Sydney - Australia's failed ABC Learning Centres Ltd on Friday got a big cash injection from the government to keep its 1,100 child care outlets open until they can be sold to rival operators.

ABC, with a quarter of the market, provides 120,000 places and employs 16,000 people.

Singapore - Singapore shares dropped sharply Thursday, cooling off from the euphoria over Barack Obama's election as US president the day before as investors expected a recession to hit.

Sydney - Australia's cash-strapped ABC Learning Centres Ltd called in the receivers Thursday after banks it owed 1.3 billion Australian dollars (910 million US dollars) called in their loans.

ABC, founded by South African-born Eddy Groves, was the world's biggest provider of child care before incurring so much debt in a global expansion programme that it was marked out long ago as a likely casualty of the current credit crisis.

Groves, who last month severed his links with ABC, was forced by margin calls to sell all his holdings. Some of the shares he unloaded were picked up by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, now the biggest investor in the crippled company.

Singapore  - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long Wednesday congratulated Barak Obama on being elected the 44th president of the United States.

Citing the challenges ahead, Lee made a case to president-elect Obama for the importance of South-East Asia to the United States.

"The US has many friends and many interests in this region, which is happily not a problem region for the US," said Lee.

"We can keep it that way. An ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) with strong ties to the US will help to keep the peace in the Asia-Pacific," he said.

Singapore - Singapore and Kuwait have concluded an Open Skies Agreement (OSA), allowing for full flexibility on air services by carriers from both countries, officials announced Tuesday.

Under the new agreement, Singapore carriers may now operate any number of flights between Singapore and points in Kuwait, as well as beyond Kuwait to any other city in the world.

Similarly, Kuwait carriers will be able to operate any number of flights to and beyond Singapore, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said.

A Memorandum of Understanding on Air Services between the two governments was signed Tuesday at the at the Seif Palace in Kuwait City.