Old Chang Kee to expand operations

Listed food retailer Old Chang Kee plans to open 22 new outlets in the next three years in Asia Pacific and sees 15 per cent revenue growth in 2008. William Lim, CEO of Old Chang Kee, told reporters in an interview on Wednesday the firm is focused on expanding its business in Singapore, with 13 of the new retail stores opening this year in the city-state.

‘There are a lot of future events that will springboard our future business - Formula One, the integrated resorts and Youth Olympic Games,’ Mr Lim said.

But Mr Lim said Old Chang Kee is taking its time with overseas expansion, with only 9 outlets in the pipelines so far in Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and China. (story)

3 month course nets graduates jobs in health care field

Miss Rosyanti Abdullah was 49 when her company restructured last year and she lost her job. The O-level certificate holder spent 12 months looking for work, but found herself losing out to younger and better educated competition.

But after attending a three-month course that trains health-care assistants, she will start work this month at the Ling Kwang Home, a facility for the elderly.

‘I have been keen to get a job in health care for a long time, but didn’t have an opportunity until now,’ she said.

She is among 17 students who graduated on Wednesday from the second run of the health-care assistant course. The program trains those without prior experience to help take care of patients’ daily needs in community hospitals and nursing homes. (story)

Ring swallowing thief gets 1.5 years in jail

An odd job worker thought he had hit on the ideal way to swipe a diamond ring from a jeweller: he swallowed it, price tag and all. But Mohamad Azman Abdullah, 48, was caught right away, and handed to the police, who took him to hospital.

At Tan Tock Seng Hospital, doctors inserted a long flexible tube down his throat and into his tummy, using instruments at the end to fish out the $2,689 sparkler and its gold setting.

He had to stomach this uncomfortable procedure, called an endoscopy, which is usually done without anaesthesia.

In court on Wednesday, Azman pleaded guilty to the theft and was jailed 1 1/2 years. (story)

Competitors converge on the Han River for record high wire challenge

They came from all over the world, poles in hand, and feet ready to inch more than half a mile across a high wire strung over the Han River in a spine-tingling battle of balance, speed and high anxiety.

As part of its annual city festival, the South Korean capital staged Thursday what was billed as the world’s first high-wire championship, drawing 18 contestants from nine countries for three days of supreme feats of concentration.

Each acrobat must navigate the 1.2-inch-thick wire that spans the river, with the top prize of $15,000 going to the person crossing it fastest.

The contestants _ 14 men and four women _ include such masters of the high wire as Jade Kindar-Martin of Shelburne, Vt., a former Cirque du Soleil performer who once crossed London’s River Thames at a height of 150 feet, and Colombia’s Alan Martinez, who ambled across the Amazon.

They will face Adili Wuxiuer of China _ the world record-holder for distance who walked on a wire nearly a half-mile across the Chongqing Cliff at a height of 2,250 feet in 2003.

Organizers in Seoul said stringing the wire across the Han made it the longest-ever such high wire, meaning anyone making it across will break the record for distance. (story)