Just one year after opening its first casino, Singapore has emerged as Asia’s hottest new gambling capital with a revamped cityscape and billions of dollars pouring into the economy.

“Singapore has made a dramatic entry to the casino gaming market,” financial consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a report estimating the city-state’s casino gaming market at $2.8 billion in 2010.

The first casino opened in Malaysian-controlled Resorts World Sentosa on February 14, 2010, with US-based Las Vegas Sands following two months later as the world economy was still clawing itself out of recession.

125 years of Mercedes-Benz heritage is celebrated as hundreds of vehicles come to life and make a pilgrimage to greet the new family members.

A parade of 100 modern and vintage Rolls-Royce cars made their way through central London on Sunday.

It is a significant milestone in the 107-year history of Rolls-Royce marking 100 years to the day since the Spirit of Ecstasy design was first registered as a trademark.

Since then the graceful flying lady has adorned the prow of every Rolls-Royce model throughout the generations.

Qantas has again been lauded for its on-board wine selection at the annual Cellars in the Sky Award ceremony, held February 3 in London.

The Australian flag-carrier, which took four awards last year, won a total of six at this year’s airline wine tasting event, including Best First Class White, First Class Red and First Class Sparkling, as well as Best Business Class Cellar, Best First Class Cellar and Consistency of Wines Across Business and First Class.

The competition has been running since 1985 to determine the highest quality fine wines available in Business and First Class on board the world’s flights.

A bar at Switzerland’s Zurich Airport has been named as the best airport bar in the world at the Airport Food and Beverage Awards, held in Manchester earlier this week.

The Center Bar, which stretches along one side of Zurich’s departure terminal, beat contenders that included Harry’s Bar, an open air lounge on the roof of Singapore’s Changi Airport, and Saji Bumi at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Bars at Brussels Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport shared the prize for the best wine bar category, with the Beaudevin Wine and Tapas bar winning in Belgium and Vino Volo taking the prize in the US.

French fashion label Givenchy showed its haute couture collection exclusively on Asian models, demonstrating to what extent Asia has moved to fashion’s forefront.

Inspired by Japanese Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohn, the lightweight dresses featured clear Asian style elements such as structural shapes, warrior-inspired headgear by Philip Treacy, and folding techniques.

Declared “works of art” by the likes of fashion journalist Suzy Menkes, the dresses took an accumulated 6,000 hours to create.