WASHINGTON - THE US unemployment rate surged to a 26-year high of 9.4 per cent in May, while the number of job losses slowed to a better-than-expected 345,000, government data showed on Friday.

The Labor Department monthly report offered conflicting signals about a weak labor market, but suggested that the massive pace of job cuts linked to a slumping economy appeared to be easing.

A 22-YEAR-OLD flight attendant with the Singapore Airlines has become the first cabin crew to come down with the Influenza A (H1N1) virus here.

She was on the same flight as three other confirmed cases in Singapore who flew here from New York via Frankfurt earlier this week on SQ25.

THE Government has formed an inter-agency steering committee to mark Singapore's 50 years of self-government this year.

Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew, who is chairing the committee, said it will leverage on existing projects and national events to ensure the 50th anniversary does not go by unnoticed.

MORE than 16,000 people have applied to be teachers as at end-May, said Education Minister Ng Eng Hen on Friday.

This figure is 10 per cent more than the total number of applications received for the whole of last year, he added.