TOP OF THE NEWS
Exports plunged last month at the sharpest pace in three years, raising the question of whether Singapore's growth estimates for the first three months of the year may have been a tad too optimistic. March's non-oil domestic exports dived 15.6 per cent from the same period a year earlier, a rate of decline not seen since February 2013 and worse than the 12.3 per cent decrease forecast.
TOP OF THE NEWS
1MDB in default, says Gulf fund
Abu Dhabi's second-largest wealth fund declared yesterday that Malaysia's controversial 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund was in default of a multi- billion-dollar financial assistance deal. This could mean international investors who hold 1MDB bonds may have to wait a long time before they are compensated.
WORLD
China ties a top priority: India
Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said yesterday India attaches highest priority to its relations with China, amid Beijing's concerns over New Delhi's growing closeness to Washington.
Mr Parrikar is visiting China, days after India inked a logistics agreement with the US.
SPORT
Arsenal struggling to qualify for Champions League
Arsenal dropped to fourth place in the Premier League, 13 points behind leaders Leicester, after a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace. That position will not be enough for Champions League qualification, if Manchester City win the competition and Liverpool clinch the Europa League.
WORLD
A homemade bomb attack by two men and a woman on three people in a dispute over a Vietnamese woman led Malaysian police to the discovery of more improvised explosive devices and drugs in a condominium in Petaling Jaya. Police had ruled out terrorism, and said gangsters were involved.
OPINION
Are Singapore boards killing value, as charged by Bloomberg columnist Andy Mukherjee? That is not what the figures suggest, writes Singapore Institute of Directors chairman Willie Cheng, in a rejoinder.
HOME
An employer is on trial for hitting her maid with weapons such as a hammer and clothes pole. Indonesian Khanifah said her teeth were knocked out, and she was left with head wounds by Zariah Mohd Ali, 54, for offences like not cleaning the toilet well enough.
HOME
'Improper touch' by kid probed
An investigation is being conducted into a case where a six-year-old boy allegedly touched a girl inappropriately at a childcare centre run by the PAP Community Foundation. A video of the girl's parents confronting the centre's staff has gone viral.
BUSINESS
No freeze, so oil prices slump
Oil prices slid yesterday after a meeting between major producing nations on a proposed output freeze fell apart, leaving the world grappling with an excess of crude and causing emerging-market currencies to tumble.
The Malaysian ringgit fell the most in two weeks.
LIFE
A Yellow Bird picked for Cannes
Two decades after Singapore film-maker K. Rajagopal took flight as an award-winning director of short films in the mid-1990s, he will finally debut his feature-length work. A Yellow Bird, about a former convict, has been selected to screen at International Critics' Week, a parallel section of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, which will be held this year from May 11 to 22.
LIFE
During his term as a Nominated MP, theatre-maker Kok Heng Leun would like to make the importance of arts and culture in daily life more visible, including in urban and economic planning.
On top of his agenda is also acting as a mediator between artists and the authorities.
