Singapore No. 1 in Competitiveness

SINGAPORE has jumped ahead of Hong Kong and the United States to snatch the top spot in a closely watched global ranking of economic competitiveness.

The Republic edged ahead of its rivals to assume pole position for the first time in what the compiler of the annual rankings, Swiss business school IMD, is calling a photo finish.

The gap between the three in this latest assessment of the world's economies - which places Hong Kong second and the US third - is less than 1 per cent.

This year's rankings are an upset to what has become the traditional pecking order and mark the first time since 1994 that the US has failed to trounce the competition.

For most of the 1990s and early 2000s Singapore has ranked second, but in recent years it has alternated with Hong Kong for second and third place.

IMD said Singapore and Hong Kong 'displayed great resilience through the crisis... and are now taking full advantage of strong expansion in the surrounding Asian region'. It was particularly impressed with Singapore's 13 per cent growth in the first quarter of this year.

While 'it's a tango between Hong Kong and Singapore at the top' of the rankings, Singapore's ability to utilise its competitive advantages and improve on its weaknesses was what gave it the edge over Hong Kong this year, according to Ms Suzanne Rosselet-McCauley, deputy director of the IMD World Competitiveness Centre.

NYP's ice cream licks the big guns at awards

The NYP team's 'green tea laced with aloe vera' recipe beat industry names from Slovenia and the United States to emerge tops in the best new ice cream category at the inaugural IDF Dairy Innovation Awards in Austria, trumping major players such as Dreyer's Grand and Haagen-Dazs.

The awards, which celebrate innovation in the global dairy industry, is an initiative by the International Dairy Federation - which currently accounts for more than 80 per cent of the world's milk production - and the FoodBev Media's Dairy Innovation magazine.

This year's competition attracted more than 170 entries from 29 countries in 12 categories, including best new cheese and best new dairy drink.

NYP's winning ice cream flavour was developed by four students and two lecturers from the Food Science Programme of the polytechnic's School of Chemical and Life Sciences (SCL).

One team member, student Laura Lim, 20, who will graduate from NYP later this month, said: 'I hope we are successful as we put in six months of hard work to come up with the product. We are confident that it will be popular in the mass market.'

The others in the team are students Chye Shan Shan, 20, Chow Yina, 22, and Gan Shi Wei, 20, and another lecturer Richard Khaw, 39.

Singapore named No.2 Ultimate Sports City

Singapore has been named the number two Ultimate Sports City at the biennial Sport Accord Convention in Dubai.

The top spot went to Melbourne for the third successive time since the inception of the award in 2006 by London-based Sport Business Group, the world's leading supplier of information, media and business-to-business marketing services to the global sports industry.

This was the first time Singapore made the shortlist of 25 cities considered for the prestigious award.

Last month, Rachael Church-Sanders, author of the Ultimate Sports City report, told MediaCorp that cities are awarded a value according to the events they host annually, have hosted or will host between 2006 and 2014.

Singapore has hosted high-profile sports events in the last six years, beginning with the 117th International Olympic Committee Session in 2005.

It also staged the first Formula 1 night race in 2008, the first Asian Youth Games last year, and will welcome an estimated 3,600 athletes aged 14 to 18 from 205 National Olympic Committees for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in August.

The Republic has also hosted the World Cup short course swimming series, and the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon has witnessed record entries.

The Republic also beat out Melbourne for the right to host the World Netball Championships in July 2011.

Singapore banking system among Top 4 in world

SINGAPORE'S banking system has emerged from the global financial crisis as one of the Top 4 in the world along with Canada, Australia and Hong Kong, according to ratings agency Moody's.

Moody's Investors Service rated the banking sector in these four jurisdictions as having a 'stable' outlook with an averaged bank rating of B, one notch below the highest rating A.

Singapore banks have been more resilient than many global banks throughout the crisis, with limited damage to their asset quality, adequate earnings, and very liquid and well-capitalised balance sheets.

SMRT sweeps 3 awards at International Metro Awards 2010

SMRT did Singapore proud, sweeping three awards at the International Metro Awards 2010 in London - "Best Metro Asia Pacific" and "Most Energy Efficient Metro" accolades for the second consecutive year, and "Most Innovative Use of Technology" award for the first time.

Big Help from Singapore

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Dr Kurt Campbell: "No country punches as far above its weight in global politics as Singapore. And we've received enormous good advice and support for American commitment to the region. For Singapore, we would like that to continue in the next several years."

Singapore is tops for training of senior Chinese officials

Minister of the Central Organisation Department of China's Communist Party, Mr Li Yuanchao said in his address that Singapore is the top choice when it comes to selecting a place to train top Chinese government officials, at the inaugural opening ceremony of the Master in Public Administration and Management (MPAM) programme.

The joint programme is an effort by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the NUS Business School.