News Summary

'Perfect mum' ads scare off potential mothers
THE innocuous advertisement telling a mother to buy more assessment books for her child may not be that innocent after all. A new study by the National University of Singapore (NUS) shows that such messages are scaring some Singaporean women from... [Read more]

Hedblom wins Malaysian Open
SWEDEN'S Peter Hedblom shot a four-under 68 yesterday to win the Malaysian Open by one stroke from Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin. Hedblom made six birdies against two bogeys for an eight-under 280 at the Saujana Golf and Country Club to win the... [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]

Fliers playing it safe - slow pick-up in duty-free sales
PLAY-IT-SAFE passengers flying from Changi Airport are still wary of having duty-free items aboard - five months after anti-terror restrictions were slapped on by certain countries.Duty-free sales at Changi Airport on the affected routes have picked up, but only marginally.The Civil... [Read more]

From S-League to greater things
THE S-League has featured players who have gone on to impress on the international stage.Geylang United's Hamidreza Estili was a stalwart of Iran's 1998 World Cup campaign. He also performed strongly at the 2000 Asian Cup. He, along with compatriots Mohammad... [Read more]

Smaller sites snapped up in new wave of collective sales
LARGE homes in prime areas may be all the rage, but some developers have quietly turned their attention to smaller sites outside the high-priced central districts. These bite-sized estates in popular residential suburbs are being swept up in a new wave... [Read more]

Beijing slams Taipei over changes to textbooks
BEIJING - CHINA lashed out at Taiwan yesterday for dropping phrases from high-school history textbooks that link the two as one country, and said the move was another step towards promoting the island's independence.The changes included replacing terms such as 'the... [Read more]

Thaksin's party loses 30 ex-lawmakers
BANGKOK - THE once-mighty party of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra suffered another blow yesterday as 30 former lawmakers resigned.They all represented the impoverished Issan region of north-eastern Thailand, a key base of support for Mr Thaksin, who styled himself... [Read more]

Cheap but chilling terror message
LONDON - TERRORISM on the cheap but chilling nonetheless. An alleged militant plot to kidnap and behead 'Baghdad-style' a British Muslim soldier would have sent a cheap yet forceful message to British Muslims that they should not 'collaborate' with defence and... [Read more]

Bid for best chingay seats
The best seats for this year's Chingay Parade are just a click away. For the first time in the parade's history, five pairs of Chingay premium tickets and two pairs of standing spaces on the grand opening float are being put... [Read more]

Prince Harry to serve tour of duty in Iraq
LONDON - BRITAIN'S Prince Harry, an army officer and third in line to the British throne, is being deployed to Iraq, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday.A ministry spokesman said that the prince would be sent to Iraq with his 'A'... [Read more]