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As above.. if not how do we find out used car history here in sg?

R.I.P. http://news.asiaone.com/news/showbiz/fast-and-furious-star-paul-walker-40-dies-car-crash-reports From AsiaOne: Fast And Furious star Paul Walker, 40, dies in car crash: Reports AsiaOne Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 Fast and Furious star Paul Walker has died in a car accident, online site TMZ reported on Sunday (Saturday, Los Angeles time). He was 40 years old at the time of death, the report said. According to the report, the actor was riding in a Porsche when it crashed and burst into flames. ABC news later confirmed Walker's death after it received an email from his media representative. The representative said: "Sadly I must confirm that Paul did pass away this afternoon," ABC reported in an online article. An update posted on Paul Walker's official Facebook page said that he was on his way to a charity event with his friend when the accident occurred. The message said: "It is with a truly heavy heart that we must confirm that Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident while attending a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide. He was a passenger in a friend's car, in which both lost their lives. We appreciate your patience as we too are stunned and saddened beyond belief by this news. Thank you for keeping his family and friends in your prayers during this very difficult time. We will do our best to keep you apprised on where to send condolences." Besides acting as Brian O'Conner in the Fast and Furious franchise, Paul Walker previously starred in other hit movies including Pleasantville and Varsity Blues.

SYDNEY—BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s No. 1 miner by market value, recorded its worst-ever annual loss as US$7.7 billion in charges exacerbated a deep slump in commodity prices. Melbourne, Australia-based BHP reported a net loss of $6.39 billion for the 12 months through June, compared with a year-earlier net profit of $1.91 billion. Underlying profit, stripping out one-time charges, slumped 81% to $1.22 billion. HEARD ON THE STREET Heard on the Street: BHP Billiton Mines Cash for Uncertain Future As recently as 2011, annual profits topped $20 billion. The loss deepens the gloom in the global mining sector, which has responded to global economic uncertainty and low prices for commodities from copper to iron ore by closing mines, laying off workers and slashing returns for investors. BHP’s earnings also took hits from problems not shared by many of its mining peers: a deadly disaster at an iron-ore mine in Brazil and weak oil and natural-gas markets. Those enormous charges were largely against the Brazilian venture and U.S. onshore energy assets—$2.2 billion and $4.9 billion, respectively. BHP’s petroleum business, intended to help it through bad times in metals markets, lost $7.72 billion after its write-downs. BHP Billiton’s annual loss was the first at group level since it was formed in 2001 through a merger of Australia’s BHP Ltd. and U.K.-based Billiton PLC. Prior to that, BHP last posted a full-year loss in 1999, also a time of weak prices. ENLARGE “We are clearly very disappointed with this result. However the underlying performance of our business... remains and is getting stronger,” Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said. The company, which in February abandoned a policy of stable or rising capital returns, cut its final dividend by 77%. Still, at 14 U.S. cents a share, it was higher than the 8-cent minimum required under its policy, which BHP said reflected confidence in the health of its balance sheet. BHP didn’t signal a recovery in commodity prices was imminent, instead saying that abundant supplies of crude oil and metals such as copper are likely to persist. Also, it sees the economy of China—top consumer of most of BHP’s commodities, including iron ore—as merely stabilizing rather than rebounding. Advertisement In response, BHP said it continues to seek $2.2 billion in savings over the two years ending next June by making its operations more productive, while cautiously advancing new projects such as a U.S. Gulf of Mexico deep-water oil field that can boost revenue. “We are starting to open up at long last a decent margin and therefore strong cash-generating capacity,” Mr. Mackenzie said. The company’s London-listed shares were up 3.5% in midday trading, helped by forecasts BHP could double free cash flow in the year ahead if commodity prices remain stable. Last year, BHP shifted assets in several niche commodities such as manganese and alumina into a new company called South32 Ltd. that was listed in Australia, London and South Africa. Mr. Mackenzie has justified the overhaul—one of the biggest attempted by global miners in the current downturn—as a way to boost BHP’s profits by focusing only on its biggest assets. The strategy hasn’t paid off yet: While South32 shares are up by a quarter over the past year, BHP’s are down 20%. Mr. Mackenzie insists BHP would be worse off now if it hadn’t restructured, and calls the company’s current portfolio “pretty close to what I would say is ideal for BHP Billiton right now.” Credit Suisse said the 2016 financial year should be the low point in the cycle for BHP’s earnings, despite global uncertainty that includes China’s economic slowdown and the U.K.’s vote on June 23 to leave the European Union. Other analysts think BHP may also need to set aside more money due to last year’s deadly dam failure at the Brazilian iron-ore mining operation it jointly owns with Vale SA. To be sure, BHP isn’t alone in grappling with tough commodity markets. In July, Anglo American PLC reported a first-half loss of $813 million as it recorded a $1.2 billion impairment for some Australian coal assets. However, BHP’s purchase of energy assets near the peak of oil and gas prices have compounded its mining woes. The company plowed about $20 billion into U.S.shale assets in 2011, becoming one of the biggest petroleum producers outside of large integrated oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. The oil-price slump has made that unit “a problem child,” Credit Suisse said in an Aug. 9 note. Still, Mr. Mackenzie on Wednesday stood by the energy business for what he called its damping effect on long-range volatility. “Our petroleum business is a better business by being inside a minerals business; our minerals business is a better business by being alongside our petroleum business,” he said.

How accurate is this? http://www.newsday.com/classifieds/cars/consumer-reports-best-and-worst-car-brands-in-2015-include-lexus-mazda-and-toyota-1.10387053

To those driving the small cc models with turbo like Ford's Ecoboost or VW's TSI, do you agree with their report? http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/press...my-entry-2.html

Reports say the tech giant has edged out rivals to buy real time traffic generating app Waze for S$1.6 billion Google is close to buying Waze for US$1.3 billion (S$1.6 billion), an Israeli newspaper reported on Sunday, potentially trumping rival offers for the Israeli mapping start-up. The report on the website of financial newspaper Globes did not cite sources or provide further details. Last month sources told Reuters the Internet search giant was in talks to acquire Waze, while a second Israeli newspaper reported Facebook was willing to pay up to US$1 billion for the firm. Facebook is delving deeper into mobile technology as it tries to expand its user base. According to Forbes, the Facebook deal fell apart after the company insisted on staying in Israel after the social network had requested for it to be relocated to California. The report further said Apple CEO Tim Cook had denied the company had made a bid for Waze. Forbes' report, citing Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, added that the Google deal will keep Waze and its CEO Noam Bardin in Israel for the next three years and allow it to retain its brand and stay independent. Waze is a crowd-sourced, mobile-oriented navigation device for drivers that relies on information provided by its 47 million members to populate its maps. This in turn generates real time traffic information. Mapping services are among the five most-used applications on smartphones and are crucial to engaging and retaining mobile users. The key advantage of owning, rather than licensing, a mapping service is that it allows the product to be personalised for users. Officials at Waze were not reachable for immediate comment. Source: http://www.todayonline.com/tech/google-clo...pp-waze-reports

Bloomberg reports Anti Foreign Sentiment in SG - Global News now -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ferrari Deaths Fuel Anti-Foreigner Anger Before Singapore Poll 2012-05-25 01:24:53.256 GMT By Shamim Adam and Andrea Tan May 25 (Bloomberg) -- At 4.09 a.m. on May 12, Chinese national Ma Chi sped through a Singapore stop light in his $1.4 million Ferrari 599 GTO and slammed into a taxi, killing himself and two others and sparking a wave of anti-foreigner sentiment. The crash, caught on camera by another cab and viewed more than 7 million times on the Internet, prompted ministers to try to defuse public anger over immigration policies and the rising wealth gap that caused the ruling party

Singaporeans will rather give up $1.2m than lose computer privacy AsiaOne Wednesday, Apr 04, 2012 http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/...404-337795.html What is glaring is that .... when discussing "What Singaporeans do online" nowhere in this report does it say that looking at porn is one of those acivities - and yet porn is the biggest industry on the Internet. So ... the survey and the report are simply not reporting the whole truth!

Big boo boo... Very interesting that the evening chinese news reported them denying the under reporting was for the GE. From CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1154849/1/.html CNB reports error in drug arrests By S Ramesh | Posted: 22 September 2011 1831 hrs

There's no greater cardinal sin in the automotive world than completely replacing a highly successful model with an inferior machine. According to Consumer Reports, that's precisely what happened with the 2012 Honda Civic. Says David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports' Auto Test Center: "While other models like the Hyundai Elantra have gotten better after being redesigned, the Civic has dropped so much that now it ranks near the bottom of its category." Just how far has the Civic fallen from CR's grace? The 2012 model's 61 points is a precipitous 17-point drop from the 2011 model's score of 78. That discrepancy is enough to force the Civic out of CR's Recommended list of automobiles. The only small sedan to score lower than the Civic is the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta, which has also been widely accused of too-obvious cost cutting compared to its predecessor. Many of the Honda Civic's fiercest competitors, on the other hand, scored very well in CR's latest round of compact car tests. The aforementioned and recently redesigned 2011 Hyundai Elantra earned the top spot overall, followed closely by the 2012 Ford Focus, 2011 Chevrolet Cruze and 2011 Kia Forte hatchback. Also performing adequately but no longer considered class-leading are the Toyota Corolla, Nissan Sentra and Mazda3. http://maintenance.autoblog.com/2011/08/01...nsumer-reports/

(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp reported a record quarterly loss of $8.8 billion as persistent mortgage problems and low interest rates squeezed revenue at the largest U.S. bank. The loss was expected after the bank said in June it would pay $8.5 billion to settle lawsuits from mortgage bond investors and take more than $14 billion of other home loan-related charges. But investors were troubled by indications that a tepid economy is retarding recovery outside of mortgages. Interest income fell during the quarter, and Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said in a conference call that demand for loans is sluggish and the economy is not improving quickly. Shares of the bank closed down 1.54 percent at $9.57 on the New York Stock Exchange. Some of Bank of America's businesses, like credit cards, experienced rising profits and loan growth during the quarter. "It's a tale of two cities," said Jason Ware, equity analyst at Albion Financial Group. "You have one that looks like it's starting to make money, and then you have this mortgage business that is still throwing off pretty large losses." He and other analysts also said Bank of America is not likely to raise its skinny penny-a-share dividend until at least 2012. One negative sign for the bank is that its loan book shrank, even as many rivals experienced loan growth. Also pressing profits is lending margins, which are shrinking as the longer-term rates at which banks can lend are falling relative to the short-term rates at which banks borrow. At Bank of America, these factors translated to a 13 percent decline in interest income and a sizable 0.17 percentage point decline in lending margins from the first quarter. On a conference call, Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson said the bank was "pretty close" to the trough for net interest income, if it was not there already. JPMorgan Chase & Co reported a similar shrinking in its lending margins last week, which pressured the shares of many regional lenders. Wells Fargo & Co said on Tuesday that its margins shrank less. Analysts had expected rising interest rate margins to fuel higher bank earnings next year. For the second quarter, Bank of America reported a net loss of $8.8 billion, or 90 cents per share, compared with net income of $3.1 billion, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average expected a loss of 90 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. On June 29, the bank said it would take big one-time charges in the quarter related to a settlement with private investors who demanded the bank repurchase toxic home loans held in mortgage-backed securities. The settlement underscores the pain caused by the purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp in July 2008 by former CEO Kenneth Lewis, as the financial crisis was intensifying. The $4 billion deal saddled the bank with billions in toxic mortgages. Most of the loans related to the $8.5 billion settlement were from Countrywide. Bank of America received $45 billion in aid through two U.S. government bailouts during the financial crisis, which it subsequently repaid. Excluding the charges, the bank earned $3.7 billion, or 33 cents per share, in the second quarter. "It's a slow grind for them," said David Hendler, senior analyst at CreditSights in New York. CARDS, INVESTMENT BANKING IMPROVE The results highlight that many of the bank's business units, most notably its credit card and investment banking units, are becoming more profitable. Global card services reported income of $2 billion, up from $826 million a year ago. Global banking and markets income rose to $1.6 billion from $1 billion. BofA's investment bank reported fixed income results increased to $2.6 billion in the quarter, up from $2.2 billion a year prior, but down from $3.6 billion in first quarter 2011. BofA's year-over-year increase in bond trading stood in contrast to Goldman Sachs Group Inc's 53 percent decline in bond trading revenues, a surprise for what was once the largest Wall Street bond trading house. Bank of America's consumer real estate services unit lost $14.2 billion in the quarter, continuing a series of losses for the business dating back to the 2008 financial crisis. Overall, revenue tumbled 54 percent to $13.5 billion because of a provision taken as part of the mortgage settlement. Excluding that, revenue was $26.5 billion. Like its peers, including JPMorgan and Citigroup Inc, Bank of America reported improving credit quality as loan losses declined. At Bank of America, net charge-offs -- loans the bank is writing off -- declined for the fifth straight quarter and the bank lowered its loan loss provision. Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve denied permission for Bank of America to raise its dividend later this year. The Fed's denial, paired with mortgage woes and a weaker U.S. economy, have pushed shares down 27 percent this year. Albion's Ware said BofA's shares -- now trading at roughly half their book value -- are not attractive to many investors because of the uncertainties surrounding the bank's mortgage woes. "From a pure price perspective, you would think it's a bargain, but there's just so many red flags right now," Ware said. (Editing by John Wallace, Robert MacMillan, Andre Grenon and Phil Berlowitz)

In the papers this morning. I have been considering this car, any comments from current owners?

20. "I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary than I thought." 19. "I pulled into a lay-by with smoke coming from under the bonnet. I realised the car was on fire so took my dog and smothered it with a blanket." 18. Q: Could either driver have done anything to avoid the accident? A: Travelled by bus? 17. A Norwich Union customer collided with a cow. The questions and answers on the claim form were: Q - What warning was given by you? A - Horn Q - What warning was given by the other party? A - Moo 16. "I had one eye on a parked car, another on approaching lorries, and another on the woman behind". 15. "Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have." 14. "I thought my window was down, but I found out it wasn't when I put my head through it". 13. "A pedestrian hit me and went under my car". 12. "The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him." 11. "In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole." 10. "I had been shopping for plans all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection a hedge sprang up obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car." 9. "I was on my way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident. 8. "To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front I struck the pedestrian." 7. "An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished." 6. "The pedestrian had no idea which way to run, so I ran over him." 5. "I saw a slow-moving, sad faced old gentleman, as he bounced off the roof of my car" 4. "The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth." 3. "I was thrown from the car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows." 2. "I was going at about 70 or 80mph when my girlfriend on the pillion reached over and grabbed my testicles so I lost control." 1. "The car in front hit the pedestrian but he got up so I hit him again."

The days of Flavio Briatore and Renault boss are coming to an end. According to the commentator of motor racing for SporTV, Lito Cavalcanti, Briatore will be fired by the French squad before next Monday for ordering the crash of Nelson Piquet in the Grand Prix in Singapore last year, an act that benefited the Spaniard Fernando Alonso, another driver of the team. No later than Monday, Flavio Briatore should be fired by Renault. Of course, he will receive a note thanking him for good and loyal service. This will avoid the humiliation of being banned from the circus of Formula 1. But the fact is that there is no more doubt that he'll be out of Formula 1 in 2010 - said Lito Cavalcanti. According to the commentator, after the International Automobile Federation (FIA) has offered to award immunity to the whistleblower Nelsinho Piquet and Renault's technical director, Pat Symonds, Briatore was left alone in the middle of the crossfire. The fact is that Briatore is now the only person who is still subject to punishment if Pat Symonds should accept the whistleblower award that is being offered. In fact, he hinted in his testimony that at times he had more to tell than he was being asked but just would not say anything at that moment - the commentator concluded. The leading contender to replace Flavio Briatore is the Frenchman Alain Prost, world champion in Formula 1. Prost's name has been mentioned in several quarters as Briatore's potential successor at Renault, but quite where this leaves Flavio's position at Queens Park Rangers remains to be seen.

http://www.proton.com/public/media/mediace...Report_2009.pdf

Tue, Apr 14, 2009 The Straits Times Uproar over reports of IR jobs going to foreigners By Lim Wei Chean TWO reports circulating on the Internet that half of the 10,000 jobs at Sentosa's upcoming integrated resort (IR) have been set aside for foreigners have created a furore among some Singaporeans. Two publications in the Philippines - the Manila Standard Today and the Philippine Star - on April 4 quoted the country's President Gloria Arroyo as saying she has secured 5,000 positions at the casino-resort - opening next year - for Filipinos. She was quoted as saying she had sent a delegation to Singapore last month to explore job opportunities for Filipino nationals here, and added that Labour Secretary Marianito Roque met Resorts World at Sentosa chief executive officer Tan Hee Teck to talk about opportunities for Filipinos. http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/...414-135113.html

Here

Source from http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNew...ory_343663.html

Lately I've read in the Strait Times Forum that there're Drivers who were involved in accidents and made false reports to claim from the other party or preventing the other party to claim from their insurance companies. Just wondering how many Forumers here experienced such situations or what would you do in such situation? Many thanks in advance.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/autos/...icks/index.html all jap brands?

Any lab reports to show whether SS drop-in has better airflow or a open pod with carbon fiber casing?