Local News

About 200 students from Raffles Institution allegedly started feeling ill after a buffet meal prepared by an external caterer last Friday. The meal was prepared as part of a graduation event for the students. These students probably didn't have a conducive week to study for their papers. This year's 'A' level Chemistry practical exams is scheduled on 25 October 2018.

Students were faced with nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting. Some of these students received injections to help with the food poisoning so that they can continue studying for their examinations. The school is currently working with “the relevant government agencies to ascertain the cause of food poisoning” claims RI principal, Francis Yeo.

Hopefully, the students will still be able to study and do well for their examinations.

The former DBS employee who was slammed on social media for posting a photo of a torn Singapore flag with a perfect Indian flag underneath it on Facebook, was  given only a stern warning by the police, who acted following consultation with the AG Chambers.

44 year old Avijit Das Patnaik, who has been a Singapore PR for nine years, was then working for DBS. He had posted the image on the Singapore Indians & Expats Facebook page on the eve of India's independence day which fell on 15 August. Upon his posting receiving widespread criticism for its offensiveness to Singapore, DBS had said that he was counselled and told that insulting a nation that agreed to take him in and give him a job was not an option.

However, DBS subsequently terminated his contract 10 days after they acknowledged his offensive post. It is understood that Patnaik, who is still living in Singapore with his wife and two young children, is currently still looking for a job. 

In an incident that happened on 16 September, a 53 year old man was arrested by the police for making a false threat that was meant to cause alarm. The incident took place at Clarke Quay MRT station, and police did not say why they only release the facts of the case more than a month after it actually happened.

The man, who was not named by the police reports, was alleged to have intentionally left a bag at the station. Police were informed at about 5pm, about the unattended bag with a grey grenade-shaped object attached to its side. The man was arrested the very next day, and will be charged in court under the United Nations (Anti-terrorism Measures) Regulations.

Residents at of block 729 Woodlands Circle were alarmed when they saw paper wrappers stuffed inside a wall on their lift landing. The paper stuffing were exposed when renovation works were being carried out at the block.

Residents immediately raised the alarm, fearful that the block's structural safety has been compromised. The paper stuffings in questioned was seen in a gap between the metal frame of the lift door and the wall in both the 10th and 11th floors of the block. Responding to queries, HDB said that the paper stuffing were likely to have been there since the building was first built. This could be because the contractor then might have wanted to to fill a small gap caused when works were carried out, and to facilitate tiling works, the paper was stuffed between the gap.

HDB also confirmed that this is an unsafe and unacceptable industry practice, and they will investigate the matter. But they reiterated that the builiding structure and lift operations are unaffected.

Pokka have finally confirmed what the industry watchers have been speculating all this while. They will not be renewing the endorsement contract of Mediacorp actress and host Vivian Lai. This comes hot on the heels of Lai's husband, who was also Pokka's CEO, had his duties suspended following an internal audit.

Lai had been the Pokka ambassador for 10 years before this termination. Checks also confirms that while the non-renewal of contract was announced today, all of marketing collateral featuring Lai have been removed from the social media pages of Pokka since September.

While Pokka thanked Lai for her years of endorsing the product, no reason was given for the non-renewal of her contract.

Singapore Airlines may be ranked #1 in the world but does it mean they have stellar service standards? 

A man posted on Facebook about his anger with Singapore Airlines for bullying his 76-year-old diabetic father. He said that the crew mistook his father for someone else and was very rude to him. 

"I AM ABSOLUTELY APPALED TO LEARN THAT MY FATHER, WHO IS 76 YEARS OLD, HAD JUST COME OUT OF A 10 HOUR FLIGHT WITH SINGAPORE AIRLINES, WAS SHOUTED AND POINTED AT BY THE HEAD OF YOUR CABIN CREW, WHO MISTOOK HIM FOR SOMEONE ELSE!"

His parents allegedly asked to talk to a more senior crew but were rejected because the boss was "under a lot of stress". To make up for this, the crew offered wine instead of resolving the problem.

"First of all, this is BLACKMAIL. Second, if your 'head of cabin crew' could not handle this stress, then maybe it was time to question her relevance to her position. Or could it be a problem with how you look after your employees?"

Is this the quality of service we have on board? Is this how you treat the elderly?