News Today

No happy return for Iverson
SAN ANTONIO - THE San Antonio Spurs were happy to play at home again finally. Allen Iverson was happy just to be playing again. The Spurs returned home for the first time in more than three weeks on Tuesday night, and... [Read more]

Cash for tribal women who bear over 12 children
GAUHATI (INDIA) - TRIBAL leaders in India's remote north-east are offering cash rewards to women who bear more than a dozen children in a bid to keep from being outnumbered by settlers from elsewhere.In the past two months, Khasi tribal chieftains... [Read more]

Is there an offset plan for defence spending?
THE letter, 'Hefty spending on defence justified' (ST, Jan 30), by Mr Goh Khee Kuan says, and I agree, that a decisive deterrence is critical. He concedes that the defence expenditure is large and at the expense of many other areas,... [Read more]

Expect heavy rain, floods over Chinese New Year
IT COULD be a wet Chinese New Year - and one that comes with flash floods at that. The weatherman has warned that high tides of 3.1m, along with heavy afternoon rain, can be expected from Feb 18 through 21.Flash floods... [Read more]

Wrong speech at the wrong time
GEN Sonthi Boonyaratkalin spoke unwisely last week in his speech to young volunteers about the nation and its military. The vow to recapture national assets sold to Singapore in the Shin Corp deal was as poorly phrased as it was incorrect.... [Read more]

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).... [Read more]

Rare orchid found in Cameron jungles
IPOH - A MYSTERIOUS orchid picked up by two environmentalists deep in the jungles of Cameron Highlands has turned out to be the rare Monomeria barbata. Mr Embi Abdullah, 59, who stumbled across the orchid with his friend while trekking in... [Read more]

Soccer Shorts
ITALY THE NEW LEADERS IN FIFA RANKINGS ROME: World champions Italy have replaced Brazil at the top of the Fifa rankings. It is the first time the European country have been ranked No 1 in the world since November 1993, and... [Read more]

Jail terms of copper wire thieves upped on appeal
ARGUING that the theft of copper wire had become a widespread problem, the prosecution won its appeal yesterday to have deterrent sentences imposed on two men described as 'career criminals'. One had his jail term doubled from nine months to 1-1/2... [Read more]

Saving the planet, one degree at a time
ACCORDING to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Singapore was ranked 15th in the world in electricity consumption in 2004, but jumped to 11th in the Economist Pocket World In Figures 2007.I wonder how many of us complain that the temperature in offices,... [Read more]

Screen baby for rare disorder
BABY Sage, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder known as maple syrup urine disease, is now one year old and doing well. He is one of the 7,500 babies screened for genetic metabolic diseases since a pilot programme began in... [Read more]