Friday*s #sgroundup: The Butter Factory to shut down

By Elizabeth Soh | What's buzzing? – 

Here are today's top trending stories in case you missed them.

Popular nightclub The Butter Factory to shut down next March over rent disagreement

View of the Merlion and One Fullerton. (Getty)

Looks like it's getting more and more expensive to have a party venue Singapore.

The Butter Factory nightclub will be shutting its doors in March next year following a rent disagreement with the landlord.

Co-founder Tan Eu-Yen was quoted by The Straits Times as saying that the group "could not reach an agreement" and is currently exploring new venues to open another club with a "radically different" concept.

https://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/blogs/singapore-showbiz/popular-nightclub-the-butter-factory-to-shut-down-next-march-over-rent-disagreement-090000084.html

No-holds-barred comedian Joan Rivers dies at age 81

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers, the pioneering comedian known for her acerbic wit, classic put-downs and for asking "Can we talk?," died on Thursday at the age of 81 in a New York hospital a week after her heart stopped during an outpatient medical procedure.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/comedian-joan-rivers-dies-age-81-daughter-says-190231449.html

Lufthansa flights grounded in new pilots' strike

Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, said it will cancel 200 flights Friday, affecting 25,000 passengers, …

Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, said it will cancel 200 flights Friday, affecting 25,000 passengers, as a consequence of a pilots' strike to be held later in the day.

The pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit has called for a six-hour walk-out between 5:00 pm and 11:00 pm (1500-2100 GMT) over plans to change the airline's early retirement policy.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/lufthansa-flights-grounded-pilots-strike-065836397.html

With free visas, Thailand tells Chinese tourists 'please come back soon'

Thai military police secure an area at Victory monument on June 5, 2014 in Bangkok

To make vacationing in a country still under martial law a little more attractive, Thailand's military junta is offering tourists from China free visas.

Chinese are the biggest visitors to Thailand, accounting for 18 percent of total arrivals in July, but they also proved among the most nervous, with numbers slumping more than other nationalities after May's military coup. Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of the Thai economy, and the imposition of martial law in May after the coup hit the industry hard. Winning back the Chinese visitors is imperative - spending by mainland tourists jumped 80 percent to $6 billion in 2013 from 2012.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/free-visas-thailand-tells-chinese-tourists-please-come-075614587--business.html

Singaporean girl serves the country as national netballer and army officer

Photo by Netball Singapore

She protects the nation by day – and trains to represent it when night comes.

Meet Singaporean national netballer Anna Soo, who works as an armour tank officer in the Singapore Armed Forces.

The 25-year-old is part of a 12-strong team defending their Mission Foods Asian Netball Championships (ANC) crown here on home soil from 7 to 14 September.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/lufthansa-flights-grounded-pilots-strike-065836397.html

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/what-is-buzzing/friday-s--sgroundup--the-butter-factory-to-shut-down-092543421.html