Singapore

A federal jury told Microsoft Corp. to pay $388 million to a Singapore company for infringing patented technology used to deter software piracy. The jury in Providence, R.I., found that Microsoft violated the patent of Uniloc Singapore Private Ltd. and Uniloc USA Inc. Uniloc, which filed the lawsuit 5 1/2 years ago, claimed Microsoft wrongfully used its technology to earn billions. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., argued that it used a different method for registering software and that Uniloc's patent was obvious.

When it comes to recommending the best U.S. cities for business, Fortune magazine suggests leaving your heart in San Francisco. But the magazine has some Los Angeles supporters feeling heartbroken. Breathtaking views, a spectacular urban setting and extreme cultural diversity are a few of the attributes that put the San Francisco Bay Area at the top of the magazine's annual list of top 10 cities for business domestically. In its Nov.

Interpol has issued a worldwide security alert for an Islamic extremist who escaped from a jail in Singapore. Mas Selamat Kastari, 47, is accused of once plotting to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's international airport. He also is suspected of having a hand in plots to bomb the U.S. Embassy, the American Club and Singapore government buildings in 2001. Mas Selamat is believed to be a commander of Al Qaeda- linked Jemaah Islamiah.

Ibrahim Nasir, 82, who led the Maldives' independence movement from the British and became the archipelago's first president, died Saturday at a Singapore hospital, Ahmed Shaeed, the foreign minister of the Maldives, announced. The cause of death was not announced. Born Sept. 2, 1926, Nasir was only 31 when he was named his country's prime minister under sultan Muhammad Fareed Didi. Nasir held the post from 1957 to 1968. In 1965 he signed an agreement with the British that granted independence for the Indian Ocean island nation.

FROM inside the gaping mouth of the Merlion, nine stories above ground, I surveyed the island of Sentosa and, across the harbor, the skyline of Singapore. The Merlion -- half fish (as in mermaid) and half lion (as in the Lion City) -- is the mythological guardian of Singapore. This 121-foot-tall statue stands watch over Sentosa, a 1,230-acre island just off Singapore's southern coast that will be an oasis from the urban uproar. It has a ringside seat to some financial fireworks: About $7.

A Singapore court jailed a woman for two weeks for negligence after she ordered her Indonesian maid onto the ledge of an eighth-floor condominium to hang laundry, court documents show. The maid fell to her death. A district judge said Ngu Mei Mei, 37, who admitted to one count of negligence imperiling the life of her maid, Yanti, 22, was sentenced to jail to show that the court would not excuse employers who placed their maids' lives in jeopardy.

SINGAPORE -- Stayne Hoff was stuck in a corner booth at the Singapore air show, but his tiny, unmanned spy planes attracted plenty of traffic. His Simi Valley firm, AV Inc., was a popular stop because its remote-controlled planes were on display. The Raven, a model with a 5-foot wingspan, weighs just 4 pounds yet is equipped with an infrared camera and can transmit live images from six miles away. The $35,000 aircraft is used by the U.S.

Singapore's ruling party celebrated a landslide victory in parliamentary elections that signaled continuity in the city-state's trademark mix of economic success, social stability and tight political controls. Final results showed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's People's Action Party won 82 of 84 seats in Parliament, the same as in the previous assembly.

Bausch & Lomb Inc. delayed telling U.S. regulators about 35 cases of a blinding eye infection in Singapore linked to its recalled ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens cleaner, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. The eye-care company waited more than a month before reporting the cases and failed to notify the agency in writing that the product had been withdrawn in February from the Singapore and Hong Kong markets, the FDA said Tuesday in a report.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. won a hotly contested license to build Singapore's first casino, which could be the world's costliest casino-resort project by the time it opens in 2009. Singapore last year reversed its decades-old ban on casino gambling. Las Vegas Sands was selected for a license to build at Marina Bay over three other bidding groups -- MGM Mirage and CapitaLand Ltd.; Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and Keppel Land Ltd.; and Genting International and Star Cruises Ltd. The project, on a 50.