PRESS DIGEST - Singapore newspapers - Oct 2

SINGAPORE, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The following are stories from Singapore newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

THE STRAITS TIMES

- Singapore wants to buy 650,000 more courses of bird flu drug Tamiflu to add to its stock of 1.05 million courses of Tamiflu and 50,000 courses of Relenza, also a bird flu drug.

With the new purchases, Singapore will have enough bird flu drugs to treat 1.5 million patients. - The president and chief executive of Global Testing Corp. (GTCL.SI), Paul Yang, has been asked by the firm's board to take an indefinite leave of absence over alleged improper payments.

- Changi Airport is mulling the possibility of having off-site check-in facilities at hotels, allowing travellers to pick up their boarding passes and hand over their luggage hours before flight time without having to go to the airport.

BUSINESS TIMES

- The 17 members of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines carried 3.7 percent fewer passengers in August than a year earlier, amid visa controls in the lead-up to China's Olympics and a slowdown in Japan. This followed a 0.5 percent drop in passengers in July.

As a result, Asia Pacific carriers filled just 76.7 percent of seats in August, below the international average of 79.2 percent.

- The outlook for developers here could get worse, with write-downs on asset values possible, Credit Suisse said.

The bank said CapitaLand (CATL.SI) could write down as much as S$200 million ($139.5 million) on its Farrer Court and Char Yong Gardens projects as the estimated selling prices of these projects are expected to be below the breakeven prices.