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Straits Times
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Straits Times
Hanoi's plan to ban petrol bikes by 2026 leaves livelihoods in the dust
Find out what's new on ST website and app. On July 12, Vietnam officials said it would ban all fossil fuel-powered motorbikes from Hanoi's inner-city starting on July 1, 2026. HANOI – Almost every day, Mr Bui Van Cong, 36, rides around on his motorbike taxi ferrying passengers in Hanoi, many of whom are travelling downtown for work or school and others running various errands. He covers almost 100km daily, making around 500,000 Vietnamese dong (S$24.50) a day. This is sufficient for to cover the bachelor's daily expenses and rental for a modest room on the outskirts of the city. But the common sight of thousands of motorbikes like his zipping across the Vietnam capital could soon be a thing of the past. On July 12, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed a directive to ban all fossil fuel-powered motorbikes from Hanoi's inner-city starting July 1, 2026, as part of a sweeping new effort to tackle air and water pollution in the capital. For the city's 8.5 million people who own nearly 7 million motorbikes, most of them powered by fossil fuel, the phasing out of these vehicles comes at great cost for the average person. 'Our livelihoods are going to be affected badly,' said Mr Cong. It would be an understatement to say Hanoi residents rely heavily on petrol bikes – they use the motorbikes to take their children to school, deliver goods to the market, and may transport a family of four and even five on one bike to their hometowns in other provinces during the Lunar New Year holiday. 'This ban is a tax on the poor,' said motorbike ride Le Van Thinh, 58, an army veteran and part-time deliveryman, pointing out that for millions of low-income people in Hanoi, motorbikes are their livelihoods. The decision to ban petrol bikes has quickly become one of the hottest, and most divisive, topics of discussion among Hanoi residents. Currently, about half a million petrol-powered bikes operate within Hanoi's inner city every day. Petrol motorbikes significantly contribute to the city's worsening air pollution, accounting for 25 per cent of local fine dust, or particulate matter, according to a World Bank report. Other factors include industrial production and agriculture. This has made Hanoi one of the world's most air-polluted cities – 40 per cent of people in Hanoi are exposed to concentrations nearly five times greater than World Health Organisation guidelines. Petrol-powered motorbikes also emit high levels of other harmful pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds. Vietnam, which is a regional manufacturing hub with one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, sees around 60,000 deaths annually that are related to air pollution. The toxic smog that envelops Hanoi for most of the year also poses health, environmental and economic risks to residents. Since 2017, the local government has been considering a plan to clean up the capital's air, but the progress has been slow, until Mr Chinh's announcement on July 12. Some like Mr Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, 42, an office worker, are supportive of the move. And while it will impact the daily commute for numerous people, Ms Lan believes that 'extreme situations call for drastic measures'. 'I'm worried about my children's health and their future, so I'm very happy the government has decided to phase out polluting vehicles in Hanoi,' she told ST. 'I bought an electric bike myself last year.' Inadequate infrastructure The July 2026 deadline, which is a timeframe of a little less than 12 months, has also been described as too hasty. 'I understand that a civilised, modern hub should have fewer motorbikes,' said Dr Vu Thanh Ca, a senior lecturer at Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment. 'But with fewer motorbikes, how will Hanoi residents get around when the public transportation system is as underdeveloped as it is now?' he asked. The public transport infrastructure in Hanoi remains far from adequate, with only some 2,000 public buses, including fewer than 300 electric ones. The city's nascent metro system has just two operational lines spanning 20km in total. Dr Ca suggested that in order to ban petrol motorbikes or cars, Hanoi must 'urgently' build and operate a good public transportation network and improve urban railway system. In 2017, the Hanoi authorities set a target for its public passenger transport system, consisting mostly of buses, to meet at least 30 per cent of travel demand in the central urban area by 2020. It hoped to raise this figure to 50 per cent by 2030. Mr Bui Van Cong, who provides motorbike taxi services to Hanoi commuters, is worried about the 2026 ban. PHOTO: NGA PHAM Currently, the public bus system currently meets only 18 per cent of the total transportation demand. 'I think banning or restricting personal vehicles should be implemented gradually alongside an efficient public transportation system,' said Dr Ca, adding that the authorities should also enforce strict emission testing for fossil-fuelled vehicles. According to a recent survey of more than 13,000 people by VnExpress news outlet, 58 per cent of respondents felt that banning petrol bikes by mid-2026 was 'unfeasible', and only 18 per cent were confident of the city meeting the deadline. 'They will not able to do that, not next year, not in the next five years,' exclaimed Mr Thinh, the army veteran. 'Where are they going to dump the millions of petrol bikes we have?' While going electric seems to be the obvious solution for some, for others it's not within their budget. The average monthly earnings in Hanoi is around 10 million Vietnamese dong . 'I don't make much money and I have a million things to pay for,' Mr Cong told ST, 'How can I afford to buy a new electric motorbike that costs at least 30 million dong ?' His second-hand petrol bike cost around 8 million dong two years ago. Right now, such motorcycles cost around 10 million to 12 million dong. The Hanoi authorities have proposed a scheme to subsidise some of the costs involved in converting from petrol-powered motorbikes to electric motorbikes. Mr Duong Duc Tuan, the vice-chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee, said the city will cover nearly all associated administrative costs for vehicle conversion, including registration fees and licence plate issuance for new electric motorbikes, amounting to at least 3 million dong . Charging of these vehicles also poses a major challenge for the authorities. Hanoi still lacks sufficient facilities for the millions of electric motorbikes it plans to put on the roads in the near future. At the moment, only one automaker, Vinfast, has around 10 charging stations across Hanoi, only for Vinfast motorbikes. It is unclear how many vehicles the stations serve, as most of users charge at home. In total, there are 200,000 e-bikes in Hanoi, according to the transport department. Mr Tuan said on July 14 that the authorities will establish 'a suitable charging station system (for electric vehicles), while ensuring safety'. Mr Cong said: 'Those (electric) bikes are only good for going to the shop or short distances, not for the hundreds of kilometres a day my job requires, because they need constant charging.' On a full charge, an electric motorbike can travel between 60km and 80km. PHOTO: NGA PHAM On a full charge, an electric motorbike can travel between 60km and 80km. Mr Tuan also said an electric public transport network with small electric buses will be set up to form an inner-city shuttle system to meet people's mobility needs, he said. This scheme, however, is likely to take more than a year to carry out. Mr Tuan did not give any dates or other details, such as the size of the electric public transport network. Changing habit Mr Nguyen Ba Canh Son, founder and CEO of Dat Bike, is one of Vietnam's home-grown electric bike producers that hit the streets in 2019. PHOTO: NGA PHAM Electric motorbike makers are upbeat about the 'clear signal that Vietnam is serious about decarbonising urban transport', said Mr Nguyen Ba Canh Son, founder and CEO of Dat Bike, one of Vietnam's home-grown electric bike producers that hit the streets in 2019. Mr Son said that the e-bike market is expanding by a 'remarkable' 30 per cent a year. He said that the market for adult-use electric motorbikes, like the models Dat Bike produces, is growing at approximately 50 per cent annually. There are also electric bikes for schoolchildren and people with limited mobility. 'We aim to produce 200,000 to 250,000 bikes a year to meet this rising demand,' added Mr Son. Besides Dat Bike, there are several electric motorbike manufacturers in Vietnam. The biggest is VinFast, which is owned by Vingroup, one of the largest private corporations in the country. VinFast delivered 71,000 electric bikes in 2024 and plans to double that figure in 2025. According to the World Bank, Vietnam could have 12 million to 16 million electric motorbikes on the road by 2035. But the country will need to increase electricity generation to meet charging demand. This will require additional power sector investments of up to US$9 billion (S$11.5 billion) by 2030, said the World Bank. While the government's direction for greener modes of transport can bring long-term benefits, there needs to be more work done to support the green transition. 'In order to have green transportation, we need green energy,' said environmental activist Pham Thi Huong Giang, noting that currently, 85 per cent of Vietnam's electricity comes from fossil fuels. Meanwhile, she too was sceptical of the one-year deadline to phase out petrol bikes from the city core. She believes this should be extended to at least five years to help people prepare for the transition. 'It's not that we don't support the switch to electric bikes, we just want an action plan with greener solutions,' Ms Giang said.
HKFP
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- HKFP
Moving between cities and tongues, poet Tim Tim Cheng wants to put Hong Kong's writing on the map
Hong Kong poet Tim Tim Cheng's social awakening began on one Lunar New Year day in February 2011. At that time, Cheng – still a teenager – was among a small crowd that gathered in Choi Yuen Tsuen for an arts festival, dubbed 'Choi Yuen Tsuen Woodstock,' put together by villagers, indie musicians, artists, academics, and activists to count down the village's final days. The village was set to be torn down to make way for a high-speed rail project connecting Hong Kong to mainland China, despite fierce resistance from villagers and activists. That day, Cheng watched frontman and lyricist Leung Wing-lai of Hong Kong band An Id Signal, who, with no stage to play on, stood barefoot in the dry soil and wailed into the mic as clouds of dust billowed around the audience. Up to that point, for most of Cheng's life, Hong Kong had felt like a blur. 'Choi Yuen Tsuen captured moments when Hong Kong came into sharper focus for me,' she said. Fast forward 14 years, Cheng, now a published poet who splits her time between Glasgow and Hong Kong, was in a much larger crowd at the band's album launch in April. Her connection with An Id Signal has also come full circle. Cheng, who recalled first seeing the band as a secondary school student, is credited with the translation of the band's lyrics for its latest release. 'It was volunteer work,' she said of the translation project. The band's single 'Volatile Consolation' makes an appearance in her latest English-language poetry collection, The Tattoo Collector – the off-kilter, dissonant screams translated onto paper. Writing about those moments, she said, was a way to connect with history. 'I think one of the biggest takeaways I got from writing this book is to sit with the pain of the disappearance of formative things, be it music venues or large-scale protests,' Cheng said, alluding to shuttered livehouses and mass protests in Hong Kong. The Tattoo Collector, Cheng's second book, was published in 2024 – three years after she moved to the UK and just a year after she published a shorter collection, Tapping at Glass. Two months ago, The Tattoo Collector was longlisted for the inaugural poetry category of the Jhalak Prize, which awards books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland. Earlier this month, Girl Ghosts, one of the poems in The Tattoo Collector, was shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry, one of the leading poetry awards in the two countries. Now the poet is branching out and starting to think that translation could help deepen her relationship with Hong Kong's literature – in both English and Chinese – and the city itself. New generation Cheng, 32, is part of a new generation of Anglophone Hong Kong poets, following a lineage of literary figures and translators from the city, such as Jennifer Wong, Mary Jean Chan, and Nicholas Wong. Hong Kong's English literature has found increasing recognition over the past decade. Thanks to those writers, there is a growing interest among academics in this literary genre to understand how residents feel about the social and political changes in the city. 'They paved the way for writers like me who write about Hong Kong,' she said. However, save for a quip or two in English, Cheng's interview was conducted fully in Cantonese – reflecting her in-between cultural belonging. Cheng grew up in a working-class family in a public housing estate in Tin Shui Wai, in the northwestern New Territories. She was raised by her Indonesian-Chinese great-grandmother and grandmother, who moved to the city from Fujian. She never learned much about Hong Kong from them or her Cantonese-Hokkien parents. 'When I was younger, I wanted my English to be perfect, so I avoided Chinese books. But that was a terrible way to think,' she said, looking back on an Anglophilic streak she had during her time at an English-language secondary school and casting it aside as a symptom of the early-2010s-era British 'soft power' invasion. Cheng did a double major in English and education at Hong Kong Baptist University, where she formally studied and wrote English poetry. After graduation, she spent several years working as an English teacher. Teacher salaries were decent, but burnout eventually set in. Her last job as a full-time teacher was at the Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, a somewhat unorthodox secondary school in Kowloon City, which allows students specialising in creative arts to work on their own passion projects in their own time. Pointing to the catalysing effect the students had on her and lamenting the lack of 'sustenance' that the city could give her writing, Cheng left Hong Kong to pursue a master's degree in creative writing at the University of Edinburgh – with a loan from a friend – in 2021. 'Lived outside, hidden behind' The poet signed copies of The Tattoo Collector by crossing out her transliterated English name, 'Tim Tim Cheng,' and scribbling the Chinese characters of her name underneath. Occasional Cantonese colloquialisms appear in Cheng's English poems, possibly alienating – or engaging – readers outside Hong Kong. She harbours a sense of scepticism towards the English language. Despite it being her default 'literary language,' she feels both close to and alienated from it. English is a language she has simultaneously 'lived outside' and '[hidden] behind,' she writes in her book. While bilingualism is usually treated as a prized skill in Hong Kong, the poet has a more ambiguous take. 'BYELINGUAL,' Cheng wrote in a text message to HKFP, referring to the state of speaking two languages but losing proficiency in both. It was her sense-for-sense translation of a Cantonese idiom literally meaning 'neither salty nor bland,' which she had earlier used in an interview to describe how she viewed her relationship with the two languages. The Tattoo Collector oscillates between Hong Kong, where she was born and raised, and Scotland, where she is currently based. It features conversations on class and privilege with a classmate in Glasgow and memoirs of Hidden Agenda, a defunct live music venue in Hong Kong's industrial district that was raided by the police in 2016, as well as rural landscapes, motherhood, immigration, and pro-democracy protests. Meanwhile, Girl Ghosts, a poem partly inspired by stories she heard from her mother and grandmother, is a homage to the poet's family roots in Indonesia and Fujian. These hybridities and in-betweens have left Cheng feeling like something of an outsider, never involved enough in one place or one language. But her plans to live between Hong Kong and Glasgow have necessitated acceptance of that identity. 'If I'm writing about Hong Kong from the position of someone who's outside the city, there comes a point where I have to accept that my understanding can't fully represent the experience of people who are here,' Cheng said. 'This collection actually isn't very 'Hong Kong,'' she said about her new book. There are just too many niche aspects of the city that would still feel foreign or unknown to the broader public at home, she explained. 'Hidden Agenda – who the heck would know about that?' Yet, Cheng, who references specific policy issues in her work, is anything but detached from the city's affairs. Hong Kong's cutthroat property market, a whale that succumbed to a gash on its back two summers ago, and a stalled reclamation megaproject appear as short vignettes in her poem 'Lantau (Rotten Head),' a reference to the archaic Chinese name for the city's biggest island. Cheng admits she was a bit 'reckless' when picking out her subject matter. 'After I got the contract from the publisher, I realised I could write anything,' she said. It got to a point that Cheng received reviews saying that her poems were incomprehensible or that they were too reliant on gimmicky Chinese characters. On the one hand, she dismissed the criticisms, saying that her critics would have understood her writing better if they had resorted to Google. On the other hand, she had a positive reaction. 'I actually like seeing these comments, because I started out writing with the intention of serving an audience that knows what happened, to write in our own language,' she said. It was a matter of balancing 'which people you want to reach and the scale you want to achieve.' Diaspora When discussing the locales that shape her work, she is hesitant to identify herself as part of Hong Kong's diaspora. Indeed, she hasn't completely settled overseas. Cheng, who now lives – and writes – between Hong Kong and Scotland, is already preparing to start teaching at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's English Department in September. Before flying back to Glasgow for a four-month stint in May, she spent a little under half a year in Hong Kong: teaching, holding book talks, editing, and supervising master's projects, scraping together funds to pay for a five-year talent visa, student loans, flights, and rent in the UK. Yet she is somewhat wary of Hongkongers overseas. 'Some Hongkongers here don't want to hang around other Hongkongers because they're worried their children won't be able to integrate and become a 'real UK Citizen,'' Cheng said, with an air of contempt. Cheng recalls attending a Lunar New Year fair, where Hongkongers – those 'who had decided they weren't going back,' she said – printed out Hong Kong road signs, mailboxes, and vending machines as decorations, as if to preserve an image of the city they knew. 'But maybe Hong Kong's streets have changed so much that they're no longer the same image,' she said. 'I still want to know what's happening on both sides; I'm a bit nosy like that.' Slow to pigeonhole herself into overseas publishers' cliches of what a 'diaspora' poet might be, Cheng doesn't feel the need to idealise Hong Kong, as some self-proclaimed diaspora poets might do for their home countries. 'You left for a reason. Your origin might not have given you enough, so why talk about it like it's something great?' she asked. For Cheng, translating is also a way to put Hong Kong writers on the map, without overtly caving to the Anglospheric gaze. 'I want to catch up on Chinese stuff that I missed out on, but I don't want to deviate too much from what I'm currently doing,' she said. She recently began translating Hong Kong writer Lee Ka-yee's essay collection Exposure, under the mentorship of literary translator Jennifer Feeley, who translated the works of the city's late literary icon Xi Xi. 'It's also a way of putting my understanding of Hong Kong to the test,' Cheng added. 'A lot of writing that comes out of Hong Kong, especially work that can make it into the English-speaking world, always has this vibe that it was made with the expectation of being seen by other people. But Ka-yee and other local Hong Kong writers just approach writing simply in terms of how they see the world, how Hongkongers see the world. And I want to bridge those gazes through translation,' she said. 'Maybe it's also a way to tell my younger, 12-, 13-year-old self: You actually can flow between Chinese and English.'
IOL News
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
From drip to dazzle: Thembinkosi Lorch's fashion game is a goal
Thembinkosi Lorch has mastered the art of blending high fashion with everyday cool. Image: Thembinkosi Lorch Instagram Move over, Cristiano Ronaldo and step aside, David Beckham - there's a new style king in town, and he goes by the name of Thembinkosi Lorch. Whether you know him as 'Nyoso' or simply as one of South Africa's most talented footballers, one thing is certain: Lorch is claiming his spot on the global fashion stage, one fit at a time. If you're among his hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, you already know what time it is - Lorch isn't just serving skills on the field, he's serving serious looks off it. As we say in isiZulu, 'uyawudla ukotini' (loosely translated as 'this person can dress'). Trendy and dapper, these two words sum up Lorch's off-field image. Since his move to Morocco to join Wydad Athletic Club (on loan from Mamelodi Sundowns), the footballer has not missed a beat when it comes to maintaining - or even elevating - his fashion game. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Lorch has mastered the art of blending high fashion with everyday cool. He has a knack for making luxury fashion feel accessible and aspirational. His fashion choices are never boring - bold prints, designer sneakers and playful accessories are staples in his wardrobe. His signature look often includes standout pieces like chunky chains, statement watches and trendy bucket hats. But it's not just what he wears - it's how he wears it. There's a confidence, a swagger, that's uniquely Lorch. His streetwear is elevated by immaculate attention to detail. Whether he's wearing a simple white tee or a fully branded Gucci set, Lorch always adds that final touch - whether it's a limited-edition sneaker or an unexpected pop of colour - to tie the look together. One viral moment that had fashion lovers talking was when he posted a snap of himself wearing the Gucci Supreme Ace Mickey Mouse sneakers, a beige pair that retails for around $720 (R10 700). The sneakers were part of Gucci's Lunar New Year capsule collection, celebrating the Year of the Rat - a stylish nod to Mickey and Minnie Mouse. But that's not where the Gucci obsession ends. Scroll through his timeline and you'll spot a growing collection: from hats and tees to belts, bags and classic kicks. One of the most refreshing things about Lorch's fashion is his versatility. He doesn't confine himself to a single look. One day it's tailored formalwear, the next, it's ripped jeans, sneakers and bucket hats. His evolving style has not only won him fans across Africa but is also setting new standards for how athletes can express themselves off the pitch. Inspired? Here are five ways to style luxury wear the street way - Lorch style: Pair a designer shirt or jacket with plain jeans and classy sneakers for a balanced street-luxury look. Let your kicks do the talking. Invest in one bold, branded sneaker and build your outfit around it. Add chains, watches, bucket hats or branded caps to your wardrobe to elevate even the most basic outfit. Details make the difference. Lorch often rocks neutral tones with a single standout accessory. Try an all-black outfit with a bright bag or hat to channel that effortless cool. Don't shy away from eye-catching prints. Match them with solid neutrals or clash them boldly. Luxury fashion today is all about fearlessness.
The Star
19-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Over 80 per cent of scam emails globally targeted Japan in May: security firm
TOKYO: (Bernama-Kyodo) Over 80 per cent of email scams with identifiable senders targeted Japanese recipients in May, as advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) allow the use of more natural language, Kyodo News Agency reported citing US cybersecurity firm. Of the record-high 770 million scam emails sent globally in May, Proofpoint analysed 240 million containing sender data and found 81.4 per cent of those targeted Japanese speakers, the company said in a recent report. "Fraudulent emails were easily spotted previously because of unnatural wording, but the advancement of generative AI has helped produce natural sentences, enabling them to break through the language barrier," Proofpoint Japan's Yukimi Sota said. According to Proofpoint, which says it analyses around a quarter of emails sent globally, the volume of nefarious emails started increasing sharply around the time when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There were 100 million to 200 million such emails sent each month before 2025, but that figure surged to more than 500 million per month this year, the company said. Many are phishing emails sent from addresses posing as securities firms. They guide recipients to fake websites that are used to steal personal information such as email addresses and passwords, giving hackers the ability to hijack accounts. If corporate email and security credentials are stolen, it could give attackers access to unauthorised internal communication systems on which further phishing emails can be sent. According to Sota, the majority of email scams targeting Japan used a specific cybercrime programme that uses the Chinese language. The number of such emails plunged during the Lunar New Year from late January to early February. "Their unprecedented scale and sophisticated methods raise a possibility of an organised attack led by a foreign government," Sota said, calling on Japanese companies to enhance cybersecurity measures such as adopting multi-factor authentication. - Bernama-Kyodo
The Sun
19-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Over 80% of global scam emails targeted Japan in May: Report
TOKYO: More than 80 per cent of scam emails with identifiable senders targeted Japanese recipients in May, according to a US cybersecurity firm. The rise in sophisticated fraud is attributed to generative AI, which helps scammers craft more natural-sounding messages. Proofpoint analysed 240 million scam emails out of a record 770 million sent globally in May. The firm found that 81.4 per cent of these emails were aimed at Japanese speakers. 'Previously, fraudulent emails were easy to spot due to unnatural wording, but generative AI now helps create convincing messages,' said Yukimi Sota of Proofpoint Japan. The surge in malicious emails began around February 2022, coinciding with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Before 2025, monthly scam emails ranged between 100 million and 200 million, but this year, the figure exceeded 500 million per month. Many of these emails impersonate securities firms, directing victims to fake websites to steal login credentials. If corporate emails are compromised, attackers can infiltrate internal systems and launch further phishing attacks. Sota noted that most scams targeting Japan used a Chinese-language cybercrime tool, with a noticeable drop during Lunar New Year. 'The scale suggests possible state-backed involvement,' he warned, urging businesses to adopt multi-factor authentication for better security. - Bernama-Kyodo
