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1.  Education Minister Rear Admiral Teo Chee Hean has given an assurance that university fees will continue to be heavily subsidised. Adding that the promotion of science and engineering is never at the expense of the Arts and Humanities.
2.  Friends say a decision to take a day off from work proved fatal for 22-year-old Ng Yew Kong. Jill Neubronner reports that after meeting a friend, Ng was stabbed to death at a bus stop along Tiong Bahru Road
3.  When home owners complain about contractors - their main grievances are delays in completing renovations and poor tiling. Well now, the Singapore Institute of Architects is hoping to keep the rising number of disputes to a minimum. One way is through mediation.
4.  Booking a cab without even making a telephone call. Comfort Transportation's new taxi order terminal launched today, also aims to cut down those long taxi queues.
5.  Turning now to some world news. President Clinton says he's prepared to do anything he can to save the Middle East peace process. During talks with Jordan's King Hussein, Mr. Clinton indicated that personal intervention might move forward within a week or when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in the US on Sunday. Israeli-Palestinian relations have turned violent since Mr. Netanyahu started building new Jewish settlements in Arab East Jerusalem two weeks ago.
6.  Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui has ruled out independence for the island. And he's urged Beijing to resume top-level talks to resolve cross-strait disputes through peaceful means. But he told the visiting US House of Representative Speaker, Newt Gingrich that Taiwan wants to acquire more advanced weaponry. This is to safeguard its security as China has never renounced the use of military force against it. Mr. Gingrich is the first US speaker to visit Taiwan since Washington switched diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing 18 years ago.
7.  The first sign of a compromise to end the political crisis in India. The Congress Party, which sparked the crisis over the weekend by withdrawing support for the minority coalition, now says it's willing to consider another candidate to replace Prime Minister Deve Gowda. Congress President Sitaram Kesri says he's got nothing against the coalition, only Mr. Gowda, whom he accused of misrule and covertly promoting Hindu fundamentalism. Mr. Gowda has so far refused to resign and will face a vote of no confidence in parliament on the 11th.
8.  Three people were killed and seven injured when a US military plane crashed in Honduras. All the victims were Americans.
9.  The Receiver for assets belonging to Mr. and Mrs Tang Liang Hong has been given specific instructions on how money from their assets could be used. In a hearing in chambers, Justice Lai Kew Chai said money could be used to pay for appeals against the decisions he and Justice Goh Joon Seng made last month. Justice Lai also ordered that money from the assets could not be used to pay general creditors such as credit card companies. But he allowed Mr. Tang's lawyers to apply to the courts for money to pay the bonuses of Mr. Tang's former staff.

On a separate application by Mrs Tang's lawyer, Justice Lai ordered the Court to determine the ownership of assets held in her name. He also ordered that all the suits against Mrs Tang be heard at the same time. The court registrar will decide when they'll be heard. Mrs Tang had been named as a joint defendant for the purpose of the Mareva injunction to determine if she holds any assets in trust for her husband. This includes the house at 75 Hua Guan Avenue which is in her name.

10. The Labour Ministry says although it's given some leeway for employment of foreign workers from non-traditional sources, it stresses that this is a short-term measure. Companies have appealed for the plan to be extended. But as Clarence Chang reports, the ministry believes companies have to look at other alternatives for longer-term solutions to their labour woes.
11. President Ong Teng Cheong has launched the second Sinda Lucky Draw aimed at raising 2.5 million dollars for the Sinda Endowment fund. One-third of the Fund's 30 million dollar target has already been raised. And Chairman of the Board of Trustees Professor S Jayakumar says the success of the project is attributed to the commitment, dedication and hard work of the organising committee. More than 1.6 million donation draw tickets priced at 2 dollars will be on sale from tomorrow. The first prize for the draw to be held in September is a condominium at Regent Heights at Bukit Gombak.
12. A bronze medal for Singapore at the Sydney Olympics 2000. That's just one target the Singapore Yachting Association has set under a cooperative agreement it signed with Singapore Sports Council.
13. The Singapore branch of Nippon Credit Bank will close within the next six months. Falling victim to what's been described as the single biggest failure in Japanese corporate history. Nippon Credit Bank was yesterday hauled in by the Japanese government for major fixing after its affiliates collapsed under a mountain of debt.
14. The Indian cabinet's reported to have firmed its decision to bar foreign airlines from investing in India's aviation industry. Prime Minister Deve Gowda's cabinet has reportedly upheld an earlier decision to only allow non-airline firms a 40 percent equity.
15. Precision machine tool maker - Excel made a disappointing debut on the mainboard today - with the lowest opening premium so far this year. The counter hit an intra-day high of 68 cents before closing at 64 and a half cents. That� just 1 and a half cents up on its offer price of 63 cents. Dealers attributed the modest premium to Excel's relatively pricey offer - saying the stock was fully valued at the current level.
16. IPO take up rates now for paper products manufacturer - New Toyo International. The mainboard bound company has attracted a subscription rate of 22 times. Its shares were offered at 80 cents each. Trading starts Friday.
17. Listed property group Hong Fok has denied its selling a major commercial development. A spokesman told TCS News it will not be making any announcement. Rumours that it was doing so led to the usually thinly-traded counter hitting an intra-day high of two-fifty, closing at two-thirty-five. Volume was an active 2.8 million.
18. Elsewhere on the Singapore market, shares posted gains for the second straight day. Foreign funds buying into blue-chip banking and property stocks. The Property Index up 18 points or 2.6 percent.
19. A look at the region now. Business confidence among major Japanese companies is up according to a closely watched survey released by Japan's central bank. The quarterly survey of business sentiment, called the Tankan, showed that confidence of manufacturing companies has improved from minus three to a plus two. Its also the first time since November 91 that the index has a positive reading. But the picture's less rosy for non-manufacturing companies, indicating that overall economic sentiment has yet to improve. And with the non-manufacturing sector so weak, economists said the survey would do little to prompt a tightening of interest rates at present.
20. Singapore's bunker fuel trade dipped for the third straight year - but industry leaders insist that's only a cyclical downturn.
21. Mobile One, Singapore's new mobile phone service provider, is to buy more than 40 million dollars in equipment from Finland's Nokia. Mobile One's CEO says this is to beef up the coverage and capacity of its GSM network.
22. GPE Industries says its subsidiary has formed a joint venture company in China to make and supply automotive wire harness products. The new firm called the Shanghai Jin Ting Automobile Harness will begin operations in July. The firm will have an initial capital of 1.6 million US dollars.
23. Mainboard listed - Clipsal Industries is setting up a subsidiary in the Middle East to market and trade electrical installation products. It'll own 60 percent of Clipsal Middle East which will handle the distribution of the group's products for that region.
24. That's the days business headlines and market developments. Madam Dorothy Tan gave birth to these quintuplets at KK hospital yesterday and it was quite a surprise to the happy parents who've been trying to have kids for 3 years. For the hospital, it's a first time in its 73 year history that a set of quintuplets has been delivered there.