Boats in firing incident arriving here

The two Taiwanese fishing boats that were fired upon on Monday by an Indonesian government vessel are scheduled to arrive in Singapore to unload their catch and to get resupplied today. Although none of the crew was injured, the incident left at least one of the two boats - the Sheng Te Tsai and the Lien I Hsing No. 116 - with bullet holes, according to Taiwanese media reports.

Kerry meets Putin today

United States Secretary of State John Kerry will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today, hoping to build momentum for peace in Syria after a partial Russian withdrawal and to restore a fragmenting ceasefire in Ukraine.

But few experts expect Washington's top diplomat to make much headway with a Kremlin that has achieved its short-term goals and is seeking new victories.

US figures on state of economy today

A day after registering a rise in home prices, the United States will release today latest data on the initial and continuing jobless claims for the last two weeks, while Markit services will give estimates for service and composite flash purchasing managers' index for March. The figures will reflect the strength of the economy as the quarter winds down. The data will be watched by central bank policymakers mulling over the next interest rate hike during the year.