While most of us will have to wait until November or later for the much coveted iPhone X, guess who has already got his hands on the special edition smartphone?
Singaporean singer-songwriter JJ Lin.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday morning (Sept 13), JJ shared several photos and videos of his visit to Apple's swanky new campus in Cupertino, California.
He wrote: "It was an amazing experience, to witness the next step in technology, and how the (Apple) team continues to push boundaries and change lives through their core beliefs."
The post garnered over 16,000 'likes' and over 300 shares in the span of five hours.
JJ was invited to the highly anticipated event and exchanged a few words with Apple CEO Tim Cook, and could be heard telling the latter how he was "really inspired" by the tech giant.
JJ Lin may be the first Singaporean to get his hands on the iPhone X
SINGAPORE - Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament, was declared elected as Singapore's first woman president on Wednesday, after the returning officer announced she was the sole candidate to qualify for the contest.
Aiming to strengthen a sense of inclusivity in the multicultural city-state, Singapore had decreed the presidency, a largely ceremonial post, would be reserved for candidates from the minority Malay community this time.
"Although this is a reserved election, I'm not a reserved president," Halimah said in a speech at the elections department office. "I'm a president for everyone." Halimah's experience as house speaker automatically qualified her under the nomination rules.
Of the four other applicants, two were not Malays and two were not given certificates of eligibility, the elections department said earlier this week.
The last Malay to hold the presidency was Yusof Ishak, whose image adorns the country's banknotes.
Yusof was president between 1965 and 1970, the first years of Singapore's independence following a short-lived union with neighbouring Malaysia, but executive power lay with Lee Kuan Yew, the country's first prime minister.
The separation of Singapore from Malaysia gave ethnic Malays a clear majority in Malaysia, while ethnic Chinese formed the majority in independent Singapore.
Halimah Yacob's journey to becoming Singapore's first female president
Five sailors were missing after their dredger collided with a tanker off Singapore Wednesday, authorities said, just weeks after a deadly accident in the same area involving a US warship.
A search effort was launched for the four Chinese members of crew and one Malaysian after the accident around the busy Singapore Strait, the city-state's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said.
Seven other Chinese sailors were rescued from the Dominican-registered dredger after it capsized following the collision in the early hours, and were taken to hospital.
The Indonesian-registered tanker sustained damage to its front section but is stable and none of its crew members were hurt, the port authority said.
The MPA said in a statement it was "leading the search and rescue operations", with boats and an air force helicopter deployed to hunt for the sailors.
There was no disruption to shipping in the Singapore Strait, it added.
On Aug. 21, the destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with a tanker near the Singapore Strait, tearing a gaping hole in the ship's hull, and flooding it with water.
Ten US sailors were found dead inside flooded compartments after the collision, the latest accident involving an American warship in Asian waters.
The waters around Singapore are some of the busiest in the world, with huge numbers of cargo vessels plying the trade routes between Asia and Europe.
For failing to pay the salary of her domestic help, one Singaporean woman has been ordered to pay the price of her act.
The employer in name, Li Jun, was convicted on Wednesday (Sept 12) for not paying the salary of her foreign domestic worker (FDW).
She was fined $15,000 in default of six weeks' imprisonment.
Li faces 13 charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA), made against her by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), according to an official statement.
She was guilty of not paying monthly salaries totalling to about $5,700 to her domestic helper.
Investigations revealed that Li did not pay her domestic worker her monthly salary of $420 between Mar 7, 2016 and Feb 21 this year.
In accordance with work permit conditions, foreign domestic workers must be paid no later than seven days after the last day of the salary period, said MOM.
"Each salary period cannot exceed one month," the Ministry added.
"Employers must also maintain a monthly salary record paid to their FDWs, and to obtain written acknowledgement from their FDWs."
Of the 13 charges, Li pleaded guilty to three with the remaining 10 being taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing, said MOM.
The Ministry has also barred her from hiring any more foreign domestic workers.
Li gave her domestic worker the full salary that she had owed her on Sept 7.
When it comes to engaging students, one teacher certainly found the right approach.
Mediacock Singapore has posted a video showing a teacher capturing the attention of his class in a rather unusual but effective way.
The video first shows the teacher attempting to explain a theory through a demonstration involving a book and a piece of paper.
While standing on a chair, he placed the paper on top of the book, and then dropped it onto the floor at around the halfway mark of the video.
The video did not capture the results of the demonstration, but judging from the reactions of the students, it went pretty well.
The class can be heard going 'whoa' following what the teacher had done.
That, however, was not the end of the story.
As the students expressed their awe over what had happened, the teacher performed a 'dab', an action involving a person dropping his or her head into the bent crook of a slanted arm.
The class went into raptures after that, and began cheering to show their appreciation.
According to the caption on the video, the super-hip teacher's name is Mr Tan Thiam Soon. He was apparently conducting a lesson on physics at Chung Cheng High School (Yishun).
A check on the school's website revealed that he is also the Head of Department for Human Resource.
With people skills like that, we can safely say that the school has chosen the right person for the job.
A man has been caught for the possession and keeping of illegal wildlife here in Singapore.
And it wouldn't have been the case if not for a tip-off given to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), said the organisation in a statement on Wednesday (Sept 13).
The perpetrator, Lim Kok Huat, 33, was fined $6,600 by the court on Wednesday.
AVA received the tip-off on Feb 28, regarding an individual who was allegedly selling illegal wildlife online.
Two Indian Star tortoises and a hedgehog - which were meant for sale - were seized and placed under the care of Wildlife Reserves Singapore, said AVA.
The statement continued: "We worked with our informant to monitor his activities and subsequently conducted a sting operation on Mar 8, 2017."
The keeping and selling of wild animals, such as tortoises and hedgehogs, are prohibited in Singapore, according to AVA.
Wild animals make unsuitable pets as "they may transmit zoonotic diseases to humans and can be a public safety risk if mishandled or if they escape".
In Singapore, it is an offence to illegally import/export, possess, sell, offer/advertise for sale or display to public any illegal wildlife species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna or Flora (CITES).
This includes online sales of such wildlife species. An example of a CITES-protected species is the star tortoise, said AVA.
Although wild animals such as hedgehogs are not protected by CITES, it is also an offence to keep, sell or offer them for sale.
Members of the public who have information on illegal wildlife activities can contact AVA to make a report.
A neighbour has revealed the owner of a Geylang Bahru HDB unit that caught fire, to be 'Parrot Man', who previously claimed that he was homeless.
The fire which happened in a unit at Block 68 Geylang Bahru on Monday (Sept 11) at around 8.15pm, was reported by Stomp in an earlier article.
Zeng Guoyuan, 65, more commonly know as Parrot Man, named for his pet parrot which he carries around, was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 which required the excision of his entire nose.
He became a tissue peddler and told Lianhe Wanbao in June 2015, that he had sold off his flat to pay off debts he owed to friends.
Homeless, he said he had to spend his nights on his mobility scooter.
Zeng said he had to spend his nights on his mobility scooter
Photo: The New Paper
However, when reporters visited the scene of the fire, a neighbour told them that the owner of the unit which caught fire was none other than Zeng.
Not only that, the affected unit was composed of two three-room flats which had been connected.
The neighbour also claimed that Zeng owns two cars.
When reporters got in contact with Zeng yesterday morning (Sept 12), he admitted that he had bought the two flats back in 2015.
He added that he had been living in the unit with his wife, but the fire on Monday had left him with 'nothing'.
Photo: The Straits Times
Reporters then asked why he had claimed to be homeless, and he explained that this was due to his illness.
He said: "I have colorectal cancer, so I need to carry a colostomy bag.
"In order not to dirty the bed, I chose to spend the nights on my mobility scooter instead."
He also denied owning two cars as alleged by the neighbour.
The video was apparently first uploaded by a Facebook user named Dave Tan, though his post is no longer accessible.
However, the video was reposted by other Facebook pages such as Kuanyewism and has also been circulating on WhatsApp, which several Stompers alerted us to.
In the clip, two male students is seen entering a classroom to confront a third boy.
One of the two guys placed him in a chokehold, before he broke free, retaliated and all three students started exchanging blows.
Other pupils simply looked on and an adult is also spotted standing at the door, watching the spectacle.
Stomp contributor Gary commented: "The man was just standing there watching to see who will be getting the MVP award."
The scuffle eventually broke up, with a fourth student entering the classroom and separating the parties involved.
Reacting to the incident, netizens said punishment is a "must" for all the parties involved and questioned why the man in the video did not do anything.
One wrote, "Cannot take sides. [To create] a scene and not be reprimanded is just setting an example that such behaviour is acceptable in the school."
In response to media queries by Stomp, the vice-principal of St. Hilda's Secondary School, Miss Tan Yee Leng, clarified that the man in the video is not a teacher.
She said in a statement to Stomp: "The school is aware that there was a disciplinary issue on 11 September which involved two students fighting with another student.
"An intern with an external agency chanced upon the incident when walking along the corridor, and had called out to the students to stop the fight but they did not heed him.
"Since he is not one of our teachers, he would not have the training or authority to manage the situation.
"The school has addressed the matter by counselling the students involved, and applying appropriate disciplinary measures. We are also working with their parents to help our students learn from the incident.
"We take all incidents of fighting seriously, and we are confident that our teachers will be able to manage and correct inappropriate behaviour."
A 39-year-old woman was seen breaking out into a dance at Bedok Town Centre for eight hours on Sep 10, during which she also stripped down to her underwear.
According to Lianhe Wanbao, the woman started her solo antics at around 7am.
A witness said that onlookers did not much pay her much heed at first -- until her dance moves got increasingly strange and attracted everyone's attention.
The woman started swaying both her arms about while her feet remained rooted to the ground.
At 3pm, she was still dancing even though it had rained for a period of time.
Presumably because her clothes were wet, the woman then stripped down to her underwear in front of everyone and started walking around.
At that point, another witness -- finally sensing that something was not right -- called the police.
Police arrived at the scene and arrested the woman, who is understood to be of Vietnamese descent.
She was subsequently sent to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for a psychiatric assessment and was accompanied by her family.
September 13 was a momentous day for Singaporeans. Madam Halimah Yacob was declared the President-elect after her nomination papers were found to be in order.
She will be the Republic's first female President and the first Malay head of state in 47 years. Madam Halimah Yacob has always been a trailblazer.
The advocate of women and workers' rights was the first female Speaker of Parliament and the first Malay woman to be elected a Member of Parliament (MP), which is also why she is our Her World Women of the Year winner in 2003. In light of her rise to the Republic's highest office, here are 8 lesser-known facts about our soon-to-be President.
#1 JET OR JACKIE?
Photo: Instagram/Jet Li
Having lived in Selegie House that had a predominantly Chinese community, Madam Halimah was exposed to Chinese culture and media. In a candid interview, the President-elect admitted coyly that she is a fan of martial artist and film actor, Jet Li, because of her love for Kung Fu and martial arts movies.
Madam Halimah added that while she admires Chan's funny side, she still prefers Jet Li because he is more "more intense and interesting". Not surprisingly, when asked about her favourite movie, the President-elect said, "Fearless", a 2006 film that stars Jet Li.
#2 ONE UPON A TIME IN CHINA
Her favourite song is the theme song of martial arts film, "One upon a Time in China", starring Jet Li as Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung.
#3 #MdmPresident
Photo: Twitter Singapore
In honour of the 63-year-old President-elect, Twitter created a new Halimah Yacob emoji that will appear in tweets with the #HalimahYacob, #PresidentHalimah, #MdmPresident, #SingaporePE2017, #PE2017, and #SGElections. This is the first emoji to be created for a female head of state.
#4 NEARLY EXPELLED
While the humble beginnings of former Speaker of Parliament have been widely documented, what most people don't know is that she was nearly expelled because she missed too many classes.
After the death of her father, her mother became the sole breadwinner. To take some load off her mother, Madam Halimah, then a secondary school student would help out at her mother's hawker school after school, on the weekends and during the school holidays.
Shuttling between school and her mother's stall made her so tired that she would often play truant and fall asleep in class. She would often sit at the back of the class so she could look out of the window, daydream and sleep. Madam Halimah attributes her success to a teacher who encouraged her not to give up.
#5 UNIVERSITY SWEETHEART
Photo: Facebook/Halimah Yacob
Madam Halimah married her university sweetheart, Mr Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee, in 1980. They have five children aged 26 to 35. The couple went through some tough times. When they first moved in to their HDB flat, it took them eight months before they could afford a sofa set.
In a Straits Times interview, when asked how her husband, who is a businessman, feels about being married to a successful woman, the latter replied, "fortunately he's able to handle that because he doesn't see me as a power woman. We balance out quite well at home... I believe in empowering relationships. He empowers me, I empower him. That's how we maintain the balance and harmony at home". Cue the collective awws!
#6 SHE WENT BACK TO SCHOOL AT 45
Even though her husband thought she was crazy for going back to school, Madam Halimah's heart was set on pursuing a master's in law at the National University of Singapore. It wasn't easy for the then full-time unionist and mother of five to balance work, family and studies but she was able to overcome the odds to get her master's degree.
Halimah Yacob's journey to becoming Singapore's first female president
By now, it should be no secret that Madam Halimah lives in a HDB flat in Yishun. Neighbours who reside in the estate often saw Madam Halimah climbing the stairs to her sixth floor flat instead of taking the lift.
The soon-to-be President leads a healthy lifestyle and tries to get about 45 minutes' worth of exercise each morning.
While the President won't be moving into the istana just yet, it won't be too long before she will seen strolling on its vast lawn. In an interview with Channel NewsAsia, she told reporters that, "the Istana grounds are very big, so that gives me a chance to walk around and exercise further, and keep myself fit".
#8 SHE WAKES UP AT 5AM DAILY
Madam Halimah is a firm believer of waking up early, starting her day at 5am every day. She lives by her mother's words, "if you don't get up before the sun rises, then you're lazy". According to the President-elect, she can never sleep "when the sun is already out and when it's bright and shining into your face".
Singapore's President Halimah Yacob has expressed her intention to continue living in her HDB flat in Yishun. If her wish is granted, she'll be Singapore's first head of state to live in public housing.
We took a stroll around her neighbourhood, which straddles between Khatib and Yishun MRT stations, to find out what life would be like for the President of Singapore if she gets to continue living in her jumbo flat.
At least seven coffeeshops are within walkable distance from Mdm Halimah's block, including four in Khatib Central (below) - an area of F&B establishments, retail shops and services.
Photo: AsiaOne
2. 24-hour supermarkets
In Khatib Central, the NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong supermarkets both operate 24 hours.
Photo: AsiaOne
3. Convenience shops
There are around five convenience shops, including two 7-Eleven stores, located sparingly around the neighbourhood.
Photo: AsiaOne
4. Schools
Photo: AsiaOne
In the neighbourhood are several schools including the popular Northland Primary School, Chung Cheng High School (Yishun) - which recently got into the spotlight because of this dabbing teacher - and special needs school Rainbow Centre Yishun Park School.
5. Health and recreational facilities
Photo: AsiaOne
There's a tranquil Yishun Pond Park and the huge Yishun Park, which is connected to Safra Yishun Country Club, where members of the public can find everything from a restaurant and a KTV lounge to a bowling alley and a sport climbing station.
6. Hospital and clinics
Photo: AsiaOne
About a 10-minute walk away from Mdm Halimah's home is Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, which is just next to Yishun Pond Park. Nearby is Yishun Polyclinic, housed in a temporary building. Its new site at the junction of Yishun Central and Yishun Avenue 9 is under construction. There are also several private clinics below HDB blocks.
7. Property prices
Photo: AsiaOne
Prices for a jumbo flat in Mdm Halimah's neighbourhood range between $740,000 and $850,000, according to a search we did on some local property websites. These figures will probably go up, considering.
Pretty good neighbourhood, we think. Do you?
Halimah Yacob's journey to becoming Singapore's first female president
