News Today

TV times
BASKETBALL: Atlantic Coast Conference: Duke v Boston College (Live, Ch23, 10am). GOLF: Asian Tour Indonesian Open: Day 1 (Live, Ch24, 3.30pm). Nissan Open: Day 1 (Live, Ch22, tomorrow, 4am). Event SOCCER: SingTel League Cup, prelims: Sengkang Punggol v Balestier Khalsa (Hougang,... [Read more]

Ban's restructuring proposals rattle UN member states
IN NEW YORK - MR BAN Ki Moon is off to a rocky start as United Nations secretary-general, with diplomats complaining that his transition is progressing too slowly and member states deeply wary of his first restructuring proposals. His few early... [Read more]

Brokers' Choice
MERRILL EXPECTS CDL TO SET UP OFFICE REIT MERRILL Lynch believes that City Developments (CDL) 'will look to establish an office Reit this year, following its successful initial public offer of CDL Hospitality Trusts', referring to a real estate investment trust.... [Read more]

Asean Charter task force meets
THE task force to draft the Asean Charter met for the first time last week and the personal chemistry among the 10 members was described as 'excellent' by Singapore's representative, Professor Tommy Koh. Prof Koh, who is ambassador-at-large, was elaborating yesterday... [Read more]

Patient restraint pays off for Bernanke
MR BEN Bernanke starts his second year as Federal Reserve chairman with a strong hand of moderating inflation and accelerating growth.Government reports showed the economic expansion picked up last quarter with stable inflation and has boosted Mr Bernanke's stature and the... [Read more]

How a 5-star dream turned into a 3-star nightmare
BANGKOK - STRUCTURAL engineer Tortrakul Yomnak has been spending a lot of time lately gloomily sticking his fingers into cracks in the taxiways at Thailand's Suvarnabhumi International Airport. When he isn't doing that, he chases paper trails and studies contracts to... [Read more]

Making friends
The quota of four tickets per person turned some strangers into friends in the queue for the first leg of the Asean Football Championship final between Singapore and Thailand.Jen had to get Nico, whom she did not know previously, to help... [Read more]

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]

Umno to street racers: Catch 30 thieves, get a free bike
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA's main party in the ruling coalition has volunteered to help curb street crime, offering new motorbikes to gangs of illegal street racers if they spend their time catching thieves instead. The chief of Umno Putera, the party's... [Read more]

Nurses' pay to go up by 3-7 per cent this month
PUBLIC-SECTOR nurses and other health-care professionals will take home fatter pay cheques starting this month. Nurses' salaries will go up by 3 to 7 per cent, while allied health professionals such as medical social workers and physiotherapists will receive increments of... [Read more]

ExxonMobil nets largest profit in US history
HOUSTON - OIL giant ExxonMobil on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a US company - US$39.5 billion (S$60.6 billion) - even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 per cent. This topped ExxonMobil's own previous record... [Read more]