Author: viking

A massive power outage at the Woodlands checkpoint in Singapore caused a heavy traffic jam on most major roads leading to the Malaysian checkpoint in Johor Bahru on Wednesday.
Although all counters were operating at optimum level at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex in the southern state of Johor, the jam lasted for many hours due to a build-up of vehicles from the Singapore side.
It is learnt that the issue started at about noon on the Singapore side. A…

The refund is small – 10 Singapore cents (8 US cents) per bottle – for each return under Singapore’s Beverage Container Return Scheme (BCRS). But the uproar is big.
Since BCRS reverse vending machines became fully operational on October 1, Singapore’s social media has been flooded with videos and posts criticising people for raiding bins and holding up others by returning containers by the bag-load.
A recent controversy was sparked by a post on October 28 showing two town council workers…

Disposition, confidence and opportunity are much more important than age when it comes to how someone uses legal technology, according to a recent study.

Indonesian authorities have arrested three people for allegedly tapping President Prabowo Subianto’s phone, according to police on Tuesday, with media reports suggesting one of the suspects may be a senior official.
Prabowo, who took office in 2024, has come under increasing pressure for his government’s handling of the economy and destructive wildfires in the Southeast Asian archipelago.
Top detective Asep Safrudin identified the suspects only by their initials, LSP, ASN, and EH, and said they…

A German tourist was among two men still missing on Tuesday after a landslide struck a glamping resort on the island of Bali in Indonesia.
Heavy rains on Sunday afternoon caused the landslide, which struck the Eco Park Pelaga Glamping Retreat in Petang district at around 11pm, The Bali Times reported. Three tents collapsed while a fourth fell into the Tukad Yeh Kilap River and was swept away by the currents.
The 4-hectare (10-acre) property, which houses 25 tents, sits on a steep cliff beside…

The UK government has progressed plans to tighten regulation of the cosmetic procedures sector in England, proposing new restrictions on who can carry out a range of high-risk treatments and introducing criminal penalties for providers that fail to comply.

Japan’s ⁠government and ruling coalition ⁠are considering nearly doubling defence ⁠spending over the next five years as part of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s push to strengthen the country’s military capabilities, according to two people familiar with the matter.
If adopted, defence build-up spending for the five years ‌from April 2027 would be set at 70 trillion to 80 trillion yen (US$457 billion to US$508 billion), up about 1.8 times from the roughly 43 trillion yen allocated under the…

Singapore is pitching itself as a bridge between the European Union (EU) and Asean, as the two blocs continue their protracted discussions to seal a free trade agreement (FTA).
However, Myanmar’s political uncertainty is a major hurdle towards an EU-Asean FTA, and Singapore will have to play a key role to break the deadlock when it assumes the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year, according to an analyst.
At a joint press conference with German Chancellor…

Tens of thousands of volunteers helped raise 108 Buddhist stupas in Bhutan on Sunday, marking the Himalayan kingdom’s ambitious plans for a “mindfulness” city aimed at driving economic growth.
The 15-metre tall solid towers – sacred Buddhist monuments found across the Himalayas – stretch along 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) of riverbank near the Indian border, at the site of the future Gelephu Mindfulness City.
More than 40,000 volunteers took part in building the structures as “a physical form of…

Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook has dismissed a recent claim on social media that students were forced to serve alcohol at an old boys’ association reunion and centenary dinner, calling the allegations a politically motivated attack against him.
The DAP secretary general, who is also a former student of St Paul’s Institution, claimed the individual who allegedly uploaded the post had been looking for every possible opportunity to attack him.
“In the social media post, the…