Welcome to our “News In Brief” column in which we digest all the news for you and write them in no more than five paragraphs. Below are snippets of all the media releases that we received from June 28 till July 2 that we have condensed for your reading pleasure.
SpaceDC Partners With Epsilon
Kuala Lumpur: SpaceDC, a visionary data centre provider, has partnered with Epsilon, a global connectivity provider, to serve growing cloud demands in Southeast Asia through Infiny by Epsilon.
The Network as a Service (NaaS) platform enables SpaceDC to deliver global network services and provide its customers with direct access to the leading cloud service providers (CSP).
“Cloud adoption is growing faster than ever across Asia-Pacific and is even more significant amongst businesses in Southeast Asia,” Epsilon MD Warren Aw said in a statement.
SpaceDC can now support its customers across the region with extended reach and secure connections to CSPs including Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud.
“This partnership supports our future growth plans with extended reach to new markets, with the scalability to turn services up or down as needed.”
Experts Call For Urgent Action In Immunisations
Kuala Lumpur: A new report has found Southeast Asia is behind the rest of the world when it comes to life-course immunisation – falling significantly short of the 75 per cent immunisation target rate set by the World Health Organisation.
The report titled “The Decade of Healthy Ageing in ASEAN: Role of Life-Course Immunisation” was commissioned by EU-ASEAN Business Council, KPMG in Singapore, and Sanofi, with the support of the Western Pacific Pharmaceutical Forum (WPPF) and found that with age, the immune function goes into decline, increasing older people’s susceptibility to infectious diseases such as the flu and pneumonia, which can manifest into other health risks and complications.
“While the region focuses on COVID-19, and rightly so, we need to also give attention urgently to another pressing issue – ageing societies,” WPPF president John Jackson said in a statement.
“Today’s report provides a starting point for governments across the region to implement incremental policy changes that can further empower healthy ageing and economies.
To view the report, visit: https://healthyageingasean.org/.
Prudence Foundation announces winners
Hong Kong: Singapore-based EcoWorth Tech and the Stimson Center from the United States are the winners of this year’s 2021 SAFE STEPS Disaster Tech (D-Tech) Awards.
The winners were announced by Prudence Foundation, the community investment arm of Prudential in Asia and Africa, together with Humanitarian Partner International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Technology Partner Lenovo.
Donald Kanak, Chairman of Prudence Foundation, said Prudence Foundation has been focusing on disaster preparedness and relief since 2011.
The awards recognise the essential role that technology plays in protecting and saving lives before, during and after natural disaster events.
They were selected from among close to 60 entries around the world, and form part of eight finalists that took part in a virtual live pitch to a judging panel.
Lazada Joins New Global Coalition
Singapore: Southeast Asia’s leading eCommerce platform, Lazada has joined a new global partnership established to harness the power of green consumer behaviours to enhance biodiversity and further climate change efforts.
The coalition, ‘Every Action Counts’ (EAC), was launched today by the Green Digital Finance Alliance (GDFA).
“We are committed to driving awareness and innovation to build a lasting eCommerce ecosystem in Southeast Asia,” Magnus Ekbom, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Lazada Southeast Asia, said in a statement.
The coalition brings financial, eCommerce, digital, and consumer goods and services companies from around the world together with experts in sustainability, nature and biodiversity conservation.
Together they will share best practice in encouraging individuals to take positive action in their daily lives to create planet-friendly outcomes.
SELGATE Shows Its Appreciation To Frontliners
Shah Alam: The Shah Alam police contingent was given a free vaccination from SELGATE as an appreciation to the frontliners who work round the clock to ensure that Malaysians comply with all the rules that have been enacted during the the Movement Control Order.
SELCARE, which is also a subsidiary of SELGATE, played an important role in providing the vaccine to these frontliners.
“It is a requirement for frontline personnel to get the COVID-19 vaccine injection because they have been among the most vulnerable to the virus, especially while on duty,” SELGATE CEO Shaharul Razi Amran said in a statement.
“This initiative was done specifically to help Malaysians achieve group herd immunity.”
This is one of SEAGATE’s corporate social responsibility activities under its foundation which specifically focuses on community activities and assistance.
P&G Launches Health and Hygiene Institute In Spore
Singapore: Procter & Gamble recently launched the Health and Hygiene Institute of the P&G Innovation Center in Lion City.
The Health and Hygiene Institute of the P&G SgIC will be a scientific research and innovation hub that focuses efforts on research in areas related to health and hygiene, bridging data science, microbiology, and behaviour insights with product development
“Health and hygiene have taken centre stage in a COVID-19 world. As part of our commitment to improving the lives of consumers, we wanted to build our research and innovation capabilities in these areas and lend our expertise and voice to advocate for best hygiene practices in Singapore and around the world,” Site Leader for the SgIC Vice-President of Research and Development Yuko Nakamura said in a statement.
“We also hope to bring the science to life through our hygiene products across various P&G brands to support our consumers in achieving their desired health and hygiene outcomes.”
The newly launched institute aims to champion high-quality scientific research, product innovation and behavioural insights that will lead to improved hygienic practices and the protection of health.
Study: Refugees, Migrant Women Suffer From Domestic Violence
Melbourne: One in three refugee and migrant women living in Australia have experienced some form of domestic and family violence, with nearly a quarter reporting this increased in severity during COVID-19 lockdowns last year, a first-of-its-kind study has revealed.
Led by researchers from Monash University’s Migration and Inclusion Centre (MMIC) and Harmony Alliance, the Migrant and Refugee Women in Australia: The Safety and Security Study report reveals the experiences and needs of women across Australia’s diverse migrant and refugee communities.
“The higher reported levels of domestic and family violence among temporary visa holders in this study attest to this,” Associate Professor Marie Segrave, lead author, said.
The report draws on survey responses from almost 1,400 migrant and refugee women across Australia, providing a unique snapshot of a sample of women across Australia.
It’s the first national study to capture the diversity of migrant and refugee women, including residency/visa status, and to examine controlling behaviours related to the visa and migration status of women.
One Percent Property Sales sells 200 houses under 14 months
Brisbane: Queensland-based real estate company, One Percent Property Sales, has sold 200 houses since its launch only 14 months ago amidst the Covid pandemic.
The brainchild of three former Purplebricks’ agents, One Percent Property Sales has enjoyed intense growth, dominating the Queensland market to become the State’s number one value-based real estate brand.
“The One Percent Property Sales business model ensures everyone is a winner with agents receiving fair remuneration and vendors paying less than half the industry-standard commission,” said One Percent Property Sales Head of Operations, Paul Cole in a statement.
“Collectively, we are also seeing amazing results in terms of the overall conversion rate of 45 per cent from appraisal to listing – which is significantly higher than anything Purplebricks ever achieved – it’s a real testament to the quality of our team and the strength of the offering.”
One Percent Property Sales is currently operating throughout South-East Queensland and experiencing major growth in Brisbane, Toowoomba, Gladstone, Ipswich, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Townsville, Cairns and on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.
New Tool Check Wellbeing In Sport
Sydney: National Sporting Organisations will be able to measure and continually enhance their approach to athlete and staff wellbeing thanks to a new tool being launched by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).
For the first time in Australian sport, the AIS Wellbeing Health Check provides a standardised resource to assess the wellbeing cultures of national high performance sport programs, including how well athletes and staff feel supported mentally, physically and emotionally.
AIS CEO Peter Conde said the AIS Wellbeing Health Check, which has been successfully piloted over the past 12 months in several sports, was another important step in prioritising wellbeing in Australian high performance sport.
The AIS Wellbeing Health Check takes a 360-degree view of wellbeing in high performance sport programs. All athletes, coaches and staff will receive a confidential survey, while National Sporting Organisations will also complete a self-assessment report.
There are six key themes: mental health; cultural values; injury prevention and management; selection and non-selection; conduct and behavioural standards; equality and inclusion.
World-first Climate Change Program Launched
Sydney: World-first Australian climate change program, WorkForClimate, has launched this week giving professionals and corporations the resources to tackle the climate crisis in their day-to-day work lives.
Lucy Piper, former Global Head of Creative at Intrepid Group, has been appointed to lead the initiative as Director for WorkForClimate.
“Our focus is making climate action accessible to help guide professionals on their journey to make significant change,” she said in a statement.
Founded by Bryan J Rollins, formerly a General Manager at Atlassian, WorkForClimate is focused on empowering individual professionals to create change within the corporate sector.
The program is incubated by The Sunrise Project, an Australian-founded, not-for-profit organisation focused on driving the global transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
Race Car Technology Powers Aussie Paralympians
Sydney: AIS Engineering is using Formula 1 race car technology to put Australia’s wheelchair basketballers in the driver’s seat for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
In partnership with Paralympics Australia and Basketball Australia, AIS engineers are providing three squad members of the Australia men’s Paralympic basketball wheelchair team, the Rollers, with customised carbon fibre seats to increase their speed, agility and support.
“We use prepreg carbon fibre, so it has the highest strength-to-weight ratio and the seats tend to be very light. When the athlete turns, the chair turns, in many ways, the chair becomes more part of the athlete,” AIS senior engineer Matt Crawford said in a statement.
Rollers players O’Neill-Thorne, Jannik Blair and Tristan Knowles are the first basketballers to benefit from the new technology and the trio have given the sleek new seats a very humble nickname.
“We’ve got a nickname, it’s called The Bucket because you’re sitting inside a really expensive, tailor-made bucket seat of carbon fibre. Honestly, it’s probably going to change the game for the next five to 10 years,” O’Neill-Thorne said.
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