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1 foreign worker dead after accident along PIE, 16 others taken to hospitals

aseanpr 20 4 月

2 minutes

SINGAPORE - A 33-year-old man, who was one of 17 migrant workers travelling on the back of a lorry, died after the vehicle collided with a stationary tipper truck along the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) on Tuesday morning (April 20). Police said that they were alerted at 6.06am to the accident along PIE towards Changi Airport before the Jalan Bahar exit. The Singapore Civil Defence Force said two people were found trapped in the rear compartment of the lorry. They were rescued using hydraulic equipment. The 17 lorry passengers, aged between 23 and 46, were taken to National University Hospital and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. The 33-year-old man later died of his injuries. The police said two of the workers were unconscious after the accident. A 36-year-old male lorry driver was arrested for careless driving causing death. A Facebook video posted at around 10.30am shows the aftermath of the accident. Several men were seen lying on the road, surrounded by at least two ambulances and a fire engine. The accident caused traffic to be backed up until Pioneer Road North, according to the Land Transport Authority. The Straits Times understands that all of the passengers are foreign worker...

Man who sexually groomed 13-year-old girl jailed for two years and 10 months

aseanpr 18 4 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - A man who started sexually grooming a teenager when she was 13 years old has been jailed for two years and 10 months. Nick Chong Seng Cheong, 24, had sex with the girl on multiple occasions and also paid her for it. He pleaded guilty on Monday (April 12) to three counts of sexual penetration of a minor under 14 and one count of possessing obscene films. Seven charges of sexual penetration of a minor were taken into consideration by District Judge Janet Wang during sentencing. The girl cannot be named due to a gag order to protect her identity. Court documents state that Chong was a project lead at an engineering company when he committed the offences. He became acquainted with the victim through chat application ChatIW in October 2017. They subsequently communicated via WhatsApp, and Chong would ask the girl to send him photographs of her private parts. He also sent her photographs of his genitals and videos of himself performing a sex act. Chong later suggested that they become "friends with benefit", to which the girl agreed, on the condition that she would be paid whenever they engaged in sexual activities. By that time, the girl had informed Chong that she was 13, t...

US billionaires becoming newspaper owners

elean 18 4 月

5 minutes

(NYTIMES) - Billionaires in the US have had a pretty good pandemic. There are more of them than there were a year ago, even as the health crisis has exacerbated inequality. One arena in which the billionaires can still win plaudits as civic-minded saviours is buying the metropolitan daily newspaper. The latest example comes in the form of a US$680 million (S$907 million) bid by Mr Hansjorg Wyss, a little-known Swiss billionaire, and Mr Stewart Bainum Jr, a Maryland hotel magnate, for Tribune Publishing and its roster of storied broadsheets and tabloids such as the Chicago Tribune, the Daily News and The Baltimore Sun. Should they succeed in snatching Tribune away from Alden Global Capital, whose bid for the company had already won the backing of Tribune's board, the purchase will represent the latest example of a more than decade-long quest by some of America's ultra-wealthy to prop up a crumbling pillar of democracy. If there was a signal year in this development, it came in 2013, when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post and the Red Sox's owner John Henry bought The Boston Globe. Mr Bezos and Mr Marty Baron, the recently retired editor of the Post, famously led a ...

Thomson Road building to be demolished: Owners of residential units left stunned

aseanpr 17 4 月

6 minutes

SINGAPORE - News that a building in Thomson Road will be demolished to allow nearby excavation works to be carried out safely came as a shock to the owners of the 12 residential units there. For months, they and their tenants had engaged with the authorities about the need to vacate the building temporarily as its foundation had to be strengthened to withstand the impact from the construction of an underground tunnel for the upcoming North-South Corridor. All had moved out by February, but the expectation was that in two years, they would be able to return to their units or lease them out again. With the improved connectivity brought about by the transport corridor, which will have dedicated bus lanes, cycling trunk routes and pedestrian paths connecting towns in the north to the city, there were hopes of a collective sale in future. But any chance of a windfall was dashed by the sudden announcement on Friday (April 16) morning that the building at 68 to 74 Thomson Road and its 776 sq m site were being acquired for demolition. "I'm still in shock," said Mr Roger Ting, 63, who owns a unit in the building. "To us, this is a sudden U-turn by the Land Transport Authority and Singapore ...

Dow, S&P 500 again end at records as Wall Street rally continues

elean 17 4 月

2 minutes

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street saw no reason to stop rallying as the US economy pulls out of its downturn, lifting the Dow and S&P 500 to their second consecutive record on Friday (April 16). At the close of US trading, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 0.5 per cent to end at 34,201.13. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent to hit 4,185.53. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index saw slightly less ebullient trading, gaining 0.1 per cent to close at 14,052.34, about 125 points below its all-time high. Both the S&P 500 and Dow also posted their fourth consecutive weekly gains, ending a week that saw the government release data indicating weekly jobless claims hit their lowest point of the pandemic, and retail sales boomed in March thanks in part to government stimulus. Chris Low of FHN Financial said that data, combined with easy monetary policy from the Federal Reserve that its leadership indicated it wasn't looking to end, put traders in an optimistic mood. "We had tremendous data all week this week," he said. "In addition to strong data, we get reassurances from Fed officials all week, including the chair, that they're very comfortable with the economic and infl...

Traditional IPOs outperform Spacs as blank-cheque frenzy cools

elean 16 4 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Special-purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) may have become the hottest must-have for business tycoons, celebrities and even athletes, but old-school initial public offerings (IPOs) have quietly outperformed them this year. More than 330 blank-cheque firms have listed in 2021, mostly in the US, making up just over a third of global IPO activity, data compiled by Bloomberg show. They join the 300 Spacs already floated last year, sparking concern among investors about their potential to find suitable acquisition targets and increased competition for the most attractive assets in the market. This year's Spacs are trading up about 1.2 per cent on average on an offer-to-date basis, whereas regular IPOs have gained 36 per cent, the data show. The strong performance for traditional listings signals there is brisk appetite for new companies coming to market, while investor sentiment toward Spacs is cooling. Early this year, retail traders helped fuel a strong rally in Spac stocks amid reports of several potential deals. Since reaching a peak in late February, the US IPOX Spac index, which tracks shares in US blank-cheque companies, has tumbled 21 per cent. "The bil...

Goh Meng Seng’s FB posts and Singapore Uncensored site issued Pofma correction orders

aseanpr 15 4 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - The Republic's fake news law was invoked after unsubstantiated claims about adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccines were posted on Facebook and published online by a website. In a statement on Thursday (April 15), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said the Health Minister had instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue the correction directions. They were directed at the Facebook pages of Goh Meng Seng People's Power Party and Goh Meng Seng (Satu Singapura), as well as at the Singapore Uncensored website. Posts published on April 2 on the Facebook pages of Goh Meng Seng People's Power Party and Goh Meng Seng (Satu Singapura) implied that the Covid-19 vaccination had caused or substantially contributed to a doctor in Singapore suffering a stroke. The same Facebook accounts also published posts on April 7 implying that Covid-19 vaccination had caused or substantially contributed to the death of an 81-year-old man here. MOH said that same day Singapore Uncensored published an article on its website stating that an 81-year-old man had died from alleged vaccination complications. The article was also shared on the website's Faceboo...

Ambulance with automatic decontamination system among new vehicles unveiled by SCDF

aseanpr 15 4 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - Paramedics will soon be better equipped to handle future pandemics, when a new ambulance model that has its own automatic decontamination system begins operation later this year. The Singapore Civil Defence Force's (SCDF) seventh-generation ambulance was among the new vehicles unveiled at the SCDF workplan seminar on Thursday (April 15). The others include new models of the Forward Command Vehicle (FCV) and Command Vehicle (CV), which are mobile command posts used in incidents, such as major fires and plane crashes, that require manpower and equipment from multiple fire stations. These vehicles - which are the result of a collaboration between the SCDF, the Defence Science and Technology Agency, and Singapore Technologies Engineering - will progressively replace the existing eight FCVs and five CVs in the fleet from July this year. The new ambulance is equipped with an in-built system which sprays a mist of disinfectant, allowing paramedics to decontaminate the vehicle within 20 minutes. Presently, the decontamination process for ambulances take about an hour and requires an external device. The ambulance also boasts a solar panel and an intelligent charging system whic...

S’pore retailer Naiise to wind up, founder Dennis Tay filing for personal bankruptcy

aseanpr 15 4 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Multi-label retailer Naiise, once the biggest platform for local designers, is winding up. It stopped operations late Wednesday night (April 14), after years of payment delays to its vendors. In a Facebook post early Thursday morning, Naiise founder Dennis Tay announced the decision to liquidate the firm. "It has been an extremely difficult two years, and the last few weeks have been the darkest of my life," he wrote. "I cannot apologise enough to the brand partners whose trust I've misplaced, and to whom monies are still due. I assure you all that the situation remains so because of an inability to pay, and not unwillingness." Explaining, he said he had exhausted his savings and had also borrowed heavily from banks to keep the business afloat. "I also signed personal guarantees for these loans, because as long as Naiise was still an ongoing concern, there was a chance that Naiise would be able to repay, however slowly." But he ran out of time and options. Besides putting Naiise in liquidation, he will also be filing for personal bankruptcy. Among the creditors are hundreds of vendors owed sums from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands, banks and former employees....

Coinbase public listing is a cryptocurrency coming-out party

elean 15 4 月

6 minutes

SAN FRANCISCO (NYTIMES)- Digital currency, once mocked as a tool for criminals and reckless speculators, is sliding into the mainstream. Traditional banks are helping investors put their money into cryptocurrency funds. Companies like Tesla and Square are hoarding bitcoins. And celebrities are leading the way in a digital-art spending spree using a technology called an NFT. On Wednesday (April 14), digital or cryptocurrencies took their biggest step yet toward wider acceptance when Coinbase, a start-up that allows people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, went public. Coinbase shares began trading at US$381 (S$509) each, up 52 per cent from a reference price of US$250, eventually closing at US$328.28. That gave the company a valuation of US$85.7 billion based on all its outstanding shares, more than 10 times higher than Coinbase's last private valuation. Call it crypto's coming-out party. Coinbase, based in San Francisco, is the first major cryptocurrency start-up to go public on a US stock market. It did so at a valuation that rivaled that of Airbnb and Facebook when they went public. Cryptocurrency advocates - many of whom expect the technology to upend the global financial system...

Bussr Rolls Out Nekla Digital Payments to Millions of Users

indie 14 4 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE, Apr 14, 2021 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Bussr, the world-leading artificial intelligence (AI) powered mobility platform, is looking to make its services global in every sense of the word after announcing the rollout of the pioneering digital payment platform, Nekla. The Singapore-based transport disruptor announced it will offer its passengers a digital payment option through payment innovator Nekla, allowing millions of underbanked users to pay for Bussr services easily.Bussr's Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) technology serves both as a mobile app for private travelers and a full journey ticketing, payment, and fleet management solution for cities and enterprises. Its leading AI platform continuously monitors millions of data points to help large-scale transport operations perform at optimal efficiency for both passengers and operators.Bussr currently operates across more than 500 cities, with over 830 transport operators, 60-plus payment partners, and more than 100,000 retail stores. While Bussr has already seen more than 12 million passengers use their platform in less than two years, they believe it is Nekla's digital-based payment platform that will lead to u...

World’s biggest Spac deal sees traders holding their applause as market fervour eases

elean 14 4 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Grab is set to nab the record for biggest deal in the Spac world, yet traders are holding their applause. The Singapore-based firm said it will list on US exchanges through a reverse merger with Altimeter Growth Corp in a deal valued at nearly US$40 billion (S$53.6 billion) that drew institutional backing from heavyweights like T. Rowe Price Group. and Temasek Holdings. As it stands, the blockbuster tie-up would be the largest Spac merger ever, dwarfing the one announced between Lucid Motors and Churchill Capital IV in February, valued at US$24 billion. The transaction is expected to close in July and the company will trade at the Nasdaq with the catchy symbol GRAB. But investors don't seem much interested in seizing this special purpose acquisition company, or Spac, opportunity. Shares of Altimeter Spac rose on the day merger rumours surfaced, but modestly relative to others and they have since fallen toward pre-announcement trading levels in the latest example of Spac market pain. Gone are the 2020 days of indiscriminate Spac deal pops, when everyone wanted to play the deal announcement, Josef Schuster, founder of the Spac index told Bloomberg in an intervi...

Spac boom faces new threat in US with accounting crackdown

elean 13 4 月

4 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - US regulators are throwing another wrench into Wall Street's Spac machine by cracking down on how accounting rules apply to a key element of blank-cheque companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is setting forth new guidance that warrants, which are issued to early investors in the deals, might not be considered equity instruments and may instead be liabilities for accounting purposes. The move threatens to disrupt filings for new special-purpose acquisition companies until the issue is resolved. The accounting considerations mark the latest effort by the SEC to clamp down on the white-hot Spac market. For months, the regulator has been raising red flags that investors aren't being fully informed of potential risks associated with blank-check companies, which list on public stock exchanges to raise money for the purpose of buying other entities. The SEC began reaching out to accountants last week with the guidance on warrants, according to people familiar with the matter. A pipeline of hundreds of filings for new Spacs could be affected, said the people, who asked not to be named because the conversations were private. "The SEC indicated that t...

Wall Street ends lower as investors await earnings, inflation data

elean 13 4 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average ended lower on Monday (April 12), with investors waiting for cues from the upcoming corporate earnings season and a key inflation report later this week. The indexes had closed at record highs on Friday, after rallying for days on a pullback in the benchmark 10-year bond yield from 14-month highs. With US consumer price data for March due to be published Tuesday (April 13), this could drive Treasury yields higher. Big Wall Street names are due to kick off earnings season on Wednesday, giving new catalysts to buy or sell stocks in a record-high market. "Investors are now going to pay close attention to earnings season, because this is the time where they are expecting guidance from companies, where valuations start to matter again," said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA. "There's this nervousness that we're going to see that we can't just buy everything, as that was the trade for the last few months." Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Sunday the US economy was at an "inflection point" with expectations for faster growth in the months ahead, but he warned that a hasty reopening could lead to a continue...

HKTDC International Sourcing Show: Fashion industry experts reveal post-pandemic moves

indie 12 4 月

8 minutes

HONG KONG, Apr 12, 2021 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - As the fashion world continues to react to the impact of the pandemic, a new paradigm is emerging within the industry. The HKTDC International Sourcing Show | ONLINE hosted three fashion-related webinars last month, with industry experts revealing the changes and opportunities that the pandemic has brought to the fashion arena.At "The Perfect Storm: Future-Proofing Your Fashion Business" webinar, Harvey Mok, Senior Vice President, Business Development at CASETiFY, shared insights into the online-and-offline shopping experience and retail trends.Edwin Keh, CEO of the Hong Kong Research Institute at Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA), showcased an innovative clothing material.Industry experts including Michael Leow, Asia/Pacific Sales & Marketing Head at Fashion Snoops, Matthew Olivier-Lovett, Director of Retail at Omnilytics, and Jaana Jatyri, CEO at Trendstop, shared the latest trend forecasts at "The Visionary Fashion Trends: Lifestyle and Retail" webinar.Expand product categories and enhance online salesIn the webinar titled "The Perfect Storm: Future-Proofing Your Fashion Business", Michael Ho, Marketing & Brand Par...

Fujitsu Embarks on Partnership with Siemens Digital Industries Software Strengthening Global Competitiveness and Accelerating DX to Realize Smart, Sustainable Manufacturing

ruth 12 4 月

4 minutes

TOKYO, Apr 12, 2021 - (JCN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Fujitsu today announced an agreement to collaborate with Siemens Digital Industries Software to enhance competitiveness for its customers and strengthen and accelerate Digital Transformation (DX) in the manufacturing industry beginning with the Japanese market.Through this collaboration, Fujitsu will initially resell industry-specific solutions from Siemens' Xcelerator portfolio in the Japanese market, including Siemens' Product Lifecycle Management System "Teamcenter"(1) and Manufacturing Operation Management System "Opcenter"(2), while providing solutions that draw on these capabilities in combination with Fujitsu's brand of manufacturing solutions and services, COLMINA. With the technical support of Siemens, Fujitsu is additionally developing 3D-BOP(3) functions that seamlessly link design and assembly processes to shorten time to market and improve productivity and quality.Going forward, Fujitsu will begin offering 3D-BOP functions to the Japanese market in July 2021. Based on the results achieved in the initial roll-out in Japan, Fujitsu will strengthen its global service provision and maintenance structure, and in April...

MHA calls tender for trial of fully automated motorcycle riding test circuit

aseanpr 12 4 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - Learner motorcyclists and drivers could in a few years' time be assessed for a road licence without the presence of a human tester, if a trial here proceeds smoothly. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has called a tender for a trial of a fully automated circuit that will use technology to test motorcycle riders. The Intelligent Driving Circuit (IDC) will eventually replace the current testing method, which involves a human assessor, for both car drivers and motorcyclists. According to the tender documents on government procurement portal GeBiz, the trial is to be conducted on selected Class 2, 2A and 2B motorcycles, which are to be fitted with analytical equipment such as sensors and cameras. The tenderer is expected to supply two motorcycle units for each class and set up automated testing systems at the motorcycle course stations within the test circuit at the Singapore Safety Driving Centre (SSDC) in Woodlands Industrial Park. The tender documents set out the riding errors that the automated testing system must be able to detect at the emergency stop station in a proof-of-concept test. These include failing to attain a minimum speed of 30kmh for Class 2B motorcycles...

2 Korean battery makers settle dispute that threatened Biden’s green agenda

elean 12 4 月

4 minutes

WASHINGTON (NYTIMES) Two South Korean manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries that are building plants in the United States said Sunday that they had reached a US$1.8 billion settlement in a trade secrets dispute that threatened the domestic battery supply and, with it, the Biden administration's green agenda. The announcement came on the day of a deadline set by the United States' trade representative to decide whether to veto an International Trade Commission ruling in the intellectual property case between LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation. The commission's ruling in favour of LG had threatened SK with a ban on supplying batteries in the country and put its facility under construction in Georgia at risk. The plant, which is still under construction, will supply batteries for electric vehicles for Ford and Volkswagen, and with the settlement agreement, SK is now also free to seek business from other companies. The dispute had threatened the domestic supply of batteries for electric vehicles. The settlement prevents delays in the development of American electric vehicles and supplies. Georgia's politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, had been pressuring President Joe B...

Fed’s Powell: US economy at an ‘inflection point’

elean 12 4 月

4 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - The US economy is at an "inflection point" with expectations that growth and hiring will pick up speed in the months ahead, but some risks remain, particularly any resurgence in the coronavirus pandemic, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said. In a brief preview of a longer interview with CBS' news magazine program "60 Minutes" set to air in full on Sunday night, Mr Powell echoed both his recent optimism about the economy and a now-familiar warning that Covid-19 remains the main risk. "We feel like we're at a place where the economy is about to start growing much more quickly and job creation coming in much more quickly, so the principal risk to our economy right now really is that the disease would spread again," Mr Powell said. "It's going to be smart if people can continue to socially distance and wear masks." Indeed, recent data on the economy has been positive by and large, with a better-than-expected 916,000 jobs created in March and some Fed officials suggesting a run of a million new jobs a month is possible later this year. While pockets of the United States are seeing an upswing in Covid-19 cases - in Michigan in particular - infection rates in larg...

Will petrol stations become drive-in cafes?

elean 11 4 月

4 minutes

(REUTERS) - If more vehicles are going to be powered by electricity, what is going to happen to the ubiquitous petrol stations? The head of Thailand's biggest petrol station network is betting US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) that motorists will soon be stocking up on a different kind of fuel - coffee. That is the sum that Ms Jiraporn Kaosawad, chief executive of PTT Oil and Retail Business (PTTOR), is placing on rolling out thousands of coffee shops at home and abroad, along with other non-oil businesses, as global auto and fuel players gear up for a future dominated by electric car growth. A month on from Thailand's biggest initial public offering of the year, Ms Jiraporn's plans for the Cafe Amazon business - already the No. 1 Thai coffee shop chain - present PTTOR's take on the task facing oil majors from BP to Total: How to maximise profit from fuel networks as drivers of the future wait for their electric vehicles (EVs) to be charged up. These strategies are dependent on mass-scale take-up of EVs, now being promoted by governments and international organisations as one key to capping and ultimately reducing the emissions that stoke climate change. "Our investments and partnership...

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