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Frenchwoman fined $250 for killer litter By Elena Chong By Elena Chong Later, while they were having a heated argument over their relationship, she hurled the items out of her kitchen window in an emotional state. -- WONG KWAI CHOW/THE STRAITS TIMES A FRENCHWOMAN was given the maximum fine of $250 on Thursday for throwing a wooden knife holder containing a chopper and two knives from her kitchen window. Bionda Courbet Sandrine, 39, shed tears of relief after District Judge Jill Tan handed down the fine. The financial adviser had earlier pleaded guilty to hurling the item from the 15th-floor of her Ridgewood Close condominium on Jan 27. It landed on the top level of a carpark. A cleaner heard the sound of the fallen items and called the police. When police came, she admitted that she was responsible for hurling the items out of the window. A court heard that she and her boyfriend returned home that morning after a heavy drinking session. Later, while they were having a heated argument over their relationship, she hurled the items out of her kitchen window in an emotional state. Her lawyer Hamidul Haq said Bionda, divorced with two daughters, threw the items out as she was afraid that her boyfriend would carry out his threat to end his own life. Judge Tan, who ruled out calling for a pre-sentence report sought by the lawyer, felt that this was not a case that called for a jail sentence which can go up to three months in this case. http://www.straitstimes.com.sg/Breaking%2B...ory_268004.html $250.. tat's 1/2 month salary for toylet janitors... so much, really buay tahan, must end up at liverberi temper eat and tah pao everyday. so sad for her!!!

Aug 5, 2008 Toyota lays off 800 line workers at Japan plant TOKYO - JAPANESE automaker Toyota has laid off 800 people at a plant in southwestern Japan, or about 10 per cent of the plant's work force, in response to declining sales in North America, a company official said on Tuesday. All the job cuts - carried out in June and August at Toyota Motor Corp's wholly owned subsidiary Toyota Motor Kyushu - applied to workers sent by job-referral agencies. Japanese companies are increasingly relying on such agencies for temporary workers called 'haken' to be flexible to market demand. Prior to the layoffs, Toyota Motor Kyushu, which makes Lexus luxury models, had employed 8,200 workers - 1,950 of them haken - an official said on condition of anonymity, citing company policy. Many Japanese companies demand individual names be left out of comments to the media even if they are official spokespeople. The official said the job cuts were temporary and 500 haken workers will be brought back later this year. He declined to comment on why they would be needed back, saying product plans can't be released. The shift to temporary workers or haken marks a change for major Japanese companies, including Toyota, which used to encourage corporate loyalty among its ranks by offering lifetime employment. Haken agencies have become booming businesses but have set off a spate of social problems such as poverty and discontent, especially among the young. The trend toward these temporary workers drew alarm in Japan when a disgruntled haken employee at a Toyota affiliate went on stabbing spree in June in a crowded Tokyo shopping district, killing seven and injuring 10. The remarks of Tomohiro Kato, the 25-year-old haken worker, expressing frustrations about job stability and getting treated with no respect, added to the public worries about the trend. Toyota, which employs about 12,000 contract and haken workers, about 15 percent of its 80,000-strong work force in Japan, issued a condolence statement for the crime victims at that time. Toyota has avoided the losses of its US counterparts like General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co But it is projecting its first full-year profit drop in seven years for this fiscal year through March 2009. Toyota reports first fiscal quarter earnings on Thursday. Last month, Toyota lowered its global vehicle sales plan for this year by 350,000 vehicles to 9.5 million vehicles, blaming the sluggish North American market. The pace of Toyota's growth has been slowing to a 1 per cent gain this year in contrast to a 6 per cent climb in 2007. Toyota saw its US vehicle sales plunge 12 per cent in July on year as it struggled to keep up with consumers' growing demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. -- AP http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/...ory_264757.html

Home > ST Forum > Story Dec 6, 2007 Terror ride in cab pursued by repossessor ON TUESDAY I had a terrifying ride in a TransCab taxi. I had just hailed the cab when a car pulled up next to it and the driver demanded that the cabby not pick me up, leading me to suspect that the driver might be a road bully. Fearing for my safety (I was by then in the cab) and that of the cabby, I told him to drive off to avoid any confrontation. The cabby claimed that he did not know who the driver of the car was. Thus began my most terrifying taxi ride. The driver tailgated the cab and the cabby drove hurriedly throughout the journey, trying very hard to shake off his pursuer. At one point, the cab veered dangerously into the path of a filtering bus. The 10-minute journey seemed like the longest taxi ride I ever had. It was frightening to think about what might have happened. A road accident? Or an ugly confrontation - we have heard enough of road bullies, haven't we? It was upsetting to learn later that the pursuer was a repossessor for TransCab and he was chasing after the cabby for payments he had defaulted on. The incident left me exasperated. It made me wonder if the taxi company had any regard for the safety of commuters or, for that matter, the safety of other road users. Was there no other way to recover payment? Were there no guidelines for repossessors, to safeguard the safety of commuters? Sarah Tan Li Choo (Ms) http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Sto...ory_183859.html Quik Quik... .FAQs!!

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/...ory_183335.html Three lawyers suspended for touting after sting operation They were found guilty of offering incentives to a 'housing agent' for property deals' referrals By Selina Lum THREE lawyers who offered incentives to a 'housing agent' for referring property deals to them were suspended from practice for between nine and 15 months on Tuesday. In handing down the penalties to Mrs Phyllis Fong, Ms Lilian Bay and Mr James Liew, the Court of Three Judges - the highest body that decides on disciplinary cases against lawyers - roundly rejected their arguments of entrapment. They were each found guilty by separate disciplinary committees of touting for conveyancing work. Such touting, which involves paying a fee to a real estate agent for referring a client, amounts to misconduct under the Legal Profession Act. The bulk of the evidence against them was obtained by the same part-time private investigator by the name of Jenny Lee. Ms Lee was hired by a PI agency, which in turn was instructed by a group of unidentified lawyers, to carry out a sting operation against fellow law firms, for motives still unclear. Posing as a real estate agent, Ms Lee went to different law firms to obtain evidence that lawyers there were promising rewards for referring legal work to them. Several lawyers were caught in the act - their meetings were secretly recorded by Ms Lee, who then complained to the Law Society. The first lawyer brought before the court was Mr Dave Tan, who pleaded guilty and was suspended for six months last November. Other lawyers, including Mrs Fong, Mr Liew and Ms Bay, fought back. Represented by different counsel, they mounted various arguments. The common defence was that the evidence obtained by Ms Lee should not have been admitted against them. They argued that this was because such evidence was obtained by way of entrapment, which amounted to an abuse of the disciplinary process. They also argued that the identity of the lawyers who had hired the PI should be disclosed. However, these arguments were rejected by by the court, headed by Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, which issued three separate judgments totalling 144 pages. The Court held that entrapment evidence is admissible under Singapore law, whether done by law enforcement officers or by lawyers for the purpose of bringing disciplinary proceedings against errant lawyers. The court also ruled that the entrapment evidence could not be described as an abuse of process if the prosecution was commenced for the purpose of ascertaining whether an accused person was guilty of the offences for which he or she was charged. In Mrs Fong's case, the lawyer of 29 years' standing had offered a $200 shopping voucher to private investigator Jenny Lee in return for bringing her business. Ms Lee had posed as an estate agent and had offered her a conveyancing deal involving a house in Lengkok Mariam. She also recorded their conversation and secretly videotaped their meeting in March 2004. The deal was subsequently aborted, but Ms Lee followed up with a complaint. In its judgment in Phyllis Tan's case, the Court held that entrapment evidence is admissible under Singapore law. Excluding it would be inconsistent with the terms of the Evidence Act, it ruled.

Hairy lift happenings in Shenton Way building I WORKED in the Central Business District in a building with no name (formerly known as Temasek Tower) and now known as 8 Shenton Way. Externally, the building looks all right but what a nightmare most tenants endure when using their supposedly upgraded lift system. The lift system and the lobby were upgraded last year. My office is situated on the 45th floor and there are four lifts serving 40th to the 50th floors. However, despite the upgrading which is supposedly to improve the lift system, breakdown is a daily feature. Sometimes, the situation was so bad that there is only one lift left serving the 10 floors. Besides our company, many other tenants have also written to the landlord, to no avail. I had a hairy experience on Monday evening. My colleague and I took the lift on the 45th floor. It stopped on the 43rd floor and picked up another person. The lift, carrying the three of us, was supposed to bring us down to ground level. But it did not. On the 22nd floor, it stopped after which it began to shake. Suddenly, the lift shot up to the 31st floor and then down again to the 27th floor. On the 27th floor, it froze and shook again and then shot up to the 31st floor. By then, we were so frightened of being stuck in the lift that we stepped out immediately to take another lift. Later, I was told that these things happened often. On Tuesday morning, I experienced another annoying incident. At Basement 1, I pressed the lift for the 45th floor. The lift door closed on me but did not move for five minutes, after which it opened again to announce that it was Basement 1. I switched lift and one of the tenants remarked that it is a common daily happening despite many letters of complaints. I hope that the relevant authorities will step in to 'save' us from the daily hairy and annoying experiences we have to endure at 8 Shenton Way. Chua Kim Gek (Ms) http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Onl...ory_170074.html

Chinese cars gun for European market[/url] For the first time in its long history the Geneva International Motor Show is playing host to a Chinese manufacturer. Brilliance, based in Shenyang, is looking to use the annual event as a springboard for cracking the Swiss and European markets. But are motorists ready to buy a Chinese car? One man who has no doubts is Hans-Ulrich Sachs, chairman and managing director of HSO Motors Europe, which is responsible for setting up a distribution network for Brilliance. He dismisses talk of the poor reliability and poor reputation of Chinese cars as not something that concerns Brilliance. "We have well-proven technology as far as the engine and the gearbox are concerned