MICHELLE CHANG WRITES – When the clock strikes 5:00pm, people finish their last emails, close their computers, and head out after a long day at work. At least, that’s what is normally expected; but a recent proposal under review by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol would mandate a maximum 69-hour…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: ALL WORK AND NO PLAY?
JACOB VILLEGAS WRITES -New Zealand health officials are calling for vapes in New Zealand to be sold solely at pharmacies and/or to require a prescription for them, as a result of the rising number of teens picking up the unhealthy habit. This comes after New Zealand introduced the world’s first…
Full Article NEW ZEALAND’S GREAT VAPE ESCAPE: OUTLOOK CLOUDY
IREH KIM WRITES – While South Korea has gained great popularity internationally through K-pop, media, and technology, the country faces a severe problem domestically: it has the highest suicide rate of any developed nation. Statista reports that 13 thousand people took their own lives in 2021, averaging 26 deaths for…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: DOWN AND OUT WITH THE OLD?
CASEY MCGANNON WRITES — Many immigrants have similar motivations for leaving their home countries. They may seek opportunities that simply don’t exist where they’re from, or wish to escape persecution or, like many Filipino nurses, they seek better pay. The average salary for a registered nurse (RN) in the Philippines…
Full Article COPING WITH COVID-19: HOW FILIPINO NURSES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES SUPPORT FRONTLINE HEALTHCARE WORKERS
KE SHEN WRITES — Just last month, two new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Beijing. Luckily, both patients were wearing masks while they went to the hospital and took tests. Worryingly, China’s Center for Disease Control has already conducted coronavirus tests for people who work at the Haidian district…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS IN CHINA: BRACE FOR SECOND IMPACT?
ZHI JIAO DANIELLE GOH WRITES — As news of different countries locking down and closing their borders increases, the online world, however, has been more connected than ever. In particular, higher-education institutions around the world are aiming to short-circuit the developing pandemic by transforming their classroom pedagogy into smart, virtual,…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLES: ‘HOW WE HAD A GOOD INTERNATIONAL-RELATIONS CLASS ANYHOW’
NATASHA VASS WRITES – In a world in which chronic disease and childhood obesity are on the rise, it is no question that countries must come up with solutions. Enter Singapore. At the October 2019 Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress, Edwin Tong, senior minister of state for law and health,…
Full Article SINGAPORE: SWEET REVENGE ON SWEETS