The good news for Singapore's secret army of clandestine chewers: gum is going on sale legally for the first time in 12 years. The bad news: if you want some you will have to register as a gum user and show an identity card every time you buy a packet.
The arch-symbol of the American way of life was outlawed by Singapore's senior minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1992. He took the unique measure -- dreamed of in vain by public cleaning departments throughout the rest of the world -- in outrage at the splats of used gum dotting the country's otherwise pristine streets.
Nineteen "medicinal" brands of gum such as Nicorette (nicotine chewing gum to help quit smoking) will now be available as part of a free-trade agreement with the US, but only on strict and tightly-policed conditions. Anyone found trading illicitly will risk two years in jail and a S$5,000 (US$2,940) fine.
Sale is also limited to pharmacists with some brands at prices designed to deter non-medicinal use.
The relaxation will be welcomed by the US and American visitors to Singapore, who take pride in the global success of chewing gum.
Singapore's cautious move has met considerable mockery, with many locals highlighting the fact that visiting prostitutes are less regulated than buying gum. Prostitution is legal in parts of Singapore.
"It's ridiculous that it's easier for 16-year-olds to visit prostitutes than it is to get chewing gum here," said 22-year old college student Fayen Wong.
"Why would I go through the trouble of getting nicotine gum if I can buy a pack of cigarettes without giving my name?" Wong said. "I don't think the new rules will help smokers to quit."
The partial legalization of gum is "really a non-event," said Koh Beng Liang, 25, a research engineer. "Singaporeans will quickly realize it if the so-called loosening up is for foreign image, and not real change."
The Straits Times gave the only brief report of the new rules which focused on cleaning companies' intense dislike of gum splats.
"Gum is gum, whether it's for smokers or not," Colim Lim, managing director of Tapisteam Cleaning Services told the paper.
"Coffee and other stains are bad enough. Having to remove gum stuck on carpet and floors is an awful task," he said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home