The Straits Times

Sep 4, 2009 Friday

Updated

Straits Times Headlines

$100 liability cap for lost credit cards

Chelsea banned from signing new players until 2011

West java quake: Death toll rises to 57

Inside

Seismic shifts challenge Thai elites to compromise

View Points

One-dose H1N1 drug gets Beijing's okay

H1N1 found in pigs from Indonesia

Hygiene rules tightened for night markets

Pfizer to pay US$2.3b penalty

Man who blew the whistle $74m richer after ordeal

In Singapore: Painkiller Bextra withdrawn in April 2005

PKMS fight ends with fractured skull; 21 arrested

Dozens trapped as quake toll rises

Pay-back time at Phillip Securities

High profile NGOs coming to S'pore

One in 4 SIA crew opts for no-pay leave

SIA delays taking of eight A380s

Sons didn't know matriarch died

China plans landmark rules to up investment

Palin 'tried hiding daughter's pregnancy'

Charred body of top Indian leader found

Breaking News

Obama speech a leadership test

Name schools after me

White House opens visitor log **

Syringe attacks instigated

BEIJING- RERCENT syringe attacks in the restive Chinese region of Xinjiang were 'instigated by ethnic separatist forces,' Beijing's security minister was quoted saying on Friday by state media.

Meng Jianzhu, who arrived in the regional capital Urumqi on Friday to defuse tension, said those responsible were trying to 'undermine ethnic unity,' he was quoted saying by the Xinhua news agency.

No reconciliation yet

HOPES of a reconciliation between two rival factions of a opposition party involved in a street brawl appear slim, after an olive branch offered by one side was rebuffed on Friday.

Both groups, battling for control of the Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS), met reporters in the aftermath of clashes on Thursday which left four injured and saw 21 arrested for rioting.

'Export the revolution'

TEHERAN - A SENIOR cleric urged Iran's factions on Friday to end post-election infighting, suggesting they should focus on trying to 'export the revolution' instead.

Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani's comments appeared to be an attempt to calm political tension inside Iran after its disputed election in June, which plunged the country into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

US jobless rate at 9.7%

WASHINGTON - THE unemployment rate rose to 9.7 per cent in August, the highest since June 1983, as employers eliminated a net total of 216,000 jobs.

Analysts expect businesses will be reluctant to hire until they are convinced the economy is on a firm path to recovery. Many private economists, and the Federal Reserve, expect the unemployment rate to top 10 per cent by the end of this year.

SM Goh sees China tie-ups

CHINA continues to be an exciting market for Singapore companies, with possible tie-ups to develop integrated townships and manage the environment, said Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

'Many Singapore companies have strengths in these areas as they have participated in Singapore's own development,' he said in a recent interview with China's semi-official news agency China News Service.