News Today

Cramming in for art's sake
PHOTO: XINHUAThese art students are oblivious to the crowded surroundings as they took part in entrance exams for art school in Nantong city in China's Jiangsu province. The test centre did not expect the huge numbers, forcing them to hold tests... [Read more]

Extradition and defence pacts with Indonesia linked: S'pore
SINGAPORE yesterday reiterated its position that a Singapore Indonesia extradition treaty and a defence cooperation agreement should be linked and negotiated as one package.The Jakarta Post on Monday carried a report quoting an Indonesian official as saying that Jakarta wanted the... [Read more]

Have checks in place to ensure broadband speed
I RECENTLY had SingNet Broadband 10Mbps installed and was surprised that my maximum download bandwidth was a mere 3Mbps. The installation technician was clueless so I had to call the SingNet helpdesk. During our conversation, the helpdesk technician tried to convince... [Read more]

Oilfield gear supplier wins $68m in deals
OILFIELD equipment supplier Aqua-Terra Supply has won $68 million worth of contracts from Chinese state-owned oil giant China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC).The mainboard-listed company will be involved in providing services such as project management for the building of oil tankers,... [Read more]

Exceptional response to mio service caused temporary strain on resources
We refer to the letter "SingTel's mio service not up to par" by Ms Cherie Ball (ST Online Forum, 29 January 07). We have contacted Ms Ball and resolved the matter. The response to our recently launched Generation mio services exceeded... [Read more]

Directors' Trades
UNISTEEL DIRECTORS EXERCISE OPTIONS FOUR directors of Unisteel Technology have raised their direct stakes in the company by exercising their share options. The conversion follows Unisteel's release of its full-year earnings last Thursday, which beat most analysts' expectations. Unisteel, a specialist... [Read more]

Shipyards thriving as industry defies predictions
SOME years ago, sceptics predicted that the shipyard business was a sunset industry with poor prospects for workers. But they were proved wrong when some shipyards expanded operations and created many jobs, labour chief Lim Swee Say noted yesterday, after visiting... [Read more]

Screening process
UNDER Nasa's current recruitment process, astronaut candidates are given a battery of behavioural tests.They are also interviewed by both a psychologist and a psychiatrist prior to selection.The results of these interviews can be used to determine whether a given candidate is... [Read more]

Creativity big factor in award of SIA ad account
MR DORIAN Ball has it all wrong ('S'pore Girl born out of creativity, not statistics'; ST, Feb 15). The selection of the final group agencies for the Singapore Airlines pitch was made on a credentials presentation. This is simply because our... [Read more]

An offence to listen to music while crossing road
NEW YORK - CROSSING the street in New York while engrossed with a cellphone or an iPod could soon get you fined US$100 (S$150) under a draft Bill being presented by a state senator. Senator Carl Kruger blamed 'iPod oblivion' for... [Read more]

Awarding points to students for community work defeats purpose of education
I agree with Mr Kenneth Cheng's sentiments in his letter, 'Community involvement in schools should go beyond fund-raising and litter picking' (ST, Jan 24).I feel that the idea of awarding 'points' to students for contributing to the community or helping the... [Read more]