News Today

How to handle a pet peeve? Try living with a companion pet
I refer to Mr Heng Cho Choon's letter, 'Keeping animals: How to handle a pet peeve', (ST, Feb 22).I fully agree with Mr Heng's statement that the duration that a person spends in a country is not a good indication that... [Read more]

Serie A
SaturdayEmpoli 1 Roma 0Inter Milan 1 Cagliari 0Siena 3 AC Milan 4SundayAscoli 2 Udinese 2Fiorentina 1 Catania 0Lazio 2 Torino 0Livorno 2 Messina 1Palermo 1 Chievo 1Sampdoria 1 Parma 0Reggina 1 Atalanta 1... [Read more]

Mum allegedly kills sons after spat with spouse
KUALA LUMPUR - A MALAYSIAN woman who was enraged when her husband announced plans to marry a second wife allegedly killed both her young sons.The 30-year-old woman was alleged to have strangled her sons - Muhammad Aliff Haqimi, five, and Muhammad... [Read more]

Gascoigne to act in sci-fi horror movie
LONDON - HIS life has often seemed like a horror movie, and now Paul Gascoigne is going to star in one with a sci-fi twist.The former England international, who has fought alcohol and drug problems, will make his acting debut in... [Read more]

Tree branch 'pierces' car
Students and teachers of Balestier Hill Secondary School got a shock yesterday when strong winds broke off a tree branch and sent it straight through the windscreen of a teacher's car. No one was hurt. Secondary 1 student Keith Ng sent... [Read more]

Trans fat labelling: A mathematical poser
Here is another question to add to the list provided by Mr Yeo Chow Khoon in his letter, 'Some questions remain on trans fat labelling' (ST, Feb 13).My question is this: How much is 0.4 x 5? Is it 2, as... [Read more]

Rotary's earnings surge to $35.2m
THE red-hot oil and gas sector has been a bonanza for Rotary Engineering, which yesterday reported record earnings of $35.2 million, up a staggering 320 per cent.Rotary helps build and maintain oil storage terminals and other infrastructure for the petrochemical industry.... [Read more]

Sands' IR reaches a milestone
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan - with Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam Adelson - got to admire a model of Marina Bay Sands yesterday at a ceremony to mark a development milestone in the construction... [Read more]

World Quickly
SEGOLENE UNVEILS PROPOSALS PARIS: Socialist presidential hopeful Segolene Royal, trailing in the opinion polls and struggling to kick start her gaffe-prone campaign, unveiled 100 proposals yesterday that she said would make France a stronger, fairer place. Termed 'the presidential pact', the... [Read more]

Staff to be more attentive when giving out info
We refer to the letter by Ms Liew Chuen Li (Online forum, Feb 13).We have contacted Ms Liew and apologised for the service lapse that she and her mother experienced.Upon receiving feedback from Ms Liew, we successfully turned on her mio... [Read more]

FairPrice house brand to get trans fat labels
BY YEAR'S end, FairPrice, the largest supermarket chain here, will have the trans fat content on the labels of all food products sold under its house brand.It will also reformulate its products to reduce or remove trans fat, where possible.Its move... [Read more]

Foreign Sports Talent scheme: Time for review?

I AM writing in response to the news about the departure of table-tennis player Zhang Xueling, a China-born Singapore citizen.

Zhang obtained her Singapore citizenship in 2001, was groomed to be a top player and had beaten other international top players during the Athens Olympics in 2004, but chose to leave Singapore for China to be with her husband. All this within a short span of five years.

Although Zhang has promised that she will represent Singapore if given the opportunity, her departure leaves Singapore sports fans with many unanswered questions.

If she is really keen to represent Singapore or help Singapore groom the younger generation, the Singapore Table Tennis Association could have given her more time to prove herself and take up the role of coach.

Another China-born former Singaporean table-tennis player, Xu Yan, has also left our country, for Germany.

This situation has been replayed many times in other sports as well. In recent years, the Singapore Athletic Association dropped two China-born throwers - Zhang Guirong and Du Xianhui - for under-performing after both obtained their Singapore citizenship.

The Singapore Hockey Federation also had not had much success with six China-born players in 1998 after they obtained their Singapore citizenship. It was last reported that a few of them had returned to China.

Every athlete will have his high points and low points. No athlete is immune to the common 'athlete's fatigue'. For example, Singapore-born bowler Remy Ong had to endure a few years of lacklustre performance after winning gold at the Busan Asian Games in 2002. Ong finally proved himself in the 2006 Asian Games by taking a silver in the men's final.

Even swimmer Joscelin Yeo is not immune to athlete's fatigue.

However, they did not give up and persevered over the years. It is to the credit of their sports bodies that they believed in them and did not ask them to leave.

Sports clubs in Singapore need to consider the following questions before they import another foreign-born player:

What happens if the player under-performs?

Will the under-performing player be dropped and asked to leave Singapore, even though he has obtained Singapore citizenship?

How much tolerance will there be for athlete's fatigue?



Edmund Lin Weixiong

Benitez furious with Reds' inept strikers

LONDON - WHILE dumping Barcelona out of the Champions League may be an admirable achievement, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is far from satisfied.

The Spaniard has seen the best and worst of his side in recent weeks.

They dominated Manchester United at Anfield in the Premiership last Saturday, then did the same against Barcelona three days later.

But, despite 15 attempts on goal in each game, Liverpool lost 0-1 both times.

Benitez has been infuriated that his frontline - Craig Bellamy, Dirk Kuyt or Peter Crouch - could not kill off these ties, reported The Guardian.

'We have seen these things all season,' he admitted.

'We deserved to score a lot of goals in the first half, hitting the bar twice. Even in the second half when Barcelona had more possession, we had chances on the break.

'We weren't finishing the opportunities we were creating but we managed to hang on and made sure we qualified.'

The recruitment of a striker remains a priority in the summer.

The thinking is that, had they possessed a clinical forward capable of scoring 20 goals a season, they might just have been challenging nearer the pinnacle.

Bellamy, hardly a prolific scorer throughout his career, has managed nine goals in all competitions. Kuyt is still adjusting to life in England and has netted 10.

Crouch, the top scorer with 13, has had only one start. He has admitted to feeling frustrated at being restricted to the bench.

'I feel when I've played, I've got goals,' said Crouch, who is considering delaying an operation on his broken nose to the end of the season so that he can play a full part.

The wasted chances up front are heaping pressure on those at the back, with Liverpool increasingly reliant on defender Jamie Carragher's excellence.

'Over the two legs, Carragher has been phenomenal,' said captain Steven Gerrard.

'I look at the defenders across Europe and the rest of the world, and I really don't see anyone who's better than him. I definitely wouldn't swop him for anyone.'

Honour less-dominant half of society

EVERY March 8 is International Women's Day (IWD), to recognise the needs and achievements of women. Some countries mark IWD officially, with men gifting related and familiar females. It enjoys Mother's Day status in countries where children give presents to mothers and grandmothers.

On this day, shouldn't more nations and men honour women - the less-dominant half of society? This year, 308 global events are listed. Guess how many are in Singapore. One: a 'Women Mean Business Luncheon' hosted at a hotel by the Australian High Commission and Unifem Singapore.

Once, in Jurong East, a man restrained a woman - presumably a relative or girlfriend - from leaving. As she wasn't hurt and didn't seek help from passers-by, he was allowed to drag her away. I regret not intervening. At another time along Margaret Drive, a middle-aged man called a younger woman companion 'stupid' and cuffed her on the head. She threatened to call the police, a move I lauded.

Recently, a Straits Times Online Forum writer reported a man assaulting his female companion in Marche, VivoCity. Security guards summoned declared they couldn't do anything. No wonder 2007's IWD theme is 'Ending impunity for violence against women and girls'. Women bully men too but, statistically, men are quicker to violence and overwhelmingly so than women.

Nurtured a certain way, I saw women as 'weaker', 'irrational' and 'less capable' despite trying to be objective. But, having worked with superlative women like Ms Saw Phaik Hwa - who now runs SMRT - when she started out, I find women grossly unappreciated.

Women are better care-givers as they tend to humanise relationships and environments. Most familial networks atrophy after a matriarch's demise.

Gender studies show males systemise while females empathise when solving the same problem.

Shown the same video clips, male infants found machines compelling while human faces captivated their opposites - nature, not nurture, predisposes.

Males and females differ to complement each other, not rival or conflict as in, 'Anything you can do, I can do better'. Testosterone advantages men physically and visual-spatially while oestrogen enhances female communicability.

If New York Senator Hillary Clinton becomes America's first female Commander-in-Chief, would the Middle East and the world spill less blood? I think so. If girls prefer dolls to toy weapons, how many women - unless fanatical - would send their sons to battle after carrying them for nine months?

Anthony Lee Mui Yu

Scholarships for shuttlers, footballers

SEMBCORP Industries has launched a $50,000 scholarship programme for the tertiary education of young footballers or badminton players.

Its Trailblazer-Wong Kok Siew scholarships for Sports will be jointly administered by the Football Association of Singapore and the Singapore Badminton Association.

On Friday, SembCorp presented cheques of $25,000 each to the FAS and SBA.

FAS president Ho Peng Kee and SBA secretary-general Tan Kian Chew received the cheques on behalf of their respective organisations.

The scholarships are for Singapore citizens looking to study at local universities, polytechnics or Institutes of Technical Education.

They will assist young athletes, who may have had to sacrifice their training to do part-time jobs to finance their higher studies.

They are also a boost for these professional or semi-professional athletes, who may want to equip themselves for a second career after they retire from sports.

The programme is funded by the Trailblazer-Wong Kok Siew fund, set up by SembCorp two years ago, in memory of its late deputy chairman and chief executive officer, Wong Kok Siew.

S-League CEO Winston Lee said the scholarships were a good initiative.

He said: 'It's great for players who aspire to complete their diploma or tertiary education while pursuing a football career.

'It will certainly complement our FAS scholarships programme.'

All square

Albirex Niigata's Tetsuya Okayama (in orange) and Balestier Khalsa's Mba Vitus Onyekachi battled for possession as their teams drew 1-1 in an S-League match at Jurong East Stadium last night. The Japanese side scored first through Akihiko Shimizu after 22 minutes.

Balestier replied on 40 minutes, through ex-Albirex player Morikazu Murukami.

The burly forward powered his way through the Albirex defence before placing the ball beyond goalkeeper Norio Takahashi.

In the second half, an onslaught from the Japanese failed to breach the Tigers' defence, which was missing three first-team regulars through injury.

News Today

Federer will get better with age, says his coach
MELBOURNE - BAD news for Roger Federer's rivals: his coach thinks the world No 1's best is yet to come.Tony Roche saw his charge win his 10th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.He told The Telegraph: 'Roger is like good... [Read more]

Four new lifestyle groups for members
'AKAN datang'' (Malay for coming soon) will be more affordable and fun activities for workers.That was what the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC) new secretary-general Lim Swee Say promised as part of the organisation's workplan this year to care for its... [Read more]

Bush insists Iran behind bomb attacks in Iraq
IN WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT George W. Bush has piled the pressure on Iran, even as he tries to deflect growing concerns over rhetoric that sounds like a drumbeat for war. He has declared that an elite branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary... [Read more]

Tiger Air plans to enter domestic market Down Under
SYDNEY - SINGAPORE budget airline Tiger Airways announced yesterday that it is planning to enter the Australian domestic market by year-end.Its chief executive Tony Davis said the airline had filed applications with Australian regulators and that the response from officials was... [Read more]

Chiam: Difficult to fulfil lift promise
OPPOSITION MP Chiam See Tong is finding it a struggle to fulfil an election promise to provide his HDB residents with lifts on every floor.Lift upgrading was a carrot the People's Action Party (PAP) dangled in the last general election.The opposition... [Read more]

Liverpool buy out Mascherano's contract with businessman
LONDON - LIVERPOOL have completed the signing of Javier Mascherano, after buying out his contract with businessman Kia Joorabchian. But West Ham are still facing the threat of a points deduction for breaking Premiership rules to allow the Argentina midfielder to... [Read more]

Crowded? Don't block the way and move to the back of the bus
My stomach was already growling for my grandma's fried bee hoon as I boarded Bus 74 in Bukit Timah Road. The bus was, as usual, packed. No, that's not completely right. The front part of the bus was packed, with people... [Read more]

No mention of steps to address green concerns
BUDGET 2007 may have poised Singaporeans for the future and the Government may have shown its 'capitalist head' and 'socialist heart', but there was a glaring omission.This concerns the non-mention of any concrete fiscal measures and policies that might be implemented... [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]

Body Shop founder tells of liver damage
BODY Shop founder Anita Roddick is suffering from liver damage after contracting the hepatitis C virus more than 35 years ago, she said.Dame Anita, 64, one of Britain's best-known businesswomen, developed the potentially deadly disease from infected blood given to her... [Read more]

Charity listings
FAMILY FLAG DAY Charity group Focus On The Family Singapore, dedicated to strengthening families through family life education, is holding a flag day to raise funds.When: Today Where: Somerset, Woodlands, Outram, Pasir Ris and Jurong East MRT stations. VEGAS CHARITY GALAA... [Read more]