World

SINGAPORE: In the dark of the night, sleep comes easy for most. But when he tastes defeat at a major tournament, six-time English Billiards world champion Peter Gilchrist remains wide awake. He's seen it all, done it all, won it all. But losing still stings, even after decades of competing. So, while others dream, his mind wanders back to what happened, and what could have been. "You put on a brave face, you could say: 'It doesn't really matter, it was a small tournament', that sort of thing. You make excuses," Gilchrist told CNA. "But it's in the night time when you can't sleep ... It shouldn't happen, but it does. You go through everything you got right, what you got wrong." Although it is part and parcel of being an athlete, defeat always tastes bitter, said Gilchrist. "I just ha...

SINGAPORE: Employers facing labour shortage should look to hire workers who held short-term COVID-19 roles, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng on Monday (May 9). This includes those who were employed as safe distancing ambassadors (SDAs) and vaccination centre workers. Speaking in Parliament about how companies can adapt to the manpower crunch amid the recovering economy, Dr Tan noted that resident employment grew by 71,300 in 2021. The resident unemployment rate has also recovered to pre-COVID levels. "I am encouraged to see that many businesses have been able to build up their local workforce to meet their manpower needs," he said, adding that there continues to be opportunities to hire more local workers. OPPORTUNITIES TO HIRE LOCAL WORKERS As of April this year, around 6,400 wor...

Rubble and ashes, overlooked by a single golden pagoda, are almost all that remain of the wood and brick houses most people had built for themselves in the quiet riverside village of Bin in the Buddhist heartland of central Myanmar. Bin is one of more than 100 villages partially or completely burned by Myanmar's military since the start of this year, its homes among more than 5,500 civilian buildings razed as troops try to suppress opposition to last year's coup, according to media reports collated by activist group Data For Myanmar. Dozens of satellite images reviewed by Reuters, supplied by US earth-imaging company Planet Labs and US space agency NASA, show widespread torching of villages in the central part of the country. The photos, largely confirming the local media reports, are am...

HONG KONG: To fight COVID-19, Hong Kong shut schools and businesses, nearly sealed its borders for two years, banned more than two people from gathering and quarantined whole buildings. Still, the draconian restrictions were unable to contain the coronavirus and with more than 8,600 deaths of mostly elderly, unvaccinated people, many just in the past two months, Hong Kong's citizens are reckoning with the costs of some of the world's most stringent social distancing rules on their mental health and livelihoods. Empty streets in the financial centre, shuttered restaurants and bars, and bare supermarket shelves are a testament to the disruptions Hong Kong's COVID-19 rules wrought on its people. Jacky Ip, 33, runs a Japanese sake bar in Kowloon across the harbour from the Central business ...

On Mar 4, the police warned against the re-emergence of the China official impersonation scam. In April, the police said there were at least 109 victims who lost a total of at least S$14.6 million since January to scammers impersonating Chinese officials. According to senior investigation officer Kor Ching Kiat with the Singapore Police Force’s (SPF) anti-scam command and commercial affairs department, the scammer first got in touch with Sam in late March, and made constant contact. “I think they swore him to secrecy and tried to isolate him from his family and friends," he said. "I think that will help to perpetuate the crime if they feel so helpless they have no other means but to really listen to these persons who are now impersonating government officials that they are the only per...

More than a year after Myanmar’s military took power in a coup, the civil conflict in the country shows no signs of easing. In fact, with opposition forces — ethnic armed militias with experience fighting the regime and more recently formed people’s militias composed of newly trained recruits — enjoying some success in encouraging military defections, targeting military units and utilizing urban guerilla tactics, the hostilities look likely to continue for a long time. The Myanmar junta has been accused of a wide range of atrocities since the coup, and the death toll and prison count since Feb. 1, 2021, is mounting. According to Reuters, “at least 1,500 people are known to have been killed in yearlong protests against the coup in Myanmar, with thousands more possibly killed in the armed ...

Millions of people took to the streets in the Philippines to force President Ferdinand Marcos from office in 1986 after a two decade reign in which thousands were killed under martial law, the economy contracted and government coffers were plundered - infamously symbolised by his wife Imelda’s extravagant shoe collection. Lately, however, the family has seen a resurgence in popularity, much of it driven by social media. Scion Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has been the front-runner to succeed another strongman, Rodrigo Duterte, as president in this year’s May 9 election. Yet the Marcos candidacy has also reopened some old wounds - and he could still be disqualified. WHO IS BONGBONG MARCOS? Bongbong, 64, is the only son of the former first couple. While in his 20s he was already governo...

1. Do your research Now, just because it's OK to ask for more money doesn't mean just walk in there and say, "I want a million dollars!" You have to do your research — know the typical pay range for this position. "Do plenty of research on the current job market," said Joseph DiNiso, a senior computer engineering student at Virginia Tech who will be working at Microsoft as a software engineer after graduation. Students should go into a salary negotiation "prepared with a desired salary," DiNiso said, based on the starting salary in your field. And, although "salaries will vary greatly, this number will give you a ballpark estimate of what you should be making and help you determine your salary goals." Joseph DiNiso, a senior computer engineering student at Virginia Tech who will be worki...

:Renault will transfer its 68 per cent stake in Russia's biggest carmaker Avtovaz to an auto research institute for one symbolic rouble, Russia said on Wednesday, the latest example of local institutions snapping up bargains as Western firms flee. The trade ministry also said Renault's factory in Moscow, which produces cars under the Renault and Nissan brands, would be passed to the city's government, in another sign of what Russian authorities plan to do with Western assets. The French carmaker and the French government, which owns a 15 per cent stake in Renault, both declined to comment on the deal, which was first reported by Russian news agencies citing Trade Minister Denis Manturov. The trade ministry said Renault would have the right to buy back its Avtovaz stake within five to si...

He added that regional tourists, such as those from Indonesia and Vietnam, are returning but they have not done so in large groups as well. Prior to the pandemic, China was the biggest source of tourists to Singapore, with 3.6 million of them visiting here in 2019. Indonesia was in second spot, with 3.1 million visitors in 2019. Mr Foo from Oriental Travel and Tours said that most of his agency’s tourists are now coming from Europe and the United States. “Previously, there were many tourists from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong which we don’t see coming to Singapore now," he said. With tourism here poised for a revival, businesses will have to learn how to adapt to longer term shifts in order to cash in, said experts. Mr Walton from Deloitte said that attractions that are “predominantly g...