WASHINGTON - US FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday that various rescue and stimulus programmes in place should provide 'solid gains' for the recession-plagued economy.

Appearing before the Senate Budget Committee, Mr Bernanke said the near-term economic outlook remains troubling but that the various stimulus efforts and moves to stabilise the financial system will eventually help lift activity.

WASHINGTON - THE US Treasury and the Federal Reserve on Tuesday formally launched a programme designed to pump US$200 billion (S$309.6 billion) into consumer credit through the purchase of securities linked to various loans.

The programme, which could rise up to one trillion dollars, aims to break a credit crunch by buying up asset-backed securities linked to credit cards, auto loans and other types of consumer credit.

THE Nanyang Technological University student who attacked his professor and fell to his death had his scholarship revoked just last month.

An NTU spokesman confirmed this in an email statement to straitstimes.com on Tuesday.

LAHORE (Pakistan) - BLOOD, broken glass and a pack of playing cards lay on the road near Pakistan's main cricket stadium on Tuesday after gunmen brought terror to the city of Lahore with an attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team.

Pakistan is well used to militant violence but the country's historic cultural centre of Lahore in the east, while it has seen its share of bomb attacks, feels much safer than violence-plagued areas in the northwest, near the Afghan border.