Dream Cruises’ World Dream to cease operations; company currently assessing its ability to offer refunds

Dream Cruises' vessel World Dream, one of two ships that began cruises to nowhere pilots here in 2020, will cease operations after it returns to Singapore shores on Wednesday (March 2), with the operator saying it no longer has the financial capacity to keep it going. The death knell sounded on Monday has been anticipated and dreaded...

Rumours and fears as China tech hub Shenzhen under pressure to contain coronavirus outbreak

As new coronavirus cases reach fresh highs in Hong Kong, the neighbouring city of Shenzhen is also feeling the pressure to contain its worst outbreak fuelled by a new Omicron sub-variant. To help prevent transmission, Shenzhen has put cross-border drivers under greater scrutiny. From Tuesday (March 1), drivers must show a negative nucleic acid test result from...

South Korea rolls back Covid-19 vaccine pass as infections burden testing centres

South Korea will temporarily lift a requirement for vaccine passes or negative Covid-19 tests at a number of businesses to ease the strain on testing centres, authorities said on Monday (Feb 28), as the country faces a wave of Omicron infections. The move will allow public testing and health facilities to devote more resources to battling...

‘Delay means death’: UN climate report urges immediate, drastic action

Climate change is already disrupting billions of lives and humanity is not doing enough to limit the suffering, the United Nations (UN) climate science panel warned in a major report on Monday (Feb 28). Noting that nearly half the world's population was already vulnerable to increasingly dangerous climate impacts, the report calls for drastic action on...

Daily roundup: Family of 6 opens up about living with Covid-19 in a 2-room flat — and other top stories today

Stay in the know with a recap of our top stories today. 1. 'I can't afford to get infected': Family of 6 on living with Covid-19 in a 2-room flat As the unit's sole bedroom became his daughters' isolation room, the family tried to make do with the rest of the space they had 2. K-drama Squid Game wins big...

North Korea resumes missile tests with first launch in a month

A North Korea flag flutters next to concertina wire at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 9, 2017.Reuters file North Korea fired what could be a ballistic missile on Sunday (Feb 27), military officials in South Korea and Japan said, in what would be the first test since the nuclear-armed country conducted...

Hong Kong allows Covid-19 home testing as daily cases soar

Children rest at a community vaccination centre, after receiving a dose of Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine, following the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Hong Kong, China, on Feb 25, 2022.Reuters Hong Kong health authorities said on Saturday (Feb 26) they would adjust Covid testing procedures to allow some people to test from home to ease long...

Ukraine invasion: Malaysia says evacuation of diplomatic staff went according to plan

Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said the evacuation of its diplomatic staff in the under-siege Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Saturday (Feb 26) was part of a detailed plan previously endorsed by the country’s top leaders, and refuted claims that the effort was bungled. The South China Morning Post had reported based on multiple government...

Singapore to impose sanctions on Russia, will continue to take strong stance against invasion of Ukraine: Vivian Balakrishnan

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will also participate in the Asean Foreign Ministers' Retreat on Wednesday and Thursday.The Straits Times file Singapore will impose export controls on items that can be used directly as weapons in Ukraine to inflict harm or to subjugate the Ukrainians, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told Parliament on Monday (Feb 28). It will also...

ByteDance worker dies after collapsing at gym, again raising 996 discussion on Chinese social media

A young ByteDance employee in his late 20s died Wednesday (Feb 23) afternoon, according to two internal company memos seen by the South China Morning Post, which said the person collapsed after a workout at a company gym. The company, China's most valuable unicorn and the owner of short video platform TikTok, confirmed the authenticity of...