Singapore’s prime minister said he will hand over his duties this year to the son of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew – but he will not give a date for the event, news reports said today.

North Korea was maintaining its cloak of silence today over the crash between two North Korean fuel trains that is believed to have killed or injured as many as 3,000 people.

A Singapore court today cleared doctors who last year tried to separate adult conjoined twins from Iran of any criminal liability, saying the operation, which ended fatally was an accident.

NEARLY a million chickens and ducks will be slaughtered across South Korea to combat a highly contagious strain of bird flu that has spread across the country and could also infect humans, the government said yesterday.

PRESIDENT George W Bush pressed for closer Asian partnerships in the war on terrorism, carrying his appeal yesterday to free-trade partner Singapore and planning for a visit to Bali, Indonesia, under unusually tight security precautions.

Leaders of 10 south-east Asian nations ranging from fledgling democracies to an absolute monarchy gathered today to sign a landmark accord aimed at moulding their disparate region into a European-style economic community by 2020.

EVEN after spending their lives on a quest to be separated, 29-year-old Iranian twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani have told friends that they dream of travelling the world together if a high-risk operation succeeds.

A PAIR of 29-year-old Iranian twin sisters who are joined at the head began a marathon operation yesterday which could finally separate them — or kill them both.

A pair of 29-year-old Iranian twin sisters who are joined at the head began a marathon operation today that could finally separate them – or kill them.

Ladan and Laleh Bijani, 29-year-old Iranian twins born joined at the head, will walk into a Singapore operating room on Sunday and sit down for separation surgery that is expected to last days and could kill one or both of them.

SINGAPORE authorities said yesterday it was too early to say its outbreak of the deadly SARS virus had peaked, and braced the nation for higher unemployment as visitor arrivals plunged and a major regional airline fired staff.

If authorities in Singapore think you have been exposed to Sars, you will be ordered to stay at home, monitored with a camera and maybe tagged with an electronic wrist band.

South Korea’s new prime minister said today his country would work with the United States to seek a peaceful resolution to the standoff with North Korea, amid a report that the North has restarted a nuclear reactor.

Siamese twins joined at the head left Iran for Singapore today for medical tests and possible surgery to separate them after 28 years of shared life.

Singapore’s Changi Airport said today it had bought a 50% stake in a British airport and development company Alterra Partners and is bidding for airports in Oman and Cyprus.