What the fuck's happening in the world today

Jazz spoil Webber's homecoming game
AUBURN HILLS (MICHIGAN) - THE Detroit Pistons fans cheered for Chris Webber's debut and Chauncey Billups' return from injury. But they could not cheer for a victory over opponents the Pistons cannot seem to beat. Deron Williams scored a career-high 31... [Read more]

S'pore qualify for world junior team tournament
LESS is more. That is the lesson Singapore's youth golfers learnt at the World Junior Golf Team Championship (WJGTC) Asian qualifier in Lumut, Perak, on Thursday. The quartet of Goh Kun Yang, 18, George Foo, 16, Lam Zhiqun and Jerome Ng,... [Read more]

Immediate automatic refund being explored
I REFER to the letters, 'Why wasn't share proceeds returned to CPF account?' (ST, Jan 13), 'Bank held onto funds that couldn't be re-invested' (ST, Jan 16) and 'Agent banks should match CPF Board's rate' (ST, Jan 16), by Mdm Samantha... [Read more]

Haas handed tennis lesson by Gonzalez
MELBOURNE - TENTH-SEEDED Fernando Gonzalez trounced Germany's Tommy Haas 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the Australian Open final yesterday. In a performance reminiscent of top-ranked Roger Federer's rout of American star Andy Roddick in the other semi-final a night earlier, the... [Read more]

AG: Tap in-house lawyers to make S'pore legal hub
DRAW attention to Singapore as a legal services hub, including making arbitration the cornerstone of this push.Corporate lawyers - who work for big local and foreign companies - are a sizeable community and they should be tapped in promoting Singapore as... [Read more]

US raids Iranian consular post
ARBIL (IRAQ) - US FORCES stormed an Iranian consular office in the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil early yesterday and arrested five people, including diplomats and staff, Iranian officials said. The US military made no direct mention of Iranians, but... [Read more]

Home loan rates set to become more transparent
BUYING a new home is stressful enough without the added problem of trying to understand a confusing array of home loan interest rates. With this in mind, Singapore's banking regulator has urged banks here to get together and take prompt action... [Read more]

STI little changed despite weakness in overall market
BLUE-CHIP stocks mostly held steady yesterday, but sentiment in the rest of the market was spooked by a sharp correction in both the Hong Kong and China bourses.China plays here came under especially heavy selling pressure, after a Chinese lawmaker reportedly... [Read more]

Oei Hong Leong buys land for Buddha museum
TYCOON Oei Hong Leong is paying $29.8 million for a plot of land on which he will build a museum to display his vast collection of Buddha statues.The approximately 55,000 sq ft site along Pasir Panjang Road contains two buildings which... [Read more]

China's economic boom throws up new challenges
BEIJING - THE Chinese economy has been surpassing growth expectations for years and its 2006 gross domestic product figures even beat the confident predictions made by senior officials.Last year's 10.7 per cent increase in output, which topped Beijing's forecast of 10.5... [Read more]

Pakistan orders probe into suicide bombing near Shi'ite centre
PESHAWAR (PAKISTAN) - PAKISTAN yesterday ordered a federal investigation into a suspected suicide bombing that killed 15 people, including a police chief and other officers, and beefed up security in this north-western city. It was the second such attack in two... [Read more]