News Today

What the deal is about
YESTERDAY, North Korea committed itself to a two-stage denuclearisation process under an agreement with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia. In the first stage - which must be completed within 60 days - Pyongyang will shut down its... [Read more]

Show sends wrong message to teenage girls
I question Channel 5's rationale for airing the TV programme, Girls Out Loud, which just ended its run on Monday. The show is fluff, with not much content. While the topics such as dating are tolerable, I feel that the final... [Read more]

A Hammers crisis as Liverpool win
LONDON - HOW far West Ham have fallen. Last season, it took a last-gasp equaliser from Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard to send the FA Cup final into extra time. On Tuesday, it was all too easy for the Reds as they... [Read more]

Companies in brief
COURTS SOUNDS PROFIT WARNING DUE TO THAI LOSSESTHE furniture and electronics retailer Courts (Singapore) issued a profit warning yesterday, flagging losses incurred by its operations in Thailand.The group said it expects to be in the red for the third quarter ended... [Read more]

Soccer Shorts
CHELSEA NEED MOURINHO, SAYS LAMPARDLONDON: Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard admits it is difficult to think about life without manager Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge. There have been suggestions that Mourinho will quit at the end of the season after falling out... [Read more]

Heat win on Wade's 24-point final effort
MIAMI - WITH less than eight minutes remaining, the Miami Heat were in a 12-point hole. And their superstar guard had already established a National Basketball Association record for the most turnovers in a game. 'I knew it had to get... [Read more]

China gives more room to foreign banks
SHANGHAI - CHINA is expected to allow another 20 foreign banks to incorporate locally this year, opening its massive banking market wider to foreign players and intensifying competition there.In December, Beijing granted approval for the first batch of nine foreign banks... [Read more]

Nine Al-Qaeda members among 11 held in France
PARIS - FRENCH police have arrested 11 terror suspects, nine of whom are believed to be members of Al-Qaeda who helped fighters join the ranks of Iraqi insurgents.The first arrests took place at Orly airport in Paris when two men were... [Read more]

Pension fund scam involved 20 top names
SHANGHAI - AT LEAST 20 officials and businessmen were involved in Shanghai's pension fund scandal, the government said yesterday, giving its fullest account yet of the scandal that rocked the city last year. Eleven party officials and more than 10 others... [Read more]

eSys lays off staff ahead of Teledata merger
POSTER boy entrepreneur Vikas Goel's eSys Technologies has laid off nearly one-sixth of its Singapore workforce, just before a merger with Chennai-based Teledata Informatics. eSys, one of the world's largest distributors of hard disks, said yesterday it has whittled down the... [Read more]

Some trash bins have drainage holes
I THANK Mr Sajeev Roy Dharan for his suggestion to have drainage holes in the design of trash bins so as to prevent water retention ('Drainage holes in trash bins to deter mozzies'; ST, Feb 5). Mr Dharan is correct in... [Read more]