News Today

Thais burn effigy of S'pore minister
BANGKOK - SOME 200 Thais yesterday burned an effigy of a Singapore leader outside the Republic's Embassy here in yet another protest following a diplomatic spat between the two countries. The protesters said they belonged to several groups, including Ramkhamhaeng University... [Read more]

Male sweat 'makes women hot and happy'
A chemical in it raises the level of a female hormone that maintains arousal WASHINGTON - FOR women, there is apparently nothing like the smell of a man's sweat.Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, said women who sniffed a chemical... [Read more]

Crisis talks in Italy after PM Prodi resigns
ROME - ITALIAN President Giorgio Napolitano has started crisis talks with political leaders following the shock resignation of Prime Minister Romano Prodi after just 10 months in office.The Prime Minister, whose fragile centre-left coalition narrowly won elections last April, tendered his... [Read more]

Japan's new HIV cases hit record high
TOKYO - JAPAN'S government-backed Aids agency yesterday called for better awareness about the disease after new HIV infections hit a record high, even though the number remains low by global standards.A total of 914 people tested positive for HIV last year,... [Read more]

Director brought back from HK to face cheating, forgery charges
A FRAUD suspect who lost a two-year extradition battle in Hong Kong was charged in court yesterday, almost immediately after landing back in Singapore. Company director Ian Huang Yuan Yuan, 54, was charged with 16 counts of using fake documents and... [Read more]

Companies in brief
PACIFIC HEALTHCARE IN $32M TIE-UPMAINBOARD-LISTED health-care provider Pacific Healthcare Holdings has inked a $32 million joint venture deal with Kuwait Finance House to build new medical centres in Asia.Pacific Healthcare will take a 40 per cent stake in the venture. Kuwait... [Read more]

Under threat
PHOTOS: AFP An endangered green sea turtle at the Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Centre in Trengganu. The eastern Malaysian state was one of the world's 10 main nesting sites for its cousin, the leatherback turtle. But no leatherback has hatched there... [Read more]

Group pays $884m for rest of Marina plot
THE consortium that is developing the prime Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) has disclosed the sum - $883.8 million - that it is paying for the second phase of the site, on nearby land. And for the first time, the consortium,... [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]

Drought-hit Australia gets $12b water plan
CANBERRA - AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister John Howard yesterday unveiled a radical A$10 billion (S$12 billion) plan aimed at protecting dwindling water supplies in the world's driest inhabited continent. The move was also seen as an attempt by the Prime Minister to... [Read more]

Glowing figures? 'Research push not the reason'
THE war of words continues between Dr Lee Wei Ling and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), over the state of biomedical research in Singapore.The strategy has been successful so far, says A*Star, and Singapore must stay the course... [Read more]