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1.  The Prime Minister says the result of the election in Cheng San will show where Singapore is heading. Whether it will move towards a more Chinese dominant society or remain multi-racial. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong made the point after visiting the ward where the contest for votes has become the focal point on the last day of campaigning for the General Election. PM Goh and two other top PAP leaders have thrown their weight behind the PAP team, which is facing a Workers' Party team including Mr. Tang Liang Hong.

A man described by the PAP as an anti-Christian Chinese chauvinist. Mr. Tang had also brought up the issue of mosque building, saying that if Malays do not vote for the PAP they will not have mosques built in Cheng San. PM Goh today refuted this adding that the PAP government believes in fair and equal treatment of all religions in Singapore.

2.  Speaking to TCS News, the Prime Minister's lawyer, Mr. K. Shanmugam, said Mr. Tang has not responded to the 6pm deadline today set by lawyers acting for Prime MInister Goh Chok Tong and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The deadline was for Mr. Tang to indicate that he'll accept the conditions to withdraw without qualifications the defamatory statements he made before by reading out an apology at the Workers' Party rally tonight.

The lawyers' letter also required Mr. Tang to publish an apology in tomorrow's issue of the Straits Times in the first page. The letter also stated that if the 6 p.m. deadline was missed, lawyers for PM Goh and SM Lee will vigorously proceed with their defamation suits in the High Court. They had already started the proceedings by filing writs yesterday. Mr. Tang is also being sued by Minister for Environment Teo Chee Hean and five other PAP members.

3.  Lawyers acting for the Prime Minister and the Senior Minister have again written to Workers' Party candidate Tang Liang Hong. It's in response to a statement by Mr. Tang, carried in today's Straits Times.

4.  Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam today also stressed that where Mr. Tang Liang Hong's concerned, an important principle's at stake, the continuation in Singapore of multi-racial tolerance and multiculturalism.

5.  But before Mr. Tang became an issue in this election, the PAP's main focus was on upgrading. And it still is, as the Prime Minister pointed out yesterday. With vote counting now decentralised, MPs can tell which precincts support them and will put these up first for upgrading. This was elaborated on by the 2 Deputy Prime Ministers today.

6.  The Singapore People's Party kicked off the last day of campaigning with a lunch time rally in Potong Pasir.

7.  And with just under 5 hours of campaigning time left, party leaders and candidates rated their chances.

8.  The electronics sector could see a turnaround early this year. Minister for Trade and Industry Yeo Cheow Tong predicted this based on signs of a global recovery.

9.  In world news, President Suharto has urged Indonesians to put national interest above that of individuals or groups. In his year-end speech in Jakarta, the Indonesian leader called on his people to be more tolerant and to stay away from emotional attitudes and actions. His speech followed last week's wave of ethnic and religious violence. President Suharto said the unrest, which stemmed from socio-cultural, economic, political or religious differences, must be prevented from recurring. He also pledged that his government would push for openness and greater democracy in the new year.

10. Malaysia is coming down hard on illegal immigrants. It's deploying three thousand security personnel on a nationwide sweep for an estimated one-point-two million illegal immigrants. The action follows the midnight expiry of a six-month amnesty. Illegal workers face expulsion. Officials say employers of such workers can be caned, jailed for a maximum of five years and be fined up to 12 thousand US dollars.

11. A strong earthquake has jolted the Maluku Islands of Eastern Indonesian triggering small tidal waves. The quake, measuring six on the Richter scale, was felt in Maluku's capital Ambon for about five minutes. Some three people were killed in the tremor, which was centered in the Banda Sea. Officials report that a number of buildings showed structural cracks. So far more than 160 aftershocks have been recorded.

12. In Seoul, a New Year celebration turned into a violent confrontation between police and protestors. Thousands of workers and their supporters, who had gathered for a New Year rally, clashed with security forces. Police used tear gas to maintain order, but no one was arrested. Workers and students also made a violent attempt to stop a nationally televised New Year's Day event.

13. And in Mexico City, another hostage drama was played out. A bank robber, trying to escape, forced his two hostages into a car at gunpoint. But, before he could get away, police opened one of the car doors, resulting in a shootout. The robber died in the shootout, but not before seriously wounding a policeman. At one point during the six-hour crisis, the gunman held up to 25 hostages. Most were later released. Police also caught two of the robber's accomplices.

14. And Singapore's New Year baby, born just after midnight. More on this bundle of joy in a while.

15. Singapore's first nation-wide countdown arrived at Orchard Mall last night. Crowds gathered outside Shaw Centre at midnight to usher in 1997.

16. Most of us are accustomed to receiving presents on our birthday. But retired lawyer C. J. Koh gave a gift of nearly 1.8 million dollars on his 96th birthday today. This on top of the 2 million dollars he donated last October to the Universities Endowment Fund.

17. Singapore's very own New Year baby was born just after midnight this morning. Suzanne Ho dropped in at Thomson Medical Centre and had a peek at Singapore's first baby of 1997.

18. Snow and bitterly cold winds continue to sweep across Britain and France as Europe braces for one of the coldest New Year's days on record.

19. Here's a look at how people around the world were ringing in the New Year. It was a New Year's Eve of special significance for Hong Kong, the last under British rule. The traditional colonial midnight gun marked the beginning of a new countdown to Chinese rule. It was fireworks galore over in Sydney. More than 16 thousand fireworks were set off all over the city covering an area the size of seven thousand football fields. And more than half a million merrymakers gathered in New York's Times Square for the traditional lowering of the Big Ball of Light.