Pope will travel to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore in longest trip of papacy
Vatican City AP Pope Francis will visit Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore in September, the Vatican announced Friday, confirming the longest trip of Francis’ papacy that is sure to test his health, stamina and mobility. The Vatican confirmed the 2nd to 13th September visit, saying the 87-year-old Pope would visit Jakarta, Indonesia; Port […]
Britain’s Prince visits Singapore for Earthshot environmental prize
SingaporeReuters Britain’s Prince William attended the annual Earthshot Prize ceremony on Tuesday, which £1 million to each of five green innovators working on projects including a cleaner lithium-ion battery and ocean conservation. “The light of optimism is burning bright in our Earthshot finalists,” Prince William said at the ceremony in Singapore. Britain’s Prince William meets […]
Nearly a third of domestic workers in Malaysia in forced labour conditions – UN agency
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaReuters Nearly a third of migrant workers employed in domestic households in Malaysia are working under forced labour conditions, according to a survey released by the United Nations’ labour agency on Thursday. The International Labour Organisation identified conditions such as excessive working hours, unpaid overtime, low wages, restricted movement, and being unable to […]
Rising bottled water consumption signals safe drinking water goal is under threat, says UN thinktank
Reuters Surging global bottled water consumption reflects the failure by governments to improve public water supplies which is putting the UN sustainable development goal of safe drinking water by 2030 under threat, a UN academic think tank said on Thursday. The bottled water market saw 73 per cent growth from 2010 to 2020, and consumption […]
Family members reunite in China after three-year COVID separation
Singapore/Shanghai, China Reuters Chu Wenhong would fly back to Shanghai and visit her parents at least once a year after she moved to Singapore in 1994. But she hasn’t been able to do so in the past three years due to China’s signature zero-COVID policy, which involved mass PCR testing, city-wide lockdowns and quarantining all […]
Snapshot: Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
See NANBO WANG’s image…
A tightening grip: Rising online crackdowns across Asia target citizens, Big Tech
SEN NGUYEN and RINA CHANDRAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on how new laws on content are restrict users’ freedom on social media in Asian nations…
Floods isolate Australian wheatbelt towns; Singapore joins rescue efforts
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Hundreds of properties in Australia’s south-east, scrubbed and cleaned two weeks ago after major flooding, were inundated again on Thursday as officials issued fresh evacuation orders while Singaporean rescue specialists arrived to aid relief efforts. Rural towns in the southwest of New South Wales state are the worst hit in the latest deluge […]
Wow!: Asian innovators fight online hate, lies as tech giants fall short
RINA CHANDRAN and LEO GALUH, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on initiatives to tackle misinformation, hate speech and abuse in Asia…
Pelosi set to visit Taiwan despite China warnings, sources say
Taipei, Taiwan/Beijing, ChinaReuters US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was set to visit Taiwan on Tuesday, three sources said, as the United States said it wouldn’t be intimidated by Chinese threats to never “sit idly by” if she made the trip to the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. Pelosi, who began an Asia trip […]