It’s official: Singaporeans now hold the most powerful passport in the world.

After sharing the top spot with Germany since early this year, Singapore’s passport has taken the lead on Passport Index Global Passport Power Rank 2017 with the highest visa-free score of 159 as of Wednesday (Oct 25).

The Passport Index is the world’s reference on passports, developed by leading global advisory for residence and citizenship solutions Arton Capital.

The latest ranking comes after Paraguay removed visa requirements for Singaporeans, thus propelling Singapore’s passport to the top.

The top 10 most powerful passports in the world have historically been reserved for European nations, with Germany at the top for the past two years, according to PRNewswire.

Other Asian passports that made the top 20 are South Korea, Japan and Malaysia.

Managing Director of Arton Capital’s Singapore office the Hon. Philippe May said: “For the first time ever an Asian country has the most powerful passport in the world,”

“It is a testament of Singapore’s inclusive diplomatic relations and effective foreign policy.”

Over the years, the Passport Index has become a popular online tool to display, sort and rank the world’s passports and is the only real-time global ranking of passports.

The Index ranks national passports by the cross-border access they bring, assigning a “visa-free score” according to the number of countries a passport holder can visit visa-free or with visa on arrival.

Below is the new top 10 passport power ranking:

1. 159 – Singapore
2. 158 – Germany
3. 157 – Sweden, South Korea
4. 156 – Denmark, Finland, Italy, France, Spain, Norway, Japan, United Kingdom
5. 155 – Luxemburg, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Portugal
6. 154 – Malaysia, Ireland, Canada, United States of America
7. 153 – Austria, Greece, New Zealand
8. 152 – Malta, Czech Republic, Iceland
9. 150 – Hungary
10. 149 – Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia

ssandrea@sph.com.sg

McDonald’s Singapore and UberEATS jointly announced today their partnership, which will allow customers to order their McDonald’s meals via the UberEATS app.

“The ease of the UberEATS app will complement our existing 24-hour McDelivery platform, and provide our customers greater accessibility to their favourite McDonald’s food delivered right to their doorstep,” said Kenneth Chan, Managing Director, McDonald’s Singapore.

“In today’s collaborative economy, we aim to expand McDonald’s restaurant footprint with the combined convenience of McDelivery and UberEATS,” added Chan.

We are happy to be in bed with UberEATS!

Said Shri Chakravarathy Gopalakrishna, General Manager, Singapore & Malaysia, UberEATS:

“In our efforts to continuously add more variety and choices for our customers, we’re excited to expand our reach and deliver what they’ve been craving.”

Currently, nearly 60 outlets are on board the app, and there are plans for more to come on board by the end of the year, in a bid to broaden the delivery capacity of all 133 McDonald’s outlets in Singapore.

McDonald’s Singapore first launched their delivery service all the way back in 2002 and was the first fast food restaurant to launch a 24/7 delivery service in Singapore in 2005.

At the moment, Chan states that deliveries make up a “significant” part of their business, and the contract between both parties is “indefinite”.

Part Of A Larger Global Partnership

This partnership isn’t exclusive to Singapore and is actually part of a global partnership between the F&B and logistics giants.

It started earlier in May in the United States and has 3,500 outlets on board.

Currently, the partnership has also expanded to 13 different countries around the world.

According to Gopalakrishna, the partnership had resulted in “10-20 per cent increments […] in countries without any McDelivery services”.

Demand has also been “overwhelming (in Singapore)”, albeit its very quiet entry into the delivery market here.

No Minimum Orders, Track Deliveries, Contact Delivery Partners

Trials for the delivery service have been underway since August this year, starting at the Springleaf Tower outlet located along Anson Road.

Starting on Oct 24, customers will be able to order their McDonald’s meal via the app, with no minimum order.

The prices of the items would also be uniform between both platforms.

Just like all other deliveries made via the UberEATS app, customers will be able to track their deliveries and also contact their delivery partner when the need arises.

The standard UberEATS delivery fee of $3 still applies, and just like their ride-hailing arm, a surge will apply during times of high demand.

When asked if customers could potentially see a drop in delivery times with the partnership and increase in delivery riders, Gopalakrishna mentioned that UberEATS would, on their end, keep using their “backend to ensure [that] delivery times keep going down”.

This article was first published on Vulcan Post.

The 56-year-old part-time cabby who was involved in an accident with a McLaren sports car along Yishun Avenue 1 described his hallowing experience as a ‘brush with death’.

The accident which happened on Sunday morning (Oct 22) saw the McLaren crashing into the taxi, with both vehicles heavily damaged.

Both the cabby, Mr Ye, and the 27-year-old driver of the McLaren were conveyed conscious to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

They did not suffer without any serious injuries.

Mr Ye told Shin Min Daily News that he normally works as a lorry driver, and only drives a cab over the weekends to supplement his income.

On the day of the incident, he had parked his cab in front of a bus stop to count his earnings, intending to call it a day.

He said:

“I saw that there weren’t any cars on the road, so I lowered my seat and was intending to take a nap.

“Less than five minutes later, the McLaren crashed into my cab.

“I was sent flying, along with the taxi.

“I was so dizzy, I only realise that I had been in an accident after I was hospitalised.”

Mr Ye revealed that it was the first time he had stopped his car by the side of the road, and did not expect such a serious accident to happen.

“When I saw photos of the scene and the wreckage left behind, I felt so afraid and thankful.

“It was a brush with death.”

He said that he would be more careful after the incident, and will no longer stop his car by the side of the road.

A forklift driver who dropped steel bars on a lorry driver’s head at CWT Logistics Hub 3 at Tanjong Penjuru was sentenced to 14 months’ jail on Oct 23.

Stomp reported on the tragic accident that happened on May 9 this year after photos and videos of the incident circulated online.

The video showed the moment when the steel bars fell down on lorry driver, Amarasingam Subramaniam, 54.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

For his rash act causing death, the 52-year-old forklift driver, Tay Poh Seng was sentenced to 14 months’ jail. He pleaded guilty.

A python was seen coiled around a lamp post at Block 419 Bukit Batok West Avenue 2 yesterday (Oct 23) morning.

Pest control and the police were called in to remove the snake.

A video circulating on Facebook shows a man believed to be from a pest control company trying to nudge the python off the lamp post with a pole.

Passers-by looked on as he tried to capture the snake and exclamations were heard when the snake fell to the ground with a thud.

Two police officers came forward to help the man put the snake into a sack.

Acres says python was not removed correctly from lamp post in Bukit Batok

See 87 More Photos

FacebookTwitterWhatsAppGoogle Gmail Share

Farah Daleymail

Posted on 24 October 2017 | 8,170 views | 38 comments | 41 reading now

A python was seen coiled around a lamp post at Block 419 Bukit Batok West Avenue 2 yesterday (Oct 23) morning.

Pest control and the police were called in to remove the snake.

A video circulating on Facebook shows a man believed to be from a pest control company trying to nudge the python off the lamp post with a pole.

Passers-by looked on as he tried to capture the snake and exclamations were heard when the snake fell to the ground with a thud.

Two police officers came forward to help the man put the snake into a sack.

Acres’ deputy chief executive officer, Mr Kalai Vanan told The Straits Times that Acres did not rescue the snake and that the “handling of the snake in the video is incorrect”.

He said:

“These snakes are part of our native fauna and should be handled properly. I hope the poor python did not suffer any injuries from the fall or from being mishandled.”

He added that if anyone sees a snake, they should call Acres’ hotline at 9783 7782 instead of pest control.

Watch the video below.

Three men have been arrested for setting off fireworks at a multi-storey carpark in Yishun, the police said in a news release today (Oct 24).

The men are aged between 30 and 32 and two of them were arrested yesterday (Oct 23) and one was arrested today (Oct 24).

Stomp contributor Kyocheong alerted Stomp to the fireworks that were set off from the top deck of the carpark at Block 419A, Yishun Avenue 11 at around 12am on Deepavali (Oct 18).

Officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division identified the three men involved in the accident after extensive investigations.

Police investigations are ongoing.

If convicted of the offence of discharge of dangerous fireworks, they can be jailed for up to two years and/or fined between $2,000 and $10,000.

A 37-year-old man was arrested last Friday (Oct 20) for setting off fireworks at Block 307C Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 on the same day.