Better brains with foster care

Toddlers rescued from orphanages and placed in Good foster homes score much higher on IQ test years later than those who were left behind, concludes a one-of-kind project in Romania that has profound implications for child welfare around the globe. The boost means the difference between borderline retardation and average intelligence for some youngster.

M'sia to get two new dogs to sniff out pirated DVDs

Malaysia will get two new sniffer dogs to unearth pirated DVDs after the resounding success of their predecessor Lucky and Flo earlier this year. Paddy and Manny, who are being trained to sniff out chemicals used in DVDs, will arrive in Malaysia in February to be permanently based there. The male Labradors from Ireland- one black and one white- are trained by the same person who trained Lucky and Flo.

Supper run ends in tragedy

Airport technician Ow Kah Hoe,28, got into another accident yesterday morning- a hit and run case. He died at 1.20am after his motorcycle was involved in a collision with a lorry at the McPherson Road and Airport road intersection. Mr Ow was flung about 10m, landing on the windscreen of the taxi that had stopped at the junction. he succumbed to head injuries minutes later.

New Word

succumbed-> die from something: to die from an illness or injury

US gun laws to get tougher

The United States Congress has approved the first major gun control legislation in more than a decade, braodening background checks for gun buyers in the wake of the country's deadliest campus shooting ealier this year by mentally-ill student. It also allocates funds for gun owners and potential gun owners who are prevented from owning wepons due to mental illness so that they may challenge the ruling in court.

New Words

Senate-> the main faculty governing body in some universities and colleges

Hard line on whaling

Fresh from winning global plaudits for a policy turnaround on global warming, Australia's new government is turning to another thorny international evnvironmental issu: japan whale hunt. Canberra anouced on wenesday that it would use a ship and a plane to spy on Jpanese whalers in Antartica waters and collect evidence for a possible case in international courts. Japan takes out more than 1,000 whales a year.

New Word
pluadits->expression of praise: an expression of praise or approval

The mysterious tower of CBD

A mysterious tiered tower, seemingly shrink-wrapped in canvas, has been under construction at one of the busiest intersections in the Central Business District for several months. Tomorrow,it will finally be revealed as Singapore's tallest sculpture. One that day, the protective canvas of the first tier of the 18.35-metre, 44-tone sculpture-titled Momentum-will be removed with the rest of the spiral progressively unveiled one tier per day. It will culminate in the entire sculpture being specially illuminated for the first time by a state-of-art lighting system at 7pm on New Year's Eve as many people are expected in the area for the Marina Bay Countdown.

culminate-> to come or bring something to an end, especially a climactic