Singapore registered its worst level of air pollution for the year on Friday as smoke from forest fires in Indonesia blew over the city-state, triggering a health warning.

As of 8am (0000 GMT) Singapore's Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) ranged from 65-75 after a night of thick, choking haze over the island. The air began to clear later in the morning thanks to favourable winds.

Whenever Christina Tang is overseas and returns to her hotel room, she always knocks on the door before entering even if she is the only occupant.

The 25-year-old Singaporean marketing executive said knocking on the door is meant to seek permission from the "good brothers" -- spirits that might have taken over her room while she was away -- for her to stay over for the night.

A boatload of asylum-seekers picked up by a Singaporean merchant vessel after a distress call was Thursday accused of acting like pirates after forcing the captain to take them to Australia.

The Singapore-flagged MV Parsifal picked up the 67 asylum-seekers from a people-smuggling ship off the Indonesian island of Java on Monday in response to a distress call relayed by Australian authorities.

Three Singaporean teenagers are facing the prospect of up to seven years behind bars for allegedly stealing school buses to go on joyrides, the Straits Times reported Wednesday.

A police statement said the three boys, aged 15 to 17, were arrested Monday after investigations showed they were the behind the theft of two school buses on an industrial estate.

The Eurozone crisis is the main risk facing Singapore's economy and financial system, the central bank said Wednesday, warning the city-state to brace for "a more adverse turn of events".

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said any sharp deterioration in the Eurozone, the city-state's biggest export market, could hurt economic growth and lead to a drying up of bank credit.

Britain is giving "increased emphasis" to its relationship with Asia and is expanding its diplomatic presence in the region, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday in Vietnam.

Hague, the first British foreign secretary to visit Hanoi in 17 years, said the two-day visit was part of a new drive to bolster the "very important" relationship between the two countries, particularly improving business ties.

Australian flag carrier Qantas is still considering Singapore as the base for a premium carrier in Asia, chief executive Alan Joyce said in a report published Monday.

Qantas' Asian plans, which it sees as key to its strategy of revitalizing its loss-making international business, were dealt a blow when talks with Malaysian Airlines over the premium joint-venture collapsed last month.

A cruise ship with about 1,000 people on board was drifting in waters south of the Philippines after a fire disabled its engines, the Philippine coast guard said Saturday. Five crew members were injured.

The fire on the Azamara Quest started late Friday, a day after the ship left Manila for Sandakan, Malaysia, and was immediately put out, said coast guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Algier Ricafrente. He said there were no other details about the incident.

Israel revealed that an attempt to assassinate Defense Minister Ehud Barak was foiled during his trip to Singapore on Monday, reported Kuwait’s al-Jarida newspaper on Thursday, in remarks swiftly denied by an Israeli defense official and Singaporean police.

High-ranking Israeli sources said: “A joint cell from Iran and Hizbullah plotted the attempt to kill the minister.”

China, the biggest buyer of Iran's oil, has publicly rejected U.S. sanctions aimed at Tehran's energy industry while American allies Japan and South Korea are scrambling to find a compromise to keep critical supplies flowing.

Beijing is buying less Iranian crude this month but analysts say China is unlikely to support an oil embargo. Instead, they say, the smaller purchases might be a tactic aimed at obtaining lower prices as the West squeezes Tehran.