Top stories from The Straits Times on Monday, Jan 1

Good morning! Here are our top stories to kickstart your Monday, Jan 1


Revellers brave the rain at Marina Bay as fireworks display ushers in 2018

Rain put a damper on those planning to catch New Year's Eve festivities yesterday afternoon (Dec 31).

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WhatsApp messaging service returns after global outage

WhatsApp, a popular messaging service owned by Facebook, suffered a global outage for about an hour on Sunday (Dec 31) before the problem was fixed.

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Singapore economy grew by 3.5% in 2017, says PM Lee Hsien Loong in New Year message

Singapore's economy grew by 3.5 per cent in 2017 - more than double the initial forecast - and incomes rose across the board, especially for low- and middle-income earners, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday (Dec 31).

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Plans to mark 200th anniversary of the founding of modern Singapore in 2019: PM Lee

The Singapore story did not begin in 1965, the year of independence. Instead, it stretches back 700 years, telling a tale of ebb and flow.

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ESM Goh Chok Tong says settling 4G leadership an urgent challenge, hopes next PM can be designated 'before 2018 ends'

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has sketched out what he hopes would be a timeline for the formal designation of the next prime minister - the first time a senior figure from the People's Action Party (PAP) has done so.

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Smoother transactions with HDB resale portal

The HDB resale portal - a site that streamlines the buying and selling of resale flats - is being launched today, marking one of the biggest transformations to the HDB resale market processes in decades.

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Two largest preschool chains to raise fees

The two largest pre-school operators here are raising their fees this year.

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Adding life to days

"The last resort" is a term veteran volunteer Marlene Foo uses to refer to Dover Park Hospice - not as a last-ditch solution, but as a place that resembles home for the terminally ill in their last stage of life.

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2017 surge helps ring in optimism

It has been a year of high drama to say the least for the Singapore economy - going from the cusp of recession to its fastest pace of growth in almost a half-decade.

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Football: Man City winning run ends in draw at Crystal Palace

Ederson's last-gasp penalty heroics saved Manchester City from defeat but a 0-0 stalemate at Crystal Palace on Sunday (Dec 31) brought the Premier League leaders' record-breaking 18-match winning run to an end.

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