Latest news with #AndrewYeo
Business Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Times
Income Eco Run raises S$70,000 for WWF-Singapore
[SINGAPORE] The inclement weather in the wee hours of Sunday (Jun 8) morning did not deter close to 5,500 people from turning up for the annual Income Eco Run at Marina Barrage to run for a good cause. The carbon-neutral event featured five distances – 3 km, 5 km, 10 km, 15 km and the 21.1 km half-marathon – as well as a kids' run and a new pets category. A group of 20 athletes with special needs from Special Olympics Singapore also took part, running alongside volunteer pacers. Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng flagged off the 5 km and 10 km runs at 8 am, about an hour later than scheduled due to the rain. He also took part in the 5 km event. This year's Eco Run was held in conjunction with Income Insurance's 55th anniversary celebrations. On Saturday night, nine runners took part in an invitation-only 55 km ultra-marathon. Income Insurance once again matched S$1 for every kilometre clocked, bringing the total contribution to S$70,000 – the largest amount raised so far. The money will go towards supporting the World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore's (WWF-Singapore) pilot programme to reduce single-use food and beverage packaging. This programme, supported by WWF-Singapore's partnership with Income Insurance, aligns with the Singapore Green Plan's target to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill each day by 30 per cent by 2030. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up After a rain-induced delay, the runners were raring to go at the starting line at Marina Barrage. PHOTO: INCOME INSURANCE Income Insurance's chief executive officer Andrew Yeo said: 'We are proud to champion zero waste not just in principle but in practice – from how we manage logistics, materials and waste, to how we rally and engage the public on sustainable choices.' At the hydration points along the route, for instance, a total of 73,000 compostable, plastic-free cups were used. Instead of being sent to the landfill, these cups will be composted along with banana peels that were collected as part of broader waste-segregation efforts. The organisers also avoided further waste by encouraging participants to run in their own or past Eco Run shirts. Those who completed their runs received e-certificates instead of physical medals, and the run bibs they wore were about 65 per cent smaller than standard bibs. At last year's Eco Run, 60 per cent more recyclables were recycled including metal cans, paper cartons and plastic bottles, and general waste generated per person dropped by 25 per cent.
Newsweek
5 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
'Significant Step': New Photos Reveal North Korean Warship Update
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. North Korean workers have succeeded in pulling a capsized warship upright, new analysis suggests, after Pyongyang condemned the failed launch of its new destroyer last month as an international embarrassment. Why It Matters North Korea, increasingly allied with Russia and broadcasting its intensive military build-up, has swerved away from long-held policies of reconciliation with South Korea and adopted a more aggressive tone toward the U.S., a key ally for Seoul. Pyongyang has forged ahead with its weapons development, including nuclear warheads, and pushed for a more formidable navy. This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is the test firing of missiles from a newly launched destroyer Choe Hyon at an undisclosed place in North Korea on April 28-29,... This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is the test firing of missiles from a newly launched destroyer Choe Hyon at an undisclosed place in North Korea on April 28-29, 2025. More Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP What To Know North Korea's attempt to launch a second Choe Hyon-class destroyer at its northeastern Chongjin port on May 21 ended in a "serious accident," North Korean state media reported at the time. The first of this new type of warship was successfully launched in April. The second 5,000-ton warship was damaged "due to inexperienced command and operational carelessness," state media reported, an unusually candid public assessment for the secretive nation seeking to exude military strength. The country's supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, was present for the bungled launch. "North Korea's failed ship launch was a huge embarrassment to Kim Jong Un, especially since it happened in front of his eyes," said Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow with the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution's Center for Asia Policy Studies. Commercial satellite imagery shows that the Choe Hyun class destroyer at Chongjin has been returned to an upright position. — 38 North (@38NorthNK) June 3, 2025 Kim, who called the launch failure a "criminal act," ordered the warship to be restored. State media reported shortly after the incident that authorities had arrested four people over the botched launch. It would take up to three days to pump seawater from flooded parts of the ship, and roughly 10 days to pull the ship upright, according to state media. Satellite imagery published by the 38 North project, which focuses on North Korea and is run by the Washington, D.C.-based Stimson Center nonprofit, from Monday showed that the warship was upright for the first time in several weeks, the analysts said. Personnel at the dock have taken a "significant step" toward restoring the vessel, they added. The warship was significantly damaged," the U.K.-based Open Source Centre nonprofit said last month. The vessel "will not be entering service anytime soon and may ultimately prove to be a complete loss," experts with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Beyond Parallel project said in late May. North Korea launched the first of its Choe Hyon-class destroyers in late April at its Nampho shipyard southwest of Pyongyang, which analysts said was the largest warship the country had ever produced. This new type of destroyer will be able to launch advanced weapons, including cruise and ballistic missiles, North Korea has said. "Kim has taken a deep personal interest in promoting the country's ongoing naval modernization," Yeo told Newsweek. The failed launch at the Chongjin shipyard "not only undermined the narrative of North Korea's powerful naval build-up, but it also cast doubt on whether North Korea has the actual means and capabilities to build a new fleet of ships as quickly as it hopes." What People Are Saying North Korean state media, on May 23: "The accident is an unpardonable criminal act. Those responsible for it can never evade their responsibility for the crime."
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Plight of the K-Beauty Devotee
When Korean skin care arrived in the United States several years ago, it became the stuff of legend among beauty enthusiasts. They raved about the sunscreen from the Korean brand Beauty of Joseon, which used advanced UV filters and left no white film behind; currently, it costs $18—its closest American counterpart would be about $40 and gloopier. Korean snail mucin promised to hydrate skin and improve fine lines, and prompted a buying frenzy, during which I did drop my own American dollars on a facial 'essence' made from the secretions of snails. It has made my skin softer and only grossed me out twice. Now my snail mucin is caught in a trade war. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump's announcement of nearly global tariffs included a 25 percent hike on goods imported to the U.S. from South Korea; his administration has also repealed a customs loophole used by certain K-beauty exporters based in Hong Kong. Some skin-care enthusiasts had been preparing for possible trade disruptions—'spent my paycheck on korean skincare because those tariffs are about to go crazy,' one person posted in December. But now, they're springing into action. 'If you love your glow, get it now,' one skin-care influencer said on TikTok. 'This is your last chance before it becomes unaffordable.' Americans' love affair with K-beauty was fostered by many years of free trade with South Korea, when our mucin came free of additional fees. The new tariffs will be 'a good test to see how powerful the K brand is' in America, Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies U.S.–South Korea relations, told me—how much 'soft power' Korea has accumulated here. If people have been buying K-beauty products because they love K-beauty (or K-pop or K-dramas), a price hike might not matter. But if they decide Korean products haven't done that much for their skin, maybe they'll switch to Neutrogena. Beauty enthusiasts have, at times, gone to great lengths to import Korean serums, face masks, moisturizers, sunscreens, and the like from exporters usually based in Korea or Hong Kong. When Joshua Dupaya, a beauty influencer, first got into Korean products in 2016, for instance, he sourced them mostly from 'trusted eBay sellers,' he told me. Cosmetics have become a fairly significant part of Korea's exports—$10 billion globally last year, nearly $2 billion of which went to the United States. And certain K-beauty brands are more beloved here than in their home country. A co-founder of Beauty of Joseon said on a podcast in December, 'We're not really popular in Korea, I have to admit.' (Their Korean brand name means 'beautiful woman in Joseon,' referring to the former, long-reigning Korean Joseon dynasty. She said Koreans think the name is 'so tacky.') Part of K-beauty's appeal is its price point—$15 for a high-quality moisturizing cream compares favorably with a $20 bottle of CeraVe, and extremely favorably with the $390 La Mer 'crème' touted by the upper echelon of skin-care influencers and celebrities. Korean beauty products also contain ingredients that are uncommon in U.S. skin care, but that some American consumers swear by—Centella asiatica (Asiatic pennywort), rice water, ginseng extract, and of course, snail mucin. Their sunscreen is also just objectively better. The FDA is notoriously slow to approve new UV filters, which has meant that sunscreen in America is generally worse than it is in Europe and Asia. Formulations here feel chalkier and oilier, and they can leave white residue behind, because American chemists have a smaller palette of UV technology to draw from. For $12, someone could buy American sunscreen in uninspiring packaging that makes them look like a ghost. For the same $12, they could buy a K-beauty sunscreen in expensive-looking packaging that will not make them look like a ghost. When my friend returned from South Korea with an entire carry-on full of Korean skin care, we applied gobs of sunscreen, feeling like royalty with our advanced UV protection. For skin-care aficionados, K-beauty was an ideal trifecta: a product that feels luxurious, seems effective, and is relatively affordable. [Read: You're not allowed to have the best sunscreens in the world] The tariffs will test whether a higher price outweighs those other benefits. Yesterday, the founder of the Korean company KraveBeauty announced on TikTok that the tariff will hit their next shipment to the U.S. and will have to be passed on to customers. 'We're still calculating what the implications of this new trade policy would be to our business, but this will change pretty much everything,' she said—for her company and others. She said the tariffs could upend her brand's long-standing policy of keeping all their products under $28; those responding in the comments already spoke of K-beauty in the past tense; many included crying-face emoji. Trump's tariffs, of course, apply only to imported K-beauty. In the past several years, a handful of major K-beauty manufacturers have opened factories in the United States and will be able to avoid the tariffs, Yeo told me. But he expects that other Korea-based companies will wait about a year to see if these tariffs last and how U.S. consumers respond to the price hike before they consider relocating to America. 'I don't know if Koreans want to invest that much,' he said. 'It depends how bullish you think the U.S. market is.' American demand for K-beauty has grown a lot, but brands will have to decide if they think it'll keep growing. The U.S. isn't their only market, and companies may choose to focus on countries such as China instead. But if the tariff succeeds and more K-beauty is soon made in America, the industry could lose its major selling point: it is not made in America. These non-U.S. formulations are the 'whole allure of using Korean beauty,' Dupaya told me. Beauty of Joseon recently began making versions of its beloved sunscreen specifically for the U.S. market, which meant it could use only UV technology approved by the FDA. Fairly or not, American users seem to think they have the same problems as U.S. sunblock. 'Garbage,' a skin-care influencer said about one of the American formulations. 'Absolute garbage.' Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
05-04-2025
- Business
- Atlantic
The Plight of the K-Beauty Devotee
When Korean skin care arrived in the United States several years ago, it became the stuff of legend among beauty enthusiasts. They raved about the sunscreen from the Korean brand Beauty of Joseon, which used advanced UV filters and left no white film behind; currently, it costs $18—its closest American counterpart would be about $40 and gloopier. Korean snail mucin promised to hydrate skin and improve fine lines, and prompted a buying frenzy, during which I did drop my own American dollars on a facial 'essence' made from the secretions of snails. It has made my skin softer and only grossed me out twice. Now my snail mucin is caught in a trade war. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump's announcement of nearly global tariffs included a 25 percent hike on goods imported to the U.S. from South Korea; his administration has also repealed a customs loophole used by certain K-beauty exporters based in Hong Kong. Some skin-care enthusiasts had been preparing for possible trade disruptions—'spent my paycheck on korean skincare because those tariffs are about to go crazy,' one person posted in December. But now, they're springing into action. 'If you love your glow, get it now,' one skin-care influencer said on TikTok. 'This is your last chance before it becomes unaffordable.' Americans' love affair with K-beauty was fostered by many years of free trade with South Korea, when our mucin came free of additional fees. The new tariffs will be 'a good test to see how powerful the K brand is' in America, Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies U.S.–South Korea relations, told me—how much 'soft power' Korea has accumulated here. If people have been buying K-beauty products because they love K-beauty (or K-pop or K-dramas), a price hike might not matter. But if they decide Korean products haven't done that much for their skin, maybe they'll switch to Neutrogena. Beauty enthusiasts have, at times, gone to great lengths to import Korean serums, face masks, moisturizers, sunscreens, and the like from exporters usually based in Korea or Hong Kong. When Joshua Dupaya, a beauty influencer, first got into Korean products in 2016, for instance, he sourced them mostly from 'trusted eBay sellers,' he told me. Cosmetics have become a fairly significant part of Korea's exports—$10 billion globally last year, nearly $2 billion of which went to the United States. And certain K-beauty brands are more beloved here than in their home country. A co-founder of Beauty of Joseon said on a podcast in December, 'We're not really popular in Korea, I have to admit.' (Their Korean brand name means 'beautiful woman in Joseon,' referring to the former, long-reigning Korean Joseon dynasty. She said Koreans think the name is 'so tacky.') Part of K-beauty's appeal is its price point—$15 for a high-quality moisturizing cream compares favorably with a $20 bottle of CeraVe, and extremely favorably with the $390 La Mer 'crème' touted by the upper echelon of skin-care influencers and celebrities. Korean beauty products also contain ingredients that are uncommon in U.S. skin care, but that some American consumers swear by— Centella asiatica (Asiatic pennywort), rice water, ginseng extract, and of course, snail mucin. Their sunscreen is also just objectively better. The FDA is notoriously slow to approve new UV filters, which has meant that sunscreen in America is generally worse than it is in Europe and Asia. Formulations here feel chalkier and oilier, and they can leave white residue behind, because American chemists have a smaller palette of UV technology to draw from. For $12, someone could buy American sunscreen in uninspiring packaging that makes them look like a ghost. For the same $12, they could buy a K-beauty sunscreen in expensive-looking packaging that will not make them look like a ghost. When my friend returned from South Korea with an entire carry-on full of Korean skin care, we applied gobs of sunscreen, feeling like royalty with our advanced UV protection. For skin-care aficionados, K-beauty was an ideal trifecta: a product that feels luxurious, seems effective, and is relatively affordable. The tariffs will test whether a higher price outweighs those other benefits. Yesterday, the founder of the Korean company KraveBeauty announced on TikTok that the tariff will hit their next shipment to the U.S. and will have to be passed on to customers. 'We're still calculating what the implications of this new trade policy would be to our business, but this will change pretty much everything,' she said—for her company and others. She said the tariffs could upend her brand's long-standing policy of keeping all their products under $28; those responding in the comments already spoke of K-beauty in the past tense; many included crying-face emoji. Trump's tariffs, of course, apply only to imported K-beauty. In the past several years, a handful of major K-beauty manufacturers have opened factories in the United States and will be able to avoid the tariffs, Yeo told me. But he expects that other Korea-based companies will wait about a year to see if these tariffs last and how U.S. consumers respond to the price hike before they consider relocating to America. 'I don't know if Koreans want to invest that much,' he said. 'It depends how bullish you think the U.S. market is.' American demand for K-beauty has grown a lot, but brands will have to decide if they think it'll keep growing. The U.S. isn't their only market, and companies may choose to focus on countries such as China instead. But if the tariff succeeds and more K-beauty is soon made in America, the industry could lose its major selling point: it is not made in America. These non-U.S. formulations are the 'whole allure of using Korean beauty,' Dupaya told me. Beauty of Joseon recently began making versions of its beloved sunscreen specifically for the U.S. market, which meant it could use only UV technology approved by the FDA. Fairly or not, American users seem to think they have the same problems as U.S. sunblock. 'Garbage,' a skin-care influencer said about one of the American formulations. 'Absolute garbage.'
