Viva Vino Wine tasting session (270412)

I was among the 20 people invited for a wine tasting to celebrate the opening of viva vino new office .

Portugal

– a country mainly known for its richness in natural beauty and history – is quite famous in the wine world because of its production of superb ports. However, it is still being discovered for its wines. Portugal in fact produces excellent wines and some specialised products : “vinho verde” (green wine), “muscatel” (desert wine) and “Madeira” (another sweet wine from the beautiful island of Madeira) are all fabulous, but still relatively unknown on the world stage.

Portuguese wine-makers not only make wines from international grape varieties such as Syrah (Shiraz), Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, but also widely tap into the local grape varieties such as Aragonês, Trincadeira, Touriga Nacional, Alvarinho, Arinto, Verdelho and so on to make monovarietals and blended wines to the highest international standards.

From the northern region of Minho, down to the Algarve, mainland Portugal has 9 wine producing regions (Minho, Transmontano, Beiras, Estremadura, Ribatejo, Terras do Sado, Alentejo and Algarve). In addition, the islands of Madeira and Azores are also wine-producing regions.

Viva Vino 

is a company set up for the sole purpose of importing and distributing top quality Portuguese wines, ports and olive oils.

Portuguese

  wines today are no more Portuguese wines from over 15 years ago. In the last 15 years, wine producers in Portugal have become extremely competitive in producing world-class wine and have won several international awards and accolades. A number are very well-rated by Parker and are widely written about in the international wine press. To put it in perspective, in the most recent Challenge International du Vin held in France, Portugal won 95 medals against Italy's 80.

Midnight Shift x Zouk 03: Now is Found

Friday, 18 May 2012 10pm – late Velvet Underground – Dance, Zouk

Opening the ceremonies of the night is Zouk’s first resident to
ever play a first record for the dance floor – respected veteran
Jeremy Boon. He will be guiding the night with his light in the
space that he helped build.

A local phenomenon that must be-seen-to-be-believed, one-man
band, Hafez Masterpiece will be joined for the first time ever
with Live VOX for their hotly tipped duet
debut. His finger acrobatics on the Kaoss pads paired with her
voice of the modern Singaporean soulchild is a transposition of
our city’s music.

This edition will also be the unveiling of Midnight Shift label artist
and performer Eddie Niguel, whose remix of Patrice Baumel’s
‘Roar’ on Berlin’s Get Physical label became a hit single in the
electronic scene, including #1 Juno Best Seller in the Techno
Chart. His steady ascent to international waters continues with
remixes for synth pop band Evokateur from the UK as well as
notable props from the industry’s finest connoisseurs.

Not much shall be revealed at all about the International
Mystery Guest. All that will be said is that he is one of the Top
20 Live Acts of 2011 (Resident Advisor) who will be showing his
musical prowess with both a Live and DJ set for the night.

LIMITED guestlist is available. EMAIL rsvp@mnshift.com for complimentary entry before 11pm.

The facebook Sweepstakes Team - SCAM

PART 1

Congratulations! you are among the 100 lucky facebook email users that
won $100,000 USD (One hundred thousand United States Dollars) each in
the just concluded facebook Sweepstakes.

The Sweepstakes was organized to reward facebook email users because
of their undying support and massive usage of the facebook email
service.The facebook email was launched in November 2010 and by April
2012,facebook email users has passed 100 million,we were excited about
this great number of facebook email users within a short period of
time and we are hoping that this Sweepstakes will create awareness and
encourage more facebook users to activate the facebook email feature
on their facebook accounts.

Winners were picked randomly via a balloting process powered by
Gmail.Your winning code is
wumt33/us.visa23/ikobo11-85/lutrija98-99/mcfcth5-6-10/cardmt@gmail.com

You are required to report at any facebook office nearest to you and
present to them your winning code,to enable them pay you the prize
money and give you the winning documents.

Reply if you dont know a facebook office near you,to enable us send
you a facebook office address nearest to you.

Thanks for using facebook email

The facebook Team

PART 2

There is no facebook office in your country yet so you are required to
travel to Palo Alto, California. United States to claim your prize
money at the facebook corporate office headquarters,the address is 156
University Ave, Palo Alto, California.

Due to the fact that we need our winners to sign some winning
documents and take photgraphs with the facebook team,we prefer our
winners visit a facebook office nearest to them to claim their prize
money,but if there is no facebook office in a winner's country and the
winner is unable to travel to the United States to claim the prize
money at the facebook corporate office headquarters,we can post the
prize money cheque and the winning documents to the winner through
Express Mail Service.

If you prefer your cheque to be posted to you through the Express Mail
Service,reply and give us your full names as they appear on any of
your identity card,we also need you to provide an address were the
cheque can be posted to.

Once we receive your name and address,your cheque will be prepared and
posted to you within 24 hours and it will be delivered to you within
72 hours,with the cheque,you can receive the prize money in cash at
any bank in your country,

Congratulations once again!

The facebook Team

PART 3

We received your name and address and we have forwarded it to the
department that will prepare and post your cheque,you will be informed
shortly once the cheque is posted.

Regards,

The facebook Team

PART 4

Congratulations! the cheque has been posted to the address you
provided through Express Mail Service,the 5kg box containing your
cheque,your winning documents and books about facebook will be
delivered to you within 72 hours.

The Express Mail Service agents will contact you on your facebook
email address few hours before the package will be delivered to the
address you provided,to confirm that you are present at the address on
delivery.

Once you receive the cheque and cash the prize money,send us an email
and inform us,so we can update your status on our database to prize
money received.

Congratulations once again!

The facebook Team

PART 5

I am Sukhee Roatsthun,the head of operations at the Express Mail
Service office at the Bangkok Thailand airport,i am contacting you
regarding a package that is being posted to you from the US.

Your package was stopped while going through the final routine check
while on transit in Thailand en route to your country.

We opened your package and discovered that a bank cheque with a high
monetary value was concealed in the package that was being posted to
you,and due to the recent high level of package thefts in your
country,packages going to your country containing high monetary value
items like the bank cheque being posted to you must be declared and
the insurance fee paid and the package marked as high priority,but the
sender of your package did not declare that a bank cheque of high
monetary value was in the package being posted to you and they did not
pay the insurance fee of the cheque as required.

This is a very serious issue,what if your package was tampered and the
cheque lost while on transit?

We need you to send the insurance fee of $400 US dollars as soon as
possible to enable us process the insurance documents and attach to
your package,the insurance documents will enable our company pay you
back the full amount in your cheque in the event of loss of your
cheque while on transit.

You are adviced to send the money as soon as possible,to enable us
process the insurance documents and attach to your package,once you
pay the fee,your insurance documents will be processed and attached to
your package,and the package will be delivered to you within 48 hours.

Anticipatiing your reply,

Sukhee Roatsthun
Head of operations
EMS office Bangkok airport

SGX Enhances OTC Clearing of Commodities

Singapore Exchange (SGX) announced Wednesday that its clearing system, SGX AsiaClear, has enhanced access to its clearing process with the linking of OTC broking systems to its OTC Trade Registration System.

The bourse said the linkage will allow trades matched in an inter-dealer broker’s OTC broking system to flow straight through to SGX’s Trade Registration System. “Customers will gain from an improvement in operational efficiency and a reduction in errors,” SGX said.

SGX AsiaClear offers global market participants a one-stop clearing service for a suite of 45 OTC commodity contracts covering agricultural, bulk commodity, energy and freight products.

“This straight-through clearing link will further widen SGX’s distribution network and offer traders and brokers more choices in the way they connect to our clearing service,” said Julie Heng, Head of Commodities at SGX.

Third-party providers of OTC broking systems which have established straight-through connectivity to SGX include Mercari, Tradex and Trayport. Other system-providers in the process of establishing connectivity in the coming weeks include Baltex and Cleartrade, SGX added.

SGX Posts 16-Per cent Rise in 3QFY2012 Bottomline, Sees More Listing this Year

Singapore Exchange (SGX), Asia’s third-biggest listed bourse, reported Tuesday a 16-per cent jump in quarterly profit, thanks to higher turnover from derivatives which partly made up for a drop in securities income.

SGX reported January-March net profit of S$77.8 million, higher than the S$67.0 million a year earlier when profit was partly hit by costs linked to its failed bid for Australian exchange operator ASX.

Revenue for the period declined 3 per cent year-on-year to S$163.6 million, dragged by the lower turnover from securities which declined 12 per cent year-on-year to S$65.0 million. Derivatives revenue, however, grew 10 per cent to S$42.5 million from S$38.8 million a year ago.

“Our efforts to grow our non-securities businesses continue to bear fruit. SGX is on track to be the first Asian exchange to launch hubs in Chicago and London to conveniently and cost-effectively connect global investors to SGX markets. These hubs will be available along with exchange-hosted pre trade risk controls for the derivatives market,” said SGX CEO Magnus Bocker.

Going forward, Bocker said SGX will benefit from a growing interest among international companies to list in Singapore. While he did not name companies, motor racing business Formula One and a unit of India’s Reliance Communications are reportedly among firms planning listings on the Singapore bourse.

“Market volumes will continue to be primarily driven by global economic forces. We see growing interest from Singapore and international companies to seek a listing on SGX. We will continue to grow our customer base and product offerings, and pace investments in line with opportunities,” Bocker added.

Recently, SGX made initiatives to hasten market listing in Singapore. Among others, the group joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore in signing a Memorandum of Understanding on the Expedited Review Framework for Secondary Listings. This initiative, which is part of the ASEAN Capital Market Framework, will shorten the time to market for secondary listing of ASEAN companies.

SGX shares on Tuesday closed higher at S$6.72 each from Monday’s S$6.70.

The bourse’s stock has risen about 9.6 per cent so far in 2012, beating ASX’s gains of nearly 5 per cent and Hong Kong’s HKEx’s rise of 4.4 per cent.

Singapore’s benchmark STI index has advanced about 13 per cent so far this year.

Manchester United Waiting for Right Time for Singapore IPO

English football giants Manchester United have yet to decide on a Singapore share sale, a source close to the deal said Monday, despite reports its owners were reviving plans for a public offering.

The Sunday Times in London, without citing sources, said the US-based Glazer family was looking to kick off an issue in the city state after shelving its initial plans at the end of last year because of global market turmoil.

The report said with market conditions now improving, the club, currently top of the English Premier League, was looking at a listing of 25-30 per cent of the shares, which would value it at up to GBP2.0 billion (US$3.2 billion).

The Glazers’ financial advisers are believed to have suggested a listing before August, the report added.

However the source close to the deal, who asked not to be named, told AFP: “They are just waiting for the right time to press the button, but at the moment, the button has not been pressed.

“The IPO has always been on the drawing board. It was deferred last year because of weak market conditions but it has always been there,” said the source.

“They just left it on the drawing board to be revisited at the right time.”

The source said “there’s a lot of speculation right now” on whether the owners of the club will proceed with the offer.

A Singapore listing would bring the club closer to fans in Southeast Asia, a football-crazy region of more than half a billion people.

Asia accounts for 190 million of the estimated 330 million United followers worldwide, and most of the club’s sponsors are based in the region or generate a large part of their revenue from it.

United had earlier considered listing in Hong Kong and snaring the club was a coup for Singapore, which has long been in rivalry with the southern Chinese city as a regional financial centre.

But whether the club’s fans will invest in droves remains to be seen.

“For the club, it’s a good move to launch now. The market looks better now compared to last year when they wanted to launch,” said Singaporean student Muhammad Nadjad Bin Abdul Rahim, 24, a United fan and part-time investor.

“Loyalty to the club is one thing, but I don’t see any financial gains from buying the stocks,” he told AFP.

“For blue chip stocks, you know what they are about and can make your decisions based on that… But in the sporting industry, you don’t really know how they work, it’s hard to make rational decisions like that.”

SGX, CIMB Launch Initiative to Train Trading Representatives

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) and CIMB Securities have launched a new initiative to grow the number of Trading Representatives (TRs) in Singapore and enhance their skills in providing value-added services for investors.

Through this initiative, CIMB Securities plans to expand its base of TRs from the current 400 to 600 over the next two years.

Together with the Financial Training Institute at Singapore Management University (FTI@SMU), SGX and CIMB Securities will offer new TRs training programme to equip them with the skills to trade professionally and better serve investors’ needs.

FTI@SMU will train TRs in providing financial advisory services focusing on assessing and meeting clients’ needs.

SGX Academy, meanwhile, will also be launching an on-line learning module in May to help TRs prepare for their licensing examination.

“With this industry’s strong growth potential and the hiring ambitions of CIMB, this new training programme will strengthen Singapore’s position as a key financial trading hub by producing securities industry professionals who are highly competent to engage in trading and advisory activities,” said Chew Sutat, SGX Executive Vice President, who oversees the Academy.

“This partnership will, for the first time, lead to a structured approach on how to train dealers and groom our talent pool, in terms of assessing client needs, evaluating risk tolerances and understanding their investing styles. This has never been offered before in the industry. Our clients will benefit from this collaboration, with a specialised team of dealers, who will be better informed and better equipped to offer value-added advice,” said Carol Fong, CEO, CIMB Securities.

SGX Asks KXD Digital to Delist ‘As Soon As Possible’

Mainboard-listed Chinese multimedia firm KXD Digital Entertainment Ltd said that its interim judicial managers plan to step down and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) had asked it to start delisting procedures as soon as possible.

“The company or its controlling shareholder must comply with rule 1309 of the listing manual to provide a reasonable cash exit offer to shareholders,” said KXD in a statement Tuesday, adding that SGX has informed it that the cash exit offer must be completed within one month.

In June last year, SGX reprimanded KXD as well as its former chairman and CEO for breaching a number of listing rules and failures in corporate governance after a special audit flagged several grave lapses.

KXD reportedly failed to inform shareholders that it had ceased business operations, effectively becoming a cash company. It also failed to promptly disclose lawsuits filed against it by Royal Philips, and the default judgments entered against KXD in 2007-2008.

In January this year, the China-based multimedia firm has been ordered by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) to produce company documents in a probe by the white-collar crime buster under the Securities & Futures Act.

The Securities and Futures Act (Chapter 289) contains laws related to the issuing and trading of listed company securities.

Trading of KXD shares is still suspended. It made its trading debut on the Singapore market, with its shares surging to twice its offer price of S$0.23 a share on its first day of trading. The stock last traded in May 2010 at S$.01 per share.

S-Chips Under Tight Watch

 The Singapore bourse has stepped up its scrutiny of accounting practices of Singapore-listed Chinese companies, more popularly known as S-chips, after a series of accounting problems seen in the past few years.

On Monday, it was reported that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is seeking a court order to freeze funds in Singapore belonging to the former chief executive officer of China Sky Chemical Fibre Co as a police probe on China Sky and its directors is underway.

Another S-chip, Sunmart, announced that it had been informed by its auditor, Ernst & Young LLP, of certain issues noted during the course of their audit for the financial statements for financial year ending 31 December 2011.

Specifically, the auditors have not been able to obtain satisfactory explanation and supporting documents from management on the business rationale of certain transactions as well as the veracity of certain account balances.

Sunmart’s audit committee said it intends to commission a special audit to perform a thorough investigation on the matter, and will keep shareholders updated once the appointment of the special auditor has been finalised.

“We believe the two latest developments will continue to weigh on subdued sentiments for S-Chips. Firstly, the China Sky saga exposes a fundamental issue – existing shareholders of overseas companies might have limited protection/recourse under existing Singapore legal framework if ownership structures are weak. The incident is likely to have put various stakeholders in a bind, in which there is no winner,” said Terence Wong of OSK-DMG.

“Secondly, we note that February to April will be a sensitive period especially on auditors’ opinions. Trading suspensions for Sunmart and Sinopipe (on March 30) are reminders that risks in which auditors may uncover more accounting issues remain from now until end-April, before audited financial reports are issued,” he added.

Absolute Boyfriend Promo Tour (Gu Hye Sun + Jiro Wang)

Meet & Greet Autograph Session

Date: 15th April 2012, Sunday

Time: 3:30PM

Venue: Square 2 (Novena MRT)

Organizer: Channel U

*Their only public appearance, all are welcome!

Singapore Exchange Welcomes New Trading Member KGI Futures

Singapore Exchange (SGX) Thursday announced that Taiwan-based KGI Futures Co, Ltd has joined its derivatives market as a new Trading Member.

Chew Sutat, Head of Sales & Clients at SGX, said: “We are pleased to welcome KGI Futures as a new Trading Member. In recent months, a number of brokers from North Asia have taken trading memberships in our derivatives market, forming more than 10 per cent of our derivatives trading membership.”

“Our China A50 futures volume growth has also been significant with more than 660,000 contracts traded in March 2012, triple that of a year ago. We are therefore looking forward to greater member participation in our equity index derivatives on China, Taiwan and other Asian economies,” he added.

The addition of KGI Futures brings the number of Trading Members in the derivatives market to 38.

In addition, there are 26 Clearing Members in the derivatives market, and 11 Clearing Members for the clearing of Over-The-Counter (OTC) traded financial derivatives on SGX AsiaClear.

The securities market has 28 Trading Members and 28 Clearing Members

The Originals IP Spectacular!

Celebrate World Intellectual Property (IP) Day with an exciting line-up of movie, music and art activities. Be there to show your support for orignality! Highlights include: 24 Apr 2012 (Tues), 7-9pm: Free Movie Screening Wind down for the evening and catch Disney Pixar's hit animated film, Toy Story 3! 25 Apr 2012 (Wed), 6-8pm: Live Concert Groove to the original sounds by our homegrown music talents in a star-studded concert featuring: JJ Lin Jun Jie, Tay Kewei, Dick Lee, Derrick Ho and Chen Wei Lian! Don't miss the all-day fringe activities happening daily from 12-9pm: Youth Creators' Bazaar, Community Art Project, Student Showcases!

SGX Securities Market Starts Dual Currency Trading

Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) securities market Monday successfully began dual currency trading.

Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPHT), the world’s first publicly traded container port business trust, is the first listed security to launch dual currency units on SGX by adding a Singapore-dollar counter to their US-dollar counter. Its Singapore-dollar counter recorded healthy trading that totalled S$4.13 million in its first day of trading. Its US-dollar counter traded US$16.01 million.

SGX said that for the first quarter of 2012, in terms of value traded (US dollar and Singapore dollar), HPHT accounted for 1.8 per cent of the market’s Securities Daily Average Value. On Monday, it accounted for more than 3 per cent of market turnover, suggesting that liquidity may have improved, the exchange added. In terms of Daily Average Volume, the Singapore-dollar counter of HPHT is 17 per cent of its total turnover.

SGX said dual currency trading benefits retail investors by making HPHT more accessible in Singapore dollars and cheaper without incurring the cost of foreign exchange conversions.

The flexibility of dual currency trading is also expected to appeal to investors seeking Singapore-dollar priced assets with exposure to regional growth.

Ben & Jerry's Singapore FREE CONE DAY

3 April 2012, it's FREE ICE CREAM all over the world!
Cone one, Cone ALL! 


Participating Scoop Shops and Free Cone Day Hours

2 P.M to 8 P.M

Vivo City
#02-135/136, 1 Harbourfront Walk , 98585

Great World City
#02-40A ,1 Kim Seng Promenade, 237994

The Cathay
#02-12/14 ,2 Handy Road, 229233

United Square
#02-08, 101 Thomson Road, 307591

Rochester
31 Rochester Drive, #01-01,Rochester Mall,138637

2 P.M to 5 P.M

Ben & Jerry’s Zoo
Zoo Entrance, 80 Mandai Lake Road, 729826

Jurong Bird Park Hawk Café
2 Jurong Hill,62892