More than a dozen Indonesian McDonald’s outlets were temporarily closed on Wednesday over virus fears as the chain’s new BTS meal deal sparked frenzied buying from fans in the K-pop mad country.Jakarta and several other cities slapped closure stickers on at least 13 outlets that were deluged with online food delivery drivers picking up a meal set named after the hugely popular Korean boy band.“We temporarily closed four of six McDonald’s stores here in Semarang for a couple of days,” said Fajar…
FCA introduces rule to protect customers from insurance ‘loyalty penalty’
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has introduced a remedies package aimed at improving competition in the insurance market, while ensuring that existing customers do not pay more than new ones.
As Nurul Izzah Anwar joins the critics, could Penang South Reclamation project be stopped?
Malaysia’s severe Covid-19 situation may be front and centre of public attention, but in the northern state of Penang, state administrators are contending with a separate headache as a debate against a multibillion-dollar island-building plan once again rears its head.Environmentalists contend that the 4,500 acre blueprint for the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project, also known as BiodiverCity, will have a devastating impact on marine ecology and insist it is not necessary given vast tracts…
Singapore coronavirus sequencing shows delta variant, first found in India, is major local strain
Covid-19 sequencing in Singapore has revealed the emergence of the delta variant as the country’s major local virus strain, underscoring the highly infectious nature of the mutation that has proliferated globally since its first detection in India.Of these cases to date, 449 have been found to be caused by variants of concern, among which 428 were infections of the delta strain, said the country’s health ministry. The next largest group was nine cases linked to the beta mutation that first…
NI employers should consider Covid vaccination policy
Employers in Northern Ireland should develop a policy around Covid-19 vaccination ahead of the return of staff to the workplace which takes wider public health measures into account, the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) has said.
Why Biden has been a disappointment to Southeast Asia so far
“They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing,” French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord once reportedly lamented in response to the House of Bourbon’s inability to learn from even recent history. Soon, France was gripped by another revolution, led by Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew, which swept away the ancien régime for good.Two centuries later, the world’s reigning superpower has exhibited a similar inability to learn from even what it remembers perfectly. And it’s in Southeast…
South China Sea: Philippines should legislate ‘gains’ of arbitral win, group says
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte should legislate the “gains” of the country’s 2016 arbitral win over its South China Sea claims to end the “impasse” between Beijing and Manila, three legal experts said, weeks ahead of the fifth anniversary of the ruling.Ties between the countries have been strained over China’s increasingly assertive claims over the resource-rich waters, with the swarming of 200 Chinese boats in Philippine waters in February sparking heated exchanges between officials…
Iranian companies may not benefit from court opinion on EU blocking statute
An opinion upholding Iranian companies’ rights under a statute designed to limit the impact of US secondary sanctions within the EU may not have much practical impact – although at first sight it appears beneficial for Iranian businesses.
Apec ministers pledge to expedite transit of coronavirus vaccines
Distribution of coronavirus vaccines was top of the agenda in Asia on the weekend as trade ministers, diplomats and politicians held a series of meetings amid surges in cases throughout the region.In a joint statement on Saturday, Apec trade ministers agreed to ease movement of Covid-19 vaccines and other medical supplies but stopped short of removing tariffs on the goods.“[We] are united behind the essential role of trade in tackling the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and in enabling a…
Coronavirus: Philippines stops nurses from working abroad; Vietnam PM wants eased restrictions
The Philippine government suspended the sending abroad of nurses, and their assistants and aides because the annual limit of 5,000 health care workers deployed has been reached.The processing of permits for the medical workers has been suspended immediately, Bernard Olalia, head of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, said in a June 1 statement posted on the agency’s website.The Philippines, which sends thousands of medical staff overseas to work every year, is seeking to…