#SecondDayofRamadhan
#OldHabitsDieHard
Walked into the conference room for a meeting and did my usual routine. Sat down and answered some emails while waiting for others. My good friend, Thiagarajan Subramaniam, came in and asked, “Is that a cup of milo I see next to you?”. I was bewildered for a moment before realising I was sipping the milo while answering my email! MasyaAllah! Never thought this could happen to me.
Source: Zainal Sapari
The maid was unhappy that her employer’s mother-in-law had scolded her.
She decided to get back at the family – by feeding their four-year-old a bottle of milk mixed with her urine.
She also mixed her urine into a flask of water that the family later drank from.
Her employer thought the water tasted odd and grew more suspicious after noticing her taking the flask out of a bedroom and washing it.
He took the maid back to the agency, where she eventually confessed to her deeds.
She told the authorities that she did so as she wanted the family to listen and be obedient to her.
On Monday, the maid, Ela, 27, an Indonesian who goes by only one name, was jailed six weeks for mischief.
Court papers said Ela started working for her employer, his wife, and two children, aged four and eight, in September last year.
We are not naming them due to a gag order to protect the children’s identities.
Sometime in October, Ela was scolded by her employer’s mother-in-law.
TAINTED
On Oct 16, she urinated into a small plastic cup and added the urine into a bottle containing milk.
She fed her employer’s younger child the tainted milk.
Court papers said Ela also mixed the urine with some drinking water in a flask.
That day, her employer’s wife returned home and poured some water from the flask to drink.
She took a sip of the water, which appeared to be slightly yellow.
She showed it to her husband, who took a sip and found that it tasted odd.
The employer decided to keep the flask in his bedroom to observe the water the next day.
He found that the contents of the flask smelled pungent the next day.
But when asked if anything had happened to the water, Ela said no.
On Oct 18, the employer found her washing the flask that she had taken from his bedroom and he made a police report.
It is not the first time that maids have been convicted of tainting food or drinks.
In May 2012, a 24-year-old Indonesian maid was jailed a month for tainting her employer’s coffee with her menstrual discharge because she believed that he would be nice to her after consuming the drink.
Last April, another Indonesian maid was jailed three years for adding eucalyptus oil into packs of stored breast milk that were meant for her employer’s two-month-old son.
She did so as she wanted to be scolded and sent back home.
The court at the time heard that the Health Sciences Authority advises against feeding children eucalyptus oil as it contains terpineol, which has been known to cause fatalities.
Source: www.tnp.sg
From mid-July, Malaysia will begin charging an RM20 (S$6.70) fee on Singapore-registered cars and foreign vehicles entering Johor under its Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) system, the New Straits Times newspaper reported on Wednesday (June 8).
The VEP system had been activated at the two land entry points in Johor at the Causeway and at the Second Link since June 1, although motorists were not charged the RM20 levy as the authorities were conducting a test run until July 15.
Foreign motorists would only start to pay the RM20 road charge beginning July 16, the newspaper reported.
Malaysia has repeatedly delayed implementing its levy, which was supposed to have taken effect on Aug 1 last year, due to technical issues. The levy can be paid only with a Touch ‘n Go card, a cash card that motorists use to pay toll fees on all Malaysian expressways.
“The VEP system has been activated since June 1 and we have seen motorists from the neighbouring country giving their full cooperation and following the procedure,” said State Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad. “The postponement in the RM20 VEP road charge is to ensure that the system would run smoothly,” he added.
So far, about 120,000 Singaporean vehicles have registered under the VEP, according to Mr Hasni. He added that he was confident about the VEP system and its equipment.
Source: The Straits Times
The holy month of Ramadan is now underway, with Muslims fasting from dawn to dusk to observe the period. But what happens when you live in a country where the sun never, or scarcely, sets?
Muslims living in the Arctic Circle are experiencing some of the most challenging conditions for Ramadan as they can experience 24 hours of sunlight. People observing it will not consume food or drink, smoke or engage in any sexual activity, from when the sun rises until sundown again. Fasting ends with a meal known as the Iftar.
Around 22 per cent of the world’s population, or 1.6 billion people, are expected to join in the holy observance around the world.
Areas including Lapland, Finland and Sweden can experience little or no sundown during the summer months. A family have shared their experiences of how they experience Ramadan in northern Finland where the sun sets for just 55 minutes.
Mohammed told AJ+: “Fasting starts at 1:35 in the early morning and will end at 12:48 in the evening. So [fasting] will be 23 hours, 5 minutes. My friends, family and relatives who live in Bangladesh, they can’t believe we could do Ramadan or fasting for more than 20 hours. “So when they heard from us we do Ramadan here for 23 hours or 22 and a half hours, they just say ‘That’s unbelievable, how could you manage this.’ But somehow [thank God] we manage it, and we’re doing very well.”
He said other Muslims in nearby countries with similar sunlight conditions had found other ways of adapting, adding: “Some other Muslims who live in Lapland, most of them follow the Middle East time table, as they follow the nearest Islamic country, Turkey.”
Depending on a person’s location, Ramadan for people living in the UK can last between 16 and 19 hours a day.
The times and dates of Ramadan and fasting vary each year in relation to the Western calendar as they are determined by the lunar cycle.
Source: The Independent
Bukan Christopher Columbus yang pertama temui benua Amerika Syarikat, tapi orang orang Arab!
Demikian dakwaan daripada Profesor bahasa purba di Univerisiti Raja Saud dan pengkaji di Pusat Raja Faisal bagi Pengkajian dan pengajian, Suleiman Al-Deeb.
Beliau mendakwa bahawa Amerika Syarikat ditemui terlebih dahulu oleh suku bangsa Arab Thamudic sebelum Christopher Columbus ke sana pada abad ke-15.
Dalam satu wawancara yang diterbitkan dalam satu laman web, Prof Al-Deeb berkata beliau antara 15 orang dari pelbagai bahagian di dunia yang membincangkan satu ukiran yang dijumpai di sebuah pangkalan tentera di Colorado.
Teks tersebut dibaca dan didapati bahasa Arab Thamudic yang sama seperti yang dijumpai di Semenanjung Arab, menurut laporan Arab News.
WUJUD PENGHIJRAHAN ARAB KE AMERIKA 500 TAHUN SEBELUM COLUMBUS
Menurut laporan Arab News lagi, Prof Al-Deeb berkata ukiran tersebut adalah dari abad ke-10 dan ini mengandaikan bahawa adanya penghijrahan orang Arab ke sana semasa zaman tersebut.
Beliau juga berkata tiada masala untuk beliau membaca teks Thamudic itu yang dikirim kepadanya dari AS.
Prof Al-Deeb menjelaskan bahawa ada cebisan batu di Semenanjung Arab khususnya di Arab Saudi yang mempunyai ukiran yang berusia lebih daripada 3,000 tahun.
Menurut Prof Al-Deeb ukiran pada cebisan batu itu adalah satu bentuk karya seni yang mencatatkan kehidupan, agama, makanan dan minimum bangsa tersebut pada zaman itu.
Christopher Columbus dikatakan menemui Amerika Syarikat pada 1492 semasa menerajui ekspedisi laut rentas Atlantik, yang berpangkalan di Sepanyol.
Ekspedisi itulah yang dikatakan membawa kepada penemuan Amerika Syarikat.
Source: Berita MediaCorp