What's News: August 30, 2016

Fifteen more people were diagnosed yesterday with the Zika virus, bringing the total of locally transmitted cases to 56. The authorities said they expect more cases to surface as they continue their probe into people living in the affected Aljunied area.

Satellites detected almost 700 fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra last week as thick haze from land-burning blanketed Malaysia and Singapore. The data from Global Forest Watch, however, also found that 60 per cent of the fires were spotted outside concession areas that were not managed by plantation firms.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday again pleaded with China to allow Filipinos to fish near Scarborough Shoal, a disputed atoll in the South China Sea about 220km west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. China seized control of the shoal in 2012 after a two-month stand-off with the Philippines.

China has named new party chiefs for Xinjiang and Tibet, continuing a series of reshuffles as President Xi Jinping looks to put trusted aides in charge of China's two most politically sensitive regions and to cement his power base ahead of a leadership transition next year.

The Aug 7 referendum in Thailand yielded a surprising result, with most voters favouring a Charter drafted by a committee backed by the military government. The result shows that Thais want compromise and reconciliation for their country, says Thitinan Pongsudhirak.

Transport operator ComfortDelGro says it has not found its older workers wanting, three years after raising the retirement age to 67. This group is not more prone to poor performance and have strong work ethics, it said.

An 18-year-old student was yesterday sentenced to the mandatory minimum of eight years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to attempted rape. Marcus Yow Kai Wen, who was then on probation for assaulting women, tried to rape a woman at a void deck in his neighbourhood last year.

The number of firms here being wound up after encountering financial trouble is on track to be on a par with last year's number, which was the highest in 11 years. A total of 118 court winding-up petitions were filed in the first half of this year, compared with 129 in the same period last year.

While the English Premier League has lured some of the Bundesliga's big names, former German international Jens Lehmann says the status of the German league has not been diminished. In Singapore to promote the Bundesliga Legends Tour 2016-17, he said: "Sometimes they pay to buy mediocre players, so there's no harm to the Bundesliga."

Beyonce dominated the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, prowling the stage with a 15-minute medley from her Lemonade album and taking home eight statuettes, including the top prize - Video of the Year.