Wednesday, 13 Nov 2024

Asia

Asia News – Get latest breaking news & top stories today in Asia, South-East Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Australia/New Zealand at…

Didi denies reports that Beijing city is coordinating companies to invest in it

BEIJING (REUTERS) – China’s ride hailing giant Didi Global Inc said on Saturday (Sept 4) that media reports that the Beijing city government is coordinating companies to invest in it are not correct. “Didi is currently actively and fully cooperating with cybersecurity probe, foreign media reports that Beijing city government is coordinating companies to invest […]

CBD hawkers to get much-needed income boost through new group-buy scheme

SINGAPORE – Hawkers in the Central Business District will get a much-needed income boost under a new pilot scheme that aims to channel business to stalls, even as meals are donated to a good cause. The Adopt-a-Hawker Centre programme by DBS Bank was launched at Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market and Food Centre on Saturday morning (Sept […]

Top Afghan TV network stays on-air despite fear of Taliban

KABUL (AFP) – As Taliban fighters entered Kabul on the evening of August 15, executives at Afghanistan’s biggest independent TV network had a tough decision to make: stay on-air or go dark. Tolo kept broadcasting, but like the rest of the country’s TV and radio stations, it now faces a tough and uncertain future under […]

Beyond 'Chinese privilege', S'pore's fight against racial discrimination continues

SINGAPORE – Whenever an apologetic Madam Susan Wong asks for help filling up forms at job interviews, she gets this incredulous response: “You don’t know English?” The 59-year-old Singaporean, who studied up to primary six in a Chinese-language school, has worked odd jobs all her life while raising three daughters in a one-room flat. Please […]

Religious Harmony Act prompted by rising fervour

SINGAPORE – The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act was passed by Parliament in 1990 and came into force two years later. Concerned by the rising religious fervour and the mixing of religion and politics globally, as well as the harmful impact these trends could have on Singapore, then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew mooted the idea […]

Can racial harmony in Singapore be fostered by law?

SINGAPORE – On Wednesday, a 44-year-old man pleaded guilty to a harassment charge for hurling racist, xenophobic insults at a bus driver last year. Another case involving race heard in court that day involved a 69-year-old taxi driver and two National Environment Agency officers. The driver was jailed two weeks and fined $2,000 for using […]

Emerging market corporate bond sales scale record high this year

(Reuters) – Emerging market firms have flocked to bond markets to cash in on low interest rates and have raised a record amount of money to fund expansion plans as they look beyond the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. Companies in developing nations have raised a record $249 billion in the first eight months of this […]

LTA to improve transport system to deal with future challenges

SINGAPORE – The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is looking into ways to build a transport system that can cope with challenges that may arise in future, and to develop new solutions to improve the current system. One key move is to improve the electric vehicle charging infrastructure, with the first 620 charging points in public […]

Evening Update: Today's headlines from The Straits Times on Sept 3

Good evening! Catch up on some of the main headlines on Friday, Sept 3. S’pore to maintain current Covid-19 measures, will rely on vaccination and testing to move ahead The multi-ministry task force will only tighten measures as a “last resort”, to keep the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. READ MORE HERE Covid-19 booster shots […]

New variant of interest, Mu, unlikely to make Covid-19 waves, say experts

The World Health Organisation upgraded the Mu mutation of the coronavirus to a variant of interest (VOI) on Monday (Aug 30). But experts say it is unlikely to overtake the Delta variant of concern (VOC), which now accounts for more than 90 per cent of sequenced infections globally in the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, executive […]