THE pharmaceutical industry in Singapore has moved into higher gear, with the opening of a state-of-the-art $600million GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) vaccine plant in Tuas.

The plant will be able to produce biologic drugs, which use natural products like blood or bacteria, and Singapore is one of the few countries in the world which has this capability.

FERNANDO DE NORONHA (Brazil) - A MILITARY helicopter bearing the bodies of eight people killed a week ago when an Air France jet plunged into the Atlantic, arrived on Tuesday in Fernando de Noronha off the Brazilian mainland.

Officials said bodies fished from ocean waters off the coast of Brazil will undergo initial identification before being taken to the mainland coastal city of Recife, where investigators hope to identify the remains by checking dental records and DNA samples provided by relatives.

JAKARTA - A MEDICAL examination of a teenage US-Indonesian model who claimed she was raped and tortured by her Malaysian prince husband confirmed that she had been physically abused, a forensic expert said on Tuesday.

Ms Manohara Odelia Pinot, 17, last week told reporters she was treated like a sex slave after her marriage last year to Tengku Temenggong Mohammad Fakhry, the prince of Malaysia's Kelantan state.

APPLE'S new iPhone 3G S will likely cost about the same as its predecessor, the iPhone 3G, while the price-tag of the latter will drop, say industry observers.

Last year, exclusive distributor SingTel gave the iPhone 3G free to users who took up a two-year high-end plan, while those with lower-end plans had to pay up to $848.