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Straits Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Pakistan won't send hockey teams to India, say government sources
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Pakistan will not travel to India for upcoming hockey tournaments over "security" concerns. KARACHI – Pakistan will not travel to India for upcoming hockey tournaments over 'security' concerns, government sources told AFP on July 12, potentially jeopardising their place at the 2026 Hockey World Cup. The nuclear-armed neighbours traded the worst violence in decades during a four-day conflict in May that killed 70 people. Pakistan was due to participate in the Men's Asia Cup for hockey to be hosted by India in August and September, for which the federation had sought the government's clearance. 'After the recent war, the security and safety of our hockey players will be at risk,' said a sports ministry source, who asked not to be identified. Pakistan will also not participate in the Junior World Cup in India in November, the source said. Once a force in international hockey, with three Olympic gold medals and four world titles, Pakistan have slumped to 15th in the rankings. Not featuring in the Asia Cup will likely cost Pakistan a place in the 2026 senior World Cup to be held in the Netherlands and Belgium. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Government looking at enhancing laws around vaping to tackle issue of drug-laced vapes in Singapore Singapore Why the vape scourge in Singapore concerns everyone Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons Singapore Organised crime groups pushing drug-laced vapes in Asia including Singapore: UN Singapore Govt will continue to support families, including growing group of seniors: PM Wong at PCF Family Day Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Asia Why China's high-end hotels are setting up food stalls outside their doors A second government source also confirmed the decision to AFP. Pakistan's foreign office has not responded to AFP's request for comment. India stalled all bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which it blamed on militants based across the border. Cricket has been the most affected sport, with the two countries only meeting each other in multinational events abroad. India refused to visit Pakistan in 2025, when it hosted the Champions Trophy, forcing the final to be staged on neutral ground in Dubai. In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan will also not send its women's cricket team to India for the 50-over World Cup later in 2025 and the T20 World Cup in 2026. They agreed instead to play their matches in Sri Lanka. Pakistan's hockey team last toured India for the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy, finishing fifth amongst six teams. Meanwhile, over in India, the nation's top-flight football league, the Indian Super League, is on hold, the country's football federation (AIFF) announced on July 12, citing stalled negotiations for a contract renewal with their commercial partners, Reliance-led Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL). Talks to renew the 2010 agreement stalled after India's Supreme Court asked the AIFF not to renew their deal with FSDL until its order, the federation said. A case to implement a new constitution for the AIFF is ongoing at the country's Supreme Court. AFP, REUTERS
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
‘My appetite for despair is gigantic': Ellison Tan on directorial debut Scenes From The Climate Era
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox SINGAPORE – Australian playwright David Finnigan's vignette-driven Scenes From The Climate Era is pitched as a dark comedy, but reading the script, Singapore actor Ellison Tan did not laugh once. The 35-year-old confesses a niche sense of humour – 'Very few things make me laugh' – but Tan, with a matter-of-factness about her, also has no qualms stating that she found some of the scenes unrelatable. She says before rehearsals at the Esplanade – Theatres On The Bay: 'I felt quite distant and couldn't relate. Some of them are geographically really far from where we are now, so I felt like I wanted it to reflect a more regional warmth.' The former co-artistic director of puppetry company The Finger Players is making her directorial debut from July 18 to 20, as part of the Esplanade's Studios season centred on the theme of Land. After receiving a phone call from an Esplanade programmer, who asked if she would take on Finnigan's work, she began a process of negotiation with the playwright to re-order scenes and insert new ones – a correspondence that astonishingly took place mostly over email. A frog scene has been retained – featured prominently on the banner art – as well as debates over the ethics of child rearing, and the impudent statement that 'No one's ever built a wall in the ocean to trap a glacier before'. Otherwise, Tan has orders to stay tight-lipped about her and Finnigan's new inventions. She reveals only that one of them is based on her experience of a focus group discussion in the United States, now re-contextualised to Singapore. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Government looking at enhancing laws around vaping to tackle issue of drug-laced vapes in Singapore Singapore Why the vape scourge in Singapore concerns everyone Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons Singapore Organised crime groups pushing drug-laced vapes in Asia including Singapore: UN Singapore Govt will continue to support families, including growing group of seniors: PM Wong at PCF Family Day Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Asia Why China's high-end hotels are setting up food stalls outside their doors 'I was intrigued by similarities that I found in Our Singapore Conversation,' she says, referring to the year-long exercise involving more than 600 dialogues with 50,000 Singaporeans, in which she participated as a student in 2012. The result is about 20 scenes over a run time of 70 minutes – this cap on the play's length was one of Finnigan's few stipulations. 'If we talk about this for too long a time, we are really overstaying our welcome. When you drone on about it, it feels like we are moralising – and we don't have the right to do that,' Tan says. Tan, who spoke in Malay in Teater Ekamatra's recent Artificial Intelligence play National Memory, has an ear for how one's mother tongue might break down the artifice of theatre. Though Scenes From The Climate Era is performed entirely in English, she still made it a point to incorporate elements of multilinguality in her rehearsals. A snapshot of how she runs the room – 'always communicative, open and most importantly, kind' – is instructive. 'There was one scene about banks where I got the cast to do it in different permutations, and each time, they would go at it with a new prompt. 'Say it in your mother tongue' or 'Say it as though you are teaching it to school children' to get at the heart of it,' she says. The approach stems from a strong commitment to representation, which Tan repeats several times is crucial to her practice. The multi-ethnic eight-member cast allows for portrayals of how the climate crisis affects those of different races and genders. One of the actors, Claire Teo, who is visually impaired, has also worked to ensure all contextual clues for the scene changes are embedded in the dialogue and soundscapes, part of the reason that keeping the play under 70 minutes was initially a 'tall order'. Tan says of what she has come to realise is a guiding principle: 'It's really important for me that people in the room are representative of what this country looks like, so I wanted to make that happen on my own terms.' In all this, Finnigan was a relatively detached figure, checking in only with the rare phone call when he needed more information. Tan persuaded him to do a self-introduction and answer some questions via a Zoom call, which she recorded and played for the cast while workshopping the play. Their response, among no doubt more serious takeaways: 'They said he was handsome.' Tan, who chooses her words meticulously, speaks more easily about the concerted effort the team has made to reduce waste in their staging. The entire set was repurposed and props were excavated from the Esplanade's basement 'cage', where items from previous plays are stored. She is most enthusiastic about the set's central piece – a giant table on which all eight actors will have to stand. 'It was built for the Singtel Waterfront Theatre opening and we found it on top of a cargo lift, unloved and abandoned. We had to fork lift the whole table down,' she says. 'We assigned people according to the weights of the actors to test if it would hold, and it was such a huge affair that so many staging guys came down because it was just so fun to jump on it.' But do not ask her if the play holds within it hope for those pessimistic about climate inaction. Her paradoxical logic holds clues to her stoicism. She believes herself climate conscious in her daily life and watches everything by David Attenborough. Yet she says: 'I have an appetite for despair so gigantic that it doesn't really affect me.' Book It/Scenes From The Climate Era Where: Esplanade Theatre Studio, 1 Esplanade Drive When: July 18 and 19, 8pm; July 20, 3pm Admission: From $32 Info:
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Springboks borrow playbook from Under-14 B schools team
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus has always been an innovator in the game, seeking an extra edge for his side with the unexpected, and found a new ploy he successfully unleashed on Italy from an Under-14 B schools team. The Springboks thumped the Italians 45-0 in Gqeberha on Saturday despite an early permanent red card for number eight Jasper Wiese, and from the kick-off they were full of innovation. They had demolished Italy in the scrums in the previous week's 42-24 win in Pretoria, and wanted to keep that psychological edge. The Springboks therefore intentionally conceded a scrum from the kick-off of the game. It did not work out as they were penalised with a free-kick for an early shove, but the writing was on the wall for a game that would be far from ordinary. Twice they created a maul in general play from which they gained penalty advantage and scored tries on both occasions. Lock Ruan Nortje was lifted to receive a pass, and as he came down to the ground, it created a driving maul from which the Springboks could use their powerful forwards. They received penalty advantage on both occasions as the Italians immediately infringed, but did not need it as centre Canan Moodie and hooker Malcolm Marx crossed for tries. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Government looking at enhancing laws around vaping to tackle issue of drug-laced vapes in Singapore Singapore Why the vape scourge in Singapore concerns everyone Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons Singapore Organised crime groups pushing drug-laced vapes in Asia including Singapore: UN Singapore Govt will continue to support families, including growing group of seniors: PM Wong at PCF Family Day Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Asia Why China's high-end hotels are setting up food stalls outside their doors When the powers that be drew up the laws of the game at the line-out, they certainly did not envisage them being used in general play, but Erasmus, who said he was "fairly happy" with his team's performance, has found a way to legally exploit them. "Many teams do different tactical moves and we did a maul in general play with a guy that we lift (to receive the pass)," he told reporters. "We actually saw an Under-14 B schools team doing it, Paul Roos Gymnasium (in Paarl, South Africa). "You get all the benefits from a line-out if you lift a guy in general play and it worked for us. But obviously now people will be alert for that. "We tried a few things and sometimes those things work and sometimes they don't, and you have to take it on the chin if they don't work." The Springboks next host Georgia in Nelspruit on Saturday. REUTERS
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
New rules force companies in Japan to address heatstroke crisis
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox TOKYO - Companies in Japan are now required to take steps to protect their employees against heatstroke, with the government imposing new rules in response to the steadily increasing number of deaths in recent years attributed to the worsening summer heat. Under a revised ordinance that took effect on June 1, businesses will be penalised if they fail to act after investigations found many deaths resulted from delayed detection of symptoms and inadequate responses. Companies are required to take measures for staff working for 60 consecutive minutes or for four hours per day in temperatures exceeding 31 deg C, or at 28 deg C or above on the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature – a global heat index calculated based on multiple factors including humidity. Under the rules, companies must designate a person at each workplace to be responsible for reporting possible heatstroke cases among staff. Business operators must also set up procedures to prevent the worsening of symptoms, such as having an employee immediately stop working, cooling the person down and ensuring medical support is provided. Employers are required to inform their workforce of the arrangements. In the event of a breach, penalties include up to six months of imprisonment or a fine of up to 500,000 yen (S$4,352), Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said. The number of deaths caused by heatstroke at workplaces hit 31 in 2024, exceeding 30 for the third straight year, as Japan logged its equal-hottest summer since comparable data became available in 1898. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Government looking at enhancing laws around vaping to tackle issue of drug-laced vapes in Singapore Singapore Why the vape scourge in Singapore concerns everyone Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons Singapore Organised crime groups pushing drug-laced vapes in Asia including Singapore: UN Singapore Govt will continue to support families, including growing group of seniors: PM Wong at PCF Family Day Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Asia Why China's high-end hotels are setting up food stalls outside their doors The number of workplace deaths and injuries related to heatstroke in 2024 was a record-high 1,257, the ministry said. An analysis of 103 heatstroke deaths between 2020 and 2023 found 70 per cent of victims were working outdoors, while 78 cases saw delayed detection of symptoms contributing to the death. In 41 deaths, it was found there was an inadequate response to the worker's symptoms. Mr Taku Furukawa, a lawyer with expertise in workplace heatstroke compensation cases, stressed companies need to seriously consider the risk posed by the physical intensity of tasks being performed, in addition to monitoring the temperature and time spent working, saying prevention is key. KYODO NEWS
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
Where are the men in boys' lives?
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Jobs working with children are largely done by women, leaving many boys, especially in low-income areas, with few men as role models. NEW YORK – The importance of role models for girls seems irrefutable. Efforts since the 1990s to provide female role models have had great success opening doors for girls and young women, who now outpace boys in education, outnumber men in law and medical schools, and excel in male-dominated fields like tech and politics. At the same time, boys have many fewer male role models in their daily lives. While men still fill most positions of power across American society, the people who interact with children are largely women. Occupations like paediatrics have switched to mostly being done by women, while those that were always female-dominated, such as teaching, have become more so. At a crucial time in their lives, boys are increasingly cared for by women, especially the many boys whose fathers are not a regular presence. This lack of male role models, say researchers, parents, young men and those who work with them, is contributing to their struggles in school and employment – and the overall feeling that they are adrift. Working with children has long been considered women's work, and as a result, has been undervalued, with low pay and a stigma against men doing it. The share of professional men in children's lives has decreased even more in recent decades. Over roughly the same period, single-mother households became more common. Mentorship groups say they struggle to find as many male volunteers as there are boys who need them. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Government looking at enhancing laws around vaping to tackle issue of drug-laced vapes in Singapore Singapore Why the vape scourge in Singapore concerns everyone Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons Singapore Organised crime groups pushing drug-laced vapes in Asia including Singapore: UN Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Asia Why China's high-end hotels are setting up food stalls outside their doors Singapore Geothermal energy present in S'pore, but greater study on costs, stability needed, say experts And as families have become more insular – participation in community groups and churches has declined, and children spend less time playing outside with neighbours – children get to know fewer adults. Some researchers and people working to support boys say there needs to be more of a focus on recruiting and training men to work with children. 'While women, I believe, are doing their very, very best to raise boys, I believe until men become part of that process, we're not going to make a huge dent in this issue,' said Tony Porter, chief executive of A Call To Men, a group that provides training on healthy manhood and violence prevention. Face-to-face role models matter Girls continue to need more role models, especially in areas once closed off to women, such as leadership. Boys have many examples of men in power – and of course, boys also learn from female role models. But research suggests that it is the adults whom children personally know – and who share their gender or race – who have the biggest effect. They influence children by representing what is possible, modelling behaviour and empathising from shared experience. And their presence has been found to improve educational performance, career decisions, motivation and relationships. Much academic research on the role model effect has been about girls, but some studies have shown how having men in their lives helps boys. Black boys do better in neighbourhoods where there are more fathers around, even if not their own. Coaches, one of the few male-dominated jobs working with children, can play a formative role in shaping children's outcomes. Growing up without a father at home, as one in five children do, particularly disadvantages boys, several studies have shown. In interviews and written responses sent to The New York Times' Upshot as part of the newspaper's reporting project on young men, several said the need for role models was more crucial than ever. This is because they thought society no longer had shared values about what being a good man means. Boys in poor areas are the least likely to have male role models, which can contribute to achievement gaps by family income and gender, researchers have found. Ms Michaela Kiger teaches at an alternative high school in New Castle, Delaware, where most of her students are boys from low-income families. The girls often have clear career plans, she said – mostly being health aides or cosmetologists – while the boys do not. They cling to traditional gender roles, she said, believing they should provide for and protect their families, yet being unwilling to seek fast-growing healthcare jobs because they are considered women's work. 'We tell them that they have a future and can pursue a different kind of life for themselves than what they were born into, but they don't see enough concrete examples of that actually happening for men in their community,' Ms Kiger said. A big role for coaches and teachers Many men said that male mentors can make all the difference. Mr Tristan Armstrong, a 26-year-old engineering graduate student in Salt Lake City, grew up in rural Utah, where he said he was surrounded by male role models – his grandfather, father, uncles, neighbours, teachers, Catholic priests and coaches. When he was having a hard time in junior high, the football coach noticed, and recruited him to play. The coach ended up being pivotal in Mr Armstrong's life, 'reaching out and helping me through that and finding the thing I excelled at and took pride in', he said. 'He really looked at it like he was teaching us to be good, healthy, functioning young men.' Mr Tim Gruber, 31, who teaches kindergarten and first grade in Driggs, Idaho, said he hopes his students see in him a full version of manhood. 'They see me as a guy amid a sea of women,' he said. 'I would like to believe that I'm exhibiting different notions of masculinity. Yes, I'm a hard worker. Yes, I'm going to be strict and hold them to high expectations. But also, I will willingly share, I'll cry with the kids, I will show my emotional side too.' Public support for activities outside school, in the arts or sciences or athletics, is important to ensure that children, especially those from low-income backgrounds, have a range of caring adults in their lives, said Jean Rhodes, a psychology professor and director of the Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring at the University of Massachusetts Boston. And, she said, men who interact with children, even informally, could recognise their role in boys' lives and receive training to become effective mentors. NYTIMES
