5 S’pore News That You Should Know About That Were Reported Yesterday (15 January 2020)

Let’s face it: in this social media world, exciting and viral news like a cat feeding a baby bear would often appear in your Facebook news feed, while important news like the GDP growth of Singapore this year wouldn’t get the same reach.

It’s understandable since social media platforms would prioritise engaging and viral contents to keep users in their platform.

In order to ensure that you’d still know about important news instead just social news, below are the top five Singapore news that was reported yesterday which you should know, simplified for you in a bite-sized format:

S’porean Man Who Got Kidnapped In Thailand Was Electrocuted & Tortured

32-year-old Mark Cheng Jin Quan recounted his recent experience in which he was kidnapped by his fellow travel buddy, 31-year-old Kim Lee Yao Wei.

Cheng was grabbed by a group of masked men, blindfolded and bundled into a car. He was then forced to drink some orange juice that caused his lips to go numb.

He later found himself tied to a chair with his hands tied together, but he couldn’t see anything as he was still blindfolded.

He was taken to four different locations in forested areas where he was tortured for 12 hours and even had a gun pressed against his head and put inside his mouth.

He managed to loosen the strings that bound his wrists and escaped after knocking the gun out of his kidnapper’s hand and punching him.

For more info, tap here.

New Zealand Man Fined For Taking Advantage Of Singaporeans On Working Holiday

Four Singaporean women were hired for five days in 2017 to prune kiwifruit at an orchard in Pukehina, about 100km away from Auckland. However, they were not paid the NZ$535 (~S$476) they were owed each.

This was despite New Zealand’s Employment Relations Authority (ERA) stepping in and ordering the man to pay the four women.

Due to the multiple employment breaches, Gautam Rajan Kapur was ordered last month to pay NZ$18,000 (~S$16,039) in penalties, with NZ$12,000 (~S$10,693) of it going to the four women.

For more info, tap here.

Registry Of Marriages: 2/2/2020 & 22/2/2020 Are Popular Dates For Weddings

According to the civil marriage notices filed as of 6 January, 178 couples and 331 couples will be exchanging vows on 2 Feb and 22 Feb respectively. This is a significant increase from the average 50 to 60 civil marriages solemnised daily last year.

This could also be because the number two is often in relation to the Chinese word “shuang”, which means double or couple. Or perhaps it’s because of the fact that 2 Feb falls on the ninth day of the Chinese New Year, in which the number nine has the same pronunciation as “long” in Chinese.

According to a representative from the Ministry of Social and Family Development, “double dates” that also happen to fall on weekends tend to be more popular amongst couples.

For more info, tap here.

Expect To Be Caught In Heavy Traffic When Travelling To Malaysia Via Woodlands & Tuas Checkpoints During CNY

According to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), heavy traffic is to be expected at both Woodlands and Tuas checkpoint during the Chinese New Year holidays.

During 17 Jan to 28 Jan, departing traffic will most likely be quite heavy, while arrival traffic is expected to be heavy between 25 Jan and 28 Jan.

415,000 travellers are reported to use the checkpoints daily, and this number usually rises during festive peak periods, so ICA warns of potential delays in the journey for anyone who is travelling during this peak period.

ICA also warned against cutting queues to ensure that the traffic situation remains smooth.

For more info, tap here.

Recalcitrant Voyeur Gets Six Weeks’ Jail After Previously Getting Probation

24-year-old full-time Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) national serviceman Muhammad Nur Shafiq Omar was sentenced to six weeks’ jail on 15 January. He was also given an additional sentence of 20 days’ jail because he was recalcitrant and reoffended whilst on remission for other offences.

On 17 June last year, instead of heading home after visiting for Hari Raya, Shafiq went to a block near his house to peep at girls in their unit.

At around 4.30am, he found a unit where a 20-year-old lady lived in. Seeing as to how the bedroom lights were still on and the sliding window of the bedroom was unlocked, he pushed it open and reached his hand into the flat to push the curtains away.

That’s when the victim noticed Shafiq and screamed, causing him to flee. He did a similar thing on 1 June 2019 at 4am.

He pleaded guilty to one count of house-trespass, and the judge considered another count of attempting to insult a woman’s privacy.

He also had similar convictions back in 2014 where he was given probation.

He could have been sentenced to up to a year of jail, fined $3,000, or both for house-trespass.

For more info, tap here.

Do come back tomorrow to the Goody Feed app so you’ll always stay informed!