Lee Kuan Yew, the architect of modern Singapore and the country's founding father, underwent successful treatment for an abnormal heart rhythm at a local hospital. The 84-year-old minister mentor, under treatment at Singapore General Hospital, is expected to resume his normal duties soon, Channel NewsAsia reported.
Approaching his 85th birthday Tuesday, Lee is credited with transforming Singapore from a colonial backwater into a financial powerhouse. Lee's wife, 87-year-old Kwa Geok Choo, is in stable condition after suffering two recent strokes.
HONG KONG
A 53-year-old schoolteacher in Hong Kong was jailed for six years and eight months for having sex three times with a 10-year-old female pupil from his class.
Chew Hing-cheung took the girl to "love hotels", where rooms are rented out by the hour, and had sex with her, Hong Kong's High Court was told. He was arrested in January on his third visit to a hotel with the girl when police carried out a routine operation at the premises and caught them together.
CHENNAI, India
A ring-tone that sings "condom, condom, condom" has attracted over 270 000 downloads since its launch last month and has spread the message of safe sex to many more cellphone users in India and abroad. The innovative "Condom a Capella" ring-tone that has the word "condom" sung in many overlapping melodies is the work of an Indian duo, Rupert Fernandes and Vijay Prakash. The website http://www.condomcondom.org, where the ring-tone can be heard, has had over 2 million hits. According to latest figures, 2,4 million people are living with HIV in India.
BEIJING, China
Three people were stung to death after a truck carrying dozens of beehives overturned in north-east China and three more were killed on the road as they tried to steer clear of the swarm, newspapers said. The beehive truck collided with a farm vehicle on Wednesday and overturned near Changchun, the capital of Jilin province, the China Daily said. Pictures showed thousands of bees swarming around the accident site as workers, wearing protective clothing, cleared the debris.
BANGKOK, Thailand
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his entire cabinet must resign over the scandal surrounding his television cooking show, the Constitutional Court said. The court, which said Samak had violated the constitution by accepting payments for hosting the show, ruled his cabinet could remain as a caretaker administration for 30 days until parliament elects a new prime minister. However, Samak is not barred from standing again for prime minister, and his party has already indicated that they would elect him back to the premiership.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
Hundreds of thousands of tins of a popular imported soup were cleared from shop shelves in Hong Kong after complaints of a bad smell.
About 350 000 tins of Campbell's mushroom soup made in Malaysia for the Hong Kong and Macau markets are being recalled after three customers complained of a bad odour.
The Campbell Soup Co is based in the United States. It entered the Hong Kong market during British colonial times in the 1930s and set up an office in the city in 1984.
MANILA, Philippines
The Philippine Supreme Court has dismissed one justice and suspended another for two months over a bribery scandal at the country's second highest court. Court of Appeals Justice Vicente Roxas was dismissed after he was found guilty of grave misconduct, dishonesty, undue interest and conduct prejudicial to the interest of service. Associate Justice Jose Sabio was suspended for two months for misconduct and conduct unbecoming, while three justices were reprimanded for not taking appropriate action. The Berlin-based Transparency International has ranked the Philippines as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
HANOI, Vietnam
The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns a Vietnamese court decision to imprison blogger Nguyen Van Hai, better known by his penname Dieu Cay, on charges of tax evasion. The court convicted Hai, 55, in a closed-door trial, sentencing him to 30 months in prison, according to news reports. Hai belonged to a group of bloggers known as the League of Independent Journalists, and that his colleagues believed he was sentenced for his critical reporting on nationalistic protests launched in January against China’s claims to the nearby Spratly and Paracel Islands.
TOKYO, Japan
Japan's centenarian club has grown to a record high of 36,276, an increase of 3,981 since last year, according to data released by the Ministry of Health.
For the first time the number of the women is under 30,000 with females now comprising 86 per cent of the members in the exclusive club of those aged 100 years or older at the end of September, according to the ministry. The oldest person in Japan is a 113-year-old woman, whose name was not disclosed, from the southern island of Okinawa, which has the highest concentration of centenarians. There are 838 people 100 years or older on the island, or 61 for every 100,000 people. The oldest man is 112-year-old Tomoji Tanabe, from the southern prefecture of Miyazaki. He turned 113 recently.
EAST TIMOR
Australian soldiers who helped bring freedom to East Timor in 1999 also brought with them the cane toads that now plague the former Indonesian province, aid officials charged. The toxic toads were introduced to Australia from Hawaii in 1935, in a catastrophic attempt eradicate beetles that were savaging the cane crop in Queensland. They may have crossed the Timor Sea in military equipment shipped from Darwin to Dili. Cane toads are a menace because they ooze a toxic substance from their backs which kills the animals that eat them, even kangaroos. The cane toads in East Timor were killing domestic chickens. Cane toads are well on their way to colonizing the whole of northern Australia.
