MELBOURNE (REUTERS) – Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) state reported a fall in new daily coronavirus cases on Sunday (July 4), following two days of record infections this year, as officials implored Sydney residents to follow rules so they could end a lockdown next week. Australia’s most populous state recorded 16 new Covid-19 infections on […]

Good morning! Here are our top stories to kick-start your Sunday, July 4. Business travel scheme suspension in S’pore stretches on The scheme was suspended on May 28 during phase two (heightened alert) of Covid-19 measures. READ MORE HERE Empty beaches, eager hotel staff: First ‘Phuket Sandbox’ tourists roam resort island Before the pandemic, tourism […]

SINGAPORE – When Mr A. Muthucumarasamy was a prison officer in the 1970s, he played football with inmates and even started music bands for them. Those activities fostered bonds between inmates and distracted them from their gang affiliations, he said. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the full article. Get unlimited access to […]

SINGAPORE – With Covid-19 putting the brakes on tourism, local agency WTS Travel has been selling food, such as durian, on its e-commerce platform PinGo since last June. During the current durian season, it is selling Mao Shan Wang durian from $35 for a 400g box. It sells 500 to 600 boxes a week, with […]

KABUL (REUTERS) – As American troops left their main military base in Afghanistan on Friday (July 3), marking a symbolic end to the longest war in US history, locals living in the shadow of the base and in nearby Kabul were left ruing the past and bracing for what comes next. Violence has been raging […]

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (REUTERS) – A Pakistani police constable has been arrested over the murder of a man who was acquitted of blasphemy charges last year, a police spokesman said. Ahmed Nawaz told Reuters that Muhammad Waqas was hacked to death on Friday (July 2) in the central Pakistani district of Sadiqabad. He said the suspect, […]

SINGAPORE -Youth today need to be confident to call out things that don’t sit well with them, but they have to do it respectfully and constructively, said National Youth Council (NYC) member Brian Liu at a virtual panel discussion with 90 young people on shaping the Singapore Spirit on Saturday (July 3). Mr Liu, who […]

TOKYO — At least 19 people were missing on Saturday after heavy rainfall caused a mudslide that washed away homes and covered roads in debris in a resort town about 60 miles southwest of Tokyo, Japanese officials said. Police, fire and military personnel had begun a search-and-rescue effort in and around the coastal town, Atami, […]

MANILA (AFP) – More than 2,000 people have fled from a volcano eruption that has filled the air near the Philippine capital with toxic gas, officials said Saturday (July 3). Taal volcano, which sits in a picturesque lake, has been belching sulphur dioxide for several days, creating a thick haze over Manila and several surrounding […]

SINGAPORE – In the past, volunteers at Silat Road Sikh Temple used to serve up to 1,500 vegetarian meals daily as part of langgar, a sacred religious practice of catering food for visitors and devotees at Sikh temples. After renovation and refurbishment works that lasted close to a year wrapped up recently, the temple’s kitchen […]