Singapore - A Singapore court sentenced a former primary school teacher and married woman to 10 months in jail on Monday for having sex with a 15-year-old student, local media reported.

The 32-year-old woman, a mother of two, had developed an intimate relationship with her young charge when he was 14 years old and after they had gone on an overseas school trip.

After the trip they stayed in touch through frequent telephone calls and SMS messages. The woman declared the boy her godson and began showering him with care and attention.

The relationship continued even after he left primary school to go to secondary school.

Singapore - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the city-state has to prepare for hard times and some years of lower economic growth in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, local media reported Monday.

Lee said it was unlikely that things would return anytime soon to what they were during the boom years from 2004-07, when Singapore's annual economic growth reached an average of 8 per cent, the Straits Times newspaper reported.

Singapore - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the city state has to prepare for tough times ahead and some years of slower economic growth in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

"So let us prepare for a very tough year ahead, and let us be psychologically ready to think of several slow years after that," media reports quoted Lee as saying at a meeting on Sunday with unionists and employers.

Singapore  - Singapore police arrested a 19-year-old man on Saturday in connection with an SMS hoax suggesting a terrorist attack in the city-state, media reports said Sunday.

The text message, which had several variations, said terrorists were planning to bomb the Bugis area and that there were many policemen there. It also advised the public to avoid the area, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

On Friday, an announcement was made by Singapore Telecommunications under which it confirmed that it will commence selling the HTC Dream or Google mobile phone in Singapore from 21st February. This will make Singapore the second market in Asia to witness their launch.

Since the HTC phone comes with preloaded software such as Google Web Search, Gmail and Google Calendar, it is more commonly known as Google phone. Via this new phone, SingTel will also provide subscribers with video-on-demand content.

Singapore - Singapore share prices fell 2.11 per cent