DESPITE being given at least a month's notice about workplace safety inspections, contractors at four sites in the Balestier and Novena area failed to clean up their act.

Manpower Ministry inspectors found 50 safety lapses in all, no better a tally than what they usually find during their surprise inspections.

HELP is on the way for taxi drivers who fall sick during the H1N1 flu outbreak.

Cabbies who are members of the six Taxi Operators' Associations here will receive subsidised outpatient treatment at selected clinics if they fall ill.

This was among a range of measures in a $650,000 relief package unveiled by the associations on Thursday for its 10,000 members.

WHILE sponsors around the world have been pulling out of sporting events, Standard Chartered Bank has showed that it is in it for the long run.

On Thursday, it renewed its title sponsorship of the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon for a further four years to the tune of $10 million.

JAKARTA - INDONESIAN President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised stronger economic growth on Thursday a day after apparently being re-elected in a landslide on the back of pledges to fight graft and poverty.

Unofficial results gave the liberal ex-general a huge lead over opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri and outgoing Vice-President Jusuf Kalla following Wednesday's vote, despite Mdm Megawati's complaints of irregularities.