TWO town councils - Holland-Bukit Panjang and Pasir Ris-Punggol - have about $12 million invested in troubled structured products.

These products include Lehman Minibonds, DBS High Notes 5, Merrill Lynch Jubilee Series 3 and Morgan Stanley Pinnacle Notes Series 9 and 10.

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S main Islamic opposition party hopes to open its membership to non-Muslims, an official said on Monday, in a bold move aimed at attracting supporters among ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.

Many political parties represent particular ethnic groups in the racially diverse country. The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, has long been the ruling United Malays National Organisation's chief rival for the support of the ethnic Malay Muslim majority.

TOKYO - JAPAN'S economy slid into a recession for the first time since 2001, the government said on Monday, as companies sharply cut back on spending in the third quarter amid the unfolding global financial crisis.

The world's second-largest economy contracted at an annual pace of 0.4 per cent in the July-September period after a declining an annualised 3.7 per cent in the second quarter. That means Japan, along with the 15-nation euro-zone, is now technically in a recession, defined as two straight quarters of contraction.

PARIS - THE International Monetary Fund needs US$100 billion more (S$152 billion) over the next six months to cope with increased demand, its chief said in an interview aired on Monday.

'The number of countries having problems at the same time has dramatically increased and they come to the IMF asking for support. So we need more resources,' the fund's head Dominique Strauss-Kahn told the BBC.