Month: March 2020

Facebook said on Friday it was shutting its London office and part of its Singapore base for “deep cleaning” after an employee in the Asian city state was diagnosed with coronavirus.A staff member working at the US technology giant’s Marina One office in Singapore was on Friday diagnosed with Covid-19, a spokesman said.“We have immediately closed the affected areas for deep cleaning and advised employees based in the affected area to work from home until March 13,” he said in an emailed…

The global march of the new virus triggered a vigorous appeal from the World Health Organisation on Thursday for governments to pull out “all the stops” to slow the epidemic, as it drained colour from India’s spring festivities, closed Bethlehem’s Nativity Church and blocked Italians from visiting elderly relatives in nursing homes.As China, after many arduous weeks, appeared to be winning its epic, costly battle against the new virus, the fight was revving up in newly affected areas of the…

Serena Somsack said she did not know what she and her six children would do if her family was broken apart by deportation. Somsack, 32, a US citizen, would lose her husband. Her children would lose their father.“It would just be a tremendous loss for [any] of the families to lose a mum or a dad,” Serena Somsack said.Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has aggressively pursued deportations.In 2018, the Trump administration sanctioned Laos to pressure the Southeast Asian country to…

Japan has far more at stake than its athletes picking up medals in the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games and Paralympics, which explains the government’s single-minded commitment to going ahead with the event in the face of the threat posed by the novel coronavirus.The Japanese government on Wednesday morning reiterated that the Games would go ahead in July as scheduled, with chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga declaring that preparations were continuing despite the spread of the virus worldwide…

Malaysia’s total number of coronavirus cases rose to 50 on Wednesday as it confirmed 14 new patients, its largest one-day jump, linked to a local cluster that also infected seven people the day before.The new cases, all Malaysians, were found to have been in close contact with “Patient 26”, a top official at Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah who also serves on the board of a government-linked company.Health Ministry director general Noor Hisham Abdullah described Patient 26 as “an…

Workers snap the miniature rocket’s wings into place as Indonesia’s little-known space agency readies its latest launch on barren scrubland in East Java.With a 3,2,1 blast-off, the two-metre-long projectile belches a trail of fire and then soars a few hundred metres before crashing in a heap – earning a thumbs up from scientists who declared the test a success.It’s a very long way from a Mission Control in Houston, but the Southeast Asian archipelago’s answer to Nasa has big hopes and is now…

German police on Tuesday raided more than 30 properties in seven states as part of an investigation into suspected people smugglers who had brought over 150 Vietnamese into the Western European country illegally.The raids focused particularly on the capital, Berlin, where flats, beauty salons and restaurants in three neighbourhoods were searched, according to a federal police spokesman.“Contact points” of the smuggling ring in the states of Saxony, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate,…

Officially, rape hardly happens in Myanmar and domestic abuse is non-existent. The reality? Violence against women is so pervasive it is regarded as normal – and as a result – woefully under-reported, says lawyer and activist Hla Hla Yee.“Domestic abuse in Myanmar is regarded as a family matter and even if it is reported, the police fail to take action,” she explains, adding that many still view it as a normal part of marriage that women must endure.The UN has warned violence against women and…

Singapore reported two new cases of coronavirus on Monday, bringing the country’s total to 108 with 78 recovered and discharged.The new patients are a 68-year-old Singaporean woman who is linked to a previous case and visited Indonesia last month, and a 34-year-old Filipino woman who is a domestic worker and is thought to have contracted the virus from her employer, the city state’s ministry of health said in a statement.It reported four new cases on Sunday, three of whom were part of a new…

Malaysia reported four new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, including a trainee nurse and an employee of the sovereign wealth fund, while neighbouring Singapore also reported four new cases.All of the new cases in Malaysia, bringing the country’s total to 29, were among Malaysian nationals, one of whom had travelled to China while another had travelled recently to Milan, northern Italy, the health ministry said.The nurse, a 20-year-old who had come into close contact with a previous patient…