On Wednesday, China Investment Corp. told that it has invested a sum of $1 billion in Kazakhstan's second-largest oil producer, the newest in a series of recent acquisitions by China in the natural resource space.

CIC which was formed in the year 2007 with $200 billion drawn from the nation's foreign exchange reserves told that it was from July that it began purchasing the stake and has invested $939 million.

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Singapore Govt., in order to deal with terror attacks on the Internet, has set up an agency. 
The Singapore Infocomm Technology Security Authority (SITSA) will be the national expert authority on technology security threats and will commence working on Thursday.

The chief aim behind its creation is to strengthen Singapore's security infrastructure, particularly in light of recent attacks on the websites of governments and major organizations in places like Estonia, the United States and South Korea.

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On Wednesday, Singapore Airlines specified that it has initiated to fly the A380 Superjumbo to Melbourne, the sixth city worldwide in its network to receive the Airbus aircraft.  
Executive vice president Huang Cheng Eng said in a statement, "The A380 continues to be extremely popular with our customers."

At present, Singapore's national carrier runs several aircrafts, which, other than Melbourne, it flies to Sydney, London, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong.

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During September, China's manufacturing activity continued to increase at a steady rate, on account of continuous improvement in domestic and overseas demand.

A minor fall to 55.0 in September, from 55.1 in August, was seen in the HSBC China Manufacturing PMI, or purchasing managers' index.

If the PMI reading is above 50, it means that the sector is increasing. On the other hand, a reading below 50 reflects an overall decline.

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August became the fourth successive month of record falls for Japan, as the nation's core consumer prices dropped 2.4% year-on-year during the month.

As per the official figures, core prices, which leave out those of volatile fresh food, sank for the sixth month in a row.

It was because of lower petrol and other energy costs as well as weak domestic demand that the record fall came to scene for the month.

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There is a possibility that Chinese investment will be allowed by Taiwan in its flat panel and microchip sector, in spite of the recent rows with the mainland.

According to an interview published in the Taipei-based Commercial Times, Shih Yen-hsiang informed that his ministry might ease limits on Chinese investment here.

He told the paper: "Chinese investors may be allowed to buy stakes of local flat panel and microchip makers. The recommendations are under consideration."

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As per the media reports, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (Coonc), the country's biggest offshore crude producer, is negotiating the acquisition of stakes in about 6 billion barrels of oil reserves in Nigeria.

A report by a well-known newspaper claimed, while citing a letter from the office of Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, "The bid is for the equivalent of one in six barrels of the proven reserves in sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producer, with 16 licenses up for renewal."

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Today, CIMB Bank's retail banking business was officially inaugurated by CIMB Group in Singapore, and the ceremony was attended by the Singapore Minister for Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and about 300 guests.

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On Saturday, the State Council revealed its aim of encouraging a big increase in exports of culture-related products and services, narrowing the trade deficit in the industry, and creating more jobs. As per the guidelines, publishing, film making, entertainment, animation, online games and multimedia are all included in the culture industry.

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The population in Singapore, as per the Population Trends 2009 report released by the Department of Statistics on Monday, was 4,987,600 at the end of June. While nearly 75 per cent are Singapore citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents (PRs), also known as Singapore residents, the remaining 25 per cent are non-residents.

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It has appeared that Russian aluminum giant UC Rusal, which is laden with debt, has passed provisional approval for an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares in Hong Kong. The deal expected to come through by the year end, can value the company at as much as $30 billion.

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SK Telecom, South Korea's top mobile firm, sold back its stake in China Unicom for $1.3 billion recently. The move comes after SK was not able to establish itself in a market it had once had high hopes from.

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As per a report in the Associated Press, European researchers said that, vis-à-vis the more commonly-known causes of cancer, like smoking and hormone replacement therapy for women, risk of cancer due to the obesity epidemic could dramatically increase in the coming years.

Noting that women are more vulnerable to fall prey to obesity-related cancer, a recently-released European study said that within the next decade, obesity will become the main cause of cancer for women in Western countries.

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On Friday, an announcement came from a government task force (organized to help revive Japan Airlines Corp) that it shall look into the carrier's turnaround plans from a scratch. It added that dividing it into "good" and "bad" parts was an option.

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Singaporean fans of Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan have a reason to celebrate as the actress would be hosting three days of F1 concerts, featuring Beyonce Knowles and Black Eyed Peas, to coincide with Sunday night's Singapore Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old beauty came as a last-minute replacement, after Pussy Cat Doll Nicole Scherzinger moved out of the offer last month.

The concert, F1 Rocks, includes No Doubt, ZZ Top, Simple Minds and N. E. R. D.; and runs Thursday to Saturday.

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With the aim of enhancing primary school infrastructure, a sum of 560 million Singapore dollars (396.6 million U. S. dollars) would be spent by the Singapore government. From November 2009, the country's Ministry of Education will commence the construction of 11 new primary schools, along with upgrading additional 28 existing schools.

This comes as the first phase of the ministry's plans to upgrade primary school infrastructure, in order to facilitate the transition of primary schools to a single session by

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On Friday, Ford and its Chinese partner said that they shall construct a third plant in China. The announcement comes at a time when the US automaker is striving hard to enhance weak performance in the world's strongest market.

As per the reports, it will be in southwestern Chongqing where Ford will run the new 490-million-dollar plant via Changan Ford Mazda, which is its JV with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co and Japan's Mazda Motor Corp.

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On Thursday, a Malaysian official said that Kuala Lumpur will host the ninth Forbes Global CEO Conference (FGCC).

The basic aim of the three-day conference, commencing on Sept. 28, is to enhance the position of Malaysia as an ideal business location, explained Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister, Mustapa Mohamed.

He said that it is the first time that Malaysia is hosting such a conference. He thinks that the nation has made a good chance for networking and growing business relationships with tremendously powerful and rich leaders.

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Wynn Resorts does not think that new casinos scheduled to open in Singapore will pose a threat to its Asia business, it said recently.

A sum of up to US$1.6 billion might be raised by Wynn from a spin-off of its Macau unit, set to be Hong Kong's second biggest listing this year.

Wynn Resorts, which in 2005 opted out of the race to develop an integrated resort in Singapore, is the world's third biggest casino operator, with casinos in Las Vegas and Macau.

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Robin Li, the billionaire founder of the popular Baidu search engine in China, visited Stanford University campus on Wednesday and a huge crowd thronged to catch a glimpse of Li in the lecture room. Li, 40, holds special rights over Google and its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin; and is currently serving as the Chief Executive of Baidu Inc - an internet search provider, like Google, that mainly operates in China.

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