WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Even at the worst of the 2007 to 2009 recession the unemployment rate for college degree holders barely reached 5 percent, half of what the less educated faced and proof of the value of higher education. The rest of the story: student loans have topped $1.5 trillion, much of that accumulated in […]

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Oil prices edged up on Friday as tightened global supplies overshadowed trade tensions stoked by a U.S. move to hike tariffs on Chinese goods. Prices were set to fall over the week, but gained in the session as investors believed a U.S.-China trade deal could still be reached and supply cuts worldwide […]

SINGAPORE – In a move to promote healthier eating this Ramadan, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) is working with mosques and groups to serve healthier food options, such as brown rice and beverages with less sugar, during iftar, the evening meal that Muslims break their daily fast with. In a statement on Friday (May 10), […]

SINGAPORE – Transform a vacant power district into a massive concert hall to showcase local acts, an exhibition space, or even an indoor garden with vertical farms. These are some ideas that architects, artists and tertiary students have in mind to rejuvenate the 15ha Pasir Panjang Power District, which currently houses two power stations, round oil […]

Vets in New Zealand have performed life-saving brain surgery on a critically endangered kakapo parrot in a world-first procedure amid efforts to save the species. Surgeons adapted techniques used on humans and other mammals to operate on the 56-day-old chick, which had a hole in its skull. The species, native to New Zealand, has been […]

SINGAPORE – Textured breast implants have been found to be linked to a rare form of cancer of the immune system called anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said on Friday (May 10). Breast implants have a silicone outer surface that is either smooth or textured. Globally, most people with breast implants who […]

ON BOARD THE FRENCH AIRCRAFT CARRIER CHARLES DE GAULLE (AFP) – With the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle at the centre, France and India on Friday (May 10) stepped up their biggest naval exercises as the Indian Ocean’s strategic shipping lanes draw ever more envious eyes. Without naming the Asian giant, India and France worry […]

BANGKOK (THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – More than 5,000 homes were damaged and 16,000 residents affected by summer storms in Nakhon Ratchasima in the past three months, provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office head Pornchet Saengthong said on Friday (May 10). Summer storms in this northeastern province this year were more severe than previous years, […]

BEIJING (AFP) – Beijing on Friday (May 10) slammed the US for the “unreasonable suppression” of China Mobile after US regulators denied the telecom giant’s request to operate in the US market over national security concerns. The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday said that because of China Mobile USA’s ownership and control by the Chinese […]

BEIJING (AFP) – China’s top trade negotiator and Vice-Premier Liu He, a Harvard-educated economist, is putting his reformer credentials to the test in months of fraught negotiations with American officials. President Xi Jinping’s right-hand man on economic issues has managed months of tricky negotiations with US officials in an attempt to hammer out a pact. […]