News Today

KL backs away from plan to confine foreign workers
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S government yesterday backed away from a proposal to confine foreign workers to their living quarters, acknowledging that such a drastic move would have 'implications'.'The government hasn't taken a position on it yet,' Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun... [Read more]

Strong demand for bank contracts
COVERED warrants on banks were again in the limelight after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced last week that the Tier 1 capital minimum requirement would be lowered.With more capital freed up to use on investments or for returning to... [Read more]

Recent floods in Jakarta are strong evidence that urbanisation must be reduced
JAKARTA is hit by deadly floods each year and this year is the worst flood in memory. At one point, the flood inundated about 70 per cent of the city. It killed at least 57 people and sent about 450,000 fleeing... [Read more]

$50m overhaul of Changi's runways
CHANGI Airport's 'project runway' has started, with work going on round the clock and clockwork scheduling needed to keep the planes flying. When Terminal 3 opens next year, the airport's two runways will be ready for 'heavier' traffic - in the... [Read more]

London police appealed for help
London police appealed for help yesterday in catching a serial rapist responsible for at least 28 sex attacks including rapes of elderly women as old as 93.Detectives working on the capital's biggest-ever hunt for a serial rapist said the man first... [Read more]

IRs 'on track' despite sand, probity concerns
NO DELAYS, our projects are on track.The assurance was given by Singapore's two integrated resorts (IRs) yesterday, despite flutters over the supply of sand for concrete and a government probe into one of them. Senior staff of the IRs were speaking... [Read more]

What it should have been
IN THE Sunday Times article 'Clash of titans over Singapore's biomed push' published yesterday, we quoted Agency for Science, Technology and Research chairman Philip Yeo as saying that A*Star had sent 118 PhD scholars to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)... [Read more]

Household income of lowest wage earners rises
SINGAPORE'S lowest wage-earners are taking home more pay per household member for the first time in eight years. But this is not because of a rise in individual wages, which have generally remained stagnant. Rather, more family members are working and... [Read more]

Charge Thaksin's wife with tax evasion: Committee
BANGKOK - A PANEL appointed to investigate corruption linked to deposed Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has recommended that criminal tax evasion charges be filed against his wife, her secretary and her brother, its chairman said yesterday. Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra and... [Read more]

School proves disabled can fit in
AT EVERGREEN Primary, Loh Jiawei is just one of the girls, the muscle-wasting disease that confines her to a wheelchair no barrier to learning. With help from an understanding and caring principal, teachers and schoolmates, the determined 11-year-old topped her Primary... [Read more]

11 killed as morning bomb attacks rip through Baghdad
BAGHDAD - A CAR bomb and a suicide attacker killed at least 11 people across Baghdad yesterday as militants showed increasing defiance amid a major security operation in the capital. More than 100 people have been killed in Baghdad since Sunday... [Read more]