Aware quits sex programme

Aware president Dana Lam told The Sunday Times that it 'has not offered CSE to the MOE' for vetting. --PHOTO: MY PAPER

IN THE latest twist in the long-running saga over sexuality education, the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) says that it will not offer its programme to schools for now.

Called Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), the programme was the subject of a huge controversy last year as it was found to have gone beyond the guidelines set by the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Aware president Dana Lam told The Sunday Times that it 'has not offered CSE to the MOE' for vetting.

She said that the programme has been 'badly misrepresented by a few people who have had no experience with it'.

However, she added: 'We hope that the discussions generated on related issues would mean that other vendors are now more aware of and more prepared to address the real needs of the young.

'We are happy to leave it to them, and to focus our energies on other pressing gender issues that are not receiving sufficient attention now.' These include sexual harassment, violence against women and unfair dismissal of pregnant women.

Black box of Ethiopian jet found

BEIRUT - SEARCH crews have located the black box under parts of the tail of the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last month, Lebanon's transportation minister said on Saturday.

The Boeing 737 crashed Jan. 25 minutes after takeoff from Beirut in a fierce thunderstorm. All 90 people on board died.

Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said the black box has been located at a depth of 150 feet (45 metres) off the coastal village of Naameh just south of Beirut airport. 'Its location has been determined and efforts are under way to find the best means to retrieve it,' he told The Associated Press.

Passenger jets carry two black boxes - a data flight recorder and a cockpit voice recorder. A senior security official involved in the search told The Associated Press that crews received signals indicating the black box's location under water, but it was unclear whether it was the data flight recorder, the cockpit voice recorder, or both.

Mr Aridi said earlier that 'significant parts' of the back end of plane had been found on Saturday. He said Lebanese army divers and search teams were photographing the segments before their retrieval.

The black box is usually located in the rear of a plane, the area most likely to survive a crash intact. Mr Aridi cautioned, however, that retrieving the black box and flight data recorder, which are critical to determining the cause of the crash, was a 'very complicated' and delicate operation that needs time. -- AP

2 planes collide in Colorado

BOULDER (Colorado) - AN AIRPLANE towing a glider and another plane collided in Colorado, sending the two planes crashing into the ground and killing at least three people on Saturday, authorities said.

One of the aircraft clipped the towline of the plane that was pulling the glider, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said. The glider apparently disconnected and landed safely a short time later, according to the FAA.

An amateur video shot at the scene showed a plane tumbling to the ground trailing thick, black smoke and a parachute.

One witness, Christian Sterner, said he saw two big balls of flames, including one attached to a parachute that then fell slowly to the ground.

Other witnesses reported smoldering wreckage in at least three areas on the prairie north of Boulder, which sits at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Aquina Rogers, a worker at a storage facility in the area, said she could see a wing in one of the wreckage fields.

The three dead came from both of the planes that crashed, Boulder County sheriff's office spokesman Rick Brough said. Authorities we're trying to confirm how many people were flying in each of the planes. -- AP

Pakistan mourns after attacks

KARACHI - THOUSANDS of people attended a funeral in Karachi on Saturday for some of those who died in bomb attacks on a bus and then a hospital where casualties were being treated, as the toll reached 33.

Mourners beat their chests and cried out as the bodies of 14 victims were brought to a sports field following Friday's attacks. Live television footage showed men and women clad in black and carrying black flags beating their chests and chanting religious slogans.

'More than 10,000 people attended the funeral of the 14 deceased,' Javed Mehr, a local police official at the ground, told AFP. 'The entire area was sealed off by police and paramilitary rangers to avoid any untoward incident.'

Funerals were also held for five members of a Pakistani Christian family killed in the hospital blast, four of them women. Karachi's roads were mostly deserted, while shops, business centres and educational institutions were closed as the port city mourned.

Police said the bombs were planted on parked motorcycles and detonated by remote control, rather than being suicide attacks. In the first bombing a device planted on a motorcycle went off near a bus carrying people to a procession marking the last day of the Shiite holy month of Muharram. The second bomb killed 13 people outside the casualty department of the Jinnah Hospital, where victims of the first attack were being treated and anxious relatives were gathering.

'According to our preliminary investigation, both the explosions were triggered by remote control,' senior police official Mazhar Mishwani told AFP. -- AFP

Experts back Tuas port idea

YES, go west and make Tuas the new mega port, if a proposal to free the Tanjong Pagar port area for a waterfront makeover gets the green light, experts suggest.

Although the lease at Tanjong Pagar, Keppel and Pulau Brani terminals ends only in 2027, it was a proposal by the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) last week that sparked the buzz among shipping and property analysts.

The ESC had mooted turning Tanjong Pagar into a new waterfront development. It also called for a study on the long-term possibility of consolidating current port facilities at Tuas into a mega container port.

The Tanjong Pagar port area currently boasts an area of 85ha and a quay length of 2.3km.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said that under the Government's Concept Plan review, it will assess the feasibility of a consolidated mega port.

The MPA will take into account its need to achieve best-in-class efficiency and sustain Singapore's long-term competitiveness.

Hun Sen stirs Thai protests

PREAH VIHEAR - CAMBODIAN Premier Hun Sen visited a disputed border area with Thailand yesterday, angering the neighbouring nation amid an ongoing diplomatic spat.

Mr Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany briefly toured the ancient Preah Vihear temple at the centre of the land dispute and met members of the Thai military guarding the area.

He asked the Thais 'to avoid fighting because we are neighbours', but his presence in the area attracted more than 100 protesters on the Thai side of the border.

Thai soldiers had set up a barbed-wire fence at the entrance to the temple national park to prevent people from trespassing on the disputed area, the Bangkok Post said.

Four soldiers were killed in clashes in the temple area in 2008 and three more in a gun battle last April. Smaller flare-ups continue to be reported between troops in the area.

Mr Hun Sen earlier began a tour of the area by opening a school and giving supplies to villagers who had been caught in last April's violence. 'For me, it doesn't matter about compensation,' said Mr Hun Sen, referring to a Cambodian market that was destroyed during the gun battle. 'They (the Thais) have invaded us and look down on us.' -- AFP

$14b deals at Airshow

Workers remove the engine covers on a new Airbus A330-200F cargo plane, only 2 of its kind, undergoing hot weather tests at the moment, Monday Febuary 1, 2010, in Singapore, a day before the start of the Singapore Airshow 2010, Asia's largest aerospace and defense exhibition. -- PHOTO: AP

SINGAPORE Airshow 2010 shut its doors to trade visitors on Friday with about US$10 billion (S$14.1 billion) in deals sewn up - not a bad haul given the tough times, industry watchers say.

During the last air show, held here two years ago during an industry boom, total deals came to about US$13 billion.

This time, there were no aircraft orders or announcements.

Only low-cost carrier Hong Kong Airlines signed an agreement with Airbus for the purchase of six A330-200 aircraft worth a total of US$1.15 billion.

Most of the deals in the commercial aviation arena were for engines and other parts, plus service and maintenance contracts.

The single biggest contract was a US$3.5 billion deal between Jetstar Airways and International Aero Engines for engines and aftermarket services.

Obama to be tougher on China

WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT Barack Obama vowed on Wednesday to be 'much tougher' with China on enforcing trade rules, but said the United States would harm itself by rejecting existing commerce agreements with Beijing.

'The approach that we are taking is to try to get much tougher about enforcement of existing rules,' Mr Obama said, at a meeting with Senate Democrats in Washington.

He said what was needed was 'putting constant pressure on China and other countries to open up their markets in reciprocal ways.

'One of the challenges we have got to address internationally is currency rates, and how they match up to make sure that our goods are not artificially inflated in price and their goods are articifically deflated in price.'

'I would not be in favor of revoking the trade relationships that we have established with China,' Mr Obama said. -- AFP

Fengshui master arrested

HONG KONG- THE fengshui adviser whose bid to claim late tycoon Nina Wang's property empire was ruled fraudulent was arrested yesterday.

Police detained Tony Chan, 50, after more than 10 investigators searched his US$30 million (S$42 million) home in Hong Kong's upmarket Peak district yesterday afternoon.

Mr Chan's wife, Madam Tam Miu-ching, was also taken in for questioning, Ming Pao Daily News reported.

Police spokesman Anne Lam said police arrested Mr Chan in connection with a document forgery case, Associated Press reported. Forgery carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison in Hong Kong.

Ms Lam said officers also took computers and documents from his house.

Television footage showed a police motorcade leaving the three-storey complex where Mr Chan lives, but many of the vehicles were curtained.

American jailed for sex abuse

PHNOM PENH - A CAMBODIAN court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced an American man to one year in prison for sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Chhay Kong found Harvey Alexander Johnson, 57, guilty of committing indecent acts with a 13-year girl.

The court also ordered him to pay US$3,000 (S$4,200) in compensation to the victim's parents and another four million riel (US$1,400) in fines.

Johnson, a private English teacher in the capital of Phnom Penh, was arrested in August in his rented house after police received complaints from the girl accusing him of sexual abuse. Judge Chhay Kong ordered Johnson, from Texas, expelled from the country after he completes his prison sentence.

The same court last on Thursday sentenced another American man, Michael James Dodd of Washington, DC, who is already serving a 10-year prison term for sexually abusing a teenage girl, to three more years in a separate case.

Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign pedophiles because of poverty and corruption in law enforcement. But the country's police and courts have stepped up action against sex offenders in recent years. -- AP

US strike kills 10 militants

MIRANSHAH (Pakistan) - PILOTLESS US drones fired 18 missiles into a Pakistani sanctuary for Al-Qaeda and Taleban on the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing at least 10 militants, residents and security officials said.

The United States has stepped up drone strikes on militant sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border since a a Dec 30 suicide bombing killed seven CIA employees at a US base in the eastern Afghan province of Khost.

The latest drone attack, the 13th this month according to a Reuters tally, was the heaviest ever in terms of the number of missiles fired. The US aircraft targeted several militant compounds in the North Waziristan ethnic Pashtun border region.

'The death toll for now is 10 but it could be more. Fire is still raging where the missiles struck,' a Pakistani security official in the region told Reuters.

Two militant vehicles were also destroyed in the strike on Datta Khel, a village 30 km west of North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah, said another security official who also declined to be identified.

Datta Khel is a stronghold of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a Taleban commander who harbours and sends militants across the border to fight Western forces in Afghanistan.

The United States sees the elimination of militant enclaves in northwest Pakistan as vital for bringing stability to Afghanistan. But the drone strikes are a source of friction with Pakistan even though some leaders of its indigenous Taleban who are battling the state have been killed. -- REUTERS

Content the 'emperor'

WASHINGTON - BUOYED by a box office hit in Avatar and better-than-expected profits, News Corp's Rupert Murdoch predicted a rosy future on Tuesday for content companies such as his media and entertainment giant.

'The debate over the primacy of content is over,' Mr Murdoch told analysts after News Corp. reported a US$254 million (S$356 million) second-quarter net profit compared with a US$6.4 billion loss in the same quarter a year ago.

'The value of content is now clear,' said Mr Murdoch, whose holdings include the Fox television networks, Avatar maker 20th Century Fox, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and newspapers in Australia and Britain. 'Content is not just king. It is the emperor of all things electronic,' the News Corp. hairman and chief executive said. Declaring News Corp 'the world's preeminent content company,' Mr Murdoch said 'devices and platforms are proliferating'.

'But this clever technology is merely an empty vessel without any great content,' he said. 'Without content, the ever larger and flatter screens, the tablets, the e-readers and the increasingly sophisticated mobile phones would be lifeless.' 'Without content these ingenious and wonderful devices would be unloved and unsold,' he said.

Mr Murdoch repeated plans to begin charging online readers of his newspapers. The Wall Street Journal is currently the only major newspaper in the News Corp stable to charge readers a subscription fee. 'We expect to expand to other titles in the coming months,' Mr Murdoch said. 'We'll be charging for online wherever we have publications.'

News Corp, he added, is also holding 'a very substantive conversation with device makers on developing a subscription model that will provide high-quality journalism to consumers whenever and wherever they want it'. -- AFP

S.Korea watching for missiles

SEOUL - SOUTH Korea's military was watching on Tuesday for any North Korean missile tests after the communist state banned shipping from several more coastal zones in its territory.

Pyongyang's move follows a three-day artillery barrage by the North last week that ratcheted up tensions on the Korean peninsula.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed a media report that the North had declared five new 'no sail' zones effective from last Sunday to 8pm (1100 GMT, 7pm Singapore time) on Tuesday.

Last week the North banned shipping from two zones along its disputed west coast sea border with South Korea, which was the scene of bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002. A day later it launched a three-day artillery barrage in which 370 shells landed near the border, triggering a South Korean protest.

'We are closely monitoring North Korea to see if it is conducting short-range missile tests or further artillery fire (in the new zones),' a Joint Chiefs spokesman told AFP. 'There has been no unusual movement yet in the North.'

The new zones include western waters off Kyodong island and off Chulsan and Sunchon counties in North Pyongan province, and eastern waters off Kumya county in South Hamkyong province. Military officials confirmed that the North has tested short-range missiles off Chulsan, Sunchon and Kumya in the past, but did not exclude the possibility of artillery fire there. -- AFP

Obama to travel to Indonesia

WASHINGTON - US PRESIDENT Barack Obama will make what will be an emotional trip with his family to his childhood home of Indonesia in March, and will also visit Australia, the White House announced on Monday.

Mr Obama, who was known as 'Little Barry' when he lived in Jakarta with his mother in the 1960s, said last year in Singapore that he was looking forward to visiting his old haunts in Indonesia.

He was invited to make the trip by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and both sides have said they plan to use Mr Obama's childhood ties to the country to further tighten a crucial pan-Pacific relationship.

'This trip is an important part of the president's continuing effort to broaden and strengthen the partnerships that are necessary to advance our security and prosperity,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Mr Gibbs said that Mr Obama would inaugurate the US-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership during the visit, which is intended to further deepen ties between the two countries.

It is possible he will introduce his wife Michelle and their daughters Malia and Sasha to neighborhoods he knew as a boy and also to some old school friends. Mr Obama's visit will be greeted with massive expectations in Indonesia, and a comprehensive security operation in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Washington took steps last year to dampen speculation and reports in Indonesia, that Mr Obama would visit the country during his first year in office, but made a promise he would make the trip this year. Mr Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia after his divorced mother married an Indonesian and attended a primary school in Jakarta between 1967 and 1971. -- AFP

Monetary policies exit in stages

MANILA - THE Philippine central bank will implement its exit strategy in stages to ensure the economy remains supported and inflation is kept in check, a senior monetary official said at the weekend.

It took its first step to unwind easy monetary policies on Thursday when it raised the rate on a short-term lending facility.

'Implementing the exit strategy does not mean wholesale unwinding of all previous policy changes including rate reduction, RR (reserve requirement) reduction, and infusion of additional liquidity,' deputy central bank governor Diwa Guinigundo told reporters. 'They will be done in stages, driven by actual developments in the market, particularly inflation outlook, the balance of risks and durability of economic growth,' he said.

The central bank increased by 50 basis points the rate on its short-term peso rediscounting facility at a policy meeting on Thursday, joining the likes of the United States, Europe and China in withdrawing measures meant to protect their economies from the fallout of the global downturn. But it kept its benchmark overnight borrowing rate at a record low of 4 per cent for the fifth meeting in a row and signalled it was not in a hurry to raise interest rates with the local economic recovery yet to gain a solid footing. The bank said it was reviewing all other non-rate measures taken to support the economy, including bank reserve requirements which were cut by 2 percentage points to 19 per cent in November 2009.

'Because of the concrete exit strategy to be implemented by the BSP (central bank), investors can be more confident that the ample liquidity we are seeing today in the market is not allowed to persist,' Mr Guinigundo said, adding authorities want to abet higher commodity inflation and asset price inflation as investors search for higher yields.

The central bank raised its forecast for average inflation this year to 4.7 per cent from 4 per cent, still within Manila's 2010 official inflation goal of 3.5-5.5 per cent. -- REUTERS

US$1.6 trillion deficit projected

WASHINGTON- THE White House will predict a record budget deficit in the current fiscal year and more big shortfalls for the next decade in its upcoming budget proposal, a congressional source told Reuters on Sunday.

In its budget proposal to be released on Monday, the White House predicts a record US$1.6 trillion (S$2.25 trillion) budget deficit for the fiscal year that ends Sept 30, the Capitol Hill source said. According to the estimate, deficits will narrow to US$700 billion by fiscal 2013 before gradually rising back to US$1.0 trillion by the end of the decade, the source said.

President Barack Obama will seek to strike a balance between reducing the deficit over the long term and stimulating the economy in the short term to ease the pain of double-digit unemployment.

Criticised by Republicans as a big spender, Mr Obama used his State of the Union address last week to tell Americans he would dig the country out of a 'massive fiscal hole.' That hole is even deeper than previously believed, according to the estimate by the White House's Office of Management and Budget.

The estimate for the current fiscal year is significantly higher than the US$1.35 trillion figure forecast by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office last week.

Despite the difference, both estimates indicate that the deficit will continue to hover at a level not seen since World War Two, when measured as a percentage of the economy. Last year the government posted a US$1.4 trillion deficit. -- THOMSON REUTERS

'There won't be a coup d'etat'

'I don't think there is any reason for a coup d'etat,' Mr Abhisit said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. -- PHOTO: AFP

DAVOS (Switzerland) - THAILAND'S prime minister said on Saturday he saw no threat of his government being ousted in a coup despite speculation back home, insisting that the rule of law would triumph over intimidation.

Abhisit Vejjajiva said in an interview with The Associated Press that any talk of his government being overthrown was linked to the February court decision on whether to confiscate more than US$2 billion (S$2.81 billion) in assets linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and his supporters' attempts to destabilise the country.

'I don't think there is any reason for a coup d'etat,' Mr Abhisit said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. 'This government has been in office for just a little over a year. We have turned the economy around, implementing a number of policies that are reaching out to all sections of the population of Thailand. We are also observing the rule of law.'

Mr Abhisit said political opponents of his royalist party had sufficient rights to freedom of expression, and that there was no need for any political change outside of new elections.

He promised to hold early elections when there were assurances that violence and intimidation tactics would be avoided.

Thaksin's supporters and opponents have repeatedly taken to the streets since he was ousted in a 2006 coup, sparring over who has the right to rule the country. He fled into self-imposed exile in 2008 before a Thai court found him guilty of violating a conflict of interest law and sentenced him to two years in prison. A court will decide next month whether to seize more than US$2 billion in Thaksin's assets. -- AP

Online travel market booming

BEIJING - CHINA'S online tourism market is booming as an increasingly wealthy middle class travels for pleasure and the use of credit cards and the Internet soars, analysts say.

As millions of people pack their bags for Lunar New Year holidays, the busiest travel period of the year, many will have booked their trips home online, according to Chinese Internet research and consulting firm iResearch.

Revenue from online flight, hotel and package tour bookings will hit 4.75 billion yuan (S$979 million) in 2010, up 27 percent from last year, iResearch says, with that figure due to balloon to 9.01 billion yuan by 2013.

'People's lifestyle attitudes have changed and their spending ability has improved and people now view holidays as part of a healthy lifestyle,' the firm said in its latest report on the fast-growing sector.

China's travel industry generated 1.3 trillion yuan in revenue in 2009, up nine percent from 2008, state media reported earlier this month, citing figures from the National Tourism Administration. While a separate figure on overall bookings revenue was not available, China Market Research Group senior analyst Ben Cavender estimated online bookings accounted for 8-10 per cent of the market.

'More and more consumers are turning to the Internet to book trips,' Mr Cavender told AFP, adding he expects online bookings to make up 15-16 per cent of the total within two years. 'Consumers are becoming more and more comfortable with the concept of online purchases... and the use of credit cards has exploded over the last few years.' -- AFP

Taiwan tourism tops Asia

TAIPEI - TOURISM grew in Taiwan faster than anywhere else in Asia last year on the back of an influx of Chinese visitors, a report said on Saturday, quoting a top government official.

Taiwan reported a 14 per cent rise in visitor numbers to 4.395 million in 2009 compared to an average two per cent fall across Asia, the Commercial Times quoted tourism bureau deputy director Hsieh Wei-chun as saying.

The number of Chinese visitors increased nearly 200 percent from the previous year to just under one million people, according to the bureau, after President Ma Ying-jeou in 2008 relaxed restrictions on Chinese tourists.

Ties have improved dramatically since Mr Ma took office, although Beijing still claims the island as part of its territory.

Taiwan aims to attract 4.8 million visitors this year, generating NT$240 billion (S$10.5 billion) in revenue, the report quoted Hsieh as saying.

Tourism officials were not immediately available to confirm the report. -- AFP

Toyota chief apologises

'We're extremely sorry to have made customers feel uneasy,' Akio Toyoda (above) told public broadcaster NHK on the sidelines of the Davos forum in Switzerland. --PHOTO: REUTERS

TOKYO - TOYOTA'S president has apologised for the recall of millions of cars around the world due to faulty accelerator pedals, in a setback that has tarnished the Japanese giant's reputation for quality.

'We're extremely sorry to have made customers feel uneasy,' Akio Toyoda told public broadcaster NHK on the sidelines of the Davos forum in Switzerland, in his first public remarks on the recall since it went global this week.

Toyota was trying to establish the facts behind the problem and give customers an explanation to ease their anxiety, he said.

Toyota pulled up to 1.8 million vehicles in Europe on Friday - the latest in a series of recalls that have affected almost eight million Toyota cars worldwide - more than its entire 2009 global sales of 7.8 million vehicles.

Toyota, which overtook General Motors in 2008 as the top-selling automaker, has been bedevilled by a series of safety issues that have raised questions about whether it sacrificed its legendary quality to become world number one.

Toyota's woes went into overdrive last week when it announced a recall of 2.3 million automobiles in the United States due to the accelerator pedal fears. It is also recalling almost 5.3 million US vehicles to replace floor mats that could trap accelerator pedals. -- AFP