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Features
- Thursday, 23 February 2012
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Steve Lai finds his niche at ESPN
WHEN Bruneian Steve Lai went to Singapore in 2009, he had no direction and no idea of what he's going to do. However, one thing Lai knew was that to get the ball rolling, he had to get out of his comfort zone.That strategy paved the way for him to...
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When there's no place like home for working out
WORKING out at home is easier than ever, thanks to the wealth of online instruction and a new generation of multi-tasking, space-saving fitness tools.Fitness experts say all that is needed is some space, a mat and a few favorite things."Most...
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Shanghai dialect fighting to survive in modern China
WHEN professor Qian Nairong published his dictionary of the Shanghai dialect in 2007, he was in some ways documenting a dying language.The number of people speaking the rapid-fire language — a badge of identity for residents of China's...
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Risky starts and stops predict teen crashes: study
IN A study of newly-licensed drivers, the number of sharp turns and screeching halts teens made predicted their chance of having a crash or a near crash a few weeks later.Researchers said that while they'd assumed riskier young drivers have more...
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Work to begin on African American Museum
THE Smithsonian breaks ground yesterday on the last available space along the National Mall in Washington for the only national museum dedicated exclusively to Americans of African heritage.The National Museum of African American History and Culture...
- Tuesday, 21 February 2012
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Combat sports reign supreme in war-ravaged Afghanistan
THE sounds produced by the three Afghan athletes going to the London summer Olympics are fierce: elongated wails ricochet off the chipped and dilapidated walls of the taekwondo centre, while leather smacks and slaps at the boxing gym.In a country...
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Zurich most expensive city: survey
THE strong Swiss franc has seen Zurich (pic) top Tokyo as the world's most expensive city in a recent survey.Zurich, ranked fourth last year, took the unenviable crown in the 2012 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit....
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Digital technologies to reverse extinction of languages
DIGITAL technologies are the new life-savers for languages on the verge of extinction, linguists said Friday as they announced eight new dictionaries at a major science conference in Vancouver."We're turning the digital divide into a digital...
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50th anniversary of first US space flight is bittersweet
THE United States marks the 50th anniversary Monday of the first flight of an American into orbit. But the historic landmark is bittersweet: the first nation to land people on the Moon now depends on Russia for its manned space flights.At 9.47am on...
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Myanmar declares a total war on opium
IN Myanmar's new war on drugs, meet the weapon of mass destruction: the weed-whacker.Its two-stroke engine spins a metal blade, which is more commonly deployed to tame the suburban gardens of wealthy Westerners. But today, in a remote valley in...
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First test-tube hamburger ready this fall: researchers
THE world's first "test-tube" meat, a hamburger made from a cow's stem cells, will be produced this fall, Dutch scientist Mark Post told a major science conference on Sunday.Post's aim is to invent an efficient way to produce skeletal...
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Babies make friends even before speaking
BABIES still too small to speak know how to make jokes and form friendships, say researchers at an Australian university who have spent two years filming the behaviour of young children.Academics at Charles Sturt University are studying how children...
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US iPad owners tend to be older, have money
US owners of iPads tend to be older and richer than people who buy rival tablet computers, according to a study released on Friday by NPD Group.The industry trackers Tablet Adoption and Insights Report showed that more than 40 percent of iPad owners...
- Monday, 20 February 2012
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First case of Legionnaire's disease found at dentist
DOCTORS on Friday reported the first known case of Legionnaire's disease, a rare infection usually linked to faulty air conditioning and hot-water systems, was caused by a visit to the dentist.The case report, published in The Lancet, describes an...
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Pasir Gudang world kite festival draws int'l participants
THE internationally acclaimed Pasir Gudang World Kite Festival will see the participation of 225 participants from 34 countries in its 17th series this year.State Tourism and Domestic Trade committee chairman Hoo Seong Chang said the annual event...
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Hong Kong's last Cantonese opera house saved at last minute
HONG KONG'S last dedicated Cantonese opera theatre won a new lease of life Saturday after it was saved from closure by a feng shui master who struck a deal with the property owner.The 1,000-seat Sunbeam Theatre has been synonymous with the operatic...
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Weed threatens Indian Rhino's last refuge
WHILE shoot-at-sight orders are now effectively keeping rhinoceros poachers at bay, an aggressive weed is threatening the one-horned ungulate in one of its last retreats the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in eastern Assam state.Originally introduced...
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Mumbai, New Delhi world's cheapest cities
A HIGH inflation rate may be hitting Indians hard but a global survey has ranked two Indian cities namely the financial hub Mumbai and the national capital New Delhi, respectively, among the four least expensive places across the world.As per the...
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Antibiotics ineffective for most sinus infections: study
ANTIBIOTICS that doctors typically prescribe for sinus infections works no better than a dummy pill in getting rid of the ailment, according to a study to be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.The study included 166 adults...
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Thailand to use artificial rain to reduce haze
HAZE persisted over Thailand's two northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Lampang for the second consecutive day on Saturday, prompting local authorities to consider using artificial rain to abate dust particles, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported....