Must-reads

More Covid-19 curbs will be eased as Singapore makes headway in vaccinating its residents as well keeping the pandemic under control, the multi-ministry task force tackling Covid-19 announced. From April 5, up to 75 per cent of employees currently working from home will be able to return to the workplace at any one time.

The High Court has ordered blogger and financial adviser Leong Sze Hian to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong $133,000 for defamation. Mr Leong was sued for sharing, on his Facebook page, an article from a Malaysian news site that falsely linked PM Lee to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad corruption scandal in Malaysia.

Myanmar's junta yesterday freed hundreds of demonstrators arrested during its brutal crackdown on protests, while many businesses in Yangon remained shut and streets were deserted after anti-coup activists called for a silent strike.

Several buses full of prisoners drove out of Yangon's Insein jail in the morning, said witnesses.

The reports of rising anti-Asian feelings and attacks in the United States and around the world in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak are a cause for concern. Associate editor Ravi Velloor says every society struggles with its prejudices, but it is how it recognises these frailties and fault lines that is important.

When Covid-19 cases were rising here last March, and more spaces were needed to quarantine people, a group of organisations came forward to work with the Government on solutions. At a roundtable, this was described as one of the collaborations that pointed the way forward for such private-public partnerships.

A bluetooth tracking dongle and facial recognition tools are some of the new technologies being piloted to prepare Singapore for major events. They were deployed at the geospatial Geo Connect Asia 2021 conference, the first large-scale hybrid event of the year with close to 1,000 attendees expected on site.