News Today

Britain to extend LSE's tax breaks to other bourses
LONDON - BRITAIN announced plans yesterday to extend tax benefits currently enjoyed by members of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to members of other trading exchanges, including European bourses. The Treasury said the changes were part of a broader liberalisation of... [Read more]

West Ham heading south
LONDON - WEST Ham's battle for Premiership survival took a blow after a devastating defeat by rock-bottom Watford at Upton Park. Watford won 1-0, courtesy of Darius Henderson's first-half penalty on Saturday. West Ham could have earned a draw. But Marlon... [Read more]

Pilot shortage forces Jetstar to cancel over 80 flights
A PILOT scarcity and the grounding of planes for routine maintenance has forced low-cost carrier Jetstar Asia to cancel more than 80 flights in the past six weeks. Passengers hit by the cancellations - more than 15 per cent of the... [Read more]

Joint military exercise in July still on
THAILAND'S Air Chief Marshal Chalit Pukbhasuk yesterday said a joint Thai-Singapore military exercise planned for July would go ahead as scheduled. The air force chief, who is vice-chairman of the military Council for National Security, told reporters there was no truth... [Read more]

Industry snapshot
ENVIRONMENT ENGINEERING SERVICES INDUSTRYEmployment: About 43,000 people in 2003Sectors: Industry covers environmental services, process control and instrumentation, and engineering services.Value-add: This industry's value-add contribution is high at $2.5 billion. Value-add is the value created by a company through its production process... [Read more]

Gerrard knows Liverpool's job is not done yet
BARCELONA - STEVEN Gerrard will not underestimate Barcelona ahead of their Champions League second-leg match at Anfield on March 6.The Reds claimed the upper hand in the last-16 tie with a 2-1 win at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.Liverpool are in... [Read more]

8 Iranians nabbed in Gaza as Hamas-Fatah truce collapses
GAZA - EIGHT Iranian citizens were arrested and a Palestinian intelligence chief loyal to Fatah killed, after a shaky truce in the territory broke down on Thursday. At least 10 people have been killed and at least 100 wounded in fighting... [Read more]

Beijing manners improve, but not enough for Olympics
BEIJING - A CAMPAIGN to improve the manners of Beijing's queue-jumping residents ahead of the Olympics is showing results, although a gold-medal standard is still a long way off, state press reported yesterday.Incidents of littering, spitting, flouting of traffic rules and... [Read more]

Dressing-down for scantily clad actress
A STUDENT-ACTRESS has caused a stir in Thailand and made university officials see red after she wore a slinky black gown to the country's top film awards ceremony.Chotiros 'Amy' Suriyawong, a third-year liberal arts student at leading Thammasat University, set tongues... [Read more]

Lawmakers want Jakarta to get tough with S'pore
JAKARTA - SOME Indonesian lawmakers want Jakarta to put more pressure on Singapore to sign an extradition treaty, saying the ban on sand exports was not enough.'We need to take much tougher measures against them. I don't know, but the government... [Read more]

Rival offers BA passengers free train rides
LONDON - SIR Richard Branson's Virgin Trains has added to the embarrassment of British Airways (BA) by offering free first-class train seats to customers affected by BA's cabin crew strike, which was later called off.The airline said yesterday it would reinstate... [Read more]