SINGAPORE – Almost everyone who sat mandatory assessments to use their electric scooters and power-assisted bicycles (PABs) in public areas have passed the tests. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that as at 5pm on Thursday (July 1), about 96 per cent of the 177 people have done enough to receive their certification. E-scooter and […]
MANILA (REUTERS) – Philippine volcanologists raised on Thursday (July 1) the alert status of a volcano near the Philippine capital, after it spewed a one-kilometre high phreatomagmatic plume of gases and steam. The alert for the Taal volcano, about 70km south of central Manila, was raised to level three from level two that “means that there is […]
China’s rise is unstoppable, Xi Jinping declared. The country will not be lectured. And those who try to block its ascent will hit a “Great Wall of steel.” Mr. Xi, the most powerful Chinese leader in generations, delivered the defiant message in a speech in Beijing on Thursday that celebrated 100 years of the Chinese […]
SINGAPORE – The former principal of a childcare centre was fined $3,000 on Thursday (July 1) for conspiring to dupe the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) into disbursing grants worth $2,700 in total in 2016. Fatimah Bivee Mohd Shariff, who was then employed by the now-defunct Faith Educare chain, did not benefit directly from the […]
SINGAPORE – Popular local attraction Haw Par Villa reopened on Thursday (July 1), after a nine-month closure for upgrading. The theme park in Pasir Panjangwas closed in October last year for works that included enhanced night lighting, and ventilation for the 10 Courts of Hell diorama. Conservation work was also done on the sculptures. The […]
SINGAPORE – The next relaxation of Covid-19 measures is expected on July 12, as part of a three-step plan for the country’s further reopening that could potentially see the Republic transitioning to a new normal, as well as leisure travel returning by the end of the year. “Come July 12, we are looking at opening up […]
SEOUL (REUTERS) – What may be the most significant reshuffle of top North Korean officials in years by leader Kim Jong Un serves as a warning to the ruling elite, analysts say, including those he accused this week of causing a “great crisis”with coronavirus lapses. Kim called a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of […]
SYDNEY (REUTERS) – At Bruce Willett’s general practice near the locked-down Australian city of Brisbane, the phone is running hot as younger people book AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccinations after the government suddenly changed policy to free up use of the drug. Four months into a vaccine rollout sold as the way to reopen the country, the […]
SINGAPORE – A critically endangered, black-and-white monkey that is native to Singapore has been sighted in the Bukit Timah area for the first time in more than 30 years. The Raffles’ banded langur was previously thought to be found only within the Central Catchment Nature Reserve after the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) was built in […]
SINGAPORE – A man who resigned from his job last July forged a letter claiming that he had been retrenched to dupe the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) into disbursing the Covid-19 Support Grant. Benny Ong Hong Beng was unsuccessful as the ministry was able to detect that the letter was a forgery. […]