Breakfast with Ryan Huang, Emaad Akhtar and Audrey Siek

The world is watching closely as China kicks off its annual "two sessions", which typically last between one and two weeks. This comes as the country is set to unveil its largest leadership reshuffle in a decade in the coming days. Victor Gao, Chair Professor, Soochow University and Director at the China National Association of International Studies shares his perspective on the Chinese leadership and its priorities.  [Find Us on Podcast Platforms] Awedio | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | OmnyStudio [Contact Us] Presenters: Lynlee Foo Producer: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

According to data from analytics platform Handshakes, out of 63,801 new corporate entities formed here last year, 29 per cent were foreign-owned. Many Chinese companies have quietly registered in Singapore over the past 12 months in a bid to hedge against rising geopolitical risk as tensions between Beijing and Washington escalate. Xu Le, lecturer at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School’s Department of Strategy and Policy shares her insights on what makes Singapore such an attractive hub for foreign owned corporate entities.

Search and rescue work in disaster stricken regions has always been challenging. But did you know that the work of these aid workers can be eased with damage proxy maps? Associate Professor Yun Sang-Ho, Director at NTU Singapore’s Earth Observatory of Singapore & Remote Sensing Lab whose team created that within hours after the recent earthquakes hit Turkiye and Syria shares more with the Breakfast team. [Find Us on Podcast Platforms] Awedio | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | OmnyStudio [Contact Us] Presenters: Lynlee Foo Producer: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for National Development & Finance helps us join the dots behind Singapore’s urban planning and how that fits into the bigger picture of the city’s longer-term development goals. 1:36 - We saw robust discussion in Parliament at the National Development Ministry’s Committee of Supply debate. What stood out for you?  2:11 - One particular worry that came through from several MPs that they highlighted - is the market impact of higher housing grants on the price of resale flats, especially in light of the buoyant resale market and recent concerns over affordability of resale flats. How much can property cooling measures help in curtailing prices? 3:40 - Minister, this time round, we saw a slew of housing initiatives targeted at young families. Can you give us a sense of the feedback you’ve gotten from young parents - how have their needs evolved and to what extent do the initiatives address their key concerns? 5:17 - Moving on to another area of interest is the seniors. And this is an area I'm finding quite interesting because it's around what's called the Community Care apartments. This is a joint offering by MND, MOH and HDB, that expands the housing options for seniors, so it involves integrating the senior-friendly housing with care services. So there's a pilot project and we can see it happening in Bedok later this year, a third one, and later on in the pipeline of other locations as well. So what factors will the MND be taking into account when deciding the location or some of these pilots? 7:16 - Let's talk about the bigger plan in terms of land use. The Long-Term Plan Review, which sets out our goals in the next 50 years, concluded last year, and we’re now heading into the next bound of planning - the Master Plan Review, which will cover detailed land use and plans to help us get there. You’ve said that this will center on liveability. How exactly would you define that keeping in mind evolving needs? And could you let us in on examples of what some of these plans might entail?  9:52 - Minister, you alluded to this a bit earlier, how we are making a push towards becoming greener in some sense, because you've detailed some plans to raise targets in lines of efforts to restore nature into our urban landscape, in particular, to restore 80 hectares of forests, coastal and marine habitats by 2030. Can you give us a sense, how do you approach this challenge because we've got a backdrop in Singapore that is increasingly becoming more built-up but at the same time we're trying to find space for all this greenery. [Find Us on Podcast Platforms] Awedio | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | OmnyStudio [Contact Us] Presenters: Lynlee Foo, Ryan Huang Producer: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

Pan Jingyi, Economics Associate Director, S&P Global Market Intelligence discusses the if conditions are likely to worsen after Singapore's composite PMI reading lowered from 51.2 in January to 49.6 in February. Sliding below the 50.0 neutral threshold, the PMI signaled a renewed deterioration in private sector conditions. 

In Singapore’s move towards a Smart Nation, many seniors, who are less tech-savvy, are the hardest hit. And as banks move increasingly towards digital-first services and cut down the number of service counters at physical branches, these seniors are struggling to do their banking transactions. It gets worse for those who are non-english speaking. How can we help them? We find out from Kevin Wu, Co-Founder and Managing Director, A.I. Rudder- a Singapore-based Voice A.I. startup that provides automated multilingual support solutions, including dialects. This podcast is produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg)

Why Australia's Prime Minister is rooting for song and dance to be accepted as essential to the Australian way of life. Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar chats with ST’s correspondents in the Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe. They talk about life as it goes on, amid the screaming headlines and bubbling crises.  In this episode, she chats with ST’s correspondent in Australia, Jonathan Pearlman. Highlights (click/tap above): 1:00 Why the rugby-loving Australian PM Anthony Albanese cares about the arts 3:15 How big is the arts scene Down Under? 5:55 'DJ' Albo’s plans to raise the arts quotient 8:08 Is there a profit motive? 10:00 No more 'starving' artists? Read article: https://str.sg/ikT2 Produced by: Bhagyashree Garekar (bhagya@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani Follow Letter From The Bureau Podcast every first Friday of the month on our Asian Insider Podcast channel here: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Read Bhagyashree Garekar’s articles: https://str.sg/whNo Read Jonathan Pearlman's articles: https://str.sg/whNJ Read ST's Letters From The Bureau: https://str.sg/3xRd Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters --- Discover more ST podcast channels: In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX Discover ST Podcasts: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL --- Special edition series: The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2 Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa --- Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #STAsianInsider

Alphabet is shutting down its Everyday Robots project - another casualty of job cuts at Google’s parent company and the latest in a long list of failed hardware ventures. It was launched in 2019 with an aim of designing armed robots that could help out in domestic and office settings; taking on light custodial work like sorting trash and cleaning tables. What does that mean for the smart cleaning industry? Are humans more cost effective than robots in the sector? On Mind Your Business, Lyn Lee Foo and Ryan Huang find out more Jonathan Quek, Founder and CEO of Globotix, a Singapore-based robotics startup, that is exploring how A.I. can revolutionise the cleaning industry.  This podcast is produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg)

Analysts are mixed on growing speculation of a new successor being groomed to take over North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following his 10-year-old daughter's public appearance in recent days. This comes at a time amid reports of a ‘grave’ food situation in the country.  Oh Joon, Professor of United Nations studies at Kyung Hee University and Former South Korean Ambassador to Singapore and the UN weighs in. [Find Us on Podcast Platforms] Awedio | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | OmnyStudio [Contact Us] Presenter: Lynlee Foo Producer: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) [More Podcast from MoneyFM89.3] Breakfast with Lynlee Foo, Ryan Huang and Rachel Kelly Your Money with Michelle Martin The Afternoon Update with Hongbin Jeong Drive Time with Elliott Danker, Timothy Go & Chua Tian Tian Friday Night LIVE with Neil Humphreys & Dan Koh Glenn van Zutphen on Saturday Mornings with Neil Humphreys News Headlines from The Straits Times presented by MONEY FM 89.3 Financial Updates from The Business Times presented by MONEY FM 89.3 Budget Preview by KPMG Money Fact

Henry Loh, Head of Asian Credit on the Asian Fixed Income Team at abrdn discusses how prevalent the issue of greenwashing is for Asian green bonds, how investors should go about filtering for quality, and the type of yields to expect.