There’s a wild boar roaming near the residence, and apparently police officers need to arrest it. Wild boar, you commit serious crime 🙂 pic.twitter.com/ib7ab9yYol
There’s a wild boar roaming near the residence, and apparently police officers need to arrest it. Wild boar, you commit serious crime 🙂 pic.twitter.com/ib7ab9yYol
SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will launch a new resale portal to reduce the transaction time for buying and selling HDB flats, it announced on Thursday (Oct 19).
The HDB Resale Portal will be launched in January next year to process new resale applications. It aims to cut the time taken to complete a resale transaction by up to half the 16 weeks currently required.
Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong had earlier announced in this year’s Committee of Supply debate that his ministry will leverage technology to streamline the transaction process for resale flats.
ONLY ONE HDB APPOINTMENT UNDER STREAMLINED PROCESS
Currently, a resale transaction requires two appointments with HDB. The first appointment is to work out the sellers’ sale proceeds and assess the buyers’ financial plan, and the second appointment is for buyers and sellers to complete the resale transaction and sign the documents.
Ahead of the first appointment, resale flat buyers and sellers must complete an online resale checklist before they commit to buy or sell a flat. This checklist includes a section on financial planning. They will then be required to use the e-Services available on the HDB website to complete a series of other checks, such as one’s eligibility to buy or sell a flat, and the available ethnic quota in the block or neighbourhood.
The new portal will integrate all the eligibility checks on a single platform, which HDB says will increase convenience for the public.
For example, once flat buyers or sellers register their Intent to Buy or Intent to Sell a flat in the portal, their SingPass personal details from the Government’s MyInfo service will be used to auto-populate the application forms, reducing the need for manual entry of data.
All eligibility checks will also be integrated on a single platform in the portal, reducing the need for buyers and sellers to access different links on the HDB website to conduct the various required checks. The portal will also be customised to the individual, and display their eligibility to buy and sell their flat, as well as their eligibility for any housing grants or concessionary loans.
If buyers are using their CPF money or planning to take up a housing loan to buy a flat, they can also use the portal to request HDB to confirm the value of their flat, in order to determine the basis of the limits on their CPF usage or home loan amount for the flat purchase. Under the current process, every flat has to go through a valuation for this purpose. But under the streamlined process, HDB said some cases may not require a valuation, as it is able to use technology and transaction data to establish the reasonableness of a transacted price.
This, it said, will help expedite the processing of resale transactions. Nonetheless, where a valuation is assessed to be needed, HDB will arrange for one to be conducted.
A processing fee of S$120 will be payable to HDB to cover the cost of this review, and is a standard fee payable by all flat buyers, regardless of whether or not a valuation is required.
Hence, under the streamlined process, flat buyers and sellers will only need to attend one appointment with HDB, which is the resale completion appointment to sign the documents that require signatures to be done in person. HDB said that if flat buyers and sellers submit their documents promptly, the entire transaction time –from submission to completion of the resale application – can be shortened by up to eight weeks.
The streamlined resale process will apply to applications where the Option to Purchase (OTP) is granted by flat sellers on or after Jan 1, 2018. Resale applications with OTPs granted before Jan 1, 2018, will continue to be processed under the current procedures.
Need a hint? Just take a quick look around your kitchen.
That’s because the latest ‘it’ food product is none other than our well-loved pandan leaves.
Restaurants and food fanatics over in the West have recently gotten a whiff of the sweet-smelling pandan leaves and predict these as the next big thing in the culinary world.
After all, Nigella Lawson has already called it.
The celebrity chef said the leaves – which are commonly found in many Southeast Asian homes – have already started to turn heads among restaurants in the UK and is slowly picking up steam in the US.
“I think it’s going to be the new matcha,” Lawson said.
Pandan latte, imagine that.
Like it or not, we might start seeing pandan-based foods all over our Instagram feeds in time to come.
Here are 3 ways the aromatic leaves are commonly used in this part of the world:
1. Baking and cooking
You’ve probably seen tourists lugging boxes of goodies from homegrown bakery Bengawan Solo at Changi Airport.
More often than not, these boxes might have contained fluffy pandan chiffon cakes that visitors wanted to share with family back home.
And we don’t blame them. The ingredient has likely been infused in various types of Asian cuisines for years or even centuries now.
The leaves are famously used to wrap savoury Asian delights such as pandan leaf chicken while pandan essence is used in many types of sweet treats such as Chendol, pandan swiss rolls, pandan jellies and more.
2. Natural air fresheners
Pandan leaves, known as Screwpine leaves in the West, are also used as a form of natural fragrance used in enclosed spaces like cars and closets.
Some people believe these leaves are a good way to repel cockroaches too. But take note because that’s only true if the leaves are fresh.
3. Health benefits
From reducing stomach cramps to getting rid of gum pain, pandan leaves have long been viewed as extremely useful when it comes to healing methods.
The leaves are often used in brewing various herbal teas along with other ingredients such as lemongrass and safflower.
Pandan leaves are also said to contain essential oils and its leaf extracts are believed to be highly beneficial for certain health conditions.
BANYUMAS, INDONESIA – A five-metre long crocodile that suddenly appeared in a paddy field terrorised residents of an Indonesian village, with video of the incident showing the residents rushing to back away from the reptile.
The intense encounter happened at the Kedungwiangun village in Klirong district of Kebumen regency in Central Java on Tuesday (Oct 17).
The reptile was spotted in the paddy and is believed to have been carried to the location by the overflowing Luk Ulo River following heavy rain the night before.
Some residents tried to catch the animal, but in doing so they provoked it to get out of the water, run wild and cause panic.
“We were unaware that the crocodile is that big. So we all ran away once it got to the ground with its mouth wide open,” said villager Turyono. “It came after us fast. It was ferocious.”
Numerous attempts to catch the apparently angered crocodile failed. Some tried to use bamboo sticks and steel wire to snare it, but the reptile broke the trap.
“The crocodile then disappeared, but villagers are now haunted by fear that it could return,” Turyono said.
Kebumen Police spokesman Willy Budiyanto criticised the villagers for attempting to catch the animal.
“It is dangerous to try to catch a crocodile without proper knowledge, not to mention the fact that they did it at very close range,” he said.
In Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, a 50-year-old man is missing after he was reportedly attacked by a wild crocodile near the Balang Island bridge on Wednesday.
“The man, Maskur, was attacked when he and his two children set up a fish trap,” said Octavianto from the East and North Kalimantan search and rescue agency.
A taxi driver successfully prevented a passenger from intentionally drowning herself.
The Busan Saha Police Station said on Tuesday it received a call from the taxi driver earlier that day reporting a possible suicide attempt by his passenger.
He called the police and said a passenger of his had walked into the sea and disappeared from his view. What prompted him to call, he said, was repeated remarks about suicidal thoughts from the passenger during her ride.
The driver said he kept his eyes on her after she got off at Dadaepo beach, in order to see where she was headed.
Following the driver’s report, the police shortly arrived at the scene and found the woman who had walked some 100 meters into the sea from the beach. The police successfully persuaded her to change her mind and walked her back to the beach.
According to the investigators, the 53-year-old passenger had reportedly been suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts.
The police later expressed a heartfelt gratitude to the taxi driver whose attentive attitude saved his passenger’s life.
HELPLINES
Samaritans of Singapore (SOS): 1800-2214444
Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-2837019
A man who forced his workplace subordinates to eat dog meat was booked under charges of illicit coercion, Incheon Seobu Police said Monday.
The man, a 62-year-old chairman of a branch of the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives in Incheon, is accused of ordering some 10 employees to prepare dog meat for team-bonding dinners.
Such meals allegedly took place three times between June and August.
According to police, the man admits partially to having meals with his staff to boost team spirit and having dog meat prepared for the dinners.
Singapore police have arrested a 37-year-old man for leaving his bag unattended at two locations, Farrer Park and Outram MRT station, on the same day.
Police were alerted to a case of an unattended bag at one of the exits of Farrer Park MRT station on Monday (Oct 16) at about 12.25pm.
The man later collected the bag and left the station before the arrival of officers.
On the same day at about 2.10pm, police were alerted to another case of an unattended bag at Outram MRT Station.
According to a statement by the police, the 37-year-old man approached the officers and claimed ownership of the bag while investigations were ongoing.
The bag contained a laptop, mobile phones and computer-related paraphernalia. Further investigations revealed that the man was the same person who had earlier left his bag at Farrer Park MRT station.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the man had intentionally left his bag inside the two MRT stations while he went to run errands.
Police investigations are still ongoing. Anyone convicted for the offence of Public Nuisance under Section 290 of the Penal Code may be fined up to $1,000.
According to the statement, all security threats are treated seriously and police will not hesitate to take action against anyone who intentionally cause public alarm.
Members of the public are also reminded not to leave personal belongings unattended and to report any suspicious items or behaviour to the MRT staff or the police immediately.
A group of rescuers and The Department of Willdlife Conservation of Sri Lanka worked tirelessly to bring an elephant trapped in the Aluthwewa Z-D main canal safety ashore after a nine hour rescue operation on Tuesday.
Rescuers coaxed the elephant carefully out of the water using branches and ropes while the terrified elephant struggled to make it up the bank.
The elephant was eventually brought onto dry land and was later released into the Aluthwewa forest reserve in Dimbulagala.
After over eight years of curating the looks of K-pop fashion icon Girls’ Generation, stylist Seo Soo-kyung is often called the ninth member of the group for her family-like bond and history with the members.
Since her initial engagement with the sensational girl group for its third full-length album “The Boys” in 2011, Seo has evolved side by side with Girls’ Generation to become a super-stylist who now has an impressive portfolio highlighted by partnerships with global stars Psy and Seventeen.
As a leading fashion expert who knows what’s in trend way before anyone, Seo also creates her own social media content series called “Soo’s Style.” Her sartorial opinions and fashion tips for the public are highly acclaimed and inspire aspiring stylists.
“Working with Girls’ Generation made me realise how important fashion was in the world of K-pop, and I drew many overseas fans of K-pop fashion all around the world,” said Seo during a recent interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul.
Photo: The Korea Herald/Asia News Network
“My goal is to keep sharing what I know with them through my own social media content, rather than launching my own line, which many other stylists seek to do.”
Seo has been so busy these days that she barely has time for food, she said during the interview, while shoveling salad into her mouth.
Despite her success and fame, Seo highlighted that structural problems in the industry are major hindrances for those seeking to build a stylist career in Korea.
According to Seo, local TV stations are at the centre of major problems, as K-pop agencies and their artists do not make much money from being featured on TV shows.
“It’s a vicious cycle. K-pop artists and people working with them such as stylists and managers are usually lowly paid, as K-pop agencies, including Girls’ Generation’s agency S.M. Entertainment, don’t get paid much from working with TV stations,” Seo said.
Seo revealed that stylists earn almost nothing after the money goes to artists first. Most of the time, they are treated poorly by both K-pop agencies and TV stations.
“We work day and night for our artists, but we don’t get what we deserve from both sides. So most of our revenues come from outside of the industry, such as shooting ads. And people from advertisement complain that we stylists ask for too much money. What else can we do? We don’t get paid from our main field,” she explained.
When Seo first started working, she wasn’t paid for her job either. It took her three months to earn 300,000 won ($265) a month, she said.
Seo emphasised that another of her goals is to pave the way for a better working environment for younger stylists. She will begin by educating junior stylists and communicating with the public through the creation of fashion content. Seo has been teaching students styling at Chungkang College of Cultural Industries since February last year.
“Did you know that S.M. gives the lowest salary for their artists and employees in the industry? They have this kind of mindset, ‘You should thank us for being able to work with a superstar group like Girls’ Generation.'”
Having been involved in the industry for almost 15 years, Seo has witnessed how K-pop fashion has transformed over the years. Crediting Big Bang for K-pop fashion’s ongoing worldwide fame, Seo said the boy band was among the pioneers to feature a more down-to-earth approach to fashion.
The group’s wardrobe was as realistic and hip as street fashion in Harajuku — and easily accessible to the public as well.
“Before Big Bang, K-pop artists’ costumes were literally costumes. Stylists’ job was to kind of copy the lines of famous designers and recreate them into stage outfits. But Big Bang members were different in that they actually wore outfits freshly out from a designer’s collection. The public could also dress like Big Bang. From that point on, K-pop stars like 2NE1 and BTS started to wear collections,” Seo said.
“Nowadays, it’s a bit hard to style K-pop idols stars, as their fans are usually young students. They prefer school uniforms, which they wear daily, to high-end fashion brands for their favourite K-pop stars. It’s tough to cater to their tastes.”
Seo Soo-kyung (right) works with Yoona (center) of Girls‘ Generation in July 2015.Photo: Seo Soo-kyung
Seo went onto share what it has been like working with Girls’ Generation. She called Sooyoung her fashion muse, while naming Hyoyeon as the most challenging member when it comes to styling.
“Sooyoung, she has such a perfect body that can rock any kind of costume. I can style her in whatever ways. As for Hyoyeon, she didn’t listen to my opinion at first, as she wanted to wear girlish outfits like Yoona and Tiffany. But now she knows how to style herself according to her image,” she said.
“People keep asking my opinion about the issue as if it’s a big problem. If they are to disband, I would be heartbroken too, as I’m also a huge fan of the group. But the thing is, members are not taking the matter seriously, and I personally think Girls’ Generation won’t disband.”
