International

In the unveiling of the UK’s budget earlier this week, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced a sugar tax on soft drinks that would be imposed in two years’ time in order to combat rising obesity. In a discussion about the tax before it was announced on the CBBC programme All Over the Workplace, 10-year-old schoolgirl Charlotte took a …

On 16 March, the World Happiness Report 2016 by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations revealed that Singapore is ranked as the happiest nation in the Asia Pacific Region. Singapore scored 6.739 in the “happy index”, which also placed her as the 22nd happiest country in the world. The survey consisted of polling of about 3,000 people …

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 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Singapore’s authorities to stop trying to intimidate The Online Citizen (TOC), a community news website that is being harassed by the interior minister over its coverage of a Singaporean teenager’s suicide in January after interrogation by the police. RSF is very concerned about the procedures initiated against this participative site, …

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, accounting for funds totalling up to $828 billion USD. On 9 March this year, the GPFG announced that it had dropped 11 companies in 2015 due to the companies’ high rates of deforestation and harm to the environment. Specifically, the companies dropped include 6 firms in the palm …

By Sean Francis Han This year’s Super Tuesday consisted of participating states, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado (with caucuses), Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota (with caucuses), Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. Three other Republican caucuses were held in Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming making Super Tuesday much more indicative of general electability on the Republican side. American Samoa also held a Democratic caucus …

Paris, 23 February 2016: The Singaporean government must immediately drop all charges against three peaceful protestors and guarantee the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in accordance with international human rights standards, FIDH said today. Activists Hui Hui Han, 24, and her supporters Mr. Koh Yew Beng (60) and Ms. Low Wai Choo (56) will appear before Singapore’s State Court …

54% of Singapore respondents in a survey stated that they would vote for presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton if given a choice to vote in the upcoming United States presidential election. The survey was conducted by SurveyMonkey between January 25 and 26, 2016 and received 363 responses from random people in Singapore. Majority or 50% of the total respondents state that …

By FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights The Singaporean government failed to address important human rights concerns that were raised during the country’s second Universal Periodic Review (UPR), FIDH said today. The UPR was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 27 January 2016. “With regard to civil and political rights, the Singapore delegation went on an all-out defense of the status …