BEIJING (REUTERS, AFP) – A partial lockdown was imposed on the Chinese capital Wednesday (Jan 20), with 1.6 million residents banned from leaving Beijing, after a handful of cases were detected. Seven cases were reported in the city, including six in southern Daxing district. All 1.6 million residents of Daxing must not leave Beijing unless […]
SINGAPORE – Changi Airport saw an 82.8 per cent drop in passenger traffic last year, according to statistics published on Wednesday (Jan 20) on the airport group’s website. Passenger traffic dropped from 68.3 million passenger movements through the airport in 2019 to 11.8 million in 2020. The airport was hit hardest during the circuit breaker […]
NEW DELHI (REUTERS, AFP) – India’s technology ministry has asked Facebook-owned WhatsApp to withdraw the changes to its privacy policy announced by the messenger earlier this month, saying the new terms take away choice from Indian users. “The proposed changes raise grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens,” the […]
DEPOK, Indonesia — The mother didn’t stop crying from the moment she arrived at the cemetery. In disbelief, she repeatedly clutched and kissed the wooden grave marker bearing the name of her daughter, Isti Yudha Prastika. “Mama waits for you every day,” she sobbed. “Why don’t you return home?” Ms. Isti, 34, was an off-duty […]
Good evening! Catch up on some of the main headlines on Tuesday, Jan 19. Pilot to reopen nightclubs, karaoke joints put on hold amid increase in Covid-19 community cases 2 nightclubs and 10 karaoke outlets were shortlisted for the pilot which was initially set to kick off this month. READ MORE HERE S’pore plans for […]
COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH (AFP) – Four Unicef schools for Rohingya children in refugee camps in Bangladesh have been destroyed in a fire, officials said on Tuesday (Jan 19), with the UN children’s agency calling it arson. It was unclear who might attack the schools, which were empty at the time, but the security situation in […]
QINGDAO (CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – A research team at Qingdao Agricultural University in Shandong province announced recently that it had succeeded in cloning a jungle cat. The university is the first in China to clone a feline using a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. Researchers said the technology of feline cloning is […]
MELBOURNE (REUTERS) – Heavy rains are expected to continue into the early autumn in Australia, although the 2020-21 La Niña weather pattern has likely peaked, the country’s weather bureau said on Tuesday (Jan 19). “The 2020-21 La Niña is likely to have reached its peak with respect to sea surface temperature patterns in the eastern […]
SINGAPORE – Multilateralism is far from perfect, but in a world where challenges such as Covid-19 are increasingly global and transborder in nature, Singapore has a role to play in helping the world build back stronger and stem the fraying of global cooperation. This was the conclusion drawn by a group of panellists on the […]
MANILA (REUTERS) – The Philippines is now free of the highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu virus, the Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday (Jan 19), citing a declaration by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). “As of Jan 8, the country is now free of the last remaining A(H5N6) strain of the avian influenza,” […]