Singapore  - Expressing concern over the continuing bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Singapore urged Israel and Hamas to exercise restraint and renew a truce that ended December 19.

"We are deeply concerned about the situation in Gaza with mounting civilian casualties and the possibility of a humanitarian catastrophe," the Singapore Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint and work towards an early re-establishment of the ceasefire," it said.

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian police have detained a Singaporean man and his wife, a Thai national, after his young stepson was found dead in his home with bruises on the body, hands, legs and head, a news report said Monday.

The victim, an 8-year old boy, was believed to have been abused before he died, said deputy district police chief Mohamad Akhir Ishak.

Neighbours called police Saturday afternoon after they heard a commotion in the boy's home in the southern Johor state, the Star daily reported.

"We discovered the body in the back room of the apartment," said Mohamad Akhir, adding that the post mortem result showed that the boy died from multiple injuries especially from those inflicted on the head.

Singapore  - A Malaysian fortune teller was sentenced to 15 months in jail by a Singapore court on Friday for fleecing a woman of 60,000 Singapore dollars (41,430 US dollars), the Straits Times reported Saturday.

Tan Ka Chuan received regular payments from Singaporean Lee Lye Fong in exchange for promises to perform rituals that would protect her family and make her wealthy.

Lee herself went through a police probe for dipping into the funds of her employer to pay for Tan's bogus promises.

Singapore  - Tourist arrivals in Singapore fell by 9.7 per cent in November to 760,000 visitors compared to the same month a year ago, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said Friday.

Indonesia, China, Australia, Malaysia and India were Singapore's top five visitor-generating markets, accounting for 49 per cent of total visitor arrivals for the month.

The STB said the visitor arrivals in Singapore had been declining since June, reflecting the continued impact of the worsening global economic slowdown on consumer sentiments and discretionary spending.

Singapore - Singapore9s November manufacturing output declined by 7.5 per cent compared with the same month last year, according to the Economic Development Board Friday.

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, output rose 6.2 per cent in November, due to a higher level of production in the biomedical manufacturing cluster, the state agency said.

The three-month moving average year-on-year index for November fell 5.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Cumulative manufacturing output for the first eleven months of 2008 fell 3.3 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The family reunion between the DMK and the Marans has boosted the investor sentiment in Kalanidhi Maran owned, Sun Network.  

Singapore based, Nalanda Capital has picked up 1.8% stake in the company, for a little over Rs 100 crore through an open market transaction on the Bombay Stock Exchange and also by deals through   Kirloskar Oil Engines and Carborundum Universal.

Nalanda bought 70 lakh shares of Sun at Rs 145 a share from Indiabulls Financial Services and the total deal is worth Rs 101.5 crore.