SINGAPORE – More integrated Housing Board blocks that mix rental and purchased flats are in the pipeline, as they provide the opportunity to enhance inclusiveness within housing estates, said Minister of State for National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim. Around 1,300 public rental flats now under construction across Singapore will be progressively completed by 2025, said […]
KABUL (REUTERS) – The Taleban said on Saturday (Aug 28) it would announce a new government for Afghanistan in the coming week and expected the economic turbulence and sharp currency falls that followed their take-over of the city two weeks ago to subside quickly. Zabihullah Mujahid, the movement’s main spokesman, made the comments to Reuters […]
KABUL (AFP) – Order replaced chaos at Kabul airport Saturday (Aug 28) with Taleban fighters escorting a steady stream of Afghans from buses to the main passenger terminal, handing them over to US troops for evacuation. Gone are the tens of thousands clamouring to get inside the airport grounds in the hope of getting aboard […]
ISTANBUL (REUTERS) – An Afghan woman on board an evacuation flight to Britain gave birth to a baby girl early on Saturday (Aug 28) with assistance from the cabin crew, Turkish Airlines said in a statement. Soman Noori, 26, started having contractions during the Turkish Airlines flight from Dubai to Birmingham, and gave birth as […]
Evacuation flights from the airport in Kabul began winding down on Saturday as the United States prepared to withdraw its remaining troops from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan amid continued threats of terrorist attacks. Britain’s evacuation of its citizens was ending on Saturday, and the country was beginning to bring its remaining troops home, Nick Carter, the chief […]
MANILA (REUTERS) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has lifted a moratorium on casino operations in the country’s top holiday island to generate taxes for its Covid-19 pandemic response, his spokesman said on Saturday (Aug 28). The firebrand leader has had a longstanding opposition to gambling, halting the construction of new casinos in the Philippines, one of […]
SINGAPORE – Getting his students to cultivate a love for the Malay language involved imparting some lessons in Malay traditions. Mr Mohamed Fazil Aris, a senior Malay language teacher at Woodlands Secondary School, said Secondary 3 students have to learn to play the angklung, an Indonesian musical instrument, and wrap nasi lemak in banana leaves […]
KABUL (AFP) – In the days since taking power in Afghanistan, a wide range of Taleban figures have entered Kabul – hardened commandos, armed madrassa students and greying leaders back from years of exile. There has been one major exception – the group’s supreme leader. Hibatullah Akhundzada – the so-called commander of the faithful – […]
The day after one of the deadliest suicide attacks in Afghanistan’s history, crowds still gathered at Kabul’s airport. “People are trying to leave the country at any price.” By Adam Nossiter Hundreds of Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban continued to crowd Kabul’s airport Friday, even after one of the deadliest bombings in the country’s […]
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – A US warship and a US Coast Guard cutter sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Friday (Aug 27), the latest in what Washington calls routine operations through the sensitive waterway that separates Taiwan from China, which claims the self-ruled island. The passage comes amid a spike in military tensions in the past […]