News Today

Micro-Mechanics profit soars a fifth at half-time
PRECISION tools maker Micro-Mechanics has reported a 20.9 per cent rise in half-time net profit to $4.4 million. Revenue for the six months ended Dec 31 was up 15.2 per cent at $17.7 million. To reward shareholders, the Sesdaq company is... [Read more]

Suicide bomber kills 3 in Israel
An Israeli medic wheels a stretcher holding a body bag from the scene of a suicide attack, which ripped through a bakery in the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat yesterday. Three people were killed by the Palestinian suicide bomber, in... [Read more]

Tense Hariri anniversary
WHAT IT IS WITH the anniversary of former Lebanon prime minister Rafik Hariri's slaying this week, fears are increasing in downtown Beirut of a possibly explosive stand-off between government supporters called to the site of his grave and opposition protesters camped... [Read more]

Tokyo records longest snowless winter
TOKYO yesterday set a record for its longest snowless winter amid growing worldwide concern about global warming. The metropolitan area of the capital has not had snow this season, making it the longest snowless winter since statistics were first kept in... [Read more]

No headway in Iran's nuke stand-off
DEFYING innumerable United Nations Security Council resolutions, Iran let on earlier this week that it has set up more than 300 centrifuges in two uranium enrichment units at its underground Natanz complex. The country's nuclear programme is therefore set to go... [Read more]

KL ministers clueless on foreign vehicle levy
PUTRAJAYA - IT'S all systems go - apparently - to begin charging Singapore vehicles RM20 (S$9) to enter Malaysia but top officials still seem to be uncertain when or even who would be collecting the money. No one was able to... [Read more]

NUS scientists shed light on jumping spiders' sexual behaviour
HITTING the lights is usually synonymous with getting romantic - but not for jumping spiders. These leaping arachnids only get frisky with the lights on. Local scientists have found out that ultraviolet (UV) light influences their sexual behaviour, the first time... [Read more]

They lie for love of the game
THREE colleagues are so adamant on watching the Asean Football Championship second-leg final between Thailand and Singapore that they even lied to their boyfriends and fathers. Nazeera Adam, Farhana Kamsan and Noor Ellyannie, all Singapore Airlines customer service agents, told the... [Read more]

EMI receives buyout offer from Warner Music
LONDON - EMI Group said it received a takeover approach from Warner Music Group less than a year after both had abandoned efforts to buy each other. There is currently no proposal for its board to consider and no certainty that... [Read more]

Flu-hit Mahathir admitted to hospital
IN KUALA LUMPUR - FORMER Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was admitted to the National Heart Institute yesterday for observation and tests after suffering a bout of flu at the weekend. His press aide, Mr Sufi Yusoff, said Tun Dr Mahathir,... [Read more]

Hardline Thai general to head phone corporation
BANGKOK - SAPRANG Kalyanamitr, a top general with a hardline reputation, was on Thursday given additional charge of a major public enterprise when he was appointed chairman of the board of TOT (Telephones of Thailand Plc). TOT has exclusive rights to... [Read more]