News Today

London move to extend road charge zone draws flak
LONDON - A CONTROVERSIAL charge on cars that enter the centre of the British capital has been extended to some of London's plushest districts - angering both residents and businesses. The ?8 (S$24) daily fee for drivers entering the city has... [Read more]

Clinic charged $42 for consultation over CNY
DURING the long weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year, an incident occurred which I feel I have to clear my doubts about.It happened that my grandmother had gastric flu and had to consult a doctor. As it was a public holiday,... [Read more]

Wenger wants Arsenal to go all the way to the final
LONDON - IF THEY beat PSV Eindhoven today, it would be another step for Arsenal towards purging the agony of losing last season's Champions League final.Leading 1-0 and reduced to 10 men after Jens Lehmann was red-carded, the Gunners succumbed to... [Read more]

I'm fitter than I look, says Williams
SERENA Williams has always been outspoken. And so it should come as no surprise that the newly crowned Australian Open champion did not mince her words when she was asked about her fitness. The American told Sports Illustrated's website: 'I feel... [Read more]

Almost all quake-hit cables fixed
BEIJING - CHINA'Sbiggest telecommunications companies have restored nearly all phone and Internet capacity that was affected by last month's earthquake near Taiwan, state media reported yesterday.China Telecom and China Netcom said major cables handling fibre-optic traffic, mostly between China and North... [Read more]

Online heroes
THEY might not have capes and costumes, or any superhuman powers to speak of. Yet, the Internet's superheroes have been making their mark in cyberspace. >From cleaning defaced wiki entries to protecting little ones from online predators and smut, these online... [Read more]

Wenger not keen on US pre-season circus
LONDON - ARSENAL may have become the latest English Premiership club seeking to exploit the American market.But manager Arsene Wenger will resist any publicity-seeking summer tour of the country, the kind that Manchester United and Chelsea have undertaken in recent years.... [Read more]

Ongoing legal battle
THE Beijing Zhonghongji Construction company successfully sued two developers for unpaid wages after building two workers' dormitories. But by then, both developers, including one owned by a central government agency, had gone bankrupt. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac)... [Read more]

More US aid and troops for Afghanistan
BRUSSELS - US SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice brought pledges of extra troops and aid for Afghanistan to Nato talks yesterday, and told allies they too must raise their game to see off the Taleban. But Washington's frustration at what it... [Read more]

Hog epidemic kills millions of pigs
BEIJING - WIDESPREAD hog disease in China has killed millions of pigs and spurred pork prices to an all-time high ahead of Chinese New Year, officials said yesterday.The highly-contagious disease, a variation of the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus, or... [Read more]

Where is the compassion for MRT accident victim?
I WAS on my way to work on Saturday morning when an accident happened in Clementi MRT station: A woman had her leg caught between the platform and the train which had just arrived. When I got out of the train,... [Read more]