Author: Our Newsroom

China bristles at Australia’s call for investigation into coronavirus origin
20May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
Singapore, World

China bristles at Australia’s call for investigation into coronavirus origin

Beijing warns relationship could be damaged ‘beyond repair’ after Australian prime minister Scott Morrison cites ‘extraordinary’ impact of Covid-19 The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has defied China and defended the “entirely reasonable and sensible” call for an investigation into the origins of coronavirus, as the international political fallout over the pandemic deepened. China has been pushing back against criticism from other governments about how it handled the outbreak of Covid-19, which is believed to have started in Wuhan and which has now infected 3 million people worldwide and killed 200,000. Donald Trump’s accusation at the weekend that Beijing could have done more to prevent the deadly spread of the disease was met with fierce criticism from China’s state media. Wh
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Singapore awards death sentence via Zoom video call
20May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
Singapore

Singapore awards death sentence via Zoom video call

 A man in Singapore was awarded death sentence via a Zoom video-call for the crime involving a drug deal, the city-state’s first case where capital punishment has been delivered remotely.The convict, Punithan Genasan, a 37-year-old Malaysian, got the death penalty for his role in a 2011 heroin transaction on Friday, court documents showed, with the country under lockdown to try and curb one of the highest coronavirus rates in Asia.“For the safety of all involved in the proceedings, the hearing for Public Prosecutor v Punithan A/L Genasan was conducted by video-conferencing,” a spokesperson for Singapore’s Supreme Court said in response to Reuters’ questions, citing restrictions imposed to minimize virus spread.It was the first criminal case where a death sentence was pronounced by remote h
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China- based group hacks official site of Indonesian State Intelligence Agency
19May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
China, Opinion

China- based group hacks official site of Indonesian State Intelligence Agency

China bases Nikon APT group has been found to have hacked the official site of Indonesian State Intelligence Agency (BIN) with the use of hacking tool Aria-Bodu (Body). The BIN has clarified thaht the hacker could not get hold of the confidential information, as it was stored in some other place. Yet, anticipatory steps have been taken in the wake of threat pose by the hacker’s technology, a BIN spokesperson said. The hacking failed as the BIN had implemented the latest security norms to protect the information. Now the BIN taken the necessary measures to further protect its site, the spokesperson said. People in Indonesia are already angry toward China after Indonesian crew members, who died onboard, were thrown into the sea by Chinese vessels without taking any permission from the famil
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Pro- democracy groups in China fear of control by China
18May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
Opinion

Pro- democracy groups in China fear of control by China

Hong Kong on Monday saw ruckus over the consideration of legislation that pro-democracy politicians fear would tighten China’s control over the semiautonomous territory. It was the second such incident in this month-- on May 8, the lawmakers had argued over the leadership of the committee. The pro-democracy camp made allegations that the establishment lawmakers were trying to seize control of the committee illegitimately, which for months has been led by Dennis Kwok, a pro-democracy lawmaker. ON other hand, Chinese officials and pro-Beijing lawmakers slammed Mr. Kwok of blocking new legislation, including a bill that would criminalize disrespecting the Chinese national anthem. In 1997, Hong Kong officially adopted the Chinese national anthem after when the former British colony returned t
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Number of Coronavirus patients increases in Singapore
15May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
Singapore

Number of Coronavirus patients increases in Singapore

Singapore has seen the number of cases of the novel coronavirus increasing substantially --  about in April to 26,098 now-- and the vast majority are migrant workers, many from South and Southeast Asian countries like Bangladesh and India, who were infected in crowded dormitories.Significant workforce of the Singapore-- 1.4 million migrant workers-- live in the city state, mostly employed in construction, manual labor and housekeeping. Of these, about 200,000 live in 43 dormitories, according to Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo.Every dorm room houses about 10 to 20 residents. They share toilet and shower facilities, eat in common areas, and sleep just feet away from each other. It's nearly impossible to conduct social distancing -- the consequences of which became clear in April when Sin
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Missouri is suing China over coronavirus
14May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
Business, World

Missouri is suing China over coronavirus

Missouri is suing the Chinese government and other top institutions for the role they played in the coronavirus pandemic and the effects it has had on the state, accusing the country of covering up information, silencing whistleblowers and doing little to stop the spread of the disease, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced Tuesday. At least 6,105 people have been confirmed to have the virus in Missouri and at least 229 have died, according to numbers from Johns Hopkins University. Schmitt, in his official role as attorney general of Missouri, filed the civil lawsuit in federal court in the eastern district of Missouri.The lawsuit, the first of its kind, claims "Chinese authorities deceived the public, suppressed crucial information, arrested whistleblowers, denied human-to-huma
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Indonesia suspends all passenger travel across cities to prevent Ramadan exodus
8May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
Asia

Indonesia suspends all passenger travel across cities to prevent Ramadan exodus

The Transportation Ministry will restrict all passenger travel starting on Friday as the government attempts to prevent citizens from participating in the annual Idul Fitri tradition of mudik (exodus) to curb the spread of COVID-19. The ban will not apply to cargo transportation or to vehicles serving special purposes, such as ambulances and fire trucks.  “The ban will apply to all types of public and private transportation by air, sea, land and railway, except for vehicles carrying leaders of state institutions, police and military vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks, hearses and vehicles transporting logistical supplies, staple goods and medicines,” ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said in a statement on Thursday. She added that the ban would apply to vehicles enteri
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The curious case of Ravio Patra: Why Indonesian cyberspace is a dystopian nightmare
8May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
Asia

The curious case of Ravio Patra: Why Indonesian cyberspace is a dystopian nightmare

Imagine checking your phone and instead of finding a list of unread WhatsApp messages from families and colleagues, you find a harrowing notification saying, “You’ve registered your number on another phone”. After scrambling on social media to announce the hacking, you gain control of the text messaging application, but only to find that whoever hacked your account has broadcast a message inciting people to take part in nationwide riots a day before May Day. You realize there is something sinister about the whole incident and seek advice from human rights organizations who tell you to switch off your phone and find a safe house. But the police get to you first. They arrest you on incitement charges, along with a foreign national, just before you step into a vehicle owned by a local
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Millions of people in Indonesia could be at risk from a devastating tsunami
8May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
Business

Millions of people in Indonesia could be at risk from a devastating tsunami

Research found 19 ancient underwater landslides dating back 2.5million yearsThese resulted in a tsunami approximately once every 160,000 years Found an event in today's world would decimate cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda Some parts of Indonesia that do not have early warning systems in place for earthquakes could be at increased risk of tsunamis, according to a new study.    Analysis of more than 2.5million years' worth of geological data revealed 19 enormous ancient underwater landslides around the island nation.  The submarine landslides happened, on average, once every 160,000 years.   Should one of these events happen in the modern world, the most at-risk locations would be the cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda, with a comb...
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Ramadan bazaars go digital in Southeast Asia amid pandemic
8May By Our NewsroomNo Comments
Asia, Business

Ramadan bazaars go digital in Southeast Asia amid pandemic

KUALA LUMPUR - For 15 years, Siti Zabedah Abdul Wahab’s family food business has opened for one month a year, selling murtabak, a pan-fried bread stuffed with meat, at Malaysia’s popular Ramadan bazaars. But this year, Murtabak Mami Murtabak Sultan started taking orders on Whatsapp and Facebook weeks before the Muslim fasting month began on April 23, as authorities across Southeast Asia called off Ramadan bazaars amid the coronavirus pandemic. “This is the first time we are selling online, so we wanted to start early to make sure our customers can find us,” 38-year-old Siti Zabedah told Reuters. Ramadan is traditionally a lucrative time for food vendors in Muslim-majority countries, with more people going out for late-night meals after breaking their fast at sunset. But the g
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