News Summary

Steely Putin shows softer side to foreign journalists
SOCHI (RUSSIA) - RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin can strike fear into the heart of his toughest adversaries, but sometimes even steely-eyed former spies just feel like a friendly chat. Arriving for a briefing by ministers in the Black Sea city of... [Read more]

Protests 'won't stop reforms in W. Bengal'
CALCUTTA - PROTESTS by angry farmers will not deter India's communists from razing farms to build factories in the country's east, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said. His comments came hours after a policeman was killed by demonstrators near... [Read more]

What's cooking? Help for the needy
EIGHT hundred dollars may be a pittance to some, but to widow Madam Lijah Ahamed, 47, this modest salary she gets each month from baking pastries means food on the table for her five children, aged 14 to 21, and being... [Read more]

Imperial treasures
TAIWAN'S National Palace Museum is home to some of finest treasures owned by China's emperors.Among the more notable exhibits are: Four of the best-known Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) landscape paintings, shown together for the first time.One of them is on loan... [Read more]

Colourful, sickening
PARIS - ALLERGY to hair dye is soaring in numerous countries as more and more young people colour their locks, the British Medical Journal warns. The culprit is para-phenylenediamine (PPD) and its cousins in a chemical family called aromatic amines, the... [Read more]

Health items law can enforce after-sales scrutiny
A NEW law on health products for human use, approved yesterday, sends 'a strong signal' that products made or sold here are of the highest standards. Madam Halimah Yacob (Jurong GRC) said when debating the Health Products Bill, that it will... [Read more]

Wider trade gap, falling stockpiles to hurt US GDP
WASHINGTON - AN UNEXPECTEDLY wide December trade gap and pared down business inventories are certain to slice a big chunk off the US government's gauge of fourth-quarter economic growth.In fresh data on a key piece of the economic pie, the United... [Read more]

Phelps rewrites 200m fly world mark
NEW YORK - AMERICAN Michael Phelps broke his own 200 metres butterfly world record in Columbia last Saturday. He clocked 1 minute 53.71 seconds at the Missouri Grand Prix meet. Tam Kerekjarto was second in 1:59.79 while Juan Veloz was third... [Read more]

Teheran makes confusing claims over nuclear work
TEHERAN - IRAN has given conflicting signals on its disputed nuclear work after one of its nuclear agency officials denied claims made by a top lawmaker that the country had started installing 3,000 centrifuges at a uranium enrichment plant.Mr Hossein Simorgh,... [Read more]

Gang 'drew up hit list of Muslim soldiers'
LONDON - A GANG of British extremists, mostly of Pakistani origin, is said to have drawn up a hit list of Muslim soldiers who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan to become the first victims in Britain of an Al-Qaeda style... [Read more]

Yong: Durai wrote own bonus letter
A LETTER written by former NKF chairman Richard Yong to Mr T.T. Durai - praising his work and offering him an eight-month bonus - was actually drafted by the then chief executive himself. Mr Yong admitted this in court yesterday -... [Read more]