Sure, Iggy’s may be considered by some as one of the best fine dining restaurants in the country — but its recent marketing caper might have left a rancid taste in everyone’s mouths.
The one-Michelin starred eatery is in its 15th year of existence (a proper feat considering the high turnover rate in Singapore’s F&B industry) and they’re celebrating with a one-night-only collaboration with Modern Singaporean cuisine pioneer Chef Willin Low from Wild Rocket.
In the gusto of getting the word out earlier today (Sept 19), the Hilton Hotel stronghold made the decision to be questionably edgy in the copy of their Instagram post. Fusing elements of Iggy’s 15-year-anniversary celebration and the four-hands dinner team up with Wild Rocket, the marketing department decided to push the boundaries of palatability… with a post that could be interpreted with nefarious pedophilic overtones.
It’s that time of the year again, people. Over the next couple of days, expect a maze of barricades to be set up outside the Apple store along Orchard Road, where hundreds of people young and old will sacrifice their time and sanity to get their hands on the latest iPhones on Sept 20.
Bless your hearts, Apple fanboys and electronics flippers — other tech brands don’t enjoy quite as much fanfare and media buzz as an iPhone launch. Well, except for Huawei’s National Day promo back in August, but the lesser said about that chaotic day, the better.
It’s been more than a week since a dreary grey smog blanketed our city, and to say it has made our days rather gloomy is probably a vast understatement.
Thankfully, we don’t have to suffer in silence while shrouded in this breathtaking haze. We can now sing the blues without feeling the blues with these creative parodies.
If you’re able to sing despite your itchy throats and incessant coughs, that is.
These people very creative to make a song about the haze.
Mr Lim informed Stomp that his brother made a police report after they discovered the items were missing from his elderly parents’ safe on the same day the couple’s maid had left their home.
He added that the maid had taken her passport that was in the safe as well.
He said they had employed the maid in March to help his mother, 79, look after his 95-year-old father.
The couple live alone in their flat.
The maid, an Indonesian, had informed the family a few weeks prior that she wanted to return to her hometown in Tanjung Tiga, Blanakan, Subang at the end of the month.
However, she went missing-in-action last Wednesday when she had requested for a day off.
“We did not notice anything unusual,” said Mr Lim.
SINGAPORE: The Government is working out a new pricing model for future public housing in the Greater Southern Waterfront, in order to mitigate the so-called “lottery effect” of obtaining a subsidised flat in a prime area, said Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong on Thursday (Sep 19).
His comments come after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally speech last month that the Government plans to build 9,000 private and public housing units on the site of the current Keppel Club when the lease expires in two years’ time.
Several analysts had raised concerns on whether public housing in the Greater Southern Waterfront would create a “lottery effect”, where owners sell their units for far higher prices than initially purchased.
Speaking to CNA938’s Arnold Gay and Yasmin Jonkers, Mr Wong said that the Government is still studying the best way to price future homes in the area.
“If you have public housing in such a prime area and if you were to sell it at today’s public housing prices, it will be a very large subsidy. Whoever gets the flats there, by ballot, will be very happy. But it will be a bit of a ‘lottery effect’. Those who don’t get that flat will be very envious,” said Mr Wong.
“On the other hand, if we were to keep the subsidy the same, then the price of those flats will be very high and out of reach. So we have to work out a new model for public housing in the Southern Waterfront. That’s something we are working on,” he added.
In response to questions on whether the enhanced grants would shift demand to resale flats, Mr Wong said that the aim of the move was to “provide a better balance between new and resale (flats) in terms of grants”, so that the percentage of people buying those properties “will stabilise going forward”.
Currently, about 75 per cent of HDB buyers opt for new flats, compared with 25 per cent for resale flats, he said.
“I expect with the incentive structure now adjusted, the 75 per cent figure will likely come down in the coming years,” he said.
The new Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG) places no restrictions on flat buyers’ choice of flat type or location, and can be used for new or resale flats.
Mr Wong explained that the Government needed to meet housing demand in Singapore with both new and resale flats.
“If we were to meet demand solely through new flats, there is a real risk that in the longer term, with our ageing demographics and population trends, we might very well end up with an oversupply of flats in Singapore,” he said.
Mr Wong also explained that the ministry raised the income ceiling for people buying new HDB flats to accommodate rising income levels.
The income cap for families buying Build-to-Order flats has been raised to S$14,000 from S$12,000, while the ceiling for singles aged 35 and above has been raised to S$7,000 from S$ 6,000.
“As incomes rise, a few of them at the margins will then exceed the income ceiling and then they would no longer have the chance.
“So we monitor the income ceiling all the time and as incomes rise, we will adjust the income ceilings accordingly so that about eight in 10 or more than eight in 10 Singaporeans will be eligible to buy public housing in Singapore,” said Mr Wong.
Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong speaks to cna938 on Sep 19, 2019. (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
SOLAR PANELS
During the interview, Mr Wong also touched on the use of solar power in Singapore, saying that the potential of the renewable energy source is “promising”.
By next year, almost one in two HDB blocks will have solar panels on their rooftops, he said.
There could be potential to “stretch that further”, and the ministry is looking into vertical solar panels that can used as building facades or cladding, noting that buildings have “a lot more vertical space than horizontal space”.
He added that the vertical panels could be used in both public housing and private buildings, and that there is “tremendous potential to step up the deployment of solar power in Singapore”.
There are a lot of important decisions to make before you can move into your first home.
While it may be overwhelming to keep track of all of these issues, neglecting to do so can end up costing you thousands of dollars.
We strongly recommend keeping an eye out for the following missteps in order to comfortably enjoy your new home.
NOT CREATING A FEASIBLE BUDGET
PHOTO: Value Champion
Before you even start visiting homes, it’s important to have a good idea of how much you can afford to pay for your new place.
With that in mind, there are two cost categories to consider as a prospective homeowner.
First, it is important to understand the upfront cost of a down payment.
Those choosing to use a home loan from a bank will have to make a downpayment of at least 25 per cent of their home’s value, including a cash payment of at least 5 per cent of the home’s value.
Following the box-office success of the 2018 romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, and with the third season of hit HBO sci-fi series Westworld pending – both shot partially in Singapore – is the Lion City becoming the new Asian darling of TV and Hollywood film producers?
The cityscapes of locations such as such as Tokyo and Hong Kong have been filmed too often, leaving American film and television productions seeking new backdrops, says Freddie Yeo, chief operating officer of Infinite Studios.
The company is the production arm responsible for securing Singapore as the set location for both Crazy Rich Asians and the upcoming Westworld season.
Yeo points out that although only three major films and one television series have been shot in the Lion City in the past 10 years, it is a marked improvement on the previous decade considering the scale and global reach of the productions.
Singapore-based influencer agency group Gushcloud International has raised US$11 million (S$15.2 million) in a funding round led by GDP Ventures.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday, among other participating investors were KB Financial Holdings, Golden Equator Capital, Korea Investment Partners, Kejora Ventures, Mark Shaw from Shaw Organisation and Chew Gek Khim and Russell Simmons from Rush Communications.
The funding is said to help support Gushcloud’s global expansion plans to connect Southeast Asian influencers, creators and companies with those in main markets such as China and the United States, particularly Hollywood.
The company has also expanded to other businesses including social commerce company SUMMER, hip hop music label Pluus Record and talent management agency Made Entertainment.
SINGAPORE: Six years after construction began, the first stretch of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) will open by end of January next year.
This stretch comprises three stations in the north of Singapore – Woodlands North, Woodlands and Woodlands South.
Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan announced this on Thursday (Sep 19) during a visit to the Mandai Depot, which will house the trains for the upcoming line.
The Thomson-East Coast Line will link up the northern, central and eastern parts of Singapore. (Map: LTA)
The opening of the first section was originally scheduled for the end of 2019, but was delayed to allow more time for testing of the various systems on the line.
The nine trains for the first stage – manufactured in China by a consortium of Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries and China’s CSR Qingdao Sifang – are being tested and commissioned, Mr Khaw said.
The line’s signalling system, developed by French firm Alstom, has been installed and is also currently being tested.
Full testing of systems on the TEL – Singapore’s sixth MRT line – will be carried out during this year’s December school holidays, said Mr Khaw, who is also Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure.
He added: “We will also use December to organise station and train visits for the local residents who have put up with construction all these years, to thank them.”
Mr Khaw noted the first few days of travel on the TEL will be free, to allow commuters to familiarise themselves with the stations and the interchange to the North-South Line at the Woodlands station.
The 43km-long TEL is expected to be ready in 2024, and will have 32 stations when completed. The line will be operated by SMRT.
After Sophia Ong Daijuan’s chihuahua died, a pet cremation service was called to pick it up.
But officers from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority had received a tip-off that she had killed the animal and they managed to retrieve it before it was cremated.
Ong, 26, had claimed the dog had drowned, but a post-mortem examination revealed there was no overt evidence suggesting that had happened.
Instead, the dog had died from trauma to its head and abdomen, along with liver laceration, blood in the abdomen, and micro-haemorrhages within the lung.
Yesterday, Ong pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty and she is expected to be sentenced on Oct 23.
A friend who had visited Ong in January last year said she noticed the dog looked very weak.
This was after she had seen Ong pick the dog up by its neck and throw it down with great force from a height of around 1.5m a month earlier.
Ong then pulled its hind leg with excessive force, causing it to limp after that.
Investigations revealed that in January 2018, Ong fed the dog only once every two to three days, causing it to lose weight.
