Investment talks with MBS, RWS were on Singapore’s terms due to economy’s strength: Chan Chun Sing

TODAY file photo

TODAY


By Faris Mokhtar


05 April, 2019


SINGAPORE — Negotiations with the integrated resorts to commit about S$9 billion of non-gaming investments took more than two years, but the Singapore Government was able to iron out a deal based on its own terms, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said.

Singapore has to be in a position of strength to negotiate, and ensure that the country is “never held ransom” or “overly dependent” on one particular sector, he said at a media briefing on Friday (April 5) to talk about the negotiation process.

Why an ageing China will never overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy

Business photo created by onlyyouqj
- www.freepik.com

By Yi Fuxian

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

02 April, 2019

Forecasts that China will dethrone the United States as the world’s biggest economy neglect the country’s ageing population and its drag on growth, says the author.

In 2010, China replaced Japan as the world's second-largest economy. Many economists believe it is just a matter of time before China dethrones the United States as the world’s biggest economy – some have argued that it could happen before 2030.

They have cited the history of other Asian economies as evidence to back the claim. The nominal per capita gross domestic product of China was just a sixth of America’s in 2018 – a level similar to Japan in 1960, Taiwan in 1978 and South Korea in 1986.

In the following two decades, the three Asian economies achieved annual growth rates of between 7 per cent and 8 per cent.

As such, economists including Justin Lin Yifu, the former World Bank chief economist, have argued that China would go through a similar trajectory and the nation would be able to achieve a 6 per cent annual growth rate from now until the 2030s.

Johor crown prince accuses Mahathir of lying about shipping hub project

Johor Southern Tigers/Facebook

Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, in a Facebook post, said neither he, his father Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, Johor Chief Minister Osman Sapian nor the state government was aware of the project.

03 April, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR — Johor’s crown prince has launched an attack on Putrajaya, denying Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s claim that a new shipping hub project at the Johor Baru port is public knowledge.

Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, in a Facebook post, said neither he, his father Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, Johor Chief Minister Osman Sapian nor the state government was aware of the project.

“Whoever says Johor is aware is lying. Anything within three nautical miles of the shores of the state — in particular, land and water matters — is the sole prerogative of the state.

[Note the limits of Johor's jurisdiction - 3 nautical miles.]

“Is Putrajaya trying to usurp the powers of the state?”

Update on Climate Change - Video Compilation. Commentary

It may seem to you that everyday, there is news or updates or a new breathlessly reported fact about Climate Change and what you can do to stop or even reverse Climate Change.

David Wallace-Wells, author of "The Uninhabitable Earth" was interviewed and asked if he intended his book to spur people to action, to slow, stop or even reverse climate change.

How Singapore’s hawker culture started

By JOHN KWOK
TODAY file photo

The Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre. On March 27, Singapore submitted a nomination for Singapore hawker culture to be inscribed on the Unesco Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a year after after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the move.

03 APRIL, 2019


On March 27, Singapore submitted a nomination for Singapore hawker culture to be inscribed on the Unesco Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a year after after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the move.

In the lead up to the submission of the nomination, the official government website on hawker culture in Singapore described that street hawking in Singapore can be traced back to the mid-1800s when street hawkers sold a variety of food along the streets of Singapore.

The narrative leaps forward to the time period 1968 to 1986 when the Singapore government resettled street hawkers into hawker centres and markets.

'Anti-vax' movement fuels rise in measles, vaccine-preventable diseases in South-east Asia

A girl receives anti-measles vaccination drops at a health centre in
Tondo, Manila, on Sept 3, 2014. REUTERS

29 March, 2019

HONG KONG — Vaccination rates for measles have dipped across South-east Asia, falling below the 95 per cent mark which experts say is needed to fully protect a community from the infectious disease.


At the same time, cases of measles have spiked in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in recent years — part of a worldwide 50 per cent increase seen last year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Freedom with ‘Fire’: Living simply, saving heavily to retire young

By Richard Hartung

30 March, 2019


Having the option of retiring in your 30s or 40s sounds really attractive for many people.

“Fire”, short for “financial independence, retire early” is a growing movement that started in the United States. Its followers tend to be millennials who choose that goal in a bid to free themselves from what they see as a prolonged and unsustainable work life that takes its toll on them.

It’s not easy, though, so it may not be as enticing as it seems.