By , SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singaporeans are expected to return the People’s Action Party to power in a July 10 general election, extending its unbroken rule since the Southeast Asian island’s independence in 1965.In that time, Singapore has had only three prime ministers: independence leader Lee Kuan Yew, his cabinet colleague Goh Chok Tong and Lee’s son, the present prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.Having overseen rapid economic growth and prosperity, the PAP has become entrenched in power. But there are other factors that have kept rivals at bay.Voting in the former British colony is...…By , SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singaporeans are expected to return the People’s Action Party to power in a July 10 general election, extending its unbroken rule since the Southeast Asian island’s independence in 1965.In that time, Singapore has had only three prime ministers: independence leader Lee Kuan Yew, his cabinet colleague Goh Chok Tong and Lee’s son, the present prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.Having overseen rapid economic growth and prosperity, the PAP has become entrenched in power. But there are other factors that have kept rivals at bay.Voting in the former British colony is...WW…

By , SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore’s trade-reliant economy plunged into recession in the second quarter with a record contraction, signalling a rough first half globally and an equally challenging outlook as the coronavirus crisis exacts a heavy toll on business and demand.Gross domestic product (GDP) dived by a record 41.2% in the three months ended June, on a quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed on Tuesday.That was worse than economists’ expectations for a 37.4% decline in the quarter when Singapore was under a lockdown to...…By , SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore’s trade-reliant economy plunged into recession in the second quarter with a record contraction, signalling a rough first half globally and an equally challenging outlook as the coronavirus crisis exacts a heavy toll on business and demand.Gross domestic product (GDP) dived by a record 41.2% in the three months ended June, on a quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed on Tuesday.That was worse than economists’ expectations for a 37.4% decline in the quarter when Singapore was under a lockdown to...WW…

By , TOKYO (Reuters) -A consortium of private Japanese firms and a Japanese state entity paid rent on a multi-million dollar hotel and office development that ultimately went to Myanmar’s defence ministry, six company and government officials told Reuters.It is the first time Japan has acknowledged the project benefits Myanmar’s defence ministry, which is controlled by the military under the country’s constitution. The payments, starting in 2017, are not illegal but are potentially embarrassing for Japan given United Nations investigators have alleged human rights abuses by Myanmar’s...…By , TOKYO (Reuters) -A consortium of private Japanese firms and a Japanese state entity paid rent on a multi-million dollar hotel and office development that ultimately went to Myanmar’s defence ministry, six company and government officials told Reuters.It is the first time Japan has acknowledged the project benefits Myanmar’s defence ministry, which is controlled by the military under the country’s constitution. The payments, starting in 2017, are not illegal but are potentially embarrassing for Japan given United Nations investigators have alleged human rights abuses by Myanmar’s...WW…

By , PARIS (Reuters) - Myanmar’s parallel civilian government and rights groups on Tuesday called on Total and other oil firms operating in the country to suspend payments to the military-controlled state following last month’s coup.The calls come a day after Total said it was worried about the situation in Myanmar, where scores have been killed in demonstrations against the Feb. 1 coup, while also stressing the importance of its gas projects in the energy-starved country.“The coup has left international oil companies with operations in Myanmar with no option other than to suspend their...…By , PARIS (Reuters) - Myanmar’s parallel civilian government and rights groups on Tuesday called on Total and other oil firms operating in the country to suspend payments to the military-controlled state following last month’s coup.The calls come a day after Total said it was worried about the situation in Myanmar, where scores have been killed in demonstrations against the Feb. 1 coup, while also stressing the importance of its gas projects in the energy-starved country.“The coup has left international oil companies with operations in Myanmar with no option other than to suspend their...WW…

By , , SINGAPORE/VARANASI, India (Reuters) - A wheelbarrow and a handful of metal grids for capturing litter, emblazoned with the words “Renew Oceans,” sit rusting outside an empty, padlocked office in the Indian city of Varanasi, a short walk from the Ganges.It is all that is left of a programme, funded by some of the world’s biggest oil and chemical companies, that they said could solve a runaway ocean plastic waste crisis which is killing marine life - from plankton to whales - and clogging tropical beaches and coral reefs.The closure of Renew Oceans, which has not previously been...…By , , SINGAPORE/VARANASI, India (Reuters) - A wheelbarrow and a handful of metal grids for capturing litter, emblazoned with the words “Renew Oceans,” sit rusting outside an empty, padlocked office in the Indian city of Varanasi, a short walk from the Ganges.It is all that is left of a programme, funded by some of the world’s biggest oil and chemical companies, that they said could solve a runaway ocean plastic waste crisis which is killing marine life - from plankton to whales - and clogging tropical beaches and coral reefs.The closure of Renew Oceans, which has not previously been...WW…

By Slideshow SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong received his first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, and urged others to take the jabs in a country that has largely brought the pandemic under control.Unlike other mass vaccination programmes in the United States and Britain, Singapore is administering the jabs having largely eradicated the disease and has reported only a handful of local cases in recent months.The government has said its studies show nearly 60% of residents are willing to be vaccinated. But the plans have stirred rare hesitancy among some due...…By Slideshow SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong received his first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, and urged others to take the jabs in a country that has largely brought the pandemic under control.Unlike other mass vaccination programmes in the United States and Britain, Singapore is administering the jabs having largely eradicated the disease and has reported only a handful of local cases in recent months.The government has said its studies show nearly 60% of residents are willing to be vaccinated. But the plans have stirred rare hesitancy among some due...WW…

By , SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore has given U.S. start-up Eat Just the greenlight to sell its lab-grown chicken meat, in what the firm says is the world’s first regulatory approval for so-called clean meat that does not come from slaughtered animals.The meat, to be sold as nuggets, will be priced at premium chicken prices when it first launches in a restaurant in Singapore “in the very near term”, co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick said.Demand for alternatives to regular meat is surging due to concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment. Plant-based substitutes, popularised by...…By , SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore has given U.S. start-up Eat Just the greenlight to sell its lab-grown chicken meat, in what the firm says is the world’s first regulatory approval for so-called clean meat that does not come from slaughtered animals.The meat, to be sold as nuggets, will be priced at premium chicken prices when it first launches in a restaurant in Singapore “in the very near term”, co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick said.Demand for alternatives to regular meat is surging due to concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment. Plant-based substitutes, popularised by...WW…

By , SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Having once had the highest COVID-19 rate in Southeast Asia, Singapore has all but eradicated the virus after reporting 14 days without any new local cases on Tuesday, and saying it had snuffed out the last cluster of infection at a worker dormitory.The cramped dormitories for young, low-wage labourers, mainly from Bangladesh, India and China had been at the centre of the city-state’s spiralling cases earlier this year.While Singapore has reported zero local cases for two weeks, there has been a trickle of infected people arriving from abroad who have been...…By , SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Having once had the highest COVID-19 rate in Southeast Asia, Singapore has all but eradicated the virus after reporting 14 days without any new local cases on Tuesday, and saying it had snuffed out the last cluster of infection at a worker dormitory.The cramped dormitories for young, low-wage labourers, mainly from Bangladesh, India and China had been at the centre of the city-state’s spiralling cases earlier this year.While Singapore has reported zero local cases for two weeks, there has been a trickle of infected people arriving from abroad who have been...WW…

By SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore is set to charge an activist with staging a one-man protest without a permit over an incident in which he held up a sign bearing a crudely drawn smiley face outside a police station.Police told Jolovan Wham, 40, who has had several run-ins with authorities in the city-state, which tightly controls public assembly, the media and free speech, on Thursday that he would be formally charged in court Monday.The charge relates to a March incident in which Wham demonstrated his support for a young climate activist who said he had been questioned by police over a...…By SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore is set to charge an activist with staging a one-man protest without a permit over an incident in which he held up a sign bearing a crudely drawn smiley face outside a police station.Police told Jolovan Wham, 40, who has had several run-ins with authorities in the city-state, which tightly controls public assembly, the media and free speech, on Thursday that he would be formally charged in court Monday.The charge relates to a March incident in which Wham demonstrated his support for a young climate activist who said he had been questioned by police over a...WW…