New Year

COVID Clouds 2022 New Year Party

The world began ushering in 2022 on Friday after another tumultuous and pandemic-ridden year capped by new restrictions, soaring case numbers, and a slight glimmer of hope for better times ahead.The past 12 months saw a new United States (US) president and a fresh Adele album, the first spectator-free Olympics, and dreams of democracy from Afghanistan to Myanmar and Hong Kong crushed by authoritarian regimes.But it was the pandemic – now entering its third year – that again dominated life for

1 January 2022
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COVID Wave: New Year Parties Slashed Worldwide

A New Year shorn of mass celebrations beckoned Thursday for millions around the world as the number of daily COVID infections, driven by the Omicron variant, surged through another symbolic high.Coronavirus, first detected two years ago and declared a global pandemic in March 2020, has killed more than 5.4 million people, triggered economic crises and seen societies ricochet in and out of lockdowns.The latest variant, Omicron, while tentatively considered to cause milder illness, has pushed i

31 December 2021
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COVID: Staying Safe Over The Holiday Season

Whether it is the family gatherings for Christmas or crowds congregating in city centres as the bell strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, there is concern that large numbers of people mixing during the holiday season could result in spikes of COVID-19 infections.Indeed, many people who will be celebrating are asking how best to stay safe over the festive period.With the new variant, Omicron, showing exponential growth and high transmissibility, there are certain things you can do to keep yours

24 December 2021
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The Tragic Death Of Christine Dacera

Last week, while many were welcoming 2021 and bidding farewell to the dreaded 2020, a tragedy occurred in a grand hotel in Makati City in the Philippines.Christine Angelica Dacera checked in at the City Garden, a four-star hotel to celebrate New Year’s Eve with her friends.However, on 1 January, 2021, the 23-year-old flight attendant at Philippines Airlines was found unconscious in the bathtub of a hotel room.According to media reports, one of her friends, Rommel Galido woke up around 10:00 a

20 December 2021
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The Tragic Death Of Christine Dacera

Last week, while many were welcoming 2021 and bidding farewell to the dreaded 2020, a tragedy occurred in a grand hotel in Makati City in the Philippines.Christine Angelica Dacera checked in at the City Garden, a four-star hotel to celebrate New Year’s Eve with her friends.However, on 1 January, 2021, the 23-year-old flight attendant at Philippines Airlines was found unconscious in the bathtub of a hotel room.According to media reports, one of her friends, Rommel Galido woke up around 10:00 a

8 January 2021
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How Coronavirus Is Killing Christmas

The first Christmas in a coronavirus world will be a season like no other, with governments urging people to rein themselves in to stop another deadly wave of the pandemic.Mutti Knows BestAngela Merkel - affectionately known as "Mutti" or "Mummy" - has warned Germans to limit socialising in case "it ends up being the last Christmas with the grandparents."But the sacrifices do not end there.

15 December 2020
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Thais Find Novel Way To Mark Virus Hit Songkran

Thai temple-goers poured water into the hands of monks Wednesday using a bamboo pole decorated with mangoes and bananas - a novel hack to enforce social distancing while honoring the country's New Year traditions.The three-day holiday - known as Songkran - is renowned for its booze-fueled water fights that take over entire neighbourhoods.This year however the government banned all street celebrations to prevent the spread of coronavirus, making it the quietest in living memory as the hol

16 April 2020
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Nine dead after Indonesian capital hit by flooding

Nine people died after Indonesia's capital was hit by its deadliest flooding in years, authorities said Wednesday, as torrential rains on New Year's Eve left vast swathes of the megalopolis submerged.Thousands were evacuated to temporary shelters as electricity was switched off in scores of waterlogged neighbourhoods across greater Jakarta, home to about 30 million people, with some train lines and one of the city's airports also shut.Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigati

2 January 2020
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How truth survived 2019

“Truthiness,” a concept coined by the American comedian Stephen Colbert, involves saying things that you want to believe are true even if there is no factual evidence to support these assertions. And without doubt, truthiness has had a great run in 2019 - from US President Donald Trump’s Washington, to the Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom, to events in Asia.This disturbing trend was partly reflected in Time magazine’s choice of candidates for its 2019 Person of the Year.

28 December 2019
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Singapore's economy expands more than estimated on services

Singapore’s economy grew at a faster pace than economists estimated in the fourth quarter of 2017, boosted by services such as finance and insurance.Gross domestic product rose at a seasonally adjusted and annualized rate of 2.8 percent from the previous three months, according to preliminary figures from the trade ministry on Tuesday. The median estimate of eight economists in a Bloomberg survey was 1.6 percent.

2 January 2018
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A Trump New Year

As US President Donald Trump decamped to his mansion-cum-private club in Palm Beach, Florida, for the holidays, he left Washington, DC, on edge.

30 December 2017
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Asian markets rise as strong year draws to an end

Most Asian markets rose on Thursday following gains on Wall Street, but with trading thin leading into the New Year break there was little to drive prices at the end of a stellar year for global equities.But analysts warned the dollar could face pressure despite expectations for more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes over the next 12 months."The dollar bears are getting their last licks in for 2017 perhaps foreshadowing of things to come in 2018," said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-

28 December 2017
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