Seasonal increase in HMPV cases consistent with previous years: MOH

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SINGAPORE: The rise in Human Metapneumovirus ( HMPV ) infections is part of the seasonal cycle of respiratory viruses, with more cases typically observed&nbsp, during the year-end period.

The Ministry of Health ( MOH) informed CNA on Tuesday ( January 7 ) that this rise in cases is likely the result of “increased social gatherings and holiday travel.”

” In 2024, the weekly HMPV positivity rate among Acute Respiratory Infections ( ARI ) samples in the community ranged from 0.8 per cent to 9.0 per cent, with a range of 5.5 per cent to 9.0 per cent in December”, said MOH, adding that this increase is consistent with previous years.

HMPV infections have a seasonal pattern, with the ministry noting that the ministry’s ministry’s notices are more prevalent during the colder winter months in temperate regions, in contrast to other common respiratory viruses like influenza and respiratory syncytial virus ( RSV).

The people are advised to exercise good personal hygiene, including frequent dishwashing, particularly when travelling abroad. &nbsp,

When coughing or sneezing, they may even cover their nose and mouth, and they should also throw away organs after using them. &nbsp,

Individuals with mild respiratory infection symptoms may remain at home until they are gone, and they should exercise social duty by limiting social relations, using a mask, and avoiding packed locations, according to the MOH.

Who have these symptoms and are biologically vulnerable people- which might include young children, seniors, and those who have chronic medical conditions- are advised to see a doctor right away.

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Singapore passes law that gives police powers to freeze bank accounts of scam victims

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Non-constituency MP Hazel Poa suggested introducing an opt-out delivery for people, subject to protection.

For instance, the limitations order’s opt-out could only be implemented after 30 days, and people would have to do so in person following a mandated counseling session, according to the Secretary-General of Progress Singapore. &nbsp,

A restriction buy perhaps risk pushing “emotionally invested” patients to despair, said Ms Poa. &nbsp,

Scam victims may receive mental health support and counseling from a social worker, she added. These societal workers may advise the police on whether a restriction order would benefit the target. &nbsp,

Ms. Poa even inquired about whether the limitations purchases may be extended to mutual records, which might cause issues for account holders who are not subject to the restrictions.

There are two types of joint accounts, according to Ms. Sun’s response: a joint-all account where all account holders must provide instructions for banking transactions and a joint-alternate account where transactions can be completed without the other account holder’s consent.

Although banks informed MHA that this was “operationally challenging,” it “would prefer to take a risk-calibrated approach” by imposing restriction orders on only joint-alternate accounts. &nbsp,

For a start, we have therefore decided to impose restriction orders on both types of joint accounts, according to Ms. Sun.

She noted that the authorities have decided to proceed with this action to “provide victims with the necessary protection,” even though it is” not ideal.”

MHA will work with the banks to explore putting technical solutions in place” to facilitate such exemptions” in the future, she added. &nbsp,

Ms. Sun also reiterates that the restriction order is a “last resort” measure in response to the suggestion to provide an option to opt out. &nbsp,

She noted that the restriction order will only be temporarily for a maximum of 30 days and will be extended up to five times if necessary. &nbsp,

MPs, such as Mr Gerald Giam ( WP-Aljunied ), Ms Ng Ling Ling ( PAP-Ang Mo Kio ) and Mr Sharael Taha ( PAP-Pasir Ris-Punggol ), asked if the legislation is enough to address scam tactics that are evolving and being conducted at high speeds.

Ms. Ng also made note of the danger of scams occurring on non-banking platforms and asked if the restrictions orders could be expanded to include organizations like remittance and cryptocurrency exchanges.

Ms. Sun responded that MHA recognized the danger that other platforms act as “intermediaries in the scam chain.” It will continue to monitor the scam situation in conjunction with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and” consider, if necessary, expanding the scope of the restriction order.”

Ms. Sun added that the police anticipate issuing five to ten restriction orders each month, although the actual number will depend on the types of cases that are brought to the police’s attention and the severity of each case’s evaluation.

Mr Giam noted that this will come up to about 60 to 120 restriction orders being issued a year, which is “negligible” compared to the 50, 000 scam cases reported annually. He inquired if this implies that the Bill will only have a limited impact on preventing scams.

Ms. Sun reaffirmed that the Bill alone” will not significantly decrease the total number of scams,” and that it is only one of the many strategies being used to combat scams.

Despite this, it is focused on scams that involve social engineering and can result in “quite a lot of losses” over time.

” So, while the number of scams that could be deterred through this Bill … is ( expected ) to be between five to 10 cases a month, I think we should not neglect the fact that the absolute amounts ( in terms of ) losses could be substantial”, said Ms Sun.

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Banks, mobile operators to be made liable for phone-scam losses

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Minister proposes a court-ordered order.

PUBLISHED: 7 Jan 2025 at 15: 07

Prasert Jantararuangtong, minister of digital economy and society. (Photo: Government House)
Prasert Jantararuangtong, chancellor of modern economy and society. ( Photo: Government House )

This month, the minister of digital economy and society will promulgate an executive order mandating that banks and cellular phone providers pay compensation to victims of scams carried out using their services.

An executive order had been announced and take impact before the end of the month, according to Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong on Tuesday. The government needed to be protected.

Financial corporations and cellular phone operators that did not employ&nbsp, measures to protect the public from schemes may get accountability, he said.

Lenders should be aware of the customers ‘ backgrounds to stop any of them from opening horse accounts for con artist gangs. ” Homeless people may become asked why they want to start so many banks accounts,” said Mr. Prasert.

Instead of simply making money by forwarding all communications, the minister recommended that cellular phone operators check out SMS messages with links that might be false.

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Assam: India rescuers race to save men stuck in flooded rat-hole mine

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In the north-eastern status of Assam, firefighters in India are working against the clock to rescue workers who are stranded inside a flooded fuel mine.

After the state government claimed rescue team had spotted some systems they have been unable to accomplish, three of the nine insiders were reportedly dead, according to Reuters.

The rat-hole me, a personally dug, was flooded by water on Monday morning, leaving the men trapped.

Smaller, illegal mining are still operating in Assam and other north-eastern claims despite the ban on such mine in India since 2014.

The state and national crisis response makes are also assisting efforts, and divers, helicopters, and technicians have been deployed to help with the men who are trapped.

Assam Director General of Police GP Singh had stated on Monday night that officials were able to determine how many people were trapped in particular.

More than a dozen workers were reportedly able to escape, and initial studies suggested that the “numbers would be in solitary figures.”

The Dima Hasao district’s steep place is where the mine is located.

Senior officers established in the city, Mayank Kumar Jha, told Reuters that the place was extremely “remote” and “difficult to reach”.

Mine-related disasters are not unusual in India’s east.

After waters from a local river flooded an illegal mine in the state of Meghalaya in December 2018, at least 15 people were trapped in it.

Five workers made it out, but some ‘ recovery efforts continued until the following March’s first month. Just two bodies were recovered.

Six employees were killed in a fire that broke out in a rat-hole coal plant in Nagaland position in January 2024.

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Tour operators, hostels offer new experiences to draw visitors to Singapore as sector recovers

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SINGAPORE: Tour operators and dormitories are upping their sport as they look to bank on Singapore’s recovering hospitality business.
 
This is in response to the increase in inbound tourism in 2024, which increased by 12 % from 2023.

Let’s Get Tour, for instance, is hoping that novel choices beyond the beaten path may bring in a wider base. This includes trips to Kampung Buangkok, Singapore’s past of its kind. &nbsp,

According to the agency’s general manager Kyanta Yap, “even tourists and residents are starting to be interested in learning about Singapore before all the high-rise properties.”

The tour technician is also testing out musical travels that use stars as guides.

We want to be unique because, in his opinion, Singapore hospitality as a whole has now advanced to the next level.

” We are run by a group of fun and creative types of tour guides. He said,” It’s not the waving flag and microphone (type ),” referring to how tours are traditionally conducted.

Another company, Monster Day Tours, has started holding virtual reality tour. &nbsp,

” We want to use virtual truth features to help our tour guides tell the better tales of Singapore,” the company says. which may take some of the neighborhoods to career,” said chief operating officer Byron Koh.

Both businesses added that they have developed game-like views and worked to entice businesses that require team-building activities.

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Missing Chinese actor found safe

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PUBLISHED: 7 Jan 2025 at 14: 36

Actor Wang Xing's picture in his passport. (Photo supplied)
Actor Wang Xing’s image in his card. ( Photo supplied )

Wang Xing, a Chinese artist who is missing, was found secure and meet with Thai officials, according to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday.

Ms. Paetongtarn reported that Provincial Police Region 6 representatives from the Mae Sot area of Tak state and Mr. Wang, aka Xingxing, had arrived from Myanmar.

After the regular cupboard meeting, the prime minister stated that the government was properly handling the issue to avoid any negative effects to tourism.

She claimed that the writer’s removal had been exaggerated and that Thailand was a dangerous place to travel to.

According to the prime minister, the state and the Chinese embassy were collaborating closely to reach agreement on the topic.

The Chinese artist was discovered in Myanmar on Monday, according to Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong, and made his way back to Thailand on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old professional arrived at Suvarnabhumi aircraft early on Friday night and then drove straight to Pun, where all communication with him&nbsp was lost.

Mr. Sorawong acknowledged that the investigation may have a bad effect on Thailand’s hospitality industry. He had requested assistance from the Chinese ambassador in fending off rumors that Thailand was a dangerous place to travel to.

Mr. Sorawong stated that he hoped any negative effects on commerce may be temporary.

” It is great that he was found. Both the tourism department and the government have a duty to instill confidence in tourists. I firmly believe that Thai visitors who have been there have a good understanding of the situation there,” the commerce secretary said.

The artist was taken by a car from Suvarnabhumi atrport to a border region in Tak’s Mae Sot area, according to Pol Gen Thatchai Peetaneelabut, inspector general of the Royal Thai Police Office, and another individual led Mr. Wang along a healthy border crossing into Myanmar.

He had ordered a detailed investigation been made into the affair, &nbsp, because it appeared to be the job of a human-trafficking group.

No additional details were given.

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Asia’s Best Companies 2025 Poll — open now | FinanceAsia

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Welcome to&nbsp, FinanceAsia ‘s&nbsp, annual poll, which celebrates Asia’s best companies across a range of markets and countries. In developing this priceless criterion of the country’s most important companies, their efficiency and corporate behavior in relation to their peers, we value the input of both investors and analysts.

We ask our audience to nominate any publicly traded Asian-based business that is leading in its field. It might be that the firm impresses in terms of new deal execution, inside structure, completed transactions, continued strategy, or possibly ESG credentials.

We want to&nbsp, hear from you! &nbsp, The second 100 voters may get one month free, unlimited access to all of&nbsp, FinanceAsia’s information. &nbsp,

To vote&nbsp, visit below. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

Poll findings will be published via the&nbsp, FinanceAsia&nbsp, site and will provide traders nationally with special insight into Asia’s best-managed companies, both by country / market and by business industry.

Key Dates

Available for Nomination: &nbsp, Tuesday, Janaury 7 2025
Election Deadline: Thursday, March 6&nbsp, 2025 at evening GMT 8

Outcome Announcement: &nbsp,

North Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia: &nbsp, Monday, March 24 2025&nbsp,
Regional: &nbsp, Tuesday March 25, 2025

Recommendations for Election

  • Each individual who submits a nomination may be asked to provide their contact information.
  • Each election type is&nbsp, special to each market/country. To register for more than one market/country, you perhaps click on the link provided at the end of the study to begin a new submission. &nbsp,
  • Please note that you are &nbsp, just required to fill in the areas in which you wish to make a nomination. You may skip and left the fields flat if there are any categories you do not want to nominate in.
  • Please note that&nbsp, you may not voting for your own business. Vote cast by a business for itself will not be counted.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Individual responses will remain confidential – they will only be aggregated to provide overall results.

¬ Capitol Media Limited. All rights reserved.

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Stepmother in fatal child abuse case charged with ill-treating 5-year-old girl and her brother

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The stepmother of two young siblings who had been huddled up in a toilet for months was charged with maltreatment of the two children on Tuesday ( Jan 7 ).

The victim’s five-year-old daughter, Ayeesha, died of a brain injury in August 2017 after her father smacked her face up to 20 days in the bathroom and left her there.

Last April, the father entered a guilty plea to criminal homicide and child maltreatment in the High Court. He was sentenced to 34-and-a-half years in prison and 12 breaths of the wood.

The trial at the time announced it would review the situation against Ayeesha’s wife, who testified as a trial witness when the parents was first on trial.

Both the wife, 34, and the father, 44, may become named. According to gag orders, Ayeeesha’s surviving younger brother’s identification was kept private.

The mother was charged with ill-treating a baby under her care on Tuesday in the state court with the same charge as her husband at the time.

In February to October 2016, two of the charges were brought for barricading the two kids in a place with a small place between 90 and 90 cm.

The various two charges relate to the two children’s dressed in the bathroom from October 2016 to August 11, 2017.

Ayeesha’s father fatally assaulted her on August 10, 2017, leaving her in the bathroom until the following day with her brother, who was almost four years old.

The stepmother is also accused of giving false information to a public servant in order to utilize constitutional powers to cause harm to another person.

She indicated that she would enter a criminal plea. She was given a date to do so on Feb 4, and remains out on bail of S$ 15, 000 ( US$ 11, 000 ).

For each child abuse command, she could receive a prison term of up to four years, a fine of up to S$ 4, 000, or both sanctions.

Giving false information to a public servant in order to use constitutional powers to harm another person is illegal and carries a sentence of up to two years in prison, a great, or both.

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Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon to perform in Singapore in May

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Taeyeon may conduct three nights at KSPO Dome in Seoul, South Korea, on March 7. The trip will begin there. Later, the INVU singer did stage exhibits in Taipei, Manila, Jakarta, Macau, Bangkok and Hong Kong.

Tickets for Taeyeon’s Singapore music will become announced at a later time. Taeyeon’s returning to Singapore is more than a year after her last musical that. &nbsp,

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Singapore, Malaysia committed to find ‘durable, win-win’ outcomes on outstanding bilateral issues, say PMs Wong and Anwar

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Both nations agreed in 2019 to halt and return to their prior limits in relation to overlapping interface claims.

The suspension came after Malaysia’s punitive expansion of the Johor Bahru Port Limits off Tanjung Piai, which overlapped with Singapore’s interface restrictions off Tuas, sparked a dispute.

Singapore protested Malaysia’s improvement in October 2018, claiming it had led to repeated attacks by Malaysian authorities vessels into Singapore’s waters, with the Republic after extending its own dock limits in reply, which were still in its territorial waters.

In 2019 both parties agreed not to authorize or suspend any business activity in the area, and to not anchor any government vessels it. &nbsp,

To serve as a starting point for negotiations, a committee was established to examine the legal and operational problems relating to the sea debate.

Malaysia, which delegated the process to Singapore 45 years ago, has declared that it is available to maintain its airspace over southeastern Johor. &nbsp,

Malaysia’s transport secretary Anthony Loke stated that Malaysia has informed Singapore that it wants to reclaim the airport in aspects. In 2018, Malaysia objected to fresh flight procedures being proposed for Singapore’s Seletar Airport.

Singapore’s Ministry of Transport ( MOT ) responded, saying the Republic respects Malaysia’s sovereignty and that cross-border airspace management “is not incompatible with sovereignty”.

The International Civil Aviation Organization’s recommendations and approvals for the delivery of air transportation service over southeastern Peninsular Malaysia were discussed and approved at the 10th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders ‘ Retreat held in Singapore in October 2023.

Mr. Anwar stated on Tuesday that Mr. Wong’s conversations with him acknowledged Malaysia’s requirements for communication with Sabah and Sarawak. They also acknowledged Singapore’s requirements to make sure that the efficiency and activities at Changi Airport are intact and assisted.

However, water has been a frequent source of political wrangling between Singapore and Malaysia over the years, particularly when Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in business. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Most recently, however, a Malay deputy secretary said the nation, as well as its southern Johor status, would not be renegotiating fresh water prices with Singapore already. &nbsp,

According to Malaysia’s Deputy Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, “it was decided that the review of raw water rates does not need to be negotiated at this time,” according to discussions with the Johor chief minister ( Onn Hafiz Ghazi ) and the ministry in October 2024,” the review of raw water rates was discussed in parliament on December 2. &nbsp,

The Johor River Water Agreement from 1962 gives Singapore the right to extract 250 million gallons of water per day ( mgd ) from the Johor River.

Singapore pays 3 Malay sen per 1,000 gallons of natural water, and it pays 50 sen per 1,000 gallons, which is a fraction of the cost of treating the water, to Johor.

Singapore has been providing 16mg of treated water to Johor at its demand while Johor is entitled to a regular source of up to 5mgd a moment of treated waters, which accounts for 2 % of the water supplied to Singapore.

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