Police have downgraded Hong Kong’s annual gay pride parade to a stationary rally, organisers said Thursday, after police banned the traditionally boisterous and colourful march through the territory as pro-democracy protests engulf the city. Police allowed the Saturday afternoon event on condition it takes the “form of a public meeting” and not a march, Hong Kong Pride Parade said in …

by Haeril HALIM Indonesian Mirnawati once ate rice with every meal, but its link to diabetes convinced her to join a growing movement to quit a staple food in the third biggest rice-consuming nation on Earth. As World Diabetes Day is held Thursday, the Southeast Asian nation is struggling to tackle a disease that affects as many as 20 million …

by Aidan JONES / Jasmine LEUNG With wooden catapults to launch petrol bombs and bows and arrows pilfered from sports departments, Hong Kong’s democracy protesters are combining new tactics with medieval tech as they battle police. Roads in the financial hub have been blockaded with bamboo lattices this week, while mini Stonehenge-like structures have been built from dug-up pavement as …

A new challenge of Section 377A of the Penal Code is being brought to Singapore’s High Court, this time by Mr Bryan Choong, former executive director of non-profit organisation Oogachaga, looking to repeal the law on several grounds. This is the first of three cases against Section 377A which will come before the High Court in November. The other is …

After winning S$150,000 in prize money earlier this week at the Singapore Fintech Festival, leading global financial technology company TransferWise announced today (14 Nov) it will be giving away that money to Singaporean individuals and small businesses hit by hidden bank fees at home and abroad. The money will be paid to those who can show they have suffered from …

On Wednesday (13 November), market survey company Nielsen published its annual report on media consumption habits which found that more Singaporeans are consuming news online, despite an overall drop in readership in Singapore newspaper as they continue to print hard copy. The 2019 Nielsen Consumer & Media View Study also revealed that the trend is more obvious among younger Singaporeans, …

Festival Walk, a shopping mall in Hong Kong owned by Singapore-based Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust Ltd, suffered “extensive damage” in another round of protests on Wed (13 Nov). Bloomberg reported Mapletree, a Temasek Holdings-linked company, as saying that protestors had “smashed” glass panels at the mall’s entrance, and that they had also “damaged the office lobby and balustrades on …

The fire hose reel at Blk 210A in Bukit Batok was “working properly at the date and time of the fire”, according to a legal counsel for JKeart, the contractor responsible for maintaining the hose reel at the block. In a Facebook message from the legal counsel to Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan, which was seen by …

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has issued a warning against the modification of electric scooters into personal mobility aids (PMAs), adding that action will be taken to “irresponsible” vendors offering such a service as well as users who partake in it. In a Facebook post on Wednesday (13 Nov), the LTA said that it has seen online advertisements from vendors …

Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh said in a Facebook post on Wednesday (13 November) that it’s difficult for opposition parties in Singapore to be united as different parties have different philosophies. In his post, Mr Singh also shared a Channel News Asia (CNA) article titled “Lam Pin Min calls out ‘irresponsible and abhorrent’ actions of opposition party member at …