Singapore's Huge Bet On Sex And Gambling Is About To Pay Off Big Time Business Insider, 16 Mar 2010Something clicked many years back when Singapore suddenly realized that the key to being a world city isn't just about business... it is about having fun too.Since then the city has been transforming itself with a focus on both ease of doing business plus quality of life for those who do business.Thus both prostitution and gambling are legal in by-the-book Singapore. Falling prey in the Lion City - A Sabahan's account of foreign workers' exploitation in Singapore (Part I) Free Malaysia Today, 15 Mar 2010For Steven, a 40-something Sino-Kadazan man, leaving Sabah two years ago was a gamble. He had been jobless for a year with no steady income, so when an opportunity came by, seizing it seemed like a calculated risk."I was attracted by an advertisement in a local newspaper offering employment in Singapore," he said.The advertisement offered a good salary. But the Senior MD Michael Dee to leave Temasek Reuters, 16 Mar 2010SINGAPORE, March 16 (Reuters) - Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] said Michael Dee, a senior managing director, will step down from his current role on April 30, less than two years after he joined the company. Full Story Moody's says Singapore banking system outlook stable The Edge Malaysia, 16 Mar 2010INGAPORE: Moody's Investors Service says Singapore's banking system outlook is stable, but that the long-term ratings of its three rated Singaporean banks -- DBS Bank Ltd, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd (OCBC), and United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB) -- are negative."As a small, open, and trade-dependent economy, Singapore is highly exposed to external factors," Heroin smuggler challenges Singapore death sentence Guardian.co.uk, 15 Mar 2010Automatic execution for drug smugglers is inhumane and disproportionate, a court in Singapore has heard, as a 21-year-old challenged his death sentence for bringing heroin into the country.Lawyers representing Yong Vui Kong, a 22-year old Malaysian, argued that the mandatory death sentence violates international standards and human rights laws. Singapore executes anyone GIC commits at least 500 million to Brookfield's distress US real estate opportunity fund Financial Times, 15 Mar 2010With Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management vying for control of GGP's portfolio of 200 malls, "several of the larger sovereign funds are working with both parties", said Guy Metcalfe, head of real estate investment banking for Morgan Stanley.Brookfield is likely to raise money for the deal from at least some of the SWFs that have invested in its $5.5bn Bank of China, Temasek Said to Plan $2.9 Billion Rural Venture Bloomberg.com, 15 Mar 2010March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of China Ltd. and Temasek Holdings Pte may invest as much as 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) to build a rural-banking business in China, said two people with knowledge of the matter.The companies are in talks about setting up as many as 400 rural banks, the people said, declining to be identified because the discussions are private. Bank of Singapore urges Romania to investigate fatal accidents Monsters and Critics, 15 Mar 2010Singapore - Singapore urged Romania to investigate thoroughly two hit-and-run accidents that supposedly involved a former Romanian diplomat posted in the city-state, media reports said Monday.Law Minister K Shanmugam said he expected Romania to 'seriously consider' police evidence from a Singapore coroner's inquiry that pointed to Romanian ex-envoy Silviu Ionescu, Singapore and U.S. Navies Celebrate Cooperative Milestone Defence.professionals, 15 Mar 2010SAN DIEGO | Commander U.S. 3rd Fleet (C3F) hosted high level officials from the Republic of Singapore to mark a major security cooperation milestone among the two nations March 12.Vice Adm. Richard W. Hunt, Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet, hosted an official visit with Republic of Singapore deputy prime minister for policy, minister of Defence Mr. Teo Chee Hean and 33-yr-old S'porean wanted by UK authorities for insider trading arrested by French police Times Online, 15 Mar 2010Christian Littlewood, who has held roles at Dresdner Kleinwort and Shore Capital, and his wife Angie Littlewood have been charged with 13 counts of insider dealing and one count of conspiracy to commit insider dealing. Mr Littlewood, 35, and Mrs Littlewood, 39, also known as Siew Yoon Lew, have been bailed to attend City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 6.The Singapore’s January Retail Sales Increase More Than Forecast BusinessWeek, 15 Mar 2010 March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore’s retail sales rose for the first time in 16 months in January as motor-vehicle purchases climbed and consumers bought furniture and household goods ahead of the Lunar New Year festival.The improvement came as “we headed into Chinese New Year which was in early February,” Alvin Liew, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore, Singapore arm imports leapt 146% in past 5 yrs, listed as world's top 10 arms importers - SIPRI Reuters, 15 Mar 2010The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its annual report on Monday that arms imports by Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia had leapt by 84 percent, 146 percent and 722 percent respectively between 2005 and 2009, compared with the previous five years.Singapore is the first member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations since the end of the Singapore's Total Employment up 1.3 pct in 2009 CRIEnglish.com, 15 Mar 2010Singapore's total employment increased by 37,600 or 1.3 percent for the whole of 2009, government data showed on Monday.According to Singapore's Manpower Ministry, job gains in the second half of the year more than offset the losses in the first half.In the fourth quarter of 2009, total employment grew by 37,500, more than double the gains of 14,000 in the preceding Singaporean Balaji Varatharaju accused of posing as doctor at Alice Springs Hospital Herald Sun, 15 Mar 2010A MAN accused of posing as a doctor at the Alice Springs Hospital has had his bail hearing adjourned.Balaji Varatharaju hung his head and appeared dishevelled when he appeared in the Alice Springs Magistrates' Court this morning.The 29-year-old Singaporean was arrested on February 27 and charged with several offences after it was discovered he had been working as an intern SIA bid for US-direct route The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 Mar 2010SINGAPORE Airlines will use Jetstar's aggressive push into Singapore as leverage to back its bid to be allowed to fly between Australia and the United States.Jetstar's decision early this year to make Singapore its Asian hub - instead of Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh - has given Singapore Airlines the ammunition it needs in its long-standing push to be allowed to Singapore ranked 4th in Global Financial Centres report Finfacts Ireland, 14 Mar 2010London and New York were tied for first place in the latest Global Financial Centres Index (GFC 7) report, published last Friday by the City of London Corporation. They were followed by Hong Kong and Singapore, while Dublin got a ranking of 31 in a 75-city sample.Asian centres continued to make gains, with Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing, in Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam tells Singaporeans: Don’t be afraid Reuters India, 12 Mar 2010SINGAPORE (Reuters) - It is time for people in one-party ruled Singapore to have more say in politics and not be fearful of a change of government, a hedge fund manager turned opposition leader said on Friday.Kenneth Jeyaretnam, whose late father and veteran opposition leader was bankrupted in defamation lawsuits by the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), said his Door narrows for foreign workers in Singapore AFPSINGAPORE — Construction workers from Bangladesh, hotel staff from the Philippines, waitresses from China, shipyard welders from Myanmar, technology professionals from India -- Singapore has them all.For years the rich but worker-starved city-state, built by mainly Chinese immigrants, had rolled out the welcome mat for foreigners, whose numbers rose drastically during the economic boom from Singapore researchers promise "zero cost" ultra-high-speed mobile broadband iTWire, 14 Mar 2010Researchers at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have embarked on a research project that that they say aims to "bring the speed and quality of wireless network communications up to par with that of wired communications…[and] to develop wireless devices that offer ultra-high-speed mobile broadband services at virtually zero cost to the user!"NTU has teamed up with US S'pore wants erring spouses to pay FreeMalaysiaToday.com, 14 Mar 2010Ever true to its paternalistic mien, the tiny city-state of Singapore will now demand that ex-husbands pay alimony and child support or face the threat of sanctions.For an issue that seemingly affects everybody, it hardly raised a peep when newspapers widely reported of the threat of jail time, financial counselling or even of ex-husbands requiring to post a bank Vietnam, Singapore forge infrastructure, tourism cooperation VOVnews, 14 Mar 2010Vietnam and Singapore have agreed to forge cooperation in infrastructure development and tourism, opening new prospects for boosting their economic linkage.The agreement was reached at the fifth conference on Vietnam-Singapore economic linkage held in the Central Highland resort city of Da Lat on March 13 under the co-chair of Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Vo China wants high-speed rail link to India The Hindu, 14 Mar 2010China wants to build a high-speed rail line connecting its south-western city of Kunming to New Delhi and Lahore, part of a 17-country transcontinental rail project, officials familiar with the plans told The Hindu.After years of much talk and little progress, China has finally reached agreements with several Central Asian countries and given the green signal to its S'pore Court Ordered RBS to Pay Trader Fired for Sending E-Mails Bloomberg.com, 12 Mar 2010March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc was ordered by Singapore’s High Court to pay Scott Cousins, its former chief trader, S$455,085.39 ($325,922) plus interest, after ruling he did not breach a severance agreement.Cousins, who was fired after e-mailing confidential information following the agreement, should not have been “summarily dismissed,” OPINION: Graffiti Art - In Singapore? -Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop NewsweekLike Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat before him, graffiti artist Daze made the move from spray-painting walls in New York to exhibiting canvases in art galleries around the world: Tokyo, Zurich, Miami, even Iowa City, Iowa. But his latest exhibition is opening in a really unexpected location: Singapore. Spray-painting is still a rare sight there, where it's still mostly associated Singapore to Launch Asian Fashion Exchange 24-7 pressrelease, 13 Mar 2010Several events will be taking place in Singapore next month under the banner of the Asian Fashion Exchange (AFX), a new initiative designed to showcase local designers and boost the city-state's economy.A joint effort by International Enterprise Singapore, SPRING Singapore and the region's tourism board, the AFX is the product of a four-month consultation based on OPINION: Backseat frolics backfire - Seah Chiang Nee Malaysia Star, 13 Mar 2010He leads a seemingly impeccable family life. But after he confessed to a two-year affair with a model half his age, and with more scandals surfacing, filmmaker Jack Neo is being likened to Tiger Woods. The 50-year-old actor-producer confessed to a two-year affair with a young model less than half his age, sending shockwaves through this conservative society.The scandal S'pore among the top five investors in Philippines BusinessWorld Online, 13 Mar 2010FOREIGN PORTFOLIO investments posted a net inflow of $139 million in February, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday, up from a net outflow of $199 million a year earlier but down slightly from January’s $170-million net inflow.The top five investor countries were identified as the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, Luxembourg, and OPINION: Singapore bling: Is the city-state ready to party? - Simon Calder The Independent, 13 Mar 2010Singapore, like the Isle of Wight, is a diamond-shaped island dangling from a much larger landmass. But the Isle of Wight does not sweat like a satay on a skewer, since it is more than a cartographer's smudge from the equator. And neither does it carry a Foreign Office warning that "littering, jaywalking, spitting, feeding birds in public places, chewing gum on the Singapore 2010 Youth Games Unveils Torch GamesBids.com, 12 Mar 2010The first Youth Olympic Games torch was unveiled Friday in a simple ceremony at a primary school in Singapore.The torch is reportedly purple and made of aluminum weighing about one kilogram; combining the dual elements of fire and water. Full Story SingTel Indicates Support for Bharti's African Adventure Cellular-news, 12 Mar 2010Singapore's SingTel says that it may offer financial assistance to India's Bharti Airtel in its attempt to buy Zain's African mobile networks, a senior SingTel executive has told Reuters. SingTel owns just under a third of the Indian company.SingTel added that the acquisition would be financed by debt, and there was no need to inject money directly into Bharti Airtel."In