People who think about ageing the most are in their 30s, while those in their 70s worry the least about growing old, said a study by global consultancy firm McCann Worldgroup. It also found that people in their 20s fear death the most.

Titled The Truth About Age, the report, launched in Tokyo last week, polled 24,000 people across 35 countries, including the ageing societies of Japan and South Korea.

The study also polled 500 Singaporeans, and the findings largely conform to the global norms: Younger Singaporeans are more stressed out about ageing and afraid of dying than older people.

The report found that stereotypes are very much skewed towards common perceptions of how people of a certain age should look or behave, despite age having “undeniably become a much less reliable predictor” of style, success, health or attitudes.

“Age in this modern world is wildly complicated,” said Ms Suzanne Powers, global chief strategy officer of the McCann Worldgroup. “But it is still one of the most useful and simplest measures that we have. Facebook has over 50 options for gender, but our age is our age – we can lie about it but we can’t change it.”

Among the Singaporeans polled, nearly half of those under the age of 30 said they constantly worry about growing older, compared with 36 per cent of those aged above 50. Almost six in 10 Singaporeans aged below 30 agreed with the statement, “I’m afraid of dying”, compared with three in 10 of those above the age of 50.

One Singaporean respondent in his 20s said: “Ageing for me is not just about retiring nor is it simply about ‘getting old’. For me, it’s about making sure I’m financially stable and able to support my loved ones. This is the most important thing when I think about the future.”

In contrast, nearly 70 per cent of Singaporeans aged above 50 said they “feel positive” about the idea of ageing. One Singaporean respondent in her 70s was quoted as saying: “I’m not retired. I’m not working either. But when people ask me if I’m retired, I say no!

“I’m still walking around, I’m still active and I’m living my life.”

Summing up the report’s key takeaway, Ms Powers said: “Ageing isn’t just for the old, living isn’t just for the young.”

50% 

Among the Singaporeans polled, nearly half of those under the age of 30 said they constantly worry about growing older, compared with 36 per cent of those aged above 50.

Almost six in 10 aged below 30 agreed with the statement, “I’m afraid of dying”, compared with three in 10 of those above the age of 50.

The report was launched in Tokyo in recognition of Japan’s rapidly ageing population.

“Traditionally, the ageing conversation has been reserved for those above 65, but it should not be about a particular demographic, but about the process,” Ms Powers said. “It goes far beyond the number we attach to ourselves.”

Like all female imperial family members, Mako, who is Emperor Akihito’s eldest granddaughter, forfeits her status upon marriage to a commoner under a controversial tradition. The law does not apply to royal males.

But at a televised press conference held to announce her engagement, she told the nation that she felt “really happy”.

“I was aware since my childhood that I’ll leave a royal status once I marry,” she said. “While I worked to help the emperor and fulfill duties as a royal family member as much as I can, I’ve been cherishing my own life.”

Her fianci, Kei Komuro, a telegenic 25-year-old who works at a law firm and once won a tourism promotion contest to be crowned “Prince of the Sea”, said he had proposed to her more than three years ago.

He described Mako as someone who quietly watches over him “like the moon”.

The princess said his smile was “like the sun.”

The announcement had originally been planned for July but the couple decided to postpone it out of consideration for a southern region hit by heavy rains and flooding in the month.

An official of the Imperial Household Agency said their wedding will take place after the summer of 2018.

Mako, 25, is the eldest daughter of Prince Akishino, Akihito’s second son.

The law removing her royal status upon marriage does not apply to male royals, with Akihito and both his sons wedded to commoners, who are now part of the monarchy.

The news of the engagement has intensified a debate on whether the law should be changed so women born into the imperial family can continue in their royal roles.

That could help increase the number of potential male heirs to a monarchy that does not allow females to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Traditionalists, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, strenuously oppose such changes, even though Japan has occasionally been ruled by female sovereigns in past centuries.

In June, the parliament enacted legislation to allow Akihito, 83, to step down in favour of Naruhito, his eldest son. Emperor Akihito’s retirement will be the first imperial abdication in more than two centuries.

That will put his younger brother Akishino next in line, followed by Hisahito, Akishino’s son.

But after that there are no more eligible males, meaning the centuries-old succession would be broken if Hisahito fails to have a son in the future.

Some have suggested returning royal status to families who were stripped of it under a sweeping reform during the US occupation of Japan after World War II.

The operation is the biggest evacuation of its kind in post-war Germany, Frankfurt’s security chief Markus Frank said.

The 1.8-tonne British bomb, which German media said was nicknamed “Wohnblockknacker” — or blockbuster — for its ability to wipe out whole streets and flatten buildings, was discovered on Tuesday during building works.

A blue tent covers a British World War II bomb that was found during construction works, on August 31, 2017 in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. // AFP PHOTO

Police have since been guarding the bomb site, which is close to the city centre and just some 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) north of the main Zeil shopping area.

A woman pulls suitcases as she leaves her appartment in the evacuation area in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on September 3, 2017. // AFP PHOTO

Homes and buildings within a 1.5-kilometre radius of the site were due to be cleared by 0600 GMT, but some people were still in the evacuation zone mid-morning when police carried out door-to-door checks.

At one building where officers were ringing the doorbells and using loudspeakers to announce the evacuation, a man and a woman emerged, saying they were unaware they were in the affected district.

Others had packed their bags and were ready to head out for a full day, as residents are required to stay away until around 1800 GMT.

David Hoffmann, 29, who works at a bank, was putting away his luggage in his car.

“I have the essentials with me — the most important documents,” he said, complaining that he had received no leaflets about the evacuation.

Claudia Schmitt, 61, who also works at a bank, was planning to go to the city’s exhibition hall which has been turned into emergency lodgings.

“I have a book with me, the autobiography of Bruce Springsteen. 600 pages,” she said.

 – Bankers, babies –

The Westend district is home to many of Frankfurt’s top bankers, including European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, who is known however to spend his weekends away from the German city.

Two major hospitals are also within the evacuation zone, including one with a big ward of newborns. Staff at the affected hospitals had transferred patients and infants to other medical centres on Saturday.

The massive bomb in question is an HC 4000, a high capacity explosive used in air raids by Britain’s Royal Air Force during World War II and contains 1.4 tonnes of explosives.

Although police have said there is no immediate danger, the bomb’s massive size prevents them from taking any chances during the disarming process.

More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are regularly found buried in Germany, legacies of the intense bombing campaigns by the Allied forces against Nazi Germany.

On Saturday, 21,000 people had to be evacuated from the western city of Koblenz as bomb disposal experts defused an unexploded American World War II shell.

An elderly woman speaks with policemen as evacuation measures are under way in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on September 3, 2017. // AFP PHOTO

In May, 50,000 residents were forced to leave their homes in the northern city of Hanover for an operation to defuse several WWII-era bombs.

One of the biggest such evacuations to date took place on Christmas Day 2016, when another unexploded British bomb, containing 1.8 tonnes of explosives, prompted the evacuation of 54,000 people in the southern city of Augsburg.

It is unlikely that new HDB block rooftops, designed to make the installation of solar panels faster and cheaper, will translate to lower conservancy fees for residents any time soon.

Nevertheless, MPs and residents told The Straits Times that solar- ready rooftops – which the Housing Board announced on Friday would be incorporated into all new projects – are necessary in ensuring that Singapore’s energy goals for the long run can be met.

Currently, 944 of Singapore’s 10,000 HDB blocks have solar panels. HDB, which embarked on its solar capability journey in 2008, hopes to install panels on 5,500 blocks by 2020.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan, chairman of the Marine Parade Town Council, said the 110 blocks with solar panels in his GRC have resulted in some cost savings, though not significant enough to lower service and conservancy charges (S&CC).

This is because the bulk of a town council’s funds still go to cleaning costs and lift maintenance, he said.

He added: “Of course, everyone wants lower fees. The question is whether it is sustainable to upkeep the estate in the long run. With so many lifts, I think it is quite difficult to do so.”

Another reason conservancy fees are unlikely to come down is the cost of installing and maintaining solar panels.

While town councils do not bear the costs upfront – private developers of solar panels do – the capital outlay is substantial and will have to be recovered over time through selling excess electricity generated to the grid, said Nee Soon GRC MP and engineer Lee Bee Wah.

Under HDB’s solar leasing model implemented in 2011, town councils purchase solar power generated by the panels at a rate not higher than the retail electricity tariff. Meanwhile, companies recover costs by selling the excess electricity that is not used to power common services like lights and lifts.

Excess solar energy enough to power about 10,000 four-room HDB flats is exported to the grid every month, HDB said.

Mr Ang Wei Neng, chairman of the Jurong-Clementi Town Council, pointed out that using more renewable energy sources would help slow down the rate of S&CC increases in the near term. The bulk of town councils raised their fees in June, with a second increase set to take place next year.

“The town council and residents benefit by not having to pay to light up the corridors and common areas, which are costs that can add up over the years,” Mr Ang said.

By 2020, Singapore hopes to attain 350 megawatt peak, the maximum amount of solar power that can be generated under optimum conditions.

This means that, in theory, about 5 per cent of Singapore’s energy needs can be met via solar energy. In reality, given the possibility of cloudy or rainy days, this would yield enough output to fuel only 1 per cent of the country’s total energy consumption.

But the Government is looking beyond 2020 and at raising the adoption of solar power here to 1 gigawatt peak, through technological improvements and more panels, among other things.

Eco-Business managing editor Jessica Cheam noted that Singapore can achieve more on the solar capability front, especially as costs of installing panels decrease.

“Although the global economy – including Singapore’s – is still reliant on fossil fuels in the short term, it is encouraging to see both the public and private sectors making efforts to accelerate the transition into renewable energy. It makes both economic and environment sense,” she said.

The pilot for solar-ready roofs began at the six-block Punggol Edge, which resident Delson Lee welcomed. But he also hoped that any cost savings would be passed on to residents. “The cost savings may not be significant now, but we are talking about 20 years from now. Depending on how great the savings are eventually, I think residents should be entitled to rebates every one or two years,” he said.

 His surprise arrest raises the stakes as Hun Sen’s political opponents, NGOs and the critical press are smothered by court cases and threats ahead of a crunch general election next year.

Hun Sen is determined to extend his three decade rule and withstand the burgeoning popularity of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

The government statement alleged “a secret plan of conspiracy between Kem Sokha, his group, and foreigners that harms Cambodia,” adding he was arrested early Sunday.

“The above secret conspiracy is the act of treason,” the statement said, without giving further details of the alleged crime.

Kem Sokha is the leader of the CNRP which has been battered by court cases, bans and threats against its key figures.

He was handcuffed and “taken away by 100-200 police without warrant after they raided his home,” his daughter Kem Monovithya said in a Twitter post.

On Saturday night, a pro-government website — Fresh News — alleged that Kem Sokha had discussed overthrowing Hun Sen with support from the United States.

It did not provide any evidence for the claim.

Last week the US expressed “deep concern” over the state of Cambodia’s democracy after the government there ordered out an American NGO and pursued a crackdown on independent media.

Among the media in the firing line is the well respected Cambodia Daily, which often criticises the government.

It faces closure on Monday if it fails to pay a $6.3 million tax bill, a threat it says is a political move to muzzle its critical reporting.

Relief agencies, including WFP, have repeatedly been accused by Myanmar authorities of allowing their rations to fall into the hands of Rohingya militants, whose attacks on police posts on August 25 sparked the current violence.

Around 120,000 people — most of them Rohingya Muslim civilians — have relied on aid hand-outs in camps since 2012, when religious riots killed scores and sparked a crisis which is again burning through the state.

Over the last five years Rakhine state has been cut along ethnic and religious lines, but the current violence is the worst yet.

Aid agencies are routinely accused of a pro-Rohingya bias and the sudden flare-up of unrest has renewed safety concerns, prompting relief work to be pulled back.

“All WFP food assistance operations in Rakhine State have been suspended due to insecurity… affecting 250,000 internally displaced and other most vulnerable populations,” the WFP said in statement.

“We are coordinating with the authorities to resume distributions for all affected communities as soon as possible, including for any people newly affected by the current unrest.”

The Rohingya, branded illegal immigrants in Myanmar and mostly denied citizenship, make up the vast majority of the dead and displaced since 2012.

In the ongoing bout of violence, 40,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, according to the UN.

Tens of thousands have been turned away by Bangladeshi border officials, while scores have died trying to cross the Naf river — a natural frontier between the two countries — in basic boats and even on flotsam.

On Friday, Myanmar’s army chief said nearly 400 people have died in the violence, among them 370 Rohingya militants, and 11,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and other minority groups have also been internally displaced.

‘Humanitarian catastrophe’

Accounts from Rohingya survivors in Bangladesh and Buddhists who fled to Sittwe, the Rakhine state capital, indicate the death toll may be much higher.

The worst-hit areas are off-limits to reporters. But unverifiable testimony has trickled out, telling of tit-for-tat mass killings and villages being torched by the army and the militants.

As violence spins out of control, food and medical relief have been stopped to many already languishing in basic camps, according to the Pierre Peron, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“Humanitarian aid normally goes to these vulnerable people for a very good reason, because they depend on it,” he said in a statement, adding disruption to the relief chain “has a very real human impact.”

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Friday warned the spiral of violence could lead to a “humanitarian catastrophe” and urged Myanmar’s government to provide security for aid agencies to reach those in need.

Shortly before his comments, aid groups were again spotlighted by army chief Min Aung Hlaing, whose office said WFP-labelled food and medicines had been found with dead militants.

The militants are fighting under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), who say they are defending their minority group from persecution by Myanmar.

The ARSA emerged as a force in October last year when their attacks killed Myanmar border police, prompting a crackdown by security forces which the UN says may have amounted to ethnic cleansing.

In Seoul, the presidential Blue House spokesman confirmed that US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in agreed to enhance the country’s deterrence against North Korea by boosting its missile capabilities.

Pyongyang fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan early on Tuesday, which it said was a mere “curtain-raiser” for the North’s “resolute countermeasures” against ongoing US-South Korean military drills.

It came as US and South Korean forces were nearing the end of the 10-day annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint exercises, which the North regards as a rehearsal for invasion.

Trump has insisted that “all options” are on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action, while on Thursday US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea intended as a show of force.

Trump and Moon spoke on the phone Friday about North Korean’s “continued destabilizing and escalatory behavior,” the White House said in a statement.

“The two leaders agreed to strengthen our alliance through defense cooperation and to strengthen South Korea’s defense capabilities.

“President Trump provided his conceptual approval of planned purchases by South Korea of billions of dollars in American military equipment.”

Park Soo-hyun, the spokesman for Seoul’s presidential office, said the leaders had reached an agreement in principle to loosen — “to the extent hoped by the South Korean side” — limits on the South’s ballistic missile capability.

Under a bilateral agreement with the United States, Seoul is currently restricted to ballistic missiles with a maximum range of 800 kilometres (500 miles) and payload of 500 kilogrammes (1100 pounds).

The South wants the maximum warhead weight doubled to one tonne, and the Pentagon has said it was “actively” considering the revision.

Signed with the US in 2001 — the year South Korea joined the MissileTechnology Control Regime (MTCR) — the agreement initially limited Seoul to rockets with a range of just 300 kilometres, due to US concerns about triggering a regional arms race in Northeast Asia.

However, after a long-range rocket test by North Korea in 2012, Seoul managed to negotiate the near three-fold increase in the range limit to 800 kilometers, putting North Korean military facilities which were previously out of range within reach, as well as parts of China and Japan.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang.

Calls are also mounting in South Korea for Seoul to build nuclear weapons of its own to defend itself as nuclear-armed North Korea’s missile stand-off with the US escalates.

The South, which hosts 28,500 US troops to defend it, is banned from building its own nuclear weapons under a 1974 atomic energy deal it signed with Washington, which instead offers a “nuclear umbrella” against potential attacks.

Park said the two leaders reaffirmed the need to bring Pyongyang back to dialogue by applying maximum sanctions and pressure.

However, Trump said after the latest missile test that negotiations with Pyongyang were “not the answer.”

Singapore was the second largest Asian investor in offshore real estate in the first half of the year after China, according to analysis by CBRE.

Singapore-based institutional investors, property companies and private equity ploughed US$6.8 billion (S$9.24 billion) into global real estate, up 20 per cent from US$5.6 billion a year ago. That figure is a little more than half of the US$12.7 billion invested in office, retail, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, residential and other commercial sectors in 2016.

For China, outbound investment in real estate in the first half-year more than doubled to US$25.6 billion versus US$10.1 billion for the same period in 2016.

Top destinations for Singapore capital in the first half of 2017 include the United States (US$2.4 billion), China (US$1.2 billion) and Australia (US$635 million).

Across the region, Asian outbound investment into offshore real estate saw significant year-on-year gains in the first half of 2017.

About US$45.2 billion of Asian outbound capital was directly invested into global property in the first half of 2017, according to CBRE, representing a 98.4 per cent rise year-on-year against US$22.8 billion allocated in the first half of 2016.

Outbound investment from China remains the region’s largest despite heightened regulation and capital controls, with Chinese sovereign wealth funds emerging as the largest single outbound investor class in the first half of 2017.

But China-based property companies and conglomerates have also been considerable buyers of offshore real estate assets in the first six months of 2017.

Ms Yvonne Siew, CBRE’s executive director of Global Capital Markets – Asia Pacific, said: “Singapore investors are poised to become major beneficiaries of heightened China capital controls. With the anticipated slowdown of outbound Chinese capital, Singapore investors have shown clear signs that they are both capitalised and confident enough to pursue outbound targets to both diversify portfolios and offset a competitive domestic landscape.”

A new round of capital controls issued by China’s State Council, or Chinese Cabinet, and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) was issued on Aug 18, with a focus on offshore real estate investments.

But this regulatory move may not affect China’s medium- to longer-term appetite for outbound investment, according to CBRE.

“Our data shows that China remained the largest source of cross-border commercial real estate investment capital (both new and capital already circulating offshore) from Asia in first half of 2017,” said Mr Robert Fong, director of research, CBRE Asia.

“New regulations should help to ensure that future outbound investment is more financially sound and strategically focused, but the impact of Chinese capital on key global real estate markets should continue for some time.”

The 102 female police officers and soldiers sent to this battle-scarred capital of Lanao del Sur were well aware of their daunting task in helping residents of this city, which was attacked by terrorists, recover quickly.

Insp. Jecille Ibañez said most of them, deployed here as part of the joint civil relations team of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), were excited to work with evacuees in rehabilitation and recovery efforts.

But Ibañez said they were also aware that the job would not be easy largely due to perceptions that the military and the police were responsible for the destruction of Marawi.

Displacement

The fighting between government forces and Islamic State-inspired terrorists who took over sections of the city on May 23 entered is 100th day on Wednesday and had displaced nearly 500,000 people from the city and nearby areas.

Ibañez, a Bohol native whose last assignment was in Maguindanao province, said her fellow soldiers knew that they would have a hard time dealing with some of the evacuees.

“We expect that it will be more difficult to dialogue with them, especially so that they see us as the enemy, that we are to blame for what happened to Marawi,” she added.

But Ibañez assured that she and the more than 100 policewomen and female soldiers sent here would take the extra effort to make people understand what really happened to their hometown.

“We will explain to them … that we in the government are willing to help, whatever the cost may be,” she said.

Ibañez said their deployment here was meant to show the people that the government was with them as they prepared to rise from the devastation.

Ibañez said they wore white hijabs (head scarves) as a way to demonstrate this. “It is one way of showing [our] respect to the Muslim culture. It is an honor to wear it,” she added.

Helping women

First Lt. Ginalyn Peña, a native of Pulacan town in Zamboanga del Sur province, said her assignment here was an opportunity to help those most affected by the fighting.

“Helping them is a big opportunity and it will also show them that women can do many things, even in the event of a crisis,” Peña said.

The team arrived here on Tuesday via the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental province. Its members were taken from various AFP and PNP units in the country and underwent training for two weeks on psychosocial intervention before their deployment.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said the military and the police thought of sending women here to help the government determine the needs of the displaced, especially those vulnerable like children, women and the elderly.

“We conceived the idea of forming an all-woman group because of [cultural sensitivity, because] men cannot mingle with women [here],” Galvez added.

He said the deployment indicated that the fighting and clearing operations were coming to an end.

“But the most important work after this crisis is really recovery and rehabilitation and bringing back normalcy in Marawi City. These female soldiers and policewomen will play a big part in it,” Galvez added.

German display materials maker Merck on Friday unveiled a new textile facade concept combining organic photovoltaics and organic light-emitting diodes technologies at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.

The facade concept was prepared by Merck in partnership with OledWorks, OPVIUS and South Korean chemicals company Kolon.

German architects Nikolaus Hirsch and Michel Muller as well as New York-based Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija designed the work as part of their ongoing project called “The Land.”

Titled “Do We Dream Under The Same Sky,” the facade has been designed to “produce energy and emit light using advanced OPV and OLED technology, while seamlessly combining natural beauty with innovative design,” according to Merck.

The shingle-like facade is suspended from a series of four-meter long bamboo tubes, which symbolises oriental elegance, integrity and simplicity, the firm said.

After being featured at the Seoul Biennale in 2017, the facade concept will pass through multiple exhibitions in Germany and arrive at the final destination or “The Land” near Chiang Mai, Thailand where the prototype will be expanded to a 400 square metre building for research and a workshop.

“Merck material solutions show the capability to combine innovative technologies, transform architecture and extend the realm of possibilities,” said Martina Hueber, Head of Global Operative Marketing OLED at Merck.