Skip to content

Kusu News 4-Jun-2021

4-June-2021 BBC

Pro-democracy activist Chow Hang Tung has been arrested by Hong Kong police on the 32nd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Ms Chow is vice chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance which organises annual vigils for victims of Beijing's deadly crackdown on democracy protesters.

She has been arrested for promoting unauthorised assembly.

It comes as Hong Kong has banned the vigil for the second year running, citing coronavirus restrictions.

Police have closed off Victoria Park, where citizens usually gather each year to mark the anniversary. Thousands of officers have been placed on standby to stop any attempt to hold the event.

Read More

Singapore ready for Australia bubble despite uptick in cases, health expert says

04-Jun-2021 Intellasia | MSH | 

A leading health expert in Singapore says Australia shouldn’t be concerned about opening a travel bubble for vaccinated passengers with the south-east Asian country despite a recent outbreak.

Prime minister Scott Morrison is due to visit the small island nation next Thursday to meet Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong en route to the G7 summit in Britain.

The prospect of a reciprocal travel channel between the two countries later this year will not be the only subject of the talks with one of Australia’s closest partners in the Indo-Pacific. Morrison is seeking to connect with his Singaporean counterpart amid continuing tension with China and its assertiveness in the region.

However, Singapore, which is home to more than 20,000 Australians, has been very keen to convince Australia to create a bubble similar to the one established with New Zealand in April.

A spike in COVID-19 cases and variants in Singapore last month was a setback for that ambition, thwarting the launch of its own travel bubble with Hong Kong and sending the country into partial lockdown.

There were 24 new cases here up to midday on Wednesday including five unlinked to previous cases.

However, with more than 30 per cent of Singaporeans already fully vaccinated and testing being intensified with rapid tests, breathalysers and the introduction of home kits, the Lee government hopes to relax restrictions on June 13.

Read More

Singapore's fintech regulator has vision of Asian Silicon Valley

04-Jun-2021 The Business Times

[SINGAPORE] Singapore sees more investments pouring into financial technology firms this year as the city-state seeks to become a regional hub for capital raising in areas from payments to robo-advisory, according to a top central bank official.

Such investments have risen from around US$20 million in 2014 to a record US$1.1 billion last year, and more is expected this year, Sopnendu Mohanty, the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) chief fintech officer, said in an interview.

"We don't have Silicon Valley, but we are trying our best," he said. The environment the country is building enables these fintech players to "find opportunities to see if their early ideas translate into real value in the long run".

Read More