A bomb with a total weight of almost 1,000kg, at least half of which is explosives, was found in the Chatomuk River – opposite the Royal Palace – on May 5, according to the director-general of Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) Heng Ratana.
Ratana said that the bomb was found near the Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel opposite the palace. It was a model of an American aerial bomb called an AN-M66.
“If a bomb of this size was to explode, it would cause huge damage to the hotel and surrounding houses, and perhaps even the royal palace. That it never exploded is a lucky thing for all Cambodians,” said Ratana.
According to Ratana, CMAC bomb experts worked closely with the governor of Phnom Penh to transport the bomb to a safe area where CMAC’s experts can take further action.
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HÀ NỘI — The Vietnamese health ministry has on Thursday sent a document to municipal/provincial people’s committees on the temporary suspension of domestic heath declaration requirements, which have been in place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The self-filled declaration form contains basic personal information, travel history over the past 14 days, potential exposure to people with suspected COVID-19 symptoms and COVID-19 vaccination status.
The temporary abolishment of this requirement is the latest move in Việt Nam’s attempt to live with the virus.
According to the health ministry, COVID-19 has been put well under control across the country, with caseload and fatalities down significantly – the average number of deaths reported daily has stayed below 10 for several weeks now, while 96 per cent of the population aged 12 and older have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with the inoculation of children aged five to 11 underway.
It is noted that the current COVID-19 vaccines are still effective against known strains of coronavirus.
The Ministry of Health requested local administrations to suspend the application of domestic health declarations – required for domestic travel, entry to public places such as restaurants, etc. – from April 30, 2022. This is based on the current situation, Việt Nam’s response capacity to COVID-19 and the Government’s Resolution No.38/NQ-CP dated March 17, 2022 promulgating the programme on COVID-19 prevention and control with the strategy of “ensuring safe, flexible adaptation and effective control of the COVID-19 epidemic; prevention and control measures implemented according to risk mitigation methods; and maintaining the balance between the COVID-19 prevention and control measures with the measures aimed at socio-economic recovery”.
Local administrations should continue to keep-up surveillance efforts to early detect and response to possible flare-ups of COVID-19, in the service of public health.
Localities have also been told to actively update communication materials and recommendations on COVID-19 prevention and control in accordance with the current situation, and disseminate this information to the public.
Previously, the Ministry of Health had sent an urgent document to the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities on the suspension of COVID-19 medical declaration for COVID-19 at all border gates of Việt Nam for all entrants into the country from April 27, 2022, after reports of long lines and waiting time caused by the inspection of the self-filled medical forms.
With the suspension of health declaration, along with the previous lifting of restrictions on large gatherings, the mandate on mask-wearing in public places, as well as disinfection, remain the only COVID-19-related public health measures in effect in Việt Nam. — VNS
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SINGAPORE – Workers in Singapore have high expectations of being given a pay rise and are ready to push their employers to get it, as costs of living increase amid a sharp labour crunch.
Human resources services company ADP said on Thursday (May 5) its annual People At Work report found six in 10 workers in Singapore are prepared to request a raise.
The figure rises to seven in 10 for workers aged between 25 and 34, added ADP, which surveyed more than 1,400 workers in Singapore last November as part of a worldwide survey of almost 33,000 across 17 countries for the latest edition of the report.
This explores the attitudes employees hold towards work and their hopes for their workplace in future.
ADP, which is headquartered in the United States, said more than three-quarters of workers globally say they are likely to ask for a pay rise if they feel they deserve one.
The findings come at a time when Singapore faces record vacancies in the job market, with a high of 114,000 job vacancies last December, more than double the figure of 53,000 in December 2020, as companies struggle to fill positions to keep up with pent-up demand, particularly for the services sector.
ADP noted: “Globally, the cost of living is rising rapidly in many parts of the world amid high global inflation, which is expected to remain elevated for some time, and (it follows) two years of pandemic-related disruption to jobs.”
In its statement, ADP also said around five in 10 workers in Singapore expect to get a pay rise in the next 12 months and more than four in 10 expect to be given a bonus.
“This is despite only a third expecting to be given a promotion or any increased responsibility.”
The company said one reason that workers may feel they deserve a pay rise is the number of extra hours of unpaid work many of them are doing, by starting early, staying late, or working over breaks.
Four in 10 workers in Singapore reported feeling they put in between six and 10 hours of unpaid overtime work each week, said ADP.
Workers surveyed in Singapore reported working unpaid overtime of eight hours on average.
Globally, ADP also found pay to be the most important factor to workers in a job, with almost two-thirds saying it is a priority, followed by job security (54 per cent), flexibility over working hours (33 per cent) and enjoyment of their work (32 per cent).
In Singapore, respondents place a higher-than-average importance on pay, with 71 per cent of respondents considering pay the most important factor, said ADP.
“Having worked hard through the pandemic and with more vacancies than job seekers in the current job market, many workers feel they need – and are entitled to – a raise,” said Ms Yvonne Teo, Asia-Pacific vice-president of human resources at ADP.
“Employers should bear this in mind in today’s tight labour market, where maintaining a stable and skilled workforce is paramount yet more challenging than ever.”
Added Ms Teo: “Employers have to reconcile the drive for higher wages with business continuity.
“Financial incentives alone are unsustainable in the long term and compensation can only get talent through the door.
“In addition to paying competitively and fairly, employee retention depends on many other factors.”
Beyond pay, factors that can affect employee retention include the relationships that they have developed with their colleagues and the alignment of a company’s goals and objectives with employees’ personal interests and aspirations, noted Mr Mayank Parekh, chief executive of the Institute for Human Resource Professionals.
He said companies often make salary adjustments to retain people with critical skills that are in short supply, while factoring in changes to the costs of living as measured by the consumer price index.
He added that employers can handle employees’ requests for salary raises by having clear pay, promotion and staff development policies.
“For example, pay scales for different levels should be made transparent so that individual employees have a clear understanding of their position within a range and the pace of salary progression based on seniority, performance and skill acquisition.
“There should also be clear policies on promotion and internal access to job opportunities through development programmes.”
Whether employers need more time to find their footing as Singapore recovers from Covid-19 before they can raise wages depends on the employers’ business performance and prospects, said Mr Sim Gim Guan, executive director of the Singapore National Employers Federation.
“We also have to keep in mind that the loss in revenues in the past two years for industries like hospitality and aviation were deadweight, since they cannot sell the rooms and seats that were not filled previously, unlike some products that could make up some of the loss in revenues due to pent-up demand.
“Hence, their recovery may take longer than what their employees experience on the ground, since employees can see business picking up.”
By Tay Hong Yi
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Epidemic prevention and control work at crucial stage, says top leadership
Atop Party leadership meeting on Thursday stated that China is certain to triumph in its battle against COVID-19, armed with its scientific, effective and time-tested policies on epidemic control.
The meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee was presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, who also delivered an important speech at the meeting.
The meeting’s participants said it has been proved that China’s COVID response guidelines are determined by the nature and purpose of the Party, its preventive policies can stand the test of history and its preventive measures are science-based and effective, according to a statement released after the meeting.
China won the fight against COVID-19 in Wuhan, and it is certain to win the antivirus battle in Shanghai, they said.
The current epidemic prevention and control work is at a crucial stage, they said, like a boat sailing against the current that must forge ahead or it will be driven back.
Since the start of the pandemic, China has been committed to putting people and lives first, guarding against imported cases and domestic resurgences, and sticking to the dynamic zero-COVID approach, which is adjusted according to specific conditions, they said.
China has withstood the most challenging COVID-19 control test since the anti-epidemic battle in Wuhan, and has secured progress with concerted efforts nationwide since March, they said.
As the pandemic continues and the virus keeps mutating, the meeting’s participants stressed that great uncertainties remain and it is far from the time to relax the efforts in battling the virus.
The meeting’s participants stressed that China is a populous country with a large elderly population and uneven development in different regions. The country lacks adequate medical resources for the whole population, so relaxing response measures would definitely lead to large-scale infections, along with many severe cases and fatalities.
China’s economic and social development－as well as the life and health of the Chinese people－would be severely affected, they said.
The meeting’s participants underlined the importance of fully and comprehensively understanding the guidelines and policies determined by the CPC Central Committee, saying that the dynamic zero-COVID approach must be firmly adhered to.
Efforts must be made to overcome problems such as inadequate preparations and to always remain sober-minded when conducting anti-epidemic work, they said.
The meeting called on Party committees and governments at all levels to be confident, aware of the complexity and arduousness of the anti-COVID battle, firmly implement the CPC Central Committee’s decisions and arrangements, consolidate the hard-earned progress in virus prevention and control, and be duty bound to the areas or regions that they are responsible for.
The meeting’s participants stressed that efforts must be made to speed up the response to local clusters of outbreaks and ensure that infected people and those who are at risk are screened and placed in quarantine in a timely matter.
Regions and provinces should be well prepared with abundant staffing and materials, they said.
Preventive measures must be refined with greater efforts in studying and guarding against the variants of the virus instead of using the same measures for each.
Meanwhile, efforts should be made to guarantee people’s basic livelihoods and the supply of daily necessities, and to ensure that people requiring medical services can go to a hospital.
The meeting’s participants also stressed strictly implementing the regular epidemic response measures and preventing imported cases.
Noting that the fight against the virus must closely rely on the people, the meeting’s participants said that authorities should release information more frequently, take the initiative in responding to concerns from society, encourage the public to raise their awareness of protective measures against the virus, and further promote vaccination.
The meeting’s participants required Party committees and governments at all levels, as well as all sectors of society, to coordinate their thoughts and actions with the CPC Central Committee’s decisions and arrangements and remain highly consistent with the CPC Central Committee ideologically, politically and in terms of action.
In this battle, any sense of inaction, weariness or seeking to relax must be overcome, and not a single minute can be wasted in implementing all kinds of preventive measures, the meeting’s participants said.
They also said that Party organizations, members and officials must continue to take the lead and serve as examples in the anti-COVID fight.
By MO JINGXI
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South Korea’s National Intelligence Service became a member of a cyberdefense center for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the state agency said on Thursday.
According to NIS, it has been admitted as a contributing participant for NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, a cyberdefense group based in Tallinn, Estonia. It is the first time an Asian country joins the group.
The NATO CCDCOE is a cyberknowledge hub focused on research, training, and exercises in the field of cybersecurity, established in May 2008.
The NIS submitted its application to join the group in 2019, and has made efforts to contribute to the group. NIS has participated in the world’s largest international live-fire cyberdefense exercise, Locked Shields, two years in a row since 2020, the spy agency said.
With Korea’s membership, NATO CCDCOE now has 32 countries as its official members — 27 NATO member countries, which are categorized as sponsoring nations, and five contributing participants which are non-NATO countries.
“Cyberthreats are causing great damage to not only individuals but also separate nations and also transnationally, so close international cooperation is crucial,” NIS said.
“We plan to send more employees to the CCDCOE and expand the scope of joint exercises to reinforce our cyber defense capabilities,” NIS added.
By Jo He-rim
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Trade unions affiliated to Opposition political parties vowed to bring the country to a standstill today (06) to pressure the government to resign.
Dismissing a recent statement issued by the Presidential Media Division (PMD) that disruptions would not be allowed, trade union representatives said that water, electricity, banking, schools, free trade zones and other sectors would strike.
Private bus operators too have pledged their support to the ongoing campaign, organisers said. Railway unions have said that they would strike from midnight yesterday (05) for 24 hours.
JVP trade union activist Mahinda Jayasinghe urged teachers and principals to strike and gather at Borella.
Organisers said that their first strike on 28 April had unsettled the government. But the action planned for today would be far more effective and after a lapse of several days they would intensify their struggle to oust the rulers on 11 May.
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A transportation service using the domestically produced HondaJet light business jet is scheduled to begin on a trial basis this year, Honda Motor Co. has announced.
The service will target corporate employees and private business owners, ferrying them on business trips and for other purposes. Cars and motorcycles will also be provided for passengers’ movement between airports and their travel destinations.
Honda also plans to offer the service for sightseeing in the future.
It has yet to decide at which airports to conduct the services and exactly when the trial will be launched. However, Honda envisions flying between regional cities, which have few transportation options such as regular air services and railroads.
The jets will be operated by a Honda group company and other businesses.
Business jets are increasingly being utilized as a convenient means of transportation in Europe and the United States, but the market is still small in Japan. Honda hopes to ascertain the HondaJet’s effectiveness as a transportation service and expand its use in Japan.
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Missile launch comes 6 days before inauguration of Yoon Suk-yeol government
North Korea launched a ballistic missile eastward from the capital city of Pyongyang on Wednesday afternoon, in continuation of actions raising tension in the run-up to the inauguration of the Yoon Suk-yeol government and the South Korea-US summit.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military “detected one ballistic missile being fired from the Sunan area in Pyongyang city toward the East Sea at around 12:03 p.m.”
The missile traveled around 470 kilometers at an altitude of 780 km and at a maximum speed of Mach 11, the JCS said. The South Korean and the US intelligence authorities are analyzing the specifications of the missile.
Soon after the latest launch, South Korea’s JCS Chairman Gen. Won In-choul and Gen. Paul LaCamera, the commander of the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command, held a video conference, shared information, and reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring the allies’ “ironclad defense posture,” the JCS here said.
The South Korean military maintains a thorough readiness posture in preparation for additional launches while tracking and monitoring related movements by North Korea, the JCS said, calling for North Korea to halt its action.
“Given that North Korea’s recent series of ballistic missile launches is a grave threat to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community and clearly violates the UN Security Council resolutions, we strongly urge the country to immediately stop the action,” the statement read.
The South Korean military is reportedly bracing for the possibility of North Korea firing intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles, including an Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile.
The test launch could aim to put a reconnaissance satellite into a low earth orbit by using a ballistic-missile reentry vehicle.
National security adviser Suh Hoon presided over the emergency meeting of the presidential National Security Council standing committee at 1:30 p.m., according to Cheong Wa Dae.
Missile launch at a sensitive time
North Korea’s missile launch comes at a sensitive time as the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol government is set to be sworn into office on May 10. The missile was also fired during the confirmation hearing of South Korean Defense Minister nominee Lee Jong-sup at the National Assembly.
In addition, the test-firing overlaps with China’s chief nuclear envoy Liu Xiaoming’s first trip to Seoul since his appointment to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue with officials of the incumbent and incoming South Korean governments.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, assessed that North Korea simultaneously sought to “lay the groundwork to gain the upper hand” over the incoming South Korean government and manifest its intent to continue to reinforce nuclear capabilities by firing the missile at this juncture.
“North Korea intends to demonstrate that its pledge to strengthen nuclear capabilities is not an empty promise and to show off that the country is in the driver’s seat concerning Korean Peninsula issues in the run-up to the inauguration of the new government and the South Korea-US summit (in May),” he said.
Yang also forecast that North Korea would continue to ratchet up the tension by firing intercontinental ballistic missiles and preparing for a seventh nuclear test to operate tactical nuclear weapons this month.
The move comes after Pyongyang in April focused on boosting the country’s morale, solidifying internal unity and highlighting the country’s military achievements on the occasion of the late founder Kim Il-sung’s 110th birth anniversary and the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army.
Expected move
Park Won-gon, professor of North Korea studies at Ewha Womans University, saw the missile launch as a “provocation forewarned” by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The North Korean leader on April 25 pledged to further reinforce and develop nuclear-armed forces “at the fastest possible speed” in a speech he delivered during the military parade commemorating the anniversary.
Park pointed out that Kim’s remarks clarified North Korea’s intent to accelerate missile and nuclear tests in the form of its “speed campaign,” legitimizing its weapons development as the act of enhancing self-defense capabilities.
North Korea, Park said, has pursued the goal of incapacitating the US and South Korean missile defenses and developing tactical nuclear weapons that can target the region. Against that backdrop, Pyongyang will continue to develop and variegate nuclear weapons and missiles irrespective of external circumstances.
“However, there is a chance that North Korea may adjust the timing of provocations to maximize pressure on South Korea and the US, given that it is advancing its missiles and missile capabilities with the aim of being recognized as a nuclear weapon state.”
The missile launch is noteworthy given that North Korea has ratcheted up its nuclear saber-rattling. Kim warned that the country can launch a preemptive nuclear strike if adversaries violate the country’s “fundamental interests” while commemorating the military anniversary on April 25.
Wednesday’s test-firing came 18 days after the country test-fired a “new-type tactical guided weapon system” on April 16. The North Korean state media said the test aimed to enhance its capabilities to effectively operate “tactical nuclear weapons.”
The presidential transition committee on Wednesday said the Yoon government will “strongly respond to North Korea’s provocations in cooperation with the international community based on thorough coordination between South Korea and the US.”
“We will come up with more fundamental measures to deter North Korean nuclear and missile threats,” the committee said, adding that it strongly condemns North Korea’s provocation.
During his confirmation hearing, Defense Minister nominee Lee also pledged to “sternly respond to North Korean nuclear and missile threats” by “intensively reinforcing” the South Korean military’s capabilities to deter and deal with the threats.
The nominee also emphasized the importance of enhancing the solidarity of the South Korea-US military alliance and strengthening the US’ extended deterrence, evaluating that North Korea has “heightened military tension by carrying out 13 rounds of missile provocations just this year and holding a large-scale military parade.”
By Ji Da-gyum
Asia News Network: The Nation (Thailand), The Korea Herald, The Straits Times (Singapore), China Daily, Jakarta Post, The Star and Sin Chew Daily (Malaysia), The Statesman (India), Philippine Daily Inquirer, Yomiuri Shimbun and The Japan News, Gogo Mongolia, Dawn (Pakistan), The Island (Sri Lanka), Kuensel (Bhutan), Kathmandu Post (Nepal), Daily Star (Bangladesh), Eleven Media (Myanmar), the Phnom Penh Post and Rasmei Kampuchea (Cambodia), The Borneo Bulletin (Brunei), Vietnam News, and Vientiane Times (Laos).
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