NewsLite

TEHRAN — Airlines quickly changed flight paths over Iran, diverted to alternate airports or returned planes to their departure points on April 19 in response to airspace and airport closures after an Israeli attack on Iran, flight tracking data showed.

Iran closed its airports in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan after the attack and cleared flights from the western portion of its airspace for a few hours after the attack, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

Before the airports reopened, Flydubai said it had cancelled its Friday flights to Iran.

Many Western and Asian airlines had already been steering clear of Iran and its airspace before the Israeli attack, which came days after Iran's missile and drone attack on Israel.

KARACHI — Police in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi shot down a suicide bomber and a militant on Friday (April 19) as they attacked a vehicle carrying five Japanese nationals, all of whom survived, a police spokesperson said.

Islamist militants seeking to overthrow the government and set up their own strict brand of Islamic rule have launched some of Pakistan's bloodiest attacks over the last few years, sometimes targeting foreigners, such as Chinese.

The Japanese survivors have been moved to a safe place in police custody, the police spokesperson, Abrar Hussain Baloch, said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack from any militant group.

🤩🤩 https://t.co/uTjkzsWnab — Muttons In The Morning (@muttons) April 18, 2024.

pic.twitter.com/AVFLBVZgPQ — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 18, 2024.

pic.twitter.com/DntSnRhiUI — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 18, 2024.

Cook is in Singapore until Friday and will be meeting Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong before he leaves, Bloomberg reported.

SINGAPORE — Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering "moderate to severe" levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released on Friday (April 19).

A separate study published in February said around 6.3 million sq km of land across the globe was at risk.

Nicholls said vulnerable cities could learn lessons from Tokyo, which sank by about 5 m until it banned groundwater extraction in the 1970s.

Of the 44 major coastal cities suffering from the problem, 30 were in Asia, according to a 2022 Singapore study.

Apple said on Friday (April 19) it had removed Meta Platforms' WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China after being ordered to do so by the Chinese government, which cited national security concerns.

Apple has removed apps from its China app store before.

It remains unavailable on Apple's China App Store.

The removal of WhatsApp and Threads from the China App Store was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

A woman in Sarawak looks set to miss her own wedding on Friday (April 19) because she was unable to catch her flight to Singapore.

"Now that the flight's cancelled, what can I do?"

According to CNA, several airlines including Scoot cancelled flights after aviation authorities warned of safety risks.

TR415, the Scoot flight that the bride was supposed to be on, was cancelled along with three other Scoot flights scheduled to fly between Singapore and East Malaysia on Thursday afternoon (April 18).

And to cope, she would prepare thunder tea rice — her grandmother's all-time favourite dish — for herself.

"When I first moved away from Singapore 12 years ago, I longed for the flavours of home," Maki told us.

"I couldn’t find thunder tea rice anywhere so I started making it to remedy my homesickness.".

As of now, Thunder Tea has no fixed physical store, but there are plans to have one in the near future.

A woman who posted a video criticising a restaurant at Cineleisure incurred the wrath of netizens instead, who called her out for being entitled.

"We paid for six people to eat here, but now I have to leave," Ortiz said.

"I have to tell my super small daughters that they have to leave the food on the table and find food somewhere else - they are starving!".

The employee responded that only Ortiz's food had to be removed from the restaurant and she had to leave if she wanted to eat it.

In an Instagram post yesterday (April 18), she released a music video of her covering the song.

She also got actress Tasha Low's niece to cameo in the music video with her, mirroring the toddler featured in the original music video.

Chantalle also paid tribute to the actors in the original music video by wearing clothes of similar styles.

Christopher made a surprise appearance at the end of her music video, where Chantalle asked him how her cover was.

What to know about Katong-Joo Chiat.

The Katong-Joo Chiat precinct has a long history.

What to expect at the HAN @ Katong-Joo Chiat launch festival.

To celebrate the Katong-Joo Chiat neighbourhood's heritage, the two-day launch festival offers a curated line-up of programmes and activities by over 20 festival partners.