Rice price survey

A survey on the price of rice by the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) is making at least one supermarket chain see red and raising questions on whether its checks are done right.

Case released on Wednesday the prices of 10 brands of fragrant rice at eight supermarket chains.

The survey compared prices of 5kg and 10kg bags of rice - 16 products in all - on May 6 and 7, and showed that Sheng Shiong supermarket at Ten Mile Junction on Woodlands Road had the highest prices for seven.

The price difference was substantial in some cases: A 10kg bag of Golden Phoenix Fragrant Rice that cost $18.80 at a Prime supermarket was tagged at $28 at Sheng Siong, a local outfit which grew from a single neighbourhood store to a major chain in the last few years on the back of a reputation for competitive pricing.

But a Sheng Shiong spokesman said Case’s prices are wrong. (story)

45 minute commute too much for most Singaporeans

Workers in Singapore will grumble if they have to commute some distance to work, but they will readily pack their bags and fly to the ends of the earth for the right job, according to a poll by Kelly Services.

Two in three of more than 2,000 employees here polled by the recruitment firm said they were not prepared to commute more than 45 minutes each way to work, The Business Times reported yesterday.

Nearly eight in 10 of those polled would consider relocating to another country to work.

This shows that despite their reluctance to spend more time commuting, Singapore workers are highly mobile when it comes to securing the right job.

More than half - 56 per cent - of the workers polled were even ready to uproot and move to unfamiliar territories where they don’t speak the local lingo. (story)

45 Singaporean tourists in Jiuzhaigou safe

45 Singaporeans holidaying in scenic Jiuzhaigou are stranded in the north of Sichuan province - albeit in a six-star hotel.

They spent the third day at the Jiuzhai Paradise Hotel and are not clear when they can leave the resort place.

The group was into the fourth day of an eight-day excursion with SA Tours to Jiuzhaigou, Taoping Qiang Village and the Dead Sea of China when the powerful 7.8 magnitude quake struck southwest China on Monday.

They left Singapore on May 9 and were scheduled to return on Friday. Now the returned date may be delayed.

Tour guide Wendy Zhang Wei told The Straits Times on Wednesday that all the 45 are safe and calm.

‘They are entertaining themselves with the amenities at the hotel but are still anxious to go home. There is sufficient food and water in the hotel,’ she said. (story)

Beach ball babes

It’s the Tiong Bahru market, but instead of the usual aunties, uncles and assortment of neighbourhood folk you would expect to find at a wet market on a typical weekday morning, a bevy of Mediacorp actresses were parading around in their bikinis instead.

A New Paper report today featured Joanne Peh, Jade Seah and Jesseca Liu in a photo spread as they flaunted bare skin and lots of cleavage. But it was all in the name of filming for their upcoming new drama, Beach.Ball.Babes.

One of the story plots call for the girls, who are part of a volleyball team, to strip down to their bikinis outside a wet market after they lose a bet.

The squeamish girls had to perform stunts such as picking up live frogs and scooping out dead squid from a tank. Joanne let out a scream when she grabbed the frog and squirmed so convincingly that she completed the scene in one take, while Jade had a lot of difficulty handling the squid until the stall owner assured her that they were dead and will not bite. (story)

17th case of chikungunya confirmed

The Ministry of Health has confirmed Singapore’s 17th case of the mosquito-borne disease, chikungunya, here.

He is Mr E. C. Sng, who caught the bug overseas. He believes he caught the virus while playing golf at Jakarta’s prestigious Jagorawi Golf & Country Club a month ago.

He has not passed on the disease to anyone and is no longer infectious.

So far, 13 people have been infected locally, and another four, including Mr Sng, caught the virus overseas.

Like dengue, chikungunya is spread through the Aedes mosquito. It spreads if an infected person is bitten by an Aedes mosquito within days of getting symptoms, which include fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, muscle ache, rash and pain in the joints. The mosquito spreads the virus to those it subsequently bites. (story)

Turtle eggs caught by immigration

An attempt by smugglers to bootleg turtle eggs, medicinal products, and contraband were foiled by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority and the Singapore Customs at the Marina Wharf last Saturday.

Routine inspection was being performed on the cargo vessel MV Penguin Indoraya II on Saturday afternoon when the officers detected suspected prohibited Indonesian traditional medicine, an assortment of Jamu, amongst declared consignment goods of two consignees.

Another group of officers detected boxes of turtle eggs, while yet another group uncovered four boxes of duty-unpaid cigaretes. (story)

Singapore to upgrade broadband network

Singapore moved a step closer to setting up its ultra-fast broadband network today, when two consortia came forward with plans that promised a futuristic network that would open the floodgate to new online services.

The network, to be rolled out islandwide in the next few years, will offer speeds 10 times faster than now.

By the time the deadline came for tender submission on Monday, two consortia including heavyweight telecom operators like SingTel, StarHub and M1 had submitted their bids in their respective consortia.

Winning this bid would avail them of up to $750 million in government funds. This will be used to lay cables to hook up homes, schools and offices. (story)

New camera to help police catch auto thieves

The police may soon have a gadget that can quickly detect blacklisted vehicles - like stolen cars or those used in crime getaways.

The technical trial was completed last week on the Mobile Automated Vehicle Screening System (MAVSS), which comprises a car-mounted camera and a laptop computer.

The camera, which sits on the roof of police patrol cars, can scan up to six licence plates of parked or moving vehicles every second and feed the scans into a laptop in the police car. The scans are then compared against a database of stolen or wanted vehicles for matches.

The system, customised from a similar one in use by European crime enforcement agencies, does away with manual screening.

The police said it is not certain when the system will be introduced here. (story)

Kidnap scam foiled

Desperately pressing a cellphone to her ear and looking confused, Madam Koh Eng Pien, 73, attracted the attention of the staff at a Maybank branch in Ang Mo Kio last month.

Employees suspected something was amiss when she insisted on transferring $2,000 to a bank account in Malaysia.

‘She was having difficulty writing down the name and account number of the recipient,’ said assistant service manager Mr Alex Wong, 28, recently. ‘I could also hear someone shouting at her through her cellphone.’

She initially claimed the money was for a friend, but later admitted it was ransom for her kidnapped son.

Bank staff told her that it was probably a scam and advised her to call her relatives. When she did, Madam Koh found out that her 40-year-old son, a coffee-shop supervisor, was at work. (story)

Melody Chen, Randall Tan photo cause a stir

Together at last, in sickness and in health.

That seemed to be the sentiment at the wedding dinner of local actor-hosts Melody Chen and Randall Tan.

It was held at Shangri-La Hotel’s Tower Ballroom on Saturday night and attended by 350 guests.

The solemnisation - during which the comely couple cried while exchanging vows they had written themselves - and tea ceremony were conducted at the hotel earlier in the day.

A beaming Melody, 30, told The New Paper as the celebrations wrapped up: ‘It’s been a long journey for us. We started out as best friends, and now we’re looking forward to beginning a new journey together.’

Randall, 34, added: ‘She’s all I could ask for. And seeing her looking beautiful in these dresses, I’m a happy man.’

But before reaching the finishing line, the sports enthusiasts - who got engaged last November and are living in Melody’s apartment in the western part of Singapore - faced many hurdles. (story)