Singapore fans of Simon Yam could get a chance to ask about his physical well-being when he comes here to judge a talent show in November.
The Hong Kong actor, 64, who was stabbed in the stomach and had his fingers slashed on July 20 at a promotional event in Zhongshan in China, is one of the judges of Mediacorp’s Star Search finale on Nov 3, alongside fellow Hong Kong celebrities Carina Lau and Stephen Fung.
Lau is a noted actress while Fung recently directed Netflix’s first martial arts drama, Wu Assassins.
Yam has returned to work after he was discharged from a Hong Kong hospital – where he was transferred to after the attack and had surgery to treat damaged nerves in his hand.
He promoted his movie Little Q, about a chef’s relationship with a dog, and it went on to do well in China when it debuted last month.
Just when we thought we were at the height of the boba craze with insane creations such as bubble tea (BBT) hotpot and wasabi pearl milk tea, a new pop-up at *Scape has emerged to challenge that belief.
Running this Saturday (Oct 19) to Dec 18, The Bubble Tea Factory is truly for the boba-obsessed, where you’ll not only get to consume the drink, you can experience being one.
How on earth is that possible? Through the multi-sensory installations dedicated to all things bubble tea, where visitors can pose for highly Instagrammable shots and nom on BBT-inspired treats at the same time.
Tickets are going for $24 and $28 apiece on weekdays and weekends respectively but right now, they’re at a promotional price of $18 and $23 for the first two weeks.
SINGAPORE: Five auxiliary police K-9 sniffer dogs are ready to take on their first assignment this month after being certified, security services provider Certis said in a news release on Wednesday (Oct 16).
The Certis CISCO Auxiliary Police K-9 Unit (Certis K-9) has been officially certified by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to be mission-ready for deployment, the security firm said.
The dogs – named Bonzo, Naomi, Peppe, Aspa and Turbo – will be deployed to a large-scale live entertainment event where they will “conduct security sweep operations”, Certis said.
There are also plans to deploy them to other customers in the aviation, entertainment and hospitality sectors, it added.
The dogs, ranging from one to two years old, are from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and are either English springer spaniels or labrador retrievers.
Bonzo paid a visit to Mediacorp on Oct 16, 2019. (Photo: Diane Leow)
“The Certis K-9 dogs have achieved the same stringent standards demanded of SPF’s own K-9 unit.
“By using their keen sense of smell to detect a wide range of substances including contraband and explosives, Certis K-9 will complement and augment security operations by pre-empting, detecting and deterring threats at deployment sites with high visitor volume like seaports, transport hubs and major events,” read the press release.
The dogs will also allow for more effective security sweeps.
“In tandem with their Certis K-9 colleagues, auxiliary police officers can now carry out security sweeps faster and with greater accuracy compared to manual and even machine checks,” said ASP (APF) Matthew Ng, commanding officer, Certis CISCO Auxiliary Police Force, Enforcement and Events Division.
One-year-old Bonzo and his handler CPL (APF) Lee Si Xian. (Photo: Zoey Low)
Mr Ng had previously said that the dogs can be trained to sniff out explosives and narcotics with more than 90 per cent accuracy, far exceeding the accuracy rate of machines which stands at 60 to 70 per cent.
He added thorough car checks, for example, can be completed in five to 10 minutes, much faster than the estimated 20 to 30 minutes by two officers.
SINGAPORE: The new extension of the Yio Chu Kang Bus Interchange has opened, with several bus services progressively moving to the new area, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a news release on Wednesday (Oct 16).
The boarding berths of services 13, 70/70M, 72B and 860 were relocated from Oct 13, while that of services 71, 72, 76, 162, 162M and 825 will be relocated from Nov 17.
Yio Chu Kang Bus Interchange has been undergoing a major expansion since December 2017. The expansion is taking place in two phases – the construction of a new extension and an upgrading of the existing interchange’s premises.
The newly expanded area will fully open from Dec 29, with facilities such as a canteen and e-lobby.
“Following the completion of (the) first phase, commuters can look forward to enhancements such as an improved boarding point at each berth and graduated kerb edges to facilitate boarding by passengers in wheelchairs,” said LTA.
There are also barrier-free alighting areas, priority queue zones with seats, a nursing room and barrier-free toilets, as well as 150 bicycle parking lots.
The extension has received a BCA award for environmental sustainability, for features such as a green roof to keep the interchange cool, more water-efficient fixtures and a more energy-efficient air-conditioning system.
The “green roof” at the expanded Yio Chu Kang Bus Interchange. (Photo: Land Transport Authority)
Priority queues with seats at the expanded Yio Chu Kang Bus Interchange. (Photo: Land Transport Authority)
Separately, four electric minibuses with a wheelchair-lifting mechanism will be progressively introduced from Thursday on the existing Service 825 operating between Yio Chu Kang Bus Interchange and Lentor estate.
The second phase of the expansion, which involves upgrading the current premises of the interchange, will begin after the extension is fully open on Dec 29.
When all the expansion works are completed in 2021, the size of the bus interchange will be more than tripled, from the original 4,730 sq m to around 16,200 sq m.
If you want to get Google’s new Pixel 4 phone under contract here, there’s only one telco that’s offering it — StarHub.
Singtel’s not selling ‘em. M1’s not stocking the devices. Heck, even Circles.Life ain’t listing Google’s latest and greatest.
It’s unfortunate that the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL aren’t getting the wide release they deserve, because they really are solid smartphones, judging from our first hands-on impressions. The computational photography tech within makes its camera system the best in class; the screens are beautiful and buttery smooth, and the Motion Sense feature is uh… interesting.
SINGAPORE: Two Malaysian men have been charged for trying to smuggle about 3,200 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in a passenger bus and prime mover into Singapore.
In a news release on Wednesday (Oct 16), Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that the cigarettes were found concealed in the arriving Malaysian-registered vehicles at Tuas Checkpoint on Saturday and Monday.
“In both cases, ICA officers had noticed anomalies in the scanned images of the vehicles and directed them for further checks,” ICA said.
The cigarettes were found in a passenger bus and a prime mover. (Photo: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority)
In the first case on Saturday morning, officers found 925 cartons of cigarettes hidden in the modified compartment under the floorboard of a passenger bus.
The vehicle, which was occupied by several passengers headed for Singapore, was driven by a 28-year-old Malaysian man.
In the second case early on Monday morning, a prime mover driven by a 29-year-old Malaysian man was found to have 2,278 cartons of cigarettes hidden in the modified roof compartment of an empty container.
“The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the two cases amounted to total of about S$291,470 and S$21,400 respectively,” ICA said.
Oh rats! The sight of one is enough to send shivers down (most) people’s spines. Now imagine having to live among them.
Some Clementi residents are at their wits’ end after a rat infestation that started in February shows no signs of ending any time soon.
Residents of an HDB block along Clementi Avenue 5 pinpointed one particular unit on the fourth storey as the source of the pests, claiming that the owner had cluttered the corridor with miscellaneous items for years, reported local media.
A foul smell emanating from the unit in question has also forced all the neighbours on the same floor to keep their windows and doors shut.
Just minutes after this year’s Made by Google keynote ended, the Google Store in Singapore refreshed to offer just a portion of all the new gizmos and hardware the tech giant announced earlier today (Oct 16).
With an emphasis on how technology should be able to “fade into the background”, Google’s hardware chief Rick Osterloh also highlighted how the company’s fulfilling its promise with environmentally sustainable practices and carbon-neutral operations. Did you know that a recycled plastic bottle can create enough plastic fabric to cover two Google Home Mini units? Huh, neat.
While that’s honestly great and all, the people wanted hardware news and Google delivered — despite their products getting leaked pretty openly since January. “Leaked” being an understatement.
Didn’t manage to score that $9.3 million TOTO ticket on Monday (Oct 14)? We feel you. Instead of leaving it to Lady Luck, here’s a way to win thousands of dollars in cash using your wits and a dash of augmented reality.
The minds behind the viral Hunt The Mouse treasure hunt have come up with something new to get folks looting around Sentosa after dark. In a team-up with Sentosa Development Corporation, local gamification startup Sqkii has announced Late-Night #Cashdrop, a first-of-its-kind nighttime cash hunt that promises fame and fortune from Oct 25 to 27.
And they really are promising $1,000 cash in hand if you manage to find a glow-in-the-dark token hidden at a random location around Fort Siloso, Siloso Beach, Imbiah Area and Palawan Beach.
You could even score more than that because the tokens would be dropped hourly between 7pm and 11pm each night — which is a pretty smart way to get visitor numbers soaring. Sentosa is literally dropping fat stacks to get people to spend time at the resort island.
AMSTERDAM – Five siblings and a man believed to be their father were receiving medical treatment after Dutch police acting on a tip discovered them locked away in a secret room at an isolated farm, officials in the Netherlands said on Tuesday (Oct 15).
The five, estimated at 18 to 25 years of age, and a man they identified as their ailing father were found near Ruinerwold, a village in the northern province of Drenthe.
“We found six people living in a small space in the house which could be locked, not a cellar. It is unclear if they resided there voluntarily,” local police said in a statement, adding that the people may have been hidden away on the property for nine years.
“They say they are a family, a father and five children,” police added.
Officials did not confirm local TV reports that the family may have held “end of days” apocalyptic beliefs.
Earlier, local Mayor Roger de Groot said a 58-year-old man, not the father of the children, had been arrested. His role was unclear.
The Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad daily identified the man as “Joseph B.,” an Austrian carpenter.
