Singapore  - A Singaporean man was jailed for 16 years and to be beat with 18 strokes of the rattan cane for raping his mildly retarded 11-year old daughter, the Straits Times reported Tuesday.

The 40-year old father, who is also mildly retarded, sobbed as he pleaded guilty to the December 2006 rape following months of denial.

The case came to light last April after his two other daughters reported having been molested by their uncle, their late mother's bother, who faces a separate charge next month.

Singapore  - A Singapore mother faces a four-year jail term and a fine for having her 10-year-old son caned about 100 times during a marathon beating in 2007, the Straits Times reported Tuesday.

The woman, 39, had handed two rattan canes to her husband, the boy's stepfather, which he used to hit the boy on the buttocks, arms and back for two hours on September
15, 2007, in the family's apartment located in the northern Singapore public housing estate.

The boy was hospitalized for eight days after the lashing, a punishment for lying to his school teacher.

Singapore - Singapore shares rose by 5.2 per cent Monday but traders were wary of corporate performances with some listed companies having issued profit warnings and others reviewing investments in

Singapore - Foreign workers in Singapore are complaining of salary arrears, with an increasing numbers of them out of work under the impact of economic downturn, according to a news report Monday.

Workers from China and Bangladesh used the Manpower Ministry to intervene and negotiate their salary disputes with employers, the Straits Times reported.

It said 171 of the Chinese had decided to go back to work, 53 were going back to China and two others were taking their claims to the Labour Court.

Some volunteers helping foreign workers said they were seeing more of them coming to seek help.

Singapore  - Singapore was hotter last year than the average for the last 50 years, with temperatures averaging 27.5 degrees Celsius, 0.6 degrees Celsius higher than average, The Straits Times reported Saturday.

The report cited the National Environment Agency (NEA) as saying that it was difficult to determine how much of the upward trend in temperature was due to global warming and how much was caused by the city state's rapid development and urbanization over the past 30 years. "But the trend is consistent with rising global temperature levels," a NEA spokesman was quoted as saying.

Singapore - Singapore shares rose by 2.16 per cent Friday, starting the new year on a positive note though traders remained concerned about the deepening global economic recession.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose by 38.16 points or 2.16 per cent to 1,799.72.

The Singapore Exchange closed with 305 gainers against 113 losers.

Volume totaled 955.5 million shares.

Market analysts said the first day of 2009 trading brought out buyers, lifting the STI, which for the whole of last year had dropped by 49 per cent.