Two mainland Chinese nationals have been jailed for swindling shops in Chinatown. According to Shin Min Daily News, their modus operandi consisted of paying for a relatively cheap item using a S$100 note, then after receiving change that had at least one S$50 note suddenly claim they would pay with smaller notes instead.       When shop staff returned them their S$100 note. The men would also return the change to the staff and pay for the merchandise with smaller notes, however they would quickly pocket the S$50 note during the exchange, and leave before the staff noticed. One of the nationals, 61-year-old Li Zuhui, visited Singapore twice in 2024, in April and December, and targeted small shops that did not have security personnel. He also took a notebook to record the route he had taken.   Targeted shops in Chinatown   During his first visit on Apr. 11, 2024, Li went to a shop in Chinatown and bought an S$8 doll. Upon being given S$92 in change, in the form of a S$50 note, four S$10 notes and a S$2 note, Li claimed he could pay for the doll with smaller bills. Li then returned only S$42, while keeping the S$50 note for himself. Once he had gotten back his S$100 and paid for the doll with smaller notes, he quickly left the store. The staff only discovered the S$50 was missing when they later counted the money, but Li had already left. The second incident happened on Dec. 28, 2024, also at another shop in Chinatown. This time, Li decided to buy a refrigerator magnet at the second stall, according to closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage that was shown in court. He also paid for the magnet using a S$100 note, and immediately pocketed the S$50 change he had received. Li then returned the rest of the change to the shop's staff, paid for the magnet with smaller bills and left the shop quickly. When the staff found out that the S$50 note was missing, she checked the CCTV and called the police. Li was arrested on Dec. 30.         Both from same village   The second store at Chinatown had also been targeted on Dec. 25, by the second Chinese national, Pan Zhonglin. Pan was from the same village as Li, and used the same method to swindle S$50 from the shop. Shin Min reported that 62-year-old Pan flew on the same flights with Li into Singapore in April and December, and also stayed in the same hotel as Li in December. The shop's staff was quoted as saying that she had thought the man had made an honest mistake during the first incident on Dec. 25. However, she became suspicious when in happened a second time, which was why she decided to check the CCTV. The staff added that in both instances, the incidents occurred in less than two minutes with both men immediately choosing a product without spending much time choosing the item. Pan pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and was sentenced to two months in prison on Feb. 27.

SINGAPORE - British health and wellness retailer Holland & Barrett has closed all 12 of its outlets in Singapore, marking an exit for the brand after more than 15 years. The closure was officially announced on its Instagram page on March 10, although it is believed that its physical stores across different malls had already begun shuttering as early as March 6. When The Straits Times visited five outlets that day – at Takashimaya Shopping Centre, 313@somerset, Isetan Scotts, Suntec City and Nex – the store shelves were either already emptied or workers were in the midst of packing up. The store at Nex was subsequently boarded up on March 7. Meanwhile, the outlet at AMK Hub had a sign put up on March 7 informing customers that the store was “currently closed”, redirecting customers to hollandandbarrett.com “for the latest news in health and wellness”. That same day, a Facebook user, who identified herself as an employee at Holland & Barrett, said her co-workers were all surprised and unprepared for the closure.   “Everything happened so quickly, and it feels like a nightmare,” she said, adding that she had worked at the retailer for 12 years. Customers were also not told in advance, said one regular, who did not want to be named. He told ST that he had renewed his membership – worth $88 for the year – and received two complimentary vouchers, valued at $150 each, which can be used until July.   The Holland & Barrett outlet at Nex in Serangoon was boarded up when ST visited on March 7. It had been shuttered the night before, with a sign telling customers to visit the brand’s website.ST PHOTO: AQIL HAMZAH Expressing his unhappiness on the Complaint Singapore Facebook group on March 4, he said Holland & Barrett should not have allowed new membership sign-ups or renewals for 2025 if it had planned to shut down. The member also said that he suspected something was amiss when he noticed that items were not being restocked during a visit to an outlet on March 3, although the staff could not give him any details. Asked by ST if he had filed a complaint with the Consumers Association of Singapore, he said he had not, adding that he was concerned most about the welfare of the employees. Queries sent to Holland & Barrett Singapore on March 6, including how many employees had been laid off, and if customers had been informed beforehand, were unanswered as at March 10. ST has contacted Jay Gee Enterprises, which owns a subsidiary, MA Supplements, that brought Holland & Barrett to Singapore in 2009. A sign put up outside the AMK Hub outlet of Holland & Barrett on March 7.ST PHOTO: AQIL HAMZAH On March 7, an announcement on the Government’s e-gazette said the directors of MA Supplements had made a statutory declaration of its inability to continue the business because of liabilities. The declaration, made on March 4, marks the first step for a business to wind down, with meetings between the company and its creditors scheduled for March 18. A search of MA Supplements’ file with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority also showed that it was in the midst of liquidation as at March 4. At its peak, there were 27 Holland & Barrett stores in Singapore – according to an April 2014 The New Paper report – which carried a range of health products from vitamins, minerals and other supplements to more unique products such as healthy snacks, organic food and organic toiletries. Founded in 1870, Holland & Barrett started out as a grocery store, and according to its website, it has 1,368 stores in 16 countries worldwide.

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Sport Institute (SSI), National Youth Sports Institute and Singapore Sports School (SSP) will be consolidated under a single entity to enable a more integrated and effective youth-to-senior support framework for national athletes, said the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY). The announcement was made by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong during the debate on MCCY’s budget on March 10. From April 1, the SSI and NYSI will first merge to form a new sport institute. Opened in 2011, the SSI provides support to national athletes in the areas of high-performance sport, athlete life, sports science and sports medicine, while the latter was launched in 2015 to value-add and impact the youth sports ecosystem.   The SSI is currently based at the Singapore Sports Hub, while the NYSI is located at SSP’s Woodlands campus and in Kallang. After the merger, the new sport institute will come together with the SSP in “a few years’ time”. This integrated national training centre will be a part of the Kallang Alive Masterplan, a comprehensive strategy by the Government to rejuvenate the area and turn it into the home of Singapore athletes and a sports district. According to Mr Tong, the integration of SSI, NYSI and SSP will benefit stakeholders in different ways.   The new entity is expected to provide a seamless and comprehensive support system for athletes throughout their sporting journey, particularly during the youth-to-senior transition and across the stages in life.     This would help assure budding athletes and their parents that sport can be a viable career, and encourage them to stay longer in competitive sport. Integrating both sports institutes will “enhance our end to end service delivery to our athletes across the youth-to-senior spectrum”, said Mr Tong.   He added: “While the Sports School will remain as a school and retain its brand and identity, this consolidation will more closely integrate Sports School with the rest of our high performance sport system... These moves will collectively strengthen and deepen the integration between the key aspects of high-performance sport. “We will have multiple layers of support converging around the athlete, supporting them throughout their journey, from youth to senior levels. And we will be able to hit the ground running once development of the new Kallang Alive Masterplan is completed.” National table tennis player Izaac Quek said: “During my time at SSP, I would go to the NYSI satellite within the school when I had any injury or needed any support. “But at times, there were some facilities that were not available in the NYSI at SSP, and we had to travel to Kallang to use the SSI facilities. When we did this, we would also have to update the NYSI representative, so it was a bit troublesome. This upcoming consolidation will help the SSP athletes, as well as the other athletes training at Kallang.” The move would also enable the strengthening of partnerships with national sports associations (NSAs) on athlete and pathway development, and closer working relationships with NSAs to professionalise sport administration and technical capabilities, said the ministry.   Singapore Aquatics president Kenneth Goh noted that the development “integrates academic, sporting and developmental threads into a more cohesive pathway tailored to each athlete”. He added: “By better coordinating these threads, we can ensure they not only minimise conflicts but also reinforce each other. At a deeper level, I’m encouraged by this merger as it shows the Government’s commitment to improving conditions for high-performance athletes by tackling critical structural issues.” The aim of the integration is also to establish a core of sport specialists in sport science, athlete life and sport management and provide multiple pathways for professional development. In his maiden National Day Rally speech in August 2024, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that the SSP would move from Woodlands to Kallang. Built at a cost of $75 million, the SSP opened in 2004 and offers both secondary and post-secondary academic programmes for student-athletes aged 13 to 18. Its alumni include Olympians such as champion sprinter Shanti Pereira, fellow Asian Games gold medal-winning swimmer Tao Li and SEA Games table tennis champion Quek. These plans stem from the Government’s objective to do more to strengthen the sporting culture in Singapore and to support all Singaporeans in realising their sporting dreams, said PM Wong then. The new training centre is expected to be located on the plot of land currently occupied by the Kallang Netball Centre and Kallang Squash Centre. Netball Singapore, which recently received a lease extension on its Kallang facility till 2026, will move to its new home in the Toa Payoh Integrated Development, which is scheduled for completion by 2030. Mr Tong also updated on March 10 that existing ActiveSG members will receive the SG60 ActiveSG $100 credit top-up when they log into MyActiveSG+ between June 2 and Dec 31. The credits can be used for entry fees for swimming pools and gyms, booking ActiveSG facilities, and to offset fees for ActiveSG programmes.

MCD can still eat de meh    

anyone thinks she is sexy?     OK she is not my type   neither is the other one that came earlier   My types are:   Shania Twain Shakira