Indonesian investigators yesterday began working to determine what caused a new Lion Air passenger jet to miss a runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 on board.

A Lion Air jet carrying more than 100 passengers and crew crashed into the ocean while attempting to land today on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, injuring up to 45 people, officials said.

For a sense of perspective, you rarely need to look any further than Billy Mitchell.

Former Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan won a narrow victory to become the country’s seventh president, a sign that the popularity of the South east Asian city-state’s ruling party is eroding.

Singapore’s long-time ruling party has won an overwhelming parliamentary majority in elections, but the opposition made historic gains after mounting its biggest challenge since independence in 1965, according to returns.

SINGAPORE’S housing prices reached a fresh record high in the third quarter as the city state’s economy booms after last year’s recession.

Suspected Muslim insurgents launched simultaneous attacks across four provinces in southern Thailand, killing six and wounding at least 50, an army spokesman said.

The captain of a pleasure boat that capsized and killed an Irishman and at least 15 British people off the coast of Bahrain was being questioned today as the inquiry into the tragedy got under way.

THE owners of a pleasure boat, which capsized off the coast of Bahrain killing 57 people, last night suggested that overcrowding may have caused the disaster.

LOCAL favourite Mardan Mamat struggled to contain his emotions after winning the Singapore Masters yesterday, but fought back the tears long enough to say he was looking forward to playing in Europe.

SINGAPORE executed Australian heroin trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van early yesterday in a case that triggered an outcry in his country.

Singapore executed Australian heroin trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van early today in a case that triggered an outcry in his country.

Hundreds of college students at a Singapore university met up with members of the opposite sex today in this record-obsessed country’s latest wacky feat - setting up blind dates en masse.

RESCUERS raced to pull survivors from collapsed buildings and deliver urgently needed food and water yesterday as strong aftershocks rattled earthquake-devastated islands in northern Indonesia.

Fragrances aimed at getting Singaporeans in the mood for love will soon be sold abroad, after being used in a government-backed campaign aimed at boosting the declining birth rate.

A British magazine editor involved in a high-society cocaine ring in Singapore has offered to bargain with prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Spurred on by shouts of “shove it in, shove it in”, 19-year-old Don Ezra Nicholas stuffed more than three McDonald’s hamburgers into his mouth – without swallowing – and claimed a new global record at the close of Singapore’s contest to be the world’s wackiest.

Spurred on by shouts of “shove it in, shove it in,” 19-year-old Ezra Nicholas set a world record by stuffing more than three McDonald’s hamburgers into his mouth – without swallowing – at the close of Singapore’s contest to be the world’s wackiest.

A 50-year-old man got a weekend of wacky world record attempts in Singapore off to a cracking start today when he became the fastest eater of dry biscuits in the world.

From the fastest backward talking to stuffing the most hamburgers into their mouths, 20 Singaporeans are gearing up for a slew of wacky feats this weekend they hope will land them in the Guinness Book of World Records.

ULTRA-TIDY Singapore has lifted its ban on chewing gum after 12 long years — but only for registered users.

Ultra-tidy Singapore has lifted its notorious ban on chewing gum after 12 years – but only for registered users. Gum dealers face jail if they break the rules.

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.

TERRORISTS linked to al-Qaida were blamed for a suicide car bomb attack on a luxury hotel in the Indonesian capital, which killed at least 14 people and wounded 150 yesterday.

At least 13 people died today and 150 were injured when a suspected suicide bomber detonated a huge car bomb at the front of a luxury hotel in the Indonesian capital.

One news report has quoted police in Jakarta as saying two Americans, two Singaporeans, an Australian and a New Zealander were among those injured in a suicide blast at a luxury hotel.

A Singapore broadcaster is to launch a new television channel next week that will show nothing but information programmes about SARS.

Taiwan announced today the island’s first Sars death and imposed a 10-day mandatory quarantine on all people arriving from areas hit hard by the flu-like disease.

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.

With fireworks, prayers and lion dances, millions across Asia on Saturday welcomed in the Lunar New Year – the biggest holiday for Chinese communities worldwide.

Indonesia’s government, reeling from a bomb attack that killed at least 180 people, acknowledged for the first time that al-Qaida is active on its soil - setting the stage for a possible crackdown on extremists.

Bali

Indonesia’s defence minister today blamed al-Qaida and its extremist allies for the massive bomb attack that killed more than 180 people at a nightclub on the resort island of Bali.

Parents and government officials in Singapore are voicing concern over what they say is increasing indolence among the country’s pampered teenagers.

Suspected al-Qaida militants arrested in Singapore were planning to blow up the US Embassy and American business interests in the city-state, according to official.