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LTA to test power of new Cat A cars before their sale By Christopher Tan Senior Transport Correspondent BY OCTOBER, the engine power of new Category A cars will have to be tested vigorously before they can be sold here. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said these models will be put on a chassis dynamometer - a "treadmill" for cars - to determine how much power they produce. It will also review technical data supplied by importers and dealers through "independent checks with overseas counterparts" and other resources. The move comes after a new new certificate of entitlement (COE) classification was introduced in February. Besides a 1,600cc cap on engine size, cars in COE Category A must not produce more than 130bhp or 97kW. This was meant to level the playing field for sellers of mass-market cars, who in recent years have been edged out of Category A by luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW. However, as soon as the new criterion was implemented, dealers of premium models began introducing cars with 122bhp to maintain their share of the Category A market. Sources say this is why the LTA is taking steps to ensure cars actually produce the power declared by their manufacturers. Due to the extra procedures, "motor dealers can expect a longer approval period", the LTA told The Straits Times, which understands it will now take up to four months to approve a car - up from four weeks previously. It is the first time the authority has shed light on a backlog of new cars at its inspection centre in Sin Ming Drive. There had been speculation by traders - some of whom have had cars stuck for seven months - that the LTA was planning further changes to the COE system. The authority told motor traders of the new procedures at a meeting yesterday. Many were not thrilled. Mr Ron Lim, general manager of Nissan agent Tan Chong Motor, said: "Together with the time it takes for cars to arrive here, it will take six months to launch a new car. Singapore has always been among the first to launch new models. With this, it's going to be very different." Mr Nicholas Wong, general manager of Honda agent Kah Motor, said: "The COE quota period is now shorter at three months. So if it takes four months before we can launch a car, how do we do our planning?" A trader who did not wish to be named said: "We told them that they should not use a power cap in the first place. But they didn't listen. Now, they're throwing the problem back to us."

Rehired teachers upset over 30 per cent pay cut By Liyana Low | SingaporeScene

si bei high! better than soccer match!!

It was reported in the news.. Shin Ming Daily. A 4 star hotel in city experienced blackout, leading to the calling off of a wedding banquet. To summarise, the hotel experienced power failure at 530pm. Guests started coming at around 630pm, only to discover the wedding banquet was in darkness. Guests nonetheless still sat inside the banquet in darkness. However at 8pm, hotel staff informed the couple that they were unable to restore the electrical power, alternative arrangements were made for them to transfer to another hotel in the vicinity, assuring them that buffet dinner will be made for them. Upon arrival to the alternative hotel, the buffet wasn't ready. Instead, the guests were greeted with toasted bread, as the buffet food wasn't ready. It was only till 10+pm that the buffet was ready, however the food served was equivalent of a normal home buffet, with a budget of $10+/pax... I looked at the photos posted by Shin Ming daily... The buffet food was atrocious, a snapshot of the original hotel banquet venue was printed.. However, i wasn't able to identify the hotel nor the venue.. Does anyone know of the place? The management attributed to a power failure in the generator. The general manager for the hotel was uncontactable as he was overseas, according to Shin Ming.. Accordingly to Shin Ming, the couple had planned for a lavish 10 course Chinese sit down dinner.. any forumers know?

The follwing is an article taken from "my paper" dated 23/1/08. It just goes to show how stupid this lady is. She practically slapped herself on the face. Read the complain letter, paying special attention to the parts highlighted in red and underlined. [/left] From the complain that she wrote, i can only gather that she is greedy and trying to justify her greed. Imagine asking for The Straits Times for her parents who can't speak English. Basically, she just "buay song" the stewardess for not giving her an extra copy of the paper. In my opinion, this lady is the type of person where, no matter how polite you are, she will still be "buay song". Shocked by behaviour of SQ leading stewardess MY PARENTS and I were on flight SQ865 on Jan 13, from Hong Kong to Singapore. The Leading Stewardess was giving out The Straits Times and I requested a copy. I also asked her politely to pass another set of newspapers to my father, who was seated in another row. To my surprise, she told me loudly to share the newspapers since we are one family and that there were still many other passengers waiting to get a copy. Can you imagine how embarrassing it was for me? How would the other passengers think ¡ª that I was greedy? I was just helping my parents as they were seated elsewhere and could not speak English. She could have said something along the line of "I'm sorry Madam, but can you please share if you don't mind as we are running out of newspapers". I was stunned by her rudeness and could only manage a reply of "Okay". Singapore Airlines is supposed to be well-known for its good service, but why was I given that kind of treatment? Was it because I was seated in the Economy class? Ms Tan Ai Ching Serene

You know, everytime I see Schumi win, I'm amazed. No doubt he's flawles, seldom makes mistakes, but luck seems to be on his side everytime. eg. in China, Alonso in the lead had pit-stop cxxk-up costing him 10 seconds or something, then yellow flag came on just about the right time for Schumi's pit stop. And people ahead of him keep falling out due to other reasons like Kimi with engine failure etc etc Or maybe it just seems that way, perfect engine, planning, strategy etc. Makes F1 interesting when so many things affect the outcome, but yet frustrating when you dont want him to win Anyone feels that way ?

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