Tallinn estonia

PARIS: Belgium and the Netherlands both cruised to 4-0 wins over Scotland and Estonia respectively in Euro 2020 qualifying on Monday (Sep 9), while Germany claimed a crucial victory over Northern Ireland in their bid to qualify for next year's finals. Roberto Martinez's Belgium, the world-number-one ranked side, were not at their best but still swatted aside a poor Scotland outfit at Hampden Park to make it six wins from as many matches in Group I. Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku gave the visitors the lead in Glasgow in only the ninth minute with his Belgian record-extending 49th international goal. Defenders Thomas Vermaelen and Toby Alderweireld ended the game as a contest with less than 32 minutes on the clock. Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who had assisted each of the first three goals, completed the scoring himself with eight minutes remaining. "It was not a world-class performance, we just did what we had to do," said Belgium captain De Bruyne. … [Read more...] about Football: Belgium, Netherlands hit four as Germany edge closer to Euro 2020

Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn is the latest big tech name to invest in Vietnamese startup Loship Tallinn’s investment in Loship puts him on a list of global tech leaders betting on Vietnamese tech startups, which has shown resilience and growth even amidst COVID-19. Thus, Loship is poised to become a prominent tech figure for any seasoned investor looking at Vietnam, according to Loship CEO Trung Hoang Nguyen. "MetaPlanet’s investment will help us build a much stronger image of Loship as a National Startup Hero. The competition will be much steeper in the long term, and we hope to pick up deep tech insights from Jaan Tallinn that can be applied to the Vietnam market,” he further opined. The latest fundraising, which is part of the startup’s Series C round, comes just four months after its undisclosed bridge round led by Vulpes Investment Management. The new funding would fuel Loship's path to becoming Vietnam’s leading one-hour-delivery e-commerce platform. “We already have … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s delivery e-commerce startup Loship raises funds from Skype co-founder

SINGAPORE: Less than a year after opening their first business, Lee Junxian and his co-founder found themselves wondering if they should keep going or pull down the shutters. It was 2008, the Singapore economy was feeling the wrath of a global financial crisis. The business – a late-night stall serving up waffles and other snacks to students living in a hostel within the National University of Singapore (NUS) – was still finding its feet and the challenges of an economic downturn were hard to ignore. That was also the year Mr Lee and his business partner graduated from NUS. “While there were many F&B outlets near the hostels, these operated during the day. At night, we had a monopoly,” he said. “That was the market gap we saw and we felt we had a sustainable competitive advantage … but the economic crisis was shaping up to be a major one. As new business owners and fresh graduates, we had to decide what to do next.” They chose to press on and later as the business … [Read more...] about Entrepreneurs try to find opportunity amid the COVID-19 uncertainty

SINGAPORE: A delay to Asia's first travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore has hit the shares of their flag carriers and highlighted the challenges facing the global travel industry as it tries to rebound from the pandemic. The arrangement was postponed on Saturday (Nov 21), one day before it was due to launch, after Hong Kong reported a jump in COVID-19 cases. Authorities and aviation experts have said the bubble would provide a blueprint for quarantine-free travel before a vaccine is widely available. READ: Deferral of air travel bubble a joint decision by Singapore and Hong Kong: Chan Chun Sing READ: Singapore-Hong Kong air travel bubble launch deferred for 2 weeks after COVID-19 cases spike in Hong Kong "There is no doubt that there are many challenges around it," said Singapore hotelier Marcus Hanna, who had taken bookings from Hong Kong tourists and hopes for similar arrangements with major markets like mainland China and Australia early next year. "Let's … [Read more...] about Hong Kong, Singapore bubble delay highlights hurdles to travel recovery

SINGAPORE: While Singapore has relaxed restrictions on travellers arriving from a few countries and territories with low COVID-19 rates of infections, so far Hong Kong is the only one which is putting in place reciprocal arrangements. From Friday (Nov 6), Singapore has accepted visitors from mainland China without the need for stay-home notices. This means that general travellers from five countries can now enter Singapore: Mainland China, Australia, Brunei, New Zealand and Vietnam. Authorities here have said that the risk of importing COVID-19 cases from these places is low. COVID-19: Singapore to lift border restrictions for visitors from mainland China and Australia's Victoria state from Nov 6 Commentary: Hong Kong and Singapore air travel bubble could be a game-changer However, Hong Kong is so far the only destination which is opening up to travellers from Singapore with the establishment of a travel bubble, possibly by the end of the month. With many people … [Read more...] about COVID-19: What is preventing countries lifting border restrictions to travellers from Singapore?