Singapore Morning News For March 29

New Robotics Centre launched at one-north to support robotics & automation startups in Singapore
A new Robotics Centre was opened on 23 March 2018 at JTC LaunchPad @ one-north, the heart of Singapore’s startup ecosystem hub, to support robotics and automation startups.
— Open Gov Asia

900,000 HDB households to receive S$126m in S&CC rebates
Around 900,000 Singaporean HDB households can expect to receive S$126 million worth of Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) rebates for the Financial Year 2018 (April 2018 – March 2019), as part of the additional support for households announced during Budget 2018.
— Today Online

Reporters Without Borders declines to attend public hearing on online falsehoods
The Select Committee studying online falsehoods on Tuesday (March 27) released the chronology of its correspondence with another international non-governmental organisation, the second time it has done so in five days — after Reporters Without Borders followed in the footsteps of Human Rights Watch in dropping out of the public hearings.
— Today Online

Food manufacturers help raise recycling rates in Singapore, but still room for improvement
Recently released statistics from Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) show the amount of food waste recycled in the country has risen by 2% — with food manufacturers playing a crucial role in driving up standards.
— FoodNavigator-Asia

Singapore Boasts It’s Beating Hong Kong to Be Asian Business Hub
Hong Kong has become more “China-centric,” enabling Singapore to take the lead when multinational companies look to set up their Asian headquarters in the region, according to the country’s Economic Development Board.
— Bloomberg

ASEAN e-commerce agreement, innovation network to give Singapore businesses a leg up: S Iswaran
Singapore businesses can soon get a shot in the arm when they expand across Southeast Asia, with the help of an ASEAN agreement on e-commerce that will lower operating barriers to entry for these businesses and ramp up digital connectivity.
— Channel NewsAsia

Singapore lowers bar for proposed dual-class share listings
Singapore stock exchange plans to allow firms with an expected market capitalization of S$300 million ($229 million) to list with dual-class shares, versus an earlier proposed minimum of S$500 million, a move that could give the city-state an edge over rival Hong Kong.
— Reuters

Singapore Tourism Board: Bollywood movies have entrenched Singapore as a must-visit destination among Indian travelers
Singapore is one of the most popular places among Indian tourists, helped by links between the two countries coming from entertainment and fashion.
— The Drum

What Trump Is Learning From Singapore — and Vice Versa
Days before winning the election in 2016, Donald Trump stood on a stage and directed an accusation at a tiny country halfway across the world: Singapore, he said, was stealing American jobs.
— The New York Times

Ryde to launch new private-hire car service in Singapore
Homegrown carpooling app Ryde announced it will be launching RydeX, its new private-hire car service, as part of its growth expansion strategy.
— Channel NewsAsia

SMRT to keep delays to one a month
Rail operator SMRT Corporation is aiming for no more than one delay a month by 2020 – at least three times better than its performance today.
— The New Paper

A*STAR researchers develop dragonfly-inspired anti-bacterial nano coating
Researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have developed a nature-inspired anti-bacterial nano coating for disinfecting frequently touched surfaces such as door handles, tables and lift buttons. Their new research was recently published in the journal, Small.
— Open Gov Asia

SMEs more upbeat about business prospects in Q2, Q3
OPTIMISM seems to be on the rise for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with expectations of strong sales and profit performance in the next two quarters.
— The Business Times

NTUC FairPrice overhauls online shopping platforms
Supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice on Wednesday (Mar 28) officially launched its revamped e-commerce platforms, which have been renamed FairPrice On.
— Channel NewsAsia

Singapore can shine in a post-Brexit world
TODAY marks the mid-way point of when the United Kingdom first invoked Article 50, Britain’s two-year extrication process from the European Union (EU).
— The Business Times

Dr Janil Puthucheary on the importance of Investments, People and Ideas for Singapore’s Smart Nation vision
The inaugural Supercomputing Asia 2018 Conference organised by the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore has a special focus on the intersection of high-performance computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the practical applications that come out of that.
— Open Gov Asia

Refresh current legislation rather than introduce new laws to deal with fake news, says legal expert
Refreshing and tweaking the current legislative framework to take into account deliberate falsehoods would be more suitable than having “all-encompassing” legislation, Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan said on Wednesday (Mar 28).
— Channel NewsAsia

Duty-unpaid cigarettes worth over S$1.4 million seized from container and tour bus
Over 13,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized in two separate cases, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a statement on Wednesday (March 28).
— Today Online

Feature photo Walter Lim

Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Singapore morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Singapore news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.

Singapore Morning News For March 29 added by Leakhena Khat on March 29, 2018
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Leakhena Khat

Leakhena is a junior journalist at AEC News Today who is also currently studying International Relations, which she finds adds perspective to her work reporting on the Asean Community.

“I love what I am doing so much as it gives me a lot of great experience and provides challenges to my mind.