Ashley Madison, website that helps people cheat on their partners, banned in Singapore

SINGAPORE has banned a dating website that caters for people looking to have affairs, before its planned launch in the conservative city-state.

SINGAPORE has banned a dating website aimed at people already in relationships before its planned launch in the conservative city-state.

The Ashley Madison website "aggressively promotes and facilitates extramarital affairs," the Straits Times daily quoted the government's Media Development Authority as saying.

"It is against the public interest to allow Ashley Madison to promote its website in flagrant disregard of our family values and public morality. We will therefore not allow Ashley Madison to operate in Singapore and have worked with the internet service providers to block access to the site," it said.

The move followed reports that the website was planning to launch in Singapore next year.

Canada-based Ashley Madison, which promotes itself with the slogan "Life is short. Have an affair," operates in Australia, North America and Europe, and has this year expanded into Japan and Hong Kong.