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This Week in Asia /

Health & Environment

Related Topics:
Coronavirus pandemic
Climate change
Wellness
Tsunami waves hit a residential area after a powerful earthquake in Natori, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, in 2012. Photo: AP/Kyodo News
Japan

In Japan, trains will get an extra 20 seconds to avert catastrophe from quakes

Tokyo has predicted an 80 per cent chance of a magnitude-9 quake in the next 30 years, that could cause 300,000 deaths.

South Korea

South Korea’s hurry-hurry spirit keeps killing its factory workers

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Singapore

‘Super-aged’ Singapore’s secret to growing old well? Stay busy

Climate change

Himalayan glacial loss threatens 2 billion as Asia’s ‘water tower’ shrinks

Conflicts, such as the Iran war, are diverting global attention away from the ecological crisis, scientists warn.

Nepal’s Mera Glacier is among the handful of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region that meets the World Glacier Monitoring Service’s benchmark standards. Photo: Patrick Wagnon/ICIMOD
Nepal’s Mera Glacier is among the handful of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region that meets the World Glacier Monitoring Service’s benchmark standards. Photo: Patrick Wagnon/ICIMOD
Ageing society

Mortal combat: Southeast Asia fights fears of death to plan for the end

Birth rates are falling. Populations are ageing. In Southeast Asia, the business of dying has never been bigger.

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India

India’s weight-loss drug price war begins as key patent expires

Generic slimming drugs are expected to flood a market where one in four adults are currently either overweight or obese.

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Malaysia

Malaysia’s ‘shielded’ medical tourism sector to benefit from Iran war’s impact

With the war affecting the outlook of Dubai’s medical hub, Malaysia could draw more patients from the Middle East.

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A FlyDubai aircraft prepares for landing as smoke rises from an ongoing fire near Dubai International Airport on Monday. Photo: TNS
A FlyDubai aircraft prepares for landing as smoke rises from an ongoing fire near Dubai International Airport on Monday. Photo: TNS
Artificial intelligence

Too hot to handle? Southeast Asia’s AI data centre gold rush strains power grids

Data centres crave cold. Southeast Asia is anything but. Now, the AI boom is pushing tropical engineering to the limit.

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Asean

Asean bets on new framework to remedy ‘uneven’ disaster response

The new ‘ASPECT’ initiative could help boost quicker collective regional responses during large-scale or evolving disasters, analysts say.

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Malaysia

‘Ocean is our income’: the Malaysian fishers being pushed out by progress

Malaysia’s government says the Port Klang expansion is sustainable and essential. Local Mah Meri fishers fear for their livelihoods.

Malaysian fisherman Lingan bin Man pulls up to the jetty in Kampung Sungai Kurau with his family. Photo: Ushar Daniele
US, Israel war on Iran

No longer safe: Iran war puts 9 million Indian workers in the line of fire

As missiles fly, drone strikes from Dubai to Doha are shattering the illusion of safety for millions of Indian expats living in the Gulf.

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A worker assesses the damage after a drone strike on a building in Dubai’s Creek Harbour neighbourhood on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images/AFP
A worker assesses the damage after a drone strike on a building in Dubai’s Creek Harbour neighbourhood on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images/AFP
India

‘Death is a release’: Indian parents win right to grant son a dignified death

Harish Rana was comatose and bedridden for over a decade. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that his ‘endless misery’ can finally end.

Indonesia

‘Quite severe’: coastal erosion threatens future of Bali’s famed Kuta Beach

Experts warn extreme weather and decades of coastal development on the resort island have worsened the situation.

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The Philippines

250 men went down with a WWII ‘hell ship’. Now the US is coming back for them

Eight decades after the Oryoku Maru was sunk by American bombs, specialist divers are returning to retrieve the 250 men still trapped inside.

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Hundreds perished when the Japanese “hell ship” Oryoku Maru was sunk in 1944. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Indonesia

Why Indonesia’s waste-to-energy goal may not be ‘quick fix’ for landfill crisis

With billions to be spent on new waste-to-energy plants, critics are questioning the potential cost to Indonesian cities and the environment.

Registered scavengers walking in the Bantargebang landfill in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta. Photo: AFP
Registered scavengers walking in the Bantargebang landfill in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta. Photo: AFP
US, Israel war on Iran

Sowing the seeds of hunger: war on Iran puts Asia’s next harvest at risk

As Gulf gas plants go offline, missing fertiliser shipments today could mean empty shelves and record food prices by autumn.

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Thailand

Thai police thought she was drunk. She was already dying

A 21-year-old died because an assumption was made. The same assumption later left a stroke victim in a coma with 50-50 odds of survival.

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Malaysia

Malaysia slashes gym licence fees by 80% to fight urban obesity

Faced with some of Southeast Asia’s highest obesity rates, officials are dangling a regulatory ‘carrot’ to gym operators – but will it work?

A man runs on a treadmill with a view of Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock
A man runs on a treadmill with a view of Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock
Singapore

Singapore’s ban on caged lorries revives debate over migrant worker transport

The government says the move improves workers’ safety, but advocacy groups say the wider transport risks remain.

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Indonesia

Indonesia to ban under-16s from ‘high-risk’ social media platforms

Minister Meutya Hafid said the restrictions would protect children from online harms, but experts warned enforcement might prove difficult.

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Japan

Muslims in Japan were falsely blamed for illegal buildings. Then came the fires

It started with social media posts falsely blaming Muslims for building violations. Then came the fires.

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The aftermath of a fire on Saturday at Ebetsu Masjid, a mosque in the city of Ebetsu, central Hokkaido, Japan. Photo: Facebook/Kamran Khan
Malaysia

Viral clip of Malaysian man clinging to ex-wife’s moving car leads to arrest

Police said the man clung to the car for around 2km and that he tested positive for ketamine use.

Screenshots from a viral video show a man clinging to a moving car before falling onto the road. Photo: Facebook
Screenshots from a viral video show a man clinging to a moving car before falling onto the road. Photo: Facebook
Japan

Japan on track for hottest summer ever as ocean temperatures surge

Various regions across Japan are expected to register above-normal temperatures between June and August, the weather agency says.

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Thailand

Thailand’s captive tiger industry faces backlash after 72 big cats die

‘By the time we realised they were sick, it was too late,’ said an official, as welfare groups decry a life of misery and confinement.

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Malaysia

‘Just ask for it’: Malaysia’s vape crackdown fails to break the habit

An estimated 1.4 million Malaysian adults vape, despite existing curbs. Many say new laws will simply push them back to cigarettes.

A person vapes during a hike in Negeri Sembilan state, Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock
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