Swimmer Yip Pin Xiu wins Singapore's first gold in Paris Paralympic Games; Changi Airport great for red-eye flights: Singapore live news
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Hello to all our readers, Yahoo Singapore will be bringing you live news updates today.
First up, a huge congratulations to swimmer Yip Pin Xiu, who has won Singapore's first gold medal of the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Singapore also scores in a different kind of competition – it's ranked, in an entirely unofficial list, as one of the best airports to have a red-eye flight. Read on to find out why Changi Airport is great for tired travellers on nighttime flights.
Still on the topic of crime, a Singapore man had planned what he thought was the "perfect crime" by planting cannabis in his estranged wife's car. He had done so in the hopes of getting a divorce quicker, but has now been jailed.
Remember the billionaire Australian boss who went viral for banning his staff from working from home (WFH)? Now, Chris Ellison, of Australian mining company Mineral Resources, has said he doesn't want employees to leave the office to get a coffee.
The CCCS added that it initiated the investigation earlier this year under its fair trading laws after receiving several complaints on an online advertisement by Sterra in February 2024. In the ad, CCCS said, the company had falsely claimed that Singapore's tap water is unsafe for direct consumption without being filtered using water purifiers sold by Sterra.
Investigations by CCCS also revealed that Sterra had made other false and misleading representations on its website between February 2023 and March 2024, the watchdog said. These included:
a) False Country of Manufacture claims: Three models of air purifiers sold by Sterra were made in Singapore when they were in fact made in China.
b) Misleading "Korean" labelling: Two models of Sterra's water purifiers were marketed as "Korean" when they were neither sourced from nor manufactured in Korea, but were in fact manufactured in China.
c) False discounts: The "usual" (i.e. pre-discount) prices that Sterra claimed for comparison with its discounted price were not genuine previous prices and, in fact, never offered to any customer.
Do you own a Sterra purifier? Get more details on the Sterra issue here.
Esther Au Yong
Billionaire boss who banned WFH wants to stop staff from going out for coffee
Now, Chris Ellison, the managing director of Australian mining company Mineral Resources, has said he doesn't want employees to leave the office to get a coffee.
While touting the facilities of his company's two-year-old headquarters in Perth, Australia, he said, "I want to hold them captive all daylong. I don't want them leaving the building.
"I don't want them walking down the road for a cup of coffee, we figured out a few years ago how much that costs. Wandering out around lunchtime, we've got a restaurant in there [the office], we've also got a gym, and we've got other facilities that keep them glued in there."
Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) deputy director (operations) Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad said that rescue personnel are working to remove debris and blockages over a 44m stretch from the sinkhole to Wisma Jakel to reach an object lodged along the span.
Read for more details on the search and rescue operation, which is in its eighth day today (Friday, 30 August).
Esther Au Yong
Catholic Pope Francis' itinerary on 2-week trip ending in Singapore
Next week, Pope Francis will embark on his most ambitious trip in 11 years since he began leading the Catholic Church.
He will visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore over the next fortnight.
Singapore's LTA will soon waive $10 admin charge for missed ERP payments settled within 5 days' grace
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Friday (30 August) that the administrative charge for missed Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) payments will be waived if the payments are settled within a five-day grace period. This will start from 1 October.
Now, motorists who fail to pay an ERP charge when they pass a gantry will receive a letter some days later, requiring that they pay a $10 administrative charge on top of the missed payment.
Singapore man planted cannabis in estranged wife's car in "perfect crime", gets jail time
In the hopes of getting a divorce quicker, a Singapore man had planned what he thought was the "perfect crime" by planting cannabis in his estranged wife's car.
The 37-year-old man had gotten married with his wife in 2021 but she moved out of their home in October 2022 after their relationship broke down.
After consulting lawyers, the man thought that it would be easier to get a divorce if one of them had a criminal record.
He was sentenced yesterday to three years and 10 months' jail for one count of possession of at least 216g of cannabis that was found in packets.
Local media reported that police were alerted to the case at 9.34am on Thursday (29 August), according to a statement put out by the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
However, before the police arrived, the restaurant staff had reportedly intervened and the 50-year-old woman had left.
Through CCTV footage, police cameras and ground enquiries, the police arrested the woman some nine hours later, SPF said.
While the 33-year-old woman was being interviewed at the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) duty office at Woodlands Checkpoint, she attempted to reach for the firearm of an ICA officer. She was immediately placed under arrest.
Esther Au Yong
Singapore is one of the best airports to have a red-eye flight. Why?
Singapore also scores in a different kind of competition – though entirely unofficial.
He is impressed by the array of food and lounges. "Singapore Changi Airport is always the leading G.O.A.T. of local food stalls," Ott said. "Some of the best local food is at the airport because famous places in Singapore set up locations there."
Find out what else he's saying about Changi Airport and which other airports around the world made the list.
Esther Au Yong
Swimmer Yip Pin Xiu defends paralympics title, wins Singapore's first Paris 2024 gold
The swimmer has won Singapore's first gold medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympics with her swim of 2:21.73 at the 100m backstroke S2 final. This is her third successive win of the event.
Anna Sawai, the lead actress from FX’s historical drama “Shogun,” which just swept the Emmys with 18 wins on Sunday night, used to rock the stage as part of the girl group Faky. After making history as the first Asian actress to win outstanding lead actress in a drama, Sawai joked about celebrating by “drinking with her castmates” and trying to forget her problems for a while. Digging up Sawai’s past: Before Sawai became acting royalty, she was the OG leader of Faky, a former five-person J-pop girl group known for their singles “Better Without You” and “You.” She loved being part of the group but left in 2018 to chase her acting dreams, saying, “I had to quit to actually start [acting].
A 10-year-old Japanese student who was stabbed near his school in southern China has died, officials in Tokyo said Thursday, asking Beijing to provide details of the stabbing and take preventive measures. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa expressed condolences and noted that the attack occurred despite Tokyo's requests for caution and enhanced safety as China marks a key anniversary of its war with Japan. The student was stabbed on Wednesday about 200 meters (220 yards) from the gate of the Shenzhen Japanese School, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said in a daily briefing.
With Sean “Diddy” Combs facing a possible life sentence after being charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, one woman is expected to be at the centre of the music mogul’s case.
Gisele Pelicot expressed feeling humiliated during the trial of her ex-husband, after defense lawyers accused her of complicity in the abuse. She described the experience in court as degrading. Dominique Pelicot has admitted to drugging Gisele with sedatives, rendering her unconscious so that he and dozens of strangers could rape her over nearly a decade. The former wife of a Frenchman accused of enlisting strangers to rape her while she was drugged said Wednesday she felt humiliated during his
A longtime CIA officer who drugged, photographed and sexually assaulted more than two dozen women in postings around the world was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison Wednesday after an emotional hearing in which victims described being deceived by a man who appeared kind, educated and part of an agency “that is supposed to protect the world from evil.” Brian Jeffrey Raymond, with a graying beard and orange prison jumpsuit, sat dejectedly as he heard his punishment for one of the most egregious misconduct cases in the CIA’s history.
The families of four Americans detained in China said Wednesday that their loved ones are suffering both physically and mentally, urging the U.S. government to take action to bring them home. Appearing before the Congressional-Executive Commission of China, the families of Kai Li, Mark Swidan, Dawn Michelle Hunt and Nelson Wells Jr. — all of whom have been detained in China for at least eight years — cast a spotlight on the longstanding issue that has gained new attention with the release this week of American pastor David Lin, who was behind bars for almost 20 years. More Americans are detained in China than in any other foreign country, according to the commission created by Congress to monitor human rights in the communist country.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis has approved a Catholic spiritual devotion centred in Medjugorje, a town in Bosnia that has been steeped in controversy over whether the Virgin Mary appears to local people, the Vatican said on Thursday. The Vatican's doctrinal office said that Francis was not declaring that messages given by the alleged apparition of the Madonna were authentic. Thursday's statement appeared to conclude decades of Vatican investigations into the alleged visitations, which were first reported by six children in 1981, in a scenario reminiscent of famous apparitions in the French town of Lourdes in the 19th century and more than 100 years ago in Fatima in Portugal.
Eight former state security personnel accused of responsibility for the deaths of 78 Muslim protesters who were arrested in southern Thailand in 2004 will be indicted on murder charges, the prosecutor’s office announced Wednesday. The long-delayed legal action in connection with what is known as the Tak Bai massacre came just over a month before the statute of limitations expires on the case. The deaths occurred shortly after a Muslim separatist insurgency erupted in Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, the only ones with Muslim majorities in the Buddhist-dominated nation.
Malaysian police on Thursday detained the CEO and other top leaders of an Islamic business group that is under investigation after hundreds of children believed to be sexually abused were rescued this month from welfare homes linked to the group. National police chief Razarudin Husain said 12 men and seven women were detained following a police raid on a condominium in Kuala Lumpur. Nasiruddin Mohamad Ali, CEO of Global Ikhwan Services and Business, and several members of GISB's advisory board were among those detained, Razarudin told The Associated Press.
Citizens across China held solemn ceremonies on Wednesday to commemorate the 93rd anniversary of the Sept. 18 Incident, which marked the beginning of Japan's brutal invasion of China. In Shenyang, the city where the incident occurred, citizens gathered at historical sites to pay their respects to the millions of victims. The 14-year conflict: On Sept. 18, 1931, Japanese troops staged a false flag attack on a railway near Shenyang, blaming Chinese forces and using it as a pretext for a full-scale invasion.
A Taiwanese company and its Hungarian partner on Wednesday reportedly denied making pagers that exploded while being used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon.A source close to Hezbollah, asking not to be identified, previously told AFP that "the pagers that exploded concern a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah of 1,000 devices" which appear to have been "sabotaged at source".