SINGAPORE – Flag carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) has started trials of a new service which will allow for quicker verification of Covid-19 test results, potentially paving the way for the introduction of vaccine passports. Rather than check health certificates manually for their authenticity, immigration staff will be able to scan a QR code using an […]
MANILA/SEOUL (REUTERS, XINHUA) – The Philippines and South Korea will temporarily suspend flights from the United Kingdom until the end of December over fears of a new strain of the coronavirus. All United Kingdom flights to the Philippines are suspended starting Dec 24 until Dec 31, the Philippines Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a […]
TOKYO (BLOOMBERG) – With agreements to secure more coronavirus vaccines than it needs and legislation to distribute it for free, Japan may seem to have its inoculation plans in place. Yet a tense public history with vaccines and a cautious approval process has some concerned over how quickly the country can return to normal. Japan […]
FILE PHOTO: People shop at The Grove mall in Los Angeles November 26, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in December, likely as a deterioration in the labor market amid renewed business restriction to slow the raging pandemic offset the rolling out of a vaccine for COVID-19. The Conference Board said […]
SINGAPORE – A court fight between the children of the man who founded Eng’s wanton noodles and a business partner fizzled out on Tuesday (Dec 22), with each side losing their respective claims against the other. But with a trademark dispute still before the court, the battle over the wonton mee business, which is known […]
SINGAPORE – The urgency in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a quickened process in developing, and approving, a vaccine, but experts say multiple steps have been taken to ensure that any vaccine rolled out in Singapore is safe. The first shipment of Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Singapore on Monday night (Dec 21), marking the […]
SINGAPORE – Many things about the coronavirus were still unknown in the first half of the year, but Singapore knew it had to act fast to secure Covid-19 vaccine doses for its people. This was even though some solutions were as novel as the pathogen itself – some vaccine candidates were being developed with new […]
SINGAPORE – More than 95,000 employers received over $1 billion in payouts under the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) this year to help them fund the wage increases for their Singaporean employees. The next tranche of payouts will take place in March 2021, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) […]
LAHORE, Pakistan (THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION) – When bulldozers began roaring in front of Shakeel Ahmed’s home in Lahore’s historic Anarkali district, he and his neighbours huddled together at a nearby shrine – despairing about the loss of their property and land. Like other families in the area, Ahmed, 40, said he was forced to sell […]
SINGAPORE – Seven more people have been arrested for their suspected participation in a rioting incident involving a deadly weapon in Clarke Quay last Saturday night (Dec 19), said the police on Tuesday. Six men, aged between 22 and 31, and a 22-year-old woman were arrested for several alleged offences in relation to the incident […]