​Imagine it is a hot day and all you want is to find solace in an ice cold cup of kopi peng.
Well, one woman's morning comfort turned into a nightmare when she sucked a cockroach up her straw and bit on it.

If that is not phobia-inducing, we do not know what is.

Facebook user Maisie Low shared her horrific encounter on her page, saying that she will not visit the 925 Chicken Rice coffee shop in Yishun Central for at least the next six months despite having had coffee there every morning before the incident.

To add insult to injury, when she told the stall owner about it, the auntie said, "bo bian".

"Auntie wanted to offer me a new cup of coffee and told me this kind of situation they BOBIAN," she wrote.
​
"What is bobian?

"You think I will really still dare to drink meh?

"So it's gonna be on me for ordering coffee?

"What kind of attitude is this?!

She added that she can still feel the insect on her tongue.
How would you react in this situation?

Does the old adage that one should respect their elders apply when your older counterpart is a different species?

​If so, one seafood restaurant in New York is setting a good example, after it "pardoned" a 132-year-old lobster that had been living in its tank for the last two decades, and released it into the ocean to spend its twilight years as a wild and free crustacean.

Louie the Lobster, who tipped the scales at a whopping 22 pounds when he was freed, has stood watch over Peter's Clam Bar on Long Island from a tank inside the restaurant for the last two decades. He's been there so long, the popular eatery's owner Butch Yamali (who inherited him when he bought the place four years ago) considered him more of a pet than an item on the menu.

In fact, after a customer offered to pay $1,000 to feast on the be-clawed behemoth to celebrate Father's Day, Yamali declined, and chose to free Louie instead, deciding he'd more than earned the opportunity to roam wild in the ocean for the rest of his life.

​Yamali even got a local town supervisor to declare an "official" pardon, before jettisoning him into the sea from a speedboat near the Atlantic reef. ​

In addition to weighing significantly more than your average two-pound Maine Lobster, Louie is also allegedly one of the oldest lobsters to have ever lived in captivity (the oldest on record was 140). And while you might think a geriatric crustacean like him, who hasn't been face-to-face with any non-human predators since at least the Clinton administration, might not be prepared to handle the wild and open ocean, that's not necessarily true.

​According to Bob Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, there's nothing to be worried about. "He’ll be just fine. There aren’t many predators who want to eat a big old lobster like that," ​

From Milo and Horlicks to Tao Kae Noi seaweed and Snickers bars, these popular products have made their way into our hearts and our kitchens. But sometimes, it’d be nice to experience the same child-like joy of discovering a new product that has the potential to become the next big thing. Here are 10 next-level snacks from familiar brands that you probably didn’t know existed, but could be a new staple in your life.

Milo Cubes​
If you’re a Milo addict who just can’t get enough of this chocolatey, powdery goodness, get your hands on a bag of Energy Cubes. These babies are basically compressed cubes of Milo powder that you can eat like candy. So now you’ll get to proudly eat your favourite drink instead of sneakily shoving a spoonful of powder into your mouth. Just make sure you don’t finish the entire bag in one seating!

 Ovomaltine Spread​
Move over peanut butter and hazelnut spreads, there’s a new force to be reckoned with: Ovomaltine Crunchy Cream. The name may sound oxymoronic, but “crunchy cream” describes its consistency perfectly. There are little bits of Ovomaltine granules running through the smooth, chocolate cream. These add crunch to the spread and give it a more interesting texture. Great on bread and for eating right out of the jar.

McVitie’s Nibbles
​I grew up loving plain ol’ digestive biscuits and was stoked when the chocolate-coated versions hit the shelves. Now, McVitie’s has come up with Digestives Nibbles. These bite-sized goodies are made by coating crunchy biscuit balls in a thick layer of smooth chocolate. Though milk chocolate is a crowd-favourite, they also have other flavours such as caramel and Hobnobs, which is another type of McVitie’s biscuit made with rolled oats.

Nandos Peri Peri Potato Chips
​Nando’s delicious sauces seem to make everything you slather them on way better. So if you’re suddenly hit by a wave of peri peri cravings, grab a bag of Nando’s Peri Peri Potato Chips ($4.35). These ridged potato chips are well-seasoned with African bird’s eye chillies and could possibly be your new go-to snack. Just like their in-house sauces, you can choose your level of spiciness as these chips come in the original chicken flavour as well as a sizzling hot version.

Jelly Belly Soda​
There’s nothing quite like jelly beans that can give you an intense sugar overload. But now, the sugar can hit you twice as fast when you chug a bottle of Jelly Belly Soda. Choose from your favourite Jelly Belly flavours, such as Cream Soda, French Vanilla, Green Apple and Strawberry Jam.

Mentos Chocolate​
Though the original mint-flavoured Mentos candies are great to chew on, the choices on flavour gets boring after a while. However, they’ve stepped up their game and created Mentos Choco ($5.50). These updated candies are more decadent and feature richer, more luxurious flavours such as chocolate and caramel. Each candy comes with a smooth filling while its outer layer still takes on the chewy texture similar to regular Mentos sweets.

Tabasco Chocolates​
We’ve all heard of the unique chilli-chocolate combination, but not many know about Tabasco chocolate. These wedges of Tabasco Spicy Chocolate ($9.95) are a balanced blend of bittersweet flavours and heat from the famous hot pepper sauce. So whether you’re an adventurous foodie, or even if you’re just curious, these wedges are definitely worth a try.

Tao Kae Noi Instant Ramen
If you love salty snacks, you’ve probably gone through bags of Tao Kae Noi seaweed like I have.  Now, this popular brand has incorporated their addictive snacks into instant ramen. Each pack of Tao Kae Noi Ramen ($4.90) comes with two pieces of seaweed that can be used to garnish your noodles. The original flavour is jam-packed with umami, and those who enjoy spicy food can get the tom yum version!

Snickers Protein Shake​
​Working out doesn’t have to be as painful with these chocolate bar protein shakes. Though counting on a bottle of Snickers Protein Shake ($3.90) to get #swol might be highly questionable, getting it is worth for those who treat their taste buds as kings. If getting jacked isn’t in your to-do list, opt for a Galaxy Chocolate Shake ($3.20), which is a richer, more satisfying version of average chocolate milk.

Horlicks Foodles
We all know Horlicks as the instant malted milk drink, but what you may not know is that you can buy Horlicks instant noodles as well. There are two flavours of Foodles ($2.50) for you to choose from: Ala Masala and Crazy Curry. Both versions do not contain MSG or added preservatives; the former is marketed as a multi-grain product while the latter has a slightly spicier kick to it.  ​

Everyone knows that you can find even the most obscure items on Carousell. The homegrown customer to customer (C2C) platform debuted in 2012, and if it is known for anything, it’s that you can find everything on it from the spiciest chilli in the world to a walk-in wardrobe. 

Now, you can spend the weekend scouring for great finds and accumulating freebies at Carouselland on 24-25 June. The Bazaar will be hosted by Suntec Convention Centre, and will be split into 4 themes, including Harry Potter land where whimsical wares shall be sold and "Once Upon A Time" for all your preloved goodies!

Here’s what you can expect to see at Carouselland 2017:

​Carouselland 2017 is divided into 4 distinct sections 

Carouselland 2017 will be divided into 4 separate themed sections: Harry Potter, Once Upon a Time, Alice in Wonderland, and Wizard of Oz. The themes will keep the shopping experience engaging and help you look for what you want easier. The Harry Potter world will be where the magic happens, an area set aside for aspiring local entrepreneurs and their dreams that will put Singapore on the world map.

Here, you can meet "wizards" who have made life-altering decisions. Like how we would've had to take a leap of faith if we got a Hogwarts letter, enrolling in a school of wizardry instead of the "safe" muggle schools, some of the Carousellers you'll meet here left their full time careers to pursue their passions. 

Want to get a wand made of Phoenix feather like Harry’s? Carouselland is your best shot at copping one for cheap.

Alice in Wonderland will be a much chiller area, featuring cafes like Chillax Cafe and Olive Vine, and Once Upon A Time will be full of preloved treasures of all types!
​
​Unleash Your Inner 10-Year-Old With Old School Games

Remember those golden moments, where you would hang out at your friends’ houses after school and spend hours on retro games like Contra and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? 
​
Now, thanks to Carouseller @retrorider, you can turn back time and feel that wave of euphoria after completing an entire run on Contra without dying.

ll those hours that you spent hunched over a gameboy playing Tetris can finally come to good use, as you stand to win exciting prices if you beat the highscore. You don’t even need to worry about not being warmed up --  you can rent different models of gameboys for free while your partner shops.

Look for the free gameboy rentals at the Central Village at the Retro Corner!

Get "Carousell discounts" without buyer's remorse

One of the issues with buying stuff online is that 1) the size is wrong 2) the quality isn't to your liking, or 3) you can't figure out how it works. Sometimes the lower prices are worth the risk, but being able to try-before-you-buy would provide far more reassurance.

Boasting over 400 sellers and 600 booths, the stalls here will be offering their wares at the same prices as you can find online, meaning your purchase won't be so much a leap of faith as it is a try-and-purchase.

If you're looking to get on the bandwagon and adopt the vintage life, seller @vintagewknd is sure to have something to suit your fancy.

This dress is already extremely affordable, going at only $18.90 on her Carousell page, but she might be convinced to give a further discount if you pool with your friend and get a couple more pieces.
​
​Kids’ Corner for parents who want to shop in peace

Having children around brings joy and excitement to the family, but sometimes it can get a tad too much to handle. If you want to enjoy a few precious hours of shopping without constantly keeping an eye on your kids, you can dump  leave them at the Kids’ Corner in the good hands of full time party planner @icelebr8, who has volunteered to babysit the young ones.

In this special section catered for children, kids can expect to be submerged in a sea of activities -- from magic shows to glitter tattoo artistry. 

The best part is that all the fun and games at the Kids’ Corner are free! Not to mention the fact that an Instabooth will be active for the entire duration of the event with free photo printing. 

Just hashtag #Carouselland2017 when you upload your pictures onto Instagram, and you can print all of your memories for free.

Date: 24 to 25 June
Time: 11am-8pm on both days
Location: Suntec City Exhibition Hall 401, 402, 403, 1 Raffles Blvd, Suntec City, Singapore 039593

The U.S. Navy confirmed on Monday that all seven missing sailors on the USS Fitzgerald were found dead in flooded berthing compartments after the destroyer's collision with a container ship off Japan over the weekend.

​The USS Fitzgerald and a Philippine-flagged container ship collided south of Tokyo Bay early on Saturday. The cause of the collision in clear weather is not known.

A significant portion of the crew was asleep when the collision occurred, tearing a gash under the warship's waterline and flooding two berthing compartments, the radio room and the auxiliary machine room.

A large dent was clearly visible in its right mid-section as the destroyer limped back to Yokosuka naval base south of Tokyo, home of the Seventh fleet, on Saturday evening.

The U.S. Navy on Monday identified the dead sailors as: Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, Virginia; Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, from San Diego, California; Ngoc T Truong Huynh, 25, from Oakville, Connecticut; Noe Hernandez, 26, from Weslaco, Texas; Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23, from Chula Vista, California; Xavier Alec Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, Maryland; and Gary Leo Rehm Jr., 37, from Elyria, Ohio.

Two of three injured crew members who were evacuated from the ship by helicopter, including the ship's commanding officer, Commander Bryce Benson, were released from the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet said on its Facebook page on Monday. The last sailor remained in hospital and no details were given about his condition.

Multiple U.S. and Japanese investigations are under way on how a ship as large as the container could collide with the smaller warship in clear weather.

Shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon shows that the ACX Crystal, chartered by Japan's Nippon Yusen KK, made a complete u-turn between 12:58 a.m. and 0246 a.m. local time on June 17. (15:58 GMT and 17:46 GMT on June 16).

Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin, the Seventh Fleet commander, was asked on Sunday if damage on the starboard side indicated the U.S. ship could have been at fault, but he declined to speculate on the cause of the collision. Maritime rules suggest vessels are supposed to give way to ships on their starboard.

Japanese authorities were looking into the possibility of "endangerment of traffic caused by professional negligence", Japanese media reported, but it was not clear whether that might apply to either or both of the vessels.

Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said the Japanese government was investigating with the cooperation of the U.S. side and every effort would be made to maintain regional deterrence in the face of North Korea, which has recently conducted a series of missile tests.

"It is extremely important to maintain U.S. deterrence in the light of an increasingly severe regional security situation," he told a news conference.

"We will maintain close contact with international society, including the United States and South Korea, to maintain vigilance and protect the safety of our people."

The incident has sparked as many as three investigations by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coastguard, and two by Japanese authorities.

Complicating the probes could be issues of which side has jurisdiction and access to data such as radar records that the United States could deem as classified.

Although the collision occurred in Japanese waters, under a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that defines the scope of the U.S. military’s authority in Japan, the U.S. Navy could claim it has the authority to lead the investigations.

The ship is salvageable, Aucoin said, but repairs will likely take months. "Hopefully less than a year. You will see the USS Fitzgerald back," Aucoin said.

This incident was the greatest loss of life on a U.S. Navy vessel since the USS Cole was bombed in Yemen's Aden harbor in 2000, when 17 sailors were killed and 39 injured.
​
Naval historians recall possibly the last time a warship was hit by a larger vessel in peacetime was in 1964 off the coast of Australia’s New South Wales. The HAMS Melbourne, an aircraft carrier, collided with the destroyer HAMS Voyager, shearing the much smaller vessel in half and killing 82 of the Voyager's crew.

The relentless civil war in Syria and a surge of South Sudanese fleeing the collapse of peace efforts in their country helped propel the global population of displaced people to a record in 2016, the United Nations (UN) refugee agency said on Monday (June 19).

​The agency’s annual Global Trends report, a statistical assessment of refugees, asylum seekers and people forcibly displaced from their homes, reflected a worsening of conflict, mayhem and persecution.

The new total of 65.6 million people displaced from their homes is 300,000 higher than the 2015 number, which had been the highest since World War II.

“By any measure this is an unacceptable number, and it speaks louder than ever to the need for solidarity and common purpose in preventing and resolving crises, and ensuring together that the world’s refugees, internally displaced and asylum seekers are properly protected and cared for while solutions are pursued,” Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said in releasing the findings.

The new report was issued at a time when governments in Europe and the United States have become increasingly resistant to accepting more refugees and asylum seekers as xenophobic political trends have helped feed hostility and mistrust.

The Trump administration has vowed to restrict refugees and toughen immigration through “extreme vetting” and a proposed suspension of visas for people from six predominantly Muslim nations. Anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe has roiled the politics in Britain, Hungary, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany, among others.

The 2016 report showed that the number of refugees worldwide reached 22.5 million, the most ever. More people fled the conflict in Syria — 5.5 million — than any other country, but the biggest new source of refugees was what the report called “the disastrous breakdown of peace efforts” in South Sudan. Nearly 750,000 people fled that fledgling country last year.

Among the refugees, asylum seekers — people who have fled their country and are seeking international protection — totaled 2.8 million by the end of 2016.

There were 40.3 million people displaced inside their own countries at the end of 2016, slightly fewer than the 40.8 million at the end of 2015. The report attributed that slight reduction in part to people who had returned to their homes, offsetting the number of new people who had fled. Still, the report said, many returnees “did so in less than ideal circumstances and facing uncertain prospects.”

Of the 65.6 million displaced people in the world, 10.3 million had become displaced in 2016. “This equates to one person becoming displaced every three seconds,” the report said, “less than the time it takes to read this sentence.”

About two-thirds of the newly displaced people fled somewhere else in their own country. The report showed that 84 percent of all refugees who crossed borders went to low- or middle-income countries at the end of 2016, and that roughly 1 in 3 was hosted in the poorest countries, which can least afford the burden.

By population, the report said Syria still accounts for the biggest number of displaced people at 12 million, followed by Colombia with 7.7 million, Afghanistan with 4.7 million, Iraq with 4.2 million and South Sudan at 3.3 million.

Those rankings do not include the long-standing Palestinian population of roughly 5.3 million, but that figure is included in the total.

A campaign has been launched to urge Singaporeans to show their appreciation to all national servicemen for their contributions to the nation with a simple gesture national — a salute — as the Republic marks 50 years of National Service (NS50). 

​The public are encouraged to pay homage to the national servicemen they know or meet in their daily lives, and to post photos or videos of their salute on social media, along with their words of appreciation, with the hashtags #NS50salute and #safrasg.

Safra, which kicked off the We Salute Our NSmen campaign on Sunday (June 18) at the two-day Safra Jurong Open House, hopes to amass more than 50,000 salutes by the end of October. This is the latest in the slew of events lined up throughout the year to mark the NS jubilee.

Speaking to reporters after the campaign launch attended by more than 300 servicemen and their families on Sunday, Senior Minister of State (Defence) Mohamad Maliki Osman said the Republic can never take its peace and stability for granted.

Pointing to the present terror situation and the recent announcement of the first woman being detained under the Internal Security Act for radicalism, Dr Maliki, who is also Safra’s deputy president, said NS has played a critical role in protecting the country’s borders and keeping its streets safe.

“It’s timely for all of us to show that respect (and) recognition to all our servicemen by this very simple gesture of saluting them wherever they meet them,” he added.

To encourage participation, Safra will make available interactive digital photo kiosks at all its clubs and its key NS50 events until the end of October.

To lend their support, its partners, such as mall operators CapitaLand Malls Asia and Frasers Centrepoint Malls as well as Mediacorp, will place the photo kiosks at selected malls and bus stops islandwide, among other things.

Visuals posted to Instagram with the campaign’s hashtag and those taken at the photo kiosks will be featured on Safra’s NS50 webpage and screens across Safra clubs.

It is hoped that every Singaporean salutes “each and every” serviceman, so that “they can continue to do their part” and Singaporeans can “continue to enjoy the peace and stability… for many, many more years to come,” Dr Maliki said.

While the national servicemen interviewed by TODAY felt a salute was a good gesture to show recognition, they do not expect the movement to take off in a big way — at least not publicly.

Operationally ready national serviceman (NSman) Lance Sum, 34, said it might be “a bit awkward” to do it in public. Fellow NSman Jonathan Yap, 36, added that saluting national servicemen in public is still “not the norm” here.

Mr Yap, however, said posting videos to social media was “more workable” and would help to drum up awareness of NS’ importance. “There’s an effort being made… (but) generally, Singaporeans (prefer) more tangible benefits, say, vouchers,” added the life planner.

To engineer Tan Chee Sin, 42, salutes are not necessary. “It’s our duty, so I don’t really need a salute from the public,” he said.

Besides the launch of the campaign, the public were given a chance to pack items into field packs and try their hand at flight simulators at the two-day Safra Jurong Open House.