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Syria's brutal conflict entered its 10th year yesterday, with President Bashar al-Assad consolidating his hold over a country with a decimated economy. At least 384,000 people have died in the war, including more than 116,000 civilians, while more than 11 million people have been displaced.
Singapore residents should defer all non-essential travel for the next 30 days, and the Government has tightened border restrictions to include all Asean states. A 14-day stay-home notice will be issued to all travellers entering Singapore with travel history to Asean countries, Japan, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom within the last 14 days.
Five Singaporeans who attended a religious gathering in Malaysia and tested positive for the coronavirus on their return to Singapore visited 10 mosques here during their infectious period. The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) said congregants who had visited these mosques from March 3 to 11 could have been exposed to a Covid-19 case.
Pressure is mounting on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ask the European Union for an extension of the deadline for a Brexit trade deal. Britain has until Dec 31 to strike a new deal, but analysts say that governments on both sides should concentrate on managing the response to the coronavirus pandemic first.
Europe's Covid-19 response shows up disunity on the continent, with each country going its own way as the European Union leadership proves unable to step up, says global affairs correspondent Jonathan Eyal.
A system developed in Singapore that can detect if a person has major eye problems, such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration, has been approved for sale in Europe. The Singapore Eye Lesion Analyser Plus or Selena+ is a deep-learning artificial intelligence software system that delivers results faster, equal to or even better than those of human graders.
An alumnus of the Singapore Management University (SMU) has donated an endowed contribution of $1 million to enhance its P.A.K. Entrepreneurship Fund. The donation from Mr Jeff Tung, who graduated from the Lee Kong Chian School of Business in 2013 and is founder and chairman of Sheng Ye Capital, is the single largest gift by a former student to date.
At least 77 former employees of struggling start-up Honestbee have filed claims for non-payment of salaries. Of these, 16 claims had been filed since last month and their cases are scheduled for mediation this month. The Ministry of Manpower confirmed that the start-up owes its employees salaries for last month, as well as their CPF contributions for both January and last month.
The priority for Uefa should be to complete European domestic football leagues once matches resume after the suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic, say clubs and associations. To help, the European club tournaments could be shortened and the 24-team Euro 2020 could be postponed by a year.
Traditional Thai medicine, which has evolved over at least three centuries, is drawing more interest locally after the Thai government approved for public use 16 traditional herbal formulas that include cannabis. More than 20,000 patients have rushed to the full-time government cannabis clinic for free prescriptions since it opened in January. But the risks involved in using it remain.
StraitsTimes Digital
VIDEO
All schools to follow SG Clean checklist
By the end of this month, all schools here will have a cleaning regimen in place. They will have to adhere to a new hygiene checklist as part of the SG Clean scheme. str.sg/blurb267
VIDEO
Tourist attractions' battle against outbreak
This special episode of The Backend Show takes you behind the scenes of various tourist attractions and activity spots to find out how they are ensuring safety and cleanliness amid the coronavirus outbreak. str.sg/blurb268
