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Singapore - Oil prices rebounded in Asia on Wednesday as traders pounced after sharp falls the previous day on forecasts of surging production in the United States, analysts said. New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery, was up 16 cents at $93.20 a barrel in mid-morning trade, while Brent North Sea crude for December gained 19c to $106.00. WTI tumbled $2.10 in New York and Brent eased 59c after the International Energy Agency forecast the United States would become the world's top oil producer by 2015 thanks to booming shale oil output. In its annual World Energy Outlook report released Tuesday, the EIA also said the US, currently the world's top crude consumer, is moving "steadily towards meeting all of its energy needs from domestic resources by 2035". David Lennox, resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, told AFP that dealers "reacted strongly" to the prospect of flush US supplies, causing the decline in W...

Continuation,.... I don't want others to go through the same experience as me, so I want to share my story Jane, Domestic worker But for every contented domestic helper in Singapore, there are also ones who have suffered terrible ordeals at the hands of their employers. Jane - not her real name - arrived from the Philippines two years ago to take up a job as a domestic helper in a Singaporean household. But she ran away after being abused by her employers, who she said regularly hit her. She added that they would often punish her by forcing her hands down the toilet while it was filled with a combination of bleach and urine for 15 minutes at a time. Jane said she escaped by jumping out of their kitchen window and in the process, breaking one of her legs. She was rescued by another domestic worker in the building, who called a helpline for migrant workers. That happened last October, and the police are currently still investigating her case. Jane said she had no choice but to...

It is Sunday, and a chorus of Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia greets shoppers at the Lucky Plaza mall along Singapore's Orchard Road. Hundreds of foreign domestic workers from the Philippines, Indonesia and elsewhere come here every Sunday to catch up with friends and send money home via the many remittance shops. They make up the 200,000-plus workers employed in Singapore's households. Liza Padua is among them. She is here to meet friends and celebrate her 49th birthday. Her friends have brought cake and presents, and she is looking forward to a day of festivities. She has spent 20 years in Singapore as a domestic helper and has always enjoyed her day off. "It's so good to have Sunday off and be able to reconnect with your friends and keep in touch with the Philippine community," she said. "Many of us have families we left behind back home, so meeting with friends is a nice way to have a sense of having a family too here in Singapore." Basic right Hav...