Today's Singapore News

The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.

-Beauty and recession only skin deep in Singapore: Despite the threat of job losses and the country's deepest economic recession, seven in 10 Singaporeans will continue to spend on beauty products and services, a small industry survey showed.
-New road safety initiatives: The Land Transport Authority says it will expand the roll-out of two road safety initiatives - Dashed Pedestrian Crossing Lines and Pedestrian Crossing Ahead Markings - to more locations.
-21 cord blood transplants: Three years after its first unrelated cord blood transplant, the Singapore Cord Blood Bank (SCBB) carried out its 21st cord blood transplant this month.
-Contrasting views of madrassas in multi-ethnic Singapore: Many parents in the Singapore are reluctant to enrol their children at madrassas, concerned that the combination of religious and academic studies crowds out broader curricula activities.
-“Sexting” trend caught on in Singapore: Some local students in Singapore are using the ubiquitous phone camera to take nude pictures of themselves to send to friends or post them on blogs. Some teens do it as a joke and for other, it is a new bold pickup line to get a date.
-President Nathan on why he said okay in 11 days: Making public his reasons for the first time in giving in-principle approval to the Government’s request to draw $4.9 billion from the reserves to save jobs and loosen credit flow, Mr Nathan emphasised the need for him to give the nod quickly — for should the situation worsen, “negative consequences would have kicked in, making any measures too late to be of any effect”.
-Malaysians last to be retrenched in Singapore: Malaysians would be the last workers to be retrenched in Singapore during the global economic slump because Malaysian workers had more skills and abilities as required by Singaporean industry compared to other foreign workers in the island republic.
-Smokers of illegal cigarettes beware: Singapore Customs plans to step up checks on smokers lighting up duty-unpaid cigarettes. Over 570 people were booked doing so in January, since the new rule kicked in on New Year's Day.
-Singapore’s GIC Loses $50 Billion: Government of Singapore Investment Corp., one of two sovereign wealth funds owned by the island, lost as much as S$50 billion ($33 billion) in 2008, the Wall Street Journal said, citing two people familiar with the matter.
-Contactless payment for Singapore coming soon: By next year, the Government will appoint an agency to oversee the rollout of a nation-wide contactless payment system, including making sure that the system works across all telcos, financial institutions and retailers.