CARNAL NATION

The Malaysian Insider reports that a 16-year-old Singaporean boy has been sentenced to one year of probation, a 9 pm curfew for the duration of the probation, and 120 hours of community service work after pleading guilty to two counts of "carnal connection." The unnamed boy fathered a child with a 14-year-old girl he met over the Internet; he was also 14 at the time of their meeting. The two teens developed a sexual relationship, which resulted in the girl's pregnancy. The girl was six months pregnant before she realized she might be expecting.

Had the boy been 16 years old at the time of the sexual relationship, he could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to U.S.$10,000 (RM36,000) on each charge. In Singapore in 2008, 310 teen girls were caught engaging in consensual sexual activity, a nearly 45% increase since 2007. Provisional figures also showed that 10 babies were born to Singaporean mothers under the age of 15 last year, while 798 babies were born to Singaporean mothers aged 15 to 19.