Star Scions

My words ended up taking up a little bit for the introduction (which was mostly kept so that's a triumph) but I still had to research and the hard part was finding pictures. Looking through Instagram mostly, but still, to go all the way to a similar night... 
Some really are a spitting image. 

Anyway, take a look at the PDF with the pics and you'll see what I mean  :)

You may not recognise them at first.
But look closer at Maya Thurman-Hawke, Lily-Rose Depp, Brandon Lee and Frances Bean Cobain, and you will see the family resemblance — or at least the familiar last names.

Perhaps last remembered as kids in the arms of their famous parents, this latest generation of celebrity offspring are all grown-up and turning heads at recent red carpet events. 

Mads Mikkelsen

He was so nice. It's unbelievable. Unfortunately his voice was, oddly enough, hard to understand sometimes

Superhero or supervillain?
Which would you pick, Mads Mikkelsen?
The debonair, versatile 49-year-old Danish actor has pulled off an amazing range of roles in his almost 20-year film career. They include heroic fighters in King Arthur (2004) and Clash Of The Titans (2010), antagonists in Casino Royale (2006) and The Three Musketeers (2011), and his award-winning turn as a disgraced kindergarten teacher wrongly accused of sexual abuse in The Hunt (2012).

But he told M in a phone interview from Copenhagen, Denmark, earlier this month that he really likes breaking bad.
“As much as I enjoy playing good guys, I think that those type of characters need the other side of the coin, the dark side. I embrace it every time I get the chance.”

FAN FAVE
And he is winning a new legion of fans as the iconic, cannibalistic psychiatrist- serial killer Hannibal Lecter, a role he reprises in the third season of TV series Hannibal. It airs on Fridays at 9.45pm on AXN.
“I think it’s a wonderful character to play. (Hannibal)’s multifaceted. He’s a chameleon and can adapt to any situa- tion that’s given to him in life. For that reason, it’s a gift for any actor to step into the suit of Hannibal because he has so many different faces,” said Mikkelsen.
Season 3 sees Lecter on the run in Eu- rope, accompanied by his psychiatrist Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) and sporting a new identity.
Richard Armitage also joins the cast as serial killer Francis Dolarhyde, the primary villain of Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon which introduced the char- acter of Lecter. His story is a “powerful part” of the entire season.
Mikkelsen teased: “You don’t have to look out for it because it will be in your face right away. I can’t really say what’s happening, but ‘showdown’ is a small word.”
Unfortunately for “Fannibals” (what hardcore fans of Hannibal call them- selves), it was reported on Monday that TV network NBC will cancel the thriller after the conclusion of Season 3 due to dwindling ratings.
Hannibal aside, moviegoers will per- haps best remember Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, the blood-weeping poker player who famously tortures Daniel Craig’s James Bond in Casino Royale.
He said: “(The movie) was a spectacular thing for me to do. That was the big- gest film I had done at that point. 

“When I started the film, I had no idea how big it was. I’ve never seen a Bond film myself.
“But the actual work was pretty much like any other (film) I did back home, just that it required more people on set.”
The father of two admitted he got a “minor shock” when tens of thousands of people turned up for the premiere of Casino Royale at Odeon Leicester Square, which was when he realised the magnitude of the project.
GAME For GAME
But Mikkelsen is not the only Danish actor to have made his mark in Holly- wood.
When asked about his fellow country- man Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who is a fan favourite as knight Jaime Lannister on the hit TV series Game Of Thrones, he said: “I think it’s fantastic what Nikolaj has achieved. We started out together and have done numerous theatre plays and films together as well.
“But very early on in his career, he went abroad and he was very ambitious about working there.
“It’s taken him a while, but now he’s made it and he’s made it big time. So I’m very proud of him. I think he’s achieved something fantastic.”
Mikkelsen confessed he would actually love to be part of Game Of Thrones.
“I wouldn’t want any part, of course. I would be the one that kills him in the show,” he said with a laugh.
He said he was offered a part in super- hero flick Thor (2013) and would “love to be in a Marvel film”, but was not able to commit because of Hannibal.
He joked: “If they one day need an older version of Spider-Man, I’m ready. I can climb walls.”

Dedicated to TKPS

The article was mainly written by my friend who had a really tough time. Lemme explain.
It was difficult for lots of folks during this period really. For those who don't know: an earthquake shook Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia while students and teachers of Tanjong Katong Primary School were on an overseas school trip. 
Lots of kids lost their lives that day. 
And it was happening during the SEA Games too. So reporters had to go down to the site, to the school and everything, to talk to whoever we could. 
I was actually on the bus to work when my friend was talking to me about being sent there to get quotes. And she wasn't doing so well. Honestly unless you've been a journalist for years, as a normal person, you'd feel something you never hope to experience. As cruel as it sounds, I felt - yeah, felt - like a vulture, something my friend agreed with. Though she was meant to wait for the soccer team, we still had to circle around the school to see who we could talk to, so we could get more quotes from other people. Everyone was paying tribute, which we thought we should do too. The kids were amazing, they really held it together. I got to talk to the kid who was with the group about to go on the hike; a kid who knew the teacher; (everything we had was unfortunately not used because so much was covered the days before, which is THEIR reason and to get the soccer players) and I went crazy taking pictures for my friend's article - which was my main purpose being there. 
The photographers though were scary as heck, every time I went to get a shot they would swarm me.
I got surprisingly good shots of the team and the coach and player. I had zero clue who anyone was, they just looked sincere at that point in time. 
So yes, it's these things I'll never forget. 

Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan

I honestly wondered if I would get the chance to interview someone like Cesar, like... just Cesar. Because it was him. And sure enough I got too! 
This two-page spread was amazing to have, though it's not my only one, it's what I wrote. 

Not only that, today's my dad's birthday.... I can't believe he's gone. I believe I can dedicate this to him. 

Cesar Millan has made a career out of taming and training the most stubborn of dogs.
But when it comes to the 45-year-old celebrity dog behaviour expert, there is only one person who can keep him in check — his girlfriend of five years, Ms Jahira Dar.
So how does she manage to do just that?
In a phone interview with The New Paper from Los Angeles last week, Millan said with a laugh: “I think you should ask her, it’s a question for her! She does have a lot of methods. Everybody needs a little rules, boundaries and limitations.”
It was Ms Dar, a 30-year-old from the Dominican Republic, who helped Millan — best known for his hit TV series Dog Whisperer With Cesar Millan and Cesar To The Rescue — through the darkest period of his life.
In February 2010, his pit bull terrier Daddy died and a month later, he learnt his wife planned to divorce him. In May, he attempted suicide.
The Mexican-American celebrity found love again in late 2010 with Ms Dar, whom he calls “The One”.
Millan said: “I will (propose to her soon). But it has to be in that specific place. I think she will en- joy it even more because it’s her dream part of the world that she’s never been to. I can’t wait... I even have the ring now, so it’s a big step.”
Naturally, the proposal will involve dogs.
Before that, the couple will make a stopover in Singapore later this month for Millan’s Love Your Dogs Tour.
In the live show, he shares his unique tech-

niques and reveals the key to happier, healthier relationships between humans and their canine companions.
He will also be tailoring his gig for Singaporean audiences, whom he’s become more familiar with after visits in 2012 and 2014.
He said: “When I did a show in a mall (in Singapore) people brought their dogs... The audience was mesmerised and the owners were absolutely blown away.
“What I’m giving you is not just the ABCs of dogs. What you need is a formula, but also tailoring.
“I saw how you live in the apartments, how people gather in parks, how people walk dogs in Singapore. I notice how that makes the dogs feel.”
Despite his busy touring schedule, Millan also makes time for some special supporters.
He recently visited Patricia Moore, a 14-year-old terminally ill cancer patient from Palmdale, California, whose “bucket list” wish was to meet him.
Millan said: “I get to meet a lot of cancer patients, especially kids, who unfortunately are not doing very well. They love to watch animal shows in the hospital, it’s very soothing and relaxing.
“It brings happiness to people, so a lot of kids say, ‘One day I would like to meet that guy because he saves the lives of dogs’. That’s pretty much what they want, they want somebody to save their lives.”
The father of two sons, aged 20 and 14, even goes to the extent of inviting these young fans to his ranch in Santa Clarita, California, where they get to meet his llama, horse, pigs and goats.
“I love (the kids’) spirit, and their love and sacrifice. The people who have a lot don’t realise life is beautiful.
“But the ones who have less are the most incred- ible ones. You get to see life in them, so I’m always impacted by that.” 


Then this was about Mango

Cesar Millan’s favourite memory of Singapore is of how he helped a local dog come out of its shell. In 2012, when he was in town to do two live shows at Marina Bay Sands, he met Mango (right), an abandoned nine-year- old male mongrel at a shelter.
It had not left its wire mesh pen in seven years.
It would turn aggressive and threaten to bite when confronted with a leash. Even when the pen door was left open, it refused to come out.
The situation got so bad that volunteers at the non-profit shelter, Animal Lovers League, were unable to bathe it or take it for walks.
Eventually, they backed off completely, not wanting to agitate it further.
Millan took one-and-a-half hours to coax Mango out of its pen, after which it was even willing to go for a walk and swim.

He said: “For me, it was a great joy and honour. I took this dog that was pretty much a prisoner of his own and introduced him to his country.”
Ms Cathy Strong, founder of the Animal Lovers League, credits Millan for Mango’s rehabilitation.

She said: “Poor Mango was such a difficult dog to deal with for seven years. (Leashing) him so we could take him out for a walk was an experience none of our volunteers could forget.
“With Cesar’s confidence and advice, we learnt how to handle him. And if he allows anyone to leash him, and that is not too difficult now, he looks forward to his walks.
“But he makes sure he walks you rather than you walk him.”
She added that although Mango is a lot more manageable now, the shelter is still worried as the dog still takes some time to get used to someone.
No one has expressed interest in adopting Mango so far, and Ms Strong said the dog’s age also makes it difficult.
“But he’s a good boy now,” she added. 

It's not a fairy tale

This was fun! I got a chance to see the film before it's out and it's WAY better than the trailer, no doubt about it. Though at times I just wondered...as a media student I felt the director's difficulty. 
I never got that many posters from a preview either hahaha 
that ad though...

He always felt like a misfit in his industry, especially when it came to the kind of offbeat films he made.
Local indie director Tzang Merwyn Tong’s work were often set in a surreal environment and incorporated elements of fairy tales and comic fantasy. His latest feature film, Faeryville, takes his signature tropes even further.
Opening on May 26 and rated M18 for mature content, the story unfolds in the alternate universe of Faeryville College and revolves around the Nobodies, a group of misfits (acting newbies Lyon Sim, Farid Assalam and Jae Leung) who are resigned to their fate until new student Laer (Aaron Yong) encourages

them to stand up for themselves. Faeryville is a dystopian teen movie, a stylish coming-of-age film about youth making sense of their idealistic dreams
in a post-9/11 world.
The film also supports local anti-bullying advocacy organisation Coalition Against Bullying for Children and Youth (CABCY).
“I actually approached CABCY be- cause I wanted the film to be more than a film.
“I wanted to bring awareness. I do care about issues like bullying and idealism, themes prominent in the movie, and the film is a good way to address them,” Tong, 36, told M.
Although he was never bullied in school, he felt like he was an outsider and socially awkward at times.
Even now, he has difficulty fitting his ideas — and himself — in.
“When you’re different, don’t try and be like everyone else. And if you’re like everyone else, you don’t have to try to be different,” he said of a piece of ad- vice that inspired him when he was growing up.

Tong said he learnt how to adapt and fit in, but he always had an outlet to ex- press himself and “be free” — his art.
He was 19 when he made his first film e’TZAINTES (2003), about a group of social outcasts in Faeryville College who form a resistance group.
This was followed by psycho-erotic thriller A Wicked Tale (2005) and sci-fi thriller V1k1 (2011).
He said: “It’s so important not to com- promise on the art. It’s a reason why art is so important to people...
“I could draw and write when I was a kid. I consider that fortunate. Some people don’t have this (outlet) or friends.

“The fact that there’s bullying going on is heartbreaking, but it’s an interesting subject matter to put into film be- cause film brings a certain consciousness.
“We need to start calling (bullying) out because it snowballs... I just want to make what a Singapore film can be, in- stead of what it should be.”
CABCY president Esther Ng said this is the first time the organisation is working closely with a director for a movie. 
She said: “We’re hoping that when people watch the film, they can think about bullying, how it makes victims feel and the outcome of a person being victimised.” 

Stone Cold Warms Up

He was SO nice.

Former wwe star talks about his reality TV show steve austin’s broken skull Challenge 

Since retiring from the world of professional wrestling in 2003, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar Steve Austin has paved a way for himself in Hollywood.
Better known by his ring name Stone Cold, Austin has starred in action flicks The Condemned and The Expendables, in Adam Sandler comedies like The Longest Yard and Grown Ups 2 and in a slew of direct-to-video B-movies.
So you would think the 50-year-old Texan is following in the footsteps of other WWE fighters-turned-actors like Dwayne Johnson,  Dave Bautista (Guardians Of The Galaxy) and Kevin Nash (Magic Mike).
Turns out Austin doesn’t like acting all that much. He told The New Paper over the phone from Los Angeles yesterday: “I have made probably eight or 10 movies and I enjoyed it, but I don’t en- joy it as much as hosting reality television. I find it more fun being myself and not a character in a movie.”

I want to enjoy the rest of my life kicking back, enjoy the fruits of working as hard as I have.
— Former WWE wrestler Steve Austin 

Austin is the host of new reality TV series Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge, which airs every Wednesday at 9pm on KIX and KIX HD.
He invites eight elite male and female athletes to an area just outside of Los Angeles, designed to represent his Bro- ken Skull Ranch in South Texas, to compete in head-to-head battles.
The contestants are eliminated over a series of challenges with fearsome names like Pulverizer and Pain Train, with the last one standing and facing a tough obstacle course known as the Skullbuster for a shot at the US$10,000 (S$13,000) cash prize.
He said: “A third of my year is dedicated to my podcast and about a third

to half of my year is dedicated to the reality TV stuff. Two months are dedicated to being at my ranch in South Texas during hunting season.
“When I have other projects that take up the rest of the year, it doesn’t really give me the time to do acting.
“Then again, acting is probably the least of what I like to do.”
Austin calls Johnson one of his “favourite guys to work with in the ring” and “the biggest movie star in the world”, adding that he’s “extremely proud” of what Johnson has accomplished, making a successful transition from WWE to Hollywood.
But that career path is not for him.
He said he reads scripts on occasion and if something really piques his inter- est, it would have to be the right part at the right time, like his latest flick that will be released this year, Echo Effect starring Michael Jai White.
Austin said: “There was a window of time that allowed me the opportunity to do that movie.
“I worked with Michael about three or four years ago and he’s one of the greatest mixed martial artists in the world. We became really good friends. The chance to collaborate again was the biggest reason why I signed on for it.”
On naming his show Broken Skull Challenge, Austin said: “I named my ranch the Broken Skull Ranch because metaphorically speaking, I had to break my skull to buy it.
“The name pays homage to the body of hard work that I did in the business of professional wrestling.”
Even though he quit WWE more than a decade ago, the father of four, who married his fourth wife Kristin Feres in 2009, still keeps in touch with wrestler friends like Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Kevin Nash and Mick Foley.
He said: “I want to enjoy the rest of my life kicking back, enjoy the fruits of working as hard as I have.
“I do miss being in the ring, in front of a crowd, the adrenaline and 20,000 people almost every single night.
“That was just one of the greatest experiences of my life. When I go out there and I can light up a crowd and get that adrenaline rush, that’s fun and there’s just really nothing quite like it. There’s nothing that can duplicate it.”
What Austin does not miss is the “grind of the travel”, touring all over the US and the world for WWE shows.
“I consider myself a ‘civilian’ now, returning to just being a regular human being,” he said.
“When I get out of the business and look back, that’s one of the things that I don’t miss.”

The Power of Three

Oh my GOSH the amount of craziness that went into this article was ridiculous. I couldn't do all the articles at the graduation ceremony because miraculously not everyone was graduating on the same day - well done PR rep. From the late afternoon when I got this story to waiting for interviews, doing them to rushing all the way to off-stone (that's when the articles are ALREADY done up and ready to be sent to print) in the middle of the night, burdening the sub-editors, to having this done was surreal.
Something I can't forget in a long time. 
Though not everything ended well the next day the articles had a lot of hits on Facebook and I was pleased.
From rebel to top student 

He would have verbal fights with his school teachers, and often get into trouble over his hair or attire.  
Mr Asher Chua would also play truant a lot till his parents had to be called.
Sometimes, he would even catch a nap in an HDB block nearby till school was over.
But the person who once did all those things has since changed his attitude so much that come tomorrow, he will be graduating as the second top student of Republic Polytechnic’s Diploma in Mo- bile Software Development (School of Information).
He got mostly As and his grade point average is 3.81.
Mr Chua, 20, has also been inducted into the Director’s Roll of Honour for four semesters.
Looking back at his past, he said: “It was an experience. Without it, I wouldn’t be what I am today. It was a bit rocky but it was probably necessary for it to happen.”
Still, it wasn’t easy to get to where he is today.
Mr Chua recalled how he used to try to avoid school when he was studying at Yuhua Secondary School.
“My parents would say they were okay with (me not going to school), but I noticed them getting more and more disappointed in me. I saw it in their eyes,” he said.
In Secondary Three, the Express stream student finished last among his cohort and was told he would either drop to the Normal Academic stream or be retained a year.

Mr Chua chose to drop out. He was 15.
He worked at part-time jobs for three to four months — serving at a fast-food restaurant, distributing fliers and even selling ice cream.
He also helped his father, a cleaner at a Kopitiam outlet, to collect trays.
He recalled how his dad would leave home early in the morning and get home late at night.
“During the months I was working, I asked myself if I wanted to do part-time work for the rest of my life,” he said.
His parents weren’t well-educated so they were unable to qualify for a lot of jobs. Mr Chua realised he wanted more opportunities for himself.
A year after leaving school, he enrolled at City College Singapore and scored 24 points for his O levels in L1R4 (English and four relevant subjects).
Determined to try again, he decided to study for a diploma in mobile soft- ware development at RP.
“RP was a new start for me. I wanted to show myself and my parents I was capable. I wanted to just go all out,” he said.
Asked what he would say to other youth feeling lost in life, he said: “It’s very important to think through what you really want. Don’t just go through life, make the right choices.” 

His mum stopped school to support him

His mother got retrenched, and he had to switch from a full- time to a part-time course at the polytechnic.
But Mr Senthil Kumar Vincent Asokan never blamed his mother or felt sorry for his predicament.
He recalled how his mother had to stop her diploma studies at Temasek Polytechnic to support his sister and him after their father died when he was just five years old.
“Not finishing her course then was probably her greatest sacrifice. She sacrificed a lot. Too much, actually.
“It was through her whole life. The time and effort she took to come back to take care of us. She was there for us, all the time,” he said.
Determined to help his single mother financially, Mr Kumar, 26, found work as a full-time football coach at the Singapore American School and took up a Part-Time Diploma in Sports Coaching at Republic Polytechnic (RP).

He graduated yesterday while his mother, who eventually got a masters, is now working part-time as a counsellor at the Stamford American International School.
Mr Kumar even started his own coaching academy last November. Sportykids Singapore coaches children from 18 months to 12 years old in racket and ball sports.
He said he loves coaching sports, especially football.
When he was a student, he would play football every day, even after work, and watch the games.
He said: “Soccer occupies most of my life. You go and teach the sport, come back and play the sport and at night you watch the sport.”

He overcame obstacles with ‘can-do’ spirit

 

His mother got divorced when he was in Primary 5 and had to take care of him and his older brother.  
Wanting to help support her, Mr Jovan Khoo, 23, turned to photography.
Even though he had only dabbled in it in the past, he decided to take it up seriously and make some money from it to help his family.
He watched YouTube videos to improve his skills and learnt how to take professional-looking shots.
Mr Khoo, who graduated yesterday with a Diploma in Integrated Events Management, said: “The first few months were a headache, to watch one video over and over again.”
He also learnt to use editing software like Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Lightroom to enhance his photography and design.
The freelance photography he took

up in 2013, in his second year at Repub- lic Polytechnic (RP), helped earn extra money for the family.
He joked that he didn’t get pock- et money from his mother for some time.
His “can-do” spirit and independence helped him in his poly studies.
Mr Khoo, who is also the Tay Eng Soon Gold Medal award recipient and School of Hospitality valedictorian, said he was able to overcome many obstacles during his time in RP.
He recalled how he even led a committee who were responsible for planning several internal and external events.

Lucky escape from lightning

A colleague (always so uncomfortable with this word) of mine helped me out with the looooooong winded details after the accident took place. I stayed at the 'shopping centre' (more like a centre centre) for quite awhile getting quotes and trying to locate the man who survived the lightning strike. Went through almost every shop that was there, and open, at the time. 
And voila~ 

Construction worker survives being struck outside shopping centre during storm
A man was struck by lightning during a raging storm on Tuesday afternoon.
TNP understands that the victim, Mr Mohd Nasu, is a 34-year-old construction worker from Bangladesh.
He is believed to have been injured outside Limbang Shopping Centre in Choa Chu Kang at about 4.30pm.
A shop assistant working there, who wanted to be known only as Madam Lee, 52, said she heard that Mr Nasu works in the Sungei Kadut factory area.
A cleaner who wanted to be known only as Maat, 56, said he saw men, who he believes are Mr Nasu’s co-workers, carrying him into the shopping centre and placing him in front of Healthway Medical Clinic.
His right arm looked “burnt”.
Madam Lee added: “One of my customers told me he was holding a metal pole. He said that he could still walk. He was struggling and shouting.”

A staff member at the clinic, who did not want to be named, said the burn looked severe and Mr Nasu looked like he was in pain.
But he was alert and conscious when he was brought in and his blood pres- sure was normal, she added.
The clinic doctor who attended to him declined to comment.
Associate Professor Malcolm Mahadevan, who heads the National University Hospital’s emergency medicine department, said it is not uncommon to survive a lightning strike.
He said: “About one in 10 people die from direct lightning strikes and the main cause of fatality is cardiac arrest.”
Prof Malcolm added that for such victims, there would be evidence of burn marks.
“There can be a fern-like pattern seen on the skin surface that is temporary, and burns around the area where the electricity is transmitted to.
“There can also be damage to the skin area or nerves, caused either by electrical transfer or the associated explosion,” he said.
Professor Liew Ah Choy from the National University of Singapore’s electri- cal and computer engineering depart- ment said the area outside Limbang Shopping Centre has HDB blocks and other tall buildings, but this does not rule out the probability of being direct- ly struck by lightning.

He said: “If the building is 50m high and you’re 100m away, the building is not going to prevent you from getting struck.”
But you can protect yourself during storms by staying away from open areas and checking the Meteorological Service Singapore website for thunder- storm activity over Singapore, he said.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted to the incident at 4.28pm. Mr Nasu was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.
TNP understands his condition is stable and he was being reviewed for dis- charge on Wednesday afternoon. 

First Accident I Covered!!

Okay, you're not supposed to be totally happy with accidents, but considering this was my first and there was no death... yay? Plus it was the first accident I did - not the last of course - and I remember clearly calling the different hotlines, going up and down the HDB block to get witnesses (who don't all speak English ARGH) and taking pictures of the scene. 

She was crying, with

blood

in her mouth

Six passengers injured when two SBS buses crash at Tampines Avenue 1

 

A collision between two SBS service number 15 buses in Tampines yesterday morning left six passengers injured.
Five adult passengers were taken to Changi General Hospital while a girl was taken to KK Women and Children’s Hospital, an SBS Transit spokesman told TNP.
IT business analyst Leomar Garcia, 41, tipped TNP off about the accident, which happened at about 8.30am, through an e-mail. The accident happened in Tampines Avenue 1, near Temasek Polytechnic.
The Singapore permanent resident was on his way to work in one of the buses and was about to get off when it collided with the bus in front of it.
Mr Garcia said: “I was flung forwards and bumped my knees against a metal board. I lost my balance, but managed to hold on to a railing.
“For the first few seconds, everybody was in shock. They checked themselves to see if they were hurt and after about a minute, everyone checked with other passengers.
“That was how we saw a woman (with) lots of blood in her mouth. And she was crying.”
The woman, whose face had hit the seat in front, was bleeding profusely from her mouth and her top was covered with blood.
Mr Garcia and another passenger at- tended to her and a woman who sat in front went to the back to offer her hand- kerchief and help.
The impact of the crash was so great the windscreen of the bus was shattered. Mr Garcia called for an ambulance and the two bus drivers got out of their vehicles to talk to each other.

Mr Garcia said that the driver returned to the bus after a few minutes and noticed the injured passengers.
He got his first-aid kit and attended to the woman bleeding from the mouth.
An ambulance arrived seven minutes after Mr Garcia’s call.
Paramedics checked the passengers before they left the bus, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force.
In a statement to TNP, Ms Tammy Tan, senior vice-president of corporate communications with SBS Transit, said: “We are sorry that this accident happened. Our immediate concern is for the well-being of the six passengers who were taken to hospital.
“Our staff have been at the hospitals since this morning to extend care and concern to the injured. Five received outpatient treatment.
“We are rendering assistance to all of them as best as we can. We apologise to all our commuters who were affected by the accident.” 

Not Taking Life For Granted

Putting my byline in as I also took the photos hahaha
That aside, it was one of the best memories I made. Simply because I had the most amazing stories from her - which came only at night rather than me (and every other reporter out there) talking to her during the press conference (which was my first too!) - that no other publication had. 
That's what I wanted to do for so long: bring out those amazing stories.

Report & photos by JADE TEO
Through her 30 years as a nurse, she’s felt the highs and lows of life — from the joy of patients’ recovery, to the depths of grief over their deaths.
And through it all, she has strived to always get better at the art of nursing, especially for women and refugees.
For her stellar contributions in that arena, Dr Subadhra Devi Rai, 51, will be the first Singapore- an to receive the 2015 International Achievement Award given by the International Council of Nurses’ (ICN) Florence Nightingale International Foundation (FNIF).
The Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Health Sciences (Nursing) senior lecturer’s journey to receiving the award has been a lifetime of eye-opening — sometimes heart-breaking — experiences.
In replying to queries from The New Paper, Dr Rai, who holds a PhD in Population Health from the University of Alberta, Canada, shared two an- ecdotes that span the spectrum of emotions.
In the first incident, a young pregnant woman had to have a C-section and because of complications, died on the table while her baby was delivered.

“It is something I will never forget. We all cried that day,” she said of the incident when she was working in the Post-Anaesthetic Care Unit in New Westminster, Canada.
“It taught me the importance of not taking life for granted.”
In another case, one patient had become gradually paralysed after being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease.
The patient could not do anything for herself ex- cept blink. But she recovered and walked out of the hospital. 
“It was then that it dawned on me how remark- able the human body is and the will of the human spirit to live,” said Dr Rai. 

She is a shining example of how nurses can make a difference, affect change and influence policy.
— Associate Professor
Lim Swee Hia, president
of the Singapore Nurses Association, on Dr Subadhra Devi Rai

 
“The fact that she knew we were doing our best to care for her and she got better, was reward in it- self...
“These moments are the most satisfying. You feel all the difficult points in the journey were nothing but a blot,” she said.
“You feel that you want to fly — the joy of seeing that your care made a difference.”
At 18, Dr Rai, was inspired by the story of Florence Nightingale to take up nursing but said her

true role models were her parents, who have both died. Her father taught her that anyone could help at any time and helping others did not require a lot of effort. She modelled herself after that belief.
Nursing has given her the structure to assist others in a meaningful way, she said.
Dr Rai, who is single, started working in an intensive care unit after her general nursing training. She furthered her studies in Canada and also worked there as a researcher at the Edmonton Centre for Survivors of Torture and Trauma.
She then joined the Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment as a coordinator in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and later worked on a project that aided the health of repatriated refugees from the Thai-Myanmar border back to Myanmar.
The ICN is recognising her exceptional work internationally in the health of women and refugees.
“I feel really humbled,” she said.
Ms Judith Shamian, president of the ICN’s FNIF, said: “Subadhra Rai has shown dedication in providing nursing care to vulnerable populations since the beginning of her career.”
The award is given to a mid-career practicing nurse who is influencing nursing at the international level.
Dr Rai will be presented the award at the ICN Conference on June 21 in Seoul, South Korea.