth dollar.
They include the first on the scene, the Level 4 and Level 5 enclave at The Heeren Shops. Both levels (formerly The Annex) are known for their indie and cult fashion retailers such as the multi-label Queen's Couture and target young adults aged 19 to 35. Then came the street-themed LevelOne at Far East Plaza followed by LevelOne@Central shopping mall near Clarke Quay.

A 29-year-old paedophile who sexually abused a six-year-old boy in a library toilet was sentenced on Friday by the High Court to 12 years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane, the mandatory minimum number for the offence. Chan Kok Weng had regularly sought out little boys from the time he was a Secondary 2 student, said a psychiatrist from the Insitute of Mental Health (IMH), testifying on whether Chan's paedophilia could be successfully treated.
On Thursday, the boyish-looking delivery driver pleaded guilty to one charge of performing oral sex on a six-year-old boy inside a cubicle in the men's toilet at Yishun Community Library. He was caught on the spot after the boy's mother, who was waiting outside, was told by her son what had happened and sought help from library staff. The incident happened on April 27 last year. It is not known how many children he preyed on. During his two-week remand at the IMH after he was charged in court, Chan told Dr Stephen Phang that since he was a teenager, he had sought out young boys and performed oral sex on them.
Chan told the psychiatrist that he himself had been exploited this way by an older schoolmate when he was in Primary 1. He said he always went for boys younger than 10 years old 'because it's the easiest target'. After spotting a 'target' and making sure he was not accompanied by an adult, he would plan his move. Chan told the psychiatrist that he found his actions enjoyable and did not think that he caused harm to the children. Dr Phang concluded that Chan was a paedophile who was only interested in boys. Chan once had a girlfriend but admitted this was just a 'cover-up'. In his report to the court, the psychiatrist stressed that Chan - who has been in custody since his arrest - represented a real danger to potential victims, who he selected at random.

A year-old story on the California Supreme Court's decision to overturn the state's gay marriage ban got the blogosphere buzzing on Friday. A Web version of the Los Angeles Times story on the justices' May 15, 2008, ruling was misread by some inattentive bloggers, who apparently didn't notice the exact date of the article. Postings began showing up on the social networking site Twitter and celebrity gossip blog PerezHilton.com, saying the Supreme Court had issued a new decision in the case. Since last year's decision, California voters have passed Proposition 8, which makes gay marriage once again illegal. That is being challenged in court and a ruling is expected soon. Hilton jumped on Friday's buzz, writing a post titled 'Gays Can Marry in California!!!!' He later issued an apology, saying that he misread the Times' old story.
According to a blog on the Times site, a Web producer there noticed the Internet traffic and meant to clarify that the story was a year old, but instead sent out an incorrect headline on the Times' own Twitter feed that further fanned the misinformation. The Times has since labelled the story as 'archive' and posted on Twitter that the story 'does not reflect any new news.'

The normally sombre Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng allowed himself a slight show of emotion yesterday when he recounted how his friends congratulated him after they read reports about Mas Selamat being captured in Malaysia. 'I am happy, I am sure Singaporeans are also happy.'I received many SMSes this morning congratulating ISD (Internal Security Department) for the capture. 'I also met friends at my club this morning; they also congratulated me,' said Mr Wong. Mr Wong, who is also Home Affairs Minister, was addressing a press conference on the capture of the Jemaah Islamiah leader by the Malaysian authorities on April 1. His capture ends 14 months of anxiety for the Home Affairs Ministry, which came under severe pressure and public criticism after the dramatic escape from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27 last year.
The escape led to a massive manhunt, strict border checks and hours of grilling in Parliament for Mr Wong. Yesterday, a visibly happy Mr Wong said Singapore was told of Mas Selamat's arrest by the Malaysian authorities 'soon after' April 1. When he received the news, he immediately called Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The PM's reaction: 'Well, it's good we finally got him.'
Mr Wong had words of praise for ISD staff, noting the teamwork and camaraderie that enabled them to continue functioning.

Mas Selamat Kastari, one of the region's most wanted terrorists, was nabbed while he was asleep in a secluded kampung house in Skudai, Johor, The Star reported on Saturday.
He could barely put up a struggle in his shorts and T-shirt when he was caught during a dawn raid on April 1.The Jemaah Islamiah leader of the Singapore chapter, who had a S$1 million bounty on his head, had been living the life of a simple villager, without arousing the suspicions of residents there,said The Star. Skudai, 25 km north-west of Johor Baru and near Senai Airport, is a sprawling working-class town in Johor that many Singaporeans frequent for its giant supermarket. Malaysia's official news agency Bernama, quoting a Special Branch source, said Mas Selamat has relatives in Skudai.
About 15 km away from the town, across the North-South highway, is Ulu Tiram, another small town but notorious for being a breeding ground for Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists. The Star said Malaysian Special Branch officers had been working on various leads since March and, upon confirming his whereabouts, planned the dawn raid that resulted in his arrest. Malaysia's Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan Musa on Friday said the arrest was made possible as police in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia had been sharing intelligence reports over the past year. 'We have been in contact with our international counterparts who were informed about the arrest as well as what we have gathered from Mas Selamat since his arrest last month. Our officers are still investigating his activities and networking,' he said at a press conference. Mas Selamat has been on the run since he escaped a maximum security detention centre in Whitley Road on Feb 27 last year, by climbing out through a toilet window, and eluded a massive manhunt launched by Singapore authorities. He fled to the northern part of Singapore before swimming across to Johor.

Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari was plotting attacks on Singapore at the time he was captured in Johor on April 1. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak disclosed this to Malaysian media yesterday, hours after Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told local media the JI leader escaped Singapore by swimming across the narrow stretch of water that separates Singapore from Johor, with the help of an 'improvised flotation device'. Datuk Seri Najib told Malaysian reporters: 'We apprehended him here (in Malaysia), his main focus at the time was Singapore. He was planning a lot of things in Singapore.' He did not provide details, but said he had 'mentioned this' to Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong when they met in Pattaya, Thailand, on April 10-11 for the Asean summit that was eventually aborted because of protests.
Mr Lee was 'very happy and grateful that Malaysia has succeeded in apprehending Mas Selamat', said Mr Najib. Mas Selamat, leader of a group of Singaporean JI members, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27 last year. He was captured in Johor on April 1, according to regional intelligence sources The Straits Times spoke to. This was confirmed by Mr Wong at a press conference in Singapore yesterday, the same day The Straits Times broke the news of the capture. Mr Wong said that as far as the authorities know, no local JI network was involved in aiding Mas Selamat's dash from Whitley to Singapore's northern shore. Mr Wong, who is also Home Affairs Minister, said the Singapore Government did not inform the public of the capture earlier because doing so could jeopardise operational secrecy and perhaps even endanger sources of information.

The re-arrest of Mas Selamat Kastari in Johor, where he sought shelter while on the run, vindicates the Singapore Muslim community's stand that they have no sympathy for those who plot violence in the name of Islam, several leaders of the community said on Saturday. After the Jemaah Islamiah regional leader escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre in February last year, there was suspicion among some that he might be harboured by sympathisers here.Mr Abdul Mutalif Hashim, the chairman of the Darussalam Mosque in Clementi, said that for as long as he was on the run, some suspicion lingered over Muslims here. 'I feel very relieved now, as that assumption did not help race relations,' he said. Mr Masagos Zulkifli, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs and Education, stressed that the Malay-Muslim community was just as alarmed as other Singaporeans were over Mas Selamat's escape. 'Now that Mas Selamat has been caught, a sense of relief is as much felt by the Malay community as by the community at large. 'This reflects the fact that the Malay-Muslim community is mature and rational and understands that whatever threatens the nation is also a threat to them, and therefore, we are as single-minded about how we need to address and look at the threat of terrorism,' he said.

Two men and a woman employed by a Canadian mining company were jailed for 20 years each for forcing a 13-year-old girl to have sex with a dog, Tanzanian court officials said on Wednesday. Magistrate Gadiel Mariki passed sentence on Tuesday on the trio after finding them guilty of 'forcing a girl to have sex with a dog' in the northern city of Mwanza in March 2008, an official told AFP by phone from the Lake Victoria city. Job Mlama, 30, Anicet Edward, 30, and Shija Madata, 18, were employed by Canadian mining exploration company, Barrick Exploration Africa Limited (BEAL) at Mwanza, some 800 kilometres north of the capital Dar es Salaam.
They were sacked from their jobs shortly after the incident.
In his judgement, Judge Mariki said the trio lured the schoolgirl into the BEAL workers' campsite, and convinced her to spend the night there before forcing her into bestiality. The court ordered that the dog, owned by one of the expatriates at BEAL, be turned over to the police, Human rights activists condemned the sentence as too lenient. 'These people deserved the death penalty or a life term. It is a horrible, despicable offence,' said Ichikaeli Maro, the former head of a women's rights group. 'They deserved a punishment that should be a lesson to others with such a habit,' said Rehema Kerefu, director of the Tanzania Women's Legal Aid Committee.