Singapore will close public schools this week as it grapples with a sharp rise in domestic cases of Covid-19 that have resulted in the city state returning to lockdown-like conditions in place at the height of the pandemic last year.The country on Sunday reported 38 new local cases of the virus, 18 of which were unlinked. This month, Singapore has racked up 193 domestic infections, compared to 55 in April and just nine in March. It has reported more than 61,000 cases in total since the start of…

Seven Indonesians drowned after an overloaded boat capsized because of tourists attempting a selfie in a reservoir on Java island, police said on Sunday.The accident happened when all 20 passengers suddenly moved to the one side of the vessel to take a group photo on Saturday in the Boyolali regency, said Central Java police chief Ahmad Lutfi.“The cause of the accident was overcapacity,” Lutfi told reporters. “The 20 people took a selfie on the right side then the boat lost balance and flipped…

When he was 10, former Malaysian transport minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook worked at his father’s Chinese restaurant with his elder siblings after school and during the weekends.His family spent most of their time at the Hong Seng restaurant in Seremban city, Negeri Sembilan state, where they cooked, served food or prepared meals for the next day.“I served food to the customers, took orders and washed dishes after school hours and during weekends,” Anthony said. The eatery opened at 8am for…

When Jozeph Paul Zhang, an Indonesian-Chinese Christian evangelist, uploaded a video on YouTube last month from a country in Europe, he deliberately used provocative language to attract attention.The 40-year-old claimed he was the “26th Prophet” and had a mission to correct “heresies”.Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, is revered by adherents as the 25th and final prophet, so Zhang’s video went viral and provoked outrage in Indonesia, where Muslims make up 90 per cent of the 270-million…

The meteoric rise in palm oil prices is poised to inflate costs for everyone from restaurants to confectionery and cosmetic manufacturers, and could potentially change consumption patterns.The world’s most consumed edible oil has surged more than 120 per cent in the past year and burst through 4,500 ringgit (US$1,091) a ton to a record on Wednesday.The tropical oil, which is found in products as diverse as chocolate, pastries, soaps, lipstick and biofuel, and is widely used in Asian restaurants…