Allan C Federer has been appointed General Manager of the 608-room
Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore. It is the largest property managed by The Ritz-Carlton, Hotel Company L.L.C.. He will lead a team of over 720 ladies and gentlemen and oversee all operations, sales and marketing and the development of the highly acclaimed hotel.
Canadian-born Federer was also previously general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Montreal. In addition, he held senior regional positions in several luxury and boutique hotels in North America.
Saturday 07 April 2007 ec
Mercer, a consultancy, released its annual quality of life index of cities around the world. The survey evaluated 215 cities on 39 factors, such as transport, education and political stability, and ranked them accordingly. European cities accounted for half of the top 50 places in the list and North American cities for 13.
Tuesday 20 March 2007 Beyond the car
The government's announcement in February that Singapore is likely to accommodate a 44% rise in population over the next 20 years has left locals wondering where everyone—6.5m in all—will fit. Some answers came on March 10th, when Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister, discussed the budget with community leaders. Mr Lee said the government has plans to build new roads, overhaul public transport and extend the underground railway, among other projects.
The prime minister stressed the importance of moving commuters off roads. Driving a car—already expensive, thanks to costly permits and road-pricing—will become even pricier. Tolls will rise and more roads will be covered by an electronic pay-as-you-go-system, which already covers parts of downtown and certain freeways. Mr Lee also said that the government's plans would most likely favour improving train and bus systems. “You go to work, come back from work, you take public transport,” he explained.
Tuesday 20 March 2007 Singapore to scrap anti-obesity school program(
Parents complained that overweight children were being singled out and teased
Thursday 22 February 2007 ec Singapore's budget
The government adjusts its tax regime
Monday 22 January 2007 nyt Singapore becoming one of Middle East's most popular destinations for medical tourism
The number of patients traveling to Singapore for medical treatment has risen 20 percent in 2006, according to new figures published today.
Monday 18 September 2006 SINGAPORE - Keppel Corp., the world's top oil rig builder, is expanding its water- and waste-treatment units, betting on strong demand for recycling and other environmentally sound technologies.
Monday 18 September 2006 An opposition party leader in Singapore said on Sunday that he'll maintain an around-the-clock public protest until Tuesday, when the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank formally begin their meeting in that state. Chee Soon Juan is head of the small Singapore Democratic Party. He and six other supporters had hoped to lead a large march to parliament on Saturday, but police prevented them from leaving a downtown park. Mr. Chee has vowed to remain in the park until Tuesday. He called his protest to draw attention to what he called the lack of transparency and accountability in Singapore. The World Bank gives Singapore a low rating for citizens' participation in government, for freedom of the press and for freedom of association. Under Singapore's laws, public gatherings of more than four people are forbidden.
Sunday 17 September 2006 SINGAPORE: CANADA AND OTHER G-7 MEMBERS MAKE APPEAL TO CHINA
Canada and other members of the Group of Seven industrialized nations are urging China to hasten currency reforms to help ease major imbalances in global trade. G-7 finance ministers including Jim Flaherty of Canada met on Saturday with officials of the International Monetary Fund at their annual meeting in Singapore. Many Western economists say that China has a huge trade surplus because its currency is undervalued. Chinese officials meeting with the G-7 finance ministers declined to comment on their appeal. The G-7 also called on Japan to increase the value of the yen to reflect Japan's economic strength. The G-7 ministers said their economies remain strong despite slowing growth in the United States. Canada was described as being on a healthy expansion path. But G-7 delegates noted that their economic outlook could be undermined by rising oil prices, inflation and protectionism. As the IMF meeting was going on, a group of demonstrators staged a nine-hour standoff with police who prevented them from approaching the meeting site.
Monday 11 September 2006 CANADA GETS GOOD BUSINESS REPORT CARD
In an annual report, the World Bank has rated Canada fourth of 175 nations where its easy or hard to do business. Singapore has dethroned New Zealand from first spot on the list from last year, the latter country assuming second place. The U.S. remains in third, with Hong Kong in fifth place. The World Bank makes its evaluation in function of laws and regulations applied to investments, such as registration of a new company or the obtaining of operating permits. China is 93rd on the list and India 134th.
Singapore Acts as Haven for Stem Cell Research August 17, 2006 The Economist
Monday Jun 5, 2006 rci US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is urging China to explain its increased military spending to the world. Speaking at an international security conference in Singapore, Mr. Rumsfeld said Beijing had every right to decide how to invest its resources. But he said the rest of the world also needs to understand such potentially threatening intentions. A Pentagon report last month said China was spending two to three times more on its military than the $35 billion a year it has acknowledged. The report concluded that while Taiwan appears to be the near-term focus of China's military spending, the buildup poses a potential threat to the United States over the longer term. On another matter, Mr. Rumsfeld said it was 'strange' that China and Russia are supporting full membership of Iran to an anti-terror group. Mr. Rumsfeld said Iran is a leading terrorist state. Iran is an observer in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which lists combating terrorism, separatism and religious extremism as its main goals. Supported by China and Russia, Iran has applied for full membership.
Sunday May 7, 2006 rci The governing party in Singapore has been returned to power following elections on Saturday. The People's Action party had already held 37 seats because the opposition declined to nominate candidates in those ridings. After the latest election, the People's Action party remained with 82 seats in the 84-seat parliament---the same number that it held before the election. During an electoral campaign characterized by vicious accusations, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had promised to continue the city-state's traditional policy of social stability and strict controls. His party has been in power since 1959. The opposition led by the Workers Party had sought support from lower-income voters who wanted a less strict government.
Stephen S. Poloz VP EDC Economics Weekly Commentary
Singapore – Facilitator Majeure - April 19, 2006
To visit Singapore is to be awed by its unique combination of natural beauty, dramatic architecture, and unsurpassed administrative and business efficiency. But it may be Singapore’s strategic connectivity that is its greatest asset... Past issues | his WN page
Tuesday Apr 11, 2006 Singapore Continues to Attract Scientific Luminaries
Dr. Philippe Kourilsky, Dr. Edward Holmes and Dr. Judith Swain Latest to Join Prestigious List of Scientists Working in Singapore
In line with Singapore's plans to increase emphasis on translational and clinical research, the country has successfully attracted three top scientists who are widely regarded as experts in this area. They are Dr. Philippe Kourilsky, Dr. Edward Holmes and Dr. Judith Swain.
2005
Friday Dec 16, 2005 ec The Singapore gallows—the busiest in Asia—were in action again on December 2nd. At dawn, prison authorities broke the neck of Nguyen Tuong Van, a hapless drug mule caught in transit in 2002 with almost 400 grams of heroin. Usually there is little international fuss over the country's execution rate unless a prisoner is from another country. A 25-year-old Australian, Nguyen's final days on death row duly caused an uproar.
Fears for the future
The founding father of modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, is adept at sounding the geopolitical alarm. Mr Lee’s latest cry came on December 5th, when he predicted problems in his region if Islamic extremists should prevail in Iraq. “If the jihadists win there, I’m in trouble here,” Mr Lee told Time magazine. “Their attitude would be ‘we’ve beaten the Russians in Afghanistan, we’ve beaten the Americans and the coalition in Iraq. There’s nothing we cannot do. We can fix South-East Asia too.’”
Singapore's authorities are acutely aware that they run a small, predominantly Chinese state surrounded by larger Muslim neighbours. They have voiced fear that their pro-American stance could encourage terror groups to strike targets in Singapore.
For background see: The bomber will always get through, October 6th 2005
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Also in the
Singapore guide
Divine spaces
The Abdul Gaffoor Mosque towers over the narrow streets of Little India like an overdressed aunt. In the evenings, it bustles with activity...
Read more
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Religious education
Few catch a glimpse of the murky world of Singapore’s Internal Security Act, a statute that empowers the authorities to detain particularly troublesome people without trial. The media do not get access to the detention centre, and the suspects’ cases never come to open court. Since 2001, the act, which was inherited from the colonial era, has been used to hold around three dozen alleged Islamic terrorists.
So it was all the more intriguing to suddenly hear of the Islamic scholars who visit the detainees to “correct” their deviant viewpoints. “It is their ideology [that’s wrong]; they want to bring back a caliphate,” Ustaz Haji Ali Haji Mohamad told the Straits Times on November 25th. Some appear to respond to the teachers, who undertake the job for no pay. But others are unmoved; they “are still obstinate” and “hold on to inappropriate beliefs,” said Ustaz (an honorific meaning “Islamic teacher”) Ali, a member of the Singapore Islamic Scholars’ and Religious Teachers’ Association. It's safe to assume these recalcitrant prisoners will not be released any time soon.
Friday Dec 16, 2005.... bring greater life to Singapore’s stilted atmosphere and lure more tourists. A recent decision to allow a casino was part of the same push.
For background see: Dicing with vice, April 21st 2005
Dec 6, 2005 boston Singapore employing new tactic on AIDS
Health officials in the country say they are working to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS by informing the spouses of those infected with the disease about their partner's condition. The letters give the partners information on health support services and encourage them to also be tested for the disease. Boston Globe, The/Reuters (12/6)
Tuesday Dec 6, 2005 bbc 
Singapore accused of maid neglect
Girls waiting outside a Maids agency in a shopping mall in Singapore
Affluent Singaporeans often hire maids from abroad
Female migrant workers in Singapore face what amounts to forced labour due to a lack of legal protection, US-based rights campaigners say.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said domestic workers were overworked and frequently denied food, pay and social contact, as well as suffering physical abuse
November 2005 ec SINGAPORE BRIEFING
Singapore’s gallows are busy. The city-state's authorities execute as many as 50 prisoners a year, a rate that Amnesty International, a human-rights watchdog, suspects makes Singapore the world’s top executioner relative to its size. Typically there is little international fuss over the execution rate, except for when someone on death row is from another country. ,,,,Singapore’s approach to media supported growth and preserved ethnic harmony. He was responding to a report from Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based media watchdog, which ranked Singapore 140th out of 167 countries in its 2005 Press Freedom Index. Local media have intimate links with the government, and broadly support its policies.
spread of avian flu in the region. There is particular concern that the virus may mutate, enabling it to spread from human to human.
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SINGAPORE : November 14, 2005 |
| A device used for measuring chemicals in the post-processing of water is
positioned near a pump at the Tuas desalination plant in Singapore
November 9, 2005. |
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Singapore,
which is turning to desalination and waste-water technology to wean
itself off water imports from neighbouring Malaysia, is now using its
expertise to win a bigger slice of the $600 billion global water
business. |
Thursday Sep 15, 2005 nyt Singapore and Katrina
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
The discipline that the cold war imposed on America seems to have faded.
Friday Sep 9, 2005 ec
ec chart
Hong Kong enjoys the most economic freedom of any of the 127 countries or territories in the Economic Freedom of the World Index, created by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian think-tank. The index measures how far a country's policies and institutions support property rights, personal choice and competition. The index also favours sound money and small government. Plucky Estonia ranks ninth, while Venezuela ranks only a few places above the trammelled economy of Myanmar.
August 2005 ec 
SINGAPORE BRIEFING
Singapore turned 40 on August 9th, marking four decades since the end of its brief membership of the Malaysian Federation. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong used the occasion to celebrate the city-state’s progress since 1965 and call for further innovation.
Singapore swings with luxury condos
International Herald Tribune
FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2005
The condo market in Singapore has had its peaks and valleys, but in recent years international buyers have been attracted to new developments with luxurious garden spaces.
Tuesday Apr 12, 2005 np
Singapore Finds it Hard to Expand Without Sand
SINGAPORE - Few islands have ballooned in size like Singapore, whose original beaches, dunes and mangroves have disappeared under the pavement of its expanding metropolis.
Wednesday Feb 23, 2005 arc
Singapore Hit By Worst Dry Spell in 29 Years
SINGAPORE - Singapore is suffering its worst dry spell in 29 years, sparking rare bush fires in the densely populated Southeast Asian island and cranking the country's ubiquitous air conditioners into overdrive.
Monday 17 January 2005 arc
Malaysia, Singapore Declare Truce in Dredging Row
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia and Singapore have agreed a truce in their legal battle over land reclamation in the thin strip of sea that separates them, in another small step in efforts to improve often-strained relations.
Friday Nov 19, 2004 ts Fullerton earns stamp of approval ...Most people who stay at the Fullerton Hotel give the historic property their stamp of approval
Besides offering some of the most spacious and well decorated rooms in the city, The Fullerton Singapore also provides guests with some stunning views of the city's skyline, river and Marina Bay — the best vantage point is from the hotel's rooftop terrace featuring a massive infinity pool.
Sunday Aug 8, 2004 ts
Lucas sets up shop in Singapore
SINGAPORE—George Lucas, creator of blockbuster films such as Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, announced plans yesterday to bring his creative empire to Singapore in the first overseas foray by his entertainment group.
Thursday May 27, 2004 cbc
SINGAPORE LIFTS 12-YEAR CHEWING GUM BAN
Singapore chewing gum enthusiasts rejoiced on Wednesday after the city
state lifted draconian laws prohibiting gum consumption and allowed
controlled sales for medical purposes.
Monday May 17, 2004 Singapore and China will begin negotiating a free-trade agreement in November. Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says that few obstacles to the agreement are expected. Speaking in Beijing, Mr. Lee said that bilateral free-trade talks would proceed regardless of whether the Association of Southeast Asian Nations continues to pursue a regional deal with China. ASEAN and China are hoping to achieve an agreement by 2010. The date of the Singapore-China talks was chosen to coincide with an ASEAN summit meeting in Vientiane, Laos. Mr. Lee's visit to Beijing is the latest sign that ties between Singapore and China are strengthening.
Monday 15 Mar 2004 cbc
SINGAPORE TO RELAX BAN ON CHEWING GUM
As of Thursday, people chewing gum in Singapore will no longer be
arrested - as long as they're blowing bubbles obtained with a
doctor's prescription.
Wednesday Nov 5, 2003 bbc 
Singapore's Lee to enter hospital
Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew is to undergo a prostate operation on Thursday, the government said.
Mr Lee, 80, was likely to be in hospital for several days, according to a statement from Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's office.
Mr Lee has remained a key figure in Singapore since he stepped down as Prime Minister in 1990, becoming Senior Minister.
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Singapore cheers resurgent economy
The territory bounces back from the Sars outbreak to score a 15% rise in output, but economists insist it could do better. |
Sunday Oct 5, 2003 SINGAPORE:
CANADA MOVES CLOSER TO TRADE DEAL WITH SINGAPORE
Singapore says it has completed a sixth round of free trade talks
with Canada and expects to finalize a deal by the end of the year.
Singapore's Trade and Industry Ministry says the two countries
concluded five days of talks in Ottawa on Friday. The ministry says
the meetings between the two countries will continue on the sidelines
of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Bangkok later this
month. Singapore has made free trade agreements a cornerstone of its
economic policy. It has signed bilateral deals with more than half a
dozen countries, including the United States, Australia and Japan.
19 September 2003,
Business Travellers Pick Singapore as World's Best Business City
Singapore has been voted the Best Business City in the World for the third consecutive year by readers of Business Traveller Asia-Pacific magazine. There were four other wins for Singapore too - SIA was voted the World’s Best Airline; Singapore Changi Airport, the World’s Best Airport; Shangri-La Singapore, the Best Business Hotel in the World; while The Fullerton Singapore was voted the Best New Business Hotel in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Source: News release issued by Singapore Tourism Board
Wednesday Sep 10, 2003 bbc
US widens free-trade deals
The US Senate approves free-trade deals with Singapore and Chile, bringing to six the countries with such status.
The US Senate's backing for the two free-trade deals follows the approval of the bills in the House of Representatives last week.
The ingenuity behind an unnatural success
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Don Cayo
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CanWest News Service
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Saturday, June 07, 2003
SINGAPORE - 'I sometimes think it would be nice to have a bit of resources, especially oil," muses Bilahari Kausikan, the second permanent secretary in the foreign ministry here.
"But when you look at countries that have resources, especially oil, it can be a curse. Look at Nigeria. Look at Venezuela."
Then look at Singapore. This tiny island -- only 683 square kilometres -- has not a natural thing of value. Not a farm, not a mine, not a woodlot. Not even water to slake its thirst.
All it has is four million people, a quarter of them foreigners not apt to stay, from a plethora of places and races, many of which have historically clashed more often than co-operated.
Yet Singaporeans are nearly 30 times richer than Nigerians, more than four times richer than Venezuelans and almost on par with resource-blessed Canadians.
How come?
"When you don't have resources," says Kausikan, a former ambassador to the UN and to Canada, "you scramble. You use your ingenuity."
It sounds simplistic, but in less than 40 years that ingenuity, plus hard work, has made a dynamo of a poor, puny colony -- a place that was losing its sugar daddy as the British went home, and faltering as an outlet for regional trade.
The dynamo spins slower these days, thanks to two recessions in five years. Growth is down to a dismal -- by Asian Tiger standards -- two per cent.
Yet cranes loom everywhere, and the tranquility of a lush and ordered urban landscape is pocked by the rat-a-tat of jack-hammers and the thud of pile drivers. Singapore, which has been reinventing itself non-stop since the early 1960s, is bent on transforming yet again.
In the first four years after Britain granted it independence in 1961, Singapore tried to become self-sufficient in the many things it bought abroad -- the "import replacement" strategy so dear to most poor countries, says Lee Chee Koon, assistant director in the trade division of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
It didn't work.
So in 1965, Koon says, the government decided to invest public money, lure in multinational partners and rev up the manufacturing sector to spur exports.
That did work for 15 years, but by the late 1970s, the strategy was losing steam, a victim of its own success. Wages were rising and low-end factory jobs began going to cheaper places.
The government made a decision, backed by its own investment, to restructure its industry to focus on ever-more sophisticated products such as electronics.
It also cranked up its education system to produce ever-more sophisticated workers.
When a recession hit in the mid-1980s, it restructured again, this time heavy on financial services. And despite the Asian economic woes of 1997 and the sluggishness that followed, its growth in the 16 years leading up to 2001 works out to 7.3 per cent a year.
The lesson to be inferred, says Kausikan, "is that every few years you have to rebuild yourself. Because, no matter how well you think you're doing it, somebody somewhere will do it cheaper."
But while Singapore changes targets to suit the times, its approach stays much the same. And it's simple.
Singapore elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew says in the second volume of his autobiography, From Third World to First, that he set up a one-stop industrial development department in 1961, shortly after he took office.
The weapons he added to his arsenal are pretty basic:
- Provide first class infrastructure;
- Co-invest with the right partners;
- Maintain labour peace;
- Be honest and consistent;
- Run a surplus.
- Keep your dollar strong.
- Learn the right mix of regulation vs. freedom for your banks from others who have succeeded or who have failed.
- Keep taxes low, and waive them for up to five years to lure in the right startup.
- Foster hard work, savings and the habit of each looking after their own.
- And get good people -- the best that schooling can produce and money can buy -- to devise your plans and make them work.
Investors remained skeptical, however, until 1968 when Texas Instruments was able to set up shop in just 50 days. Word spread, and a legend was launched.
By the late 1970s, the problem was no longer how to get investors to come -- it was how to winnow them down to the best.
Another Singaporean lesson is to trade with the world, not tie your fate to any one partner, like this island did, to its peril, as a British colony.
In the words of Anne Krueger, first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, "There is a risk in having only one locomotive ... It risks the whole train coming to a halt when that one engine is sidelined."
So this little country, a hard-to-find dot on any large-scale map, has the world's busiest harbour. It exports about $200 billion a year worth of goods, some still trans-shipped from other Asian countries.
A little over half its goods go to other countries in the region, the rest mostly to the U.S. (17 per cent) and Europe (about 10 per cent). Cana
A Different Kind of Homework for Singapore Students: Get a Date April 29, 2008
BBC
