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1.  Singapore's telecommunications industry opens up today. And there's good news for those who use mobile phones. You no longer have to pay annual licence fees to the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore. Communications Minister Mah Bow Tan announced the new class licence regulation today at the launch of ST Messaging's Sunpage Service.
2.  A fire broke out at the Mobil oil-refinery this morning. It's the second incident at the facility in Jurong following yesterday's toxic gas leak which left a man dead. The Ministry of Labour's Department of Industrial Safety has given more details of the gas leak. It says all seven workers involved had been assigned to replace a gate valve located on the second and third platforms of the plant. It was during the process of removing one of the nuts from the bolts that some gases escaped from the valve. Based on preliminary investigations, the ministry says it suspects the workers were overcome by hydrogen Sulphide which was among the gases released. Investigations are still continuing.
3.  A man was killed in an accident involving an SBS bus and a lorry early this morning.
4.  Well they told us it would happen and today traffic police launched their blitz on illegal parking. By day's end, they reported 9 vehicles had been clamped for parking in prohibited areas. As Lionel Skinner reports the crackdown comes after months of warning and it's not over yet.
5.  The Malaysian cabinet is said to be discussing ties with Singapore when it meets tomorrow for its weekly session. AFP news agency reports that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad would be asking his ministers for an explanation for last week's reports of a cabinet decision to freeze bilateral dealings with Singapore. The reports of the freeze, which were later denied by the Foreign Ministry, came after last Wednesday's cabinet meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Dr Mahathir was then away on an official visit to Japan.
6.  In Spain, two trains derailed within 24 hours of each other. Two people died and 20 were injured in the latest accident, when a train ran off the tracks near the capital, Madrid.
7.  Over in the Gaza Strip, two Palestinians blew themselves up in two suicide attacks near Jewish settlements. Five others were wounded. Israeli police said the suicide bombers apparently timed their attacks to hit school buses carrying Jewish children.
8.  2 year after the bloodiest terrorist bombing in US history the trial of the man accused of the attack, is underway. The blast at a federal building in Oklahoma left 168 people dead. Timothy McVeigh has pleaded innocent. Security is tight around the courthouse with hundreds of media people from around the world keeping watch. The trial is in Denver to ensure a non-partial jury. Lawyers questioned over 350 potential jurors, only 6 though were shortlisted. A sign that jury selection itself is going to take a long time.
9.  Eight students from the Singapore Institute of Management have received first class honours from the University of London external programme. The University gave out 15 such awards worldwide. Officials say this is the first time so many first class honours students have come from a single institution overseas.
10. The National Archieves is on the move again, this time to its new office in Canning Rise where there's more space. Geraldine Cheong joins the staff, who are themselves making history with the shift.
11. You are what you eat. And no one takes this more seriously than food technologists who decide what goes into our food. Over 200 of them gathered at Asia's largest Food Ingredient Exhibition today to showcase the latest in food products and technology.
12. It's sweet 16, and no one knows more about the sweetness at this age than tennis Ace, Martina Hingis.
13. Business Day is up next, but before that a success story at the Wellington Zoo. These three rare Samatran tiger cubs - two girls and a boy were born recently after a year-long courtship between the zoo's two tigers, Jambi and Cantik. Apart from being an unusually large litter, the cubs have an attentive mother unlike some animals born in captivity. Their births also spell hope for the worldwide campaign to save the Sumatran tiger, which is threatened with extinction.
14. Sunpage, the last to announce it's paging rates, today marked it's entry by undercutting the rest. With the cheapest rates in town for basic numeric paging. But operators seem to be playing it cool, but will compete on prices instead.
15. Malaysia's revised guidelines for companies listing on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange to boost liquidity on its bourse. The Securities Commission has increased the minimum issued and paid-up capital to 50 million ringgit for a main board listing. In a statement, the Securities Commission said the upward revision was made to increase the free float and liquidity of shares listed on the KLSE, especially on the Second Board.
16. Just one year old, and Indonesia's fledgling fund management industry has touched the two billion US dollar mark. And it� a growing market that fund managers here are moving to tap.
17. Local corporate news now. The Stock Exchange of Singapore has accepted an application by Norwegian telecommunications group Nera ASA to be listed on the mainboard. The company's US dollar secondary float here is expected within the month.
18. Soon to be listed New Toyo is looking into setting up a US three and a half million dollar paper product plant in Wu Hu, China.