Asia will be the first to feel the impact of any Middle East oil supply disruption as regional demand surges, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Monday.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) said Monday it had temporarily frozen its intake of cadet pilots, as the industry feels the impact of a slowdown in the global economy and high fuel costs.

Singapore's economy shrank by 1.5 percent in the third quarter but avoided a technical recession after growth in the previous three months was adjusted upwards, government figures showed Friday.

Royal Bank of Scotland has suspended a trader for attempting to manipulate a reference lending rate in Singapore, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, showing the global spread of the scandal over setting rates such as Libor.

More Singapore companies are hiring ex-convicts to ease a manpower shortage, a senior government official said, amid restrictions on hiring foreign workers.

Efforts to wean Singapore off excessive use of foreign labor have borne fruit, according to Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin Sunday.

Singapore investment firm Temasek said Wednesday it will cut its stake in local telecom giant SingTel, which one analyst said could point to a shift to higher-yielding emerging markets.

Singapore's state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings is looking to sell its 18-percent stake in British emerging markets bank Standard Chartered, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The Philippines is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in mining investments amid a government freeze on new projects while it strives to increase royalties, an industry chief said Wednesday.

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in August fell more than expected, raising the prospect of the city-state entering into a recession as exports to the European Union plunged.