Straits Times Interactive - LATEST NEWS

Car design head Pininfarina dies in road crash

07 Aug 2008 13:06 GMT

MILAN - ANDREA Pininfarina, head of the family company which designs Ferraris, Fiats and the Ford Focus, died in a road crash in the early hours of Thursday near the Italian city of Turin, riding his Vespa scooter.

IOC hails Beijing pollution effort as smog persists

07 Aug 2008 12:22 GMT

BEIJING - INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge on Thursday hailed Beijing's 'extraordinary' effort to cut pollution, despite familiar smog pervading the city on the eve of the Games.

Thief who got away jailed 10 years

07 Aug 2008 12:11 GMT

KAMARUDIN Abdul Hussin, 34, was jailed for 10 years with eight strokes of the cane on Thursday but he could consider himself lucky.

Construction firm Greatearth fined $132,000 for safety violations

07 Aug 2008 12:10 GMT

THE construction firm that was involved in the 2004 Fusionpolis accident that killed two workers and injured 29, was fined $132,000 for safety violations on Thursday.

Oil rises to near US$120 in Asia, halting slide

07 Aug 2008 10:13 GMT

OIL prices rose on Thursday in Asia to near US$120 a barrel, halting a four-week slide on concerns that tension over Iran's nuclear program could lead to conflict.

Freeman said woman in crash is a friend

07 Aug 2008 03:18 GMT

JACKSON, (Mississippi) - THE woman who was injured along with Morgan Freeman in a weekend car accident apparently is a friend of the Oscar-winning actor who had offered him a ride home, a crash witness says.

Wet behind the ears? Not this nifty brolly idea by TP students

07 Aug 2008 08:03 GMT

DRIVERS who are tired of fumbling with umbrellas while getting into cars and getting drenched as a result can sit up and take notice.

S'porean climbers abandon K2 climb

07 Aug 2008 09:46 GMT

SINGAPORE mountaineers Dr Robert Goh and Mr Edwin Siew have abandoned their bid to scale K2, the world?s second highest peak.

World powers mulling fresh Iran sanctions: US, Britain

06 Aug 2008 22:32 GMT

WASHINGTON - SIX world powers agreed on Wednesday to consider new sanctions on Iran after Teheran gave an ambiguous answer to their latest demand to freeze key nuclear work, the United States and Britain said.

Bank of England to announce rate decision

07 Aug 2008 09:14 GMT

LONDON - THE Bank of England was to make its latest decision over British interest rates on Thursday, with some economists forecasting a surprise rise in borrowing costs owing to surging inflation.

Chinese city pauses for policemen slain in attack

07 Aug 2008 09:17 GMT

KASHGAR (China) - THE remote Chinese city of Kashgar came to a standstill on Thursday as a government-organised ceremony was held to remember 16 policemen killed in an alleged terrorist attack.

China bets on Olympic lotteries to tap Games fever

07 Aug 2008 10:51 GMT

BEIJING - CHINA, where gambling is mostly illegal, is giving punters the chance to scoop 730,000 dollars (S$1 million) in special Olympic lotteries by correctly guessing answers like who will win the country's first Games gold.

Killer gets life sentence plus pizza in plea deal

07 Aug 2008 11:28 GMT

PORTLAND (Oregon) - A NEW York man who pleaded guilty to murder in exchange for buckets of fried chicken will get calzones and pizza to go with his life sentence.

Jail for sales exec who bought drug from Aussie newsman

07 Aug 2008 09:36 GMT

straitstimes.com gets brand new look - with free breaking news and blogs

07 Aug 2008 11:22 GMT

THE Straits Times website will be sporting a whole new look starting tomorrow.

China rejects Bush criticism

07 Aug 2008 11:12 GMT

BANGKOK - CHINA rejected US President George W.Bush's criticism on Thursday of its human rights record and restrictions on religion, diplomatically telling him to stay out of its affairs even as he flew to Beijing to attend the Olympics.

China bets on Olympic lotteries to tap Games fever

07 Aug 2008 10:51 GMT

Pakistan coalition agrees to impeach Musharraf

07 Aug 2008 10:38 GMT

ISLAMABAD - PAKISTAN faced fresh political turmoil on Thursday after officials said the ruling coalition had agreed to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, a vital US ally in the 'war on terror'. The agreement came after three days of marathon talks between coalition leaders Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif, another ex-premier.

Bank of England to announce rate decision

07 Aug 2008 09:14 GMT

LONDON - THE Bank of England was to make its latest decision over British interest rates on Thursday, with some economists forecasting a surprise rise in borrowing costs owing to surging inflation.

US says submarine leaked radiation in 3 Japan ports

07 Aug 2008 12:31 GMT

TOKYO - A US nuclear-powered submarine leaked radioactive water for two years, during which it made almost a dozen stops in Japan at three different ports, the Japanese government said on Thursday.

SGX Q4 net halves, outlook volatile

07 Aug 2008 10:17 GMT

SINGAPORE Exchange (SGX) , Asia's third-largest bourse by market capitalisation, posted a worse-than expected 49 per cent plunge in fourth-quarter net profit as stock trading volumes fell and said the outlook for markets remains volatile.

Fuel hedges prove costly gamble for Asian airlines

07 Aug 2008 10:16 GMT

ASIA-PACIFIC airlines have clipped their fuel hedges to save on steep premium costs as oil slid to three-month lows, but they need to keep a consistent ratio to safeguard against volatile price swings.

Vietnam allows some sex-change surgeries

07 Aug 2008 10:15 GMT

HANOI - VIETNAM has legalised some types of sex change surgery but will let government physicians have the final say on what gender a patient is, a health official in the communist country said on Thursday.

Oil rises to near US$120 in Asia, halting slide

07 Aug 2008 10:13 GMT

OIL prices rose on Thursday in Asia to near US$120 a barrel, halting a four-week slide on concerns that tension over Iran's nuclear program could lead to conflict.

5.0-magnitude quake hits China's Sichuan province

07 Aug 2008 09:58 GMT

Tibetans in India, Nepal march against China Games

07 Aug 2008 11:33 GMT

KATHMANDU (Nepal) - AN ESTIMATED 1,500 Tibetans staged a protest in Nepal's capital on Thursday, expressing their anger towards China on the eve of the Beijing Olympics, police and eyewitnesses said.

S'porean climbers abandon K2 climb

07 Aug 2008 09:46 GMT

SINGAPORE mountaineers Dr Robert Goh and Mr Edwin Siew have abandoned their bid to scale K2, the world?s second highest peak.

Jail for sales exec who bought drug from Aussie newsman

07 Aug 2008 09:36 GMT

STI closes lower

07 Aug 2008 09:25 GMT

Chinese city pauses for policemen slain in attack

07 Aug 2008 09:17 GMT

KASHGAR (China) - THE remote Chinese city of Kashgar came to a standstill on Thursday as a government-organised ceremony was held to remember 16 policemen killed in an alleged terrorist attack.

Japan's longest postwar economic recovery stalls: govt

07 Aug 2008 09:16 GMT

TOKYO - JAPAN'S longest sustained economic expansion since World War II appears to have ended, a government report said on Thursday, amid growing fears of a recession in Asia's largest economy.

3-year-old boy dies of suspected HFMD

07 Aug 2008 09:43 GMT

Thaksin to return to Thailand as planned

07 Aug 2008 08:56 GMT

BANGKOK - FORMER Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, facing a spate of corruption charges at home, will return to Thailand from an overseas trip by Aug. 11 as planned, his spokeswoman said on Thursday.

US First Lady visits Myanmar refugees

07 Aug 2008 08:55 GMT

MAE LA REFUGEE CAMP (Thailand) - US First Lady Laura Bush, a vocal critic of Myanmar's junta, toured a refugee camp on Thursday and called on the military regime to open dialogue with the pro-democracy opposition.

Radio broadcaster shot and killed in Philippines

07 Aug 2008 08:54 GMT

MANILA - A RADIO broadcaster was shot and killed on Thursday in the central Philippines, just three days after his colleague was critically wounded in a similar attack, their employer said.

Barclays profits plunge on huge credit-related losses

07 Aug 2008 08:30 GMT

Olympics: Yao Ming to carry Chinese flag at opening ceremony

07 Aug 2008 08:26 GMT

Australia police reopen 7,000 cases after DNA error

07 Aug 2008 08:18 GMT

Indonesia testing 13 for bird flu in Sumatra village

07 Aug 2008 08:09 GMT

Wet behind the ears? Not this nifty brolly idea by TP students

07 Aug 2008 08:03 GMT

DRIVERS who are tired of fumbling with umbrellas while getting into cars and getting drenched as a result can sit up and take notice.

New features at S'pore's World Cyber Games

07 Aug 2008 08:00 GMT

Singapore's OCBC Q2 profit sinks 20%

07 Aug 2008 07:54 GMT

Indonesia warns over forest fires on Borneo

07 Aug 2008 07:53 GMT

JAKARTA - THE number of forest fires on Indonesian Borneo has soared over the past two days due to land clearing, raising concerns it could lead to haze over Malaysia and Singapore, an official said on Thursday.

Japan opens door to Indonesian nurses

07 Aug 2008 07:45 GMT

Philippines urged to take lead role in Asean against Myanmar

07 Aug 2008 07:33 GMT

Doctor who examined Anwar's accuser stands by his report

07 Aug 2008 07:33 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR - THE Myanmar doctor, who examined Saiful Bukhari Azlan, is standing by his medical report that the former aide to Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was not sodomised. In a statutory declaration he filed on Aug 1, Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid alias Than Aung, reiterated that he stood by 'his findings'.

Corrupt cop found guilty of graft

07 Aug 2008 07:14 GMT

Malaysia's Anwar faces new turn in tumultuous career

07 Aug 2008 07:12 GMT

Maintaining order a balancing act for Home Team: minister

07 Aug 2008 07:08 GMT

THE Traffic Policeman decides not to give you a parking ticket - and you're relieved. But somebody else has witnessed what you consider an act of kindness, and complains that the officer is not policing the law.

DBS surprises with 16% rise in 2Q net profit

07 Aug 2008 06:21 GMT

DBS Group on Thursday surprised the market with a 16 per cent rise in second-quarter profit.

M'sia's Anwar charged with sodomy, granted bail

07 Aug 2008 06:13 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S leading opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim was charged with sodomy at a court hearing on Thursday in a move that could damage his chances of staging a political comeback.

2 women robbed in separate incidents

07 Aug 2008 05:45 GMT

TWO women were robbed in separate incidents on Tuesday.

5 firms awarded $500,000 grants to develop elderly-friendly products

07 Aug 2008 07:03 GMT

FIVE companies have been awarded grants amounting to $500,000 to test and develop products which cater to the elderly.

5,000 breakfast sets up for grabs

07 Aug 2008 05:36 GMT

TO MARK the relaunch of The Straits Times tomorrow, we are giving away 5,000 breakfast sets to those who buy a copy of the paper at certain outlets.

All change at The Straits Times tomorrow

07 Aug 2008 05:35 GMT

ALL sections of The Straits Times will feature changes to content when the revamped newspaper appears tomorrow. The difference will be clear right from Page 1, as the paper will be redesigned, with a new masthead and new headline and text fonts to make for easier reading.

Asean to set up oil stockpiling working group

07 Aug 2008 04:59 GMT

BANGKOK - SOUTH-EAST Asian energy ministers will join with Japan, South Korea and China to set up an oil stockpiling working group, according to the draft of a joint-ministerial statement seen by Reuters on Thursday.

Jackie Chan to star in Hollywood spy comedy

07 Aug 2008 04:55 GMT

HONG KONG - JACKIE Chan's next Hollywood project is an action comedy about a Chinese spy working undercover in the US whose cover is blown, the movie's producer said on Thursday.

Tennis: Federer to play Tursunov in 1st round of Olympics

07 Aug 2008 04:53 GMT

BEIJING - TOP-ranked Roger Federer will play Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in the first round of the Beijing Olympics tennis tournament.

S'pore's Tiger Airways turns in first profit

07 Aug 2008 04:48 GMT

TIGER Airways Singapore has turned in its first set of profits since taking to the skies four years ago.

Nicole Kidman to paparazzi: Leave baby Sunday alone

07 Aug 2008 04:16 GMT

SYDNEY - HOLLYWOOD star Nicole Kidman and singer husband Keith Urban asked the paparazzi on Thursday to leave them and baby daughter Sunday Rose alone, saying she was a 'tiny doll' who would be scared by the attention.

Philippine govt warns Muslim rebels to leave occupied villages

07 Aug 2008 04:01 GMT

MANILA - THE Philippine government has given Muslim separatist rebels 24 hours to vacate occupied villages in the south or risk being thrown out by the military, officials warned on Thursday.

Little light at end of tunnel a year after credit market derailed

07 Aug 2008 03:56 GMT

WASHINGTON - A YEAR has passed since the credit crunch first jolted financial markets, but there still appears to be little light at the end of the tunnel despite emergency measures taken by the US authorities.

Bush says US firmly opposed to China's repression

07 Aug 2008 03:48 GMT

BANGKOK - WITH all eyes on Beijing, US President George W. Bush bluntly told China on Thursday that America is strongly opposed to the way the communist government represses its people, a rebuke delivered from the heart of Asia on the cusp of the Olympic Games.

M'sia to train citizens to work as maids

07 Aug 2008 03:33 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN women will be encouraged to train as domestic helpers, in a government programme aimed at reducing the country's dependency on foreign workers, reports said on Thursday.

Freeman said woman in crash is a friend

07 Aug 2008 03:18 GMT

All US adults could be overweight in 40 years

07 Aug 2008 03:01 GMT

NEW YORK - IF the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects.

Rosyth estate burglar caught

07 Aug 2008 02:01 GMT

A BURGLAR who is believed to have broken into three homes in Rosyth Estate in the past week has been nabbed.

Major Internet security flaw a boon to hackers; also affects e-mail

07 Aug 2008 01:54 GMT

LAS VEGAS - A NEWLY discovered flaw in the Internet's core infrastructure not only permits hackers to force people to visit Web sites they don't want to, it also allows them to intercept e-mail messages, the researcher who discovered the bug said on Wednesday.

Colombian police thwart car bombings by FARC rebels

07 Aug 2008 01:03 GMT

BOGOTA - COLOMBIAN police on Wednesday thwarted two car bombings FARC rebels had planned for Bogota during Thursday's Independence Day celebrations, and arrested five rebels, officials said.

Japan's core machinery orders fall in June

07 Aug 2008 00:52 GMT

TOKYO - A KEY barometer of corporate capital spending fell for the first time in three months in June indicating Japanese businesses are feeling the pinch of a sputtering global economy.

Musharraf to visit China despite ouster rumours

07 Aug 2008 00:42 GMT

ISLAMABAD - PAKISTANI President Pervez Musharraf heads to Beijing on Thursday for the Olympic Games despite media reports that the ruling coalition has agreed on steps to remove him.

Ledger drug probe dropped

07 Aug 2008 00:21 GMT

NEW YORK - A LAW enforcement official says federal prosecutors have dropped the investigation into how Heath Ledger obtained two painkillers that contributed to his overdose.

Asian stocks mixed at close

07 Aug 2008 05:20 GMT

HONG KONG - ASIAN stocks will likely rise on Thursday, supported by a decline in oil prices, although a mixed bag of corporate results continues to cause uncertainty about the global growth outlook.

Strong Indonesian quake causes damage, injuries

07 Aug 2008 10:02 GMT

A POWERFUL 6.6-magnitude quake hit eastern Indonesia early on Thursday and destroyed more than 100 homes but there were no reports of injuries, meteorologists said.

Olympics: Haze hovers over Beijing day before opening ceremony

06 Aug 2008 23:57 GMT

BEIJING - HAZE hovered over the Chinese capital on Thursday, just a day before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games that have been beset by worries about pollution.

Russia, Britain feud in UN debate over Kosovo rioting

06 Aug 2008 23:47 GMT

UNITED NATIONS - RUSSIA and Britain clashed on Wednesday in a Security Council debate on last March's rioting in the Serb-populated part of the flashpoint Kosovo town of Kosovska Mitrovica that left one Ukrainian policeman dead.

AIG loses more than $5b on credit market troubles

06 Aug 2008 23:37 GMT

NEW YORK - AMERICAN International Group said on Wednesday that it lost more than US$5 billion (S$6.9 billion) in the second quarter, as struggling credit markets stripped several billions of dollars in value from its credit default swaps portfolio and other investments.

Google launches free music search service in China

06 Aug 2008 23:15 GMT

LOS ANGELES - GOOGLE said on Wednesday that it has launched a music search service in China that allows users to access music legally online in a forum backed by some record labels and supported by advertising revenue.

Sinatra Jr finds Brazilian sponsored by famous father

06 Aug 2008 23:12 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO - THE son of legendary singer Frank Sinatra has found a Brazilian sponsored by his father in the 1980s after a public search headed by a Rio newspaper.

Golf: Els confident of success heading into PGA Championship

06 Aug 2008 23:10 GMT

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, (Michigan) - ERNIE Els hasn't won a major championship in six years but the South African believes he still has the game to capture his first PGA Championship title this week.

Israel mulls military option for Iran nukes

06 Aug 2008 22:58 GMT

JERUSALEM - ISRAEL is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Teheran's atomic program, even if it can't destroy it.

UK police arrest man over French student murders

06 Aug 2008 22:43 GMT

LONDON - BRITISH police investigating the frenzied killings of two French students in London said they had arrested a 19-year-old man on Wednesday on suspicion of murder, the seventh arrest in the case.

Ronaldo spurns Madrid, stays with Man Utd

07 Aug 2008 10:46 GMT

MANCHESTER - CRISTIANO Ronaldo has pledged to stay with Manchester United for at least the coming season, but still wants to join Real Madrid, according to a Portuguese newspaper interview published on Wednesday.

Sarkozy awards China 'gold medal' for Olympic preparations

06 Aug 2008 22:35 GMT

PARIS - PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy praised China's preparations for the Olympic Games on Wednesday as his office made clear he will not see the Dalai Lama when the Tibetan leader in exile visits France.

World powers mulling fresh Iran sanctions: US, Britain

06 Aug 2008 22:32 GMT

Football: Struggling United held by Juventus

06 Aug 2008 22:25 GMT

MANCHESTER - MANCHESTER United were held to a 0-0 draw by Juventus here on Wednesday night as Sir Alex Ferguson's injury-hit squad struggled to overcome the Italians.

Troops overthrow president in Mauritania coup

06 Aug 2008 23:03 GMT

NOUAKCHOTT - TROOPS ousted Mauritania's president in a military coup on Wednesday after he tried to sack senior army officers accused of being behind a political crisis destabilising the country.

US stocks climb on lower oil prices, Cisco outlook

06 Aug 2008 22:06 GMT

NEW YORK - US stocks on Wednesday extended gains from a powerful rally the prior day as oil prices fell again and Cisco's bright outlook outweighed dire earnings from mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac.