What's News: March 23, 2018

A new component that reflects the growing network capacity and ridership will be part of the formula for public transport fares from this year to 2022. The component compares network usage against the capacity added. If the capacity increases faster than ridership, a higher fare hike could be allowed.

China has warned that it will retaliate if the United States announces sanctions against Beijing for the "theft" of intellectual property, with experts saying that it could hit back with measures against America's $184 billion of annual exports to the Asian powerhouse.

The proposal to redraw election boundaries in Malaysia will be tabled before Malaysian lawmakers later than expected, as speculation mounts that the next polls will be called soon after the motion is approved. The redelineation will favour the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in the next general election, which must be held by August.

Thailand has ramped up efforts to reduce the use of cash, harness big data, secure digital identities and woo some of the world's biggest online companies in order to secure future growth. Among the initiatives are machine-readable welfare cards and free broadband Internet access for 24,700 remote villages.

US President Donald Trump may inflict a lot of pain on China in a trade war, but it won't be enough because he overestimates the US' clout in the global economy and has also alienated his natural allies, says Michael Schuman.

Etude House AC Clean-Up Mild Concealer has been recalled in Singapore after metal traces above the permissible level were found in the cosmetic product. The South Korean beauty label Etude House also suspended another item, which is not sold here.

Housewife Carol Ann Armstrong, who sued a medical laboratory and its medical director for failing to detect cancer in a skin sample taken from her husband, was awarded more than $1.2 million by the High Court. Mr Peter Traynor died from skin cancer in 2013.

Asian stocks yesterday ended mostly mixed as investors digested the implications of what was a widely expected rate hike from the Federal Reserve. The US central bank raised interest rates on Wednesday and forecast at least two more hikes this year, highlighting its growing confidence that tax cuts and government spending will boost the economy and inflation.

National football captain Hariss Harun is confident that the Lions will end their 13-match winless run when they play against the Maldives in their friendly tonight. However, the visitors' coach Petar Segrt, 11 days into his new job, is equally upbeat. He pledges that his team, which has lost all five matches to Singapore, will play an open game in search of a win. C10

The world's biggest watch and jewellery show Baselworld (above) turns 101 this year, and despite almost halving in size from last year, it has retained some of the industry's biggest brands. One marketing triumph was a celebrity five-a-side match with some of the biggest names in football.

Why can't we share things? ST's Alyssa Woo and Hairianto Diman talk about shared services being abused in the live video series Hangout With ST. http://str.sg/sthangout5

An exclusive look at what goes on in an awake brain surgery. http://str.sg/awake