“These are interesting times to be alive,” Singaporean Foreign Minister, Vivien Balakrishnan told a room full of journalists, former ambassadors, diplomats and academics at the ISEAS – Yusuf Ishak Institute on Tuesday.That was the precursor to his lecture entitled “ASEAN: Next 50” on charting the next 50 years for the association as it celebrates its golden jubilee this year.

Singapore developers may extend their share rally into 2018 on a reviving home market, according to money managers and analysts, who say the central bank’s warning on a potential oversupply may not play out for years. After double-digit gains this year, Morgan Stanley sees a 42 percent jump in shares of CapitaLand Ltd., the nation’s largest developer, and a 24 percent increase in City Developments Ltd., the second-biggest, in the next 12 months.

Singapore, which prides itself on being a haven for law and order, is being called a haven for pirating copyrighted programming by entertainment titans such as Walt Disney, HBO, the National Basketball Association and the English Premier League.Viewers in the city-state buy legitimate set-top boxes that also allow unauthorised streaming of thousands of movies, TV shows and live sporting events, said the Coalition Against Piracy. Its 21 members, including divisions of Sony Corp.

Climate change refers to the human-induced warming of the Earth, due to deforestation and the excessive consumption of resources that result in the production of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Though there are a number of human activities that can cause climate change, urbanisation and development is the largest driving factor in this era of modernisation, digitalisation and fast-paced culture. Singapore has announced earlier this month that 2018 will be the “Year of Climate Action”.

The rising supply of homes and slowing population growth may undermine the recent recovery in Singapore residential property prices, the country’s central bank said.Future development projects could potentially add 20,000 private housing units over the next one or two years, more than doubling the existing number available for sale, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in its annual financial stability report published Thursday.“Over the medium term, as these development projects are prog

Temasek Holdings Pte is exploring a sale of its stake in Asian drug distributor Zuellig Pharma, people familiar with the matter said.The Singapore state investment firm has been speaking with advisers about a potential sale of its 20 percent stake in Zuellig Pharma, which commands vast pharmaceutical distribution networks in about a dozen Asian markets, according to the people.

Hong Kong is eroding Singapore’s home advantage. 14 companies based in the Southeast Asian city have chosen to list on their home stock market this year, compared with 13 on the bourse operated by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.It’s not all bad news for the Lion City: Singapore Exchange Ltd. beats HKEX in funds raised from the initial public offerings.

It’s been a banner year for Asia’s dollar-bond market, with an unprecedented pace of sales and dozens of debut issuers. But in Singapore, one of the region’s main financial hubs, there’s a note of gloom among its fund managers.The tropical city is starting to get left out in the cold when it comes to marketing offshore dollar debt, in another sign of the increasing influence of China.

Autonomous cars have been all the rage in recent years.Car manufacturers like Audi have made developments in autonomous cars a big part of their marketing push. It’s not hard to see why, considering how drastically the technology could affect one the world’s most fundamental experiences: driving. Since Henry Ford first made driving affordable in 1908, a key part of the driving experience has been the requirement for a human driver.

The fickle environmentThis week, Indonesia stole the spotlight with Mount Agung’s phreatic eruption.