The Straits Times

June 11, 2009 Thursday

Updated

Straits Times Headlines

Seditious tract duo jailed eight weeks

Economists up growth forecast for next year

Inside

The Gordon Brown tragedy

View Points

DOWN: Changi slips to third spot in global airport ranking survey

UP: Singapore now ranks among top 10 most expensive cities in Asia for expatriates

Couple no longer at their old church

Suicide attackers blow up hotel

Where fate of Soviets' Afghan war was sealed

Car bomb kills 35 at Iraqi market

A phone that's just right for the elderly

Young Malaysian leaders welcome MM Lee's visit

Tube strike causes London chaos

US Congress probes Fed role in BoA's Merrill buy

Pregnant man gives birth again

Breaking News

WHO declares pandemic

3 rare golden monkeys to stay

Open Coke, open happiness

Thai PM to reassure China

Wall Street lifted by retail

3 more H1N1 cases

US retail sales rises

Charged with safety failures

New footbridge for Marina Bay **

ST wins publishing awards

FOR the sixth year running, The Straits Times (ST) has bagged awards at a premier Asian publishing competition.

At a ceremony held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong on Thursday night its journalists received honourable mentions - second-place awards - in the Excellence in Reporting Breaking News category and in the Excellence in Business Reporting category of the Society Of Publishers in Asia (Sopa) Awards for Editorial Excellence.

WHO declares pandemic

GENEVA - THE World Health Organisation declared the first flu pandemic of the 21st century on Thursday, Sweden's health ministry said.

The health ministry said the United Nations agency was raising its pandemic flu alert to the top phase 6 on a six-point scale, indicating the first influenza pandemic since 1968 is under way.

3 more H1N1 cases

SINGAPORE has three more confirmed cases of Influenza A (H1N1-2009), bringing the total number of reported cases to 21.

But 13 of the patients have been discharged. The remaining eight patients are still in hospital and their conditions remain stable, said the Ministry of Health in the latest update on Thursday night.

Taiwan's 96-yr-old grad

TAIPEI - A 96-YEAR-OLD Taiwanese man who will receive his master's degree in philosophy this weekend said he was able to compete with younger students by pulling all-nighters before exams.

Chao Mu-he, better known to his classmates at Nanhua University in southern Taiwan as 'Grandpa Chao,' said he began graduate school after being told he was too old to continue as a volunteer at a local hospital.

No need to up alert level

THE Ministry of Helath will not be upping its alert level or current measures, even if World Health Organisation declares a global pandemic which is widely expected soon.

Reason: Singapore has already taken this development into consideration when mapping out its strategy against the Influenza A (H1N1) virus earlier, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Thursday.