Singapore - Singapore was hit by the second outbreak of mass food-poisoning case in two weeks, as a dozen people fell ill after eating the same food, local media reported Sunday. The Health Ministry said it was notified Saturday of 12 cases, all stemming from soup eaten at a restaurant the night before, Channel News Asia said.

Singapore - Japan is to bid for hosting the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups with a proposal to play the matches in 10 Japanese cities as well as Singapore and Hong Kong, according to a report in the Straits Times Saturday. If Japan wins the bid, Singapore would host five matches, the report said.

Japan is to formally submit the proposal to the International Rugby Board (IRB) on May 13 which is expected to announce its decision on July 28, 2009.

Singapore - Singapore's DBS banking group said its chief executive officer Richard Stanley, who was diagnosed with leukemia in late January, is in critical condition. "Stanley's condition has deteriorated rapidly in the last 24 hours and he is now in critical care," DBS said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Friday night.

Stanley had been responding well to treatment earlier and after two rounds of chemotherapy his doctors believed earlier this week that his cancer was in remission.

Singapore - A teenager who had sex with a 10-year-old girl was placed on 18 months of probation after a guilty plea, a newspaper reported Friday. Xia Yun, 19, pleaded guilty to two counts of carnal connection after having sex with the girl in his home in November 2007 when he was 17, the Straits Times said. He had sex with the girl again a few weeks later after she had turned 11.

The two met on a multiplayer online gaming website.

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Singapore  - Singapore authorities have busted an illegal labour supply syndicate led by a Bangladeshi man and involving around 100 foreign workers, a news report said Thursday.

Shamsul Hoque Abdur Rahim, 40, and three Singaporeans were arrested by Manpower Ministry officials and the police following raids on various places in the city state.

Shamsul faces 125 charges for abetting, contravening work pass conditions and engaging in a business without a valid work pass under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA).