SINGAPORE – Sixty people were evacuated and a woman taken to hospital after a karaoke pub in a Middle Road building caught fire on Monday (Jan 6).
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call at 11.15am about a fire “raging with flames and black smoke” at Pandora Club and KTV on the fourth floor of Lee Kai House at 114 Middle Road on Monday.
It said that nine emergency vehicles and about 30 firefighters were sent to the scene to put out the fire, which was extinguished using two water jets.
It posted a 37-second video on Facebook showing the charred, heavily damaged interior of the outlet.
PHOTO: AsiaOne reader
The police were called in before the SCDF’s arrival to assist with the evacuation.
A woman was later taken to Raffles Hospital for smoke inhalation.
SINGAPORE – A baby was found alive in a bin at the bottom of a rubbish chute at Block 534 Bedok North Street 3 on Tuesday (Jan 7) morning.
It was wrapped in a plastic bag and discovered among other bags of rubbish and food packaging when cleaners tried to clear the bin between 8am and 9am.
The baby appeared to be a newborn. Photographs taken showed there were blood stains on the bag.
A passer-by, Mr Lim Yok Liang, 72, who was heading to a nearby coffee shop for breakfast at 9.20am, told The Straits Times: “I saw an ambulance at the open-air carpark under the block. There was a policeman carrying a baby, wrapped in a cloth.
“The baby was not crying. It looked like it was still breathing.”
Jealous that his girlfriend had danced with another man, a tourist from New Zealand assaulted her in their hotel room at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS).
Taputoro Meihana Deane Delamere, 33, was yesterday jailed for three months and four weeks after he pleaded guilty to one charge each for a rash act endangering the safety of others, voluntarily causing hurt, and voluntarily hurting a police officer.
Two other charges for hurting a police officer and mischief were taken into consideration.
Taputoro arrived in Singapore on Nov 13 last year with his 29-year-old girlfriend, who is also from New Zealand.
The couple, who had been dating for about nine months, went to a club on Nov 16 and the woman danced with another man, making Taputoro jealous and angry.
When they returned to their hotel room on the seventh storey of MBS at about 4am, they quarrelled and he shouted at her. He then assaulted her and smashed her phone against the wall.
Taputoro also used a chair to smash the glass panel at the balcony and tried to drag his girlfriend to the window. He wanted to force her to jump with him. The woman managed to flee from the room.
SINGAPORE: Two Chinook helicopters from the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) will be used to bring in firefighting and relief supplies and to help evacuate people from areas affected by the Australian bushfires.
The Chinooks took off from Oakey, Australia with 42 Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) soldiers bound for the Royal Australian Air Force base in East Sale, Victoria, said Singapore Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen in a Facebook post on Tuesday (Jan 7).
Singapore soldiers will work alongside the Australian Defence Force to help with relief efforts, Dr Ng added.
“Our Chinooks will bring in firefighting and relief supplies and also help evacuate residents from the affected areas,” the minister said.
Republic of Singapore Air Force personnel load a Chinook bound for Victoria, Australia. (Photo: Facebook / Ng Eng Hen)
Two Republic of Singapore Air Force Chinooks took off from Oakey, Australia on Jan 7, 2020 bound for a Royal Australian Air Force base in Victoria to assist in relief efforts. (Photo: Facebook / Ng Eng Hen)
Dr Ng said: “Australia has welcomed SAF troops to train there for decades, and in their time of great need, it’s only natural that the SAF do our best to help their people and communities affected by this unexpected natural disaster.”
This picture taken on Jan 6, 2020 shows gutted houses from bushfires in Mogo Village in Australia’s New South Wales state. (Photo: AFP / SAEED KHAN)
This picture taken on Jan 6, 2020 shows charred vehicles gutted by bushfires in Mogo Village in Australia’s New South Wales state. (Photo: AFP / SAEED KHAN)
Raging bushfires have killed more than 20 people across southeastern Australia.
More than 60,000 sq km have been burnt across the country in the months-long crisis. The bushfire season started earlier than normal this year following a three-year drought that has left much of the country’s bushland tinder-dry and vulnerable to fires.
“Still raging, the bushfires have already destroyed more than 6 million hectares – 80 Singapores! – and killed half a billion animals, not to mention the tragic loss of human lives,” Dr Ng said.
Forty-one United States firefighters are in Victoria with another 70 from Canada and the US expected to join on Jan 8, the Victoria Country Fire Authority said on Twitter.
In the biggest-ever call up of reserves, military teams were deployed across eastern Australia to help emergency services assess the damage, restore power and deliver supplies of food, water and fuel to cut-off communities.
For the first time in Australian history, the government also deployed its medical assistance team – normally sent to other nations to lend support in the aftermath of their disasters – to help evacuees.
PewDiePie, only the most-subscribed individual user on YouTube, has cleared the air after reports emerged revolving around his comments made last month about fans in Singapore and Malaysia.
Namely, his remarks about how “hectic”, “scream-ish” they were when they saw the Swedish 30-year-old IRL. To the point that they “lose their minds”, said the world’s most prominent YouTuber, née Felix Kjellberg.
In a video released last Saturday (Jan 4), he reacted to a TODAY article about him (though it was originally published by Malay Mail) and sought to expand on the statements he made about Malaysian and Singaporean fans. Maybe he knows or maybe he doesn’t, but his remarks haven’t exactly been construed as gracious by the wider public.
“I was comparing fan culture… going in the more Asian region (as) compared to smaller Scandinavian countries. You know, it’s very, very different. That made me think that that’s a trained behaviour,” he clarified.
SINGAPORE – Businesses and individuals can now receive money from abroad by simply providing the sender with a mobile phone number.
British fintech firm TransferWise has incorporated PayNow into its international remittance service so recipients no longer need to disclose bank account details.
The company enabled Singapore users to send money abroad via PayNow last March.
Its latest initiative announced on Monday (Jan 6) is expected to benefit freelancers receiving overseas payments or businesses that want to simplify the payment process for customers abroad.
Only the party transferring the money needs to have a TransferWise account. The recipient simply needs to be a PayNow user. Payment is made via the TransferWise mobile app using the PayNow option.
“This (new) feature was highly requested by our customers because PayNow is used widely here,” said TransferWise engineer Li Wanlong, who implemented the PayNow feature.
“If you have a friend visiting from overseas and you head out for a meal or drinks, it is now much easier to split the bill using (our) PayNow option.”
A man who allegedly pestered two women at a bar in Prinsep Street last Friday, also allegedly elbowed one of them in the face after they rejected his advances, dislocating her jaw.
The police told The New Paper yesterday that a 25-year-old man has been arrested for voluntarily causing hurt.
The victim, who wanted to be known only as Ms Kylie, posted a clip of the alleged assault on Facebook on Saturday.
In the video, a group of six men and women appear to be talking before the man apparently elbows the woman in the face.
Ms Kylie, a Singapore permanent resident who is studying abroad, was here to visit friends and family for Christmas and the New Year.
According to the Facebook post, the man had been bothering the victim and her friend, which made them uncomfortable.
The post read: “I told him politely to leave us alone and go away countless times. However he refused to budge and instead elbowed my face out of the blue and dislocated my jaw.”
It also said the victim’s friends and other witnesses of the alleged assault stayed by her side and protected her.
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Red Cross (SRC) has pledged S$100,000 to support relief and recovery efforts for those affected by bushfires in Australia and the flooding in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, the organisation announced on Monday (Jan 6).
A New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service firefighter sprays water on a bushfire in the suburb known as Salt Ash, located north of Newcastle in Australia, November 23, 2018. AAP/Dan Himbrechts/via REUTERS
The SRC has pledged S$50,000 to the communities affected by the Australian bushfires and will launch a public fundraising campaign. The funds will go towards supporting the humanitarian efforts by the Australian Red Cross, for the relief and recovery of survivors.
“We are deeply concerned about the situation in Australia. The full extent of the devastation is still unfolding as the authorities work to contain the massive blazes,” said Mr Benjamin William, secretary-general and CEO of SRC.
“The crisis is expected to escalate in view of the strong winds and persistent drought,” he added.
Smoke from a burnt tree rises next to a gutted house in Quaama in Australia’s New South Wales state on Jan 6, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Saeed Khan)
Mr William said that the Australian Red Cross has been providing support to evacuees in 35 centres across New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
It is also providing psychological first aid, distributing food hampers, water pallets, hygiene items and other essential supplies to the affected communities.
“We continue to be in communication with our counterparts in the Australian Red Cross to ascertain needs and consider further support where needed,” said Mr William.
Woman holds a child as they are evacuated by an inflatable boat, at an area affected by floods after heavy rains in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan 2, 2020. (File photo: REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan)
In Jakarta, the SRC will be sending S$50,000 to support relief and recovery operations by the Indonesian Red Cross, which is also known as Palang Merah Indonesia.
The funds will be used to purchase family kits, hygiene kits, diapers, sleeping bags, blankets and clean water for the evacuees, SRC said.
Rescuers search for missing people at a village hit by landslide in Cigudeg, West Java, Indonesia on Jan 4, 2020.. (Photo: AP/Rangga)
“It’s been a challenging time for our neighbours since New Year’s Eve. They have endured monsoon downpours, mudslides and power outages,” said Mr William.
“Even as the current floodwaters subside, the city expects heavy rain and thunderstorms in the days ahead. The search for missing persons is still ongoing, and there is a lot of work to be done,” he added.
A rescue team evacuates locals on an inflatable boat during a flood after heavy rain in Bekasi, near Jakarta, Indonesia January 1 2020, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Saptono/via REUTERS
Palang Merah Indonesia has been distributing food packs and providing health services to victims, and supporting the authorities in their efforts to prevent the spread of waterborne disease, said Mr William.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely, and provide further support where needed,” he added.
SINGAPORE – More than $360,000 has been raised for the Filipino victims of the Dec 29 Lucky Plaza accident as the online arm of the fund-raiser closed at 12pm on Monday (Jan 6).
The Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE), together with the Domestic Employees Welfare Fund, collected $362,521 from 2,888 donors according to figures on fund-raising website Giving.sg in about a week.
This amount is more than double CDE’s funding target.
All proceeds in the online fund-raising campaign, which started last Monday at 7.45pm, will go directly towards the four injured maids and the beneficiaries of the two maids who died from their injuries after the accident.
Those looking to donate can still do so until Jan 18 by donating in person with cash, or by posting a cheque, to the CDE office at Lucky Plaza.
More details are available on the CDE website.
CDE chairman Yeo Guat Kwang said on Facebook last Friday that the centre decided to start receiving these “manual donations” on the same day after receiving feedback from the public.
