World

ATHENS: Greece will require customers at indoor restaurants, bars and cafes to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or have tested negative within the last three days, the government announced on Tuesday (Jul 13) to combat an infection surge. Under the new regulations, which will remain in force until August, all customers at indoor bars and restaurants will have to be seated. Those dining outdoors will not require proof of vaccination or a test. "It is crucial not to give the impression that we are losing control of the pandemic so that our tourism industry can go on and operate normally," Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis told a news conference. "The course of Greece's economy will hinge on how well we comply with the measures and control the pandemic." A governm...

The #BenderaPutih campaign underscores how Malaysians will go the extra mile to help each other out after widespread anger at the government says ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute's Serina Rahman. JOHOR: After more than one and a half years under some form of COVID-19 lockdown or another, the average Malaysian is worn-out and weary. In the past 16 months, more than 300,000 have lost their jobs in the retail sector alone, with 30 per cent of shops closed for good. The expectation is that 50 per cent of those who remain will also close if the lockdown is extended. The tourism, hotel and food and beverage (F&B) sectors have also been battered. As of March 2021, 100 hotels had closed permanently. More than 90 per cent of small, medium and informal entrepreneurs (SMEs), which account for the ...

BANGKOK: The popular resort island of Phuket in southern Thailand reopened to international tourism on Thursday (Jul 1) after COVID-19 halted arrivals for more than a year. Tourists are no longer required to undergo any quarantine if they have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus in their country for at least 14 days and test negative upon arrival. “Tourists will have to wait for the result in their hotel room. If it’s negative, they’re free to go,” said Phuket Tourist Association president Bhummikitti Ruktaengam. "They can travel freely but it has to be within Phuket. If they wish to visit other parts of Thailand, they need to spend at least 14 days in Phuket first." Also known as the Pearl of the Andaman Sea, Phuket became the first province in Thailand to welcome back i...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported a new daily record of 9,180 new COVID-19 cases on Friday (Jul 9) with nearly 960 patients in intensive care as the country remained under its third nationwide lockdown. Malaysia’s previous new daily case record was on May 29 when it saw 9,020 infections. The country’s previous high of 952 critically ill patients was on Thursday. Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said that Selangor recorded the highest number of new cases at 4,400, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 1,271 cases. There were also 899 infections in the neighbouring state Negeri Sembilan. A further 406 cases were identified in Sarawak and 315 in Johor. A resident receives food from a delivery worker through barbwire at Segambut Dalam, Malaysia on Jul 4, 2021. (Photo: AP/...

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s economic recovery remains intact despite a “stumble” in the second quarter, economists said following the release of preliminary economic data on Wednesday (Jul 14). Advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) showed the economy contracting 2 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, reversing from the first quarter’s 3.1 per cent growth. On a year-on-year basis, however, the economy grew 14.3 per cent in the April to June quarter, helped by a low base in the same period last year when gross domestic product (GDP) plunged by 13.3 per cent due to the COVID-19 “circuit breaker”. The dip in the quarter-on-quarter figure was due to the tightening of public safety measures under the "Phase 2 (Heightened Alert)" that lasted ...

Despite its increased use and popularity in Singapore, Bitcoin has several characteristics that make it unsuitable for use as a transactional currency, say Hannah Yee-Fen Lim and Boh Wai Fong from NTU. SINGAPORE: We see increasing interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as the price of Bitcoin rallied and crashed, showing an almost ten-fold increase in price over a one-year period. Bitcoin is to date the highest valued or most expensive cryptocurrency in the world having grown by 276 per cent in the last year alone, well ahead of others such as Ether used on the Ethereum network. It peaked in April this year before crashing to almost half its value in June. Singapore investors, too, are keeping a sharp eye on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, with traditional institutions such as...

BANGKOK: The inter-governmental Mekong River Commission (MRC) has urged China and Southeast Asian countries to share more data on hydropower operations that can contribute to abnormal rises and falls in water levels on the vital waterway. The changes in water levels have affected navigation, river ecosystems and riverbank stability in the region, where tens of millions depend on the Mekong for their livelihoods. In a report released on Wednesday (Jun 30), the MRC said hydropower dams were holding back water at the start of this year's dry season, but releases were partially triggering higher-than-average water flows in the first five months of this year. Dry conditions in the past two years continue to adversely impact seasonal water flows and interrupt the flooding cycles on the To...

The pandemic has raised uncomfortable questions regarding whether digital transformation will displace workers, fuel wage gaps and weaken data protections, says Professor Lee Jong-Wha. SEOUL: The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition to a digital economy, which will hold the key to future growth and opportunities. That is why, as we prepare for the post-pandemic era, we must acknowledge that the digital economy’s potentially limitless benefits will not be equally distributed unless we take the right steps now. Mobile devices, the internet, cloud computing, and other innovations have created a hyper-connected global space in which billions of people can work and pursue more dynamic ways of life. Digital platforms have changed the way we consume, work, and create economic ...

SINGAPORE: A scientist with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) admitted in court on Monday (Jul 5) to committing various obscene acts including exposing himself to three women. Xie Danpeng, a 31-year-old China national, pleaded guilty to four charges including trespass, sexual exposure and dishonest misappropriation. Another two charges will be considered in sentencing. The court heard that Xie targeted two women at a condominium in the southern part of Singapore on Apr 12, 2020. One of them, aged 37, was going home after hanging out some laundry when she saw Xie masturbating in the common area between 8am and 9am. The woman took a video of him. Xie kept on the obscene act while staring at her. Alarmed, she ran home. The woman showed her employer the video sh...

Jack Dorsey creator, co-founder, and Chairman of Twitter and co-founder & CEO of Square speaks on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention, a crypto-currency conference held at the Mana Convention Center in Wynwood on June 04, 2021 in Miami, Florida. As bitcoin and ether remain in the red on Monday, here are five things worth knowing in crypto from the past week – from Jack Dorsey confirming Square is building a bitcoin hardware wallet to TikTok banning cryptocurrency promotions. 1. Sen. Elizabeth Warren gives the SEC a deadline for answers on crypto regulation On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., addressed a letter to Gary Gensler, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), calling for more crypto regulation. "As demand for cryptocurrencies has grown in rec...