TOP OF THE NEWS
Markets lifted by US rate hike
The guessing game that has dominated markets for more than a year finally ended yesterday when the United States raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade.
The move to lift rates by 0.25 percentage points from near zero lifted global stock markets as investors were relieved that the uncertainty was finally over.
TOP OF THE NEWS
A record $116 million was given out in social assistance payments to the poor for the last financial year, a 14 per cent rise from the year before.
Some 91,000 people were helped last year, up from about 54,000 five years ago.
WORLD
China has summoned the United States envoy to protest against Washington's sale of warships to Taiwan, as part of a massive US$1.8 billion (S$2.5 billion) arms package, Beijing said yesterday. US officials said there was no change to the US' "one China" policy.
WORLD
Displacement escalating due to conflicts and disasters: UN
The United Nations has warned of a staggering escalation of displacement caused both by conflicts and natural disasters, urging the international community to treat the two intertwined causes together. At least 37 countries are being plagued by conflicts and serious crises, the UN said.
OPINION
The outlook for Asean integration is mixed, with a slowing China affecting growth in the region, and nationalistic instincts creating obstacles to true integration, associate editor Ravi Velloor says in the Speaking of Asia column.
HOME
The surgeon who led an operation at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital to remove a tumour from an Indonesian baby said it was the worst case of sacrococcygeal teratoma she had come across. Dr Low Yee said she had never seen a tumour as big as the one on Jeslyn Lim, which stretched to 25cm.
HOME
Of the 11,528 students from the Normal (Academic) stream who took the N-level exams this year, 74.9 per cent qualified for Secondary 5. This is comparable to last year's figure of 74.6 per cent.
BUSINESS
Exporters here suffered another unexpectedly bad month in November, as Asia remains stuck in a trade recession while the world economy rejigs itself.
Singapore's non-oil domestic exports fell 3.3 per cent last month over November last year, far short of market forecasts of a 1.5 per cent expansion.
SPORT
A South Korean doctor was fined 1 million won (S$1.2 million) yesterday for injecting swimming star Park Tae Hwan with steroids, an incident which resulted in an 18-month ban for the former Olympic champion.
The doctor, identified only by her surname Kim, was found guilty of breaching the medical code.
LIFE
Force is still strong, say fans
Local fans at the Singapore premiere of the new Star Wars movie on Wednesday night are mostly happy with The Force Awakens. But many fans were also visibly shaken by a major incident in the movie.
LIFE
Michael Jackson's 1982 album Thriller, still breaking new ground more than 30 years after its release and six years after the pop superstar's death, became the first album in history to cross the 30-million mark in the United States, record industry officials said on Wednesday.
