Singapore’s dengue ’emergency’ is a climate change omen for the world

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

By Heather Chen, CNN

Updated 0213 GMT (1013 HKT) June 7, 2022

A worker fogs a housing estate for mosquitoes in Singapore on August 27, 2020.

A worker fogs a housing estate for mosquitoes in Singapore on August 27, 2020.

(CNN)Singapore says it is facing a dengue “emergency” as it grapples with an outbreak of the seasonal disease that has come unusually early this year.

The Southeast Asian city-state has already exceeded 11,000 cases — far beyond the 5,258 it reported throughout 2021 — and that was before June 1, when its peak dengue season traditionally begins.

Experts are warning that it’s a grim figure not only for Singapore — whose tropical climate is a natural breeding ground for the Aedes mosquitoes that carry the virus — but also for the rest of the world. That’s because changes in the global climate mean such outbreaks are likely to become more common and widespread in the coming years.

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PODCAST – Asia Stream: Asia’s Inflation Dilemma

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Rising prices are hurting wallets across the world. The crisis is particularly bad in Sri Lanka and Turkey, and in Japan, people are facing inflation for the first time in decades.

Nikkei staff writersMay 20, 2022 07:38 JST

NEW YORK — Welcome to Nikkei Asia’s podcast: Asia Stream.

Every episode, Asia Stream tracks and analyzes the Indo-Pacific with a mix of expert interviews and original reporting by our correspondents from across the globe.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1PviB4UfoOJ65rYQJJYwjs?utm_source=generator&theme=0

New episodes are recorded biweekly and are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all other major platforms, and on our YouTube channel.

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Inside a Vaccination Point in Vietnam Nearly 100 Years Ago

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Wednesday, 23 February 2022. Written by Saigoneer.

Saigoneer.com

A century ago, the colonial government was active in inoculating Vietnamese citizens against a variety of diseases.

While Vietnam’s recent massive COVID-19 vaccine efforts have proven a great success in reducing deaths and returning the country to some semblance of normalcy, it is hardly the first time a government here has stepped in to inoculate the population against dangerous contagions. About 100 years ago, the French managed a vigorous campaign to inoculate indigenous Vietnamese against a variety of diseases such as smallpox, cholera and tuberculosis as part of larger health and sanitation initiatives. 

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Myanmar’s environment hit by rare earth mining boom

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Pristine parts of northern Kachin State are under threat as demand grows for high-tech devices that rely on rare earth.

mekongeye.com

Kachin State’s Chipwi Township in northernmost Myanmar is known for its pristine forests and crystal-clear water.

But 10 years ago, local residents started noticing the patches of land that had been cleared on the lush mountains surrounding their town, which borders China’s Yunnan province. It started with one patch of land, where all the trees were cut down. Then others followed.

Soon locals saw heavy machinery being moved through their town, heading to those barren plots of land. Then workers started flooding in. They excavated the ground and left open pits, many filled with chemically-laced water, in areas once rich in woodland. The water near those sites was no longer clean.

It became obvious at that stage that the newcomers were looking for something underneath the ground – rare earth, which contains elements widely used in high-tech products like smartphones, computer components, electric vehicles and solar cells.  

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Ông Nguyễn Thanh Long và Chu Ngọc Anh bị khai trừ Đảng

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

VNexpress

Ban Chấp hành Trung ương quyết định khai trừ Đảng với Bộ trưởng Y tế Nguyễn Thanh Long và Chủ tịch UBND TP Hà Nội Chu Ngọc Anh.

Tại cuộc họp bất thường chiều 6/6, Trung ương cũng yêu cầu các cơ quan chức năng “khẩn trương xem xét, xử lý kỷ luật về hành chính theo đúng quy định đối với cá nhân đã bị kỷ luật đảng”.

Bộ trưởng Y tế Nguyễn Thanh Long tại phiên họp tổ ở Quốc hội, ngày 26/5. Ảnh: Hoàng Phong
Bộ trưởng Y tế Nguyễn Thanh Long tại phiên họp tổ ở Quốc hội, ngày 26/5. Ảnh: Hoàng Phong

Hôm 4/6, Bộ Chính trị đề nghị Ban chấp hành Trung ương xem xét, kỷ luật ông Nguyễn Thanh Long (Ủy viên Trung ương Đảng, Bí thư Ban cán sự đảng, Bộ trưởng Y tế) và ông Chu Ngọc Anh (Ủy viên Trung ương Đảng, Phó bí thư Thành ủy, Bí thư Ban cán sự đảng, Chủ tịch UBND TP Hà Nội, nguyên Bí thư Ban cán sự đảng, nguyên Bộ trưởng Khoa học và Công nghệ), sau kiến nghị của Ủy ban Kiểm tra Trung ương 18 ngày trước.

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Climate Change made devastating early heat in India and Pakistan 30 times more likely

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

“The 2022 heat wave in India and Pakistan is an extreme weather event which has resulted in the hottest March in India since 1901. The hot season arrived unusually early in the year and extended into April, affecting a large part of India’s northwest and Pakistan”. Wikipedia

worldweatherattribution.org

Since the beginning of March, India and Pakistan and large parts of South Asia experienced prolonged heat, that at the time of writing, May 2022, still hasn’t subsided.

March was the hottest in India since records began 122 years ago and in Pakistan, the highest worldwide positive temperature anomaly during March was recorded and many individual weather stations recorded monthly all-time highs through March. At the same time, March was extremely dry, with 62 percent less than normal rainfall reported over Pakistan and 71 percent below normal over India, making the conditions favourable for local heating from the land surface. The heatwave continued over the month of April and reached its preliminary peak towards the end of the month. By the 29th of April, 70 percent of India was affected by the heatwave.

While heatwaves are not uncommon in the season preceding the monsoon, the very high temperatures so early in the year coupled with much less than average rain have led to extreme heat conditions with devastating consequences for public health and agriculture. The full health and economic fallout, and cascading effects from the current heat wave will however take months to determine, including the number of excess deaths, hospitalisations, lost wages, missed school days, and diminished working hours. Early reports indicate 90 deaths in India and Pakistan, and an estimated 10-35 percent reduction in crop yields in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab due to the heatwave.

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As biomass burning surges in Japan and South Korea, where will Asia get its wood?

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

by Annelise Giseburt on 19 May 2022

news.mongabay.com

  • In 2021, Japan and South Korea imported a combined 6 million metric tons of wood pellets for what proponents claim is carbon-neutral energy.
  • Large subsidies for biomass have led Japan to import massive amounts of wood pellets from Vietnam and Canada; two pellet giants, Drax and Enviva, are now eyeing Japan for growth, even as the country may be cooling to the industry.
  • South Korea imports most of its pellets from Vietnamese acacia plantations, which environmentalists fear may eventually pressure natural forests; South Korea wants to grow its native production tenfold, including logging areas with high conservation value.
  • Vietnam may soon follow Japan and South Korea’s path as it phases out coal, and experts fear all this could add massive pressure on Southeast Asian forests, which are already among the most endangered in the world.

This is part two of a two part series on the Asian biomass expansion. Part one can be found here.

Under the guise of “carbon neutral” energy, Japan and South Korea’s appetite for woody biomass for electricity generation has increased exponentially over the past decade and continues to grow. The two nations’ biomass subsidies are spurring an increase in the production of wood for burning in Southeast Asia and North America, putting pressure on forests in those regions.

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German court rules YouTube could be accountable for illegal content

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

By Laura Kabelka | EURACTIV.com

 euractive.com – 3 Jun 2022

“We need to examine the full details of today’s ruling to better understand how it impacts our viewers and the platform,” a YouTube spokesperson told EURACTIV. [Michael Vi/Shutterstock]

Online video sharing platforms such as YouTube could be liable for content uploads that infringe copyrights if they fail to act immediately, according to a ruling from Germany’s top court on Thursday (2 June).

The ruling is part of a larger fight of the creative and entertainment industry against illegally uploaded material, where large online platforms play an important role. Even if third parties posted the uploads, online platforms could find themselves in court.

“We need to examine the full details of today’s ruling to better understand how it impacts our viewers and the platform,” a YouTube spokesperson told EURACTIV. 

According to Germany’s Federal Court of Justice, this would also apply to shared hosting services that stored data and provided access to online users. 

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How Putin’s invasion returned Nato to the centre stage – podcast

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

For the first time in years, its role has become a topic of furious debate. But what do we talk about when we talk about Nato? 

Written by Thomas Meaney, read by Simon Vance and produced by Jessica Beck. Executive producer was Max Sanderson

Mon 16 May 2022 05.00 BST

The NATO Star sculpture stands during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, July 12, 2018. Photographer: Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg via Getty Images
 Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

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Mô thức nuôi tôm mới: Kỳ vọng phá vỡ giới hạn của ngành tôm

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

khoahocphattrien.vn

Giữa vùng ĐBSCL tưởng như đã có rất nhiều các giải pháp nông nghiệp thì tinh thần “làm đúng lại cái đang bị làm sai; làm tốt hơn cái đang tốt; làm có cái chưa có; và làm một dấu ấn tốt để lại cho cuộc sống” của TS. Nguyễn Thanh Mỹ vẫn thôi thúc ông đi tìm giải pháp giúp ngành tôm vượt qua những thách thức đang bó buộc tiềm năng của lĩnh vực này.

Giải pháp mà TS. Nguyễn Thanh Mỹ – Giám đốc điều hành Rynan Technologies và Mỹ Lan Group hướng đến ấy là một cách thức thực hành khác với những gì đã có từ trước đến nay – một “mô thức” nuôi tôm thẻ siêu thâm canh giàu oxy công nghệ số TOMGOXY (viết tắt cho chữ Tôm Giàu Oxy) mà ông và các kỹ sư ở công ty đã phát triển, dựa trên sự tích hợp các công nghệ vật lý, hóa học, sinh học và kỹ thuật số.

Tại sao cần mô thức mới?

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Smart Asian women are the new targets of CCP global online repression

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

3 Jun 2022|Albert Zhang and Danielle Cave Strategist special repor

The Chinese Communist Party has a problem with women of Asian descent who have public platforms, opinions and expertise on China.

In an effort to counter the views and work of these women, the CCP has been busy pivoting its growing information operation capabilities to target women, with a focus on journalists working at major Western media outlets.

Right now, and often going back weeks or months, some of the world’s leading China journalists and human rights activists are on the receiving end of an ongoing, coordinated and large-scale online information campaign. These women are high-profile journalists at media outlets including the New Yorker, The Economist, the New York Times, The Guardian, Quartz and others. The most malicious and sophisticated aspects of this information campaign are focused on women of Asian descent.

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Environmental Volunteerism on the Rise in Vietnam

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Geopoliticalmonitor.com – June 2, 2022

By James Borton

Biển đảo Việt Nam: Ra quân làm sạch bãi biển xã

17-year-old Hoang Mai is a proud contributor to Vietnam’s Youth Union volunteer campaign. In a run-up to World Environment Day and its global theme, “Only One Earth” on June 5, she will connect with millions of other young citizens who are taking action to clean up the environment. The Youth Union has focused increasing attention on environmental protection through tree planting and eco-campaigns like “for a green Vietnam,” “let’s clean up the seas,” and “anti-plastic waste,” and recently marked the start of its ‘Green Summer’ campaign.

Vietnam’s rapid development from one of the five poorest countries in the world in 1985 to one of the world’s fastest growing economies has resulted in dramatic environmental consequences from polluted rivers, biodiversity loss, and air quality depletion.

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Southeast Asians sticking with China on Taiwan: survey

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

asiatimes – Democracy Perception Index survey shows most Southeast Asians would not support cutting economic ties with China if it invades Taiwan

By DAVID HUTTJUNE 1, 2022Print

Military helicopters carrying large Taiwan flags do a flyby rehearsal on October 5, 2021, ahead of National Day celebrations amid escalating tensions between Taipei and Beijing. Photo: AFP / Ceng Shou Yi / NurPhoto

A recent Democracy Perception Index survey of worldwide public opinion found that a majority of Southeast Asians would not support their governments cutting economic ties with China if Beijing launched an invasion of Taiwan. 

The same report found that only Singaporeans, from the six Southeast Asian countries surveyed, favored cutting economic ties with Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine in February. Indonesians and Vietnamese were two of the three nationalities who believed most strongly that ties with Russia should be maintained.  

The Democracy Perception Index 2022 survey, published this month by Latana and the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, asked respondents: “If China started a military invasion of Taiwan, do you think your country should cut economic ties with China?” 

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SEA Games 31: Kỷ lục HCV nhưng thiếu chiều sâu

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

HUY ĐĂNG 31/5/2022 6:00 GMT+7

Trong buổi họp báo tổng kết SEA Games 31, trưởng đoàn thể thao Việt Nam Trần Đức Phấn thừa nhận Việt Nam tuy giành đến 205 HCV ở kỳ SEA Games này, nhưng đến Asiad thì mục tiêu chỉ là… 3 HCV!

Ông Phấn còn khẳng định với những môn quan trọng như điền kinh hay bơi lội, khả năng giành huy chương ở Olympic trong 20 năm tới là bất khả thi.

 Tiến Minh 39 tuổi vẫn còn phải chiến đấu khi phía sau là khoảng trống mênh mang.  -Ảnh: Ngô Trần Hải An

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