SYDNEY (REUTERS) – Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the first meeting of the leaders of “Quad” countries would discuss security challenges across the Indo-Pacific, climate change and efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the region. US President Joe Biden and the prime ministers of Australia, India and Japan will hold an online […]
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Thursday (March 11) denounced China’s approval of sweeping changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system, saying Beijing was stifling democracy in the financial capital. The rubber-stamp parliament’s move is “a direct attack on Hong Kong’s economy, its freedoms and democratic processes,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. The […]
Health Check Ep 56: How a mother’s well-being can have a large impact on her baby 27:52 mins Synopsis: This is a fortnightly podcast series on Wednesdays by The Straits Times that aims to help you make sense of health matters that affect you. In early March 2021, the Ministry of Health announced during the debate on […]
BEIJING – China’s GDP goal this year of over 6 per cent is not a low target, says Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as he defended criticism that the figure set was too modest given widely-held forecasts of between 7 and 10 per cent. The government is “keenly aware” of the uncertainty facing the country’s economic […]
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s securities regulator is mulling a higher bar for initial public offerings (IPO) on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR Market, seeking to deter a wave of applicants with little involvement in the technology sector, said a person familiar with the matter.FILE PHOTO: A sign for STAR Market, China’s new Nasdaq-style tech board, is seen […]
MYANMAR (REUTERS) – Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi accepted illegal payments worth US$600,000 (S$805,000) plus gold while in government, a junta spokesman said on Thursday (March 11). Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun added that the information had been verified, and that President Win Myint, plus several Cabinet ministers, had also engaged in corruption and the President had pressured […]
BEIJING – Chinese lawmakers on Thursday (March 11) voted nearly unanimously to change Hong Kong’s electoral system in yet another move demonstrating Beijing’s tightening control over the city. Deputies at the National People’s Congress (NPC) passed the proposal with 2,895 votes for, none against and one abstaining and broke into nearly a minute of sustained […]
HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – A coronavirus outbreak at a Hong Kong gym has spread to international schools and other fitness centres, while positive cases also appeared in the banking community just as the city was emerging from a prolonged round of social restrictions and venue closures. The flare-up is linked to a 27-year-old trainer from […]
It was in September last year that India overtook Brazil to emerge as the second-worst-hit country in the Covid-19 pandemic. The country even seemed poised to overtake the United States in November, but infections began plummeting mysteriously to around 10,000 cases a day. Today, infections are surging again, but even at the height of the […]
TOKYO (BLOOMBERG) – Plump, shiny and priced at an eye-popping US$10 (S$13.40) each, premium strawberries are helping one Japanese town to recover from the effects of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which destroyed almost all of its agriculture a decade ago. The coastal town of Yamamoto, a five-hour drive north of Tokyo, is home to […]