News Today

Operation Secure Baghdad
US SOLDIERS from the Bravo Company engaging in a sustained gunfight with insurgents in Baghdad at the start of the week, days before the US and Iraqi authorities launched Operation Law and Order on Wednesday. The latest security offensive in Baghdad,... [Read more]

Young volunteers keep the 'Y' hip
MOST things over 100 years old can hardly be thought of as hip and happening. The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is 105 - and make that '105 years young', even though the Singapore chapter has been here since 1902.The association's... [Read more]

Envoys told to rebut Thaksin
BANGKOK - THE Thai government has asked its diplomats to counter the comments made by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in interviews with international news organisations.In a number of interviews with newspapers, magazines and TV channels - the latest being an... [Read more]

World Quickly
TURKISH POLICE NAB 46 SUSPECTED MILITANTSISTANBUL: Turkish police arrested 46 suspected Islamic militants in operations in five provinces across the country.Anatolia news agency reported that the suspects had ties to Al-Qaeda, but police in Istanbul would not confirm that information, saying... [Read more]

BA cabin crew call off strike after last-minute deal
LONDON - BRITISH Airways said yesterday it had reached agreement with a union representing cabin crew to call off a strike, but the deal came too late to avoid travel disruptions today and tomorrow.The Transport & General Workers (T&G) Union had... [Read more]

Ex-CEO 'did not wield absolute power'
THE old NKF board directors and executive committee had given its former chief executive T.T. Durai the power to run day-to-day affairs, but 'not at any time delegated absolute power' to him.In his defence yesterday, its former board chairman Richard Yong... [Read more]

Polys to tie up with top overseas schools
SINGAPOREANS aiming to specialise in fields such as the culinary arts, hotel management or digital animation will soon have no need to head overseas to fulfil their career ambitions.Within the next three years, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will bring in... [Read more]

Bouquets
FREE TICKETS TO A GREAT MATCHMY BOYFRIEND and I would like to thank a middle-aged couple who offered us their extra set of grandstand tickets to the Singapore-Malaysia football match at the National Stadium on Saturday.The kind couple gave us the... [Read more]

Footballers are not paid millions for their minds
IS THE English footballer brain dead? This is a serious question, after a week of lavatory-wall humour concerning the criminal stupidity of Glen Johnson. He is gifted in a football sense, beyond doubt. At 17, he was a West Ham first-team... [Read more]

Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for deadly Algeria blasts
ALGIERS - AN AL-QAEDA cell has claimed responsibility for a series of car bomb attacks which killed six people and left 13 injured in Algeria's Kabylie region on Tuesday.The bombs were planted near police stations in two districts and exploded almost... [Read more]

Hyundai chairman gets three years' jail
SEOUL - HYUNDAI Motor chairman Chung Mong Koo was sentenced to three years' jail yesterday for embezzling company funds that were used to buy political favours. Chung, South Korea's richest man, was found guilty of siphoning off around 103 billion won... [Read more]