PARIS - FORMER Renault chief Flavio Briatore announced on Sunday he was taking legal action challenging the life ban he received from the FIA for his role in the Nelson Piquet junior crashgate affair.

In a statement Briatore described last month's punishment as 'a legal absurdity' and expressed confidence that the High Court in Paris would find in his favour and quash the FIA's ruling.

PARENTS will be allowed to draw on their Medisave and Baby Bonus accounts to vaccinate their babies against a family of bacteria that attacks the brain, lungs, blood and ears from next month.

The government is adding the pneumococal vaccine to the childhood immunisation programme, putting its stamp on what it thinks is important for children to be protected against.

THE economy may be technically out of a recession, but there is no let up in the numbers of those looking for help.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said on Sunday that the effects of the upturn has yet to be felt on the ground.

PESHAWAR (Pakistan) - PAKISTAN pounded Taleban bases from the air and bore down on their leader's hometown on Sunday, intensifying a major offensive against the Islamists which it said had killed 60 militants.

More than 100,000 people have fled South Waziristan, part of the tribal belt on the Afghan border that US officials call the most dangerous place on earth, staying with relatives or renting accommodation to escape the fighting.