The Straits Times

February 13, 2009 Friday

Updated

Straits Times Headlines

Five stations on Circle Line to open in May

SAF to join anti-piracy mission off Somalia

Inside

Tapping China's huge reserves carries risks

View points

COE supply to be slashed by a quarter

Memory chip trader gets 14 years for bank fraud

Layoffs have gathered pace after Chinese New Year

$123m to help smaller firms grow abroad

Bare-chested Aussie fire hero hailed in Parliament

US lawmakers finalise US$789b plan

Businessman and servant convicted of child murder

Russian and US satellites crash in space **

Voting not a mere privilege

LAW Minister K Shanmugam yesterday made clear that the right of Singapore citizens to vote is a Constitutional right and not a mere privilege.

He was responding to a question by Nominated MP and Constitutional law professor Thio Li-ann, who on Thursday had expressed concern that the right to vote was not explicitly set out in the Constitution as a fundamental liberty.

Woman loses exorcism case

THE WOMAN who sued the Novena Church, two priests and six church-goers over what she described as an exorcism, has lost her case.

In a 59-page written judgment released on Friday, the High Court dismissed Madam Amutha Valli Krishnan's claim that the defendants are to blamed for causing her psychological trauma that has left her unable to lead a normal life.

Europe's Friday the 13th

FRANKFURT - A FLURRY of data revealed the dismal contours of Europe's new economic landscape on Friday, with key economies in deep recession, weak growth in previously dynamic eastern states and a disaster zone in the Baltics.

The trend was set by Germany which posted a 2008 fourth-quarter plunge of 2.1 per cent in gross domestic product (GDP), its worst quarterly result in two decades, as exports and business investment buckled under the global crisis.

Stricter S-pass criteria

THE Government will tighten the criteria for semi-skilled foreign workers coming to Singapore.

This will improve the skills and quality of such foreigners working here, said Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong in Parliament on Friday. He did not give details of the move but said that his ministry will brief the industry of the changes.

Fiery crash kills 50

NEW YORK - INVESTIGATORS on Friday began to search for the cause of a commuter plane crash that killed 50 people outside Buffalo, New York, leaving a fiery scene of destruction.

Smouldering jet fuel at the scene held investigative teams at a distance while families agonised over what caused Continental flight 3407 to suddenly crash in Clarence Center late on Thursday after a flight from Newark, New Jersey.