Singapore's manufacturing contracted in August TheStreet, 2 Sep 2010Singapore's purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in weaker than expected in August at 49.4, vs. 52.2 in July, signaling contraction in the city-state's manufacturing sector. This will feed into worries that global growth is still slowing, even though the macroeconomic outlook for Asia remains the strongest among the emerging-market regions.The headline PMI fell below the 50 University of Singapore students promote environmental awareness Casino Times, 2 Sep 2010A group of students at the University of Singapore have created The Climate Casino in an effort to promote environmental awareness.The exciting new project, dubbed “The Climate Casino”, has emerged as part of university's green carnival. Coordinated by Students against the Violation of the Earth (SAVE), the carnival lasts a total of four weeks and seeks to educate the Singapore-MIT game lab efforts pay off iStockAnalyst, 2 Sep 2010SINGAPORE, Sep. 2, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- The Singapore-MIT GAMBIT game lab, a five-year initiative involving the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is harvesting returns as its alumni make headways in talent and game development. In its 4th running year, 39 new students fresh from a nine-week internship OPINION: Singapore’s Useful Peasants - Joseph B. Atkins In These Times, 2 Sep 2010One of the Pacific Rim’s economic “tigers,” Singapore is a citadel of neo-liberalism. Corporate taxes are low, and unemployment is 2.3 percent. Yet sales taxes are high, and blue-collar wages are abysmal. There’s no minimum wage, and the government offers scant protections against abuse and a limited social safety net. In the past 10 years, immigration has nearly doubled Singapore Airlines curbs crew's Facebook musings AFPSINGAPORE — Singapore Airlines (SIA) has directed its flight attendants to avoid discussing work-related matters on Facebook and other social networking websites, company officials said Thursday.The image-conscious airline, which is consistently ranked by passengers as one of the world's best, took action after some cabin crew were found to have discussed confidential job issues on Facebook." Singapore delays cross-carriage pay-TV rules Rapid TV News, 2 Sep 2010Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) is delaying implementation of the country’s new cross-carriage pay-TV laws until next year.Following consultation on the new plans, which propose that pay-TV programme providers must offer their content on all Singapore’s platforms, the MDA said that while its position was largely unchanged, it would delay implementation until SINGAPORE: New Universities Trust to ensure funding University World News, 2 Sep 2010Singapore will set up a national endowment fund known as the Singapore Universities Trust to support higher education institutions through economic downturns, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced during his annual National Day Rally speech this week. The trust will be set up as part of US$4 billion to be provided to universities over the next 20 years to build Video: Opposition leader responds to PM Lee's National Day Rally address Youtube, 1 Sep 2010 Singapore ranked as world's 4th largest foreign exchange center People's Daily Online, 1 Sep 2010A recent survey ranks Singapore as the fourth largest foreign exchange center in the world and the second largest foreign exchange center in Asia, after Tokyo, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Wednesday.According to the latest survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), average daily foreign exchange turnover in Singapore was 266 billion U.S Spending On Visa Card Touches S$154 Million During Young Olympic Games Bernama.com, 1 Sep 2010SINGAPORE, Sept 1 (Bernama) -- Spending on foreign Visa-branded payment cards in Singapore jumped 38 per cent to S$154 million during the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games last month, according to data from Visa on Wednesday.Visa Singapore and Brunei Country Manager Meranda Chan said the games had boosted the local economy, with nearly 50,000 Visa Prepaid cards were active Freedom House Report: Singapore ranked 'REPRESSIVE" in workers' rights violations ABS-CBN News, 1 Sep 2010The Freedom House recently issued its report, which examines the global state of worker and trade union rights in 2009. It cited serious violations of the rights of workers and trade unions that have occurred in some countries in the Middle East, former Soviet Union, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.Among the countries classified as Repressive are China, Egypt, Iran, Singapore Survey: Singapore's elderly at risk of malnutrition Xinhua, 1 Sep 2010Doctors say Singapore's elderly population is not eating right. According to the survey, conducted from February to March this year by Abbott, only one percent of the elderly respondents met the Health Promotion Board's diet recommendations. They do not take enough foods which contain calcium, carbohydrates and fiber.Data collected also shows that those who live in one and two- EC probe drives biodiesel trading in Singapore to a halt Platts, 1 Sep 2010Singapore, Asia's key regional hub for oil trading, is no longer used as a transhipment point for biodiesel because of the current anti-circumvention probe by the European Commission, said an industry source Wednesday."Biodiesel trading in Singapore has completely been chased out by the EC investigations," the source, who regularly exports biodiesel out of the region, Vietnamese officials sent to dodgy ‘foreign training courses’ in Singapore VietNamNet, 1 Sep 2010Thao, who heads a medical institute in HCM City, was awarded a doctorate by ‘Preston University,’ a US-affiliated school in Singapore, in late 2007, after one year of study. Thao said she did not have any information about Preston University before she registered to study there. Thao said when she attended a celebration at the Institute of Oriental Research and Development ( Singapore Jurong Bird Park Gives Ticket Discount To Malaysians Bernama.com, 1 Sep 2010SINGAPORE, Sept 1 (Bernama) -- Singapore's Jurong Bird Park is offering Malaysians a 30 per cent ticket discount for admission to the bird park during its two-month promotion from Wednesday until Oct 31.Malaysian visitors must produce their passport, a valid embarkation card and a coupon which can be clipped from the New Straits Times and The Sun newspapers to get the Singapore's Economy May Expand 14.9% This Year, Central Bank Survey Shows Bloomberg, 1 Sep 2010Singapore’s economy will probably grow at a faster pace than previously forecast this year as manufacturers boost output and consumers increase spending, a central bank survey showed.Gross domestic product may expand 14.9 percent in 2010, according to the median forecast in a survey of 20 economists by the Monetary Authority of Singapore released today. That compares with a Imperial College to establish medical school in Singapore Guardian UK, 1 Sep 2010Imperial College London is to set up a new medical school in Singapore in the latest move by an elite British university to establish a presence in Asia. Jointly run by Imperial and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, the medical school will teach over 750 students when it is fully established, the majority of whom will be local residents.Professor Martyn Retailers to submit bids for Carrefour Asia units-sources Reuters, 1 Sep 2010(Reuters) - Retailers from Europe and Southeast Asia are expected to submit bids for Carrefour SA's (CARR.PA) roughly $1 billion-worth of Asian assets, with first round offers due on Wednesday, according to sources involved in the auction.French retailer Casino (CASP.PA) (CASP.PA) and Singapore's Dairy Farm International Holding Ltd (DAIR.SI) were among the companies expected Need for foreign workers 'strong' in Singapore The China Post, 1 Sep 2010SINGAPORE -- Singapore's economy is projected to slow down in the months ahead but many employers are not slowing their hiring of foreign workers.Business is good, so contractors, manufacturers, and small and medium-sized enterprises that rely heavily on foreign workers told ..... that they are puzzled by the Government's forecast that the inflow will slow to around GIC hires Kishore Gotety as head of India real estate FinanceAsia, 1 Sep 2010The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) has hired Kishore Gotety, who was most recently at RREEF, as country head for India real estate.GIC confirmed the appointment of Gotety as head of real estate for India but declined to comment further. However, the hire suggests GIC believes the opportunity is ripe to start investing in real estate in India. Full story Singapore Offers 3,000 SBF And Build To Order Flats Gov Monitor, 31 Aug 2010HDB is offering 3,032 flats for sale today. These comprise 1,408 new flats in Yishun under the Build-to-Order (BTO) system and 1,624 balance flats spread over 10 non-mature towns under the Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise.With this launch, HDB would have offered 12,876 flats for sale since the start of 2010.This is the largest supply of flats in a single launch this ST Telemedia's Eircom mulls all options to avoid covenant breach Reuters, 31 Aug 2010Aug 31 (Reuters) - Struggling Irish telecoms group eircom is considering raising equity as well as renegotiating with its lenders to avoid breaching its loan covenants, its finance chief said on Tuesday.Eircom, which is majority-owned by Singapore Technologies Telemedia (a unit of Temasek [TEM.UL]), is restructuring to manage a legacy fixed-line business in long-term decline S'pore NBN operator remains bullish amid competition ZDNet Asia, 31 Aug 2010SINGAPORE--The next-generation national broadband network marks another milestone as its operating company (OpCo), Nucleus Connect, announced on Tuesday that it has started commercial operations and counts the country's three local telcos as part of its first five customers.n a media statement Tuesday, however, SingTel unveiled its own intention to become an OpCo. A SingTel Chinese, Singaporean trade unions pledge closer ties People's Daily Online, 31 Aug 2010China's top trade union leader Wang Zhaoguo pledged here Tuesday to advance exchange and cooperation with Singaporean trade unions to better protect the rights and interests of their respective union members.Wang, chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), made the remarks when meeting with Lim Swee Say, secretary-general of the National Trades Singapore population tops five million, 36 pct are foreigners Sin Chew Jit Poh, 31 Aug 2010SINGAPORE, Tuesday 31 August 2010 (AFP) - Singapore's population crossed five million this year and more than a third of the total are foreigners, the statistics department said Tuesday.The city-state's total population stood at 5.08 million people at the end of June, it said in a statement.Of the number, 3.23 million are citizens, 540,000 are foreigners with OPINION: Thinking About Singapore Asia Sentinel, 31 Aug 2010The island's leader first tries to control population through mass sterilization programs, causing the birth rate to fall precipitously as 30 percent of child-bearing women are sterilized in an attempt to "raise the quality of the population." His efforts go too far, with the result that the island's birthrate refuses to rise back to replacement levels. The leadership Singapore govt's answer to YouTube FutureGov, 31 Aug 2010In March this year, Singapore launched its own version of YouTube. Government agencies can now upload videos on to a site that will gives them copyright ownership, and can manage uploading in a controlled environment. In an interview with FutureGov, the Infocomm Development Authority revealed how using the cloud has saved the government US$4000 a month per video. Agencies Ambassador Chan Heng Chee explore ethanol plant in US Fayobserver.com, 30 Aug 2010The largest ethanol plant on the East Coast, and North Carolina's first, played host Monday to international guests.Singapore's Ambassador to the United States, Chan Heng Chee, began a three-day visit to the state's 8th Congressional District as she looked for possible investment opportunities for her country.The ethanol plant, operated by Clean Burn Fuels, LLC, Video: PAP Has More To Lose When Electoral Boundaries Change - PAP MP Baey Yam Keng Youtube, 24 Aug 2010 Singapore Government Warns Residents To Leave Gambling To Tourists Casino Gambling Web, 30 Aug 2010Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke over the weekend of how Singapore residents should leave the gambling to tourists from other county's. The prime minister also spoke of how he saw Singapore residents inside the casinos, and that he hoped it was just to fulfill curiosity.The likelihood that Hsien Loong will get his wish is a long shot. Singapore residents have