Singapore has signed two agreements that will focus on leadership and research respectively in its efforts to help advance international civil aviation. [...] Firstly, Singapore has agreed to tie up with the International Civil Aviation Organization to jointly develop and conduct a two-day executive programme on aviation security for directors-general of civil aviation. Seven runs of the programme will be carried out at global locations between 2018 and 2020.

Children need space to grow and art plays a pivotal role in creating not just any space, but a creative and conducive space. [...] This year, for the first time, the National Gallery of Singapore is making it possible. In its first Gallery Children’s Biennale, Singapore is leading the way in Asia to create space for children through art. The exhibition targets young visitors and it is curated in such a way that aim to captivate the imagination of the young: making art fun, interactive and accessible.

Going by headline indicators, Singapore's country brand looks strong enough. The Lion City tops the world in "online presence" in the Global Cities Index released this month. In the 2016 Soft Power 30 ranking of countries by their soft power, Singapore moved up two places to break into the top 20. But what fresh challenges lie in wait, in this new world of Brexit and Mr. Donald Trump? How well does Singapore stand in promoting and protecting its international reputation so as to continue to boost its magnetic pull for the choicest investments, trade, tourism and talent?

In Singapore's botanic gardens this morning, an orchid will be named after the Prime Minister and his wife Lucy in the tradition of naming a hybrid of the national flower after visiting leaders. [...] Tonight, Mr Turnbull will give the keynote address to the Asia Security summit — more commonly known as the Shangri-La dialogue. Delegates from more than 50 countries will be in the audience. [...] The Economist dubbed the incident the "Shangri-La dust up". Security will be intense and Singaporeans have already been warned to avoid anything that could be deemed suspicious. 

Visitors of Embassy Chef Challenge can sample authentic cuisines from 35 countries in a single day. One minute they can enjoy salmon ceviche and merquén mussels from Chile, and the next, jollof rice with chicken and fried plantains from Ghana. Adults can taste wines from Bolivia or the iconic gin-based cocktail from Singapore, the Singapore Sling. [...] “It’s a very happy place,” said Red Garcia, the chef representing the Philippines. “Food is like music. We break bread, and we share our culture and values. Everyone brings the best of everything.”

The Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with the Riau Islands provincial administration, plans to make the archipelagic province a hub for Indonesia’s economic diplomacy. Riau Islands province comprises 2,408 islands, including Natuna Islands, a stretch of resource-rich islands jutting at the frontiers of the South China Sea and bordering Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and Malaysia.

A goal kick away from the Toa Payoh Stadium are reminders of the once-close ties between Myanmar and this Singapore neighborhood, home to the Burmese Buddhist Temple and streets named for the towns and rivers of the Golden Land. The arena hosts Balestier Khalsa Football Club, of Singapore's professional soccer league, and sits in the middle of a community which arrived from the country then known as Burma in the 1940s and 1950s.

Mr Low Sze Wee, Director, Curatorial, Collections & Education, National Gallery Singapore, shared with Rattana Lao (Modern Diplomacy) on the origin, expectation and reception of the Artist and Empire: (en) countering colonial legacy exhibition at the National Gallery Singapore. [...] "Through this, we hope the exhibition will generate greater discussion on the formation of national identities and their complex relationships with the colonial experience."