SINGAPORE - Catch up on the hottest topics on The Straits Times' weekday talk show.

The Big Story, broadcast every weekday at 5.30pm on Facebook and YouTube, has reporters and senior editors discussing the top stories of the day.

The show is helmed by multimedia correspondent Hairianto Diman and assistant video editor Olivia Quay, and airs live from ST's digital studio.

Vessels queued up at the blocked Suez Canal are being forced to consider detouring around Africa, as efforts to dislodge the Ever Given container ship are predicted to take weeks. Dr Yap Wei Yim joins us to discuss the impact of the blockage to Singapore consumers. He is the head of the international trade management minor programme at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

In other news, about 950,000 Singaporean households can look forward to $135 million service and conservancy charge rebates from April to March next year. The rebates are part of the $900 million Household Support Package, announced during this year's Budget, to support families with household expenses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Shaw Theatres outlet at Nex shopping mall resumed operations on March 18, more than six months after a ventilation duct collapsed and injured two people.

And, Thailand will waive quarantine requirements for vaccinated visitors arriving on the resort island of Phuket from July 1, the first key reopening for the tourism-reliant nation. Ahead of the island's reopening, Thailand is prioritising its vaccine roll-out to Phuket residents.