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WHO team to fly from S’pore to Wuhan today

aseanpr
2 minutes

A World Health Organisation (WHO) team of international experts is due to depart Singapore today for the Chinese city of Wuhan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said yesterday. The team is investigating the origins of the coronavirus, which was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had told a regular news briefing in Beijing that the team was due to arrive in Wuhan today from Singapore. In response to queries, the Singapore MFA spokesman said: "We note that the PRC (People's Republic of China) MFA has mentioned at its press conference on Jan 12 that the World Health Organisation international mission to investigate the zoonotic origin of Sars-CoV-2 would fly from Singapore to Wuhan on Jan 14. "As a member of the WHO and a friend of both China and the WHO, Singapore is happy to play our part by facilitating the transit of the members of the WHO's international field mission. "The international mission is mandated by a World Health Assembly Resolution co-sponsored by more than 130 countries, including Singapore and China. "We have maintained Changi Airport as a transit hub and implemen...

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Richard Yuan, Chairman of Australia China Entrepreneurs Club, discusses RCEP and Global Trade

indie
5 minutes

SYDNEY, Jan 14, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Richard Yuan, chairman of Australia China Entrepreneurs Club, discussed RCEP and its impact on global trade in a recent interview. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), probably the largest free trade agreement in history, was signed on 15 November 2020 by 15 countries - members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and five regional partner countries.RCEP can connect approximately 30% of the world's population and development and generate substantial income in the right political context. And, it can raise world income by US$209 billion and global trade by US$500 billion annually by 2030 according to Richard Yuan, a Chinese national living and working in Australia who is Chairman of the Australia China Entrepreneurs Club and International Ambassador of the SME Association of Australia.People can estimate that the total losses in the trade war between the US and China are covered, not for China or the United States, by the RCEP and CPTPP together. The new agreements will make north and south-east Asia's economies more efficient by joining the forces in technology, production, agriculture and natural resources...

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14th Asian Financial Forum held online next week

indie
12 minutes

HONG KONG, Jan 13, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - The 14th Asian Financial Forum (AFF) will be held as an online event on 18 and 19 January (Monday and Tuesday). Under the theme "Reshaping the World Economic Landscape", the forum will run round the clock across different time zones, examining the current economic landscape and exploring global business opportunities with more than 160 influential policymakers, financial experts, investors, business leaders and economists.Introducing the highlights of this year's Asian Financial Forum at today's press conference are: Duncan Chiu, Executive Director, Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association; Patrick Lau, HKTDC Deputy Executive Director; Mary Huen, Chairperson, 2021 Asian Financial Forum Steering Committee and Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong, Standard Chartered; and Wilson Chow, Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Industry Leader, PwC [L-R]Under the theme "Reshaping the World Economic Landscape", the 14th Asian Financial Forum will be held on 18 and 19 January 2021 (Monday and Tuesday) on a virtual platform. The picture shows one of the sessions at the 13th Asian Financial Forum.Heavyweight speakers at the AFF'...

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Micropillar compression for finding heat-tolerant alloys

indie
3 minutes

Tsukuba, Japan, Jan 13, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Metals containing niobium silicide are promising materials that can withstand high temperatures and improve efficiency of gas turbines in power plants and aircraft. But it has been difficult to accurately determine their mechanical properties due to their complex crystal structures. Now, scientists at Kyoto University in Japan have measured what happens at the micro-level when pressure is applied on tiny samples of these materials. The approach, published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, could help scientists obtain the accurate measurements needed to understand the atomic-level behaviour of complex crystals to develop more heat-tolerant components in gas turbines.The scientists measured the plastic deformation that happened when a tiny probe exerted force on the micropillar specimens with various loading axis orientations."Our results demonstrate the cutting edge of research into plastic deformation behaviour in crystalline materials," says Kyosuke Kishida, the study's corresponding author. Plastic deformation describes the distortion that occurs at the atomic level when a sustained force is applied to a c...

SeaPRwire
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Registration for MOE kindergartens to open in February

aseanpr
2 minutes

SINGAPORE - Registration for the 2022 school year at 43 Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergartens will open from 9am on Feb 5 to 4pm on Feb 9, said MOE on Wednesday (Jan 13). There were 29MOE kindergartens in 2019 and 36 last year. The Education ministry aims to be operating at least 60 kindergartens by 2025. Registration is open to Singapore citizens and permanent residents born between Jan 2 2017 and Jan 1 2018. It will be carried out online at the MOE kindergarten website (www.moe.gov.sg/mk). Results will be released on Mar 31. To disseminate information to parents amid Covid-19 restrictions, MOE will be holding a centralised virtual open house for the kindergartens through Zoom on Jan 30, from 10am to 1pm. "Interested parents will have the opportunity to learn more about MOE kindergarten's curriculum, programme, facilities and other offerings before selecting their preferred kindergarten," said MOE in its Wednesday statement. Sign-ups for the open house are open until Jan 28 at: https://form.gov.sg/#!/5fcf3558454d0100111ab591 MOE has emphasised that the three major mother tongue languages - Chinese, Malay and Tamil - are offered at these kindergartens. "All MOE kindergartens of...

JCN Newswire
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Fujitsu Leverages Deep Learning to Achieve World’s Most Accurate Recognition of Complex Actions and Behaviors Based on Skeleton Data

ruth
5 minutes

TOKYO, Jan 13, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. has announced the development of a technology that utilizes deep learning to recognize the positions and connections of adjacent joints in complex movements or behavior in which multiple joints move in tandem. This makes it possible to achieve greater accuracy in recognizing, for instance, when a person performs a task like removing objects from a box. This technology successfully achieved the world's highest accuracy(1) against the world standard benchmark(2) in the field of behavior recognition, with significant gains over the results achieved using conventional technologies, which don't make use of information on neighboring joints.Fig. 1 Outline of the newly developed technology compared with conventional technologiesFig. 2 Improvement of accuracy with new technologyBy leveraging this technology to perform checks of manufacturing procedures or unsafe behavior in public spaces, Fujitsu aims to contribute to significant improvements in public safety and in the work place, helping to deliver on the promise of a safer and more secure society for all.Fujitsu will present the details of this technology at the 25th Inter...

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Hospital employee sentenced to 3 months’ jail for molesting colleague at workplace

aseanpr
3 minutes

SINGAPORE - While watching a movie together on a computer screen at their workplace, a male hospital employee molested his female colleague. When the 20-year-old woman pushed the offender's hand away, he locked the main door to the room and continued to touch her inappropriately. On Wednesday (Jan 13), the 34-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to three months' jail after pleading guilty to one count of molestation. Details about his identity, workplace and occupation cannot be revealed owing to a gag order to protect the victim's identity. The pair were at their workplace at around 1pm on July 23, 2016 when they decided to watch a movie together. To do that, the man turned off the lights in the room. Deputy Public Prosecutor Emily Koh said: "While they were watching the movie, the accused held the victim's hand and rubbed her hand with his hand. "The accused then let go of her hand and placed one of his hands onto the victim's stomach, over her T-shirt. The victim pushed his hand away." Undeterred, the man touched her again. When she pushed his hand away, he got up, locked the door and returned to sit beside her. The court heard that he then molested the woman again. "The victim tr...

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HDB launches flat portal; includes new flat listings, financial calculators and loans information

aseanpr
2 minutes

SINGAPORE - Those hunting for a new home can now get pricing and loan information of Housing Board (HDB) flats on a new platform which aims to streamline the process of buying and selling a place. The portal, which is being progressively rolled out from Wednesday (Jan 13), consolidates information on current and upcoming flats sold directly by the HDB, said National Development Minister Desmond Lee in a Facebook post. He added that it may include HDB resale flat listings in subsequent phases. The portal includes customised financial calculators as well as information on housing loans provided by the HDB and various participating banks. Buyers can use the calculators to estimate their housing budget, to help them compare their housing options, said Mr Lee. Those planning to sell their flats for now can tap the calculators to estimate their sales proceeds, which also take into account monies which have to be returned to their Central Provident Fund. They will also be able to view past transactions around their estate. "This new portal will make it more convenient for home buyers and sellers to gather information on the purchase or sale of a flat through a single integrated platform,"...

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Singapore, Malaysia to work closely to keep supply chains going amid state of emergency: Chan Chun Sing

aseanpr
2 minutes

SINGAPORE - Singapore and Malaysia will continue to work closely to keep supply chains going amid the movement control restrictions and state of emergency declared in Malaysia, said Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing on Wednesday (Jan 13). Mr Chan was speaking to reporters during a visit to speciality chemicals company DuPont Singapore. When asked about the latest developments in Malaysia and whether it would affect Singapore's supply chain, he said: "We are in close contact with our Malaysian counterparts regarding the latest movement control, and also the state of emergency. "I've exchanged texts with my counterparts and I think we have shared our commitment to make sure that we continue to keep our trade flows going, keep our supply chains going, to the benefit of both countries." Mr Chan added that over the last few days, Singapore's supplies and trade flows with Malaysia have continued "as per normal". He added that since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Singapore has been preparing itself for potential disruptions to its supplies and supply chains by diversifying the latter, and also by stockpiling and stepping up local production where possible. These disrupti...

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Skill up to step up: Switching careers from teaching to IT engineering

aseanpr
6 minutes

SINGAPORE - During his years as a secondary school teacher, Mr Kenneth Chua frequently spoke to his students about the joys of learning, the importance of upskilling, and the value of resilience. In 2019, after 10 years of teaching, he realised that "he had not been walking the talk", that he was not fulfilling his potential and that he could learn more and grow further. The 38-year-old decided to leave his job at the end of that year and pick up new skills. Last March, he enrolled for an immersive software engineering course at coding school General Assembly. This was under the Tech Immersion and Placement Programme (TIPP), an initiative by the Infocomm and Media Development Authority of Singapore to build tech talent. The 12-week course taught Mr Chua skills such as website development and equipped him with fundamental programming and computer science knowledge. It cost him $5,550, after a $9,100 TIPP subsidy. He is now five months into a new job as a systems quality assurance engineer for e-commerce platform Shopee. In his teaching career, Mr Chua taught computer applications for Normal (Technical) students and mathematics. He was at Bartley Secondary School from 2009 to 2014 an...

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South Korea’s jobless rate hits 10-year high as Covid-19 cases surge

elean
2 minutes

SEOUL (BLOOMBERG) - South Korea's jobless rate hit a 10-year high in December as the country's worst coronavirus outbreak forced businesses to slash hiring. The unemployment rate reached 4.6 per cent last month, data from the statistical office showed on Wednesday (Jan 13). Economists had forecast the reading to be unchanged from November's 4.1 per cent. The nation shed 628,000 jobs compared with the prior year, the largest losses since the start of the pandemic and a tenth straight month of declining employment. The job losses and elevated unemployment rate highlight the impact of tightened social distancing rules as South Korea's daily infection tally surged to beyond 1,000 last month. The shutdown of high-risk facilities such as karaoke parlors and a shortening of business hours for most shops have hurt service sector jobs. To ease the pain, the government plans to give cash handouts worth 4.6 trillion won (S$5.56 billion) to millions of South Koreans before the Lunar New Year holiday next month and front-load its fiscal spending in the first half of the year. South Korea's ongoing recovery in exports has supported the broader economy, but the job market outlook depends on a suc...

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Lucasfilm to sell Sandcrawler building in Singapore for $175 million to US firm

elean
2 minutes

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Blackstone Group is looking to purchase Lucasfilm's state-of-the art facility, The Sandcrawler, named for the classic Star Wars transport that inspired its design. The US private equity giant has started the process of buying the building for about $175 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The sale is pending regulatory approval. The move signals Singapore's property assets continue to be attractive to foreign investors, who see the city's political, financial and legal stability as an advantage. Other American companies including Amazon.com and Facebook are also expanding their presence, while China's tech behemoths such as Tencent Holdings and ByteDance are looking to make Singapore a beachhead for South-east Asia. The Sandcrawler, located at Fusionopolis tech park in one-north district, has eight floors of office space. The 22,000 square metre facility also includes a retail shopping area, a 100-seat theatre, lush gardens and a Yoda fountain. The futuristic-looking, horseshoe-shaped building is modeled after the Sandcrawler, the fictional huge mobile fortresses featured in the Star Wars films. It houses Industrial Light & Magic Singapore...

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US stocks gain with oil, airline shares leading

elean
2 minutes

NEW YORK (AFP) - Equities tied to the US economic recovery led stocks higher on Tuesday (Jan 12) as markets bet on more government stimulus and coronavirus vaccines in 2021. Petroleum-linked shares were winners, along with airlines, retailers and infrastructure as investors anticipate gains for beaten-down sectors that have suffered during Covid-19. "I do believe there's going to be a pretty strong recovery driven by stimulus infrastructure spending, now that you have a Democrat controlled government," said Shawn Cruz of TD Ameritrade. "It will make it easier to get some of those probably larger stimulus Bills through." The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.2 per cent at 31,068.69. The broad-based S&P 500 climbed less than 0.1 per cent to 3,801.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3 per cent to 13,072.43. The gains came after US equities pulled back on Monday over fears of more unrest after a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters last week attacked the Capitol in an unsuccessful effort to block certification of Joe Biden's victory in the November elections. Petroleum producer Apache surged 11.2 per cent, while United Airlines won 3.2 per cent and ...

SeaPRwire

Cutting off Parler reveals Amazon’s Net clout

elean
3 minutes

NEW YORK • The decision by Amazon.com's cloud unit to pull the plug on social media service Parler highlighted the e-commerce giant's often-overlooked role in powering much of the Internet. Parler went offline late on Sunday after Amazon Web Services (AWS)suspended its account, a potentially crippling blow for the site favoured by right-wing extremists, some of whom advocated violence ahead of last week's riot at the US Capitol. In a letter to Parler seen by Bloomberg, Amazon said the company was unable to effectively keep calls for violence off its platform. The site on Monday sued Amazon, seeking to reverse the action and get back online. Social media companies and smartphone platforms are used to policing content on their sites. After disinformation campaigns marred the 2016 US presidential election, Facebook and Twitter hired thousands of content moderators, and in some cases sought the help of outside advisers, to develop policies and sort through issues, including political falsehoods and hate speech. But Amazon's move to cut off Parler is a reminder that the company wields huge influence over what is seen on the Internet. It is a power the Seattle company rarely uses. AWS, t...

ACN Newswire
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WARC Effectiveness Awards 2021, in association with LIONS, are launched

indie
3 minutes

LONDON, Jan 12, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - WARC, the global authority on marketing effectiveness, has today launched The WARC Effectiveness Awards in association with LIONS (www.canneslions.com/enter/awards), a new worldwide competition showcasing the best marketing campaigns that deliver business results. Shining the spotlight on greatness, these awards are unique for being the first to integrate the WARC/LIONS Creative Effectiveness Ladder, a universal framework of the six approaches for using strategy and creativity to drive specific marketing outcomes. It provides a consistent approach and shared language for benchmarking effectiveness globally.Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades as well as Special Awards honouring particular areas of excellence will be awarded to best-in-class work across six categories:Customer Experience: awarding new ways of engaging with consumers and innovative experiences created to connect and immerse on the path to commercial success.Collaboration & Culture: awarding strategies and instances of brands entering or impacting on culture that can demonstrate a business outcome.Sustained Growth: for campaigns that have invested in building a bran...

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Uzpromstroybank launches JCB merchant acquiring operations across the Republic of Uzbekistan

indie
4 minutes

TOKYO & TASHKENT, Jan 12, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - JCB International Co., Ltd., the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., Japan's only international payment brand, and JSCB "Uzbek Industrial and Construction bank" are pleased to announce the start of JCB merchant acquiring operations across the Republic of Uzbekistan.The introduction of a visa-free regime in 2018 with Japan, as well as the cooperation of Uzpromstroybank with JCB International Co., Ltd. (Japan) will expand the tourism potential of Uzbekistan, increase cashless money circulation and improve the quality of customer service.In 2019, JSCB "Uzpromstroybank" launched a project to modernize card processing, the goals of which were the issuance of international cards with an electronic PIN code, multicurrency accounts and a credit limit on the card, and provision of service using international contactless card systems including JCB and the expansion of the acquiring network. As for today, the project has been implemented and testing and customization of new card products are underway.In January 2021, a new processing "WAY4" has been launched in a productive environment, where all JCB cardholders will be a...

JCN Newswire
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Eisai to Present Abstracts on Lenvatinib at 2021 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium

ruth
3 minutes

TOKYO, Jan 12, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Eisai Co., Ltd. has announced that presentations on a series of abstracts highlighting updates on its in-house discovered lenvatinib mesylate (product name: LENVIMA, the orally available kinase inhibitor, "lenvatinib") will be given at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium Virtual Meeting, from January 15 to 17, 2021.At this symposium, regarding the lenvatinib monotherapy, the real-world effectiveness among unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated in United States clinical practices (Abstract No: 273), as well as the results of a post hoc analysis of patients with unresectable HCC who progressed to the Child-Pugh B stage in the Phase 3 REFLECT study (Abstract No: 298), will be presented.In addition, the data to be presented regarding the combination therapy of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab (product name: KEYTRUDA), the anti-PD-1 therapy from Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., U.S.A. (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada), are results from the biliary tract cancer cohort (Abstract No: 321), the colorectal cancer cohort (Abstract No: 94), and the gastric cancer cohort (Abstract No: 230) of the basket-type ...

ACN Newswire
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ACI Worldwide and JCB Boosts Merchant Acquiring Capabilities with Successful Global Rollout of Web API Payment Solution

indie
4 minutes

SINGAPORE & TOKYO, Jan 12, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time digital payment software and solutions and JCB International Co., Ltd. (JCB), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., Japan's only international payment brand, today announced that JCB has completed the successful global rollout of its JCB Web API Service, including its Web API-based dispute function. JCB's full implementation of ACI Secure eCommerce, which serves as the foundation for the service, helps acquirers, merchants and payments service providers (PSPs) drive payments acceptance in key regions across Asia and globally.JCB is accepted at about 35 million merchant locations globally, utilizes ACI Secure eCommerce as its JCB Web API Service - a processing interface to accelerate JCB Card acceptance in important and growing markets, especially in Asia. Acquirers benefit from an API-based interface for both authorization and clearing. The API-based dispute processing function on JCB Web API Service enables acquirers to receive chargeback notifications and request representment as a remedy for chargebacks via the Web API. The result is a m...

SeaPRwire
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Man accused of defacing a statue of Mary in church courtyard acquitted of all charges

aseanpr
2 minutes

SINGAPORE - A man accused of trespassing into the premises of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary last year and defacing a statue of Mary was acquitted of all charges in a district court on Monday (Jan 11). Race Koh Jun Xian, now 38, was handed a discharge amounting to an acquittal, which means he cannot be charged again with the same offences. The State Courts online portal did not disclose reasons behind his acquittal. Koh was charged on Nov 20 last year with one count of each of criminal trespass and defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion. He had earlier told the court: "I did not do this intentionally. I was sincere in wanting to pray to Mother Mary. I wanted to beautify her, I did not know this was an offence." He was then ordered to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health. According to court documents, the church was closed to the public at the time of the offence on Nov 12 last year because of renovation works. Police received a report that same day that the statue in the courtyard of the Catholic church in Upper Serangoon Road had been defaced. Koh was identified after officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division conducted ground in...

JCN Newswire
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Thailand’s First Demonstration Project of Optimized Performance Enabling Network for Volt/Var(Q) (OPENVQ) in Power Transmission Networks

ruth
3 minutes

THAILAND, Jan 12, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Electricity demand in Thailand is growing as its economy develops, and the country is now faced with a challenge to reduce the loss of power in the transmission network (hereinafter called "power losses"). In addition, with the amount of fossil fuels, such as natural gas, also rising because electricity is generated mainly by thermal power plants in Thailand, the country needs to introduce renewable energy to create a power source mix that could mitigate environmental impacts.Under these circumstances, there is a plan for terminating the operation of some thermal power plants partly due to facility deterioration in northeastern Thailand, the area in which the demonstration project will be carried out, after 2025. Then, the purchase of electricity from neighboring countries and construction of new power generation facilities, such as hydroelectric power plants and/or photovoltaics (PV), are being considered as alternatives. To realize electricity supply through such multiple generations, transmission facilities should be expanded and reinforced for increasing an available transfer capability. However, not much progress has been made in that ...