A cargo ship docked at a port south of Sydney last month carried a highly unusual product: wheat. The shipment from Canada was a surprising event for Australia, which has long been one of the world’s biggest grain suppliers. But a severe drought in eastern Australia has caused a sharp decline in exports and supplies. […]

HEFEI, CHINA (XINHUA) – An explosion at a chemical factory in Bengbu, in east China’s Anhui Province, during the rescue of a worker trapped in a storage tank, has killed two people and injured nine others, the local emergency response authority said on Sunday (June 30). The accident occurred at around 6pm on Friday at […]

US President Donald Trump has met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), an area that divides the two Koreas. Mr Trump became the first sitting US president to step foot in North Korea after crossing the demarcation line. Mr Kim said their meeting was a symbol of their “excellent” friendship. Mr […]

PANMUNJOM, SOUTH KOREA (AFP) – Mr Donald Trump and Mr Kim Jong Un’s first two summits were highly choreographed affairs, but their third date was an unscripted event seemingly arranged on a social media whim – and threatened at times to descend into chaos. Mr Trump admitted he did not know whether Mr Kim would […]

SINGAPORE – A 24-year-old male motorcyclist died in a multiple-vehicle accident on the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) on Saturday (June 29). The police said they were alerted to the accident at 12.32pm involving three cars, a tipper truck and a motorcycle along the AYE towards the Marina Coastal Expressway. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead by paramedics […]

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Armed Forces’ new Special Operations Command Centre (SOCC) will be operational by the end of this year to plan, monitor and coordinate counter-terrorism operations, especially in cases of multiple attacks in multiple areas. Sited at the commando headquarters at Hendon Camp in Loyang, the SOCC will be the main command centre […]

NEW DELHI (REUTERS) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (June 30) pushed for greater grassroots water conservation efforts amid concerns weak monsoon rains would push millions of drought-hit people to the edge and hammer agricultural production in Asia’s third-biggest economy. The monsoon season is responsible for around 70 per cent of India’s annual […]

SINGAPORE – Full-time national servicemen (NSFs) have been operating unmanned aerial vehicles on board Singapore’s naval vessels, a role previously undertaken only by regulars. With improvements in technology, soldiers of other Physical Employment Standards (PES) have also been deployed at an operations centre for naval base defence, a post previously manned only by combat-fit servicemen, […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s opposition Labour Party is interested in a plan to replace inheritance tax with a lifetime tax on all gifts from parents to their children over a certain threshold, its finance chief John McDonnell said on Sunday. Media reports have suggested Labour could introduce a new lifetime tax on all gifts above […]

SINGAPORE – Seniors living in Nee Soon South can savour their morning cup of kopi-o kosong for much less from this week. Every Wednesday morning, those in the Merdeka and Pioneer generations will pay 50 cents – instead of around $1.10 – for their kopi-o kosong or teh-o kosong at coffee shops in the ward. […]