SINGAPORE-Four new SkillsFuture work-study programmes, offering a total of about 300 places over the next three years, are in the pipeline to meet manpower needs in emerging and growth sectors. Three of these new programmes will be rolled out in October. The work-study schemes, which allow adults to pursue higher qualifications while working, will also rope in more than 32, 000 firms-mostly local small and medium-size enterprises-in tie-ups with higher learning institutes and business associatio

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank( ECB) is reviewing a new bond-buying programme to prevent any market turmoil when emergency purchases get phased out next year, according to officials familiar with the matter. The plan will both replace the existing crisis tool and complement an older, open-ended quantitative-easing scheme that’s currently acquiring €20bil( US$ 23. 1bil or RM96. 64bil) in debt every month, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were confid

The British government has approved tens of thousands of applications for a new study abroad programme, launched after the UK left the EU’s Erasmus programme following Brexit. Some 40, 000 applicants were approved for the first year of the Turing programme, named after the famous British mathematician. Under Turing, students at university will be able to study in European universities and, unlike Erasmus, in other countries such as Canada, Japan and the US. There was outcry after the UK pulled o

Reports by MARTIN CARVALHO and TARRENCE TANTHE free school breakfast programme introduced during Dr Maszlee Malik’s tenure as education minister in 2019 has been halted by the government.In a parliamentary written reply dated Nov 15, the Education Ministry said the Cabinet decided on Jan 15, 2020, not to continue the free breakfast programme as present government food programmes were adequate.“ Present food plans for primary school pupils, such as the additional food programme( RMT), will be ret

SINGAPORE: Singapore is considering pilot programmes to allow groups of vaccinated travellers to enter the country on carefully controlled itineraries as it moves toward reopening its border, according to the trade minister.“ We continue to look at countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and so on to explore possibilities of opening up, ” Gan Kim Yong, Singapore’s trade and industry minister, told Haslinda Amin in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday. The country m

JOHOR BARU: The Rahmah Sales programme, initiated by the late Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, has successfully benefitted various groups in the country and should continue. When met by Bernama, several consumers said the programme had reduced their financial burden by allowing them to purchase necessities at low and reasonable prices. Retired teacher Abdul Razak Abd Rahman, 63, said he hoped that the Rahmah Sales programme would continue next year.“ Today,

JOHOR BARU: The Rahmah Sales programme, initiated by the late Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, has successfully benefitted various groups in the country and should continue. When met by Bernama, several consumers said the programme had reduced their financial burden by allowing them to purchase necessities at low and reasonable prices. Retired teacher Abdul Razak Abd Rahman, 63, said he hoped that the Rahmah Sales programme would continue next year.“ Today,

PUTRAJAYA: Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin( pic) has been invited by Harvard University in the United States to attend the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Programme from June 12 to 15. The global-level programme is by special invitation and Khairy is one of the 12 ministers from various countries chosen to participate said the ministry in a statement. All 12 ministers selected are those involved in the portfolio of health, education and human development, Bernama reported. The ministry said the

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has over one hundred social assistance programmes that have increased in number over the past decade, yet the amount spent by the government for such programmes have dropped by about RM20bil between 2012 and 2020. This was revealed by Khazanah Research Institute( KRI), which said many deserving Malaysians have fallen through the cracks due to the gaps in the national social protection system.In its latest report on “ Building Resilience: Towards Inclusive Social Protectio

LAHORE: At a time when Pakistan is moving towards a new wave of wild polio virus epidemiology, the International Monitoring Board( IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative( GPEI) has said that changes in government have often seriously harmed the polio programme in the country. While releasing its April’s report in the last week of May it has linked the polio cases surge in Pakistan with the ‘unwanted’ changes made by the Pakistan government[ Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf] in polio programme.“