SHANGHAI (REUTERS) – China reported its ninth consecutive day with no new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, as a major university in the city of Wuhan opened for face-to-face classes on Tuesday (Aug 25) for the first time in eight months. The daily update from national health officials, which provided data for Monday, showed the recent […]
Singapore has said it is committed to a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to illegal wildlife trafficking. In a move that was praised by environmental groups, the National Parks Board (NParks) crushed and incinerated close to 9 tonnes of confiscated illegal ivory from Aug 11 to Aug 13. Ivory, however, is just one of several […]
1 Blasts kill 15 in Philippines Two explosions rocked the insurgency-plagued town of Jolo in southern Philippines yesterday, killing at least 15 people, including a suspected suicide bomber. Suspicions fall on a faction of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group which was behind twin suicide bombings last year that targeted a Catholic cathedral, also in Jolo. […]
SINGAPORE – Changi Airport has launched its first online shopping campaign, as the coronavirus drives more retailers to introduce virtual platforms to cater to shifting shopping patterns. Its campaign runs for seven weeks, from now until Oct 11, on iShopChangi. It will feature weekly deals for nearly 9,000 tax- and duty-free products, such as electronics, […]
MUMBAI (AFP) – At least 70 people were feared trapped after a five-storey apartment building collapsed late Monday (Aug 24) in western India, police said. The building comprised 47 flats, police in the town of Mahad – 120km south of Mumbai – said in a statement. The cause of the accident was not clear but […]
SINGAPORE – Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung took to his social media accounts to express his gratitude for bus drivers and denounce passengers who abuse them. On Sunday (Aug 23), he wrote on his Facebook and Instagram pages: “We may live in uncertain times due to Covid-19 but that is no excuse for anyone to […]
LONDON (Reuters) – The dollar fell on Monday while European shares and riskier currencies gained, with some analysts attributing the pick up in sentiment to U.S. regulators approving a treatment for COVID-19 patients ahead of the Republican National Convention. More than 800,000 people around the world have died from the coronavirus, with the death toll […]
BANGKOK (NYTIMES) – In just four days, the reputation of a Buddhist monk who had spent decades fighting for the human rights of Cambodians was destroyed. First, grainy videos appeared on a fake Facebook page, claiming that he had slept with three sisters and their mother. Then a government-controlled religious council defrocked the monk for […]
SINGAPORE – For about five years, an administrative manager helped herself to money from the welfare association she worked for by taking the rent and event payments meant for it. To hide her deeds, the woman, Chin Nyuk Khuen, forged the association’s bank account statements by placing her own print-outs on top of an original bank […]
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – As serial defaulters Argentina and Ecuador near the finishing line on their latest sovereign debt overhauls, foreign creditors are nervy about investing again without macroeconomic reforms and International Monetary Fund support. On the surface, the prospects for both countries look brighter. Absent complicated negotiations with the IMF, a clean slate post-debt […]