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Two new town councils established in Jalan Kayu and Punggol

Two new town councils established in Jalan Kayu and Punggol

CNA30-05-2025
SINGAPORE: Two new town councils have been established in Jalan Kayu and Punggol following the conclusion of the 2025 General Election.
This brings the total number of town councils to 19, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said in a press release on Friday (May 30).
Twelve town councils have been reconstituted due to changes in electoral boundaries, which resulted in some areas being transferred between towns, MND added. Five remain unchanged.
Under the Town Councils Act, elected MPs are to form a town for their own constituency or by grouping up to three constituencies together to form a town. Each town is to be managed by its own town council.
The new Jalan Kayu Town Council will comprise the Single Member Constituency won by labour chief Ng Chee Meng. He will chair the council.
Punggol Town Council also comprises only the Group Representation Constituency, which was won by a People's Action Party (PAP) team led by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.
Four town councils have been renamed.
Jurong-Clementi Town Council is now known as Jurong-Clementi-Bukit Batok Town Council. Marine Parade Town Council has been renamed Marine Parade-Braddell Heights Town Council.
Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council will now be Pasir Ris-Changi Town Council, while West Coast Town Council is now West Coast-Jurong West Town Council.
The remaining eight reconstituted town councils are Aljunied-Hougang, Ang Mo Kio, Chua Chu Kang, East Coast, Holland-Bukit Panjang, Jalan Besar, Tampines and Tanjong Pagar Town Councils, and their names are unchanged.
Bishan-Toa Payoh, Marsiling-Yew Tee, Nee Soon, Sembawang and Sengkang Town Councils will continue with their names and town boundaries unchanged.
Town councils have up to 90 days to complete the handover and takeover of the management of the areas to be transferred.
This means the two new town councils and the 12 reconstituted town councils will take over the management of the transferred areas from Aug 1.
Town councils can also mutually agree to complete the handover and takeover before Aug 1. They will have to inform residents of this date.
"MND encourages all town councils to work together to ensure a smooth transition, so that the needs of residents can continue to be served," said the ministry.
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They started a cafe selling Teochew kueh that's also a safe haven for female former drug offenders
They started a cafe selling Teochew kueh that's also a safe haven for female former drug offenders

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time2 hours ago

  • CNA

They started a cafe selling Teochew kueh that's also a safe haven for female former drug offenders

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Some may view it as an invasion of privacy, but we see it as an opportunity to build relationships,' said Yoon, who acknowledges the blurred lines between work and personal time she treads. 'Employees may come sit on the sofa at my office space in the evening to share something. Having that relationship helps us understand why they would turn to drugs.' BONDED OVER KARAOKE AND TEOCHEW KUEH It's an unconventional arrangement, but you could say that Yoon and Lee are unlikely business partners to begin with. Yoon, who formerly worked at the Ministry of Education (MOE), became fast friends with Lee while frequenting her KTV pub. While the former had always walked the line as prescribed by her stable, upper-middle class upbringing, Lee's backstory is far more tempestuous. As a rebellious adolescent, she went off the rails and experimented with drugs, then flew the coop at the age of 19. 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Alongside Teochew kueh, they serve local fare such as mee siam and Hokkien mee. The pair run kueh-making workshops on the premises, at Blk 4 Upper Aljunied Lane, #01-18, Joo Seng Green. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Yoon's Traditional Teochew Kueh (@yoonstraditionalteochewkueh) MORE THAN JUST A JOB To build their team, the women visited halfway houses and recruited residents – many of whom are over 55 and uneducated – with the aim of supporting their recovery in the shadow of incarceration. These women would typically be written off as inveterate criminals, having shambled through multiple prison stints over the course of several decades. '(My family) had to sell our landed home when my dad passed on in his fifties, which really emphasised how women need to have their own skillsets to be independent,' said Yoon, who worked as an operations manager under the Fei Siong Group before joining MOE. 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Grower champagnes: What makes these small-producer bottles special (and worth the hype)?
Grower champagnes: What makes these small-producer bottles special (and worth the hype)?

CNA

time3 hours ago

  • CNA

Grower champagnes: What makes these small-producer bottles special (and worth the hype)?

At Singapore-based Convivial Champagne Bar, the by-the-glass wine list offers a curated selection of champagnes. With one exception, none of them comes from the major-name champagne houses. Instead, the list features producers like Larmandier-Bernier, Andre Clouet and Domaine la Borderie – names that may be unfamiliar to most people. Among champagne lovers, however, these names carry weight. These are grower champagnes: Wines made by independent, often family-run vineyards in the Champagne region, and they are worth seeking out. For years, grower champagne was an insider's secret, a case of 'if-you-know-you-know.' But not anymore. Over the past two decades, this once-quiet movement has gone global, elevating boutique producers to cult status. Labels like Pascal Agrapart, Egly Ouriet, and Ulysse Collin now command prices comparable to those of prestige brands such as Dom Perignon and Krug, if not more. 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The farming and winemaking practices are equally distinct, as in the case of revered grower Anselme Selosse of Domain Jacques Selosse. An early pioneer, Selosse sought inspiration from Spain and Burgundy in 1974 when he embraced organic farming, lower yields, indigenous yeast and eschewed the use of sulphur. 'There's a greater sense of exploration,' said Lamb, noting the use of unconventional vessels such as concrete and ceramics for vinification. Dosage – a mix of wine and sugar added to champagne before the final bottling – is another differentiator. Growers tend to use lower dosages. 'Healthy fruit picked with flavour and balance shouldn't have to be too far adjusted with excessively high levels of dosage', explained Lamb. Valentin Krug of Artisan Cellars, the first Singapore importer to carry grower labels believes transparency offered by these producers is a major draw. 'The growers give so much transparency,' said Krug. 'The back labels and websites detail the village name, base vintage year, harvest date, disgorgement date, years on lees and more.' He also pointed to the human element. 'You can speak to a human on the other side and not a sales force,' he said. Many grower estates are family-run, with winemaking philosophies shaped by generations of tradition and hands-on involvement. 'Champagne is the most exciting region for discovery, and the reason is grower champagnes,' Krug added. Today, worldwide demand for boutique champagne is on a steady rise. In 2023, grower and cooperative champagnes accounted for 28 per cent of the total exports (73 million of 271 million bottles). In France, boutique labels accounted for almost half the local champagne consumption. THE SINGAPORE AWAKENING With prices of prestige labels and white burgundies rising sharply in recent years, both sommeliers and collectors have sought alternatives, bringing grower champagnes into focus. 'Grower champagnes are certainly picking up pace in Singapore,' said Convivial founder Yeo Xi Yang. 'Wine merchants are making a deliberate effort to visit Champagne and discover new growers who are not yet distributed in Singapore.' 'Local consumers are very educated now. They are moving away from the big names because they finally understand champagne better,' affirmed Rigourd. When she arrived in Singapore in 2009, only one grower, Champagne Selosse, was available. By 2024, the market had expanded to include 155 grower labels. Singapore is fortunate to have good selection of growers, said JM Seleque's winemaker, Jean-Marc Seleque. 'By the time a grower champagne reaches Singapore, it's already been through a kind of curation.' Prices are climbing in tandem with demand. 'In 2018, we were selling Ulysse Collin for S$150. Today, it is priced at S$450 and sells out the day we release it,' said Krug. The maturity of our market is reflected in Singapore's first champagne festival, held in March 2025, which was declared a rousing success. 'The consumers certainly loved the in-person experience and connections developed,' reported Lamb, who organised the festival and facilitated travel for multiple champagne growers to meet with Singapore's vibrant consumer base. Besides the star-producers, Yeo offers more suggestions for newcomers like Girard-Bonnet, Nowack and Herbert & Co. 'At Convival, we do our best to source for alternatives, like their neighbours from the same village where the soil type and grape varieties planted are similar.' Here are five stunning grower champagnes, considerably more affordable than Krug and available widely in Singapore. JM Seleque Solessence Extra Brut NV (based on 2021 vintage) Jean-Marc Seleque is a third-generation winemaker based in Pierry, a premier-cru village just outside Epernay, in the Vallee de la Marne. His grandfather planted the first vines in 1965, and his father started bottling his grower champagne in the 1970s. When Jean-Marc took over in 2008, he put his own stamp on the Champagne. 'My father didn't move out of Champagne. When I took over, I had all this culture from my travels to other regions,' Seleque shared. He embraced single-vineyard bottlings, sustainable viticulture and low-intervention winemaking. Today, Seleque is regarded as a modernist among champagne producers, with a production of 100,000 bottles from 9 hectares spread across 45 plots. Solessence is a blend of 50 per cent Chardonnay, 40 per cent Pinot Meunier, and 10 per cent Pinot Noir, incorporating a significant portion of reserve wines. This zero-dosage cuvee opens to floral notes and offers layers of citrus zest complemented by brioche and bright, refreshing acidity. S$94, Artisan Cellars. Andre Robert les Jardins du Mesnil Blanc de Blanc Brut Nature NV Les Jardins du Mesnil is crafted from a selection of chalk-rich small plots in the grand cru village of Le Mesnil Sur Oger, located in Cote des Blancs. The village is celebrated for producing some of the most intense and precise expressions of Chardonnay – a reputation cemented by iconic champagnes like Salon's Salon Le Mesnil and Krug Clos du Mesnil. The house of Andre Robert traced its roots to the 1800s and is now led by fifth-generation winemaker Claire Robert and her husband, Jean-Baptiste Denizart. Their Les Jardins du Mesnil is an elegant wine marked by a citrus-fruited core, crushed stone minerality and a refined texture. S$130, Clink Clink Champagne Gounel Lassalle Les Agneaux Blanc de Noirs Brut Nature NV Fourth-generation grower-winemaker Arnaud Gounel and his wife Sophie Lassalle channel their deep connection to the land into every bottle they produce. 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Here, the dynamic Dominique Moreau crafts a series of single-vineyard, single-variety, single-vintage, zero-dosage Champagnes in the village of Polisot, at her 2.5-hectare estate named after her grandmother. She has maintained a strong reputation for biodynamic viticulture since 2006.

Toto jackpot swells to $10 million after three draws without a winner
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Independent Singapore

time7 hours ago

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Toto jackpot swells to $10 million after three draws without a winner

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