President Tan meets Pope today

President Tony Tan Keng Yam will meet Pope Francis today in the first state visit by a Singapore head of state to the Holy See.

President Tan will also meet the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, at Vatican City.

Singapore and the Holy See established diplomatic relations in 1981. The last visit by a pope to Singapore was by Pope John Paul II in 1986.

Arab leaders meet before Mid-East talks

Arab foreign ministers are meeting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo to draw up the Arab position for the Paris international conference on the Middle East planned for next Friday. The ministerial-level talks will host the Middle East Quartet, which includes the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, as well as the Arab League, the UN Security Council and about 20 countries, without Israeli or Palestinian participation.

Early Chinese newspapers here on show

A new exhibition on early Chinese newspapers in Singapore from the 1880s to 1942 will be launched today at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall.

The exhibition showcases more than 100 images and artefacts associated with early Chinese newspapers, prominent people who shaped the newspaper industry and the early printing industry in Singapore.