World

Singapore reports 202 new COVID-19 cases; 6 infections in community
7Jul By News DeskNo Comments
China, Singapore, World

Singapore reports 202 new COVID-19 cases; 6 infections in community

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 202 new COVID-19 cases on Monday (Jun 29), including six cases in the community, said the Ministry of Health (MOH). The community cases involve four Singaporeans and two work permit holders. Among the Singaporeans, one had already been quarantined as he had been in contact with a previous case linked to the Leo dormitory cluster. Another two cases were detected as part of MOH's screening of people working at dormitories or frontline COVID-19 operations. "Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining (Singaporean) case," said MOH. The tally of COVID-19 cases in Singapore stands at 43,661. Most of the new cases daily are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, with 196 infections reported on Monday. Three ne...
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Greece is ‘ready to welcome tourists’, says prime minister
7Jul By News DeskNo Comments
China, World

Greece is ‘ready to welcome tourists’, says prime minister

FIRA: From the emblematic island of Santorini, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Saturday (Jun 13) that Greece is "ready to welcome tourists" in complete safety after the coronavirus lockdown, whose impact on tourism will be "significant". "Greek tourism is back," said Mitsotakis, two days before the reopening of the tourist season. The return of tourists to Greece from around 30 countries by air, sea and land, begins on Monday. "Everything is ready in terms of making sure that we ensure the proper social distancing guidelines, said Mitsotakis, adding that safety and health is "our number 1 priority". "We want visitors to feel safe. I am not interested in making Greece the number one destination in Europe. I am interested in making Greece the safest destination in Eu...
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India says officer, 2 soldiers killed in ‘violent faceoff’ on Chinese border
7Jul By News DeskNo Comments
China, USA, World

India says officer, 2 soldiers killed in ‘violent faceoff’ on Chinese border

NEW DELHI: An Indian officer and two soldiers were killed in a "violent faceoff" with Chinese troops on the contested border, the Indian army said on Tuesday (Jun 16) following weeks of rising tensions and the deployment of thousands of extra troops from both sides. Brawls and face-offs flare on a fairly regular basis between the two nuclear-armed giants over their 3,500km frontier, which has never been properly demarcated, but no one has been killed in decades. The Indian army said that there were "casualties on both sides", but Beijing made no mention of any deaths or injuries as it swiftly laid the blame squarely on India for the incident. "A violent face-off took place yesterday (Monday) night with casualties on both sides. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an office...
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Vietnam, Philippines denounce China military drills in disputed waters
7Jul By News DeskNo Comments
China, World

Vietnam, Philippines denounce China military drills in disputed waters

HANOI: Vietnam and the Philippines on Thursday (Jul 2) criticised China's holding of military drills in a disputed part of the South China Sea, warning it could create tension in the region and impact Beijing's relationship with its neighbours. Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said China's exercises in the waters near the Paracel Islands were "highly provocative", while Vietnam's Foreign Ministry called them a violation of sovereignty that could be "detrimental" to Beijing's relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). China scheduled five days of drills from Wednesday near the Paracels according to a Jun 27 announcement by the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration. Vietnam has overlapping claims with China over the Paracels. Vietnam and the Phi...
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Tibet’s only soccer club folds over altitude dispute
7Jul By News DeskNo Comments
China, USA, World

Tibet’s only soccer club folds over altitude dispute

Tibet's first and only professional soccer team has become the latest in a string of Chinese clubs to fold, following a row over hosting matches in one of the highest cities in the world. Lhasa Chengtou played only two games in the Tibetan capital — which sits at an oxygen-sucking altitude of 3,650 meters — and on both occasions the referee had to suspend play every 15 minutes to let the players breathe bottled oxygen, Xinhua news agency said. The demise of the club, just three years after it was founded, is a blow to the ruling Communist Party's hopes of having a team in the professional leagues to make Tibetans feel more integrated into China. Lhasa Chengtou finished last season 26th of 32 teams in China's third division and had been playing its home matches thousands of kilometers aw...
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Credit Suisse CEO sees things ‘going in right direction’
7Jul By News DeskNo Comments
Market, World

Credit Suisse CEO sees things ‘going in right direction’

ZURICH: Business conditions are improving after a tough start to the year, Credit Suisse Chief Executive Thomas Gottstein said in a presentation released on Wednesday (Jun 10). "Those early indications that we have seen now in the last couple of weeks have been actually quite promising and going in the right direction. We clearly had a lot of stress in the system in the second half of March but things really calmed down in April and they continue to be quite robust in May and June," he said in an audiocast for a Goldman Sachs conference. "So far, so good. Clearly we expect very bad economic data for Europe and the US for Q2 but overall actually if I speak to my colleagues on the corporate banking side in Switzerland, to my colleagues in investment banking, we actually see high engage...
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Malaysia reports 16 new COVID-19 cases, including 3 imported infections
6Jul By News DeskNo Comments
World

Malaysia reports 16 new COVID-19 cases, including 3 imported infections

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 16 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday (Jun 21), taking the national total to 8,572. Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were no new fatalities, with the death toll remaining at 121. Of the 16 new cases, three were imported infections while 13 were locally transmitted. The imported cases comprise two Malaysians and one permanent resident. Of the 13 locally transmitted cases, nine were non-Malaysians while the remaining four were Malaysians, Dr Noor Hisham said. Regarding the nine non-Malaysian patients, six were from the Pedas cluster in state of Negeri Sembilan while two were close contacts of a case from a cleaning services company cluster in Selangor. The remaining case was an individual from the Tawau Temporary Detenti...
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SIA rolls out enhanced COVID-19 safety measures as travel set to take off again
6Jul By News DeskNo Comments
Singapore, World

SIA rolls out enhanced COVID-19 safety measures as travel set to take off again

SINGAPORE: Enhanced safety measures for Singapore Airlines (SIA), SilkAir and Scoot flights are being rolled out to protect passengers and crew amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the airlines announced on Sunday (Jun 7). This comes as travel is set to pick up again, with the resumption of more flights this month and transit operations recommencing at Changi Airport. From Monday, passengers on all SIA Group flights will be given a kit with a surgical mask, anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitiser when they travel, said SIA in a news release. An enhanced cleaning process has also been implemented for aircraft and lounges, said the national carrier. SIA said it was also looking to trial an ultra-violet light cleaning procedure on the ground for its lavatories before every flight. Passe...
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U.S. aircraft carriers hold joint drills after ASEAN lambastes Beijing over South China Sea
6Jul By News DeskNo Comments
Singapore, World

U.S. aircraft carriers hold joint drills after ASEAN lambastes Beijing over South China Sea

Two U.S. aircraft carriers kicked off joint exercises in the Philippine Sea on Sunday, a day after Southeast Asian leaders delivered some of their strongest remarks opposing Beijing’s claim to virtually the entire South China Sea on historical grounds. The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Groups began the drills to bolster the United States’ “responsive, flexible, and enduring commitments” to mutual defense agreements with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, the Navy said in a statement. The dual carrier exercises also came exactly a week after the Nimitz and another carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt conducted their own joint operations in the area. It is rare to see three U.S. aircraft carriers operating at the same time in the Western Pacific and even more unusual...
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As China’s global media influence grows, so does the pushback
6Jul By News DeskNo Comments
World

As China’s global media influence grows, so does the pushback

The Chinese Communist Party and various Chinese government entities have long sought to influence public debate and media coverage about China around the world, a trend that has accelerated in recent years. Over the past month, a number of news reports and investigations, often by local journalists, have highlighted new evidence of how Chinese government-linked actors impact global information flows via propaganda, censorship, surveillance and control over infrastructure. In response, various governments and technology firms have taken steps to undermine the negative effects CCP influence has on media and internet freedom. This article calls attention to some of these new developments. In Southeast Asia, Thailand’s cash-strapped media companies are increasingly relying on Chinese state me...
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