News Today

India okays merger of state-run airlines
NEW DELHI - INDIA'S two state-run carriers will merge to create a larger airline able to compete in an increasingly deregulated aviation market, officials said.Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters on Wednesday that a Cabinet panel has approved the merger... [Read more]

S'pore research may slash cost of radio tag readers
COMING soon - shopping carts that scan purchases and total up the bill and hotel rooms that unlock the door automatically for guests. These could well become a reality with researchers at the Institute of Microelectronics (IME) discovering a way to... [Read more]

Cramming in for art's sake
PHOTO: XINHUAThese art students are oblivious to the crowded surroundings as they took part in entrance exams for art school in Nantong city in China's Jiangsu province. The test centre did not expect the huge numbers, forcing them to hold tests... [Read more]

London police calm fears after third teen shot dead
LONDON - POLICE chiefs sought to reassure Londoners yesterday after a third fatal shooting in less than two weeks in the south of the city, fuelling fears of an escalating gun culture. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair and senior detectives held... [Read more]

KL backs away from plan to confine foreign workers
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S government yesterday backed away from a proposal to confine foreign workers to their living quarters, acknowledging that such a drastic move would have 'implications'.'The government hasn't taken a position on it yet,' Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun... [Read more]

Putin offers Saudis help with atomic energy
RIYADH - PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin of Russia has offered to help Saudi Arabia develop atomic energy and pledged to develop ties with the Islamic world during his first visit to Saudi Arabia, a key US ally. Mr Putin yesterday listed the... [Read more]

Undignified to place a price on body organs
I refer to the recent debate on organ trading. I am against such a trade. I am also against the medical directive which states that I have to opt out of the situation whereby other people are automatically entitled to my... [Read more]

Diversified Indian firm with global presence
NEW DELHI - INDIA'S Tata Group boasts an increasingly global stable of interests from tea and trucks to technology.A little more than two years ago, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said he wanted the conglomerate to 'spread its wings far beyond... [Read more]

Outdated price data on dental association's website
My tooth cracked while I was having lunch and my regular dentist was fully booked for the day. Thus I walked into a clinic in a shopping mall in the Thomson area as there were no patients at that time.The dentist... [Read more]

Father's hugs gave woman cancer
A FATHER'S loving hugs proved deadly for one British woman, who developed an asbestos-linked cancer years after her contact with the naval dockyard worker.Now, Ms Debra Brewer, 47, has won a compensation claim against the British Defence Ministry, after it admitted... [Read more]

Paradise lost
PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIMDeserted and in a state of disrepair, the Jurong Crocodile and Reptile Paradise is anything but Eden for the 60 crocodiles that live there.Dwindling visitor numbers forced the park to close its doors in June last year, and... [Read more]

Two years later, still no light for dark corridor

MY HUSBAND and I moved into Block 642, Rowell Road, in September 2004. We noticed that the approximately 5m-long corridor leading to our flat, the only unit there, was not lit. The corridor has a corner large enough to hide an adult and, without proper lighting, my husband was concerned for the family's safety should we come home at night unescorted.

So I made a call to the Jalan Besar Town Council to express our concern, explaining that the one light bulb at the lift landing could not illuminate the corridor which was at a sharp angle away from the lifts.

The staff said that she would note my concern, that I was not the first one to request more lighting there, and that there were plans to increase the number of lights. To top it off, she said that the wiring of all these lights would take one year to be completed. This was in October 2004.

Forward to October 2005. I called to ask where the lights were as there was no indication of any works there the entire year. I was told this time that it would take another year to put in a light bulb in my corridor. It seems absurd that in efficient Singapore it takes a competent body such as a town council two years to put in a light bulb.

October 2006 came and went, with the most dramatic addition to our block being a fresh coat of white and orange paint just before the period of the general election. Still, no sign of a light bulb.

Last December and again a week ago, shoes belonging to my husband and a guest went missing even though our main door was open and guests were visible from the outside of our flat. These incidents happened at night, and within minutes of my husband and our guest taking off their shoes.

We believe the absence of lights added to the temptation as the culprits thought they could get away with the thefts easily.

Would the town council please respond to this fourth request to light our corridor?



Sharon Ismail (Ms)

Drogba looks to English clubs' European domination

CHELSEA'S striker Didier Drogba believes English clubs are on the verge of another golden era in European football.

The Blues, along with Liverpool and Manchester United, are through to the last eight of the Champions League.

That means the Premiership outstrips Italy's two, with Spain, Germany and the Netherlands limited to one each.

'Now it's perhaps England's turn,' he said on Wednesday. 'At one stage, Spain was on top.

'Then, three years ago, the French clubs started to come through a bit when Marseille reached the Uefa Cup final and Monaco were in the Champions League final.

'At other times, it has been the Italian clubs. These are cycles - and that's all the better for the English league and for us.'

If he is correct, English football is set to enjoy the dominance it had before its clubs were banned for five years after the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster.

They won seven European Cup finals from 1977 to 1984.

After the launch of the Champions League, only Liverpool in 2005 and United in 1999 have won it.

But they did provide two finalists in the last two seasons - with Arsenal losing to Barcelona last year.

REUTERS

Temasek accountable to Govt on portfolio basis

MR PATRICK Tan Siong Kuan ('Billions at stake, so Shin saga a national concern'; ST, March 3) was understandably concerned that if Temasek Holdings' investment in Shin Corp made losses, Singapore would lose national reserves. But this is not the right way to measure Temasek's performance.

Temasek invests in a broad range of assets to diversify risk and achieve good returns on the portfolio as a whole. It accepts that some investments will do well while others may fail. What is important is that the portfolio as a whole delivers creditable and sustained returns. This is the approach taken by many other reputable, long-term investors.

The Government holds Temasek accountable for achieving good long-term performance on an overall portfolio basis, rather than on individual investments each year. If Temasek were to be assessed on each individual investment, it would adopt an overly conservative investment strategy and ultimately achieve much lower overall returns.

This approach has yielded good results. As of March 2006, Temasek has delivered a compounded annual return of 18 per cent in terms of total shareholder returns by market value since inception, or 28 per cent per annum in the last three years.

For the financial year 2006 ending March 2007, despite the Shin investment Temasek is again expected to do well.

Laurence Lien
Director
Governance and Investment
Ministry of Finance

LeBron, Cavaliers treat Yao like high-school player

CLEVELAND - LEBRON James and the Cleveland Cavaliers made Yao Ming feel like he was back in high school on Monday.

The Chinese player struggled in his first National Basketball Association game, after missing more than two months with a leg injury.

The Cavaliers held off the Houston Rockets 91-85, led by James' 32 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.

Yao finished the game with a bag of ice on his right knee.

He had 16 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and five turnovers.

The centre had trained just once since recovering from a broken bone under his knee.

It showed.

'In the second quarter, third quarter, I was almost like a high-school player,' he said. 'Sometimes, Cleveland would just steal the ball from my hand.'

He air-balled a left hook on the Rockets' first possession, but soon got in the Cavaliers' way on the other end by blocking a shot.

Wearing a black brace on his right knee, he looked slow and out of sync during attacks. He let a crisp pass tip off his hands and missed open shots.

'Uneven, which is to be expected,' said the Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy. 'But he has got to cut down on his turnovers.

'We can't play well if he goes right back to what he was doing before he got hurt, which is being a high turnover guy. It's impossible to have offensive rhythm.'

James, whose popularity in China helped him top Yao in the All-Star voting this year, scored more than 30 points for the fourth straight game. The Cavaliers have won three of the four.

He got help from Larry Hughes, who had been struggling until recently.

Hughes had 22 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

He said this is the most comfortable he has felt since joining the Cavaliers as a free agent last season.

With rookie Daniel Gibson out with a sprained toe, he played some point guard, which he said he would like to do more often.

'I'm able to create,' he said. 'I'm able to get everybody involved, feel the flow of the game, know what plays we can run.'

James would not mind seeing that as well.

'If he keeps playing the way he is playing now, we might have to keep him in there,' James said.

Yao, who played 27 minutes, helped spark the Rockets in the fourth quarter, after they trailed by 14.

He scored seven straight points and provided a presence that forced Cleveland to take outside shots.

'I can't wait for my next game,' he said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Terminator and Ah Long starring in the S-League

S-LEAGUE punters can now place bets on 'Ah Long' - better known as Noh Alam Shah - scoring in his next game.

Singapore Pools has come up with a novel way for fans to identify personalities in the league easily when placing bets.

A list of nicknames and shortened names for strikers will be used on its website, when punters place bets on the first or last scorer of each S-League match.

The nicknames include Terminator and Black Pearl, and shortened names are Indra and Park.

Said Joe Dorai, deputy manager (sports betting) at Singapore Pools: 'We want to build icons in the league.

'Some of the players' names are too long. We have shortened them to make it easier for customers to remember them.'

The Football Association of Singapore and 12 S-League clubs have approved a list of nicknames and shortened names. They are (in brackets):

Albirex: Eiichiro Ozaki (O-za)

Young Lions: Khairul Amri (Asean Amri)

Balestier: Norikazu Murakami (King Kazu), Fathi Yunus (Boy Fathi)

Geylang: Fadzuhasny Juraimi (Grabber)

Home United: Kenge Ludovick (Black Pearl), Qiu Li (China Li), Indra Sahdan Daud (Indra)

Gombak United: Gabriel Obatola (Gabby), Kingsley Njoku (Kingsley)

Sengkang Punggol: Jonathon Angelucci (Jojo)

SAFFC: Aleksandar Duric (Terminator), Noor Ali (Noor)

Tampines: Noh Alam Shah (Ah Long), Peres de Oliveira (Peres)

Woodlands: Laakkad Abdelhadi (The Lark), Park Tae Won (Park)

News Today

New way of counting halves divorce rate
BEIJING - CHINA is switching to a more common international standard of counting divorces that will cut the divorce rate by half, state media said yesterday.This comes after about 20 years of unusually high numbers of failed Chinese marriages.>From this year,... [Read more]

A-G wants Suharto to repay $500m in charity funds
JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S Attorney-General said yesterday he would demand that former president Suharto repay charity funds alleged to have been used to enrich friends and family before launching a civil suit against him. Earlier this month, Attorney-General Abdul Rahman Saleh said... [Read more]

Citibank goes couture
The new lunar year means a new outfit for Citibank, which has given its uniforms for service staff a chic and cheerful makeover. Designed by top local couturier Francis Cheong, the sparkling new look was showcased in a catwalk show starring... [Read more]

3-nation accord to conserve Borneo rainforest
JAKARTA - INDONESIA, Malaysia and Brunei yesterday agreed to conserve a large swathe of mountainous rainforest covering a third of Borneo which is home to endangered orang utans, elephants and rhinoceros. 'This will put the 'Heart of Borneo' on the world... [Read more]

Lions' triumph is no fluke, so give credit where it is due
I was driving home at about 5.30pm on Monday when I heard a question posed by one of FM93.8's radio host. He was asking for listeners to call in if they thought the Singapore Lions' success in the just concluded Asean... [Read more]

McCulloch gives Wigan crucial win
LONDON - TWO runs came to an end on Saturday at Wigan.Portsmouth lost for the first time there in 28 years but, more importantly for Wigan, their 1-0 win ended a club-record run of eight straight Premiership losses.Ironically, their hero was... [Read more]

Falling steel bar kills worker at prime Orchard site
A THAI construction worker died at an Orchard Road worksite yesterday, suffering serious head injuries after being hit by a 12m-long steel bar that fell off a crane. Mr Kaewswang Wong, 50, was walking under the crane when the accident happened.... [Read more]

HK woman sues Osim over 'faulty' foot massager
HONG KONG - A WOMAN in Hong Kong is seeking HK$50,000 (S$9,800) from Osim, a Singapore health products company, alleging that one of its foot massagers had injured her legs, local reports said yesterday. Ms Wong Hoi-yin, who has taken her... [Read more]

Company's charity move scrutinised
ANOTHER group has come under scrutiny by the charities watchdog. A red flag went up when the Commissioner of Charities (COC) saw that it was to have been helmed by an individual who wanted to raise funds for kidney patients -... [Read more]

Rockeby lands new investors, such as ex-minister Cheow Tong
It places out 120m new shares at 1.9 Australian cents LOCAL biotech firm Rockeby biomed, which is planning again to get a listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) after having been rejected four years ago, has attracted new investors, including former... [Read more]

An offence to listen to music while crossing road
NEW YORK - CROSSING the street in New York while engrossed with a cellphone or an iPod could soon get you fined US$100 (S$150) under a draft Bill being presented by a state senator. Senator Carl Kruger blamed 'iPod oblivion' for... [Read more]