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A protest in Sydney last week urging the Australian government to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over China's human rights record.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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THE BIG STORY
More tap programmes for new skills, career switch
More Singaporeans tapped professional conversion programmes last year to learn new skills and switch careers, amid a weakened hiring market due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Some 6,270 professionals, managers, executives and technicians joined such programmes last year, a jump of 41 per cent from 2019.
The 115 Bukit Merah View Market and Hawker Centre, which is at the centre of Singapore's largest open Covid-19 cluster, reopened yesterday after a two-week closure. However, fewer than 10 out of the centre's 182 stalls were open for business when The Straits Times visited at 8.30am, and human traffic was also visibly thin.
Australia has been the subject of recent trade sanctions by China worth more than A$20 billion (S$20.4 billion), yet a series of opinion surveys show that Beijing's punishments have left Australians defiant and strongly committed to pushing back. In recent years, ties between Australia and China have rapidly deteriorated, fuelled by Beijing's anger at several measures by Canberra.
The jockeying for power begins as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gets ready to step aside after next May's elections. In the weekly Power Play column, Philippines correspondent Raul Dancel looks at how the 2022 elections offer the US and China an opportunity for a reset that will fit into their agenda for the region.
The birth of a child is usually a time for celebration, but the Covid-19 pandemic has presented parents of newborns with a new set of challenges. A lack of social support, isolation at home and worries about hygiene are among the key concerns, said parents and experts. But some said there have also been silver linings.
ST FILE PHOTO
Some of the world's biggest tech firms are stepping up training efforts to help Singapore meet the surging demand for digitally skilled workers in an ever-widening range of industries. A study found that Singapore will need an additional 1.2 million digital workers by 2025.
