Category: Life & Style

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has set up the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) as a federal authority to introduce a world-leading regulatory framework for a national lottery and commercial gaming. Globally respected regulator Kevin Mullally has been appointed as CEO. He has over 30 years of experience in national and international gaming regulation to the GCGRA.

The GCGRA is led by a team of internationally credentialed leaders, all with proven track records and a deep understanding of global best practices in regulating and maintaining an effective, safe, and responsible gaming industry.

The GCGRA will create a socially responsible and well-regulated gaming environment, ensuring that all participants adhere to strict guidelines and comply with the highest standards. It will coordinate regulatory activities, manage licensing nationally and facilitate unlocking the economic potential of commercial gaming responsibly.

In 2022, the UAE’s northern-most emirate Ras al-Khaimah announced a multibillion-dollar deal with Las Vegas-based casino giant Wynn Resorts. Wynn has described the project as involving the subsequent management of an integrated resort. A term born in Singapore, integrated resort refers to a hotel that includes a casino and other amenities.

The global environmental non-profit, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has set up a base in Singapore, in a boost to the country’s ambitions of becoming a green finance hub.

Headquartered in the United States, TNC aims to raise the supply of high-quality carbon credits in the region and unlock more conservation projects in Southeast Asia. These credits are permits that companies or countries can buy to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. For example, a company can buy carbon credits from a forest conservation project in Indonesia. Each credit represents one tonne of emissions.

In a media interview, TNC’s Singapore Country Director Thomas Brzostowski said that many companies and investors in Singapore want access to high-quality credits, but there’s a shortage. He added that only about 16% of global impact investments flow into the Asia-Pacific.

The Southeast Asia Green Economy 2023 report, published in June, said that an estimated $400 billion (S$542 billion) of investments in nature are needed to meet the region’s 2030 climate goals.

Southeast Asia needs to expedite its efforts to make the protection and restoration of nature economically competitive with exploitation, such as logging, and use market-based measures to put a price on nature and its carbon potential, the report said.

TNC has undertaken conservation projects in more than 70 countries and territories. It has protected more than 50 million hectares of land. It recently joined forces with seven other conservation-related organisations to form the South-east Asia Climate and Nature-based Solutions (Scene) Coalition, which aims to drive investments and scale up nature-based solutions in the region.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) of the United Arab Emirates ran a back-to-school health awareness campaign from August 17 to 31 to equip parents and students with insights into the significance of adopting healthy lifestyles as they return to school. The campaign emphasises the benefits of physical activity, a balanced diet, regulated sleep patterns, and controlled electronic screen time.

Under the campaign, six community events were held at Lulu Hypermarkets. Additionally, an exclusive awareness session was organised specifically for MoHAP employees. The events involved a series of activities, including healthy cooking workshops for parents and children, guided by expert chefs, where they learned how to prepare nutritious school meals.

Nutritionists provided participants with tips on how to preserve food in school lunch bags during prolonged school hours. They also introduced parents to the 5,210 health concept, which emphasises five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, an hour of physical activity, limiting screen time to less than 2 hours, and avoiding sugary and energy drinks. The events also featured discussions with health educators on packing a balanced school lunch, body mass index (BMI) screenings, health counselling for parents, and engaging quizzes.

The campaign, a synergised effort with governmental and private entities, fell under the ‘Health-Promoting Schools’ initiative launched by the World Health Organisation and UNESCO to holistically enhance the health and well-being of students.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), on August 18 praised India for advancing health coverage and schemes. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting, held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from August 17 to 19, he commended India for its steps in advancing Universal Health Coverage and the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which is the world’s largest health assurance initiative.

The WHO Chief also recalled his visit to a Health and Wellness Centre in Gandhinagar and lauded the services being provided to 1,000 households by the centre. He hailed the telemedicine facilities provided in Gujarat and thanked India’s G20 Presidency for the Global Digital Health Initiative, which was launched on August 19.

More than 70 delegates from different countries participated in the G20 Health Ministers’ meeting. Its focus was on three key priorities of the G20 Health Track, including health emergencies prevention, preparedness and response with a focus on antimicrobial resistance and One Health framework; strengthening cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector with a focus on access and availability to safe, effective, quality and affordable medical countermeasures (vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics); and digital health innovations and solutions to aid universal health coverage and improve healthcare service delivery.

Bhutan has emerged as a country with impressive net zero emissions. It has not only curbed its carbon footprints, but has also transformed into a carbon sink, absorbing more carbon dioxide (CO2) than releasing, said a report on August 15.

In addition to Bhutan, Comoros, situated in the Indian Ocean and Gabon in Central Africa have managed to control their carbon emissions. Comoros accomplished the feat by conscientiously managing its agricultural, fishing, and livestock sectors, and implementing rigorous environmental safeguards.

Bhutan is one among the 196 nations that committed to the Paris Agreement during the UN Climate Change Conference focused on restricting global temperature increases to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Experts suggest that Bhutan’s population of 8,00,000 and forest coverage of 70% to have played a major role in accomplishing the status of net zero emissions, besides its initiatives towards sustainability. The nation prioritises sustainable organic farming and forestry practices, relies on hydropower, and prudently manages its main economic driver, tourism. It also charges a $200 sustainable development fee per day to tourists. The nation has also embarked on pilot projects that explore sustainable timber construction, showcasing innovative solutions.

Microscopic plastic particles have been traced in the fats and lungs of two-thirds of marine mammals in a recent study on ocean microplastics. The presence of polymer particles and fibers in these animals suggests that microplastics can travel out of the digestive tract and lodge in the tissues of the animals. Plastic particles identified in tissues ranged on average from 198 microns to 537 microns.

Researchers said that these microplastics pose an extra burden in addition to other challenges the marine mammals face, such as climate change, pollution, and noise. While scientists have yet to determine the exact harms these embedded microplastics might cause to these animals, plastics have been implicated by other studies as possible hormone mimics and endocrine disruptors.

The samples in this study were acquired from 32 stranded or subsistence-harvested animals between 2000 and 2021 in Alaska, California and North Carolina. Twelve species are represented in the data, including one bearded seal which also had plastic in its tissues.

The details of the study done by a graduate student at the Duke University Marine Lab will be carried in the October 15 edition of Environmental Pollution. 

Prince Harry helped raise around $1 million (S$1.35 million) in charity by participating in the annual Sentebale charity polo match at the Singapore Polo Club on August 13.

While the British royal scored two goals, these were not enough to help his team, the Royal Salute Sentebale win the Sentebale ISPS (International Sports Promotion Society) Handa Polo Cup. The match with the Singapore Polo Club Team ended in a 7-7 draw and both teams shared the trophy. Argentinian polo player Nacho Figueras captained the Singapore Polo Club Team.

The match had about 260 guests, and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, appeared at ease. He exuded a commanding presence on the field playing as a forward and scored two goals over four chukkas, or periods of play, of seven minutes each. The other important attendees included rugby royalty and former New Zealand All Blacks star Dan Carter, who graced the event as an ISPS Handa ambassador.

The annual Polo Cup has raised more than £11 million (S$18.8 million) for Sentebale since 2010, when it was played in Barbados. Sentebale is a charity founded in 2006 by Prince Harry and Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso to provide psychosocial support for children in southern Africa who are living with HIV.

Director and co-writer Greta Gerwig’s film, Barbie has become the highest-grossing movie domestically in Warner Bros. Pictures’ 100-year history. With an approximate international gross of $660.6 million so far, the film stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Released on July 21, it totals roughly $1.192 billion worldwide. In the process, Gerwig has become the first female solo director to gross a billion dollars on a film.

Barbie, the fantasy comedy based on the iconic Mattel doll, has done better by the company’s 2008 film, The Dark Knight. According to trade reports, Barbie grossed $6.1 million in the North American box office on August 15, grossing a total of about $537.3 million domestically. The business raised the film’s rank from No. 18 on the domestic all-time chart to No. 16, surpassing both Disney’s 2016 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($533,539,991) and The Dark Knight ($534,987,076). These figures are not adjusted for inflation.

The film, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was released on July 21. It totals roughly $1.192 billion worldwide. In the process, on August 6, Gerwig became the first female solo director to gross a billion dollars on a film. Disney’s two animated Frozen movies, which crossed that mark in 2013 and 2019, respectively, were co-directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee.

Gerwig had broken the record for highest-grossing film by a solo woman director, Wonder Woman (2017), directed by Patty Jenkins. The 40-year-old Barbie director is a three-time Oscar nominee for writing and directing Lady Bird (2017) and writing the adapted screenplay for Little Women (2019).

The space tourism company of British billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic finally launched its first space tourists to the edge of the cosmos on August 10. The first flight of private space tourists, known as Galactic 02, took off shortly after 11am ET from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The company’s reusable rocket-powered space plane VSS Unity successfully landed after a brief flight that gave passengers a few minutes of weightlessness. The vehicle reached more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth’s surface – at an altitude the US government considers the edge of outer space. It reached supersonic speeds as it moved upward. At the peak of its flight, the space plane spent a few minutes in weightlessness, as it entered free fall and returned to the spaceport for a runway landing at 9:30 a.m. MT. The journey lasted an hour.

On board the flight were an 80-year-old British former Olympian, who has Parkinson’s disease; Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, a mother-daughter pair from the Caribbean who won their seats through a charity drawing; two pilots, and Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor who trained the crew before the flight. The mission also marked the most women flown in a single mission to space.

The suborbital joyride came after nearly two decades of development work. The flight will now allow the company to begin clearing a backlog of about 800 ticket holders who are waiting for space rides.

Saudi Arabia has expanded its visitor eVisa programme to travellers from eight more countries, taking the total up to 57. Now, tourists from Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, the Maldives, South Africa, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan can apply online to travel to the country. South Africa is the first African country to be added to the list.

The multi-entry eVisa is valid for one year and allows travellers to visit the Gulf nation for up to 90 days at a time. The visa costs 535 Saudi riyals ($142) and includes medical insurance. The visa holders can use the document for tourism, perform Umrah, attend conferences and events, and visit friends and family living in the country.

The eVisa is easier to obtain than a traditional visa, requiring less paperwork and no in-person interview. It is limited to travellers over 18 years with passports valid for at least six months. Children under 18 can enter Saudi Arabia when travelling with a parent, grandparent or adult sibling with an approved eVisa.

Saudi Arabia launched its eVisa programme in 2019, and has since seen an increase in the number of international arrivals. In 2022, it recorded more than 93.5 million foreign and domestic visits, up by 93% compared to the previous year, when the country had international travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.