SINGAPORE – A new team has been set up to focus on improving the health of ethnic minority groups here, starting with the Malay community. The Ministry of Health said on Friday (March 5) that the group, which was formed in February this year, will design “culturally relevant programmes and help rally the community against […]

The father, a Christian, was upset that his 16-year-old daughter had been ordered to wear an Islamic head scarf at her public school in Indonesia. He met with the school’s vice principal and protested the rule. And he didn’t stop there: He streamed their conversation on Facebook Live. “This is a requirement,” the vice principal, […]

Good evening! Catch up on some of the main headlines on Friday, March 5. S’pore set to raise penalties for sex crimes, offender’s qualifications shouldn’t matter: Shanmugam “You shouldn’t be able to come to court and say you have a bright future,” said the minister. READ MORE HERE Healthcare subsidies to be revamped so those […]

SINGAPORE – More than 60,000 coronavirus cases have now been recorded in Singapore after another nine were confirmed at noon on Friday (March 5). The new infections – which take the Republic’s confirmed case count to 60,007 since the start of the pandemic – were all imported, said the Ministry of Health (MOH). It said […]

By Vivian Wang China is requiring some travelers arriving from overseas to receive an invasive anal swab test as part of its coronavirus containment measures, a move that has outraged and shocked several foreign governments. Japanese officials said on Monday that they had formally asked China to exempt Japanese citizens from the test, adding that […]

YANGON (REUTERS) – Alphabet Inc’s YouTube has removed five channels of Myanmar’s military-run television networks hosted on its platform in the wake of the coup in the South-east Asian country. “We have terminated a number of channels and removed several videos from YouTube in accordance with our community guidelines and applicable laws,” a YouTube spokesman […]

SINGAPORE (THE NEW PAPER) – A mere four seconds was the difference between Mr Sito Rong Feng walking unscathed into his kitchen and being hit by a sliding glass door as it shattered into smithereens. When the wedding photographer had the close shave last month, his first thought was the safety of his 15-month-old twin […]

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) – China plans to step up oversight of financial holding companies and the nation’s booming fintech industry, Premier Li Keqiang said, setting the tone for closer scrutiny over the next five years of behemoths including Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. The authorities will also expand an anti-monopoly crackdown and prevent the “unregulated” expansion […]

TOKYO (REUTERS) – Japanese supercomputer simulations showed that wearing two masks gave limited benefit in blocking Covid-19 viral spread compared with one properly fitted mask. The findings in part contradict recent recommendations from the US Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that two masks were better than one at reducing a person’s exposure to […]

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s maritime sector can expect $20 billion in investments from industry players by 2024. This will create more jobs here, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Chee Hong Tat on Friday (March 5). The number of maritime tech start-ups will also more than triple from 30 to 100 by 2025, while a new […]