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Sin to salvation: how Singapore’s most notorious mall found God
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Australia to attend body's swearing-in

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Britain and America's allies yesterday looked set to ignore their refusal to attend the swearing-in of the provisional legislature.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his Government would accept China's invitation to the ceremony, while New Zealand also announced it would attend the swearing-in, sending Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, if invited.

Mr Howard said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer would be attending all the ceremonies.

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Germany blurs defence lines with bet on Philippines’ old US base

A multimillion-dollar aviation deal at Clark highlights European economic investment as a tool of strategic power

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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) walks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr following a press conference at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
The runway at Clark International Airport was built to launch American air power across Asia. Now, it is being repurposed to project German industrial ambition.
Analysts say the multimillion-dollar deal to develop the former US military base in the Philippines illustrates how economic investment has become the new language of strategic power.

The deal, struck last week during German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s milestone visit to Manila – the first by a German head of state since 1963 – centres on a 157,000-square-metre (39-acre) aviation facility at the former US air base.

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How Singapore’s most notorious mall found God

Orchard Towers, once a byword for vice, is now part of a megachurch trend repurposing retail spaces from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur

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Orchard Towers in Singapore pictured on Friday. Cornerstone Community Church officially opened weekly services at the Orchard Road landmark in January. Photo: Jean Iau
Orchard Towers pictured in December 2023, after the government had stopped renewing or issuing new public entertainment licences for the building. Photo: Mavis Teo
Orchard Towers, a building in Singapore once notorious enough to earn the nickname “Four Floors of Whores”, has found an unlikely new tenant.

On weekends, the site of former nightclubs, illegal massage parlours and at least one murder is now flooded with church-goers.

Cornerstone Community Church officially opened weekly services at the Orchard Road landmark in January after buying six units on the fourth floor – formerly a nightclub – for S$54.5 million (US$42.3 million) in 2025.

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