https://www.scmp.com/rss/327339/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Coastlines awash with rubbish, skylines obscured by smog and rivers, once relied on for drinking, bathing and fishing, streaked with unnatural colours and toxic sludge. This is Asia. It is the world’s fastest growing economic region – a status that has unfortunately come at a steep environmental cost. Three of the five most polluted cities in the world are in Southeast Asia, according to air-monitoring organisation IQAir. In a January report, Ho Chi Minh City was ranked second, while Phnom Penh... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3302445/singapore-was-once-polluted-too-asia-could-learn-much-its-transformation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3302445/singapore-was-once-polluted-too-asia-could-learn-much-its-transformation?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Mar 2025 03:00:14 +0000 Over 100 commercial jets stand idly on the tarmac of Singapore’s Changi Airport, grounded by the Covid-19 pandemic that has debilitated the airline industry. Passenger volume at what was the world’s seventh busiest airport has plummeted to a mere 1.5 per cent of happier and noisier times before the pandemic. This sight is repeated at aviation hubs across the world, with some 31 per cent of the world’s 26,000 commercial planes still inactive according to aviation data company Cirium, even as air... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3111353/climate-change-what-happened-asia-pacifics-green?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3111353/climate-change-what-happened-asia-pacifics-green?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Nov 2020 04:00:49 +0000 Term sheets were exchanged, vetted and accepted. Series A funding for a Singaporean tech start-up was a done deal, or so it had thought. Then Covid-19 struck. “[The investors] just pulled out and said they couldn’t do it,” said an employee of the start-up. “Basically, all that was left was for them to wire the money over.” Months of discussion came to nought. The investors said discussion would restart when the coronavirus situation had settled. “We were stuck and even considered disbanding for... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3088863/party-over-southeast-asias-post-coronavirus-tech-scene?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3088863/party-over-southeast-asias-post-coronavirus-tech-scene?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Jun 2020 01:00:14 +0000 Eight years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered a global rethink on energy policy, signs have emerged that Singapore may be warming back up to the power source. Pro-nuclear chatter in the city state was spurred last month when Ho Ching – the chief executive of Singapore state investment fund Temasek Holdings, who is married to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – published a lengthy Facebook post expressing support for the power source. “Overall, for a greener earth and to reduce carbon... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3019393/will-singapore-warm-nuclear-energy-combat-climate-change?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3019393/will-singapore-warm-nuclear-energy-combat-climate-change?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Jul 2019 01:00:10 +0000 China’s ban on waste imports in 2018 has sent some nations, including the United States, scrambling for somewhere else to send their trash. Malaysia soon became the top alternative destination for plastics, but it has begun sending waste back to its country of origin, refusing to be a “dumping ground” for developed countries. Now Singapore may be affected too. The Lion City’s recyclables are currently shipped to countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, which are then processed and sold to... https://www.scmp.com/society/how-chinas-trash-ban-may-disrupt-singapores-plans-zero-waste-year/article/3014460?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/how-chinas-trash-ban-may-disrupt-singapores-plans-zero-waste-year/article/3014460?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Jun 2019 10:10:31 +0000 For 18 years, blue bins have sat at the base of high-rise flats and the entrance of landed properties in Singapore, waiting to be filled with plastic bottles, paper cartons, tin cans and other recyclable items. They multiplied from one in every five blocks to one a block in public housing estates, and spread from landed homes to condominiums. But after all that time, many have remained practically empty or contaminated with food scraps, organic waste like soiled diapers, or other non-recyclable... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3014403/singapore-wants-year-zero-waste-its-rubbish-recycling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3014403/singapore-wants-year-zero-waste-its-rubbish-recycling?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Jun 2019 01:00:11 +0000 For half a century since 1969, a white polymarble statue of Sir Stamford Raffles stood by the Singapore River, purportedly at the exact spot where the British colonial official first landed when he reached the Lion City. This month, it “disappeared”. In a city state where vandalism can be punished by caning, a state-sanctioned artwork was commissioned to create an optical illusion that the statue was no longer there. The aim was to make Singaporeans think harder about Raffles. “Is our story just... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2183714/raffles-who-200-years-british-colonialist-singapore-would-rather?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2183714/raffles-who-200-years-british-colonialist-singapore-would-rather?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Jan 2019 09:03:51 +0000 [Sponsored Article] From a trading post in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, buying and selling rice, sugar and wheat flour, the Kuok family – behind the internationally renowned Shangri-La Hotel chain – has built up an empire that spreads across five continents today. No longer merely a trader, the family does business in the property, hospitality, logistics and maritime industries, just to name a few. This has pushed the family’s net worth to US$16.6 billion last year, making it the 15th richest family... https://www.scmp.com/presented/news/asia/topics/china-conference-sea/article/2167009/keeping-kuoks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/presented/news/asia/topics/china-conference-sea/article/2167009/keeping-kuoks?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Oct 2018 01:00:00 +0000 [Sponsored Article] Set on expanding its global footprint, a firm casts its sight on the emerging markets of Asia, pumped up with a generous budget and ambitious goals. But the enthusiasm quickly fades when it finds itself in a bind – a lack of talent. It’s a common tale in developing nations. They may have the perfect ingredients for rapid growth – a fast-growing middle class and a shift away from manufacturing toward more consumer-based economies – but they are failing to develop and nurture... https://www.scmp.com/presented/news/asia/topics/china-conference-sea/article/2167003/shaping-leaders-asias-emerging?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/presented/news/asia/topics/china-conference-sea/article/2167003/shaping-leaders-asias-emerging?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Oct 2018 07:30:45 +0000 It’s lunchtime on a Tuesday and a hungry office worker has just pulled up beside Amoy Street Food Centre – a popular haunt in the Central Business District of Singapore. For the next five minutes he fumbles with a parking coupon, tearing tiny holes in the paper to indicate the date and time, as well as the duration he will be parking his car there. Up till about a year ago, this was a common sight in the 1,100 public car parks across the island, as were tiny round pieces of paper littered on the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2167137/how-cashless-mainland-china-made-hong-kong-singapore-look?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2167137/how-cashless-mainland-china-made-hong-kong-singapore-look?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Oct 2018 04:00:00 +0000 A flourishing multibillion-dollar pet-care industry has emerged in Asia, dominated by designer clothes, gourmet food and luxurious spas for its very special clientele. While Asia’s economic growth is stuttering as trade tensions between the United States and China ratchet higher, the growth of its pet economy is accelerating. Market research firm Euromonitor has projected that the burgeoning pet-care industry in the region will expand by 70 per cent by 2022, with expenditure to hit US$21.1... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2161682/hong-kongs-pet-spa-singapores-gourmet-dog-food-whats-asias-pet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2161682/hong-kongs-pet-spa-singapores-gourmet-dog-food-whats-asias-pet?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Sep 2018 05:00:15 +0000 At 9am on Tuesday, many of the 25,000-strong South Korean community in Singapore will take a break from their work, errands and studies to pay rapt attention to the television for an event they thought they would never witness. As US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un prepare for their landmark summit, South Koreans in Singapore remain awkwardly detached as they are not direct participants but many are nonetheless caught up in the excitement. “For Koreans, this is a very... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2150019/historic-summit-nears-south-koreans-living-singapore-dare?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2150019/historic-summit-nears-south-koreans-living-singapore-dare?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Jun 2018 03:44:28 +0000