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Let's get you up to speed with the day's stories. A man sustained minor injuries after a landslide occurred at a construction site for Build-to-Order (BTO) flats in Clementi. No other injuries were reported. Affected sections of the park connector have been cordoned off by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and will be closed to the public to facilitate restoring water flow in the Ulu Pandan canal. Residents say they were unaware of the incident and did not hear any loud sounds during the time of the incident, which happened at around 2am. Some expressed concerns about their safety as they live on high floors. The area's Member of Parliament Sim Ann said the damage is “fairly extensive” but unlikely to delay the collection of keys for buyers of the new flats. Bankrupt Sri Lanka's...

SHANGHAI: China has raised the bar for issuances in the world's second-biggest green bond market, taking a major step towards adopting global standards and eliminating "greenwashing". Starting this month, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, China's premier bourse, requires 100 per cent of the proceeds from green bond issuances to be invested in green projects such as clean energy - compared with at least 70 per cent previously - according to a notice seen by Reuters. Separately, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has instructed both the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses to revise rules to bring issuances of such bonds in line with the newly published China Green Bond Principles, said two sources. China published the Principles - a set of self-disciplinary green bond frameworks large...

As a result, the plant was unstable, creating issues with costs and reliability. Recalling the early days of the project, he said his team would often end up working through the night, racing to get the plant up and running. "In those days, the plant was like my first home, I would only go home for dinner and then run back to the plant," he said. Problems continued to plague the plant even after it officially opened in May 2000. "It was three months of hell because it seemed like everything we did was wrong, and everyone was just working day and night, like there was no tomorrow, to fix the problems." For Mr Peck, whose son had just been born, it also meant having to juggle being a new parent and operating a plant at the same time. But despite the challenges, the team never gave up a...

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BETTER PROTECTION The first booster provides good protection against hospitalisation and severe COVID-19 in people aged 60 to 79, MOH said. However, the ministry expects the protection to gradually wane, given that it has been more than a year since the first booster was administered to this age group. “We need to keep our vaccinations up-to-date, to prepare for possible future infection waves,” it said. MOH added that the latest evidence indicates that a second booster increased vaccine effectiveness against severe diseases from 94 per cent to 97 per cent for those aged 70 to 79. For those aged 60 to 69, this effectiveness went up from 97 per cent to 98 per cent. Speaking at the press conference, MOH director of medical services Kenneth Mak said that a second mRNA booster dose reduc...

Despite being a multibillionaire with plans to colonize Mars, Elon Musk has surprisingly relatable daily goals. For starters, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO wants to revamp his daily routine, beginning with the moment he wakes up. In a recent interview with Full Send Podcast, Musk said he checks his phone first thing in the morning — and he thinks it could be detrimental to his health. "I have a bad habit — which I suspect a lot of people do — of immediately checking my phone [in the morning]," Musk said on the show. "It's a terrible habit, actually." Musk, who previously told Auto Bild – a German automobile magazine – that he spends the first 30 minutes of every day checking emails, now says he wants to replace the habit with a workout. "I [need] to work out and be in better shape," Musk sa...

The secret behind Elon Musk's goal of selling 20 million Tesla's a year by 2030 lies in its pioneering battery technology. The good news is that by using bigger cells and a new process to dry-coat electrodes, Tesla could halve the cost of a Model Y battery, saving more than 8 per cent of the car's U.S. starting price, battery experts with ties to the company said. The bad news is that it's only halfway there, according to 12 experts close to Tesla or familiar with its new technology. That's because the dry-coating technique used to produce the bigger cells in Tesla's 4680 battery is so new and unproven the company is having trouble scaling up manufacturing to the point where the big cost savings kick in, the experts told Reuters. "They just aren't ready for mass production," said one o...

(This Aug 15 story removes incorrect reference in paragraph 11 to 10-year Treasury yield falling in June) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK : China slashed holdings of U.S. Treasuries for a seventh consecutive month in June, Treasury department data released on Monday showed, with investors closely tracking this measure in the wake of tensions between the world's two largest economies involving Taiwan. China's stash of U.S. government debt dropped to $967.8 billion in June, the lowest since May 2010 when it held $843.7 billion. In May, the world's second biggest economy had $980.8 billion in Treasuries, data showed. China's hoard of U.S. debt has seen multiple 12-year lows the last few months. "This looks more likely a function of Chinese FX intervention to keep USD/CNY stable in a ...

Singapore is the most vulnerable and will be the first in Southeast Asia to get hit if the U.S. falls into a recession, says Chua Hak Bin of Maybank. Roslan Rahman | Afp | Getty Images SINGAPORE — Asia will not escape unscathed if the U.S. falls into recession, but some countries in Southeast Asia will be more badly hit than others, economists warn. The tug-of-war between inflation and recession in the United States continues as the Federal Reserve sticks to its hawkish stance on interest rate hikes. The U.S. has already reported two consecutive quarters of negative growth in the first two quarters of 2022 — what some consider a "technical" recession. Still, there's little consensus on when a full-blown recession might happen. Economists told CNBC that among countries in Southeast Asia, S...

WORKPLACES CAN SET THEIR OWN MASK POLICIES Responding to a reporter's question about whether employers can mandate masks at the workplace, Mr Wong said businesses have the discretion to decide. "That option remains because we are lifting the mandatory requirement for mask-wearing. But it is optional, employers may choose to decide. For that matter, in certain settings, industry regulators might also decide that it is a safety requirement." For example, food handlers will still have to wear masks or a spit guard. Face shields, which are not considered an "effective physical barrier" due to a large gap at the bottom of the shield that can cause food contamination, are not approved for use, said the Singapore Food Agency. This applies to all workers who sell or prepare food and drinks, in...