Singapore  - The first man in Singapore to be sentenced for having sex with an underage prostitute under a tougher law had his one-year jail term reduced Friday to nine months on appeal, media reports said.

In December, a district court had initially sentenced the 55-year-old man to one year in jail for having sex with a 16-year-old prostitute.

Singapore  - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long said the city-state's financial system must remain open to the world although the presence of foreign banks poses potential risks in the current economic downturn.

"While we take reasonable safeguards, we must stay open to the world," Lee said Thursday night at a dinner to celebrate Standard Chartered Bank's 150th anniversary in Singapore. "Walling ourselves in does not mean that we would be safe; it just means we will starve."

Singapore - Singapore Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said Wednesday that worldwide security is threatened by the effects of the global economic downturn, piracy, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Natural disasters and pandemics are now compounded and made more acute by the severe economic crisis the world is facing, Teo added.

Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Intelligence Chiefs Conference in Singapore, Teo said the full impact of the downturn has yet to unfold. Hardships like rising numbers of job losses would create additional social and political stress, and, if not managed properly, could lead to greater friction and tensions between nations.

Singapore - Singapore police arrested 16 people suspected of engaging in illegal bookmaking and loansharking during an island-wide operation this week, Singapore police reported on Wednesday.

Investigators said they seized 730,000 Singapore dollars (477,000 US dollars) in cash from the suspects.

The arrested, including six women, are between 29 to 45 years old. Police suspect them to be involved in a crime syndicate.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the syndicate members operated an illegal soccer bookmaking business via the Internet. Some members of the syndicate were also involved in illegal loansharking activities, police said.

Singapore  - Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) on Wednesday posted a 30-per-cent drop in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Net profit from October to December fell to 301 million Singapore dollars (197 million US dollars) from 428 million Singapore dollars during the same period in 2007, the bank reported.

Singapore - Following the global economic downturn, profits at Singapore's largest insurance group, Great Eastern Holdings, halved in 2008, the company said on Tuesday.

Full year profit for 2008 tumbled to 272.4 million Singapore dollars (178.56 million US dollars), a 50 per cent drop compared to the record high of 546.9 million Singapore dollars the group achieved in 2007.

"For 2008, the group's performance was affected by the financial downturn which directly impacted the investment performance of all the funds," the company said in a statement.

For the fourth quarter of 2008, Great Eastern reported a profit of 76.5 million Singapore dollars, a drop of 47 per cent on a year-on-year basis.