| Welcome, Guest |
You have to register before you can post on our site.
|
| Online Users |
There are currently 421 online users.
» 1 Member(s) | 418 Guest(s)
Bing, Google, Drograms
|
|
|
| Will South-east Asia be swamped by Covid-19, like in South Asia? |
|
Posted by: superadmin - 05-26-2021, 11:50 AM - Forum: Covid-19 Pandemic
- No Replies
|
 |
SINGAPORE - Largely spared the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic for most of last year, South-east Asia is now in the grip of a new wave of infections that is putting unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems and threatening to bring economies to their knees.
In Thailand, hospital beds are quickly filling up after infections, first seeded in some exclusive entertainment outlets in Bangkok, resulted in the country's highest-ever number of daily cases early last month. The number spiked again after Songkran, the Thai New Year.
Since then, the caseload has crept upwards and has more than quadrupled to nearly 135,000 as the authorities struggled to contain outbreaks in overcrowded prisons, markets and camps housing construction workers.
- More -
|
|
|
| one rural oasis shows how Singapore used to look |
|
Posted by: superadmin - 05-26-2021, 09:38 AM - Forum: Travels
- Replies (1)
|
|
Away from its soaring skyscrapers and urban sprawl, one rural oasis shows how Singapore used to look
If you turn off the busy Yio Chu Kang road in north-eastern Singapore and follow a long, earthen path that winds and snakes for about 300m, you will find something of a time capsule. Nestled here, on three acres of verdant land, is Kampong Lorong Buangkok, Singapore's last surviving village, where remnants of the 1960s are alive and well. Little resembles modern-day Singapore's panorama of slick skyscrapers. Instead, the cluster of squat bungalows looks like a vintage postcard of the city's yesteryear.
The kampong – which means "village" in Malay – is a rural oasis in a city-state synonymous with urban sprawl. Roughly 25 archetypal wooden, single-storey dwellings with tin roofs are spread around a surau (small mosque). Forgotten flora that once covered Singapore before all the concrete – like the ketapang, a native coastal tree – grow freely. Nearby, power cables hang overhead, a rare sight since most have gone underground in the rest of the city. Elderly residents sit out on their verandas; chickens in their coops cluck endlessly away; and the chorus of chirping crickets and crowing roosters – the sounds of a bygone era – drown out the city's noise pollution and provide a soothing, bucolic soundtrack.
|
|
|
|
| You’re to blame if people are angry with Umno, Zahid told |
|
Posted by: superadmin - 05-26-2021, 09:13 AM - Forum: Politics
- No Replies
|
|
PETALING JAYA: Two Umno leaders have told party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to take the blame for rising anger against party members serving in the federal Cabinet.
Padang Rengas MP Nazri Aziz and another high-ranking Umno leader said this was because Zahid had not instructed those ministers to quit the government, which is facing fierce criticism over its handling of Covid-19 and the economy.
Zahid has tried to defend Umno against the criticism, saying the party was not involved in making any policy and should, therefore, not be blamed or linked to the government’s failures.
However, some have argued that Umno men could be blamed for the worsening Covid-19 situation, slow vaccination rollout and half-baked lockdowns.
- More -
|
|
|
|
| End new oil, gas and coal funding to reach net zero emissions by 2050 |
|
Posted by: superadmin - 05-25-2021, 09:36 PM - Forum: Environment Protection News
- No Replies
|
|
End new oil, gas and coal funding to reach net zero emissions by 2050, says top global watchdog
LONDON (REUTERS) - Investors should not fund new oil, gas and coal supply projects if the world wants to reach net zero emissions by mid-century, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday (May 18), in the top global watchdog's starkest warning yet to curb fossil fuels.
Any abrupt halt to new oil and gas projects by next year still appears unlikely, however, as energy majors' spending plans still tilt heavily towards hydrocarbons, and oil-producing nations such as Norway plan new licensing rounds.
"The pathway to net zero is narrow but still achievable. If we want to reach net zero by 2050, we do not need any more investments in new oil, gas and coal projects," Dr Fatih Birol, IEA executive director, told Reuters.
"It is up to investors to chose whatever portfolio they prefer but there are risks and rewards," he added.
The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change aims to cap the rise in temperatures to as close as possible to 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial times to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change, which requires net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
"This is an incredibly exciting study that indicates a direction of hope," said Mr Francesco Starace, chief executive at Rome-based Enel, the world's biggest privately owned renewable energy group.
The number of countries which have pledged to reach net zero has grown, but even if their commitments are fully achieved, there will still be 22 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide worldwide in 2050 that would lead to a temperature rise of around 2.1 deg C by 2100, IEA said in its "Net Zero by 2050" report.
It sets out more than 400 milestones to achieving net zero in the report, intended to guide the next round of global climate talks in November in Scotland, and was requested by the British president of those talks, Mr Alok Sharma.
"(This is) a massive blow to the fossil fuel industry. This is a complete turnaround of the fossil-led IEA from five years ago," said Mr Dave Jones, global programme lead at Ember think-tank.
Environmental activists had previously said IEA, whose analysis and data underpin energy policies of governments and companies around the world, underestimated the role of renewable power in its reports.
- More -
|
|
|
|
| Asean needs to stay neutral and united amid US-China tensions: Tommy Koh |
|
Posted by: superadmin - 05-25-2021, 09:28 PM - Forum: Politics
- No Replies
|
|
SINGAPORE - Asean's unity and neutrality is what allows the grouping to be the convener of regional processes, and it needs to maintain that role amid stormy United States-China relations, Singapore's ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh said on Tuesday (May 25).
He was speaking at the Straits Times Connect webinar series Power Play: Stormier Days For US-China Ties? which included US correspondent Charissa Yong and China correspondent Danson Cheong. The session was moderated by ST foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar.
Professor Koh said Asean will lose its edge the moment it is disunited or starts to take sides.
He added: "My appeal to my Asean brothers and sisters is to understand that we have this unique role to play in the regional processes because we are united and we are neutral. And the moment we become partisan or disunited, we lose that role."
Relations between the US and China have deteriorated in the past few years as the two countries clashed on a number of issues such as trade, human rights, technology, security and defence.
The tensions have spilled over into the public sphere. Ms Yong said that there is a sharp rise in anti-China sentiments in the US, especially among those in the Republican Party, conservatives and the more politically inclined citizens.
- More -
|
|
|
|
|
![[Image: rk_thailand-vaccination_260521.jpg?itok=...1621996892]](https://static.straitstimes.com.sg/s3fs-public/styles/article_pictrure_780x520_/public/articles/2021/05/26/rk_thailand-vaccination_260521.jpg?itok=DfIEc9NL×tamp=1621996892)
![[Image: p09j85q4.jpg]](https://ychef.files.bbci.co.uk/624x351/p09j85q4.jpg)
![[Image: ahmad-zahid-hamidi-fmt-280321-5.jpg]](https://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ahmad-zahid-hamidi-fmt-280321-5.jpg)
![[Image: yq-adrianwong-19052021.jpg?itok=v_dGoB_k...1621414981]](https://static.straitstimes.com.sg/s3fs-public/styles/article_pictrure_780x520_/public/articles/2021/05/19/yq-adrianwong-19052021.jpg?itok=v_dGoB_k×tamp=1621414981)
![[Image: rk_oil_190521.jpg?itok=p5GCj0bq×tamp=1621399646]](https://static.straitstimes.com.sg/s3fs-public/styles/article_pictrure_780x520_/public/articles/2021/05/19/rk_oil_190521.jpg?itok=p5GCj0bq×tamp=1621399646)
![[Image: yq-tommyk-25052025.jpg?itok=oLn9yda6&tim...1621943169]](https://static.straitstimes.com.sg/s3fs-public/styles/article_pictrure_780x520_/public/articles/2021/05/25/yq-tommyk-25052025.jpg?itok=oLn9yda6×tamp=1621943169)
