Roche opens US$500m manufacturing plant in Singapore

Roche opens US$500m manufacturing facility in Singapore
By Yasmine Yahya, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : Swiss healthcare firm Roche has officially opened a US$500 million biologics manufacturing plant in Singapore.

The facility in Tuas comprises two manufacturing plants - one will produce two cancer drugs, Avastin and Herceptin, while the other will manufacture a medicine called Lucentis which treats patients with age-related macular degeneration, an eye disease.

The firm has no plans to expand the facility, as its global operations have sufficient capacity for its current and future manufacturing pipeline. But capacity is expected to be ramped up by improving manufacturing yields and productivity.

"This plant was designed for the E.coli or bacterial fermentation platform, but we can produce products like Nutropin, a growth hormone, here. And we also have other products in our pipeline that could potentially be produced here in the future," said Jim Miller, GM of Technical Operations at Roche, Singapore.

Roche has six biologics manufacturing sites around the world, with the one in Singapore being its first in the region. Miller said one reason why the firm decided to enter the Asian market was because of its growing sales potential.

"The market is changing. Where the US and Europe have been the predominant market leaders in the past for the types of medicines that we make, we really see that one of largest populations for cancer will be in Asia. So being here in Singapore is a very important part of the whole plan to supply, hopefully, the world someday with medicines," said Miller.

The Singapore facility currently employs 330 workers, and this figure is expected to rise to over 400 by the end of next year.

- CNA /ls

- wong chee tat :)

370 solar eclipse enthusiasts in Singapore stay indoors due to rain

370 solar eclipse enthusiasts in Singapore stay indoors due to rain
By Jessica Yeo, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : 370 Singaporeans gathered at the Singapore Science Centre to catch the solar eclipse on Wednesday morning, but they ended up staying indoors because of the rain which resulted in poor visibility.

10 per cent of the eclipse could have been seen in Singapore between 8:41am and 9:43am, with its optimum position at 9:11am.

The next eclipse is expected on 15 January 2010, and Singaporeans will be able to catch 30 per cent of it.

But Singapore will have to wait until 2019 for the annular eclipse if residents want to see the moon's shadow totally cast on the sun.

"The eclipse is caused by the moon casting a shadow on the Earth and this time round, the path of the shadow passes through the densely populated areas in China. Singapore happens to be literally at the fringe of the activity," said Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, CEO of Singapore Science Centre.

- CNA /ls

- wong chee tat :)

Singapore to experience minimal effects of upcoming solar eclipse

Singapore to experience minimal effects of upcoming solar eclipse


S’pore to experience minimal effects of the upcoming eclipse

SINGAPORE: Come Wednesday, China, India and Japan will be seeing its longest total solar eclipse in almost 500 years.

But Singapore will have to wait a little longer to experience the full eclipse.

Scientists said Singapore will only experience a partial solar eclipse between 8.40am and 9.40am.

They added that unlike other countries there will be minimal changes to temperature and visibility.

The Singapore Science Centre will be providing special equipment for members of the public to view the eclipse.

It will also have talks about the astronomical phenomenon.

- CNA/vm

- wong chee tat :)

Job losses this year expected to exceed 29,000, says SNEF

Job losses this year expected to exceed 29,000, says SNEF
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE: This year's retrenchment figures are likely to bust the record of 29,000 jobs lost in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis, according to Singapore National Employers Federation’s (SNEF’s) president, Stephen Lee.

Mr Lee was commenting on a survey finding by HR firm Manpower Staffing Services where 636 employers across seven industry sectors were polled.

The survey found that 50 per cent of employers anticipate a cut in headcount, 29 per cent expect no change, while only seven per cent expect to increase staff strength in the second quarter.

On an industry basis, the survey found that the bleakest prospects are in the transport and utilities sectors, followed by public administration and education.

Hiring prospects are also weak in the trade and retail and services sectors, although quarter-over-quarter, there has been a slight improvement in the outlook for the finance, insurance and real estate sectors.

One emerging trend is more contract hiring, which gives more flexibility to employers.

SNEF has seen such numbers growing from 172,000 in 2006 to 190,000 last year and expects it to strengthen further.

SNEF says the silver lining here are the few sectors that are still hiring like the integrated resorts and start-ups, and encouraging take-up rates for training.

13,000 workers from 30 companies are taking up the national training programme SPUR.

But the job situation is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Mr Lee said: "NTUC's secretary-general Lim Swee Say had already said most likely in the first quarter, retrenchment figures will hit 10,000. So if we work on that sort of figure, then I anticipate that in the second quarter, it (retrenchment figures) will continue to escalate. I don't think we have seen the worst yet. Hopefully it will peak out in the second quarter of this year."

- CNA/yt

4,800 flock to job fair

4,800 flock to job fair
On offer: 3,000 places in the service industry
By Tessa Wong

Job-seekers crowding the Jelutung Community Club in Sembawang, where more than 40 employers were offering posts in the service sector at a job fair organised by North West CDC yesterday. In a sign of increasingly hard times, more than 1,000 hopefuls turned up at the job fair within the first hour.

WHEN organisers of a job fair at Jelutong Community Centre in Sembawang opened the doors at 9.30 am yesterday, they were greeted by a long line of waiting people.

Over 1,000 arrived within the first hour of the North West Community Development Council's (CDC) job fair yesterday. By the time it ended at 4.30pm, the number had risen to 4,800.

The event brought together 40 service industry employers offering more than 3,000 jobs and was the largest recruitment fair organised by a CDC.

Fast-food chain McDonald's, security firm Cisco and department store Metro were among those offering jobs, mostly rank and file positions. About 10 per cent were managerial or executive posts.

Many job seekers made a beeline for the Resorts World at Sentosa booth, which had over 1,000 applications by the end of the fair. The integrated resort was offering 300 jobs, half of which are for the Universal Studios theme park.

A sign of increasingly hard times for job seekers, the overwhelming turnout mirrored that at other job fairs held recently. One organised by the South East CDC on Saturday saw over 5,000 hopefuls going after 1,000 jobs on offer.

Yesterday's crowd left Dr Lim Wee Kiak, a Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC, worried.

He said: 'We were a little surprised by the response. It's a weekday...it's not somewhere in town, yet we are enjoying an overwhelming response. It is a worrisome sign as well.

'I hope that Singaporeans will be a little bit more receptive and take up job offers that may not exactly fit 100 per cent of their criteria, that they will be flexible enough to accept that times are tough.'

The North West district, which includes Woodlands, Bukit Timah and Sembawang, has seen a 43 per cent rise in job seekers between September and last month. Noting the rise among the unemployed and retrenched, mayor Teo Ho Pin said yesterday that the council would be spending $1.6 million this year to help residents find jobs.


See 150 security jobs available at North East CDC job fair


- wong chee tat :)

Raffles Medical to hire 100 Raffles Medical to hire 100

Raffles Medical to hire 100 Raffles Medical to hire 100
Mon, Feb 23, 2009
The Straits Times

By Jessica Cheam

AMID the wosening downturn, private healthcare provider Raffles Medical Group is defying expectations by hiring up to 100 more staff this year.

The group's executive chairman Loo Choon Yong on Monday said the firm is in a 'healthy cash position' and will not shed any staff conduct any layoffs this year.

Instead, it is hiring about 50 to 100 staff 'across the board' - from nurses to specialists - as the group's healthcare business continues to grow.
Group to hire across the board from nurses to specialists.

- http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20090223-123940.html

- wong chee tat :)

5,000 vie for 1,000 jobs

5,000 vie for 1,000 jobs

Saturday was no rest day for 5,000 people who flocked to Bedok Central to check out the over-1,000 jobs on offer.

Fierce competition

'I applied for a position to sort letters at Singapore Post. There were 20 vacancies but 700 applicants, so every job fair is useful now.'
MR XAVIER CHAN, 55

The job fair yesterday featured openings from 12 employers - from food and beverage companies and the Government to health-care and retail firms.

It was organised by the South East Community Development Council (CDC), in collaboration with the Kampong Chai Chee Citizens Consultative Committee.

Among those who turned up was Mr Xavier Chan, 55, who quit his job as a barista to look for better job prospects about four months ago. He was applying to be a cook at Changi General Hospital.

'It's quite difficult to find a job because the market is so competitive. I applied for a position to sort letters at Singapore Post. There were 20 vacancies but 700 applicants, so every job fair is useful now.'

Over the past couple of months, the South East CDC has seen a surge in the number of residents seeking employment or training assistance.

Between November last year and January this year, 1,148 job seekers were registered - a 40 per cent rise from the August- October period last year.

Mr Vengadesh Naidu, a career centre manager of South East CDC, said the council noted a spike in the number of professionals and managers who lost their jobs.

Job seekers were also out in force at the Manpower Ministry yesterday. About 500 turned up at its Havelock Road premises to apply for 108 vacancies.

This was the first time the ministry was conducting a recruitment exercise in which applicants were interviewed on the spot.

- wong chee tat :)

650 jobs axed at STATS ChipPAC

650 jobs axed at STATS ChipPAC?
By Leong Wee Keat, TODAY

SINGAPORE: Her night shift was over but Madam Marzna Sulaiman stood outside the STATS ChipPAC factory in Yishun for more than 45 minutes Tuesday morning, waiting to have a last breakfast meeting with friends.

“I don’t know when I will next see them,” said the 55-year-old production auditor, who was one of 650 workers — both production and professional — laid off by the chip-testing company over a two-day period starting Tuesday.

Madam Marzna joined the growing ranks of workers being retrenched in the electronics industry: There have been 2,350 laid off so far this year, just 24 less than the total for the whole of last year.

STATS had announced in December plans to reduce its global workforce by 1,600. Then, the company — which has operations in 10 countries — had said “the majority of the restructuring will be made outside of Singapore”. When asked to comment Tuesday on why so many of the job losses were here, STATS declined to comment.

Of the 650 workers affected, it is not known how many are locals. But at least five of the 20 affected workers TODAY interviewed were Singaporean.

Half of the foreigners, including Malaysians, Filipinos and Chinese nationals, said they had volunteered to be retrenched. Three workers told TODAY they did not like the new shift arrangements. One, who wanted to be known as Jamaliah, said: “The package is quite good. I will take a rest then hope to find work later.”

The package seems to be the market norm: A month’s pay for each year of service, for those with the company for more than three years; while those who worked for less than three years get two week’s pay per year, according to the workers.

The United Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries (UWEEI) union — which represented the workers in negotiations — felt a “fair deal” was struck, said executive secretary Halimah Yacob. The affected workers will be put through an employability camp; those not retrenched will also be offered assistance in re-training, she said.

Global semiconductor sales were severely hit by the economic turmoil, resulting in the first year-on-year drop since 2001. According to the United States-based Semiconductor Industry Association, in the Asia-Pacific, sales were down nearly 22 per cent in December from a year before.

Mdm Halimah said UWEEI would continue to work with companies through the Government-subsidised Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience to save jobs. “We will do whatever we can to help both workers and companies,” she vowed.

Mdm Marzna, who was with STATS for 12 years, said she would take a break to look after her grandchild. But her friend, who declined to be named, plans to sign up for re-training immediately. “I don’t know how long money will last,” said the 29-year-old mother of two. “The economy seems bad and I don’t want to take chances.”

- http://www.todayonline.com/articles/301466.asp

- wong chee tat :)

Chartered Semiconductor announces Q4 loss, cuts 540 jobs in Singapore

Chartered Semiconductor announces Q4 loss, cuts 540 jobs in Singapore
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 30 January 2009 1229 hrs


SINGAPORE: Chartered Semiconductor, one of the world's largest microchip makers, announced on Friday it would cut 600 jobs worldwide - about eight per cent of its total workforce.

This will help the company save some US$16 million annually in payroll and benefits.

Channel NewsAsia understands that about 540 workers in Singapore will be affected by the retrenchment exercise.

Chartered said it is currently working with the unions on a retrenchment package for affected staff.

This came as the company, which is listed in Singapore as well as on the Nasdaq in New York, reported a fourth-quarter net loss of US$114 million.

It said revenues for the three months ended December 31 were down by 24 per cent at US$351.7 million, compared to the third quarter of 2008.

The fall was largely due to the "unprecedented rate of decline in semiconductor demand worldwide".

For the full year 2008, Chartered reported a net loss of US$92.6 million compared with a net income of US$101.7 million the previous year.

Looking ahead, Chartered said the negative macroeconomic environment and weakening demand will continue to affect its business in a significant way.

It is already projecting a 32 per cent fall in revenues for the first quarter of 2009, compared with the fourth quarter of 2008.

- CNA/yb

- wong chee tat :)

Update 2: Annular Solar Eclipse

Here are some of the pictures from various sources that captured the solar eclipse on Jan 26th 2009.






























Indonesians among the few to witness solar eclipse

By ZAKKI HAKIM,Associated Press Writer AP - Tuesday, January 27

ANYER, Indonesia - Indonesians were among the few worldwide to witness an eclipse of the sun Monday, but even there the view was hampered in most places by cloudy skies.

Dozens gathered in the western coastal town of Anyer as the moon passed across the sun's path at 4:40 p.m., covering 92 percent of the sun's diameter and leaving a white, flaming ring of fire that lasted about four minutes.

"I'm old, but I still think this is magical," said Roanna Makmur, 66, who drove several hours with eight friends to witness the sight, known as an annular eclipse, because it does not completely black out the sun.

"I can't help but feel the greatness of God," she said, as other onlookers cheered. "Anyone who passed up this opportunity, really missed out."

Annular eclipses, which are considered far less important to astronomers than total eclipses of the sun, occur about 66 times a century and can only be viewed by people in the narrow band along its path.

A relatively small number of people were in the best places to view Monday's eclipse, said Jay Pasachoff, professor of astronomy at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and chair of the International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Eclipses.

Aside from several regions in Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, only villagers on a tiny South Pacific island group known as the Cocos, administered by Australia, were to have been able to see the ring-shaped corona, he wrote in a statement.

A partial eclipse _ with coverage ranging from 1 percent to 84 percent of the sun's diameter _ was to be visible in the southern third of Africa, in southeastern India, and southeast Asia, as well as the western part of Australia.

The last total eclipse of the sun was Aug. 1, 2008, and was visible in Canada, across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia and China.

The next total eclipse will be July 22, 2009, and will be visible in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China and some Japanese islands.

___

On the Net:

Path details: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHfigures/OH2009-Fig01.pdf

S’poreans gather at Science Centre, mosque to watch solar eclipse

Channel NewsAsia
Channel NewsAsia - Tuesday, January 27

SINGAPORE : It was the first solar eclipse of the year, and many said it was the clearest seen in 10 years.

More than 6,400 people were at the Singapore Science Centre’s Observatory Centre on Monday to watch the rare phenomenon unfold at about 4.30pm.

However, before the maximum eclipse could be seen, visibility started to dip at about 5.40pm.

Another group of Singaporeans was at the Al—Firdaus Mosque to witness the same natural phenomenon.

They also took part in activities which included calculating and predicting the next solar eclipse.

Experts said the next solar eclipse that can be seen in Singapore will likely be on July 22 this year.

However, it will be not be as vivid as the one on Monday, where observers could see the moon’s shadow covering almost 80 per cent of the sun’s surface.

— CNA/ms

- http://shadowandsubstance.com/

- http://www.eclipse.org.uk/eclipse/0132009/

-http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Solar-Eclipse/ss/events/sc/012609solareclipse;_ylt=Al4YpLcEiNY22j_Vd40OBTH9xg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTFmMGM3MmJyBHBvcwMxNwRzZWMDeW5fcl8zc2xvdF9zbGlkZXNob3cEc2xrA3NsaS1ldi1saW5r

- wong chee tat :)

One in 5 Singaporeans expect rise in unemployment

One in 5 Singaporeans expect rise in unemployment

Tue, Jan 13, 2009
AsiaOne

A recent survey conducted by TNS and Gallup International showed that 78 per cent of Singaporeans expect the number of unemployed to rise this year.

However, only 30 per cent of those with employment think that there is a chance that they could be the ones to lose their job.

A great majority, 77 per cent, also feel that Singapore's economic prosperity will decline.

A higher percentage of Singaporeans seem to be more pessimistic, with 63 per cent saying they expect the coming year to be worse for them. This is in sharp comparison to a global average of just 35 per cent. In relation to this, only one in five persons in Singapore (20 per cent) think it will be better while 17 per cent believe it will be about the same. The global averages for these are 27 and 31 per cent respectively.

However, in terms of job security, Singaporeans are more in line with the global response. 66% of working respondents worldwide think unemployment is set to rise, yet only 27% are concerned they will lose their own
jobs.

Finding a new job

When asked to assess the difficulty in finding a job if they lost their current one, 79 per cent fear that it will take too long and only 17 per cent feel that they will get a new job quickly.

Again, Singaporeans are more pessimistic than their global counterparts, with responses of 54 and 31 per cent respectively.

In Asia, only Japan is more pessimistic than Singapore. Only 13 per cent of Japanese respondents feel that they can find a new job quickly.

China is the most optimistic, with 47 per cent responding that they think they would be able to find a new job quickly after losing their old one.

Commenting on the results in Singapore, Mr. Wade Garland, the Managing Director of TNS in Singapore and Hong Kong, says the increased unemployment forecast reflects the bearish views being expressed by many of the most respected business organizations in Singapore and recently by the Prime Minister.

'Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned in his New Year message that the global financial crisis had hit Singapore hard, and that the economic outlook was uncertain. The government now expects Singapore's GDP to come in between a decline of 2% and growth of 1% in 2009, which is lower than the previous forecast of a 1% decline to 2% growth made earlier in November. Currently the unemployment rate in Singapore is around 2% and GDP has declined by 12.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008 and revised downwards its growth estimates for 2009,' he comments.

'Media reports of these types of forecasts, the financial difficulties of several major local retailers, falling property prices, and the layoffs already taking place in some companies have made people realise that the global economic turmoil is having an impact on Singapore. Surprisingly this is not yet undermining their confidence about their own personal future in the coming year,' he adds.


- wong chee tat :)

S'pore expected to be first Southeast Asian country to recover from crisis

S'pore expected to be first Southeast Asian country to recover from crisis
By Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 11 December 2008 1826 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore may be the worse-hit Southeast Asian country in the current economic crisis, but it could well be the first economy in the region to rebound, according to economic forecaster Thierry Apoteker.

A jump in US consumer confidence in November is just one of the indicators that could signal signs of a global recovery next year. Consumer confidence index rose in November to 44.9, up from 38.8 in October which was the lowest on record.

Coupled with signs of liquidity tensions loosening up, it is suggested that banks may start lending to corporations soon which could put the US on a recovery path.

"We have the initial tentative signs that this is taking place. The spreads between money market rates and the fed rates have declined substantially. Not yet to the normal zone but substantial, compared to the rates of 300 basis points that we have seen after the Lehman collapse," said Dr Apoteker.

Increased spending in the US and Eurozone would translate to an increase in demand for exports from Asia.

And while global trade numbers may pick up, Dr Apoteker expects a slower growth rate of between 4 and 5 per cent, as opposed to the almost 10 per cent growth in 2006.

He added that he expects the US and Eurozone to see signs of recovery in the second quarter of 2009, with Asia following suit in the third quarter.

And although Singapore will be hit by slowing trade, its strong asset base and robust financial sector will boost its economic recovery.

The managing director of TAC said: "Clearly, trade transmission is incredibly strong for Singapore because you are a trading nation by construction, so in that sense there is nothing you can do. There is no policy management that can avoid when the whole demand in the world is collapsing. As a major exporting nation, you are very bluntly, brutally affected, but symmetrically, you will be the first one to come out of it.

"What's very interesting is that the other transmission mechanism – both on the asset market and the financing mechanism in Singapore – is pretty strong, much stronger than most.

"We've done an exercise of mapping the banking systems of all the Asian countries to look at where the strengths and the weaknesses are, and you might be interested to know it is rated 1 to 64 in binary ranking.

"Singapore is the only country, apart from Japan and Korea, to have a number one ranking. The financial background is very strong, so as a trading outpost you will be very badly affected, but you will be the first to recover after that."

But a recovery in Asia could also depend on what happens in China.

"The very critical question to what happens in Asia is what happens in China because even if we have a mild recovery in the West, a catastrophe in China will impact the rest of Asia very negatively due to the growing integration of Asia and China," said Dr Apoteker.

He warned that if Chinese companies are unable to export surplus stocks financed on credit, the losses they chalk up could impact their trade with other Asian economies.

But for the moment, the decline in Chinese exports is expected to be short-lived, with the country's growth rate still expected to come in at 7.5 per cent next year.


- CNA/so

What do you think?

- wong chee tat :)