A suspected Taliban bomb attack targeted a former Pakistan provincial cabinet minister on Sunday, killing him and three other people in the country's restive northwest, police said.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that Singapore cannot expect to go back to the growth rates achieved before the global economic crisis.

The US and British embassies in Yemen were closed on Sunday amid threats from a local branch of Al-Qaeda, after Washington and Britain vowed to help the impoverished country in its fight against extremism.

Liverpool's faltering season suffered another stutter as they were held to a 1-1 draw away to Championship strugglers Reading in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Japan agreed on Sunday to give a new lifeline to troubled Japan Airlines by doubling a state-funded loan for the carrier to 200 billion yen (2.2 billion dollars).

Google is expected to ring in the new year by unveiling its own smartphone on Tuesday, the Nexus One, in a bid to expand its powerful Web brand in the booming mobile arena.

A series of photographic prints on convicted felons and their choice of last meals by artist Jonathon Kambouris will be displayed at the Esplanade Tunnel from January 7 to 24 as part of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2010.

It's been three years since Hady Mirza's debut album but the Singapore Idol season two winner says "Sang Penyanyi" is worth the wait.