TOP OF THE NEWS
Unhealthy hazy conditions led to organisers calling off or modifying their outdoor events yesterday.
The Singapore Cancer Society and POSB cancelled their running and walking events, while the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run was turned into a walk instead.
Parents are likely to have to pay higher fees at care centres based in schools, with operators interviewed saying that they are likely to increase fees when they renew or go into new tender contracts. Operation costs such as rents and staff salaries have gone up, they say.
WORLD
Senior officials from the United States and China have concluded four days of meetings on the contentious matter of cyber security and other issues, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington later this month. China says it will punish anyone who hacks from within China or steals corporate secrets.
Indonesia is testing out a bank that sails the seas north of Jakarta to support small business owners and reach out to islanders with no access to banking facilities. Since its launch in April, the bank - staffed with four employees and fitted with an ATM - has helped islanders open 220 accounts.
OPINION
In the latest piece in the Future Trends 2065 series, Nominated Member of Parliament Chia Yong Yong conjures a world where assistive technology comes together to make daily life a seamless journey for the disabled.
HOME
More attracted to off-peak cars
A small but growing number of drivers are opting for off-peak cars, with 345 registrations for these from January to July this year, up from 131 in 2013 and 203 last year. But off-peak cars, which currently make up 5.8 per cent of private cars here, have decreased in overall numbers from 2013.
Some parents whose children were hurt or killed by the earthquake that hit Mount Kinabalu three months ago plan to scale the mountain in Sabah next June to get a sense of closure. Several pupils who survived also plan to return to the mountain.
Some Pasir Ris residents are unhappy about the noise from late-night upgrading works at the White Sands shopping centre. The National Environment Agency has fined the contractor and limited its work hours to between 7am and 10pm. The firm plans to appeal.
BUSINESS
Retailer and property group Metro Holdings will close its City Square Mall store when its lease expires at the end of the year, leaving it with only three stores in Singapore at The Centrepoint, Paragon and Causeway Point. Metro said that the move comes amid difficult trading conditions.
SPORT
Italy's Flavia Pennetta, rated as a 150-1 outsider before winning the US Open, chose her biggest moment to announce that she will retire at the end of the year. But her maiden Major victory could earn her a place in the elite eight-woman WTA Finals in Singapore next month.
LIFE
Local wine educator Tan Ying Hsien (photo) is the first Singaporean to be appointed a Master of Wine after passing, on his fourth try, the intensive exam set by London-based The Institute of Masters of Wine.
