Singapore  - The tiny city state of Singapore at the tip of the Malay Peninsula currently boasts what is probably Asia's largest construction site.

Despite the global economic downturn, workers toil here around the clock, seven days a week, to build Singapore's first casino complex.

The Marina Bay Sands is scheduled to open in December and apart from the casino proper it will comprise a convention and exhibition centre, some 300 shops and luxury boutiques, a museum and three hotel towers, each of them 200 metres high, with a combined 2,600 beds.

Singapore  - A Singapore court sentenced a 35-year-old man to three months in jail Thursday for hitting a schoolboy who accidentally stepped on his foot in a packed bus, a news report said.

Ismail Atan punched the boy three times on his forehead in a public bus in September, the online edition of Straits Times newspaper said.

Singapore - The Singapore Night Safari, one of the city-state's major tourist attractions, cancelled performances Wednesday after dancers of a contracted group from Malaysia had been arrested on suspicion of drug offences.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, all cultural performances at Night Safari have been suspended until further notice," a statement on the safari's website said. "... Do enjoy the other attractions Night Safari has to offer."

Singapore - A Singapore court sentenced a serial predator and rapist to 42 years in jail on Tuesday, the longest prison sentence handed down to a sexual offender in the city state so far, a news report said.

Bala Kuppusamy was also ordered to be caned the maximum fine of 24 strokes.

Between April and June the 48-year-old man robbed and sexually assaulted seven women who were walking alone at night, the online edition of Straits Times newspaper reported.

New Delhi, Mar 3 : Visiting chief of Singapore defence forces Lieutenant General Desmond Kuek called on Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta here today to discuss ways to bolster military cooperation between the two countries.

After signing pact with India that allows the armed forces of Singapore to train on Indian territory, both countries are all set to expand their bilateral and military ties.

The five-year- bilateral cooperation signed between India and Singapore will see India playing regular host for Singapore armed forces, while Singapore in turn, will allow access to Indian military training facilities.

Singapore  - Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), one of the world's largest container shippers, said Tuesday that its cargo volume for the six weeks to February 6 slumped 35 per cent over the same period last year due to shrinking demand.

From December 27-February 6, NOL moved 188,400 40-foot equivalent units (FEU), down from 289,400 FEU in the same period a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Average revenue per FEU declined 11 per cent to 2,646 US dollars.