Kopitiam Talk
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Friday January 16, 10:17 PM
AVA declares Singapore free from bird flu
SINGAPORE : In light of the recent outbreaks of bird flu in the region, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) says it has taken precautions to prevent the virus from entering Singapore.
The AVA has declared Singapore free from bird flu, which predominantly affects poultry.
The authority assures the public that all eggs and poultry sold in Singapore are safe for consumption.
Imports of live birds from affected countries have also been suspended.
As a further precaution, AVA officers have intensified surveillance on hygiene practices at poultry slaughterhouses.
The AVA says any shortfall in supply during this period can be quickly met, as Singapore has other sources of poultry, including Brazil, Malaysia, and the US. - CNA -
Nowadyas so jialat...got SARS, bird flu, mad cow disease, walau......
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Saturday January 17, 12:17 AM
Four men arrested for importing and selling fake Cialis and Viagra tablets
SINGAPORE : Four men have been arrested for trying to sell fake Cialis and Viagra on the black market.
The four Chinese nationals were caught by undercover Health Sciences Authority officers.
Two of them were charged and convicted in court, while the other pair are being investigated.
Cialis, works just like Viagra, to help erectile dysfunction.
The seized tablets were found to have contained varying amounts of the essential ingredient.
HSA says anyone convicted of dealing with counterfeit drugs face a fine of $10,000 or 2 years' jail or both. - CNA
Two words.....sex sell!!! -
Saturday January 17, 5:03 PM
WHO says more people falling ill in Vietnam as bird flu claims new victim
The World Health Organization confirmed that a fourth person had died from bird flu in Vietnam and warned that a growing number of people were falling sick with respiratory illnesses.
The UN health agency said more people had been referred to two hospitals in Hanoi, raising fears that if they test positive for the virus it could wreak havoc on Vietnam's predominantly rural population.
The outbreak has sparked an Asia-wide health scare but Bob Dietz, the WHO's spokesman in Vietnam, cautioned that there was still no evidence of human-to-human transmission despite the deaths of several members of the same family.
"We believe we are seeing more cases of respiratory illness," he said. "It is too early to say whether or not this indicates an increase in H5N1 cases.
"It may be because more people with respiratory illnesses are being sent to these hospitals from the areas surrounding Hanoi because of concern surrounding H5N1 infections reported to the public."
A five-year-old child in the Vietnamese province of Nam Dinh who died on January 8 became the fourth confirmed death from the H5N1 strain of the virus.
The WHO says all four victims caught the virus directly from a bird and not through human transmission. Vietnamese experts have blamed bird flu on the deaths of nine others.
No confirmed or suspected deaths have been reported in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, who are all coping with their own bird flu outbreaks.
Taiwanese authorities Saturday ordered 35,000 more chickens to be slaughtered after the less virulent H5N2 strain of the virus was found at a second farm in one week. Some 20,000 birds were culled Friday.
Vietnam has ordered the slaughter of all chickens in the 12 worst affected lregions grappling with the epidemic and has banned the sale of poultry in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's largest metropolis.
Authorities have culled 39 tonnes of poultry since December 27 in Ho Chi Minh City alone, according to state media.
A WHO expert is due to travel to the southern business capital over the weekend on a week-long mission.
Ten more experts from the the UN health agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are due to arrive in the Southeast Asian nation this week to help containment efforts.
The WHO, meanwhile, says bird flu is largely transmitted through bird droppings and not cooked meat, casting doubt over bans imposed on poultry imports from affected countries by many Asian nations.
The H5N1 virus circulates in the air and is carried by the wind from fresh droppings of contaminated chickens. Piled one on top of the other in cramped cages, the birds easily spread the disease.
Chicken breaders risked catching bird flu by inhaling the bug but it is virtually impossible to catch it from eating infected cooked meat.
But the WHO warned it was equally dangerous for humans to be close to infected birds whether they were alive or dead.
Only a few animals manage to survive once they catch bird flu and those who survive lay in contaminated droppings for a minimum of 10 days.
The UN health agency, which has warned of dire consequences if the virus mutates, said the H5N1 strain has been genetically sequenced. "We know that all the genes originate from birds and they have not mutated to come from humans," the WHO's Geneva spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said Friday.
"It is very important to know this because if the genes mutate and start to come from humans then they will be able to be transmitted from one person to another," she said. -
how u choose wat news to post here ah?
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COKE ji gong!!!
Wolves VS Man U going to start soon!!!
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Urm, just post news of interest here keke, then jio people lah kopi in front of their pc, and KBKB as usual kekekekekeke like you would in a real kopitiamOriginally posted by wuming78:how u choose wat news to post here ah?
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Who is wolves? Oh great, my dad watching it now......Originally posted by AwAkEn:COKE ji gong!!!
Wolves VS Man U going to start soon!!! 
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Tuesday February 3, 11:17 AM
Increase in reported child rape as Marshall Islanders break down barriers
A traditional blanket of silence over sex crimes in the Marshall Islands is beginning to lift, officials said as they reported that five child rape cases went to court last year.
While the number appears small, it is a 400 percent increase on the one prosecution in 2002 in this small culture-conscious nation of just 55,000 people.
Previously, traditional custom meant people kept quiet about such crimes but now more people are reporting them, police criminal investigation division chief, Vincent Tani, said.
Police Commissioner George Lanwi said he was hopeful more people would come forward. "We can't stop it, but if it9s reported, we can at least control it," Lanwi said.
Majuro Hospital administrator Sandy Alfred said people were becoming more aware that sexual assaults are a problem.
"The hospital has made a policy that any suspicious cases that come in the emergency room are reported to the police," Alfred said. "This has been in place for one year now."
Local residents say child rape and incest are not new to the Marshall Islands, but people have previously been reluctant to report such incidents because they frequently involved family members.
"We know it's wrong but it9s against our culture to talk about things like this," said 63-year-old grandmother Janet Ned.
"In some cases the mothers are afraid to turn in their own sons or husbands because once they come out of jail they will hurt them for telling."
Agnes Jibke, 24, who has conducted research violence against women for the national Women United Together Marshall Islands organisation said there has been "general knowledge and acceptance in the community that cases like this occur" but nothing has been done about them.
"Incest and rape have been here, they're part of our culture but people don't talk about it because of shame." she said.
"Incest is culturally accepted. Look at the word Ori-likin. We say it's okay to sleep with your brother or cousins that are Ori-likin (related through the father or uncle's side). In the western sense this is called incest."
Alfred called for social norms that have hidden rape and incest to be done away with, and for new laws to protect the victims "even if the family doesn9t want to press charges". -
Saturday February 14, 12:46 PM
China executes serial killer
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has executed one of its worst serial killers, a man who murdered 67 people and raped two dozen women in a four-year crime spree.
Yang Xinhai, 38, was put to death on Saturday less than two weeks after a court in the central province of Henan handed down his sentence, state television said.
Yang had not appealed against the sentence, the report said.
The school dropout used tools such as an iron hammer or a meat cleaver to murder entire families during his rampage across four provinces.
Yang previously served two stints in labour camps for other crimes, and turned to murder after his release in 1999.
China, which has viewed itself as largely free of the violent crime that grabs headlines in the West, has seen several serial killings in recent months.
In December, a migrant worker was sentenced to death for killing 17 teenage boys in his home, and a garbage man received the same sentence for killing 10 competitors.
In a separate report on Saturday, the China News Service said a court in the southern province of Hunan had sentenced to death a temporary school worker who put rat poison in a tub of cake mix last June because he was angry over a lowering of benefits.
When the mix was used in September, it sickened 161 people, the agency said, adding that while no one had died, 26 people were still in hospital