WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told lawmakers that U.S. mail system is losing $10 billion a year and urgently needs reform and legislative relief from Congress. “I would suggest that we are on a death spiral,” DeJoy told the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform committee at a hearing Wednesday, who did […]
BANGKOK (REUTERS) – A Thai court on Wednesday (Feb 24) sentenced 14 political leaders to jail, including three incumbent Cabinet ministers, after finding them guilty of insurrection during anti-government protests that culminated in a 2014 military coup. The court found 26 of 39 defendants guilty, a lawyer for the group said, for actions that included […]
SINGAPORE – Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh has called for closer scrutiny of government expenditure and more transparency on the outcomes of Budget initiatives, adding that this has become even more critical with tax revenues being squeezed and increased spending expected in the years ahead. “With a tighter fiscal environment in the years ahead, […]
MANILA (REUTERS) – The Philippines’ top diplomat on Wednesday (Feb 24) defended a new order requiring all international aid for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to be cleared with the foreign ministry, saying the aim was to stamp out funding for terrorism. “It doesn’t affect legit NGOs,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said on Twitter. “It is […]
MANILA (REUTERS) – The Philippines health ministry said on Wednesday (Feb 24) that it will investigate the illegal use of unauthorised Covid-19 vaccines, after a presidential adviser admitted to receiving shots of a Sinopharm vaccine smuggled into the country. Mr Ramon Tulfo, a celebrity radio and television host and special envoy to China, revealed in […]
SINGAPORE – The Health Ministry has instructed vaccination providers to adhere strictly to medical protocols, to ensure staff administering Covid-19 jabs do not repeat the mistake last month which saw a Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) staffer receive the equivalent of five doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 24), Senior […]
SHAH ALAM (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – The founder of dating site Sugarbook has been charged at the Magistrate’s Court in Malaysia over the publication of a post about “sugar babies” with intention to cause public fear. IT entrepreneur Chan Eu Boon, 34, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read out to him before […]
BEIJING (AFP) – China has dramatically increased its prosecution of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang through the formal court system, handing out long prison terms for dubious charges such as “picking quarrels” and giving gifts to overseas relatives, a rights group said on Wednesday (Feb 24). These criminal convictions are in addition to the detention of […]
HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan pledged HK$120 billion (S$20.4 billion) of fiscal support targeted at consumers and the unemployed to help boost an economy emerging from two years of recession. The counter-cyclical measures include spending vouchers of HK$5,000 for each resident and HK$15 billion of guaranteed loans for those without […]
SINGAPORE – The last four members of a 12-person group who spent a day on Lazarus Island last year in breach of Covid-19 rules were fined $3,000 each on Wednesday (Feb 24). British nationals Helen Ann Sullivan, 31; Joshua Adam Roth, 31; James Riby Oram Trimming, 31; and Edward John Joseph Lee-Bull, 33, pleaded guilty […]