Singapore  - A Singapore man was sentenced to 18 years in prison and 16 strokes of the cane for sexually abusing two of his nieces, the father of whom was also jailed for raping one of the girls, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The Singapore High Court was told Friday that the cleaner, 39, who was taking care of his sickly sister's daughters, began abusing the eldest girl in 2001 when she was 9, the Straits Times said

The abuse ended in 2005 when the girl threatened to tell her teacher and farther about it.

India's Tata Communications, a leading provider of a communication infrastructure, has revealed its USD 430 million strategic investment plan for Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

The investments include developing the Tata Communications Exchange, a new world-class Internet Data Center (IDC), and the completion of the main segment of its TGN-Intra Asia Cable System.

It may be noted that, these investments are key part of the company's $2 billion expansion plan over three years to enhance its global infrastructure.

Singapore - Singapore will send a landing ship tank, with two Super Puma helicopters, to the Gulf of Aden as part of its contribution to the international community's anti-piracy efforts, the city

Singapore  - Singapore Thursday announced a 4.2-billion-Singapore-dollar (2.78-billion-US-dollar) financing scheme that is projected to generate 14.4 billion Singapore dollars' worth of trade and 1.6 billion Singapore dollars worth of overseas investments this year.

Some 2,500 companies would benefit from the scheme in the form of loans, said the International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the city state's trade promotion agency.

Singapore - Loan approvals nearly doubled in Singapore from December to January after the government implemented a series of stimulus measures in the past several months, a news report said Wednesday

Loans rose to 411 last month, and more than 265 million Singapore dollars (175.97 million US dollars) of loans have been given to almost 800 companies since the government-initiated schemes started in December, Channel News Asia said, citing the enterprise development agency SPRING Singapore.

Ninety-eight per cent of that amount was given to small and medium-sized enterprises, the government agency said.

Singapore - The Singapore Tourism Board on Wednesday announced a 90-million-Singapore-dollar (59.71-million-US-dollar) initiative to help the local tourism sector ride out the global economic downturn as the city-state was expecting a drop in tourism arrivals.