Home rule municipality

SINGAPORE: Mr Yee Kok Leong started noticing last year the danger that reckless cyclists posed to residents in his neighbourhood. The safety of his daughter and his elderly parents also weighed on his mind, which pushed the 47-year-old bank manager to start cycling alone for hours to locate accident-prone hotspots. He then gathered like-minded individuals to join him in patrolling the grounds and promote safer riding habits. After facing some initial pushback from cyclists and users of personal mobility devices, he changed course, and sought help from the Land Transport Authority (LTA). Eventually, his patrol team grew to include LTA officers, police officers, and volunteer residents, and became known as the LTA Braddell Heights Active Mobility Patrol Team. Mr Yee is one of 18 winners of this year's Municipal Services Awards, organised by the Municipal Services Office (MSO). The awards recognise the collaborative efforts of local volunteers, multiple government agencies, … [Read more...] about Community efforts lauded at this year’s Municipal Services Awards

Drink up, Ontario! From alcohol in parks to earlier serving hours at restaurants and even the return of happy hour, there were plenty of new measures aimed at quenching drinkers’ thirst in Thursday’s provincial budget . The measures come on top of the government’s announcement earlier this week that it would allow alcohol at tailgate parties outside sports events. The most visible change for most drinkers is that municipalities will be delegated the ability to allow drinking in their parks and recreational areas. By this summer, you could be sipping a glass of wine — and not furtively — with your picnic at Trinity Bellwoods Park, or having a cold beer on the bench to celebrate after rounding the bases following your home run at the company slo-pitch game. “After 80 years of Prohibition, this is a breath of fresh air,” said Thomas Wilson, owner of Caledon-based Spirit Tree Estate Cidery. Read more: Winners and losers of the 2019 Ontario budget Ontario … [Read more...] about Happy hour for Ontario as province loosens rules on drinking

Font size: A - | A + 0 Although several new, stricter anti-pandemic rules, on which the cabinet agreed on the evening of February 28 , came into force already on the morning of Wednesday, March 3 , the respective ordinance by hygienists was missing. Our paywall policy: The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription . We believe this is an issue where accurate and fact-based information is important for people to cope. The Public Health Authority (ÚVZ) published it only in the evening. Here are the rules that now need to be followed: a night curfew was introduced between 20:00 and 1:00 the following day. Exceptions include: going to and from work; going to and from the doctor; walking pets; going … [Read more...] about New rules came into force, but ordinance published late

MISSION Impossible’s all about pulling off the unfeasible – but shooting the film during a pandemic is a challenge too far for leading man Tom Cruise and his team. He flew the cast and crew to the Middle East for the latest run of scenes, but has been forced to end filming of the seventh instalment of the franchise after people refused to work any longer. Production staff demanded they were allowed to head back to the UK this weekend before hotel quarantine rules come into effect on Monday. Studio bosses have now had to charter a private jet to bring them home because they were up in arms about not being able to return to their families. A movie insider said: “The whole production has hit yet another issue and there have been revolts among the cast and crew. “For quite a few of them, the prospect of having to quarantine in a hotel back in the UK is a step too far and they’ve demanded to be flown home before the rules change. The studio has had to fund a jet back and the … [Read more...] about Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible filming scrapped as crew fly home from the Middle East

A former top civil servant at the Home Office has settled his employment tribunal claim against the government. Sir Philip Rutnam resigned from his role as the department's permanent secretary last year, amid bullying allegations against Priti Patel . Announcing his departure, Sir Philip accused the home secretary of a "vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign" against him. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player November 2020: 'I'm sorry that my behaviour upset people' Ms Patel has rejected all claims of bullying that have been made against her. Sir Philip, who was claiming "constructive dismissal", said in a statement released through the FDA union: "I am pleased to say that the government has today settled the claims that I brought against them and which were due to be heard in an employment tribunal in September." Advertisement He added: "This settlement resolves my own case. The FDA is continuing to … [Read more...] about Sir Philip Rutnam: Former top Home Office civil servant settles employment tribunal claim against government

SINGAPORE: One community case was among the 19 new COVID-19 infections reported in Singapore on Thursday (Mar 4). The remaining 18 cases were imported infections and were all placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its preliminary daily update. No new cases were reported in migrant worker dormitories. The sole community case reported on Thursday is the wife of an 82-year-old retiree confirmed to have COVID-19 on Mar 2 . The 81-year-old woman, also a retiree, developed a fever and chills on Feb 27 but did not seek medical attention, and recovered on the same day. She had received her first dose of COVID-19 vaccine the day before, and these symptoms might also have been due to the vaccination, MOH said. As she had been identified as a close contact of her husband, she was placed on quarantine on Mar 2 and was tested for COVID-19. Her test result came back positive the next day, and she was conveyed in an ambulance to the … [Read more...] about Sole COVID-19 community case in Singapore got first vaccine dose last week, infection from vaccine ruled out: MOH

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has vowed to "get on with the job" after answering eight hours' of questions over her government's handling of harassment claims against her predecessor Alex Salmond. A day after her lengthy evidence session before a Scottish parliament committee, Ms Sturgeon said she would now "rest on that". Mr Salmond, who was first minister from 2007 until 2014, was awarded a pay-out of more than £500,000 by the Court of Session after it ruled in January 2019 that the Scottish government had acted unlawfully. He was acquitted of 13 charges in March 2020 following a criminal trial. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Sturgeon 'sorry' to women and taxpayers As well as the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints investigation, a separate inquiry is under way to consider if Ms Sturgeon breached the ministerial code in any way. Advertisement Speaking at … [Read more...] about Nicola Sturgeon vows to ‘get on with the job’ as she awaits Alex Salmond inquiry ruling

The federal government has this week gone to market to find a provider to help build its new permissions capability architecture, which it expects to use for delivering Commonwealth digital services that require permissions. While the plan for the new platform is for it to be used across a range of government applications, the request for tender (RFT) is focusing on the first use case: Visas. "The Department needs to be able to facilitate international travel and the gradual reopening of our borders, while also ensuring that it has the necessary defensive layers to safeguard against new infections being introduced through the travelling public," the RFT says. "Digital information to aid contact tracing operations is required in real time. Based on this, the Department has determined that a digital passenger declaration and simple visa type should be the first use cases to support this outcome." Next on the list is the digital passenger declaration. The RFT states this needs … [Read more...] about Home Affairs to have AU$75 million ‘simple’ visa system ready by late 2021

Instagram.com/deshaunwatson Out with a back injury, Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey didn’t travel to Carolina on Sunday. But he also didn’t stay in Jacksonville. Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson has posted on Instagram of photo of himself with Ramsey. So either Watson traveled to Jacksonville after his game against the Falcons (unlikely) or Ramsey traveled to Houston for Sunday (more likely). Sitting between Watson and Ramsey is agent David Mulugheta, who told multiple reporters 20 days ago that Ramsey wants out of Jacksonville. Given that Ramsey recently has spoken about his efforts to get treatment on his back so that he could return to action, it’s fair to wonder why he wasn’t in Jacksonville getting treatment while his teammates were in Carolina. Last week, Ramsey did indeed travel with the team to Denver for a win over the Broncos, but Ramsey did not play. The Jaguars continue to tiptoe around Ramsey, apparently hopeful that he’ll eventually decide to abandon his … [Read more...] about Jalen Ramsey ended up in Houston on Sunday

Clip expresses gratitude toward doctors in COVID-19 fight A video clip comprising a series of paintings by children on doctors, who are called intimately as white blouse warriors during the COVID-19 fight, has been published recently by the Ministry of Health. The paintings by child artists are part of a campaign initiated by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). They depict doctors as white-blouse soldiers who have relentlessly fought against the pandemic, through which children’s gratitude toward health workers is expressed. The video also conveys a message of solidarity in the fight against COVID-19./. 110 foreign experts to be isolated for COVID-19 combat The administration of Quang Ngai province, central Vietnam, has outlined plans to put a total of 110 foreign experts into isolation in concentrated places in an effort to prevent the potential spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The foreign experts are … [Read more...] about VIETNAM NEWS HEADLINES MARCH 3