Image Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore
Travelling between Singapore and Malaysia will be allowed starting from may 17 for reasons such as visiting critically ill relatives or death.
Both Singapore’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan and Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein have given confirmation on May 2 when the latter paid an official visit to Singapore.
Both Ministers have also agreed to make progress towards allowing essential travel to happen between the two countries.
“To this end, the two Ministers agreed on the procedures and entry requirements for death and critically ill emergency visits between Singapore and Malaysia. This agreement provides a framework to facilitate travel between the two countries for compassionate and emergency reasons,” both ministers said.
Shou Zi Chew, 39-years-old, was officially appointed the new CEO of TikTok on 30 April.
He graduated from Harvard with an MBA and went to a London college.
Shou was previously the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company.
TikTok described the appointment as a “strategic reorganisation” supporting the unprecedented growth of the company.
Shou’s previous role of CFO will be taken over by Vanessa Pappas, who served as the interim head after the departure of Kevin Mayer, the previous CEO who was from Walt Disney.
Shou, who is based in Singapore, is touted to possess “deep knowledge of the company and industry because of his background in tech and previously leading a team amongst the earlier investors of TikTok.
Shou pledged to continue building a strong management team and highlighted that he was humbled by the new role.
TiKTok boasts more than 1 billion users worldwide.
Former manager of NLB Ivan Koh Siong Wee, 51 and company director Low Pok Woen, 52 were involved in a case of corruption, conspiring to cheat NLB’s funds of nearly $500,000 that occurred between 2005 and 2009.
Low set up 3 different companies to conduct business dealings with NLB in exchange for confidential information about digital resources that NLB was interested in, Koh then gave 30 percent of the profits that his company earned from NLB to Low as a bribe.
Koh was sentenced to four years and four months in prison while Low was sentenced to four years in prison.
Australia has effectively banned all flights and arrivals from India, even Australian citizens and residents who have been in India within 14 days of the date they plan to fly home will be banned as well.
Those who breach the ban could be jailed and fined.
This is reportedly the first time that Australia has made it a criminal offence for their citizens to return h ome.
The temporary ban is due to take effect from 3 may onwards, at 12.01am (Australian time).
The move comes in the wake of India’s deteriorating Covid-19 situation, and failure to comply could see breachers incur a jail term of up to 5 years.
India is currently the country with the world’s 2nd highest Covid-19 cases.
A Swiss national, Christian Joachim Pollmann, 45-years-old, was awarded over $13.6 million in damages by the High Court after suffering traumatic brain injuries.
It is reportedly the record sum for personal injury claims in Singapore.
Pollman was the executive director of Julius Baer, a Swiss bank; he was cycling along Brickland Road in Bukit Batok when a car driven by Ye Xianrong, 36-years-old, crashed into him from behind.
Ye was checking his blind spot for traffic before filtering into another lane but he failed to keep a lookout ahead of him and got too close to Pollman.
He realised they were about to crash and jammed his brakes but it was already too late.
Pollman then spent 6 months in the hospital after being thrown off his bicycle, sustaining serious head injuries.
In 2016, Ye then pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt to Pollman by a negligent act that endangers human life. He was fined $5,000 and banned for 3 years from driving.
In 2017, Ye was found by the High Court to be fully liable for Pollman’s injuries in a negligence suit filed against him; On 26 April 2021, Justice Vinodh Coomaraswamy then awarded Pollman, under loss of future income, an amount of more than $9.3 million.
Other damages included an amount of $1.09 million of future recurring medical expenses, and $1.54 million of pre-trial earnings.
Interim payments to Pollman totalling $3.1 million have been paid to him so far, with the damages being borne by Ye’s insurers.
Pollman reportedly cannot handle more than one task or person at a time, as well as having difficulties doing manual work and remember instructions due to his disabilities.
He also needs botox treatment twice a year to treat a facial nerve injury, which causes his right eye to close involuntarily when he bites or smiles.
The facial reconstruction operations to correct his facial asymmetry including a tissue transfer, fat grafting and face tightening.
The judge believed that Pollman would have been promoted to managing director senior adviser last yet had the accident not happened.
At the time of writing, both sets of lawyers are studying the judgment.
The LTA said on 30 April that all e-scooter and e-bicycle users must take a theory test that is mandatory, from 30 June onwards, before being allowed to use their devices.
The test will be made available online and it reportedly consists of MCQ questions.
LTA announced that they have already put out e-guidebooks for the respective “vehicles” to help them learn how to safely operate the devices, as well as the code of conduct.
They are available online for free.
At the time of writing, no details on how riders can take the theory tests are available yet, although it will be announced in due time.
It will be illegal for them to ride on the roads if they do not pass the test.
The requirement was introduced in April 2021 after amendments to the Road Traffic act for users of electric bicycles were proposed by authorities.
Images source: ebiketips.com and Carousell (Images used for illustration purposes only)
A video emerged online showing a YP vaping illegally.
He could be seen blowing out the smoke then posing for the camera, “feeling himself”.
Under section 16(2A) of the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act (TCASA), it is illegal to possess, purchase and use vaporisers in Singapore as of 1 February 2018.
Persons found guilty of this offence can be fined up to $2,000.
According to NEA, more than 2000 dengue cases have been reported as of 30 April.
The situation has improved as compared to the spike of 10,000 cases by June of last year. However, cases are expected to rise in the upcoming months due to the increase in hot weather.
Authorities are reminding the public to stay vigilant to prevent another dengue outbreak.
