Facebook blocked the page of an anti-government website in Singapore on Tuesday after a demand from authorities but slammed the “disproportionate” use of a controversial law against online misinformation.The widely criticised legislation gives ministers powers to order internet platforms and websites to put warnings next to posts they deem false, and also order that pages be blocked in the tightly regulated city state.Political website States Times Review (STR) – which regularly posts articles…
Singapore orders Facebook to block access to States Times Review’s page under ‘fake news law’
Singapore’s Communications and Information Minister S Iswaran has issued instructions for Facebook to be ordered to disable access for users to the States Times Review’s (STR) Facebook page.In a media statement on Monday, the ministry said Iswaran had instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to order the social media giant to take this action under Section 34 of Pofma, which took effect last October.STR’s Facebook page has repeatedly conveyed…
Philippine airport syndicate has sweet deal for Chinese nationals looking to work illegally
A syndicate at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport is providing priority entry into the Philippines for Chinese nationals who bribe immigration officials with wads of cash, a senator revealed on Monday.The group operates with such impunity that it uses tabulated payrolls to track income and how much should go to individual immigration agents. The cash is openly distributed in neat envelopes arranged in boxes.According to senator Risa Hontiveros, who presented CCTV footage and testimony…
Coronavirus: Singapore confirms three new cases, taking total number of infections to 75
Three new cases of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 have been confirmed in Singapore, while another patient has been discharged from hospital.Two of the new cases are linked to the cluster at Grace Assembly of God, which now has 18 cases. The other new infection is linked to a previous case.The total number of confirmed cases in Singapore is now 75, while 19 have recovered, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a media statement on Sunday.Of the 56 confirmed cases still in hospital, most are…
Singapore budget expected to include tax hike and Covid-19 relief package, with yearly deficit projected
Singapore is set to unveil its biggest annual budget since 2009 on Tuesday, one that is expected to include a goods and services tax increase to offset a substantial spending package that includes a coronavirus relief package.All told, economists estimate that Budget 2020 could incur a deficit of almost S$8 billion (US$5.78 billion). The country is known for its fiscal prudence and is cautious with its projections.The last time Singapore announced a huge deficit was in 2009 during the global…
Coronavirus: US passenger from Westerdam cruise ship tests positive in Malaysia
A United States citizen who arrived in Malaysia after disembarking in Cambodia from the MS Westerdam cruise ship has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the Malaysian health ministry said on Saturday.The 83-year-old woman flew to Malaysia on Friday from Cambodia along with 144 other passengers from the ship, said the ministry.The woman and her 85-year-old husband were the only ones of the 145 to show symptoms of the Covid-19 disease, said the ministry, adding that her husband had tested…
Coronavirus: Singapore reports 5 new cases, as city state discharges one patient
Singapore on Saturday confirmed five new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total tally of infections to 72.Three of the new infections were linked to a previous cluster seen at the Grace Assembly of God church, the health ministry said in a statement.The church, which has two branches, is the country’s largest locally transmitted cluster with more than a dozen linked cases of the Covid-19 disease.Singapore bank DBS evacuates 300 staff after coronavirus case surfacesThe fourth new case was…
Thailand to probe Chinese links to illegal surrogate birth services
Thailand has ordered an investigation into illegal surrogate birth services be extended to China after raids this week netted two alleged Chinese ringleaders.Police Major General Torsak Sukvimol said Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered police to find the babies born under the surrogacy operation and determine whether human trafficking gangs were involved.“He’s concerned that the babies could be in the hands of human organ-selling gangs,” said Torsak, who is deputy commissioner of the…
Coronavirus: Vietnam ‘blocks two cruise ships from docking to keep out infection’
Vietnam has blocked two cruise ships from docking amid fears of coronavirus infections on board, according to state media, ship tracking websites and messages posted to social media by passengers.Authorities in Quang Ninh province, home to the Unesco World Heritage Site Ha Long Bay, decided on Tuesday not to allow passengers of the German-owned AIDAvita cruise ship to disembark on Thursday, the state Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.“The vessel has docked in the Philippines, Malaysia and…
Universities with thousands of Chinese students brace for pain from coronavirus travel bans
Universities with large numbers of international students from China are scrambling to readjust schedules and provide alternative study options in response to the coronavirus outbreak, as they brace for what are shaping up to be huge losses from cancelled enrolments.Some 100,000 Chinese students enrolled at universities in Australia and about 6,500 more studying in New Zealand remain stranded in China ahead of the start of the southern hemisphere’s academic year in late February and March,…