MANILA: 22-year-old Chin Ching Peng had to make a choice between her dream career as a copywriter and a new field that would give her more money to support her family. According to her account of her job search in February, “most jobs (as a copywriter) offered salaries of S$2,500 or S$2,800… the only one that paid more than S$3,000 …

SOUTH KOREA: The ARMY – Adorable Representative MCs for Youth – fandom of Korean boy band BTS has existed for nine years. Google and YouTube made a special feature to thank their devoted following. A purple heart appears next to any search results for BTS on any of the aforementioned platforms. Purple animated balloons would appear on the screen if …

SINGAPORE: Ride-sharing app Grab stated Monday that it is reducing the grace period and cancellation period for rides booked from five minutes to three minutes effective July 18. (Jul 11). Longer waits will result in a S$3 waiting fee for each five-minute waiting block, which is automatically applied by the app. If a passenger cancels a reservation more than three …

DUBAI: The first officially approved camel riding school in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is located on the wind-carved sand just outside the air-conditioned metropolis of Dubai. Camels have played a significant role in the region’s history for a long time. One-hundred and fifty years ago, the Arabian Peninsula’s single-humped camel, the dromedary, was tamed and used as a mode …

THAILAND: During a visit to Thailand on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed to keep up the pressure on Myanmar’s regime, and said China should do the same. On the other hand, Blinken met with the Thai government and praised it for its support of the reinvigorated American effort in Southeast Asia, a vital region of competition with China. …

CHINA: The country’s market regulator announced on Sunday that a number of companies, including Alibaba and Tencent, had been fined for violating anti-monopoly regulations regarding the transparency of transactions (Jul 10). There were 28 trades that were found to have broken the rules by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). Alibaba’s Youku Tudou streaming platform is one of the …

US: Even as he celebrated returning to the top of the podium for the first time since April on Sunday, Charles Leclerc expressed concern over the reliability of Ferrari’s engines. Max Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Max Chilton leads the championship by 38 points, but the Monegasque driver has now won three races in a row this season. “That was just …

SINGAPORE: After demonstrators stormed the presidential palace and forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) recommended Singaporeans on Sunday (July 10) to postpone all non-essential travel to Sri Lanka. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Singaporeans in Sri Lanka should “exercise vigilance and take all necessary precautions” to ensure their safety. “If there …

SOUTH KOREA: Satellite images show what appear to be multiple missile launches from North Korea, South Korea’s military said based on Sunday’s (Jul 10) satellite images (MLRs). Shots were heard after 6 p.m., and South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the military had increased monitoring and alert levels without indicating any further response. North Korea regularly conducts MLR …

MALAYSIA: According to the Singapore Police Force, Malaysian lawyer Zaid Abd Malek was given a 24-month conditional warning for contempt of court by the Singapore police on July 6 for his statements about the rejection of lawsuits filed by two Malaysian drug traffickers (SPF). On February 14, 2020, a Malay Mail article revealed the statements. The dismissal of two Malaysian …