News Today

Official who built China 'White House' gets life term
A CHINESE provincial Communist Party official who put up a building modelled after the White House has been sentenced to life in prison for bribery and embezzlement. Feng Liucheng was found guilty of taking bribes worth 3.7 million yuan (S$730,000) and... [Read more]

Mountain to climb for S'pore
THE hard work was supposed to have been done in the first leg of the pre-Olympic qualifier last Wednesday. Instead, Singapore's Olympic football team lost 1-2 to Pakistan and found themselves having to climb a mountain in today's return leg in... [Read more]

Soccer Shorts
KUYT STILL HOPEFULLONDON: Striker Dirk Kuyt insists Liverpool will not give up on the Premiership title.The Reds reduced the gap from leaders Manchester United to 11 points after a 2-0 home win over champions Chelsea last Saturday.Kuyt told Sky Sports: 'Winning... [Read more]

No transfer joy for small clubs
A BRITISH psychologist this week announced that Wednesday was - according to his exhaustive scientific calculations - the most depressing day of the year.He arrived at that conclusion after taking into account variables, such as the weather, the time since Christmas,... [Read more]

Suicide bomber kills 3 in Israeli resort town
EILAT (ISRAEL) - A PALESTINIAN suicide bomber attacked a bakery in the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat yesterday, killing himself and three others, police said. It was the first suicide attack in Israel in nine months and the first ever... [Read more]

Will it be drop No. 5 for Quashie?
WEST Ham's current plight makes for morbidly compelling viewing, for a number of reasons. As game after game slips away from them, we are growing accustomed to the TV cameras cutting to shots of an anguished Alan Curbishley and a disbelieving... [Read more]

China state TV bans pig images in ads to avoid offending Muslims
BEIJING - CHINA'S top television station has banned all images of pigs from advertisements to avoid offending its Muslim minorities, said an official of the broadcaster. The coming Chinese New Year starting on Feb 18 will usher in the year of... [Read more]

Zawahiri the new Al-Qaeda leader?
A NEW audio message from the deputy leader of Al-Qaeda is calling into question the well-being of the terrorist group's leader Osama bin Laden.It is also throwing up the possibility that Al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri is effectively the leader of... [Read more]

Sri Lankan PM on visit
PHOTO: MICA Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake calls on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana. Mr Wickremanayake, who arrived here on Tuesday on a three-day working visit, was hosted to a lunch by Mr Lee yesterday. He also... [Read more]

Limit GST zero rating to 8 essential food items
I REFER to the letter,'Zero-rate GST on essential food items' by Mr Manmohan Singh (ST, Feb 17). Mr Singh pointed out one important impediment to administrative efficiency for both the Internal Revenue Authority of Singapore and businesses that no longer exists... [Read more]

Bouquets
NTUC CHILDCARE CARED FOR EMPLOYEE MY SISTER-IN-LAW, a working mother in her early 40s with two school-going children, was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. However, she was able to overcome all difficulties and remain positive mainly because of the care her... [Read more]

Barcelona and Real seek to restore pride in derby

BARCELONA and Real Madrid have even more to prove than usual in today's derby, after crashing out of the Champions League this week.

Barcelona, who are undefeated at home in La Liga this season, have slipped to second place behind Sevilla, after losing two of their last three games.

Real are fourth and the clamour has been growing steadily for coach Fabio Capello's head in the wake of their 1-2 defeat by Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

'The results are not good, there's no hiding that,' admitted Capello.

'When things are not going well, then sometimes you have to change things,' said captain Raul Gonzalez.

Both Barcelona and Real will have key players missing at the Nou Camp.

Barca's Ronaldinho strained a muscle in his left thigh after bowing out of the Champions League at Liverpool.

Barca will also be without the suspended winger Ludovic Giuly and defender Gianluca Zambrotta, who were sent off in last Saturday's 1-2 defeat at Sevilla.

For Real, Fabio Cannavaro and Roberto Carlos are on the injury list, which includes David Beckham and Jose Antonio Reyes.

Carlos, after being slammed for his part in conceding the Champions League's fastest goal on Wednesday, will quit at the end of the season.

'I'm not going to renew my contract,' he said. 'I'm 33 years old and I don't deserve more suffering. I've been at this club 11 years, but we lose one game and all of the fault has landed on me.'

Turkish club Fenerbahce have made an offer.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

News Today

India acts to curb aborting of female foetuses
NEW DELHI - THE Indian government plans to set up orphanages to raise unwanted baby girls in a bid to halt the widespread practice of aborting female foetuses.Dubbed the 'cradle scheme', the plan is an attempt to slow the practice that... [Read more]

Grounded
JAKARTA - INDONESIA has grounded all of budget airline Adam Air's Boeing 737-300s after the fuselage of one of the aircraft cracked during a hard landing. The accident on Wednesday, which occurred as the plane arrived at Surabaya's Juanda International Airport... [Read more]

Haas handed tennis lesson by Gonzalez
MELBOURNE - TENTH-SEEDED Fernando Gonzalez trounced Germany's Tommy Haas 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the Australian Open final yesterday. In a performance reminiscent of top-ranked Roger Federer's rout of American star Andy Roddick in the other semi-final a night earlier, the... [Read more]

What to look out for
In the wake of the jailing of a Singaporean woman in Malaysia for illegal entry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reminded travellers to ensure their passports get stamped by Malaysian immigration authorities. Here are the procedures for entering and exiting... [Read more]

Companies in brief
SALES HEAD FOR MEDIACORPMEDIACORP has appointed Mr James Yip as head of all its advertising sales across television, radio and print.The appointment, which is effective from April 1, will put Mr Yip in charge of airtime sales across all of MediaCorp's... [Read more]

Entertaining is out for Japan bank's unit
BANK of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, the Japanese bank which was recently censured over improper lending practices, has asked bankers at its Singapore office to stop entertaining clients as a penance.The bank is part of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which has about 600... [Read more]

Zenden knows Barca pressure
BOUDEWIJN Zenden believes the pressure is all on Barcelona, when Liverpool step out at the Nou Camp for the first leg of their Champions League tie today.Having spent three years at Barcelona, the Dutchman knows the unique demands of playing for... [Read more]

Bourse set for further run-up
THIS week promises to be packed with action, as traders bid farewell to the lunar Year of the Fire Dog and welcome in the Year of the Golden Pig.While many will be sorry to see the curtains drawn on the Dog... [Read more]

Global impact
Investors with Japanese assets are seeing them forge ahead as the economy shows signs of real recovery. Tokyo's Topix index is at a 15-year high, while the Nikkei average is around its highest since May 2000. But global investors, in general,... [Read more]

Man battles anaconda to rescue grandson
A 66-YEAR-OLD man saved his grandson from the grip of a 5m-long anaconda by beating the snake with rocks and a knife for half an hour. 'When I saw the snake wrapped around my grandson's neck, I thought it was going... [Read more]

OSIM's net profit for full year falls by 28%
OSIM International's acquisitions pulled its earnings down last year as the massage chair maker struggled to improve profitability at its joint ventures and associated firms.The group yesterday reported net profits of $33.8 million for the year ended Dec 31, down 28... [Read more]

News Today

Sub-tenants told of big mall opening. What they got: empty stalls and legal woes
A SERIES of legal spats are brewing over a suburban shopping mall in Commonwealth that failed to open last year, leaving disgruntled sub-tenants filing police reports and landing main tenant Pagar Park in trouble with the law. Sub-tenants were promised by... [Read more]

London move to extend road charge zone draws flak
LONDON - A CONTROVERSIAL charge on cars that enter the centre of the British capital has been extended to some of London's plushest districts - angering both residents and businesses. The ?8 (S$24) daily fee for drivers entering the city has... [Read more]

Tiger gets old folks in festive mood
MADAM Wong Heong Lim, 96, received some early festive cheer on Monday when Tiger Beer staff and celebrities from Singapore and Hong Kong paid her a Chinese New Year visit. Jeff Wang, Ling Xiao, Maggie Theng, Choo Mimi, Nnadia Chan, Samuel... [Read more]

Crowd attacks accused in rape-murder case
NEW DELHI - AN ANGRY crowd outside a courthouse severely beat a wealthy man and his servant yesterday after they attended a hearing on charges of raping, killing and dismembering over 20 women and children. Television footage showed the crowd, including... [Read more]

Terry's return an added boost for Chelsea in win
LONDON - A FIVE-MINUTE cameo from captain John Terry, a couple of outstanding saves by Petr Cech and a goal from Frank Lampard ensured a 1-0 Premiership win for Chelsea against Charlton. And the relief from manager Jose Mourinho was there... [Read more]

Bob Chandran
President and chief executive of marine fuels supplier Chemoil. The company sells about 5 per cent of shipping fuel globally, and was listed in Singapore in December last year. Born in India in 1950, he migrated to the US in 1976.... [Read more]

Bomb hoax youth gets 3 months' jail, $4,000 fine
DISTRICT Judge Francis Tseng yesterday sentenced Lin Zhenghuang, who used a neighbour's wireless network to post a bomb hoax, to three months' jail and a $4,000 fine.The judge also set sentencing guidelines for future mooching, or unauthorised wireless network access cases.In... [Read more]

Help for disabled: Call to relax funding rules
A SPECIAL committee wants all disabled persons' families - including those whose incomes may not clear means testing - to get financial help. It also hopes to get the nod for its proposal on giving more bosses access to funds to... [Read more]

Tonight's Headlines
Joy, then sadness for lone United fanON SUNDAY, private tutor Mervin Tan, 30, went where few Manchester United fans dared to tread - the den of local Arsenal fans. Clad in a black United jersey and red scarf, he joined the... [Read more]

More Singapore aid for victims of Jakarta floods
JAKARTA - MORE Singapore companies have pitched in for Jakarta's flood relief efforts. Singapore Ambassador to Indonesia Ashok Mirpuri yesterday handed over 200 million rupiah (S$34,000) worth of relief supplies to Indonesian Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari. The aid is... [Read more]

Crazy Horse show to shut down
IT CAME to Singapore barely over a year ago, all sparkling lights, barely covered bottoms and sexy high heels. Now, the Crazy Horse Revue, widely hailed as the Great Entertainment Experiment that would take Singapore's reputation as a world nightlife centre... [Read more]

News Today

SME clinic
AFTER months of research, my newly formed company will produce biodiesel on a small commercial scale. We need technical and financial assistance to jump-start this venture. What assistance can we expect from Spring? You may wish to explore the following programmes.... [Read more]

Cheney reassures Japan over N. Korea deal
TOKYO - US VICE-PRESIDENT Dick Cheney worked yesterday to ease Japanese concerns about a landmark deal with North Korea and told its Iraq war allies that Washington will never adopt 'a policy of retreat'. With Japan refusing to contribute funds to... [Read more]

Booming tourism sector set five records last year
HOTELS added the icing on the tourism cake last year by hitting all-time highs for room rates, occupancy and total revenue.In all, five out of seven tourism indices set new records in a sterling year, one in which Singapore saw its... [Read more]

Europe wants to force carmakers to go 'green'
BRUSSELS - THE European Commission aims to force carmakers to make an 18 per cent cut in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new cars by 2012.The commission, which will unveil its plans today, expects a 25 per cent cut in car... [Read more]

More market volatility likely ahead of Fed meeting
VOLATILITY'S the buzzword this week as money managers and investors alike try to make sense of the huge array of economic data and corporate earnings due out in the next few trading sessions.While stocks, led by banking and property issues, generally... [Read more]

7 die in collapse
Rescue workers carrying a victim from the rubble after a library under construction collapsed. The 19m-high library building at Guangxi Medical University in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, collapsed on Monday afternoon.Three workers died at the scene while four... [Read more]

Outward bound
MR JEK Tan became an executive chef at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dalian, China, a year ago. He has come a long way since his trainee days at hospitality school Shatec, where he got his skills for the industry. Recently, he... [Read more]

Google to open sales office here
INTERNET giant Google is in the process of setting up a sales office in Singapore - its first in South-east Asia - to attend to both advertisers and users of the search engine.Interviews have begun to hire personnel, with some candidates... [Read more]

Woman in coma in Perth hospital
A SINGAPOREAN tourist was in a coma in a Perth hospital last night after she nearly drowned on a diving trip off the west coast of Australia on Monday. Miss Serene Teng's boyfriend, who was with her during the dive, was... [Read more]

Alarm in Germany over rising brain drain
ESCHBORN (GERMANY) - A STEADY exodus of professionals over the years has recently become topic No. 1 in Germany, already saddled with one of the most rapidly ageing and shrinking populations in the West.With evidence that more professionals are now leaving... [Read more]

Kimono-makers' needles laid to rest in tofu beds
TOKYO - KIMONO-makers laid their old needles to rest during the hari-kuyo needle festival at Buddhist temples all over Japan yesterday. They stuck the needles into soft chunks of tofu to 'thank' them. Japan's throwaway culture may rival that of any... [Read more]

News Today

Bryant shines brightest in NBA All-stars show
LAS VEGAS - NOT surprisingly, the first National Basketball Association All-Star Game in Las Vegas featured plenty of flash, but little substance. There were slam dunks galore and no defence to be found, as the Western All-Stars beat their Eastern counterparts... [Read more]

Jakarta 'using sand ban to put pressure on S'pore'
JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S recent ban on land sand exports was a means by which it could apply pressure on Singapore to sign an extradition treaty, said a top Foreign Ministry official here.Mr Primo Alui Joelianto, the ministry's director-general for Asia, the... [Read more]

The New Paper is available today at the usual outlets from 7am.
The New Paper is available today at the usual outlets from 7am.... [Read more]

Selling Singapore: Stories from the EDB trenches
MR KO Kheng Hwa, the managing director of the Economic Development Board (EDB), shares stories from the frontline in the battle for multinational investments: Wooing Shell with tenacity IT TOOK 'generations' of EDB officers to persuade petrochemical giant Shell to invest... [Read more]

4th in a row: Goods vehicle COE at $1
THE certificate of entitlement (COE) for commercial vehicles has remained at $1 for the fourth tender in a row.At the close of yesterday's exercise, the Land Transport Authority received only 506 bids for 679 available COEs for trucks, vans and buses.Motor... [Read more]

Fed officials see no rate cut, citing inflation risks
WASHINGTON - UNITED States Federal Reserve officials, armed with figures showing inflation picking up, made it clear that they are not close to cutting interest rates. Hours after the government reported on Wednesday that consumer prices rose more than forecast last... [Read more]

Deal to end N. Korean nuclear crisis may be at hand
BEIJING - A CAUTIOUSLY optimistic US chief negotiator Christopher Hill said last night that a deal could be close that will see North Korea begin to end its nuclear weapons programme. Negotiators yesterday started going through a draft proposal outlining possible... [Read more]

Baby trafficking case exposes abuse of women from E. Europe
PARIS - AS FRANCE'S biggest baby trafficking case unfolded in court last week, the question was not whether 23 babies had been surreptitiously sold for prices ranging from US$4,500 (S$7,000) to US$7,800 each. The purchasers, most of them couples from France's... [Read more]

Contracts for shipping sector firms steam ahead
TRADING of covered warrants issued on companies in the shipping sector is steaming ahead of that for their counterparts in other sectors.In the past trading week, turnover for shipping sector warrants cruised past that for traditionally more popular sectors such as... [Read more]

Sands' IR reaches a milestone
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan - with Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam Adelson - got to admire a model of Marina Bay Sands yesterday at a ceremony to mark a development milestone in the construction... [Read more]

Blonde bombshell Anna Nicole Smith dies at 39
HOLLYWOOD - ANNA Nicole Smith, the curvaceous blonde whose life played out as an extraordinary tabloid tale - Playboy centrefold, jeans model, bride of an octogenarian oil tycoon, reality-show subject, tragic mother - has died after collapsing at a hotel. She... [Read more]

News Today

Chirac to US: Sign key climate accords
PRESIDENT Jacques Chirac has demanded that the United States sign two key climate-change agreements, warning that a carbon tax would be imposed across Europe on imports from nations who fail to comply. Speaking at a high-profile climate-change conference in Paris this... [Read more]

More bird flu outbreaks expected
JAKARTA - THE world should expect more bird flu outbreaks in the coming months, the United Nations (UN) official coordinating the global fight against the virus warned, after Britain recorded its first case of the H5N1 strain. Dr David Nabarro said... [Read more]

What it should have been
In our article yesterday, '2 Aztech directors exercise options', we erroneously said that Aztech Systems' full-year earnings was $2.04 million.It should be $20.04 million. We are sorry for the error.... [Read more]

Fresh targets
CapitaLand's assets under management passed the firm's $13 billion target to reach $14.3 billion at the end of last year. The success has prompted the group to set a new target - $18 billion by the end of this year. It... [Read more]

Some return to heroin after Subutex clampdown
THE evidence suggests that widespread heroin abuse is not on the comeback. Still, a number of addicts, like John, not his real name, did go back to chasing the dragon - slang for heroin abuse - after the clampdown on Subutex... [Read more]

Funds go overseas
WINNERSInvestors could benefit from offshore unit trusts which are likely to be cheaper and offer better returns, due to lower overhead costs.LOSERSAffected parties include unit trust trustees - custodians of the money held in a unit trust - as well as... [Read more]

Harvard updates core curriculum
BOSTON - HARVARD University has announced its biggest curriculum overhaul in three decades, focusing on sensitive religious and cultural issues, the sciences and overcoming American 'parochialism'. The curriculum at the oldest US university has been criticised as focusing too narrowly on... [Read more]

Casmir finds temporary home at Gombak
FORMER national striker Agu Casmir has been offered a helping hand by Gombak United chairman John Yap.The 22-year-old will take up Gombak's desk job offer after declining to renew his contract with Woodlands Wellington, which ends on Feb 28.It is believed... [Read more]

Booming tourism sector set five records last year
HOTELS added the icing on the tourism cake last year by hitting all-time highs for room rates, occupancy and total revenue.In all, five out of seven tourism indices set new records in a sterling year, one in which Singapore saw its... [Read more]

Govt shows its capitalist head, socialist heart
A CAN-DO Budget with buzz. And one that positions Singapore to run the next lap of the global economy, even as it beefs up social-security spending to take care of those who can't run as fast. That's what Second Finance Minister... [Read more]

Man battles anaconda to rescue grandson
A 66-YEAR-OLD man saved his grandson from the grip of a 5m-long anaconda by beating the snake with rocks and a knife for half an hour. 'When I saw the snake wrapped around my grandson's neck, I thought it was going... [Read more]