Saturday, March 16, 2024

Slowing growth in China and what it could mean for the World.

 WSJ video on persistent deflation in China and how it would affect the Global Economy

Friday, March 15, 2024

The REAL Reason (well, one major reason) why Taylor Swift Chose Singapore

Infrastructure.

Ruben Pinatacan responded to a query (on Quora) about whether the Philippines could have hosted the Eras Tour:

"Regardless of the Singapore’s incentive to the promoter or organiser of the Eras Tour, the Philippines cannot afford to host the Taylor Swift concert because of the costs involved as well as lack of adequate infrastructure to hold the concert. Both Araneta Coliseum or the MOA Mall can only accommodate 9,600 spectators; while Melbourne is 96,000; Sydney is 86,000; Thailand is 51,000 and Singapore is 55,000. Where else the Philippines will hold the tour. The Eras Tour is not cheap after all. The economy is not good and in tatter; and poverty is prevalent all over the country. Just for a note, the Swifty tour in SEA started in Thailand in 2014, but for the coup it was cancelled. The Philippine organisers should have have woken up but for the money issues, they cannot afford. Salceda should wake up to reality that the government or the private organisers cannot afford the tour."

Commentary: Instant noodles have become an economic red flag

Cheap and fast but delicious, everyone’s favourite rapid meal tells us about the state of the world, says the Financial Times’ Leo Lewis.

Instant noodle consumption has continued to grow strongly in a post-COVID world.
(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Leo Lewis

15 Mar 2024 


TOKYO: If the entire (cooked) length of instant noodles sold around the world in a single year were laid out in a line, the resulting 6.2 billion km giga-noodle would stretch well beyond Pluto and into the depths of space. It is a fact as miserable as it is marvellous.

Instant noodles sit among the most potent weapons ever devised in the unending struggle against starvation: A product that towers, among processed foods, at the extreme value end of the cost-per-calorie scale and which its makers now proudly classify as a piece of “social infrastructure”. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Foreign Swifties praise S'pore's transport system & crowd management at Eras Tour shows

Screenshot via TikTok/eloicht

An unforgettable experience.

Hannah Martens 

March 12, 2024,

As the dust settles after Taylor Swift's last Eras Tour show in Singapore, some concertgoers who flew in from overseas have gone online to share their thoughts about Singapore.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

PUB partnering UCLA and American startup to build world’s largest ocean-based carbon dioxide removal plant in Tuas



A rendering of an ocean-based carbon dioxide removal plant.

PUB, Singapore's national water agency PUB, is teaming up with an American university and startup to build the world's largest plant that will remove carbon dioxide from seawater and the atmosphere
When fully completed, the plant in Tuas — named Equatic-1 — will be equipped to remove 10 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per day from seawater and the atmosphere
This is more than 100 times the amount a trial plant has been able to remove


SHYNN ONG

February 27, 2024


SINGAPORE — Singapore's national water agency PUB is teaming up with the University of California (UCLA) and a UCLA-linked startup to build the world's largest plant that removes carbon dioxide from seawater and the atmosphere.

How S'pore got Taylor Swift to perform here

Deal-making.

Belmont Lay

February 25, 2024




So, just how did Singapore get American pop queen Taylor Swift to perform six concerts at one shot here from March 2 to 9, 2024, making this country the only Southeast Asian stop of her tour?

In the wake of public interest, The Straits Times and CNA have shed some light on the process.

Here's the timeline. 

Saturday, March 2, 2024

'Sour grapes': Bilahari Kausikan applauds STB's 'Swift' deal, says S'pore can't hold back if neighbours 'slow'

He did not use any Taylor Swift puns.

Fiona Tan

March 01, 2024




"Sour grapes," Bilahari Kausikan said in a Facebook post on Mar. 1, 2024.

The former Ministry of Foreign Affairs permanent secretary and current Middle East Institute chairman was seemingly responding to other Southeast Asian countries and their public outcries to Singapore's deal with American pop star Taylor Swift.