Your Way Home with Hongbin Jeong

In this week's edition of Washington Report, US President Joe Biden is in focus; from his visit to Israel last week and the possibility of his relationship with the country dragging him down in his political survival.  Trisha Craig, Vice President (Engagement) and Senior Lecturer of Social Sciences (Sociology and Political Science), Yale-NUS College give us an analysis of those headlines and more.

You might be on the lookout for personalised service and good customer experience when you’re out dining, or on a vacation.  But did you know that even the manufacturing industry is looking to increase their ‘human touch’ to serve customers better? Founded in 2021, our guest for today is Phasio, which is an end-to-end manufacturing interface for precision engineering firms.  The platform supports collaboration between manufacturers and customers by allowing both parties to view and comment on the topics such as the design of parts.  Manufacturers can also personalise the orders through the platform, including offering tailored pricing for different orders. But how does it work exactly, and how big of a market gap is Phasio trying to fill with its solution? Meanwhile, the firm raised US$2.5 million in October in a seed round led by VC firm Airtree Ventures. Investors who took part in the round included 500 Global, Entrepreneur First and private investment office Gattaca Ventures.  Question is – what is the strategic value provided by this group of investors and how does the additional funding position the firm for future growth in Asia and Europe? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Sudharshan Raman, Co-founder and Chief Product Offiicer, Phasio.

What is the Singapore spirit? Is this narrative only attainable by the young athletes from sports and elite schools with ample opportunities to train, perform, and win national championships? What about our aspiring sportsmen from neighbourhood schools, who don’t see themselves represented in inter-school games due to the lack of resources, awareness, and opportunities?  With three Sports Academies, Ray Kua, a former Singaporean naval-diver and  currently coach and founder of 3 private sports academies - SwimRay, TripleThreat and GoalKick. is making quality coaching accessible for all Singaporean students and young athletes. We speak to him to find more! Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg | raushan@sph.com.sg

The World's 50 Best Bars held its 15th annual award ceremony in Singapore this year and this is the first time the announcement took place outside of Europe.   Barcelona's Sips took the crown for the world's best bar in 2023, while three Singapore bars managed to secure well-deserved spots, with Jigger and Pony leading the charge as the 14th best bar in the world. So what does it take to be crowned the world’s best bar? William Drew, Director of Content, 50 Best shares his thoughts.

A stroke, sometimes called a brain attack, occurs when something blocks blood supply to part of the brain or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts. What are the factors that can lead to stroke risk? And how can you tell a stroke is about to happen?  Dr Carol Tham, Senior Consultant, Department of Neurology, National Neuroscience Institute shares more. 

Singapore shares pulled back at the open today following another day of overnight losses on Wall Street and Europe. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.3 per cent to 3,089.14 points after 32.3 million securities changed hands in the broader market. In terms of companies to watch today, we have Keppel Corporation. The company yesterday reported in a business update that its Q3 net profit was “stronger” year on year, but did not disclose a profit figure.  Meanwhile, from how Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments at the Economic Club of New York are weighing on the Singapore stock market to more on DBS Paylah’s service disruptions,  the local market is in focus today. On Market View, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked the developments withSunny Soh, Lead Technical Analyst (Capital Markets & Investor Education), SIAS.

It is no secret Generative AI applications like ChatGPT are causing an impact on our lives. According to a recent research by Blackberry, 75 percent of organisations worldwide are currently implementing or considering bans on ChatGPT and other Generative AI applications within the workplace. But would the banning of Generative AI applications on work devices be too extreme of a move?  Christine Gadsby, Vice President, Product Security Operations, BlackBerry shares her views. 

The certificate of entitlement (COE) premium for the Open category breached the $150,000 mark at the latest tender exercise to close at a new all-time high of $152,000. What has caused prices of COEs to skyrocket over the last few years? And is it time for the government to review the system?  Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares his views. 

Despite being 38 and supposedly in the twilight of his career, Cristiano Ronaldo shows no signs of letting up topping the 2023 goal scorers' charts, with 40 goals for club and country - taking his career tally to 859! Well we had to go out and get a bonafide goalscorer to get his opinion - and who else but a man who scored 363 goals in a 27 year-career, including 24 for his adopted home of Singapore. And mind you, the first in his national team colours came when he was 37-years young! It’s the one and only, Aleksandar Duric. Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg | raushan@sph.com.sg

Have you planned on where you are heading next for a holiday in 2024?Skyscanner's Travel Trends 2024 has found that the ‘vibe’ of the destination also plays a huge part in Singaporeans picking their next holiday destination.  What does the word ‘vibe’ mean for us in this context? And is ‘revenge travel’ over for us?  Cyndi Hui, Travel Expert, Skyscanner shares her thoughts.