Issues that will matter in 2019

SINGAPORE (Dec 31): Singapore does not have a dedicated space agency, nor does it have a rocket launchpad. Yet, its space industry is taking off, led by a host of homegrown small and large companies. And that would significantly boost the small country’

SINGAPORE (Dec 31): Early this year, the future of driverless cars appeared bright. There were several trials being carried out, in various countries, on both closed circuits and open roads. But progress may have taken a step back after a fatal accident i

SINGAPORE (Dec 31): From 2019, only hybrid or electric cars will be rolling off the production lines at Volvo. The Swedish carmaker, now owned by Chinese company Geely, said in 2017 that it would stop producing cars that rely only on fuel combustion engin

SINGAPORE (Dec 31): In May, the Monetary Authority of Singapore issued a warning against an unnamed company to stop the offering of digital tokens, or its initial coin offering, to investors here. ICOs raise funds in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. In

SINGAPORE (Dec 31): In December, news emerged that social media giant Facebook had been playing fast and loose with its users’ data. Internal documents and emails published by the UK government show that the company considered employing the data for str

SINGAPORE (Dec 31): There is currently some US$24 trillion ($33 trillion) in sustainable investing — or investment strategies that take into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards while earning returns. The amount under management

SINGAPORE (Dec 31): Strengthened. Horrible. Oppressive.

SINGAPORE (Dec 31): The arc of great stories often traces a glorious rise, a dramatic fall from grace, followed by a bittersweet redemption. Malaysia’s general election on May 9 was arguably its day of redemption, after rapid economic develop­ment in t

SINGAPORE (Dec 31): Rayner Loi was taken aback when the mother of a boy he was mentoring teared up while thanking him for taking her son to dinner. Loi then realised the boy would have gone to bed hungry otherwise. “She told me how much it meant to her