World

In addition to money, Dyer emphasizes that scholarship winners will also be given the opportunity to participate in exclusive workshops and mentoring sessions with other Black women in politics and public service. "I want young women to know that there is financial assistance," Dyer tells CNBC Make It, while noting that there was no Black Girl 44 Scholarship in 2020 due to the pandemic. "Is it a lot? No, it's not a lot. But it could make the difference between them actually applying for an internship." To qualify, students must fill out the scholarship application by May 7, have an internship in politics or public service already secured and they must be enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited college/university. In her fund's first year, Dyer awarded $1,500 scholarships t...

NEW YORK: More than 200 global organisations urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday (May 5) to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar, saying the time for statements has passed and immediate action is needed to help protect peaceful protesters against military rule and other opponents of the junta. A statement by the non-governmental organisations said the military “has demonstrated a callous disregard for human life" since their Feb 1 coup, killing at least 769 people including 51 children as young as six years old and detaining several thousand activists, journalists, civil servants and politicians. Hundreds of others have disappeared, it said. “No government should sell a single bullet to the junta under these circumstances,” the NGOs said. “Imposing a global arms embargo on Myanma...

Sasqia Dahuri’s dishes have garnered praise from her customers, particularly Malaysians based in Singapore craving for the taste of traditional Kelantanese cuisine. SINGAPORE: The Toa Payoh Lorong 4 hawker centre situated in Singapore’s heartlands is renowned for cheap and good local delights – Hokkien mee, kway chap and wonton noodles. However, over the last few months, diners have another reason to visit - a stall offering Kelantanese cuisine. The stall named Kelate, which is the colloquial name for the east coast state in Malaysia, is run by former actress Sasqia Dahuri. The Malaysian model has starred in films such as Misteri Dilaila (2019) and Senario the Movie: Ops Pocot (2011). But she has now swapped her career in glitzy showbusiness for gritty hawker gloves after she opene...

GENEVA: Sotheby's is staging its first international dedicated sneaker sale, seeing the boom in a formerly niche market as a way to attract younger clients into the world of auctions. Fine art, jewellery and antiques might be the more traditional stock in auction house trade, complete with a packed room and auctioneer banging a wooden gavel. But the coronavirus pandemic has triggered a shift towards smartphone-accessible online auctions. Sotheby's says it has also noticed that younger people are being drawn to auctions by design classics with a back story. On Monday, the auction house sold a pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1s worn by rapper Kanye West for us$1.8 million (1.5 million euros) - triple the previous record for sneakers. That sale is being followed by "Gamers Only" - Sotheby's d...

A draft statement circulating the day before a Southeast Asian leaders’ summit on the Myanmar crisis included the release of political prisoners as one of its “consensus” points, said three sources familiar with the document. But in the final statement at the end of Saturday’s meeting, the language on freeing political prisoners had been unexpectedly watered down and did not contain a firm call for their release, two of the sources said. The absence of a strong position on this issue caused dismay among human rights activists and opponents of the coup, fueling criticism by them that the meeting had achieved little in the way of reining in the country’s military leaders. Activist monitors say 3,389 people have been detained in a crackdown on dissent by the military since the Feb. 1 coup,...

NEW YORK: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Thursday (Apr 22) offered inventors US$100 million in prize money to develop ways to fight global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or ocean. "Right now we've only got one planet," said Musk, CEO of electric carmaker Tesla. "Even a 0.1 per cent chance of disaster - why run that risk? That's crazy!" In January, Musk announced his intention to offer US$100 million in prizes and set out the contest rules on Thursday, Earth Day. What organisers called the "largest incentive prize in history" will last for four years through Earth Day, 2025. Carbon capture and storage has drawn growing interest as a warming climate has melted glaciers, intensified tropical storms and resulted in "sunny day flooding" of more and more coa...

SINGAPORE: Continued interest from foreign buyers, family offices and institutional funds has sustained demand for shophouses in the first quarter of 2021, following a strong burst of buying activity at the end of last year. There were 51 transactions in the first quarter of this year totalling S$328.3 million, according to data recorded on Apr 6. Although this is down from figures in the fourth quarter of 2020, which saw 57 sales to the tune of S$462.8 million, analysts said it is a good showing reflecting stable demand. Sales in the final quarter of last year had surpassed pre-pandemic levels, spurred by pent-up demand, lower costs of borrowing and high liquidity in the market, according to a report by Knight Frank. Coming into a new year, investors are still keen to invest in ...

YANGON: If you need cash in Myanmar, you have to get up early. Queues start forming outside banks at 4am, where the first 15 or 30 customers are given a plastic token that will allow them to enter the bank when it opens at 9.30am and withdraw cash, according to more than a dozen people who spoke to Reuters. If you do not get a token, you either have to queue for hours for the few functioning cash dispensing machines outside or go to black market brokers who charge big commissions. The cash crisis is one of the most pressing problems for the people of Myanmar after the Feb 1 military coup. The central bank, now run by a junta appointee, has not returned some of the reserves it holds for private banks, without giving any reason, leaving the banks short of cash. The banks themselves ha...

EVEREST BASE CAMP, Nepal: More than 30 sick climbers have been evacuated from the foot of Mount Everest, raising fears that COVID-19 may scupper a hoped-for bumper season on the world's highest mountain. Nepal's tourism industry suffered a devastating blow last year when the pandemic prompted a complete shutdown of its summits, costing millions in lost revenue. This year, authorities have eased quarantine rules in an effort to lure back foreign adventurers and have issued climbing permits to more than 400 people, a new record. An Everest permit alone costs US$11,000 and climbers pay upwards of US$40,000 for an expedition. But the warmer weather that ushers in safer conditions for scaling Nepal's dangerous snow-capped peaks has coincided with a deadly second wave of COVID-19 infecti...

SINGAPORE: A total of 76 members of staff at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) have been placed on leave of absence after a cluster of COVID-19 cases was detected, said the hospital's CEO Dr Eugene Soh on Friday (Apr 30). Speaking at a press conference by the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force, Dr Soh said the growing cluster is of particular concern, and the hospital is “acting fast with a three-pronged approach” to contain and control infections, while securing the safety of patients and staff members. The first step includes immediate containment measures to treat and isolate staff members or patients, said Dr Soh. “We have also identified patients and staff who are close contacts of the positive cases. Today, we have transferred 61 patients, including the confirmed patients to the...