Singapore now has one confirmed Wuhan virus case. The Chinese man, who is from the epicentre of the outbreak, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Thursday (Jan 23). He is warded in an isolation room at the Singapore General Hospital and his condition is stable. To keep safe and calm this festive season, here's what you can do: Be prepared to welcome your visitors You can get a bottle of hand sanitiser ready and let your guests use it freely whenever they want. This will allow everyone to keep their hands free as well as allow you to start a conversation on the Wuhan virus, particularly if you have nothing much to talk about. «It is extremely important to practise good hygiene, especially when interacting with large groups of people - which is bound to happen during festive occasions such as Chinese New Year,» said Dr John Cheng, the head of primary care at Healthway Medical Group. «The use of antibacterial and alcohol-based soaps is recommended, so hand sanitisers also fall under this category and can be a convenient way to ensure our hands are clean.»

Malaysian actress Lee Sinje turned 44 on Thursday (Jan 23), but she almost forgot about her birthday until she woke up in the morning and saw several wishes from friends. She said in a social media post on Thursday that she has been sleeping and waking up early in recent years, as she thanked everyone for the wishes and wished them a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year. On Thursday morning, her good friend, actress Charlie Young, posted a photo of herself, Lee, singer-actress Gigi Leung and singer-songwriter Valen Hsu at a birthday party. However, sharp-eyed netizens noticed that the photo was taken in 2018, when the sisterhood of famous friends was celebrating the first birthday of Young's twin sons. Fans speculated that Young posted an old photo because the four celebrities could not hold a gathering for Lee's birthday this year as they were busy with either their work or personal lives. In an earlier post on Wednesday, Lee put up a photo of herself doing spring cleaning before Chinese New Year, as she joked that she is «a plain and simple housewife» after playing the beautiful Yun Ling in The Garden Of Evening Mists (2019).

Before you head off to your Lunar New Year family gatherings tonight, I’d just like to nudge your attention to a dashcam clip that popped up on Facebook yesterday (Jan 23).  In a video simply captioned “Look out when crossing road” on the Singapore Road Accident Facebook page, a young woman’s plight at Holland Village was captured in two acts via dashcam.  The first: not paying attention while crossing a road and awkwardly dashing to the other side, presumably after getting honked at.  The second: not paying attention (again) while crossing the road and getting knocked down to the ground by a descending carpark gantry arm. From the looks of it, that little bump seemed pretty painful too — enough for the arm to go up again.  As if the affair wasn’t embarrassing enough that evening, the entire thing will live on forevermore on the Internet. We genuinely hope that the Year of the Rat brings better fortune for her. 

Colourful Latvian Ernests Gulbis only brought one pair of shoes to the Australian Open, and he has quickly realised it was a big mistake.

In line with their #HelloChange commitment to deliver «the best experience and transparent offers without contract», StarHub has struck a deal with Amazon Singapore to offer a three-months free Amazon Prime membership to all their mobile customers. «We are reaffirming our #HelloChange commitment in 2020 to deliver to customers the best experience and transparent offers without contract,» said Johan Buse, Chief of Consumer Business Group, StarHub. «Offering innovative digital lifestyle services with best-in-class businesses enhances our customers' experience, and we are delighted to announce this collaboration with Amazon Singapore.» «First to offer Amazon Prime membership for all StarHub Mobile customers, we enable them to enjoy the best of Amazon's shopping and entertainment options on Singapore's fastest mobile network,» adds Buse.

SINGAPORE - All travellers at Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints will have to undergo temperature screening from Friday (Jan 24) at noon, in light of the Wuhan virus outbreak and the large number of travellers expected to cross the border into Malaysia over the festive weekend. The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that all travellers arriving at the two checkpoints will have their temperature taken by healthcare assistants, and suspected cases will be sent to hospitals for further tests. «This is in response to the novel coronavirus pneumonia development in Wuhan and exported cases to other cities and countries, coupled with the anticipated increase in travel volume in the lead up to the Lunar New Year holiday period,» said the ICA in a news release on Friday morning. Latest reports said 25 people have died as a result of the virus outbreak in China, where more than 800 people have been infected. On Thursday, Singapore confirmed its first case of the Wuhan virus. A 66-year-old man from Wuhan who had arrived on the island on Monday had tested positive for it. He is now kept in isolation in hospital.

Two of Singapore's incumbent telcos, StarHub and M1 released a statement late Thursday afternoon saying that they plan to submit a joint bid for a 5G license by the closing date of 17 February 2020. This deadline had been extended by the Government from the original date of 21 January 2020. Neither telco would reveal the makeup or terms of the bid or either parties contribution to it. Neither would they give any comments as to how they felt it would be received by the market and competitors. Local financial institution DBS Research had said in 2019 that a joint bid for a 5G license would be of the best value for the telcos. It went on to say that, «StarHub's share price may rise if it submits a joint bid with M1 for nationwide 5G». Singtel was unable to comment at the time of print regarding the StarHub and M1 announcement. Singtel is however already involved in 5G gaming trials together with Razer and the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore. SINGAPORE'S 5G LANDSCAPE

SINGAPORE - A 63-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday (Jan 22) for his suspected involvement in a case of attempted murder, the police said on Thursday. The police were alerted to the incident at around 5.10am last Friday, and found a 41-year-old woman injured at Marsiling Lane. The woman was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. Preliminary investigations revealed that the woman was attacked by a man. Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the Woodlands Police Division conducted investigations into the case and arrested the suspect on Wednesday. The man is related to the victim. He is expected to be charged on Friday with attempted murder. People working and living near where the incident happened had told Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao that they heard people shouting in the early morning last Friday. Later on the same day, police and investigation officers were seen at the scene collecting evidence and taking photos, Wanbao reported on Tuesday.

Hyundai's Thierry Neuville led the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally after the first two night stages on Thursday, with seven times winner Sebastien Ogier 19.1 seconds behind on his Toyota debut.

SINGAPORE - All the rooms at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Hotel where Singapore's first Wuhan virus confirmed case and his travelling companions stayed in have been sanitised and sealed off. Four staff members that came into contact with the infected patient have also been told to stay at home since Wednesday (Jan 22), the hotel said on Thursday night. Shangri-La Group's executive vice-president of operations in South-east Asia and Australasia Josef Dolp said that all four are currently well and have so far not displayed any symptoms of the virus. He said: «The rooms which the guests had stayed in were thoroughly disinfected and sanitised after the guests had checked out. »We will continue to remain vigilant and will assist the health authorities with their investigations and contact tracing efforts." The infected guest, a 66-year-old Wuhan native, had checked into the hotel with his family on Monday, Mr Dolp said. He had reported sick on Wednesday, before getting warded. The hotel then got in touch with its staff to trace who had come into contact with the man, said Mr Dolp.

The secondary school teacher believed his student «had a crush on him» and secretly flirted with the 15-year-old girl. Asking her out on multiple occasions, he hugged and kissed her, touched her chest and buttocks, and tried to pressure her into having sex with him. He became verbally abusive, telling her she deserved to be raped when she did not want to go out with him. The teacher, now 34, was yesterday sentenced to 17 months' jail for committing indecent acts on the girl. He pleaded guilty to three counts of the offence, with another four counts taken into consideration. He cannot be named to protect the victim's identity. The court heard that the man started teaching the victim's class in Jan 2017. She followed him on Instagram that month and from May 2017, the pair began messaging each other. On Aug 31, when the victim wished him a Happy Teacher's Day, the man flirted with her and suggested she give him a whistle so he could «blow» it and make her sit in front of him.

Liverpool extended their Premier League lead to 16 points with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers thanks to goals from Jordan Henderson and Roberto Firmino on Thursday.

Italian tax police searched the Milan offices of three managers at Eni on Thursday to widen an investigation into suspected obstruction of justice by officials at the Italian oil group, two sources said.

Bristol City have completed the signing of Australia international Chloe Logarzo on a 1-1/2 year contract, the FA Women's Super League club said on Thursday.

The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) on Thursday unveiled athlete uniforms for the Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremonies this summer, with red pants and culottes representing the sun and white jackets symbolising purity.

England's Joe Root said that completing a series victory over South Africa in their backyard would be a captaincy highlight, especially after the number of challenges the visitors have had to face over the past few weeks.

Healthy travel demand should continue to cushion results for American Airlines Group Inc and Southwest Airlines Co , the two said on Thursday, even as the prolonged Boeing 737 MAX grounding continues to hit costs and profits.

The search for four South Korean trekkers and three Nepalis swept away by an avalanche in the Himalayas almost a week ago was suspended Thursday as conditions made further operations too risky.

Tesla Inc has overtaken Germany's Volkswagen as the world's second most valuable carmaker behind Japan's Toyota , as the meteoric rise in the U.S. electric vehicle maker's shares reshuffles the global market.

Two Chinese nationals in Vietnam have tested positive for the SARS-like coronavirus and are being treated in hospital, officials said on Thursday (Jan 23).

’Tis the season to start looking for arm candy, if you’re in dire need of one, for making the rounds in Chinese New Year family gatherings.  Fake partners for rent are nothing new — some totally serious, some just posted on social media for laughs. This year is no different, and Facebook user Bryant Luo has jokingly put himself up for hire.  Prices are pretty steep though, once you’ve calculated how much you need to spill for his bespoke services. With a base cost of $88 an hour (at a minimum of two hours) to meet your parents, there’re still costs incurred for displaying various levels of intimacy in front of relatives.  The “newly added service” of assuring relatives that you and your alleged boyfriend have already applied for a Build-To-Order HDB flat is quite a sweet deal at $58. It’s just too bad that all ang baos Bryant receives will be his to keep. But hey, there’s a chance of getting lovingly hand-fed during hotpot dinners if the red packet amount he receives hits over $200. 

SINGAPORE - A China national has tested positive for the Wuhan virus in Singapore, with another likely to have the virus. The 66-year-old man, a Wuhan resident, arrived in Singapore with nine travelling companions on Monday (Jan 20), and stayed at Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa resort, the Ministry of Health said at a briefing on Thursday night (Jan 23). A 53-year-old woman, also a China national but not travelling with the group, has come up positive in preliminary tests, which are awaiting confirmation. In addition, the man's son, 37, is a suspected case and has also been warded, while the rest of the group are being quarantined and monitored for two weeks. However, there was no evidence that the virus had spread to anyone here, the ministry said. After widening the net to include screening of temperatures of all air travellers from China, the number of suspected cases in Singapore has increased. The ministry said that in total, it has had 28 suspected cases aged one to 78 years. Seven people have been cleared.

With Chinese New Year (CNY) just around the corner, many families will be looking forward to tucking into a sumptuous meal with their loved ones for the traditional annual reunion dinner. However, things may be different if you're responsible for hosting the dinner. While it may be nice to catch up with relatives you don't get to see often, having to whip up a suitably lavish feast for so many people can prove taxing on your wallet. To help you enjoy the CNY traditions and festivities without fretting over your budget, we've identified three ways you can save on this annual feast. FEATURE AFFORDABLE ALTERNATIVES IN YOUR STEAMBOAT For many Singaporeans, the CNY reunion dinner is held steamboat-style, where a massive spread of ingredients gets thrown into a bubbling pot of soup for communal sharing. Several ingredients are 'must-haves' as they're thought to bring auspiciousness due to their pronunciations (in Chinese) and appearance. Fish, for example, is a symbolism for 'abundance' because its pronunciation 'Yu' sounds similar to that of another Chinese character, 余, which means 'surplus'.

Several Chinese New Year (CNY) movies have been cancelled in an attempt to curb the spread of the deadly Wuhan coronavirus. At around 1.30pm today (Jan 23), film studios in China announced through social media that they were cancelling the global release of movies such as Jackie Chan's Vanguard, Wang Baoqiang's Detective Chinatown 3, Eddie Peng's The Rescue as well as the animation film Jiang Zi Ya: Legend of Deification. The release of Detective Chinatown 3 has been postponed due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. PHOTO: mm2 EntertainmentThe movies were supposed to be released over the CNY weekend. There are no announcements on new release dates. According to news reports, Chinese health authorities said the Wuhan outbreak has become a full-blown community epidemic.

’Tis the season to start looking for arm candy, if you’re in dire need of one, for making the rounds in Chinese New Year family gatherings.  Fake partners for rent are nothing new — some totally serious, some just posted on social media for laughs. This year is no different, and Facebook user Bryant Luo has jokingly put himself up for hire.  Prices are pretty steep though, once you’ve calculated how much you need to spill for his bespoke services. With a base cost of $88 an hour (at a minimum of two hours) to meet your parents, there’re still costs incurred for displaying various levels of intimacy in front of relatives.  The “newly added service” of assuring relatives that you and your alleged boyfriend have already applied for a Build-To-Order HDB flat is quite a sweet deal at $58. It’s just too bad that all ang baos Bryant receives will be his to keep. But hey, there’s a chance of getting lovingly hand-fed during hotpot dinners if the red packet amount he receives hits over $200. 

New Orleans rookie Zion Williamson flashed some brilliance in his long-awaited NBA debut Wednesday, but the San Antonio Spurs spoiled the party at Smoothie King Center with a 121-117 victory over the Pelicans.