PIZZA HUT 1-for-1 dine-in lunch deals on weekdays, 11am to 5pm. Buy one & get another on the house! Valid for selected items
Pizza Hut: 1-for-1 Lunch Deals (Pizzas, Pastas, Entrees & More) on Weekdays, 11am to 5pm
Enjoy two of your favourites for the price of one with Pizza Hut’s 1-for-1 Weekday Lunch promotion. Promotion valid from Mondays to Fridays, 11am to 5pm for dine-in only.
Bak chor mee, or minced meat noodles, is a staple at hawker centres in Singapore. It is one of Singapore’s most iconic street foods, and this beloved dish also transcends all classes.
Most dry versions come with slices of stewed mushroom, minced pork, slices of lean pork and sometimes, fried ikan bilis, atop noodles tossed in a punchy chilli-vinegar sauce, while soup versions are lauded for the depth of pork flavour in its broth.
The Straits Times’ food critics list their favourite stalls for bak chor mee in Singapore.
Photo Gallery
1. Tan Hsueh Yun recommends: Macpherson minced meat noodles
When people think of dishes that best represent Singapore, most would probably name chicken rice, laksa and chilli crab.
I would like to nominate the humble minced pork noodles.
It can be found everywhere in hawker centres, coffee shops and food courts, but a good one is hard to find. That is because it takes skill to get the texture of the noodles just right, to properly balance the condiments that make up the sauce and to cook the pork perfectly.
MacPherson Minced Meat Noodles, in a coffee shop at the corner of Serangoon Road and Opal Crescent, gets it all right.
I am late to the game. My friends have been going for years but after checking it out, it has been difficult not to plot a visit there when I’m in the neighbourhood.
Singaporeans are equal opportunity eaters who are as comfortable in a humble coffee shop as they are in a high-end restaurant. This is on full display at the coffee shop, where some customers roll up in luxury cars with drivers in tow.
At 7.30am, the place is more than half filled and regulars know to order a yellowtail fish cake ($2) to nibble on while waiting for the noodles. The torpedo-shaped fish cake is softer than most and tastes more of fish than flour but I would rather save space for the main dish – minced pork noodles ($4).
My noodle of choice is never mee pok because the noodles are so thick and wide that they are all I taste, rather than the sauce and the other ingredients in the bowl.
Mee kia, skinny noodles, is what I usually order, but the version this stall uses is thicker than usual.
So my default choice here is mee sua, wheat noodles that are usually cooked for birthday celebrations. Usually, the noodles are too salty and clumpy but at this stall, they are just about perfect.
Each noodle strand is slicked with the perfect balance of soya sauce, chilli and black vinegar. I never have to ask for extra vinegar because the sauce has plenty of zing. There is no clumping, no mushiness. It makes me fall in love with what I think of as a stodgy noodle.
Thick slices of pork, just cooked, have a natural sweetness. Other goodies include two slices of pig liver, sliced fish cake, a chewy fish dumpling and stewed mushrooms.
When I am ravenous, I also order a bowl of fishballs and fish dumplings ($3.50). Despite their chewy texture, there is something very compelling about the translucent fish dumplings. I do wish they are more plump though.
The fish balls are smaller than at other places but like the fish cake, taste more of fish than flour.
Morning is the best time to go. It is cooler, especially when there is a breeze blowing. The place is packed at lunch time and although the closing time is 2pm, the smart eater will get there at about 1pm or risk not having any noodles at all.
WHERE: MacPherson Minced Meat Noodles, 1382 Serangoon Road
MRT: Tai Seng or Potong Pasir
OPEN: 6am to 2pm (Wednesday to Monday), closed on Tuesday
Also read: Traditional bak chor mee gets a sweet makeover at this local cafe
2. Wong Ah Yoke recommends: Seng kee mushroom minced meat noodle
One of my favourite hawker dishes here is bak chor mee (minced meat noodle), not least because it is unique to Singapore.
The closest is Malaysia’s pork noodle, but that has significant differences, especially the dry version – it is tossed with black soya sauce instead of chilli sauce and vinegar.
I have found many good dry versions here, but a good bak chor soup noodle is more elusive.
Seng Kee Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle in Serangoon Garden food centre is one of the places I go to.
Unlike the tasteless soups in many stalls, it has a sweet broth with distinct flavours of pork and dried sole.
The basic noodle with minced pork, lean meat, liver and mushroom slices starts from $4.
But if you are in a generous mood, get the $9 bowl which has pieces of fried fish maw as well as egg drop in the soup. There are more of the other ingredients as well.
It’s best to go later in the day. The broth builds up more body as more and more meat is cooked in it. However, you also run the risk of some ingredients running out.
WHERE: Seng Kee Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle, Serangoon Garden Market & Food Centre, 49A Serangoon Garden Way
MRT: Serangoon/Lorong Chuan
OPEN: 7.30am to 3pm (Tuesday to Sunday), closed on Monday
Also read: 6 things to know about one Michelin-starred Tai Hwa Pork Noodle
3. Rebecca Lynne Tan recommends: Lai Heng mushroom minced meat mee
A friend of mine eats at Lai Heng, a bak chor mee stall, at least once a week. Prices start at $4 a bowl.
Instead of the usual mee pok, or flat egg noodles, she recommends mee tai mak – short, fat and smooth rice noodles that resemble rats’ tails – served dry. I have to agree that is the best option – all the better to soak up the sauce.
But the secret is that you also have to ask for extra chilli so that there is enough to coat each tail. The slippery mee tai mak is able to absorb the flavours of the aromatic and mildly spicy chilli that has been fried with plenty of lard.
I also like that each bowl is topped with pieces of salted flat fish that give the noodles an extra hit of saltiness, as well as tasty stewed mushrooms and springy, perfectly cooked pieces of liver.
WHERE: Lai Heng Mushroom Minced Meat Mee, Block 51 Toa Payoh Lorong 6
MRT: Toa Payoh
OPEN: 8.30am to 4pm (Thursday to Tuesday), closed on Wednesday
Also read: Showdown between Bedok 85 bak chor mee stalls
4. Wong Ah Yoke recommends: Ding Ji
I love it when hawkers improve their offerings with good quality ingredients for those who do not mind paying for them, but still keep their original and more affordable options on the menu.
Ding Ji in Bishan Street 24 is one of them. Opened by the Fei Siong Group, it is part of a chain of hawker stalls selling fishball noodles, bak chor mee (minced meat noodles) and laksa that has been around for some time and has outlets around the island, including one that opened recently in Toa Payoh North. But not all the outlets sell the same items.
What caught my attention was a Facebook post by a friend showing a bowl of bak chor mee soup topped with fried fish maw. I like both bak chor mee and fish maw, so it did not take me long to scoot over to Bishan during lunch to the kopitiam in his post.
Ding Ji is not the first to add fish maw to bak chor mee. I have previously recommended in this column another stall, Seng Kee in Serangoon Gardens, which offers a similar version for $9 a bowl.
But Ding Ji’s, at $8, is cheaper. The noodles are served dry, topped with strips of stewed mushroom. The fish maw comes in a separate bowl of eggdrop soup, together with fishballs, dumplings, pork and pig liver.
The soup is delicious, with a robust pork stock and the distinct flavour of dried sole. I like the noodles, too, which are thin, flat and springy.
The dish is not as good as Seng Kee’s – the noodles need a bit more black vinegar to perk up the flavours – but comes close.
And for those who find $8 too much to pay for kopitiam fare, Ding Ji also offers normal bak chor mee, sans fish maw, for $3.50.
WHERE: Ding Ji, Block 280 Bishan Street 24, 01-24
MRT: Bishan
OPEN: 24 hours daily
5. Rebecca Lynne Tan recommends: Yan Kee noodle house
There’s a dry mee sua in the Central Business District worth trying.
Best, of all, it’s open 24 hours.
The stall is located at BK Eating House, a coffee shop at the corner of South Bridge and Circular roads. It sells bak chor mee, or minced pork noodles, and customers can opt for any type of noodle, from mee pok to mee kia, but mee sua is its signature item.
I am always sceptical about ordering mee sua because too many times, it has been served mushy and clumpy. In my mind, mee sua is a noodle for children and elderly folks who cannot chew.
But here, the mee sua is gloriously chewy. There is bite to it. It is not a ball of mush.
The noodles also have that black vinegar flavour which I love, and the sambal is fragrant.
In each serving, you get a decent helping of minced and sliced pork, a stewed mushroom, two meat balls and the highlight of the dish for me, crispy fried ikan bilis.
Unfortunately, the soup is bland and nothing to shout about.
A bowl of mee sua starts at $4.
It is available all day and all night, except on Sunday, when the stall is closed.
WHERE: Yan Kee Noodle House at BK Eating House, 21 South Bridge Road, corner of South Bridge and Circular roads
MRT: Clarke Quay
OPEN: 24 hours, closed on Sunday
This article was first published on Nov 10, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
NEW YORK- Mixed Martial Arts made an explosive entrance on the New York stage on Saturday with Irish superstar Conor McGregor’s historic UFC 205 triumph at Madison Square Garden shattering revenue records.
McGregor’s dismantling of Eddie Alvarez for the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title made the UFC flyweight champ the first to hold two UFC titles simultaneously.
The historic result came in front of a packed house at one of America’s most iconic sporting venues – after eight years of legislative wrangling finally saw the state of New York lift its long-running ban of professional MMA in April.
Even before the doors of the lucrative New York market opened, UFC was a remarkable economic success, with an estimated turnover of $600 million in 2015.
This private MMA championship was bought in early July by the Beverly Hills-based sports marketing agency WME-IMG, for an estimated $4 billion.
The success of Saturday’s blockbuster card only enhances its value.
Some 20,427 spectators, $17.7 million in ticket sales and unprecedented pay-per-view sales pulverized all records, UFC president Dana White said at a press conference.
“The place was sold out, it was packed to the rafters,” White said. “We broke the Madison Square Garden record, which I don’t think will ever be broken again.”
“Jesus is going to have to fight the devil to break that record,” White crowed.
McGregor, beloved by fans not only for his prowess in the octagon but also for his swagger outside it, says he wants a bigger piece of the financial action.
“They need to come talk to me now,” McGregor said. “No one’s talked to me as a businessman since the sale’s happened. That’s not good.
“I mean, who owns the company now? People, celebrities, have shares in the company.
“Where’s my share, where’s my equity,” added McGregor, who has never been shy about challenging White.
“You want me to stick around, I want my share, I want my equity.” As predicted, the UFC at Madison Square Garden evoked the glamour of boxing’s glory days.
Gold chains and fur coats were in evidence along with a roster of star spectators that would be the envy of any New York sporting event.
Madonna, actor Hugh Jackman, singer Nick Jonas, new Spider-Man actor Tom Holland and singer Demi Lovato were among the vibrant crowd.
“It’s completely different from other sports,” says Michelle Knoll, whose sporting passions include the NHL’s New York Rangers.
“I like that it’s primal and animal, like cage fighting,” she said.
UFC fighting takes place in the “octagon” an eight-sided cage nine meters in diameter.
The use of feet and fists is permitted, as well as ground combat, although the UFC has put in place strict rules to channel the violence in an attempt to avoid serious injuries.
The risk, however, remains present. Saturday’s bout was halted as McGregor peppered his prone opponent’s head with blows.
MMA is still banned in many countries, including France. Ireland’s sports minister promised a crackdown on promoters in April after Portuguese fighter Joao Carvalho died from injuries received in a Total Extreme Fighting (TEF) MMA event in Dublin.
“It’s not family entertainment,” said Peter Downes, a 47-year-old from Ireland living in New York.
“I have ten-year-olds and I would not take them to a UFC fight. When they’re teenagers, maybe.” Knoll, admitting to some squeamishness at the “really, really bloody” moments, nevertheless said she found the atmosphere irresistible.
“There’s that guy, dressed like a leprechaun,” she said. “You don’t see that at Rangers games.” There was a time when boxing turned heads in New York, with fans transported by Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier or Roberto Duran.
Today, grumbled Jason Keney, “in boxing there can be five champions at the same time in the same category. It’s ridiculous.”
“They don’t fight who they’re meant to fight,” added the 34-year-old, who travelled from Ireland for Saturday’s card.
“Here you get the best fights, you get the best people to fight each other.” In UFC, for “best” read McGregor and former judoka Ronda Rousey, twin deities of the circuit.
“He gets people excited,” Downs said of the bearded, tattooed McGregor.
“Because of his personality, his style. He’s aggressive. He speaks his mind. There’s no bullshit.” White, who has had his clashes with his outspoken star, also knows McGregor’s value.
“Conor’s special,” he said. “I’ve never dealt with anybody like this kid on so many different levels.”
SINGAPORE – Holders of the National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) who turn 55-years-old after Jan 1, 2017, are now required to re-register for a new card.
The renewal process will mitigate security risks from misidentification of outdated photographs, especially for the elderly, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a statement today.
Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs) who have replaced their NRICs in the 10 years before their 55th birthday are exempted from re-registration, ICA added.
ICA will also iris images during the NRIC collection to augment its identity verification methods besides photographs and fingerprints.
NRIC holders who are required to re-register will receive a notification letter from ICA one month before their 55th birthday. Reminders will also be sent six and nine months after the NRIC holder turns 55-years-old.
They will have one year to re-register, until their 56th birthday. Citizens and PRs residing abroad also have a one-year grace period to re-register on their return to Singapore.
Fees for the NRIC re-registration will remain at $10 for citizens and $50 for PRs – the same amount for NRIC registration at age 15 and re-registration at age 30.
grongloh@sph.com.sg
HCOOK
Renton Yap, 38, founded home-cooking app Hcook not to jump on the startup bandwagon but for the more analogue purpose of feeding people.
“Last year, I started dabbling in home cooking because I wanted to learn some of my mum’s dishes,” says the former banker.”
She makes some great heritage dishes that I didn’t want lost, but there’re only so many times you can feed your family and friends without them getting bored.”
He tried to start a food business “but it just wasn’t sustainable because there was no viable platform; there were problems with finding people, letting them know what I was offering, and then trying to actually conduct the transaction.”
Finally, Mr Yap and his co-founder/full-time lawyer friend Loh Kia Meng, hit on Hcook, an app “to unite all home chefs online and give them a platform to conduct their business.”
Launched in July this year, Hcook already counts about 200 home chefs and a few thousand users in its database.
Available on both the App store and Google Play, the app lets home chefs list their dishes for free, and potential customers can contact them to work out the pricing and collection details.
There is also a rating and review system, shares Mr Yap. “If there’s a complaint against a home chef, we check it out and if it’s legitimate, they’re barred from our platform because the most important thing for us that people enjoy their food safely.”
Any chef who wants to join has to apply. Mr Yap arranges a home-visit cum hygiene-audit and to explain the concept.
“We furnish each home chef with a tool-kit that contains information on how to use the app and hygiene guidelines, and once they’ve been approved on the platform, we conduct unplanned home visits on a monthly basis to ensure our standards are being met.”
The 1,200 listings on the platform have dishes like ondeh ondeh, which start from 50 cents to cakes priced at S$45.
“But we’re still in the early stages of development,” notes Mr Yap. “What we’re ultimately aiming for is to have a home chef in every single HDB estate in Singapore.” hcook.sg
SHARE FOOD SINGAPORE (sharefood.sg)
You may have heard of the food blogger Diana Gale (aka The Domestic Goddess Wannabe), who blogs about her adventures in the kitchen.
Now, you can also order and taste her picture-perfect home-cooked food in the comfort of your living room, through the new mobile platform Share Food Singapore.
While barely a week old, Share Food already has over 100 home cooks – including Ms Gale – dishing out everything from Hakka yam abacus seeds, to Thai red curry with duck and Indian paneer butter masala.
“When it comes to home-cooked food, these people also cook for their family,” says one of the app’s three founders, Loo Pei Wen.
“So they’re making their own stocks from scratch, and putting time, effort and quality ingredients into each dish.”
Chefs post a photo of their dishes and customers contact them directly.
Prices are expected to be reasonable – around food court prices (they even include an option for cooks to give away excess portions for free). The app doesn’t charge a commission but instead makes money from advertisers and sponsors.
Share Food also encourages its home cooks to take up a basic food-hygiene course with the National Environment Agency.
Once they get a certificate, they get a seal of approval (something like Airbnb’s ‘Trusted host’ badge or Twitter’s ‘Verified account’ badge) for being food safety-certified.
“That’s the thing about an open market app like ours. If home cook A has a badge and receives more orders, home cook B will naturally want to take up the course as well. It’ll be very self-motivating,” says Ms Loo.
HEARTLAND CHEFS (heartlandchefs.com)
In January this year, Siddip Poh found himself facing a predicament that many of us could probably relate to.
“My mum is a housewife and I think she’s one of the best cooks in the world. So it’s such a waste that people cannot enjoy her cooking,” he says.
To solve it, he started Heartland Chefs – a mobile app that allows people to buy and sell home-cooked food.
“It’s a platform for anyone with a passion to sell what they cook, and for people who have no time to cook to get healthier, home-cooked food,” he says.
Cooks just have to upload a photo of the dish they are making and details like price and collection details. After every meal, customers can leave a review and rate chefs based on things like their portions, taste, and packaging.
“For now, we have no aim to monetise it at all. It’s just purely for the community. Half my salary is going towards running this thing, so it’s quite painful – but we believe in our cause,” says Mr Poh, who keeps his full-time job at Barclays Investment Bank.
One of his other business partners – all schoolmates from Singapore Management University – also keeps a day job, while the remaining two work on the app full-time.
Orders are made on a self-collection basis, but Mr Poh hopes to create neighbourhood communities of chefs and customers where food can be delivered by underprivileged or out-of-school youths for pocket money.
“I think an app like this is perfect for Singapore because our population density is quite high. So many of us live in HDBs and in close proximity, so the self-collection thing works. Plus the diverse population in Singapore means a wide range of dishes so if we build a big enough base, customers will consistently have a variety of food to choose from.”
This article was first published on Nov 12, 2016.
Get The Business Times for more stories.
SINGAPORE: All Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs) turning 55 years old on or after Jan 1, 2017, will need to re-register for a new National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) from January next year, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) announced on Monday (Nov 14).
The same requirement will also apply to those who have not been issued with a replacement NRIC in the 10 years before their 55th birthday, the agency said during a briefing.
The re-registration will cost S$10 for Singapore citizens and S$50 for PRs, ICA said, which is the same amount for NRIC registration at age 15 and re-registration at age 30.
ICA explained that this process is necessary as photographs on existing NRICs become outdated as NRIC holders get older, and may cause difficulties in identification, particularly for the elderly.
“Besides possible inconvenience to the NRIC holders, this may also lead to security risks because the authorities may not be able to correctly identify an individual based on his outdated photograph,” ICA said.
The deputy director of Citizen Services Centre at ICA Chui Wai Cheng also said: “There’s also the risk that if the card is to be picked up by another person, the person could assume the identity of the rightful cardholder. It could be financial transaction or attempting to purchase goods and services assuming the identity of another person.”
Channel NewsAsia understands that ICA had received feedback on such cases, but does not track the numbers as some are private incidents and were not reported.
In addition, ICA said from 2017, it plans to collect iris images at the point of NRIC collection. This comes after the Parliament passed amendments to the National Registration Act to strengthen the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Nov 10.
RE-REGISTRATION IS COMPULSORY
Those who are required to re-register for their NRICs will receive a notification letter from ICA a month before their 55th birthday, according to ICA. They will have one year to complete the re-registration – from after they turn 55 years old up till before they turn 56. Those living abroad can re-register their NRIC within a year of their return to Singapore, ICA said.
ICA recommended that re-registration be done online via the ICA website.
“They can also re-register using the self-service kiosks located at the eLobby on Level 1 of the ICA Building. NRIC holders who are unable to re-register online can complete the hardcopy application form enclosed in ICA’s notification letter and mail it to the ICA Citizen Services Centre,” ICA said.
Re-registrations submitted online will take about three working days to be processed, while processing time for mail-in applications will be about two weeks, ICA said.
When re-registering, NRIC holders will need to update their personal particulars and submit a recent photograph of themselves, ICA said.
An acknowledgement card will be sent to those whose NRIC re-registration is successful. For collection, NRIC holders can book an appointment online, or via ICA’s mobile app.
ICA added that it is an offence under the National Registration Act if the NRIC holder fails to re-register his NRIC within a year of turning 55 years old, or within one year of his return to Singapore if he resides overseas. ICA also said it will send out reminder letters both six and nine months after the NRIC holder turns 55 to ask him to re-register, if he has not done so.
For Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents who turned 55 years old before 2017, optional re-registration of NRICs will be introduced from 2018, ICA said. Details will be provided next year.
A new backpack which aims to take the weight off the shoulders of the Republic’s troops is being developed.
The A-Lite Pack was invented by the DSO National Laboratories which carried out a detailed study of Singaporean body shapes and sizes with researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
They discovered that between 1997 and 2015, the average height of Singapore men increased from 170.2cm to 171cm.
Meanwhile their average shoulder breadths expanded from 45.4cm to 47.1cm, while their waistlines went up from 81.7cm to 85.6cm, the researchers told The Sunday Times.
The A-Lite Pack was unveiled at the SGDefence exhibition at Marina Bay Sands last week where both national servicemen and the public had the opportunity to try it out.
It has a large hip belt that concentrates the load on the body’s stronger core muscles. It is also adjustable up or down to fit different torso lengths.
Inside the pack, an adjustable “load shelf” keeps heavy items near the top of the pack, moving the pack’s centre of gravity higher and closer to the body’s centre of gravity to minimise forward leaning.
This is important when the maximum designed load of the pack is a muscle-numbing 50kg.
Furthermore, the pack is modular. The shoulder straps, hip belt and frame can be detached and replaced if they are damaged or if different designs are desired.
The pack also has additional features not found in civilian backpacks. For example, its glass fibre-reinforced plastic frame is narrow enough not to interfere with arm movements, and it has a large opening in the middle allowing space for the armour inserts of the load-bearing vest worn underneath the pack.
And the height of the pack is kept low to prevent it from interfering with the soldier’s helmet.
Dr Frederick Tey, a DSO programme manager in the team that designed the pack, said: “The success of military operations depends on soldiers’ ability to perform. It is important to design equipment that enables the soldier to execute tasks effectively.”
The pack is undergoing trials.
A 2010 report in The Straits Times cited NUS Associate Professor Tan Kay Chuan, who conducted a similar study, as attributing size increases among Singaporeans to better nutrition and higher income. But the researchers in the latest study cautioned against drawing conclusions as there is no direct evidence.
The latest results have potential applications in many sectors.
Associate Professor Lee Heow Pueh from NUS’ Department of Mechanical Engineering, who led the NUS team in this study, said: “For certain industries, it’s quite important (to know people’s body dimensions).
“For example, with the aircraft cockpit – you need to place the most important controls within reach, especially in the event of emergency… And based on certain (measured) dimensions, we can actually come up with a shirt-sizing system more suitable for the Asian.”
This article was first published on Nov 13, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
BEIJING – The first woman to fly China’s J-10 fighter plane was killed in a crash during an aerobatics training exercise, state-run media reported Monday.
Yu Xu, 30, a member of the Chinese air force’s “August 1st” aerobatic display team, ejected from her aircraft during a training exercise in the northern province of Hebei at the weekend, the China Daily newspaper said.
She hit the wing of another jet and was killed, it said, although her male co-pilot ejected safely and survived.
“As one of only four female pilots in the country capable of flying domestically made fighter jets, her death comes as a tremendous loss to the Chinese air force,” the Global Times newspaper said.
Yu, from Chongzhou in the southwestern province of Sichuan, joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in 2005, reports said.
She graduated from training four years later, one of the first 16 Chinese women pilots qualified to fly fighter jets, the China Daily said, and in July 2012 was the first woman to fly the J-10.
Fans dubbed her the “golden peafowl”, it added.
She rose to become a flight squadron leader and according to the Global Times dreamed of becoming an astronaut.
Yu was one of two female members of the August 1st team – named for the date of the founding of the PLA – pictured at China’s premier air show in Zhuhai two years ago.
The pair strode to their fighter planes in lock-step with male pilots, all wearing identical green jumpsuits and sunglasses.
At the time the China Daily newspaper quoted Wang Yan’an, deputy editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, as saying: “Female pilots have learned to fly cutting-edge fighter jets in the Chinese air force.
“It means the air force has diversified its pilot pool and can recruit more female pilots.” Yu appeared again at this year’s show earlier this month, according to reports.
The official news agency Xinhua quoted Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke saying all its personnel were “deeply regretful and mournful” at her “unfortunate death”.
The J-10 is a workhorse of the Chinese air force. An estimated 400 of the jets have been built, most for Chinese use, according to defence analysts IHS Janes.
It said in December reports had emerged of three crashes in the previous three months.
Two of the fighters conducted what the Pentagon called an “unsafe” intercept of a US spy plane over the East China Sea in June.
Read also:
Female pilots from China’s Airforce put up memorable aerobatic show
HONG KONG – At least seven people, including a six-year-old child, were injured after a taxi ploughed into a crowd after driving onto a pavement in Causeway Bay on Saturday (Nov 12).
The incident occurred at about 10.30am outside the Sogo department store which was having its mid-year sale, reported the South China Morning Post. The area was crowded as pedestrians waited to cross the road and customers went in and out of the store.
At least seven people – the youngest being six years old and the oldest 89- were injured in the accident.
The driver, surnamed Lau, was arrested for dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm. The 71-year-old passed the breathalyser test, said SCMP.
Lau’s vehicle was travelling along Hennessy Road when it seemed to lose control before mounting the pavement. Surveillance video footage of the incident showed the taxi hitting some people to the ground and scattering panicked crowds before halting.
Most shockingly, the first thing the driver did after stepping out of his taxi was to check the side of his car for damage before approaching one of the injured people, said the report.
“Someone ran onto the road suddenly and I could not stop my car immediately,” Lau told Cable TV. He added that he had passengers in his car when the incident happened.
Witnesses said they heard a loud bang before they saw the taxi mount the pavement.
Four of the injured pedestrians were conveyed conscious to the hospital for treatment.
As of Saturday afternoon, three patients were discharged from the hospital and one was in a stable condition. The other three injured people sought treatment themselves.
Mechanical expert and traffic accident consultant Lo Kok Keung, who viewed the CCTV footage, told SCMP the speed of the taxi was estimated to be around 42kmh at the moment it hit the crowd. He added: “If the car had not come to a stop and continued on at this speed, more people would have been severely injured.”
This article was first published on November 13, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
KUALA LUMPUR – Sixty per cent of the world’s 5.9 million children who died before their fifth birthday last year were in 10 countries in Asia and Africa, said a study published on Friday, prompting calls for action to reduce the mortality.
The study published in The Lancet medical journal said the data highlights the inequality in children’s death among the 194 countries studied, even though the number of under-five deaths has fallen by four million, compared to 2010.
Of the 5.9 million deaths last year, 3.6 million happened in 10 Asian and African countries – India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, China, Angola, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Tanzania.
The two leading causes were complications due to premature birth and pneumonia, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School Of Public Health, London School Of Hygiene And Tropical Medicine and World Health Organisation.
The researchers said child survival has improved substantially, although countries failed to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goal to cut the rate of under-five deaths by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.
The rate fell by 53 per cent over the period.
The slow progress to reduce newborn deaths – in the first 28 days of life – hampered the MDG target.
Of the 5.9 million under-five deaths in 2015, 2.7 million were newborns.
Under the Sustainable Development Goals, which replaced the MDGs last year, all countries aim to reduce under-five mortality to no more than 25 deaths per 1,000 births by 2030.
The researchers recommended breastfeeding, vaccines for pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea, as well as improving water and sanitation to help with children’s survival.
Read also: Premature births fall to 10-year low in US
