The local government of Sabah said Thursday, October 29, that it was allowing full worker capacity in several sectors under the agriculture and food industry,

A reports by The Star said sectors where full capacity of manpower are now allowed are in rubber, cocoa, and oil palm plantations, as well as in farming, livestock and fisheries.

Datuk Masidi Manjun, the state Local Government and Housing Minister, said: “The ruling will be based on an updated standard operating procedure (SOP) for the selected sectors which have been approved by the Health Ministry.”

The new apostolic vicar of Brunei, Cardinal Cornelius Sim, administers arguably the world’s smallest Roman Catholic diocese in terms of its priests – just 3. They take care of the Catholic in one of the few absolute Muslim monarchies left in the world.

Some two-thirds of Brunei’s people are Muslims ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The country follows Sharia law that is applicable only to Muslims

Father Arin Sugit, the cardinal’s assistant at Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral in the capital of Bandar Seri Begawan, told UCA News that the majority of Catholics are migrants.

Only 5% of Brunei’s population of some 429,000 are Catholics. Almost 70% are migrant workers from the Philippines. “We’re fortunate to have a substantial Filipino congregation that makes our Church very lively,” said the cardinal. “They bring their faith, with popular pious devotions, and they enrich us and our faith very much.”

The Strait Times reports that Robinsons’ last two stores will be closing and the company will be exiting from the Singapore physical retail scene after 162 years.

Robinsons said in a statement that the decision to close was made after the store’s “inability to continue operations due to weak demand at department stores”.

Danny Lim, Robinsons’ senior general manager, said: “We regret this outcome today. Despite recent challenges in the industry, the Robinsons team continued to pursue the success of the brand. However, the changing consumer landscape makes it difficult for us to succeed over the long term and the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated our challenges.”

At least 40 men in this city-state will join a unique event set Saturday, October 31, here to show their support against domestic violence and abuse, said The Newspaper of Singapore.

They will walk 1.7 km down Raffles Place wearing 3.5 inches high heels in the fund-raising event, A Mile In Her Shoes, is organized by the Association of Women for Action and Research, jewellery brand Luxequisite, and fine-dining restaurant, Sinfonia Ristorante. They hope to raise $100,000 for the cause.

Mount Sinabung in Karo, North Sumatra, erupted again on Thursday, October 29, shooting hot volcanic ash 2,000 meters into the air while spewing a 1,500-m-high ash column that affected a number of areas in the regency, a report by the Jakarta Post said.

The eruption occurred at around 7:52 a.m. local time and followed an eruption on Sunday, October 25, in which the volcano ejected hot ash clouds but not an ash column.

“This is the first time this month that the volcano erupted hot clouds together with volcanic ash,” Mt. Sinabung observation team member Armen Saputra told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Breathonix, developer of a COVID-19 “breathalyzer” test kit, aims to have locals in public places try their technology out soon, reports TheNewPaper.

The test involves blowing into a mouthpiece connected to a breath sampler, and can give the results in less than a minute. It is less sensitive than a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab tests, but the developers only consider Breathonix as a “first-level screening device.”