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JAKARTA: Just a few hours after using a mobile app to order some dishwashing liquid, Jakarta resident Juweriah opens the door to a motorcycle courier who provides a direct refill in her kitchen. Juweriah, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, is taking advantage of a rise in environmentally friendly businesses in a country that is the second-largest ocean plastic polluter in the world. The 38-year-old homemaker orders products through Siklus, a start-up that provides cleaning and sanitary products minus plastic packaging to homes and businesses in the Indonesian capital. "We can refill (the bottles) and reduce the amount of detergent plastic waste," Juweriah said. "Neighbours here have followed suit." A worker prepares to top-up dispensers with cleaning liquid at a Siklus off...

Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in a worsening trend that may accelerate further due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Monday. In the first global study of the loss of life associated with longer working hours, the paper in the journal Environment International showed that 745,000 people died from stroke and heart disease associated with long working hours in 2016. That was an increase of nearly 30% from 2000. "Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard," said Maria Neira, director of the WHO's Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health. "What we want to do with this information is promote more action, more protection of workers," she said. The joint study, produced by the WHO and the Intern...

Select’s editorial team works independently to review financial products and write articles we think our readers will find useful. We may receive a commission when you click on links for products from our affiliate partners. In an effort to help younger generations learn how to be debt-free and combat money taboo among the Latinx community, Sofia Bastida, a 24-year-old first-generation Mexican American, created @savingwithsofie. Through this platform, she shares her experience paying off $120,000 in student loans within the span of 26 months on an income below six figures. Like many college students, Bastida wasn't aware of many of the basics of finance until she got into student loan debt and felt obligated to pay it off on her own. Without a college fund, Bastida took out federal studen...

BANGKOK: From the moment he was dragged into a car in broad daylight on the streets of Phnom Penh on Jun 4 last year, nothing has been seen or heard of Thai activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit. Thai and Cambodian police insist they are investigating, but with the probe into his apparent abduction going nowhere, his sister Sitanun has vowed to pursue the truth "to the last". Rights campaigners say the case sends a chilling signal of Thailand's willingness to pursue political dissidents beyond its borders. Wanchalearm, aged 37 at the time of his disappearance, was wanted by Thai police for running an acerbic anti-government Facebook page and for posting satirical videos criticising Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Sitanun's frustration at the lack of help she has had from the Thai author...

During much of the first year of COVID-19, Southeast Asia seemed one of the few bright spots in the world. Vietnam, a lower-middle income country that had learned from its experience with SARS, had one of the lowest case and death rates in the world. Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and even poorer countries in the region such as Laos and Cambodia mostly kept the virus at bay, even as wealthier states in Europe, North America and Latin America suffered millions of cases and hundreds of thousands of deaths. To be sure, Indonesia and the Philippines struggled, but the region’s overall low rates even made some scientists question whether people in mainland Southeast Asia enjoyed some natural immunity to the novel coronavirus. More recently, many Southeast Asian states have experienced ...

Hong Kong has announced its representative office in Taiwan will “temporarily suspend operations” but both sides have been winding down interactions in recent years, says Bo Zhiyue. WELLINGTON: A strange development took place this week regarding cross-strait relations. On Tuesday (May 18), the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced that its representative office in Taiwan, the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan (HKETCO), will suspend operations effective immediately. The HKETCO had a good 10-year run. Established in December 2011, the HKETCO is responsible for the economic, trade and cultural relations between Hong Kong and Taiwan. Hong Kong has over 20 such offices across China and in other parts of...

The leaders of protests in Thailand plan to revive demonstrations as soon as the country’s worst COVID-19 outbreak starts to ease, adding to the government’s challenges as it comes under fire for a slow vaccine rollout. After a monthslong hiatus due to a spike in cases, protest leaders say they’re working to draw fresh support from frustrated residents for a movement that began last year with calls for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha’s resignation and unprecedented reforms of the monarchy. Authorities have faced increasing public criticism for Thailand’s third wave of COVID-19, which has more than quadrupled total cases since early April. “When we return to the streets, there’ll be even more people joining us,” said Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon, one of the protest leaders, in a phone i...

SINGAPORE: Singapore updated its guidance for the use of masks on Tuesday (May 18) on the back of rising COVID-19 infections in the community. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is advising that members of the public use masks with better protection, such as those with better filtration efficiency, to mitigate the higher risk of infection. This is because the recent COVID-19 clusters “suggest a higher level of transmission, likely attributed to new virus variants”, the ministry said. Here’s what you need to know about the new mask guidelines: WHAT IS FILTRATION EFFICIENCY? The bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) of a mask refers to the degree of barrier protection provided by the material or fabric of the mask. A mask with a higher BFE would be more effective in preventing bact...