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S. KOREA-U.S. BEEF DISPUTE CONTINUESSEOUL: US and South Korean negotiators failed to settle a dispute over beef imports, which threatens to scupper a wider free trade deal, Seoul said yesterday. The two countries could not narrow differences over the presence of... [Read more]

Bellamy and Riise swing it Reds' way
IT IS part of the beauty of sport that it produces scripts so remarkable that, were they submitted as fiction, they would be rejected for their sheer implausibility. Liverpool know it full well. Few could credit their comeback win over AC... [Read more]

1m-baht reward for info on New Year's Eve bombings
BANGKOK - THAI police have distributed video footage of a suspect in the New Year's Eve bombings in Bangkok, and offered a million-baht (S$46,000) reward for information leading to an arrest.The footage which was released on Monday will be televised, police... [Read more]

Today's Headlines
All's fair game in the blogosphere - or is it?KUALA LUMPUR - WHEN a manager of an Islamic insurance company sent an e-mail asking Muslim staff not to offer Deepavali greetings to Hindus last October, it quickly became the talk in... [Read more]

Sign of Mars life?
New evidence has surfaced that water may be present on Mars. This image from Nasa spacecraft Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows alternating layers of dark- and light-toned rock in Becquerel Crater on the planet. Within those deposits are a series of linear... [Read more]

Online bomb hoax: Youth pleads guilty
A MAN who 'mooched' on a neighbour's unsecured wireless network to make a bomb hoax posting online caused alarm and got his neighbour arrested.Full-time national serviceman Lin Zhenghuang's hoax posting on Aug 1, 2005 - a day after the London subway... [Read more]

Thailand won't seize control of satellites
BANGKOK - THAILAND wants to 'properly' buy back ShinSat's satellites from Temasek Holdings, Thai military junta leader General Sonthi Boonyarataglin said yesterday, ruling out any sudden seizure. Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the powerful Council for National Security (CNS),... [Read more]

Soccer Shorts
ITALY THE NEW LEADERS IN FIFA RANKINGS ROME: World champions Italy have replaced Brazil at the top of the Fifa rankings. It is the first time the European country have been ranked No 1 in the world since November 1993, and... [Read more]

Restrict agent banks' fee in CPF scheme
I REFER to the CPF Investment Scheme-Ordinary Account (CPFIS-OA) arrangement with DBS, UOB and OCBC, in which the three local banks are also known as the 'agent bank'. I applaud the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board's decision to set a 3... [Read more]

No timetable set for Iraq pullout, says US leader
US PRESIDENT George W. Bush yesterday distanced himself from predictions that US troops could begin leaving Iraq by late summer, stating bluntly he would accept no timetable for such a pullout.'We do not set timetables in this administration because an enemy... [Read more]

Bouquets
CELLPHONE FOUND, THANKS TO STAFF OF FAST-FOOD OUTLETON FEB 2, I left my mobile phone at McDonald's at Centrepoint after having breakfast there. I only realised this later, at the National University of Singapore campus, and had to get my husband... [Read more]