Huawei’s latest addition to the Nova series of smartphones, the Nova 7i will be available for pre-order in Singapore from March 5 in Midnight Black and Sakura Pink.
Huawei says the Nova 7i will bring with it a number of improvements over the 5T launched late last year.
SINGAPORE: Thousands of dollars worth of codeine cough syrup and other medication was seized by the authorities on Tuesday (Mar 3), as part of a multi-agency operation into the illegal supply of medication.
Officers uncovered more than 125L of codeine cough syrup and 63,000 units of assorted medication, including cough suppressants and sleeping pills.
Some of the items were seized outside a Golden Mile Complex office which was suspected of being used to manufacture and store cough syrup illegally, after authorities “laid an ambush”.
“Two suspects were observed entering the office and soon after, one of the men exited the office pushing a trolley with bottles of cough syrup and assorted medicines,” said the Health Sciences Authority, Singapore Police Force, Central Narcotics Bureau and Ministry of Health in a joint release.
“The items were seized and both men were apprehended immediately.”
Based on preliminary investigations, the items were intended to be sold illegally in Geylang, said the authorities.
Medicine found in an office at Golden Mile Complex. (Photo: Health Sciences Authority, Singapore Police Force, Central Narcotics Bureau and Ministry of Health)
Separately, seven people aged between 26 and 69 were arrested following raids at a coffee shop along Lorong 12 Geylang and a clinic at People’s Park Complex.
All seven are currently assisting the Health Sciences Authority in its investigations. One of them is also being investigated by the Central Narcotics Bureau on suspicion of trafficking dihydrocodeine, a Class B controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
A doctor is assisting the Health Sciences Authority in its investigations over the illegal supply of medicines.
Medicine seized from Golden Mile Complex. (Photo: Health Sciences Authority, Singapore Police Force, Central Narcotics Bureau and Ministry of Health)
Codeine cough syrups are used medically as a cough suppressant. They are classified as pharmacy-only medicines and can only be supplied by a licensed pharmacist or a licensed medical practitioner.
The Health Sciences Authority has previously said cough syrup concoctions made in non-licensed facilities are dangerous and harmful to health, as they are produced under poor manufacturing conditions with no proper quality controls.
Anyone convicted of trafficking a Class B controlled drug faces a minimum of three years in jail and three strokes of the cane.
Anyone caught importing, manufacturing and/or supplying illegal health products could be jailed for up to two years or fined up to S$50,000, or both.
GENEVA – A Singaporean beat a Chinese candidate in the race to lead the world patent office, heading off Beijing’s bid for a fifth UN leadership role, much to the satisfaction of the United States.
Daren Tang defeated fellow legal expert Wang Binying in a closed-door vote by dozens of countries to become director general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), which shapes global rules for intellectual property.
Intellectual property has been at the heart of a trade war between Washington and Beijing. Washington, along with many other Western countries, had backed Tang for the job and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month that Washington was following the patent office vote “very, very closely”.
Tang was chosen in a vote of WIPO’s coordinating committee, a group of 83 countries chaired by France which said the breakdown was 55 for Tang and 28 for the Chinese candidate.
“We are very pleased with the election outcome,” said Andrew Bremberg, US ambassador to the United Nations.
SINGAPORE – Japan Food Town, the cluster of Japanese restaurants on the fourth floor of the Isetan department store at Wisma Atria, closed down on Feb 29.
In a filing to the Singapore Exchange dated Jan 31, Isetan issued a notice to quit to Japan Food Town Development for non-payment of certain sums. The termination of tenancy was with immediate effect, and Isetan will exercise its right of re-entry to the premises on Feb 29.
Japan Food Town’s website has posted a notice to say that it is closed, while its Facebook page lists promotions till Feb 25.
The $8.5 million Japan Food Town – which opened in 2016 – is a collaboration between the Japan Association of Overseas Promotion for Food & Restaurants and the Cool Japan Fund. The fund, which is backed by the Japanese government, supports projects that promote Japanese goods and culture overseas.
In an interview with The Straits Times in 2016, Japan Food Town’s managing director, Mr Makoto Yoshikawa, said that despite the competitive Japanese food scene in Singapore, they were in it “for the long haul” and were “committed” to making it a success.
SINGAPORE – Singapore’s Ministry of Transport (MOT) has grounded passengers on a Turkish Airlines flight that was scheduled to depart from Changi Airport at 11.35pm on Wednesday (March 4).
MOT said in a statement last night: “The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed late Wednesday night that one of the passengers on TK54 which had arrived in Singapore from Turkey on 3 March 2020 was tested positive for the Covid-19.
MOH has started contact tracing for flight passengers who may have had contact with the case while the case was infectious.”
MOT, together with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Changi Airport Group, are in contact with and assisting the airline and passengers.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also in contact with the Turkish Embassy on this matter, the MOT statement said.
The Covid-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on the aviation industry.
SINGAPORE: Mr Daren Tang is set to be the new director general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) after winning a vote in Geneva on Wednesday (Mar 4).
“This is the first time a Singaporean has been nominated for the leadership position of a UN Agency,” said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as he congratulated Mr Tang in a post on Facebook.
Mr Tang, the chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), was among the six in the race for the top job.
The other candidates were from China, Colombia, Ghana, Kazakhstan and Peru.
He was voted in by WIPO’s coordination committee and the WIPO general assembly will make the final confirmation by early-May.
Speaking from Geneva, Mr Tang said: “I am humbled and honoured by the nomination of the WIPO Coordination Committee as the DG-nominee … There were many well-qualified candidates who contested through a fair, open and transparent process.”
Set up in 1967, WIPO has 193 member states and oversees 26 international treaties related to the protection of intellectual property.
The current director general of WIPO, Australian Francis Gurry, has held the position from 2008, overseeing the organisation across two six-year terms.
Under the leadership of Mr Gurry, WIPO has overseen an explosion in patent filings and has begun preliminary talks on whether artificial intelligence, or machines, can be inventors.
File photo of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) director general Francis Gurry. (Photo: AFP)
His current term ends on Sep 30, after which Mr Tang is set to take over.
“INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE”
Mr Tang, 48, joined IPOS, a statutory board under the Ministry of Law, as the deputy chief executive in 2012 and became chief executive three years later.
Prior to that, he was a Senior State Counsel with the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ international affairs division from 2003 to 2012, where he was part of Singapore’s legal team in the dispute with Malaysia over the sovereignty of Pedra Branca.
Mr Tang was also involved in the United States-Singapore free trade agreement as lead negotiator and legal counsel, during his time at the Ministry of Trade and Industry between 2001 and 2003.
More recently, he led IP negotiations for Singapore in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the European Union-Singapore free trade agreement.
The Singaporean also currently chairs the standing committee on copyright and related rights at WIPO.
This breadth of experience and familiarity with the WIPO community were attributes mentioned by Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in his letter to WIPO’s coordination committee on Nov 6 to nominate Mr Tang.
“His international experience in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations have delivered regional and international cooperation programmes that have benefited the IP community,” he wrote.
“With his understanding of how IP can be used to support socio-economic development and his ability to forge consensus, Mr Tang possesses the qualities to strengthen and further the good work of WIPO and its members.”
Under Mr Tang’s tenure, IPOS was transformed from “a regulator into an innovation agency with IP expertise and networks”, added Dr Balakrishnan – a point echoed by Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh.
Singapore Atrium Sale — every kiasu Singaporean’s de facto resource for deals and bargains across the island — landed in a bit of legal trouble recently.
Which shouldn’t be surprising, considering that the massively popular Facebook page is being run by someone who has been accused of being… a tad bit aggressive. So much so that someone else went ahead and set up “Singapore Atrium Sale But Nicer”, a Facebook page that posts the very same deals from the original account sans “the ego and lack of professionalism”.
Perhaps it was this “lack of professionalism” that rubbed the management of shopping mall Velocity@Novena Square the wrong way. At least, enough for mall owner UOL Group to engage their lawyers to issue a takedown request to the administrator of Singapore Atrium Sale over an inaccurate post.
SINGAPORE – Two new cases of the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease were confirmed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (March 4), including a 62-year-old Singaporean woman who works at Creative O Preschoolers’ Bay at International Business Park.
Meanwhile, one other patient has recovered and was discharged.
This brings the total number of cases here to 112, of which 79 have fully recovered.
Both of the new cases have no recent travel history to affected regions outside Singapore.
Case 111 is a 43-year-old Singapore permanent resident who had gone to Malaysia from Feb 18 to Feb 21.
He lives in Compassvale Street.
He reported the onset of symptoms on Feb 24 and went to see a general practitioner (GP) that day.
He also went to Sengkang General Hospital on Feb 27. The next day, he saw the GP again.
On Tuesday, he went to the National University Hospital where he was warded in an isolation room. He tested positive for the coronavirus that afternoon.
The ministry said contact tracing is being done to establish if he has any links to previous cases.
SINGAPORE – London’s Metropolitan Police have released images of four men who allegedly assaulted Singaporean student Jonathan Mok in a coronavirus-related racist attack on Feb 24.
The police have yet to make any arrests, but said in a statement on Wednesday (March 4) that they are trying to identify and speak to the four men pictured.
Detective Sergeant Emma Kirby, the officer on the case, said she and her team are “committed to finding the perpetrators” as “there’s no room on our streets for this kind of violent behaviour”.
Mr Mok, 23, had opened up about the attack, which took place in Oxford Street near the London Underground’s Tottenham Court Road train station at around 9.15pm, on Tuesday on Facebook.
The Singapore law student at University College London said he heard a group of young people say “coronavirus” as he walked past them.
When he turned around to face the group, he was punched in the face, with one of the suspects saying I don’t want your coronavirus in my country” before the group fled.
