World

“It’s also important to recognise that with all the measures that we put in place, we have been able to keep the serious cases low, manageable (and) ICU cases are manageable,” Mr Gan said. “But at the same time, the large number of cases also means that our hospitals are very, very busy. So, it’s important for us to ensure that the healthcare system is protected and allow the patients to be taken care of properly. “This will then give us more capacity to open up.” Mr Gan, who is also Trade and Industry Minister, acknowledged that it is important for the economy to continue on the path to living with COVID-19. Safe management measures, including safe distancing and group size limits, “put a strain” on domestic sectors like retail as well as food and beverage, he said. “It is also impor...

Global sports fans are enjoying their second pandemic Olympics in little more than six months. In the excitement of watching individual and team competitions among the world’s best athletes, one can almost forget that one or both Olympics might easily have been canceled. We urgently need to consider how to future proof the Games. With the Summer Olympics, Japanese public opposition, driven by the pandemic and mounting expenses, almost forced the Japanese government to cancel. It is hard to imagine most other democratic governments, including future Summer Games hosts Paris (2024), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032), being able to persevere in the face of such public opposition. For the Winter Olympics, China’s human rights record prompted strong calls in some countries to boycott. In ...

KHARKIV: Russian forces landed in Ukraine's second-biggest city on Wednesday (Mar 2) and triggered immediate clashes in the streets of Kharkiv, the military said, following Moscow's relentless air assault across the former Soviet state. At least 21 people were killed and 112 wounded in shelling in the last 24 hours, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said on Wednesday. The airborne operation came as US President Joe Biden branded Vladimir Putin a "dictator", warning the sanction campaign to cripple Russia's economy would escalate and its oligarchs were being targeted. In Biden's first State of the Union address, he hailed the resolve of the Western alliance and voiced solidarity with Ukraine as lawmakers in the US Congress gave a standing ovation to the Ukrainian people. "A Russian dicta...

A skier performs a jump during a contest as part of the "DXB Snow Week" at the Ski Dubai indoor resort. KARIM SAHIB | AFP | Getty Images DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Skiing in the desert might sound absurd, but in the heart of one of Dubai's busiest shopping destinations, Mall of the Emirates, this adrenaline-pumping pastime has been going strong since 2005. It's technically not real snow at Ski Dubai of course, yet this wintry wonderland remains hugely popular with tourists and residents who enjoy speeding down a 1,300-ft-long slope – or indeed tobogganing, bobsledding, ziplining, zorb balling, and hanging out with penguins. Boasting "fresh" snow all year long, the park is chilled to -24.8 degrees Fahrenheit and has even been named the world's best indoor ski resort for six years in a r...

DUBAI : Abu Dhabi-based crypto trading firm Hayvn is in talks with institutional investors to anchor a series B funding round that would value it at $400 million as it eyes an eventual initial public offering (IPO), its chief executive officer said. Hayvn, which raised $5 million in series A funding in 2021, hopes to raise $30 million in the series B round which it expects to close in about three months, CEO Christopher Flinos told Reuters. Crypto's move into the mainstream has gained pace, with large banks and companies starting to embrace it. Industry backers hope this will reduce digital coin price volatility. Series A funding usually secures cash for early development plans, followed by a Series B round to fund further expansion. Hayvn, which offers trading, custody, asset manageme...

TOKYO : Japan's factory output shrank for the second month in January as the auto sector grappled with production suspensions due to the pandemic, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine intensifying pressure on an economy facing the risk of a contraction. Even before the Ukraine crisis erupted, factories in the world's third-largest economy were struggling with global parts supply disruptions and coronavirus infections of the Omicron variant at home. "Car output decreased substantially due to a worsening chip shortage and supply bottlenecks," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. "That spilled over (into other industries such as) steel, which also fell." Factory output slumped 1.3per cent in January from the previous month, official data showed on Monday, h...

BANGKOK: Thailand and Malaysia agreed to expedite quarantine-free travels across the borders for travellers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Thai Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Friday (Feb 25) after meeting his Malaysian counterpart Ismail Sabri Yaakob in Bangkok. “We share the hope that fully vaccinated people will soon be able to travel between Thailand and Malaysia without quarantine, while following public health measures of both sides,” stated Gen Prayut during a joint press conference at the Government House in Bangkok. “Malaysia has called such channel ‘Vaccinated Travel Lane’ (VTL),” he added. According to the Thai prime minister, a joint working group will be set up to discuss guidelines for cross-border travels in order to expedite the reopening of bord...

"It is imperative to ensure that lifesaving medical supplies – including oxygen – reach those who need them," Tedros and Kluge said. Ukraine needs a 25% surge of oxygen supplies compared to the country's needs before Russia invaded last week, according to the WHO. The global health agency called for the establishment to create a safe transit corridor to increase oxygen supplies to Ukraine via a logistics route through neighboring Poland. "The oxygen supply situation is nearing a very dangerous point in Ukraine," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Europe Regional Director Hans Kluge said in a joint statement. "The majority of hospitals could exhaust their oxygen reserves within the next 24 hours. Some have already run out. This puts thousands of lives at risk," they said....

COLOMBO : In late November 2019, after winning Sri Lanka's presidential election and months ahead of a parliamentary ballot that would again test his popularity, Gotabaya Rajapaksa gathered his cabinet and made good on a campaign promise to slash taxes. The move, which included a near-halving of value added tax, blindsided some top central bank executives. "The tax cuts just after the elections came as a surprise," P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka's (CBSL) Senior Deputy Governor until September 2020, recalled. "There was not any kind of a consultative process," added Weerasinghe, who spent 29 years at the CBSL before retiring. The economic argument for the cuts was simple - to free up spending and boost Sri Lanka's ailing finances. A similar move by an administra...

The CIA has a secret, undisclosed data repository that includes information collected about Americans, two Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee said. While neither the agency nor lawmakers would disclose specifics about the data, the senators alleged the CIA had long hidden details about the program from the public and Congress. Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico sent a letter to top intelligence officials calling for more details about the program to be declassified. Large parts of the letter, which was sent in April 2021 and declassified Thursday, and documents released by the CIA were blacked out. Wyden and Heinrich said the program operated “outside the statutory framework that Congress and the public believe govern this collection.” There have long...