SINGAPORE – A group of more than 10 Bukit Timah residents rolled up their sleeves and spent Sunday morning (July 19) helping to trim some 1.5 hectares of overgrown grass around Housing Board blocks in Toh Yi. Many are newcomers who had moved in just two months ago and hope to show their appreciation for the warm […]
KUALA LUMPUR – When Malaysia entered a partial lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic on March 18, Malaysians were still coming to grips with a new government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yasin following weeks of political imbroglio. Comic artist Ernest Ng, like many Malaysians, needed a catharsis. He decided to capture the humour of […]
KUALA LUMPUR – The government has launched a Buy Malaysian Products campaign and will dedicate some streets around the country to sell only local products, such as clothes and handicraft, to help sellers rebound from post-lockdown blues. Launching the campaign on Saturday (July 18) in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said: “I call upon […]
MANILA (AFP) – Indian ship worker Tejasvi Duseja is desperate to go home after months stranded offshore by coronavirus border closures and lockdowns that have left more than 200,000 seafarers in limbo. From engineers on cargo ships to waiters on luxury cruise liners, ocean-based workers around the world have been caught up in what the […]
SINGAPORE – Over $4 billion under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) will be paid out to 140,000 employers from July 29 to help them retain their workers. This will help businesses to pay the wages of some 1.9 million local employees in total, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Sunday (July 19). With this […]
SINGAPORE – Other parts of the world may be experiencing scorching summers but Singaporeans have been donning rainy-day gear. Rainfall and a particularly wet June have brought cooler weather. This is expected to persist throughout July, with the mercury dipping to 22 deg C on some days and more rainfall than the past fortnight, the […]
HONG KONG (AFP) – Hong Kong’s status as a bastion of press freedom is in crisis as authorities toughen their line against international media and fears grow about local self-censorship under the city’s sweeping new security law. For decades the former British colony has been a shining light for journalists in Asia, lying on the […]
WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) – Finance officials from the Group of 20 countries on Saturday called for all official bilateral creditors to implement fully a short-term debt freeze for the world’s poorest countries, but stopped short of extending the initiative into next year. Sources briefed on the G20 meeting said there was strong support for extending the […]
ISLAMABAD (AFP) – A Pakistani court approved the relocation of a lonely and mistreated elephant to Cambodia on Saturday (July 18) after the pachyderm became the subject of a high-profile rights campaign backed by music star Cher. Kaavan was kept in chains at Islamabad Zoo and exhibited symptoms of mental illness, prompting global outrage over […]
TOKYO – Popular Japanese actor Haruma Miura died on Saturday (July 18) at age 30 in a suspected suicide, sending shockwaves through the country’s entertainment scene. Mr Miura, a former child actor who made his stage debut at the age of four and television debut at seven, was found to have hung himself in a […]