TOP OF THE NEWS
Indonesian police killed three suspected terrorists and arrested another yesterday during a raid outside Jakarta, foiling a plan to stage a suicide attack on police officers guarding Christmas celebrations. The men were linked to a terror cell in Solo, Central Java, that had planned to attack the presidential palace in Jakarta.
TOP OF THE NEWS
The Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training plans to use its orientation programme for newly arrived maids to educate them on the dangers of using social media to access radical ideologies. Five maids working in Singapore were found to have been radicalised this way in the past two years.
WORLD
United States President Barack Obama has announced what he calls a permanent ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in wide areas of the Arctic and the Atlantic seaboard as he tries to nail down an environmental legacy that cannot quickly be reversed by President-elect Donald Trump.
WORLD
South Korea has issued an arrest warrant for Ms Chung Yoo Ra, the daughter of Choi Soon Sil, who is at the centre of President Park Geun Hye's corruption scandal. Investigators yesterday raided the National Pension Service over possible links to the scandal.
OPINION
Targeting healthcare cost rise
The Singapore Medical Council's recent focus on third-party administrators taking a cut of doctors' fees is unnecessary. That is unlikely to push healthcare costs up, writes senior health correspondent Salma Khalik. It would be better to focus on surgeons' fees, she says.
HOME
Dip in schools' cut-off scores
There was a marginal easing of between one and two points for the minimum entry requirement for some popular secondary schools, such as Raffles Institution, in a year where fewer pupils sat the Primary School Leaving Examination.
HOME
Certificate of entitlement (COE) prices for cars have edged back up, after falling last month. Yesterday, at the close of the last tender exercise for the year, the COE premium for small cars had risen by 3.6 per cent. For larger cars, above 1,600cc or 130bhp, it had increased by 10.6 per cent.
BUSINESS
Small and medium-sized enterprises are pessimistic about the first six months of 2017 and expect a reduction in both turnover and profitability. The gloomy mood generated a reading of 49.8 on a quarterly index compiled by the Singapore Business Federation and DP Information Group.
SPORT
Early start in triathlon drive
The Triathlon Association of Singapore will hold trials on Jan 14 for the August SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, to give the six selected athletes, including two reserves, more time to get in form.
Last year, the selection trials were held in March, just three months before the Games, where Singapore won a men's bronze. The target this time is for a medal from both the men and women.
LIFE
Raised brows over botched jobs
The popularity of eyebrow embroidery has produced an unfortunate side effect. As more people pay for the service to get groomed and defined brows, more are also ending up with botched jobs. Beauty salons say they have seen a spike in such cases.
VIDEO
Place of peace
Singapore's last Hakka cemetery is flanked by Housing Board blocks and MRT tracks. http://str.sg/livingcity3
VIDEO
All that glitters
Journalist Alyssa Woo shows you how to put on your best glittering face for Christmas. http://str.sg/glitter
