Singapore and Malaysia will next week launch a quarantine-free travel lane at their land border crossing, one of the world's busiest, for people vaccinated against COVID-19, the two countries said on Wednesday.
The plan, effective November 29, expands an already announced move to start a travel lane for flights between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport from next week.
The land travel lane in the first phase will apply to citizens, permanent residents or long-term pass holders of the country they are entering, to allow people to visit families on the other side of the border, the office of Singapore's prime minister said in a statement.
The lane will be progressively expanded.
Malaysia announced the creation of the land border travel lane separately on Wednesday.
Singapore, with a population of 5.45 million, relies heavily on Malaysians living in the southern state of Johor to staff businesses ranging from restaurants to semiconductor manufacturing.
Many Malaysians used to commute daily from across the border prior to the pandemic.
The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza on Sunday before intensified fighting against Hamas, as US President Donald Trump called for an end to the war amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire.
Russia used hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles to attack western, southern and central Ukraine overnight, damaging homes and infrastructure and injuring at least six people, local authorities said on Sunday.
At least seven Palestinians were killed and several others injured early Sunday in a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza City and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian News & Information Agency (WAFA) reported.
The Republican-controlled US Senate narrowly advanced President Donald Trump's, sweeping tax-cut and spending bill on Saturday, during a marathon weekend session marked by political drama, division and lengthy delays as Democrats sought to slow the legislation's path to passage.