text: Singapore: Government Recruiting Young Travelers
  Singapore is encouraging young travelers to spend their vacations working in the city-state for up to six months with the hope that they will later want to emigrate. The government is trying to increase the population from 4.5 million to 6.5 million and would like to do so by recruiting skilled young workers, preferably undergraduates [read more]
  Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia: Piracy in Malacca Straits
  Date: July 11th, 2006 | No Comments
  Piracy has been a problem for decades in the Malacca Straits, a busy shipping channel between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, and three incidents occurred recently despite a concerted effort by these three countries to reduce the practice. Two UN-chartered ships on their way to Indonesia's Aceh province in Sumatra were attacked and lost cash and [read more]
  Singapore: Dengue Fever Outbreak
  Date: September 6th, 2005 | No Comments
  This island nation is battling a surge in dengue fever. The number of cases last year marked a 10-year high, and the number reported so far this year is nearly double that for the same period last year. The week ending August 21 saw a record high number of cases reported, but the number for [read more]
  Singapore: New Restrictions on Liquids at Changi, Seletar Airports
  Date: April 11th, 2007 | No Comments
  Beginning May 8, Singapore's Changi and Seletar airports will comply with International Civil Aviation Organization guidelines to restrict liquids in carry-on luggage, limiting passengers to one 35 oz (1 liter) re-sealable plastic bag holding their toothpaste, lipstick, shaving cream, gels and other liquids. Each substance must be in a container no larger than 3.5 oz [read more]
  Indonesia: Illegal Burning Spreads Haze over Region
  Date: October 3rd, 2006 | 1 comment
  Dry season burning of brush on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo has caused smoke and haze to spread over both islands and nearby Singapore, reducing visibility, damaging air quality and delaying flights in Palangkaraya, Kalimantan on the Indonesian side of Borneo. The haze was affecting some 215,000 square miles of land. Air quality had [read more]
  Hong Kong: Air Pollution Makes Hong Kong Less Appealing
  Date: April 4th, 2006 | 2 comments
  Hong Kong is losing its luster for expatriates because of steadily increasing air pollution, according to a report by ECA International, a company that researches living conditions in the world's top cities for corporations. Most of the bad air blows in from Guangdong province and little has been done to mitigate it. Despite the drop [read more]
  Date: March 1st, 2005 | No Comments
  Forest fires have created a haze reminiscent of the 1997-98 pall that blanketed the region causing health hazards and billions of dollars worth of losses. The haze is not as severe as in those years, but weeks of unusually hot, dry weather have caused Singapore�s worst bushfire season and driest conditions in almost 30 years. [read more]