The professional services sector recorded an overall contraction of 9.7 per cent last year. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): The professional services and administrative and support services sectors are expected to recover this year, but are unlikely to reach pre-pandemic levels given the continued sluggishness of the travel and construction industries.
Slow lifting of international travel restrictions is expected to weigh on the recovery of some professional services segments - such as business and management consultancy - while the likes of rental and leasing of construction machinery and equipment within the administrative and support services sector are predicted to take a hit.
Key electronics shipments increased 14.8 per cent for the first quarter. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Official forecasts for Singapore s key exports and overall merchandise trade have been raised, amid better-than-expected growth seen in the first quarter of 2021.
Non-oil domestic exports (Nodx) are now expected to expand between 1 per cent and 3 per cent for the year, up from 0 per cent to 2 per cent. Total trade is predicted to increase 5 per cent to 7 per cent, higher than the 2 per cent to 4 per cent forecast in February.
This comes after Nodx rose 9.7 per cent year on year in the first quarter, driven by increases in both electronics and non-electronics shipments and reversing the 0.5 per cent decline seen the previous quarter, according to data released by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on Tuesday (May 25).
Phoon Chiu Yoke will be remanded at at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric observation. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): A woman seen in a viral video clip refusing to don a mask at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) on May 15 appeared in a district court on Tuesday (May 25) and was handed multiple charges under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act over similar offences.
Phoon Chiu Yoke, 53, was also handed one charge under the Infectious Diseases Act.
In a joint statement, the police and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said the Singaporean was arrested on Tuesday.
They added that she had arrived in Singapore from Britain on June 28 last year.
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has given the green light for Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine to be stored at standard refrigerator temperatures of between 2 to 8 deg C for up to a month.
(From left) ST s foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar, Professor Tommy Koh, US correspondent Charissa Yong and China correspondent Danson Cheong.- ST VIDEO
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Asean s unity and neutrality is what allows the grouping to be the convener of regional processes, and it needs to maintain that role amid stormy United States-China relations, Singapore s ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh said on Tuesday (May 25).
He was speaking at the Straits Times Connect webinar series Power Play: Stormier Days For US-China Ties? which included ST s US correspondent Charissa Yong and China correspondent Danson Cheong. The session was moderated by ST s foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar.