JAKARTA - UP TO 26 people were killed and some 250 were plucked to safety after a ferry sank in heavy seas off Indonesia's Sumatra island on Sunday, officials said.

The 147-tonne Dumai Express was sailing from Batam island to Pekanbaru when it went down in high seas off Karimun island, near Singapore in the north of the Indonesian archipelago, police said.

WOULD you like fries with that?

Life is full of choices, but employees in Asia are lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to the growing trend of getting to cherry-pick employment benefits.

THE Member of Parliament overseeing Bukit Timah has assured residents that national water agency PUB will act fast to widen and deepen a diversion canal to prevent a repeat of last Thursday's flood.

Works on the canal leading from the main Bukit Timah canal will begin in the third quarter of next year, said Mr Christopher de Souza, who is on the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC team of MPs.

TAMPINES scored top marks for its lifts, but needs to improve in other areas before next year's report card on Housing Board estates.

The Tampines Town Council gave residents a peek at its preliminary results at a town hall forum on Sunday, in a bid to get residents more involved in the running of the estate and boost its grades by the time the final Town Council Management Report is released.