Orthopaedic surgeon Ang Swee Chai, an inductee for the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame (SWHF), in virtue of her humanitarian work, is unable to turn up for her induction ceremony because the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) refuse to assure her that her Singapore citizenship will not be stripped from her when she enters the country. The SWHF was launched in 2014 by …

On 15 March, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) issued a letter to a number to bloggers stating that income received from social media marketing activities will be assessed as self-employed income and will be subject to tax. In the statement, IRAS categorises blogging, YouTubing, as well as activities performed on any social media platform such as Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook as social media marketing …

Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen named former Finance Minister Lin Chuan as Taiwan’s next premier on 15 March. This move by Tsai has indicated that Taiwan’s economy is a top priority. Both Tsai and Lin will take office on 20 May when Tsai is sworn in as successor to current President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT). From 2002 to 2006, Lin served …

A Singaporean fugitive, Tan Hock Chye, 47, was sentenced to a 12 months’ jail term for illegally walking across the Causeway into Malaysia without a passport. Tan pleaded guilty on 14 March, also admitting to being on the wanted list in Singapore and that he also had previous convictions for armed robbery and drug-related offences. Tan was arrested at the Iskandar Customs, …

By Margaret Yang Yesterday, BOJ had decided to keep the expansionary of monetary base at 80 trillion yen and policy rate at minus 0.1% unchanged. Yen strengthened mildly following this news, and now it’s trading at around the 113.40 range. Nikkei fell 116 points and closed at 17,117 yesterday. Nikkei futures dropped further after cash market closed as Crude oil …

The Bukit Batok Single Member Constituency (SMC) seat has been left vacant since People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Member of Parliament (MP) David Ong announced his resignation on 12 March, citing “personal reasons.” In light of this, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has stated that a by-election will be held in Bukit Batok SMC. Opposition parties, as well as independent candidates …