<p>COPENHAGEN - FORMER Denmark and Chelsea striker Brian Laudrup has disclosed he is battling against lymphatic cancer, a fight the 41-year-old insisted on Wednesday he would win.

Laudrup vows to win cancer fight

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<p>A HEAVY downpour lasting more than two hours in the late morning on Wednesday caused flash floods in several city areas. Worst-hit was Little India, around Jalan Besar, Rowell Road and Hindoo Road, where traffic snarled and businesses were affected.</p><p>The water there was as high as 300mm, said national water agency PUB. At 300mm, water is about ankle-deep.</p>

Floods hit CBD, Little India

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<p>THE Government is investigating the provision of free bus rides in Singapore to the two integrated resorts by their operators.</p><p>The probe, announced on Wednesday by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), is to establish that Singaporeans are not targetted and encouraged to go to the casinos at the integrated resorts (IRs).</p>

Free IR bus rides probe

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<p>ETOILE FC went top of the Great Eastern-YEO'S S-League with a dramatic 2-1 victory over fellow title contenders Tampines Rovers at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday night.<p>Frederic Mendy and Flavien Michelini scored the French side's goals but it was Tampines defender Park Yo Seb's missed penalty in stoppage time at the end of the game that proved decisive.

Etoile FC wins 2-1

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<p>A PRINT advertisement that took a whimsical spin on how students should be taught about animals and conservation has landed Grey Group Singapore the top prize at this year's SPH Ink Awards.

Orang utan teacher ad a wild success

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<p> NEW YORK - US STOCKS were slightly up on Wednesday after news of a successful Portuguese debt auction eased the previous day's concerns about the European economy. </p><p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 12.26 points (0.12 per cent) to 10,352.95 at the opening bell, while the broader S&P 500 index gained 3.16 points (0.30 per cent) to 1,095.15 points. </p>

US stocks opened higher

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<p>ONE of Singapore's fastest growing advertising platforms will get a $30 million government boost to help it catch up with other markets.<p>Singapore's digital advertising sector will receive help - in the form of high-tech tools which will help marketers identify the right customers and measure just how effective their campaigns are - to enable Singapore firms to reach out to more customers, both locally and overseas.

$30m for digital ad market

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<p>ONE in three people aged from 15 to 29 in Singapore shop with the click of a computer mouse at least once a month, a poll has found. </p><p>This makes them the most prolific online shoppers in South-east Asia, ahead of their counterparts in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam, where one in five people in that age bracket buy products or services from online merchants at least once a month. </p>

1 in 3 youths shop online

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_576350.html

<p>TIRED of forking out $225,000 every year to remove handbillls pasted haphazardly around bus and train stations, the Land Transport Authority is taking measures to get rid of the unsightly mess.</p><p>Nine of 75 noticeboards near bus stops and train stations have become paid boards, with notices pasted behind glass. This is to prevent users from gluing their flyers on top of others, removing other people's ads, or pasting multiple flyers for the same product or service.</p>

Noticeboard revamp

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<p>MANILA - PHILIPPINE investigators on Wednesday inspected the bullet-riddled bus where eight Hong Kong tourists died in a hostage crisis, in a bid to establish who was to blame for the killings.<p>The inquiry board members, a Hong Kong government representative, and the driver of the ill-fated bus arrived at a police warehouse where the vehicle was stored after last month's fiasco.

Bullet-riddled bus inspected

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<p>IT WAS love at first sight for Christopher Boey.</p><p>The Secondary 1 student at Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) visited Singapore in Jan 2006 and loved it so much he got his father to move the family over from Myanmar.</p>

Foreigners fitting into S'pore schools

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_576295.html

<p>MANILA - A SERVANT of the politically powerful clan accused in last year's massacre of 57 people told a Philippine court on Wednesday that the family members plotted the killings of rivals and journalists over dinner six days before the ambush. </p><p>The witness, Lakmudin Saliao, took the stand on the first day of trial nearly 10 months after the Nov 23 massacre in southern Maguindanao province exposed the shocking violence of Philippine politics. Among the dead were 30 media workers travelling in an election convoy - making it the deadliest single attack on reporters in the world. </p>

Servant: Warlord ordered killing

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<p>SENIOR Minister Goh Chok Tong clarified on Wednesday remarks he made suggesting the Government would not renew permanent resident status for some PRs who decline its offer of citizenship.<p>The comment, made at a dialogue on Monday, was a 'general observation to illustrate the point that the Government would be managing the inflow of PRs and would encourage some of those who are already here to become Singapore citizens,' said a statement from his press secretary Ho Tong Yen.

SM clarifies on PR renewal

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<p>PARIS - A GAY football organisation has asked the French federation to punish an amateur club which refused to grant one of his players a licence because he is gay. </p><p>The Paris Foot Gay said on Wednesday it asked the federation's national ethics council to impose sanctions on FC Chooz 'to help the football world to realise that homophobia is as bad as racism and anti-Semitism.'</p>

Gay player deprived of licence

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Sport/Story/STIStory_576285.html

<p>MUMBAI - AN INDIAN court has upheld a tax department demand for Vodafone Group Plc to pay 120 billion rupees (S$3.46 billion) in taxes for its 2007 acquisition of one of India's largest mobile phone companies. </p><p>A Vodafone executive said on Wednesday the company will 'think seriously' about appealing the ruling to India's Supreme Court. </p>

Vodafone ordered to pay taxes

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<p>PATIENTS may soon have an avenue to seek redress if their physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists are unprofessional.<p>Under a new law that the Health Ministry plans to introduce, allied health professionals - physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists, for a start - will be regulated like doctors, dentists and pharmacists.

Bill for health professionals

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<p>MANILA - PHILIPPINE reporters may have interfered with a police operation when reporting on a bus hostage crisis that killed eight Hong Kong residents, a television journalist told an official inquiry on Wednesday.<p>Reporter Erwin Tulfo, in telephone contact with a sacked Manila policeman shortly before the gunman shot his hostages, acknowledged the behaviour of the journalists who covered the crisis raised ethical questions.

'Ratings above lives' option

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<p>MANILA - THE Philippines is in serious danger of missing many of the UN development goals, including halving poverty by 2015, the government acknowledged on Wednesday. </p><p>There is only a 'medium' chance poverty will be halved, a 'low' chance that fewer mothers will die while giving birth, while AIDS is still spreading, Economic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga told a public forum. </p>

Philippines may miss UN goals

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<p><b> TOKYO</b><br>Japanese share prices closed down 2.18 per cent on Wednesday as the yen rose to a fresh 15-year-high against the dollar, sparking further fears for exporters' profits, brokers said.</p><p>The headline Nikkei-225 index fell 201.40 points to 9,024.60. The Topix index of all first action shares of the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 1.67 per cent or 13.93 points to 820.99.</p>

Asian stocks close lower

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<p>SINGAPORE shares closed lower on Wednesday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index at 3,011.42, down 0.81 per cent, or 24.67 points.</p><p>About 1.67 billion shares exchanged hands.</p>

STI closes 0.81% lower

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