Singapore  - The Singapore government is prosecuting a local company for not paying its foreign workers on time and providing them with inadequate accommodation, a news report said on Monday.

The Manpower Ministry said it would be prosecuting marine barge builder Tipper Corporation for irregularities involving the salaries of 421 foreign workers, mostly Bangladeshis.

Four other companies are facing similar charges relating to foreign workers' wages, proper accommodations and medical care.

Singapore  - Singapore police have arrested 15 foreign women in an operation against five unlicensed massage parlours this week, according to a news report on Friday.

The women were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday for allegedly working on invalid visas.

Their nationalities were not disclosed by police.

Police are also investigating the operators of the parlours.

Singapore - Selling pressure push

Singapore - A delegation from Abu Dhabi is studying Singapore's approach and experiences in tackling many of the challenges of a city state including the threat of terrorism and developing new niches for economic growth, a news report said Wednesday.

Twenty-one delegates are attending a forum where Singapore officials explain the city state's best practices and how it has prepared to tackle terrorism and the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Singapore - The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) Tuesday said its derivatives and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) markets set new trading records last year with volume surging to 62 million contracts, up by 38 per cent from 2007.

By September 2008, turnover in the total futures and options market had already surpassed that for the whole of 2007. This was followed by a record month in October, when 6,863,420 contracts were traded, said SGX.

Total trading value of SGX-listed ETFs in 2008 was 2.94 billion Singapore dollars (1.995 billion US dollars), a 155 per cent increase over 1.15 billion Singapore dollars registered in 2007.

Singapore - Governments should not abandon women and children who need their help most, even as tax revenues shrink because of the global financial crisis, the UN warned Tuesday.

Anupama Rao Singh, UNICEF director for East Asia and the Pacific, urged governments not to forget those dependent on public aid.

"The UN Convention on Children's Rights, which has been ratified by all nations, is clear: children should get help first, especially in economically difficult times," Singh told a Singapore conference.