SINGAPORE – The police will restrict the use of data collected by Singapore’s national contact tracing programme TraceTogether to “very serious offences”, said Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam on Tuesday (Jan 5). Such data had been used once in a murder investigation, Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative Vivian Balakrishnan revealed to the House. […]
SINGAPORE – About 4,000 people who applied for the Covid-19 Support Grant (CSG) have been rejected, as the Ministry of Social and Family Development could not verify their employment details. Minister of State for Social and Family Development Sun Xueling said this on Tuesday (Jan 5) in response to Ms Carrie Tan (Nee Soon GRC), who […]
JAKARTA (BLOOMBERG) – President Joko Widodo is set to get vaccinated against the coronavirus on Jan 13, which would kick off Indonesia’s inoculation programme. Mr Joko, who is commonly known as Jokowi, will receive the shots along with public and army representatives as a way to build confidence in the vaccines, said Mr Heru Budi […]
BEIJING (REUTERS) – China urged calm and restraint on Tuesday (Jan 5) after Iran said it had resumed 20 per cent uranium enrichment at an underground nuclear facility, which breaches a 2015 nuclear pact with major powers, including China. The enrichment decision, Iran’s latest contravention of the accord, coincides with increasing tension between Iran and […]
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia expects to pay less than $270 million to Singapore for the termination of the high-speed rail (HSR) project, said a Cabinet minister who was deeply involved in discussions on the project. Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy), was referring to remarks in the Singapore Parliament on […]
SINGAPORE – Two large “rui shi”, or guardian lions, have been installed on the lawn of the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in Balestier to mark the start of its annual festival welcoming the Chinese New Year. A 2.5m tall white lion has his paw on an embroidered ball, symbolising authority, while an equally […]
SEOUL (REUTERS) – South Korea’s foreign ministry is reviewing whether a senior diplomat would be visiting Teheran on Sunday (Jan 10) as planned, an official said, after Iranian forces seized a South Korean-flagged chemical tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew. The incident comes amid tensions between Teheran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen […]
SINGAPORE – Overall electricity demand in Singapore is expected to have fallen by between 2 per cent and 4 per cent last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but energy use is expected to rebound as the economy recovers and grows. Singapore wants to green its energy mix as this happens, but is also taking […]
PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Malaysia’s King Abdullah Ahmad Shah has personally driven his family to Maran, a town in his home state of Pahang, to meet the victims there as floods triggered by incessant downpour forced more than 19,000 people out of their homes across Peninsular Malaysia. Sultan Abdullah was seen taking […]
TOKYO (REUTERS) – A Japanese government decision on a state of emergency in and around Tokyo will be made this week, a top official said on Tuesday (Jan 5) – a move derided by citizens as too little, too late, especially in a nation set to host the Olympics. Chief Cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato told […]