Around the world, 2.6 million newborns die within a month after they are born, according to the World Health Organization. A project called NEST360°, in the Rice 360° Institute for Global Health in Houston, is trying to reduce the number of preventable newborn deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. The key is to provide appropriate medical devices for hospitals in this region of the world. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.
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When reforms began in Myanmar in 2011, its tourism sector was considered as one of those most likely to take advantage of the economic opportunities as the country looked to reconnect with the outside world.
Authorities and businesspeople were confident that foreign tourists would be drawn to Myanmar, eager to see such sites as the ancient temples of Bagan, the unique culture of Inle Lake, or the picturesque beaches overlooking the Bay of Bengal.
For a while it worked, as Myanmar’s international reputation improved in-line with the reforms happening at the time, the country was at the top of many visitors’ wish lists. Official figures showed that more than 4.68 million tourists visited the country in 2015, up from 816,000 in 2011. In 2017, 3.4 million tourists visited.
But the situation has changed again. The tourism sector has been heavily impacted by the crisis in Rakhine State, which has seen 700,000 Rohingya cross into Bangladesh to flee a brutal army crackdown. Myanmar’s military has been accused of ethnic cleansing the Rohingya, leading many tourists to stay away because of ethical concerns.
Myanmar’s government recognizes the need to take action, and in early August held a meeting for stakeholders to discuss what measures can be taken to improve the situation.
At that event, de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the country should focus on measures such as improving rail and water transport, providing clean accommodation and developing more community-based tourism projects.
“Tourists can get many opportunities such as viewing the beautiful scenery and enjoying new experiences,” Aung San Suu Kyi said. “That is why roads, water ways and railways should be considered aside from air travel.”
Tourist operators in the country welcomed the remarks, but said that there are more short-term measures that can be made, and have also called for a nationwide strategic plan to tackle the malaise the industry is currently undergoing.
“What is needed is a comprehensive integrated approach from [the government] and the private sector to improve the tourism sector,” said Aung Kyaw Swar, former principal of the Inle Heritage Foundation. “This should include infrastructure, products, channels of communication, public relations, marketing and sales.”
He said he welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech, particularly the calls to improve infrastructure, but said a cohesive plan should be formed, including one that ensures that the respective ministries work closely together.
He also said that the government should invest in research teams, in order to effectively research potential clients’ expectations when they visit the country.
Foreign visitors to Myanmar have traditionally been drawn towards the major cities of Yangon and Mandalay, as well as Bagan and Inle Lake, but new destinations are emerging, and tourist development in lesser known areas could bring economic benefits.
U Bawla, a hotelier in Kale, the gateway to Chin State, one of Myanmar’s most scenic but underdeveloped regions, said that government support for tourism development would bring huge improvements for the lives of Chin people.
“When people come to Chin State, [they say] it is an amazing, and beautiful place,” he said, adding that only a handful of tourists visit each month. “I think that if the government concentrates on [developing tourism] in Chin State, that will bring many improvements for the Chin people, including improvements in roads and transportation.”
Bertie Lawson, managing director of Yangon-based Sampan Travel, said that Aung San Suu Kyi’s recommendations were “a good start”, but that much more needed to be done.
As examples, he highlighted the practice by domestic airlines of charging foreigners double the price of Myanmar citizens, and the fact that buses to tourist destinations are often scheduled to arrive in the middle of the night, rather than at times more convenient for visitors.
“This might seem small and petty, but they add up and make people wonder if Myanmar is really worth it, when they could go elsewhere and not have to deal with this,” he told VOA.
“People aren’t complaining about the lack of CBT projects, or waterways. They’re complaining about the price, or about the issues they have traveling around the county. Those things can be changed, and should be looked at first,” he said.
Lawson said he believed the impact of the Rakhine crisis on tourism would likely be long-term, but said there was still reason to be optimistic.
“Repairing that reputation will take quite a long time,” he said. “I don’t think that means that tourism can’t do well, I just don’t think it will grow quite at the rate many were previously expecting.”
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When reforms began in Myanmar in 2011, its tourism sector was considered as one of those most likely to take advantage of the economic opportunities as the country looked to reconnect with the outside world.
Authorities and businesspeople were confident that foreign tourists would be drawn to Myanmar, eager to see such sites as the ancient temples of Bagan, the unique culture of Inle Lake, or the picturesque beaches overlooking the Bay of Bengal.
For a while it worked, as Myanmar’s international reputation improved in-line with the reforms happening at the time, the country was at the top of many visitors’ wish lists. Official figures showed that more than 4.68 million tourists visited the country in 2015, up from 816,000 in 2011. In 2017, 3.4 million tourists visited.
But the situation has changed again. The tourism sector has been heavily impacted by the crisis in Rakhine State, which has seen 700,000 Rohingya cross into Bangladesh to flee a brutal army crackdown. Myanmar’s military has been accused of ethnic cleansing the Rohingya, leading many tourists to stay away because of ethical concerns.
Myanmar’s government recognizes the need to take action, and in early August held a meeting for stakeholders to discuss what measures can be taken to improve the situation.
At that event, de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the country should focus on measures such as improving rail and water transport, providing clean accommodation and developing more community-based tourism projects.
“Tourists can get many opportunities such as viewing the beautiful scenery and enjoying new experiences,” Aung San Suu Kyi said. “That is why roads, water ways and railways should be considered aside from air travel.”
Tourist operators in the country welcomed the remarks, but said that there are more short-term measures that can be made, and have also called for a nationwide strategic plan to tackle the malaise the industry is currently undergoing.
“What is needed is a comprehensive integrated approach from [the government] and the private sector to improve the tourism sector,” said Aung Kyaw Swar, former principal of the Inle Heritage Foundation. “This should include infrastructure, products, channels of communication, public relations, marketing and sales.”
He said he welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech, particularly the calls to improve infrastructure, but said a cohesive plan should be formed, including one that ensures that the respective ministries work closely together.
He also said that the government should invest in research teams, in order to effectively research potential clients’ expectations when they visit the country.
Foreign visitors to Myanmar have traditionally been drawn towards the major cities of Yangon and Mandalay, as well as Bagan and Inle Lake, but new destinations are emerging, and tourist development in lesser known areas could bring economic benefits.
U Bawla, a hotelier in Kale, the gateway to Chin State, one of Myanmar’s most scenic but underdeveloped regions, said that government support for tourism development would bring huge improvements for the lives of Chin people.
“When people come to Chin State, [they say] it is an amazing, and beautiful place,” he said, adding that only a handful of tourists visit each month. “I think that if the government concentrates on [developing tourism] in Chin State, that will bring many improvements for the Chin people, including improvements in roads and transportation.”
Bertie Lawson, managing director of Yangon-based Sampan Travel, said that Aung San Suu Kyi’s recommendations were “a good start”, but that much more needed to be done.
As examples, he highlighted the practice by domestic airlines of charging foreigners double the price of Myanmar citizens, and the fact that buses to tourist destinations are often scheduled to arrive in the middle of the night, rather than at times more convenient for visitors.
“This might seem small and petty, but they add up and make people wonder if Myanmar is really worth it, when they could go elsewhere and not have to deal with this,” he told VOA.
“People aren’t complaining about the lack of CBT projects, or waterways. They’re complaining about the price, or about the issues they have traveling around the county. Those things can be changed, and should be looked at first,” he said.
Lawson said he believed the impact of the Rakhine crisis on tourism would likely be long-term, but said there was still reason to be optimistic.
“Repairing that reputation will take quite a long time,” he said. “I don’t think that means that tourism can’t do well, I just don’t think it will grow quite at the rate many were previously expecting.”
…
Following Seoul’s announcement that South Korean companies have illegally imported North Korean coal, U.S. experts are worried about North Korean trade that contravenes international sanctions.
The Korea Customs Service (KCS) announced earlier this month that three South Korean companies illegally imported North Korean coal that was transshipped at Russian ports, in violation of United Nations resolutions.
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on August 5, 2017, banning North Korea from exporting coal, iron, lead and other materials. Another resolution later that year, on December 22, called for U.N. members to seize and inspect vessels suspected of transporting prohibited items.
According to the KCS, in seven shipments between April and October of last year, three South Korean companies imported a total of 35,038 tons of North Korean coal and pig iron with a combined worth of $5.81 million.
North Korean coal on ships registered under a third country set sail either from its ports of Songlim, Wonsan, Chongjin and Daean, and the cargoes were transshipped via the Russian ports of Kholmsk, Vladivostock and Nakhodka before arriving at the South Korean ports of Dangjin, Pohang, Masan, Incheon and Donghae.
Action by Seoul
The South Korean government is now seeking the prosecution of the three companies for the illicit import of the materials and forging customs documents to state the coal and pig iron were of Russian origin. It also banned four ships – the Sky Angel, Rich Glory, Shining Rich and Jin Long – that transported the coal to South Korea from entering its ports.
Sanctions experts said South Korea’s illegal import of banned North Korean coal is a major violation of U.N. sanctions and that the U.N. panel of experts on North Korea may want to try to further investigate the ships that transported the coal to South Korea.
“It’s major in the sense that North Korea is very skilled at getting around sanctions,” said Robert Huish, a sanctions expert at Canada’s Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “The issue with this is that when sanctions are put in place, they are never simple because the target, which is North Korea, will always have the chance to circumvent them.”
George Lopez, former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts for monitoring and implementing U.N. sanction on North Korea, said although he does not think the U.S. or U.N. will open a new investigation into the case, the panel of experts “may want to follow their own linkages to other sanctions violations, especially regarding particular ships and their owners and insurers.”
Lopez continued, “Their own connecting of the dots might lead to a critique of the [South Korea] customs service or an encouragement to other nations to follow this case as a model.”
Joshua Stanton, a Washington-based attorney who helped draft the North Korean Sanctions Enforcement Act for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, thinks the U.S. or U.N. should probe the case further if there is an indication that the South Korean government knowingly committed the illegal acts.
“If the evidence shows South Korea did it willfully or that it stood by after having enough knowledge to know that the coal was North Korean, they should be sanctioned [by the U.S.],” Stanton said. “I think there are things that the U.S. law enforcement and the U.N. panel of experts can investigate and should investigate. And the fact that the South Korean government denies it, is not persuasive to me.”
Some experts are concerned that South Korea’s illicit import could have a significant impact on the U.S. policy to apply maximum pressure on North Korea.
“Sanctions leakage does lessen the pressure on Pyongyang,” said Troy Stangarone, senior director at Korea Economic Institute specializing in South Korean trade and North Korea, adding, “North Korea has a long history of working to evade sanctions, and it is unsurprising that some of its efforts are coming to light.”
Length of investigation
The South Korean government faced a criticism that the investigations into this case, which took over 10 months, were overly drawn out, reflecting its reluctance to enforce sanctions.
In an interview with VOA’s Korean Service last week in Seoul, Cho Hyun, the vice foreign minister of South Korea, said the pace of the investigation reflected nothing other than a desire for accuracy.
“It took time to accurately probe the case, and following the principle of being presumed innocent until guilty, [we] could not inform [the public of the investigation] in the interim period,” he said.
Kim Yung-moon, the commissioner of Korean customs, also told VOA’s Korean Service that it took time to prove the coal was actually from North Korea.
“Because the North Korean coal entered [South Korea] after being transshipped from Russia, taking three months at times, we needed to prove that the coals were, in fact, from North Korea,” he said.
The Trump administration remains cautious about making accusations against the South Korean government for failing to enforce sanctions, stressing the importance of fully implementing U.N. sanctions.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in an email sent to VOA last week, the “Treasury strictly enforces OFAC (Office of Foreign Asset Control) sanctions and U.N. Security Council Resolutions prohibiting illicit transactions with North Korea and works closely with our South Korean partners to continue to implement existing sanctions.” It further stated that the department does not speculate publicly on possible violations.
In July, the State Department issued a “North Korea Sanctions and Enforcement Actions Advisory” warning that businesses “should be aware of deceptive practices employed by North Korea,” emphasizing that the OFAC has “authority to impose sanctions on any person determined to … have sold, supplied, transferred, or purchased, directly or indirectly, to or from North Korea or any person acting for or on behalf of the government of North Korea.” The advisory was distributed in five foreign languages, including Korean.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two Russian individuals, three companies, and six Russian-flagged ships for doing business with North Korea.
Christy Lee of the VOA Korean Service contributed to this report.
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Following Seoul’s announcement that South Korean companies have illegally imported North Korean coal, U.S. experts are worried about North Korean trade that contravenes international sanctions.
The Korea Customs Service (KCS) announced earlier this month that three South Korean companies illegally imported North Korean coal that was transshipped at Russian ports, in violation of United Nations resolutions.
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on August 5, 2017, banning North Korea from exporting coal, iron, lead and other materials. Another resolution later that year, on December 22, called for U.N. members to seize and inspect vessels suspected of transporting prohibited items.
According to the KCS, in seven shipments between April and October of last year, three South Korean companies imported a total of 35,038 tons of North Korean coal and pig iron with a combined worth of $5.81 million.
North Korean coal on ships registered under a third country set sail either from its ports of Songlim, Wonsan, Chongjin and Daean, and the cargoes were transshipped via the Russian ports of Kholmsk, Vladivostock and Nakhodka before arriving at the South Korean ports of Dangjin, Pohang, Masan, Incheon and Donghae.
Action by Seoul
The South Korean government is now seeking the prosecution of the three companies for the illicit import of the materials and forging customs documents to state the coal and pig iron were of Russian origin. It also banned four ships – the Sky Angel, Rich Glory, Shining Rich and Jin Long – that transported the coal to South Korea from entering its ports.
Sanctions experts said South Korea’s illegal import of banned North Korean coal is a major violation of U.N. sanctions and that the U.N. panel of experts on North Korea may want to try to further investigate the ships that transported the coal to South Korea.
“It’s major in the sense that North Korea is very skilled at getting around sanctions,” said Robert Huish, a sanctions expert at Canada’s Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “The issue with this is that when sanctions are put in place, they are never simple because the target, which is North Korea, will always have the chance to circumvent them.”
George Lopez, former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts for monitoring and implementing U.N. sanction on North Korea, said although he does not think the U.S. or U.N. will open a new investigation into the case, the panel of experts “may want to follow their own linkages to other sanctions violations, especially regarding particular ships and their owners and insurers.”
Lopez continued, “Their own connecting of the dots might lead to a critique of the [South Korea] customs service or an encouragement to other nations to follow this case as a model.”
Joshua Stanton, a Washington-based attorney who helped draft the North Korean Sanctions Enforcement Act for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, thinks the U.S. or U.N. should probe the case further if there is an indication that the South Korean government knowingly committed the illegal acts.
“If the evidence shows South Korea did it willfully or that it stood by after having enough knowledge to know that the coal was North Korean, they should be sanctioned [by the U.S.],” Stanton said. “I think there are things that the U.S. law enforcement and the U.N. panel of experts can investigate and should investigate. And the fact that the South Korean government denies it, is not persuasive to me.”
Some experts are concerned that South Korea’s illicit import could have a significant impact on the U.S. policy to apply maximum pressure on North Korea.
“Sanctions leakage does lessen the pressure on Pyongyang,” said Troy Stangarone, senior director at Korea Economic Institute specializing in South Korean trade and North Korea, adding, “North Korea has a long history of working to evade sanctions, and it is unsurprising that some of its efforts are coming to light.”
Length of investigation
The South Korean government faced a criticism that the investigations into this case, which took over 10 months, were overly drawn out, reflecting its reluctance to enforce sanctions.
In an interview with VOA’s Korean Service last week in Seoul, Cho Hyun, the vice foreign minister of South Korea, said the pace of the investigation reflected nothing other than a desire for accuracy.
“It took time to accurately probe the case, and following the principle of being presumed innocent until guilty, [we] could not inform [the public of the investigation] in the interim period,” he said.
Kim Yung-moon, the commissioner of Korean customs, also told VOA’s Korean Service that it took time to prove the coal was actually from North Korea.
“Because the North Korean coal entered [South Korea] after being transshipped from Russia, taking three months at times, we needed to prove that the coals were, in fact, from North Korea,” he said.
The Trump administration remains cautious about making accusations against the South Korean government for failing to enforce sanctions, stressing the importance of fully implementing U.N. sanctions.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in an email sent to VOA last week, the “Treasury strictly enforces OFAC (Office of Foreign Asset Control) sanctions and U.N. Security Council Resolutions prohibiting illicit transactions with North Korea and works closely with our South Korean partners to continue to implement existing sanctions.” It further stated that the department does not speculate publicly on possible violations.
In July, the State Department issued a “North Korea Sanctions and Enforcement Actions Advisory” warning that businesses “should be aware of deceptive practices employed by North Korea,” emphasizing that the OFAC has “authority to impose sanctions on any person determined to … have sold, supplied, transferred, or purchased, directly or indirectly, to or from North Korea or any person acting for or on behalf of the government of North Korea.” The advisory was distributed in five foreign languages, including Korean.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two Russian individuals, three companies, and six Russian-flagged ships for doing business with North Korea.
Christy Lee of the VOA Korean Service contributed to this report.
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Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said on Tuesday that his overhaul of the country’s tax structure would “modernize” Chile’s revenue system and stimulate investment by local and foreign companies.
The conservative leader said in a televised address that reform would, among other proposals, calibrate taxes paid by conventional companies with those paid by digital technology companies. The reform aims “to create a simpler and more equitable and fully integrated tax system for all Chilean companies.”
Digital commerce companies with local operations like Netflix and Uber are likely to be affected under the reform.
E-commerce is gaining traction in Latin America after a slow start. Last month, an Amazon Web Services vice president met with Pinera to discuss Amazon investing in the country as part of a longer-term regional expansion plan.
Pinera, a billionaire second-term president, whose first term as president was marred by protests over rising inequality, in June detailed a $26 billion spending plan and called for unity as Chile continues its “vigorous march towards development.”
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Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said on Tuesday that his overhaul of the country’s tax structure would “modernize” Chile’s revenue system and stimulate investment by local and foreign companies.
The conservative leader said in a televised address that reform would, among other proposals, calibrate taxes paid by conventional companies with those paid by digital technology companies. The reform aims “to create a simpler and more equitable and fully integrated tax system for all Chilean companies.”
Digital commerce companies with local operations like Netflix and Uber are likely to be affected under the reform.
E-commerce is gaining traction in Latin America after a slow start. Last month, an Amazon Web Services vice president met with Pinera to discuss Amazon investing in the country as part of a longer-term regional expansion plan.
Pinera, a billionaire second-term president, whose first term as president was marred by protests over rising inequality, in June detailed a $26 billion spending plan and called for unity as Chile continues its “vigorous march towards development.”
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From an app to diagnose disease on Zambian farms to Tinder-style matchmaking for Senegalese land owners and young farmers, young coders have been finding solutions to hunger in the first Africa-wide hackathon on the issue.
Eight teams competed in the hackathon, organized by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and a Rwandan trade organization in the country’s capital Kigali this week.
Experts say keeping young people in farming is key to alleviating hunger in Africa, which has 65 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, but spends $35 billion a year on importing food for its growing population.
“In our families, agriculture is no longer a good business. They don’t get the return,” said Rwandan Ndayisaba Wilson, 24, whose team proposed a $400 solar-powered device that can optimize water and fertilizer use.
“We believe that if the technology is good and farmers can see the benefits, they will adopt it.”
Among the proposed solutions were an app that links aspiring farmers with land owners in Senegal and a Nigerian mobile platform that uses blockchain to help farmers demonstrate their creditworthiness to lenders.
The winner was AgriPredict, an app already operating in Zambia that that can help farmers identify diseases and pests – including the voracious fall armyworm, which eats crops and has wreaked havoc in much of sub-Saharan Africa.
Farmers can access it directly from their phones or via Facebook. CEO Mwila Kangwa, 31, said the initiative came out of the twin disasters that hit Zambian farmers in 2016 – tuta absoluta, a tomato disease, and the fall armyworm.
“We noticed there were no tools whatsoever that will help farmers mitigate or prevent or even counter these diseases so we came up with this idea of creating a software to help farmers,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
As winners, the Zambian team will receive coaching from the FAO to refine their product and an opportunity to meet potential funders and partners.
“What they brought was a technically sound solution … and the ability to convey the message to young people by using, for example, Facebook,” said Henry van Burgsteden, IT officer for digital innovation at the FAO and one of the judges.
The hackathon was held during a conference in Kigali on ways to attract more young people to agriculture through information and communication technology tools.
High unemployment and the challenges of rural life mean many young people desert farming for the city, while aging farmers struggle with climate change, poverty and poor infrastructure.
…
From an app to diagnose disease on Zambian farms to Tinder-style matchmaking for Senegalese land owners and young farmers, young coders have been finding solutions to hunger in the first Africa-wide hackathon on the issue.
Eight teams competed in the hackathon, organized by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and a Rwandan trade organization in the country’s capital Kigali this week.
Experts say keeping young people in farming is key to alleviating hunger in Africa, which has 65 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, but spends $35 billion a year on importing food for its growing population.
“In our families, agriculture is no longer a good business. They don’t get the return,” said Rwandan Ndayisaba Wilson, 24, whose team proposed a $400 solar-powered device that can optimize water and fertilizer use.
“We believe that if the technology is good and farmers can see the benefits, they will adopt it.”
Among the proposed solutions were an app that links aspiring farmers with land owners in Senegal and a Nigerian mobile platform that uses blockchain to help farmers demonstrate their creditworthiness to lenders.
The winner was AgriPredict, an app already operating in Zambia that that can help farmers identify diseases and pests – including the voracious fall armyworm, which eats crops and has wreaked havoc in much of sub-Saharan Africa.
Farmers can access it directly from their phones or via Facebook. CEO Mwila Kangwa, 31, said the initiative came out of the twin disasters that hit Zambian farmers in 2016 – tuta absoluta, a tomato disease, and the fall armyworm.
“We noticed there were no tools whatsoever that will help farmers mitigate or prevent or even counter these diseases so we came up with this idea of creating a software to help farmers,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
As winners, the Zambian team will receive coaching from the FAO to refine their product and an opportunity to meet potential funders and partners.
“What they brought was a technically sound solution … and the ability to convey the message to young people by using, for example, Facebook,” said Henry van Burgsteden, IT officer for digital innovation at the FAO and one of the judges.
The hackathon was held during a conference in Kigali on ways to attract more young people to agriculture through information and communication technology tools.
High unemployment and the challenges of rural life mean many young people desert farming for the city, while aging farmers struggle with climate change, poverty and poor infrastructure.
…
“Crazy Rich Asians” celebrated its Asian premiere in Singapore on Tuesday night, with local-born stars such as Fiona Xie delighted to be bringing the film home to the city where it was filmed.
“I’m so looking forward for every Singaporean to watch this because Singapore is so beautiful on screen. Everybody (in Hollywood) was like, is this CGI? Does this place really exist?,” Xie, who plays gold digging opera star Kitty Pong, told reporters.
“This is a homecoming!” she said.
The film, the first Hollywood movie in 25 years with an all-Asian cast, is a rare Hollywood showcase of Asian identity and culture, which the filmmakers hope will be enjoyed by moviegoers of all backgrounds.
The romantic comedy about an Asian-American New Yorker who goes to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s wealthy and tradition-bound family of Chinese descent is based on the 2013 best-selling book of the same name by Kevin Kwan.
The Warner Bros. film directed by Jon M. Chu, launched above expectations, garnering $34 million in just five days.
The film, with a mostly eastern Asian cast, has drawn criticism for not representing Singapore’s multi-ethnic society.
“The film is set in Singapore, where 15 percent of the population are Malay and 7.4 percent are Indian, and none of them are represented in the film except as the background help,” said activist and journalist Kirsten Han on Twitter.
However, others saw it as an opportunity to tell other diverse Singapore stories.
“This movie is going to open more doors for us to tell the world more Singapore stories,” 19 year-old university student, Andrea Raeburn told Reuters at the premiere.
The film’s producer, John Penotti also shared similar sentiments:”We hope this starts a very long-running trend celebrating Asian-focused films that play around the world, that’s exactly the hope for the portrayal of Asians, that’s exactly what is starting to happen. There are many more stories, this is just one,” he said.
…
“Crazy Rich Asians” celebrated its Asian premiere in Singapore on Tuesday night, with local-born stars such as Fiona Xie delighted to be bringing the film home to the city where it was filmed.
“I’m so looking forward for every Singaporean to watch this because Singapore is so beautiful on screen. Everybody (in Hollywood) was like, is this CGI? Does this place really exist?,” Xie, who plays gold digging opera star Kitty Pong, told reporters.
“This is a homecoming!” she said.
The film, the first Hollywood movie in 25 years with an all-Asian cast, is a rare Hollywood showcase of Asian identity and culture, which the filmmakers hope will be enjoyed by moviegoers of all backgrounds.
The romantic comedy about an Asian-American New Yorker who goes to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s wealthy and tradition-bound family of Chinese descent is based on the 2013 best-selling book of the same name by Kevin Kwan.
The Warner Bros. film directed by Jon M. Chu, launched above expectations, garnering $34 million in just five days.
The film, with a mostly eastern Asian cast, has drawn criticism for not representing Singapore’s multi-ethnic society.
“The film is set in Singapore, where 15 percent of the population are Malay and 7.4 percent are Indian, and none of them are represented in the film except as the background help,” said activist and journalist Kirsten Han on Twitter.
However, others saw it as an opportunity to tell other diverse Singapore stories.
“This movie is going to open more doors for us to tell the world more Singapore stories,” 19 year-old university student, Andrea Raeburn told Reuters at the premiere.
The film’s producer, John Penotti also shared similar sentiments:”We hope this starts a very long-running trend celebrating Asian-focused films that play around the world, that’s exactly the hope for the portrayal of Asians, that’s exactly what is starting to happen. There are many more stories, this is just one,” he said.
…
The women’s Champions League is beginning to step out of the shadow of its male counterpart with the ultimate aim of being as much of a must-see and commercially-attractive event, a UEFA official told Reuters on Tuesday.
This season’s final in Budapest will be the first time the showpiece, in its current format, will be held in a different city to the men’s Champions League final.
The decision was taken to allow the pinnacle of women’s club football (called soccer in the U.S.) in Europe to have its own spotlight and not be overshadowed by the men’s edition, which is one of the most viewed annual TV events in the world, surpassing the Super Bowl.
The sponsorship and broadcast rights to the women’s final are currently sold by UEFA, with the previous rounds being managed by the clubs themselves.
However, Kayleigh Grieve, marketing manager for women’s football at European soccer’s governing body, said the ultimate aim was to part-centralize the rights-selling process to give the game the platform it deserves.
“We’re looking at that first step of bringing centralization back to the quarter-finals to final and hope that may shape up the process,” Grieve said on the sidelines of the Leaders XX Think Tank, held at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium.
“But certainly broadcast will help us build more of the story of the Champions League because now putting it in a city is one thing, but we essentially drop in a match a year and try and grow an audience for it and we’ve not really told them anything about the lead-up to that and built the interest and built the heroes of the matches, built the star players.
“We essentially want to get in a position where we can do that and that people at least recognize some of the names of the players and some of the clubs.”
A spokesman for UEFA later told Reuters that plans to further centralize the broadcasting rights were an “ideal world scenario” and had not yet been broached with clubs.
Unique sponsors
The 2018 final was held in Kyiv’s Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, where Olympique Lyonnais beat VfL Wolfsburg 4-1 to win their third successive Champions League title — two days before Real Madrid achieved that feat in the men’s edition.
The match attendance, however, was 14,237, the lowest for the women’s final for four years.
With a bigger push from sponsors specifically invested in women’s football, Grieve believed that number could see a big increase.
“It’s just about making sure we present the competition as a strong product and bring in unique sponsors to the women’s side,” she said. “So we’ve unbundled that from the men’s side and we’re selling that in its own right.
“The partners previously were just given the women’s rights which meant they hadn’t committed their budgets to it, they hadn’t got anything committed to the activation of the rights so it was just left languishing. They maybe took a few tickets, came to a few games but there was no activation around it.
“So at least this time if they do come on the program, it will be because they specifically paid for it, which means they will specifically activate around it.”
International plans
UEFA oversaw a record-breaking Women’s European Championship last year, hosted and won by the Netherlands, in terms of attendances, TV viewers and online interactions.
Grieve said it was a distinct possibility that future editions of the women’s World Cup or Euros could one day be as big as the respective men’s tournaments.
“I understand the sentiment of it,” she said. “They [FIFA] probably won’t be far off. From what I’ve seen of the predictions of next year’s Women’s World Cup, is that they are going to eclipse a number of men’s competitions — maybe not their own yet, but they are getting there.
“I don’t see why it can’t be as big, especially at a national team competition when you really tap into national pride, national interest and all those stories. … So from a World Cup or Euros perspective, I can see those competitions being massive.”
World soccer body FIFA’s governing council is still pondering proposals for a global women’s nations league and an impatiently-awaited Club World Cup.
With UEFA appointing former world player of the year Nadine Kessler as their first head of women’s football last year, the European body has the chance to lead the way for the women’s game.
…
The women’s Champions League is beginning to step out of the shadow of its male counterpart with the ultimate aim of being as much of a must-see and commercially-attractive event, a UEFA official told Reuters on Tuesday.
This season’s final in Budapest will be the first time the showpiece, in its current format, will be held in a different city to the men’s Champions League final.
The decision was taken to allow the pinnacle of women’s club football (called soccer in the U.S.) in Europe to have its own spotlight and not be overshadowed by the men’s edition, which is one of the most viewed annual TV events in the world, surpassing the Super Bowl.
The sponsorship and broadcast rights to the women’s final are currently sold by UEFA, with the previous rounds being managed by the clubs themselves.
However, Kayleigh Grieve, marketing manager for women’s football at European soccer’s governing body, said the ultimate aim was to part-centralize the rights-selling process to give the game the platform it deserves.
“We’re looking at that first step of bringing centralization back to the quarter-finals to final and hope that may shape up the process,” Grieve said on the sidelines of the Leaders XX Think Tank, held at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium.
“But certainly broadcast will help us build more of the story of the Champions League because now putting it in a city is one thing, but we essentially drop in a match a year and try and grow an audience for it and we’ve not really told them anything about the lead-up to that and built the interest and built the heroes of the matches, built the star players.
“We essentially want to get in a position where we can do that and that people at least recognize some of the names of the players and some of the clubs.”
A spokesman for UEFA later told Reuters that plans to further centralize the broadcasting rights were an “ideal world scenario” and had not yet been broached with clubs.
Unique sponsors
The 2018 final was held in Kyiv’s Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, where Olympique Lyonnais beat VfL Wolfsburg 4-1 to win their third successive Champions League title — two days before Real Madrid achieved that feat in the men’s edition.
The match attendance, however, was 14,237, the lowest for the women’s final for four years.
With a bigger push from sponsors specifically invested in women’s football, Grieve believed that number could see a big increase.
“It’s just about making sure we present the competition as a strong product and bring in unique sponsors to the women’s side,” she said. “So we’ve unbundled that from the men’s side and we’re selling that in its own right.
“The partners previously were just given the women’s rights which meant they hadn’t committed their budgets to it, they hadn’t got anything committed to the activation of the rights so it was just left languishing. They maybe took a few tickets, came to a few games but there was no activation around it.
“So at least this time if they do come on the program, it will be because they specifically paid for it, which means they will specifically activate around it.”
International plans
UEFA oversaw a record-breaking Women’s European Championship last year, hosted and won by the Netherlands, in terms of attendances, TV viewers and online interactions.
Grieve said it was a distinct possibility that future editions of the women’s World Cup or Euros could one day be as big as the respective men’s tournaments.
“I understand the sentiment of it,” she said. “They [FIFA] probably won’t be far off. From what I’ve seen of the predictions of next year’s Women’s World Cup, is that they are going to eclipse a number of men’s competitions — maybe not their own yet, but they are getting there.
“I don’t see why it can’t be as big, especially at a national team competition when you really tap into national pride, national interest and all those stories. … So from a World Cup or Euros perspective, I can see those competitions being massive.”
World soccer body FIFA’s governing council is still pondering proposals for a global women’s nations league and an impatiently-awaited Club World Cup.
With UEFA appointing former world player of the year Nadine Kessler as their first head of women’s football last year, the European body has the chance to lead the way for the women’s game.
…
A federal judge hearing arguments over a settlement between the Trump administration and a company that wants to post plans for printing 3D weapons on the internet said Tuesday that the issue is best decided by the president or the Congress.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik that while he will still rule on the legal issues involving the settlement, “a solution to the greater problem is so much better suited” to the president or Congress.
The settlement prompted 19 states and Washington, D.C., to sue the Trump administration for allowing a Texas company to distribute instructions on how to make printable three-dimensional guns.
Lasnik issued a temporary restraining order blocking the online release of the blueprints. Now, the states and Washington are seeking a permanent ban.
A lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department argued that it is already illegal to possess plastic guns, and the government is fully committed to enforcing that law.
But Lasnik questioned the logic behind enforcing a ban on undetectable guns rather than proactively stopping them from being made in the first place.
It is unclear when he will issue his final ruling in the case.
…
Italian actress Asia Argento, an outspoken advocate in the movement against sexual harassment, denied on Tuesday ever having had sexual relations with Jimmy Bennett, an actor who the New York Times reported had accused her of sexual assault.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Bennett had accused Argento of sexually assaulting him in 2013 when he was 17 and she was 37. Argento agreed to pay him $380,000 after he asked for $3.5 million, the paper said.
“I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett,” Argento said in an emailed statement distributed by her Italian lawyer.
In her first public comments since the article, Argento said she had been linked to Bennett over several years “by friendship only.”
Representatives for Bennett did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter.
A spokesperson for the New York Times told Reuters: “We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting, which was based on verified documents and multiple sources.”
Argento said in her statement that Bennett had “unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money” to her following her media exposure in the accusations of sexual misconduct against movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
Argento was one of the first women to publicly accuse Weinstein. She told The New Yorker magazine last October that he had raped her during the Cannes festival in 1997 when she was 21. Since that interview, she has become an outspoken advocate in the #MeToo social media movement against sexual harassment.
She said in her statement that she and her then-boyfriend, the culinary television star Anthony Bourdain, had “decided to deal compassionately with Bennett’s demand for help and give it to him.”
“Anthony personally undertook to help Bennett economically, upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life,” she added.
Bourdain killed himself in June.
Argento said she would oppose the “false allegations” against her and would assume “all necessary initiatives for my protection before all competent venues.”
Italian actress Asia Argento, an outspoken advocate in the movement against sexual harassment, denied on Tuesday ever having had sexual relations with Jimmy Bennett, an actor who the New York Times reported had accused her of sexual assault.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Bennett had accused Argento of sexually assaulting him in 2013 when he was 17 and she was 37. Argento agreed to pay him $380,000 after he asked for $3.5 million, the paper said.
“I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett,” Argento said in an emailed statement distributed by her Italian lawyer.
In her first public comments since the article, Argento said she had been linked to Bennett over several years “by friendship only.”
Representatives for Bennett did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter.
A spokesperson for the New York Times told Reuters: “We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting, which was based on verified documents and multiple sources.”
Argento said in her statement that Bennett had “unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money” to her following her media exposure in the accusations of sexual misconduct against movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
Argento was one of the first women to publicly accuse Weinstein. She told The New Yorker magazine last October that he had raped her during the Cannes festival in 1997 when she was 21. Since that interview, she has become an outspoken advocate in the #MeToo social media movement against sexual harassment.
She said in her statement that she and her then-boyfriend, the culinary television star Anthony Bourdain, had “decided to deal compassionately with Bennett’s demand for help and give it to him.”
“Anthony personally undertook to help Bennett economically, upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life,” she added.
Bourdain killed himself in June.
Argento said she would oppose the “false allegations” against her and would assume “all necessary initiatives for my protection before all competent venues.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration weakened environmental controls on coal production Tuesday, overturning national regulations set by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it will now allow individual coal-producing states to set their own rules for carbon emissions rather than have to adhere to an overall country-wide standard. The plan is subject to a 60-day comment period before it is finalized.
The action marks a fulfillment of a 2016 Trump campaign pledge to boost the fortunes of coal companies and coal-producing states.
It came hours before the president headed to a political rally for a Senate candidate in West Virginia, the second biggest U.S. coal production state, where he was expected to promote the plan. During his successful run for the White House, Trump supporters in coal states often held signs saying, “Trump Digs Coal.”
The EPA decision is Trump’s latest effort to topple Obama’s environmental legacy, following his withdrawal of the U.S. from the 2015 international Paris climate control accord championed by the former president.
At the time that he revoked U.S. participation in the agreement, Trump said, “I was elected by the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
The EPA said its new rule is designed to replace Obama’s 2015 Clean Power Plan that targeted greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants and sought to shift power production away from coal to abundant natural gas supplies in the U.S., along with wind and solar energy. Trump’s EPA called the Obama rules “overly prescriptive and burdensome.”
The White House said the policy change will “significantly decrease bureaucratic red tape and compliance costs” for coal companies, “keeping American energy affordable and competitive on the world stage.”
But environmental groups immediately attacked the Trump administration edict, with the Natural Resources Defense Council calling it a “Dirty Power Plan.”
Environmental advocates said the Trump policy change, assuming some states weaken their regulations compared to the current national standards, will boost emissions from coal-fired power plants and worsen global warming.
Congressman Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, said “once again, this administration is choosing polluters’ profits over public health and safety.”
…
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration weakened environmental controls on coal production Tuesday, overturning national regulations set by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it will now allow individual coal-producing states to set their own rules for carbon emissions rather than have to adhere to an overall country-wide standard. The plan is subject to a 60-day comment period before it is finalized.
The action marks a fulfillment of a 2016 Trump campaign pledge to boost the fortunes of coal companies and coal-producing states.
It came hours before the president headed to a political rally for a Senate candidate in West Virginia, the second biggest U.S. coal production state, where he was expected to promote the plan. During his successful run for the White House, Trump supporters in coal states often held signs saying, “Trump Digs Coal.”
The EPA decision is Trump’s latest effort to topple Obama’s environmental legacy, following his withdrawal of the U.S. from the 2015 international Paris climate control accord championed by the former president.
At the time that he revoked U.S. participation in the agreement, Trump said, “I was elected by the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
The EPA said its new rule is designed to replace Obama’s 2015 Clean Power Plan that targeted greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants and sought to shift power production away from coal to abundant natural gas supplies in the U.S., along with wind and solar energy. Trump’s EPA called the Obama rules “overly prescriptive and burdensome.”
The White House said the policy change will “significantly decrease bureaucratic red tape and compliance costs” for coal companies, “keeping American energy affordable and competitive on the world stage.”
But environmental groups immediately attacked the Trump administration edict, with the Natural Resources Defense Council calling it a “Dirty Power Plan.”
Environmental advocates said the Trump policy change, assuming some states weaken their regulations compared to the current national standards, will boost emissions from coal-fired power plants and worsen global warming.
Congressman Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, said “once again, this administration is choosing polluters’ profits over public health and safety.”
…
British and European Union negotiators expressed cautious optimism Tuesday that they would reach a deal to prevent a disorderly U.K. exit from the bloc, saying talks will be intensified and take place “continuously” over the next few crucial months.
After meeting U.K. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab in Brussels, chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier said differences remained between the two sides on future economic relations and maintaining an open border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland.
Barnier said the challenge “for the coming weeks is to try and define an ambitious partnership between the U.K. and the EU, a partnership that has no precedent.”
Raab said there were “significant” issues to overcome, but that if both sides showed ambition and pragmatism, an agreement could be reached by October.
That’s the deadline the two sides have set themselves for a deal on divorce terms and the outlines of future trade, so that it can be approved by individual EU countries before Brexit day on March 29.
But negotiations have got bogged down amid infighting within British Prime Minister Theresa May’s divided Conservative government about how close an economic relationship to seek with the EU after Brexit.
Last month the government finally produced a plan, proposing to stick close to EU regulations in return for free trade in goods and no customs checks on the Irish border. But to some EU officials that smacks of cherry-picking benefits of EU membership without the responsibilities — something the bloc has explicitly ruled out.
Last week Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics put the chances of getting a Brexit deal at 50-50.
British businesses have warned that leaving without a deal could cause mayhem for trade and travel, bringing higher food prices, logjams around U.K. ports and disruption to everything from aviation to medical supplies.
A group that represents U.K. hospitals and ambulance services has said that its members may run out of drugs if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement on future relations.
In a letter published Tuesday, NHS Providers said a lack of “visible and appropriate communication” from the government is hampering preparations for a so-called no-deal Brexit.
In a letter to National Health Service bosses that was leaked to the Times of London, the group’s chief executive said it would be more efficient to develop contingency plans nationally rather than “have to reinvent the wheel 229 times.”
Chris Hopson said “the entire supply chain of pharmaceuticals” could be affected by the failure to reach a deal, adding that it could also “jeopardize” the EU workforce “on which the NHS relies.”
The U.K. government says it remains confident of reaching a deal, but is preparing for all outcomes. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Tuesday that the chance of no deal was “not negligible,” and that outcome would be bad both for Britain and for the EU.
On Thursday, the U.K. government plans to publish the first in a series of technical reports outlining the effects a no-deal Brexit would have on various sectors and offering advice to businesses and the public on how to prepare.
British and European Union negotiators expressed cautious optimism Tuesday that they would reach a deal to prevent a disorderly U.K. exit from the bloc, saying talks will be intensified and take place “continuously” over the next few crucial months.
After meeting U.K. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab in Brussels, chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier said differences remained between the two sides on future economic relations and maintaining an open border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland.
Barnier said the challenge “for the coming weeks is to try and define an ambitious partnership between the U.K. and the EU, a partnership that has no precedent.”
Raab said there were “significant” issues to overcome, but that if both sides showed ambition and pragmatism, an agreement could be reached by October.
That’s the deadline the two sides have set themselves for a deal on divorce terms and the outlines of future trade, so that it can be approved by individual EU countries before Brexit day on March 29.
But negotiations have got bogged down amid infighting within British Prime Minister Theresa May’s divided Conservative government about how close an economic relationship to seek with the EU after Brexit.
Last month the government finally produced a plan, proposing to stick close to EU regulations in return for free trade in goods and no customs checks on the Irish border. But to some EU officials that smacks of cherry-picking benefits of EU membership without the responsibilities — something the bloc has explicitly ruled out.
Last week Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics put the chances of getting a Brexit deal at 50-50.
British businesses have warned that leaving without a deal could cause mayhem for trade and travel, bringing higher food prices, logjams around U.K. ports and disruption to everything from aviation to medical supplies.
A group that represents U.K. hospitals and ambulance services has said that its members may run out of drugs if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement on future relations.
In a letter published Tuesday, NHS Providers said a lack of “visible and appropriate communication” from the government is hampering preparations for a so-called no-deal Brexit.
In a letter to National Health Service bosses that was leaked to the Times of London, the group’s chief executive said it would be more efficient to develop contingency plans nationally rather than “have to reinvent the wheel 229 times.”
Chris Hopson said “the entire supply chain of pharmaceuticals” could be affected by the failure to reach a deal, adding that it could also “jeopardize” the EU workforce “on which the NHS relies.”
The U.K. government says it remains confident of reaching a deal, but is preparing for all outcomes. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Tuesday that the chance of no deal was “not negligible,” and that outcome would be bad both for Britain and for the EU.
On Thursday, the U.K. government plans to publish the first in a series of technical reports outlining the effects a no-deal Brexit would have on various sectors and offering advice to businesses and the public on how to prepare.