Singap

Singapore  - Driving on the West Coast Highway along Singapore's port, it's easy to see the signs of recession.

Cranes that usually move containers 24 hours a day have their booms fixed up in the air. "Hands up," the seafarers call it.

The view to the horizon, normally obstructed by huge mountains of containers, is now wide open.

As the shipping industry is hit hard by the global economic downturn, container ships from all over the world lie idle at Singapore's shores.

Singapore - Singapore's iconic merlion statue, one of the island state's most popular tourist spots, will re-open in two weeks, following some repair work after the attraction was damaged by a lightning bolt on February 28, the Singapore Tourism Board said Monday.

The 8.6-meter-tall statue, which has the body of a fish and a head of a lion, lost some parts at the top when lightning struck during a thunderstorm.

Repair work is targeted for completion by March 21, the board said in a statement.

Singapore  - Singapore will award Dutch scientist Gatze Lettinga with an award of nearly 200,000 US dollars for pioneering an environmentally-sustainable treatment of used water, the prize organizers said in a statement Monday.

Lettinga will receive the Lew Kuan Yew Water Prize 2009, named after Singapore's first prime minister and present minister mentor, in a ceremony in June.

Singapore  - Singapore's Nanyang Technological University was shaken by a second suspected suicide, days after a final-year student stabbed a lecturer and then jumped to his death.

A 24-year-old male Chinese project officer was found dead in a staff apartment Friday night, the university said in a statement Saturday.

The man was found hanged, a police spokeswoman said.

Singapore - A levy imposed on Singapore's hotels during the 2008 Formula One Grand Prix season is to be reduced this year to help the city-state's ailing tourism industry.

As Singapore's hotels are hit hard by slumping tourist arrivals, the five-night levy that hotels had to pay during the hosting of the inaugural F1 race last year would be reduced to a four-night period, the Singapore Tourism Board said Friday.

The 2009 Singapore F1 Grand Prix is scheduled to get under way in September.