In China, buying trafficked women and children gets less jail time than buying illegal plants or animals

If you buy illegal plants or their by-products in China, you could be jailed for up to seven years. Buying endangered animals could result in life imprisonment or death. But for someone found guilty of buying a trafficked woman or child , the maximum jail term is three years. And if the court rules that the...

S’porean man, 22, names exact spots in India by looking at map without border lines on quiz show

  Maximilian Zeng, a 22-year-old Singaporean man, has wowed the socks off viewers of quiz show University Challenge by demonstrating his immense memory and knowledge of geography with his quick-fire answers to questions pertaining to maps.   He was on the Imperial College team that beat King’s College 235-50 in the long-running quiz show in January 2022. His prowess in identifying...

About 500 couples in Singapore planning to get married on 22/02/2022

Seems like the most romantic date of the year is Feb 22, or 22/02/2022, as many couples rush to make it their wedding date. In fact, about 500 couples are planning to get married on this unique, auspicious date. Since it is a once-in-a-lifetime date, it is understandable why many people would want to tie the knot on such...

WHO asks rich nations to pay ‘fair share’ of $22 billion Covid-19 funding gap

The World Health Organisation has called for rich countries to pay their “fair share” of a US$16 billion (S$22 billion) shortfall to fund tools it says could end the emergency phase of the Covid-19 pandemic this year. Launching an appeal for funding together with several national leaders on Wednesday (Feb 9), WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus...

New North Korea nuclear, ICBM testing would trigger instant crisis, South Korea’s president says

A resumption of North Korea's nuclear weapon or long-range missile tests would "instantly" send the peninsula back into crisis, outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in said this week, calling for measures to prevent that from happening. A record month of North Korean missile testing in January highlighted failures of Moon's efforts to engineer a breakthrough as...

China’s parents use communication boot camps to learn how to teach kids

As China’s culture of various aspects becomes increasingly competitive, children’s education is a top priority for many families. Worried Chinese parents are enrolling themselves in various communication boot camps on parent-child relationship to learn how to interact with and teach their children better. Ming Xu, 42, mother of three children, aged three to 10, felt concerned and...

COP explains why Pritam Singh’s misconduct deserves further investigation

The lies told by Leader of the Opposition and Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh to a parliamentary committee set up to look into the conduct of his party's former MP Raeesah Khan could amount to perjury, a serious criminal offence, said the committee in its report released on Thursday (Feb 10). Given the seriousness of the...

World’s glaciers contain less ice than thought: Report

The Rhone glacier and the source of the Rhone river are seen on an autumn day in Obergoms, Switzerland, on Oct 25, 2021.Reuters Advances in satellite technology have revealed that the world's glaciers contain significantly less ice than previously thought, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience on Monday (Feb 7). The revised estimate reduces global sea level...

North Korea calls for economic growth, improved lives despite ‘complicated problems’

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a meeting of the politburo of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, North Korea on Jan 19, 2022 in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Jan 20, 2022.KCNA via Reuters North Korea's parliament pledged to develop the economy and improve people's livelihoods in the...