Almost half of Singapore residents say they'll never achieve financial freedom: Singapore live news
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Of the 3,000 respondents in a poll, 44 per cent of them believe they'll never achieve financial freedom. The poll was conducted by Singlife, and the respondents comprised of Singaporeans and permanent residents. For a fuller breakdown of the financial freedom poll, read here.
The number of petrol stations in Singapore have fallen over the last two decades following a greater adoption of electric vehicles. The remaining petrol stations have diversified their offerings and now sell a wider range of items – from sushi to bubble tea. For more on the 'disappearing' petrol stations, read here.
Securing a home loan in Singapore as a freelancer is a little tricker as the process seems to favour salaried employees. But, with freelancing on the rise, perhaps it's time to pay a little more attention. There are five factors to consider and you can read here for a detailed guide.
Qantas's sale of discounted first-class tickets, due to a coding mistake, has left many passengers with unexpected business-class bookings or refunds. More on the Australian airline's first-class ticket disaster here.
Singapore is launching a four-year study on how Asian skin ages. The study will cost $14 million and aims to develop preventive measures and treatments tailored for Asian skin.
Oasis is reuniting for a tour in UK and Ireland. It's been 15 years since they split but the feud between brothers Liam and Noah seems to have eased up. For more details on the reunion tour, read here.
Rescuers have stepped up efforts to locate the woman who disappeared down a sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur. They're now using a ground-penetrating radar, the same device used during a landslide incident in Batang Kali in December 2022. For more on the rescue efforts, read here.
Singapore's prime minister, Lawrence Wong, visited army recruits at the Basic Training Military Centre on Thursday (27 Aug) morning. He said it has been "some time since my last visit" and he wanted to get an update on the training. Wong also joined them for a run.
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Bryan Lim
Singapore commits nearly $14 million for Asian skin ageing study
Asians don't 'raisin' – you might have heard of that saying before.
It's an open secret that Asians generally look youthful even as they age. However, the real secret lies in why, and even that might not be a secret for long.
Singapore is launching a four-year study on how Asian skin ages, and addressing age-related issues like skin thinning and persistent itching. It'll cost $14 million.
The study is led by professor Rachel Watson, an executive director at the Skin Research Institute of Singapore, and aims to develop preventive measures and treatments tailored for Asian skin.
Almost half of Singapore residents believe they won't achieve financial freedom
A poll by Singlife revealed that 44 per cent of people in Singapore believe they won't achieve financial freedom.
The top three reasons cited were – insufficient income, unforeseen personal of health circumstances, and job insecurity.
The poll is a part of Singlife’s second financial freedom index and had 3,000 respondents comprising Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 18 to 65. The survey was conducted from April to June 2024.
This year's respondents scored 58 out of 100 on the index, a slight dip from 60 in 2023.
Inflation, insufficient retirement savings, and medical expenses are the top sources of financial stress among respondents.
Additionally, more than 44 per cent of respondents also believe that having children will hinder their path to financial freedom. They estimated that it'll delay their progress by 15 years.
This belief is more prevalent among three groups – those aged 55 to 64, people whose youngest child is above 16, and those with a high monthly household income.
Our Prime Minister going for a run? Well, that's normal.
Our Prime Minister going for a run with army recruits? That's quite ingenious, according to one netizen who exclaimed, "Who would have thought of that?"
In an Instagram on Thursday (27 Aug), Singapore's prime minister Lawrence Wong shared that he visited the Basic Military Training Centre (BMTC) on Pulau Tekong that same morning. He was accompanied by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad.
Wong wrote, "It has been some time since my last visit. I wanted to get an update on BMT/NS training, and to engage our soldiers firsthand."
In the photos that Wong shared, he can be seen running with the army recruits and participating in other activities with them.
KL sinkhole: Rescuers turn to soil-penetrating radar to locate woman
Rescuers have stepped up efforts to locate the woman who disappeared down a sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur.
They're now using a ground-penetrating radar which emits electromagnetic waves into the ground through a transmitter and detects the reflected waves using a receiver sensor.
The same device was used during a landslide incident in Batang Kali in December 2022.
It's been four days since the woman, an Indian tourist, fell into the sinkhole. There have been no signs of her except for a pair of slippers.
A Singapore waste management company has also volunteered to aid rescue efforts.
Qantas recently experienced a major mishap when a coding error on its website led to the sale of first-class tickets at a steep discount.
On a single day, approximately 300 passengers booked return flights between Australia and the US at up to 85 per cent off the usual fare, which typically costs over $18,000 (AU$20,000).
The discounted prices were available for only about eight hours before the error was corrected.
Qantas has announced that it will not honour these discounted first-class tickets but will instead rebook affected passengers in business class at no additional charge.
Alternatively, passengers can opt for a full refund.
Despite this adjustment, business class tickets will still be around 65 per cent cheaper than usual.
Qantas' action follows its terms and conditions, which allow it to cancel bookings with "reasonably obvious" pricing errors.
The airline has stated that this situation falls under such a category, thus leading to the decision to offer business class seats instead of first class.
This is not the first time airlines were left red-faced with mispriced tickets.
Similar incidents occurred with other airlines such as Cathay Pacific, which in 2019 honoured significantly discounted business-class tickets, and British Airways, which in 2018 canceled tickets sold for £1 due to a glitch.
The Qantas blunder comes amid recent scrutiny for the airline, which faced a substantial fine earlier this year for selling tickets for flights that had already been canceled.
If you intend to freelance for the foreseeable future, getting an HDB flat and sourcing for a loan might be a bit trickier.
After all, the process does seem to favour salaried employees.
There are five factors to account for when you're looking at a home loan – income, total debt servicing ratio (TDSR), credit score check, CPF OA contributions, and paperwork and tax returns.
For a detailed guide to securing a home loan, read here.
Bryan Lim
Singapore's petrol stations dwindle amid EV surge
Following the global adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the number of petrol stations in Singapore has dwindled.
The number of petrol stations stands at 184, a drop from the peak of 222 stations in 2003.
The remaining petrol stations have diversified their offerings and now sell a wider range of items – from sushi to bubble tea. They have also started providing charging points for EVs.
Despite the drop over the last two decades, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said that the number of stations has remained "largely stable" in recent years.
Peel Regional Police released stunning security camera video Wednesday showing a woman run over a man while allegedly stealing his Porsche SUV earlier this month in Mississauga.That woman, now wanted for the vehicle theft and dangerous operation causing bodily harm, is captured on the video telling the man she's at his home to see the Porsche Cayenne. Police said she was responding to an Auto Trader ad, and the incident took place at around 2 p.m. on Sept. 6 in the Winston Churchill and Eglinton
"The only way to escape the signs was to surrender. So I parted with my friends and their envious futures and moved in with the Sisters of Charity in Kansas City, armed with little more knowledge about religious life than what I could gather from Sister Act."
On Sunday, Sept. 15, Pranith Kumar Adupa jumped into Lake Clear near Eganville, Ont., and didn't resurface.Adupa, 27, a resident of Lindsay, Ont., was there to celebrate his birthday with his brother and a few friends when he leapt from a rock into the water around 9:30 a.m. When he failed to reappear, his friends called 911.It was 8 p.m. in India when Adupa's brother Pranay called their family from Canada to tell them he was missing.The family spent the next 10 hours waiting for news as emergen
AVIGNON, France (AP) — A 71-year-old French man admitted in court Tuesday that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious in their bed.
An associate of Dominique Pelicot, the Frenchman man who drugged his wife and invited dozens of men to rape her in a case that has shocked France and the world, told a court that he committed similar crimes against his own wife under Pelicot's influence. Jean-Pierre Marechal met Pelicot on a website where they shared information about drugging and assulting their spouses. Police say Pelicot was among the men who Marechal invited to assault his wife. An associate of Frenchman Dominique Pelicot, w
Macollvie Neel, editor of the Haitian Times, was ready to start her workday from home on Monday when her doorbell rang. What she thought might be a delivery turned out to be more than a half-dozen police officers.
A mother, 29, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of her five-year-old son southwest of Montreal.Quebec provincial police say emergency services were called to the home about 3 a.m. in Coteau-du-Lac, Que., a community 55 kilometres from Montreal.Inside the home, the boy was found unresponsive and his death was confirmed not long after.Initially, Sgt. Marythe Bolduc said investigators were treating the boy's death as suspicious.Two other people were
KYIV (Reuters) -Undisputed heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk has been released after detention by law-enforcement officers at Poland's Krakow airport, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday. "I was outraged by this attitude towards our citizen and champion," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app. It was not immediately clear why the 37-year-old Usyk was detained.
A body found in rural southeastern Kentucky is believed to be the man suspected of shooting and wounding five people on an interstate highway, authorities said Wednesday night.