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]