Australia’s most-populous state of New South Wales reported eight new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, while neighbouring Victoria’s tally increased by three, as new measures to combat the disease kicked in.The NSW outbreak started around mid-December in Sydney’s Northern Beaches area, where a quarter of a million people are in strict lockdown until January 9. Cases associated with the cluster now total 148.A smaller cluster in the west of the city, linked to a different genome sequence, has 13…
Chinese-Indonesians in the Netherlands still feel the pull of home
Entrepreneur Huihan Lie, 42, grew up in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Groningen and found it “just strange” when he realised he was the only student of Chinese descent in his class who spoke fluent Dutch and had an Indonesian background – compared with some other students at his school or in his village who had migrated from mainland China and had parents speaking Mandarin or other Chinese languages at home with them. His Surabaya-born father and Jakarta-born mother had migrated to the…
Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani and Reliance fined US$5.5 million for share-trading violation
India’s market regulator ordered billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his conglomerate Reliance Industries to pay a combined penalty of 400 million rupees (US$5.5 million) for allegedly violating share-trading rules about 13 years ago.In its order dated January 1, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said Reliance and its agents operated to allegedly earn undue profits from the sale of shares in Reliance Petroleum, a former unit, in both the cash and futures markets. Reliance Industries…
What coronavirus? Bangkok luxury hotels push new openings despite lack of foreign tourists
Pandemic-related travel restrictions have plunged Thailand’s tourism industry into crisis – but the doom and gloom has not stopped new hotel openings in Bangkok, particularly at the high end of the market.There were at least a dozen high-profile hotel openings in 2020, with one recently rebranded property offering club rooms for as little as 1,222 baht (US$40) the week before Christmas. Others like Capella Bangkok – which opened in October and has the highest rack rates in the capital, starting…
Foreign residents of Japan breathe sigh of relief on latest coronavirus measures
With coronavirus infections persisting in Japan, Frenchman Eric Fior, who owns a language school in Yokohama, decided several months ago to scrap all plans for a year-end overseas holiday. “It became quite clear even in the spring that this thing was not going to be over in a couple of months and so I took a summer holiday here in Japan and I’m just spending time with my family over Christmas and New Year,” he said. While he and other foreign nationals holding work permits in Japan have…
Coronavirus: India prepares to test vaccine delivery system; Singapore bans visitors from South Africa
India will test its Covid-19 vaccine delivery system with a nationwide trial on Saturday as the South Asian nation prepares to roll-out an inoculation programme to stem the world’s second-worst outbreak.The federal health ministry has reviewed preparedness and asked state governments to ensure the effectiveness of the programme, the government said in a statement Thursday.Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a speech on Thursday the country was preparing to give indigenously manufactured shots…
Post-Brexit pinch points in UK-Ireland trade disputes
Brexit as an event will cause disputes related to trade between the UK and Ireland, and the Brexit process will make those disputes more complicated in three main areas: the service of proceedings; jurisdiction, and enforcement.
North Korea gears up for party congress to discuss US policy, Biden
Thousands of maskless North Korean delegates have gathered in Pyongyang for what appears to be the imminent eighth congress of the ruling Workers’ Party, in preparation for a meeting that will set the country’s policy direction for the next five years. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said a ceremony had taken place in the capital on Wednesday to award certificates to the delegates who would take part in the congress. It did not give an exact date for the event, but in 2016 it…
Coronavirus: Singapore identifies two people who may be infected with new strain
Two people in Singapore who came back from the UK have been preliminarily tested to have a new Covid-19 strain that is circulating there, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.One of the people that initially tested positive for the potentially more contagious virus strain is a Singapore Airlines pilot, who travelled to the UK for work from December 19-22. While his test taken on December 23 came back negative, he developed a fever three days later and was confirmed to have Covid-19 on…