The Straits Times Podcasts

Synopsis: The Straits Times analyses Singapore's latest news and announcements in this weekly podcast.  The Straits Times' Zakir Hussain, Singapore editor at The Straits Times, speaks with Money FM 89.3's Timothy Goh and Melissa Hyak. The team discusses how Changi Airport Terminal 2 will reopen progressively from May 29 as the air hub prepares to meet an expected increase in passenger traffic in t...

Synopsis: The Straits Times' executive editor Sumiko Tan gets up close with newsmakers over lunch - and a selfie. Lai Chang Wen, Boxian Tan and Shaun Chong started logistics company Ninja Van in 2014. They share with Executive Editor Sumiko Tan their three rules for a harmonious work life. Read Sumiko Tan's full stories here: https://str.sg/Jbhe Lunch With Sumiko videos: https://str.sg/wPrB   Prod...

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, get our tips on working smarter, getting ahead in your career and investing like a pro with ST's business correspondents and editors. They say the ones pitching against women at workplaces aren't men, but women who have crossed the bridge of success and decided to blow it up. Do such women exist and why? What are working women up against at the...

Synopsis: The Straits Times examines the ins and outs of pop culture in the Asian entertainment and Hollywood scene. The defamation suit between former Hollywood couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have put the ugly details of their marriage out for public scrutiny. The two stars were married briefly from 2015 to 2016, after dating for several years. In 2018, Heard wrote an op-ed in The Washington...

Synopsis: On the third Friday of every month, The Straits Times examines various facets of the US-China rivalry and its implications for Asia.  Join Charissa Yong and Danson Cheong - ST’s US and China correspondents respectively based in Washington DC and Beijing - as they chat about the US and China, and their ongoing courtship of South-east Asia and Asean. May 12 and 13 saw US President Biden ho...

Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Today, there are countless distractions keeping us up at night and stopping us from having a good night's sleep. Yet, sleep is one of the three pillars of a healthy lifestyle (nutrition and exercise are the other two), and in recent years, there has been much interest i...

Synopsis: In this special series, The Straits Times dives into some of the greatest unsolved mysteries in South-east Asia, and examines the underlying issues that they exposed. In this episode, we find out what might have happened to 'Ourang Medan' a distressed vessel sailing the Strait of Malacca in the 1930s - 1940s and the gruesome but mysterious death of its crew. ST's Indonesia correspondent...

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change. Nuclear energy is a controversial source of energy that is gaining prominence globally,  including in Singapore as a potential solution to tackling climate change. Nuclear is considered a clean form of energy as the generation proce...

Synopsis: A monthly literary podcast by The Straits Times featuring titles in the headlines and sizzling reads. In the latest episode of this literary podcast, The Straits Times journalists Olivia Ho and Toh Wen Li take on six books shortlisted for the International Booker Prize – from Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk’s sweeping novel The Books Of Jacob to Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb Of Sand, the first H...

Synopsis: The Straits Times' executive editor Sumiko Tan gets up close with newsmakers over lunch - and a selfie. Lab-grown chicken or plant-based eggs, anyone? Eat Just, an American food tech company, is setting up facilities in Singapore. CEO Josh Tetrick explains why he's on a mission to change how the world eats in Lunch with Sumiko.  Read Sumiko Tan's full stories here: https://str.sg/Jbhe Lu...

Synopsis: The Straits Times' opinion editor Grace Ho takes a hard look at political and social issues of the day with her expert guests.  In this episode, the first of two parts, she looks at whether a family of four in Singapore needs $6,426 a month for a basic standard of living.  In the studio to explain the study and its methodology are Associate Professor Teo You Yenn, associate professor at...

Synopsis: Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times tackles Singapore's national sports talking points. In this episode, SEA Games-bound ST sports desk quartet Sazali Abdul Aziz, Kimberly Kwek, Laura Chia and Deepanraj Ganesan share their thoughts on how Team Singapore will fare at the May 12-23 regional multi-sport competition. Highlights (click/tap above): 0:49 Is a medal...

Synopsis: The Straits Times analyses Singapore's latest news and announcements in this weekly podcast.  Zakir Hussain, Singapore editor at The Straits Times, speaks with Money FM 89.3's Timothy Goh and Melissa Hyak. The team recaps Parliament updates on the recent revelations that 11 aspiring lawyers had cheated in the 2020 Bar exam known as Part B. They also discuss the relaxed Covid-19 restricti...

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, get our tips on working smarter, getting ahead in your career and investing like a pro with ST's business correspondents and editors. In this episode, we talk about hot-desking, the changing out of permanent desks for workers to shared furniture and spaces.  One wouldn't guess that workers could get all emotional over desk space, but that is exa...

Synopsis: This podcast series is based on selected chapters from a book, detailing Singapore’s experience battling the Covid-19 pandemic. The book - written by journalists of The Straits Times and edited by ST’s executive editor Sumiko Tan - is titled In This Together: Singapore's Covid-19 Story and is available in major bookstores now. Details online: https://www.stbooks.sg/ In this f...

Synopsis: The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar chats with ST’s correspondents in the Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe every month. They talk about life as it goes on, amid the screaming headlines and bubbling crises. In this episode, she chats with ST's India correspondent Debarshi Dasgupta.  In December 2021, passengers boarded the Shri Ramayana Express, a special train that cover...

Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. We continue the conversation on sleep in this episode. Sleep is one of the three pillars of a healthy lifestyle and there has been much interest in how we can sleep better in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up our daily routines, with so many people still...

Synopsis: This is a special-edition podcast series by The Straits Times to raise greater public awareness of the modern scourge of scams in Singapore and globally. In Singapore, nearly $1 billion has been lost by scam victims since 2016. Mutating and spreading, different types of scams have infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from romance to work. The police are cracking down on offenders. What...

Synopsis: In this special episode, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar speaks with Mr Eric Schmidt, the former Google chairman who started the philanthropic initiative Schmidt Futures. Mr Schmidt, 67, was chief executive of Google (2001-11) and executive chairman of the firm and its successor Alphabet (2011-17). The billionaire now runs Schmidt Futures, a New York-based philanthr...

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change. The world’s top climate science body recently (April 4) released a how-to guide for reducing greenhouse gas emissions fuelling climate change. Turns out, humanity has many tools at its disposal, from greener buildings, to renewable...

Synopsis: The Straits Times' opinion editor Grace Ho takes a hard look at political and social issues of the day with her expert guests.  In this episode, she and her guest - ST's associate editor Chua Mui Hoong - look at Singapore's fourth generation (4G) leadership renewal with Finance Minister Lawrence Wong at the helm, what the 4G's refresh of the social compact could look like, and who could...

Synopsis: The Straits Times tackles the biggest sports talking points every month. In this episode, ST sports correspondents Sazali Abdul Aziz and David Lee discuss two coaching appointments which have gotten local football fans talking recently. Takayuki Nishigaya was named the new Singapore national team head coach on April 25, with the Football Association of Singapore's appointment courting cr...

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change. In this episode, The Straits Times environment correspondent Audrey Tan and climate change editor David Fogarty talk about how the reinsurance industry can push for greater climate action. They speak with Mr Mark Senkevics, head of...

Synopsis: The Straits Times tackles the biggest sports talking points every month. In this episode, ST sports correspondent Sazali Abdul Aziz chats with national pencak silat exponent Sheik Farhan, who is the flagbearer for the Team Singapore contingent for the May 12-23 SEA Games in Hanoi. He talks about the honour of being picked, what the SEA Games means to him, his targets in Hanoi, and his jo...

Synopsis: The Straits Times analyses Singapore's latest news and announcements.  New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recently visited Singapore on April 18, her first overseas visit since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was her second visit here as New Zealand prime minister, after the first one in 2019. Often publicly seen as New Zealand's people-person PM, Ms Adern sat down with T...