HUNDREDS of anxious customers jammed the phone lines of British insurer Prudential Assurance Singapore on Wednesday after their premiums were deducted twice this month.

Prudential said a technical glitch had caused the Giro banking glitch. By 11am it had received about 300 calls from worried customers, including Madam Ann Chow, who realised that her bank account was short of $320 when she withdrew cash at an the ATM on Wednesday morning.

MOTORISTS are getting an extra gift this Christmas - not from Santa, but the petrol companies.

Pump prices slid again on Wednesday, with Shell leading the way at 2pm, lowering prices by about four cents per litre for its diesel and three unleaded petrol products. Singapore Petroleum Company and Caltex followed suit at 3pm.

NEW recruits are among the first of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) servicemen to wear the new 'digital camouflage' uniforms.

The more than 1,000 recruits from the Basic Military Training Centre (BMTC) on Wednesday lined up in the first public outing of the pixellated uniforms, more than three months after it was first unveiled. They were released on leave from their Pulau Tekong camp for the Christmas break.