SINGAPORE — Chong Wai Yoong has been personally delivering Yakult to customers for 34 years. The 62-year-old spoke to Yahoo News Singapore about her love for the job.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 30 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore on Tuesday (19 January), taking the country’s total case count to 59,157.
Outgoing US President Donald Trump will be far from the first to boycott his successor Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday -- but his absence will be the first since 1869.
China has added a new giant buoy to a marine surveillance network used partly to strengthen the country’s territorial claims in the disputed East China Sea – dubbed a “buoys’ graveyard” after several were lost or damaged through accidents and vandalism as several nations vie for regional influence.Deployed this month at an unspecified location in the East China Sea – some of which is also claimed by Japan and South Korea – the 15-metre-wide platform will fill a gap in a buoy network used to collect data, according to a statement on Monday by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).The new buoy will help China better prepare for challenges such as environmental protection, extreme weather and territorial disputes with neighbouring countries, according to researchers involved in the project.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.An important function of the Chinese network is to mark out territory over which China is in dispute with Japan and South Korea, according to its operator, the State Oceanic Administration of China (SOA), which estimates the disputed waters at a combined 340 sq km (131 square miles) – more than half of the East China Sea.“The buoy deployment locations [in the East China Sea] cover areas of territorial disputes and other sensitive activities to meet the demand of data collection for rights protection and to demonstrate the sovereignty of our country,” said an introduction to the network by SOA researchers in a domestic journal in 2014.Cameras and other sensors on buoys in disputed waters will alert Chinese naval and law enforcement agencies if other parties make what is deemed an intrusion, so that they can move into position to thwart it, the SOA said.Such buoys can also collect data to improve early detection of natural disasters, being placed in the potential path of typhoons, and can monitor nutrients in the water.Among marine scientists, however, the East China Sea is known as a “buoys’ graveyard”. For centuries, it has been a busy fishing ground for Japanese, Korean and Chinese vessels. Some expensive buoys deployed there by countries in the region, and by others including the United States, have been damaged – often through accidents involving fishing boats, but sometimes by vandalism, with expensive on-board equipment sometimes removed.The US used to have the largest number of buoys in waters around China, as part of its strategy to counter China’s expansionist approach with its “first island chain”, a defence network comprising a large number of military bases stretching between South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.But in recent years the scale of China’s ocean surveillance network is believed to have exceeded the American presence in the region. The Chinese government has claimed to have established a monitoring network in the South China Sea “greater than any other country”.China’s known number of buoys in the East China Sea tripled to 27 between 2014 and 2019, with nearly half positioned in disputed waters, according to the SOA.The new 15-metre buoy is larger than most surveillance buoys worldwide, with the largest US buoy being 12 metres wide.“The commissioning of this facility put an end to the absence of long-term, fixed-point, real-time water profile observation in the offshore waters of our country by enhancing the observation capabilities of the Donghai [East China Sea] Surveillance Network,” the CAS statement said. South China Sea: the dispute that could start a military conflictAs China’s largest, most comprehensive and smartest data collection platform for marine observation and experiments, the new 15-metre buoy is better equipped to prevent interference, according to the researchers. It has been guarded by three sentry buoys, each moored to the sea floor and carrying solar-powered lighthouses to keep fishing boats at a safe distance.The main buoy’s size should make it less susceptible to damage in a collision with a fishing boat, researchers said, because its sensors can detect trespassers and send images to a Chinese command post on land.Smaller buoys’ data collection capability is limited, and gaps between data collection points can detract from the accuracy of estimates used in computer modelling for scientific research and naval activities. A submarine can use such data to avoid running into a rapid current that could drag it to deadly depths.Thanks to its size, the 15-metre buoy collects data with a robotic platform able to move up and down between the water's surface and the sea floor, enabling it to capture an underwater environment with unprecedented resolution and continuity and beam data to a communication satellite overhead. Its daily operations are run mostly by artificial intelligence.More from South China Morning Post: * Beijing defends East China Sea activities after Japan protests * Boiling point: Can China and Japan find a way to ease rising tensions over the East China Sea? * By air and sea: China’s two-pronged strategy to grind Japan down over disputed islandsThis article East China Sea: why giant Chinese territory marker may be leagues above old buoy network first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
A 67-year-old former statutory board director was on Monday (18 January) jailed for six weeks for molesting a subordinate.
One of the first robo-advisors in the now crowded space, StashAway is a name well-known by many. Here’s what you can expect when you invest your cash or SRS funds with StashAway. As one of the early players in the robo-advisory space in Singapore, StashAway […] The post StashAway Review: Goal-Getting Investments Through ETFs appeared first on SingSaver Blog - We Compare, You Save.
Singapore may be considering another round of measures to cool residential prices, according to market analysts, who see recent ministerial remarks as a signal for the possible move.
President Donald Trump spent his last full day in the White House mulling pardons Tuesday and President-elect Joe Biden was set to arrive in Washington ahead of an inauguration that his predecessor, in a final break with tradition, will snub.
Chinese troops stationed in the South China Sea are learning battlefield English to avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments during engagements with forces from other countries in the disputed waterway.According to a report by state-owned English-language broadcaster China Global Television Network (CGTN), the skill is “essential” and “must be picked up”. People’s Liberation Army troops are using gaps in their military training schedule for both concentrated learning and self-study.“In recent years, countries and forces outside China have been provoking troubles and creating tensions in the South China Sea. The naval forces in the Southern Theatre Command are at the forefront of safeguarding rights as well as maintaining regional peace and stability in the South China Sea,” the report said.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. South China Sea: the dispute that could start a military conflictDuring a recent military exercise on an island reef in the Paracel Islands, part of the drill included using English when engaging with “enemy” troops. One soldier was heard in the broadcast to say in English: “You are surrounded. Surrender.”Liu Chuanming, a Chinese commander of a marine police district in the Paracels, said the deployment was at the forefront of China’s military defences in the South China Sea. “We must ensure that our intentions can be accurately conveyed, thus we need to improve our level of English.”The PLA has expelled a number of foreign ships from the South China Sea in the past year. Most recently, a Chinese warship used English to warn off a foreign merchant ship in the area during a PLA combat readiness cruise mission, with the message: “I am warning you again. Leave immediately or we will take further actions.”In December 2020, the PLA deployed naval and aerial forces when destroyer USS John S. McCain approached the Spratly Islands in what the US described as a “freedom of navigation” exercise. A similar incident occurred in August 2020, when the USS Mustin entered China’s claimed territorial waters off the Paracel Islands.Other 2020 encounters include the littoral combat ship USS Montgomery near the Spratly Islands in late January, the destroyer USS McCampbell near the Paracel Islands in March, and the destroyer USS Barry, also near the Paracels in April.The use of English by Chinese forces is not unknown. In October 2018, the destroyer Lanzhou was tracking and monitoring the Kaga, a Japanese helicopter destroyer which was refuelling from an American supply ship in the South China Sea.After the Chinese ship greeted its Japanese counterpart in English by radio, the Kaga is reported to have replied, “Chinese warship 170, Chinese warship 170, this is Japanese warship 184. Over.”The Lanzhou responded with: “Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force 184. This is Chinese warship 170. Good morning. Nice to meet you. Over.”More from South China Morning Post: * ‘South China Sea strategic benefit’ if Beijing builds tunnel to holiday island Hainan * South China Sea: why did the PLA land its massive Y-20 warplane on Fiery Cross Reef? * China-US tensions keep PLA sailors at sea for an extra four months in 2020This article PLA troops in South China Sea learn ‘essential’ battlefield English first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
The de facto chief of South Korea's Samsung business empire was convicted Monday over a huge corruption scandal and jailed for two and a half years, in a ruling that deprives the tech giant of its top decision-maker.
Malaysian YouTuber ‘heartbroken’ by criticism after deleting video with China critic Mike Chen. This article, Uncle Roger says he makes ‘zero dollar’ from Chinese social media, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company.
Pressure is mounting on Sherman Kwek, heir to Singapore’s biggest family fortune, as he seeks to salvage the troubled property investment at the centre of an ambitious expansion into China.
MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC Christopher De Souza has filed an adjournment motion in Parliament in a bid to preserve the Dover Forest in his constituency.
The world is on the brink of a "catastrophic moral failure" if rich countries hog Covid-19 vaccine doses while the poorest suffer, the head of the WHO said Monday.
The government is monitoring the COVID-19 situation carefully and considering if more measures are necessary, said Education Minister Lawrence Wong.
Fresh questions have been raised over the risks of catching the coronavirus from food after traces were found in at least five samples of ice cream made in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.Last Thursday, authorities in Tianjin, neighbouring Beijing, said three samples of ice cream had been found to contain traces of Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease Covid-19.An investigation suggested that Ukrainian milk powder used to make the ice cream was the likely source, after three samples of the powder and two further samples of ice creams from the same batch were also found to contain Sars-CoV-2, from more than 2,800 samples taken from the ice cream, packaging, manufacturing plants and retail stores.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.Most of the potentially contaminated ice cream had been traced and recalled, but 21 ice creams remained unaccounted for, the authorities said.The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the possibility of catching Covid-19 from frozen food is low, but China has linked infections to imported food. In November, a truck driver, also from Tianjin, was infected with a strain of Covid-19 also found on pork imported from North America that he had handled, according to local authorities.Discovering traces of the coronavirus in ice cream prompts new questions, given that the food is usually consumed directly when cold, according to Han Jie, an environmental science professor from China’s Xian Jiaotong University.“The contamination of ice cream raw materials is different to the contamination that has happened previously during cold-chain food transportation and retail,” she said in an emailed response.“Frozen foods are usually safe to eat after being treated with high temperatures, such as cooking. But ice cream would not be treated with high temperatures. Whether the virus can infect people through the digestive tract if it enters the body via food, as far as I know there is no conclusive evidence yet.” Are fears over catching coronavirus from frozen food justified?Han was the co-author of a review published in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters in October that looked at the available evidence at the time on whether Covid-19 could be transmitted through food and identified areas needing further research.“The continuous low-temperature environment kept through the storage and transport of refrigerated and frozen foods can dramatically prolong the survival of Sars-CoV-2, a characteristic commonly observed on other coronaviruses,” the review said.“The frequent detection of Sars-CoV-2 in frozen foods suggests that these are not random, isolated incidents but rather signs that viral contamination and food-borne transmission may present a systematic risk in the ongoing pandemic.”Previous research showed the coronavirus survived longer at 4 degrees Celsius (39 degrees Fahrenheit) than at higher temperatures. Other coronaviruses, including the one causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), were found to survive at 4 degrees Celsius for 14 to 49 days, depending on the material they were stored in, but research specifically on the survival of Sars-CoV-2 on food surfaces was lacking, the review said.Fears over the ice cream and other food have become a political matter, with Chinese experts and media suggesting the coronavirus could have been brought to China via frozen products, despite there being no evidence to support this theory. WHO experts this month arrived in China to begin their long-awaited investigation into the possible origins of the virus.Instances of food being found to be contaminated with the virus have been rare. China’s National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment has said random inspections yielded positive tests just 0.48 times per 10,000 samples. Of the 873,475 frozen food samples randomly inspected by Chinese customs, only 13 returned positive results for the coronavirus, according to the agency.To try to prevent contaminated food causing infections, China has stepped up tracing capabilities.A data-sharing platform is being tested to share information with restaurants on the processing, retail and sale status of over 90 per cent of the country’s imported frozen food, according to China’s market regulator. China has encouraged food producers to maintain records to aid traceability in the event of food safety incidents.More from South China Morning Post: * Coronavirus: China reports 96 new infections, links superspreader to 102 asymptomatic cases * China’s rural Covid-19 clusters challenge country’s strategy to stop disease spreading * Coronavirus: what’s life like for the 20 million Chinese back in lockdown?This article Coronavirus in Chinese ice cream raises new alarm over infection via food first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
We give you the lowdown on how fixed deposits work, and round up the best fixed deposit offers in the market right now. Imagine if you could stash away all the money you received as gifts throughout the year, forget about it for a while, […] The post Best Fixed Deposits To Lock In Your Savings In Singapore (2021) appeared first on SingSaver Blog - We Compare, You Save.
With security bond guarantees and 100% cancellation refund, FWD Maid Insurance helps manage the costs of hiring a maid. Given the important role domestic helpers play in our homes, it’s a given that employers should provide a reasonable amount of care and welfare to their […] The post FWD Maid Insurance (Review): Basic Maid Coverage With Great Savings appeared first on SingSaver Blog - We Compare, You Save.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned to scoring form with a double as Arsenal's rise up the Premier League table continued with a comfortable 3-0 win over Newcastle on Monday.
President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Rohit Chopra to be the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, tapping a progressive ally of Sen. Elizabeth Warren to helm the agency whose creation she championed. Chopra, now a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, helped launch the consumer agency after the 2008-09 financial crisis and served as deputy director, where he sounded the alarm about skyrocketing levels of student loan debt. Biden announced the move Monday, along with his intent to nominate Gary Gensler, a former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Brazil rolled out a nationwide vaccination campaign Monday, bringing it forward two days in response to growing impatience as the country battles a devastating second wave of Covid-19.
