Tuesday #sgroundup: Singapore tourism hit by MH370 mystery, Thai crisis

By Jeanette Tan | What's buzzing? – 

Here are the top trending stories for today in case you missed them:

Singapore tourism hit by MH370 mystery, Thai crisis

Tourists view the Marina Bay Sands resort hotel and casino from a pier at Merlion park in Singapore, on June 24, …

Singapore is mounting a drive in China to market itself as a standalone tourism destination, officials said on Tuesday, after a drop in Chinese arrivals to neighbouring countries affected the city-state.

The Straits Times newspaper reported Tuesday that Singapore tourism was being hurt by Chinese travellers' reluctance to visit Malaysia due to the ongoing Flight MH370 mystery, and Thailand because of its political crisis.

The five million yuan ($800,000) marketing campaign that will last until October will encourage Chinese travellers to visit Singapore alone.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore-tourism-hit-mh370-mystery-thai-crisis-071001323--finance.html

Vincent Wijeysingha hits out at Singapore archbishop's open letter about LGBT individuals

Vincent Wijeysingha announced his resignation from the Singapore Democratic Party on Wednesday afternoon. (Yahoo! …

Social work lecturer Vincent Wijeysingha has condemned an open letter written by the archbishop of the Catholic church in Singapore William Goh, "Re-statement of the church's position on the family".

In a Facebook note published on Monday, the 44-year-old, whopublicly came out as a gay man last year, also revealed that he had come into "unfortunate contact with a priest who would engage me in play wrestling and attempt to touch my crotch in the process". This happened, he said, when he was 15.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/vincent-wijeysingha-hits-out-at-singapore-archbishop-s-open-letter-about-lgbt-individuals-030444396.html

Woman demands refund for shoes lined with pig skin

DURRAT AL ARRUS, SAUDI ARABIA - JANUARY, 2003: Shops of the seaside resort Durrat Alarrus, 50 km away from Jeddah, …

A Muslim woman in Singapore has demanded a refund for a pair of shoes that were lined with pig skin, a media report said Tuesday.

Administrative assistant Nur Najwa Abdullah, 43, is demanding the refund from footwear chain Happy Walker, claiming that the sales staff had told her the shoes were made of calf skin, Straits Times reported.

The shoes were worth $279 and Abdullah only realised the flaw after wearing them for six months.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/refund-shoes-lined-pig-skin-singapore-075613704.html

More than 60 women, girls 'abducted in Nigeria'

A screengrab taken on May 12, 2014 from a Boko Haram video obtained by AFP shows girls in an undisclosed rural …

Suspected Boko Haram militants have abducted more than 60 women and young girls in restive northeast Nigeria, a local official and a vigilante leader said on Tuesday.

The group was kidnapped in the last week during a series of Boko Haram attacks on Kummabza village in the Damboa district of Borno state, which left at least 30 dead, according to residents who escaped the violence.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/more-60-women-girls-abducted-nigeria-094008633.html

Student survivors to testify in South Korea ferry trial

Family members of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster arrive at the district court in the southwestern South Korean …

Student survivors of South Korea's ferry disaster will testify in the trial of the captain and crew in a special session at a courtroom in their traumatised home town, a district court ruled Tuesday.

The court in Gwangju, 165 miles (265 kilometers) south of Seoul, said the decision had been made to spare the students any further stress.

The ruling came as the court began to hear evidence in the trial of the captain and 14 crew, who are charged with criminal negligence and abandoning the passengers of the Sewol ferry which capsized and sank on April 16 with the loss of nearly 300 lives.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/another-body-recovered-sunken-south-korean-ferry-023300683.html

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/what-is-buzzing/tuesday--sgroundup--singapore-tourism-hit-by-mh370-mystery--thai-crisis-104636977.html