Singapore Archives - Page 26 of 27

US, Chinese tech giants look to Singapore for IP services

19Aug

By Desk TeamNo Comments

US, Chinese tech giants look to Singapore for IP services

Even as the United States leads in overall patent and trademark applications in Singapore, more Chinese companies are also filing here, posting the fastest growth rate among Asian countries in the last three years. Figures from the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos) show Alibaba Group and Huawei Technologies ahead of US giants Qualcomm and Amazon Technologies as the top individual patent and trademark filing applicants last year respectively.

19Aug

By Desk TeamNo Comments

50,000 Thai workers to head overseas

Suchat: Workers needed for recovery Labour Minister Suchat Chomklin on Sunday revealed his ministry is aiming to send more than 50,000 Thai workers overseas by September due to the kingdom's success in handling the Covid-19 outbreak. Mr Suchat said the ministry aims to send 52,253 Thais to work in parts of Asia and the Middle East such as Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Israel. Taiwan is expected to receive 20,120 Thai workers, the highest amount when compared to other countries. Some workers have already left Thailand to work overseas. Mr Suchat said the ministry decided to send the workers overseas because Thailand has reported a decreasing rate of local Covid-19 infections, and the government is easing lockdown measures, preparing to reopen the kingdom. The mini...

Singaporean pleads guilty to working for Chinese intelligence

4Aug

By Grace TsoiNo Comments

Singaporean pleads guilty to working for Chinese intelligence

The US Department of Justice in a statement on July 24 said that a Singaporean national has pleaded guilty to using his political consultancy in the United States as a front to collect information for Chinese intelligence.The department said that Jun Wei Yeo, who is also known as Dickson Yeo, entered his plea in federal court in Washington, DC to one charge of operating illegally as a foreign agent. “Yeo was central to a Chinese government scheme to obtain sensitive information from US citizens,” the department said."In response to taskings from his Chinese intelligence contacts, Yeo worked to spot and assess Americans with access to valuable non-public information, including US military and government employees with high-level security clearances," it said.“He then paid some of those indi

3Aug

By Desk TeamNo Comments

Tech tops business priorities

Tech tops business priorities Across Asean, Thailand had the highest proportion of respondents prioritising technology investments in 2020, as small businesses in the region count on technology to help them overcome the impact of the Covid-19, a survey by United Overseas Bank (UOB) found. Technology was ranked the top investment priority for 2020 by two in three (64%) small businesses, including those who currently have cash flow concerns. This is according to a recent survey of 1,000 Asean small businesses conducted by UOB, Accenture and Dun & Bradstreet. The research sought to understand how small firms were adapting to the business environment given the changes brought on by the pandemic. The Asean SME Transformation Study 2020 was conducted among 1,000 small businesses with an annua...

IMDA CEO Tan Kiat How to leave post, expected to enter politics in upcoming Singapore general election

29Jun

By Desk TeamNo Comments

IMDA CEO Tan Kiat How to leave post, expected to enter politics in upcoming Singapore general election

SINGAPORE - Mr Tan Kiat How, chief executive of the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA), will step down on Saturday (June 20). He is the latest of a string of senior public servants to have recently left their posts. Party sources have tipped them to enter politics under the banner of the ruling People's Action Party in the upcoming general election, with Mr Tan possibly fielded in East Coast GRC. The constituency, which was hotly contested by the Workers' Party in previous elections, is expected to see two MPs leave - Mr Lim Swee Say and Mr Lee Yi Shyan. Mr Tan was a guest speaker in a webinar on digitalisation for East Coast residents and MPs last Saturday (June 13). Earlier this month, he also took part in a webinar on job opportunities and digital skills, hosted b...

[South East Asia] Malaysia, Singapore agree to defer HSR project until December 31

17Jun

By Desk TeamNo Comments

[South East Asia] Malaysia, Singapore agree to defer HSR project until December 31

Malaysia and Singapore on Sunday came to an agreement and said that they have decided to defer the long-awaited Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project again until the end of the year.The construction of the 350km-long HSR project has been suspended since September 2018 and was due to resume at the end of May.The update comes after Singapore Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Friday said that Singapore was considering Malaysia’s request to extend the suspension period of the project.In a Facebook post, Khaw wrote that Malaysia had requested a seven-month extension to allow both sides to discuss and assess Malaysia’s proposed changes to the project."In the spirit of bilateral cooperation, we have agreed to a final extension of the suspension period to 31 December 2020," said K

Malaysia minister says ‘news’ that Singaporeans not welcomed is fake

14Jun

By Grace TsoiNo Comments

Malaysia minister says ‘news’ that Singaporeans not welcomed is fake

Malaysia's Senior Minister for Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob has fallen victim to fake news claiming that he does not welcome Singaporeans to the country."The truth is, our borders are still closed to everyone, including Singaporeans, so such news is malicious," he said at his daily briefing on Malaysia's coronavirus situation yesterday. "This act can sour the relationship between Malaysia and our neighbour Singapore."Sabri also noted that his voice had been doctored in the offending tweet."I have lodged a report with the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)," he said.Malaysia has closed its borders to foreigners since March 18, when it implemented a partial shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.Although, it has since eased movement restrictions ...

Minister assures contact-tracing device will not track location of Singapore citizens

8Jun

By Grace TsoiNo Comments

Minister assures contact-tracing device will not track location of Singapore citizens

The wearable device for contact tracing in development by the Government to help curb the spread of Covid-19 will not track an individual's location, and those who prefer to use Singapore's contact-tracing app TraceTogether will still be able to do so, said Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative Vivian Balakrishnan.“The device, which may be issued to everyone here, will be a small device that people can slip into their bag or pocket,” he said in the comments thread of a post on his Facebook page on Sunday.The announcement of this device comes after news that TraceTogether, which identifies people in close contact with a coronavirus patient via wireless Bluetooth technology, does not work well with Apple devices.The app is useful when those infected cannot recall whom they had be

Racially insensitive acts not condoned, but Singapore and US situations are different: Singapore Education Minister

7Jun

By Grace TsoiNo Comments

Racially insensitive acts not condoned, but Singapore and US situations are different: Singapore Education Minister

Young people in Singapore are doing the right thing by standing up against racial insensitivity, said Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung on Saturday.He was speaking about a photo of a birthday celebration taken in 2016 which depicted Raffles Institution students with their faces painted black.In a Facebook post, Ong stressed that such acts of “racial insensitivity or micro-aggression against a person” of another race are not condoned, but urged people to also be mindful of how the situation in Singapore differs from that in the United States, which erupted in nationwide protests after an unarmed black man was suffocated in police custody on May 25.The photo resurfaced on social media recently, depicted a group of Chinese students, some with their faces painted black and some wearing black

Virus Surge in Southeast Asia Migrant Workers Serves as Warning

20May

By Desk TeamNo Comments

Virus Surge in Southeast Asia Migrant Workers Serves as Warning

Virus flareups among migrant workers are fueling a second wave of infections in Southeast Asia, forcing governments to shift direction to contain resurgent outbreaks, and serving as a warning to other countries looking to ease restrictions as cases ease. Singapore and Thailand have been caught out by infections among foreign workers, who come from other parts of the region to work on building sites, in low-wage industries and as domestic labor. The countries are now scaling up testing of these communities, with the cramped dormitory-style or temporary accommodation they’re often housed in leaving them vulnerable to infection from the highly contagious coronavirus. An explosion in cases among Singapore’s 1-million strong migrant worker population has seen it become Asia’s most-infected nati