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.

Singapore - A final year student of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) stabbed a lecturer Monday morning and then jumped off a building to his death, NTU said in a statement.

The professor is in stable condition. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he received medical treatment for cuts sustained in the attack.

The student of NTU's electrical and electronic engineering school was pronounced dead after his body had been found at the foot of the seven-storey university building.

Singapore  - Singapore's iconic merlion statue, one of the island state's popular tourist attractions, was hit by a lightning bolt during a thunderstorm and slightly damaged, media reports said Sunday.

The statue, which has the body of a fish and a head of a lion, lost some parts at the top when lightning struck on Saturday, radio station 938Live reported. Nobody was hurt.

Singapore  - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an TV interview late Friday that there is a need for a rebalancing in the world economy, which could mean a shift away from Asia's current export-driven model.

"There will have to be a global rebalancing because we cannot expect the Americans to be consumers of things made all over the world. And the rest of the world as savers lending money to the US to buy things from you," Lee said in an interview with CNBC television.

Singapore - The global economic downturn is putting the brakes on Singapore's tourism industry as visitor arrivals fell 12.9 per cent year-on-year in January to
771,000, the Singapore Tourism Board said Friday.

The average occupancy rate in Singapore's hotels was estimated at 67 per cent last month, a fall of 17.7 percentage points from January 2008.

Room revenue came to 124 million Singapore dollars (80 million US dollars), down 29.9 per cent from January last year.