Day: April 9, 2020
Southeast Asia’s renewable energy transition likely to take hit from COVID-19: Experts
BANGKOK: Regional aspirations for a swift transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy are likely to be dashed by the economic and market crises triggered by the global COVID-19 outbreak, experts say. Southeast Asian nations already struggling to meet climate change targets will find those goals further from reach, with the unprecedented health emergency becoming the
Commentary: We are failing to manage the logistics of COVID-19 deaths
BATH: We need to talk about dead bodies. Specifically the dead bodies being produced by COVID-19. This is different from saying we need to talk about death and dying (which we also need to do). I mean instead that we should focus our minds on what the human corpse means in this new pandemic reality.
Commentary: In Singapore, laws are necessary for trickle-down policies to work
SINGAPORE: At one level, the unprecedented three-in-one Unity, Resilience, and Solidarity Budgets demonstrate the resolve of Singapore to ensure businesses and households are helped amid the public health concerns and the economic fallout of the Covid-19 global pandemic. But fiscal resolve alone is not enough. Everyone must play his part. If it’s every person for
Major Indian cities make mask-wearing compulsory amid virus fears
NEW DELHI: Hundreds of millions of people in India, including in its two largest cities, were ordered on Wednesday (Apr 8) to wear face masks or coverings amid a nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Residents in the capital New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai, which have a combined population of
France to extend lockdown as coronavirus death toll close to 11,000
PARIS: France reported some positive coronavirus-linked data on Wednesday (Apr 8), with the increase of hospital death fatalities slowing again, but the presidential palace said nonetheless the national lockdown aimed at containing the disease would be extended. The lockdown, that took effect on Mar 17 and has already been extended once, will now go beyond Apr 15,
Coronavirus-stricken Australian liner to dock in Uruguay
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay: The virus-stricken Australian cruise ship Greg Mortimer will be allowed to dock in Montevideo and the passengers will be flown home, Uruguay’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday (Apr 8). The ship, with more than 100 infected people on board, is anchored some 24 kilometres offshore and will be allowed to dock on Friday.
WHO urges coronavirus unity after Trump’s attack
GENEVA: World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday (Apr 8) urged leaders to stop politicising the coronavirus pandemic following stinging criticism of the WHO from US President Donald Trump. The WHO director-general urged the US and China to join forces in fighting the disease rather than indulging in a blame game. Advertisement Advertisement Tedros
British PM Johnson ‘improving’ but remains in intensive care
LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s condition was said to be “improving” on Wednesday (Apr 8), as he spent a third day in intensive care battling the coronavirus. The disease has struck at the heart of the British government, infected more than 60,000 people across nationwide and killed over 7,000, with another record daily toll reported

Commentary: India’s handling of COVID-19 a man-made tragedy
NEW DELHI: “India is walking home,” declared the headline in The Indian Express as newspapers and television screens filled with images of millions of migrant workers, clutching their meagre belongings, trekking along India’s deserted highways to return to their homes, hundreds of kilometres away. Such images were last seen in India seven decades ago, when the