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  A 38-year-old man was arrested for suspected drink driving and drug-related offences following an early morning accident in Punggol on Jan 9. The Singapore Police Force reported being alerted to the incident at 6:15 am along Punggol Way. Upon arriving at the scene, officers discovered the driver had fled. In his abandoned car, they found an e-vaporiser and substances suspected to be controlled drugs. Photographs of the vehicle, published by Lianhe Zaobao, showed severe damage to the car's bonnet, with its right front tire dislodged—evidence of a high-impact collision. The man was later identified and taken into custody. He faces multiple charges, including suspected drink driving, drug-related offences, and possession of a vape device. The case has been referred to various authorities for further investigation. The suspected drug offences are under the purview of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), while the e-vaporiser offence has been handed over to the Health Sciences Authorit...

  A Vietnamese man, Tran Phuong Hau, 29, was sentenced to four months and a week in jail on Jan 10 after attempting to bribe an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer and later attacking a Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) officer with a broken toilet brush in a bid to escape custody. The incident began on Nov 11, 2024, when Tran arrived at Changi Airport from Vietnam. During a baggage check, ICA officers discovered eight undeclared contraband cigarette packets in his belongings. Despite initially claiming he had nothing to declare, Tran attempted to expedite the process by slipping four $2 notes into the officer’s pocket, asking him to “buy coffee.” The officer immediately detained Tran, who was then referred to CPIB for further investigation. While being interviewed at CPIB, Tran requested to use the toilet, where he broke a toilet brush in two and concealed it in his pants. Upon leaving the toilet, he dashed towards the corridor, attempting to flee. When...

  Political tensions escalated between the People's Action Party (PAP) and the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) after allegations of harassment and physical altercations surfaced during an outreach activity in Bukit Gombak. The controversy began when PSP claimed that PAP volunteers had followed and harassed their members on Saturday, Jan 4. Responding to these allegations, Chua Chu Kang GRC Member of Parliament Low Yen Ling addressed the issue on her Facebook page on Wednesday, describing her account of events and accusing PSP volunteers of inappropriate behavior. The incident gained further attention on Thursday when a PAP volunteer, Azman Ibrahim, posted two videos on Facebook detailing his encounters with PSP members. In one video, a man wearing a PSP shirt approaches Mr. Azman for a selfie, leading to a scuffle. The video later shows another man in a PSP shirt allegedly brushing past Mr. Azman, which he claims resulted in him being slapped. The video ends with the caption, "...

  Singapore is bracing for potential flash floods between Friday (Jan 10) and Monday due to a monsoon surge. The National Environment Agency (NEA) issued an advisory on Thursday, alerting the public to the possibility of intense rainfall and cool, windy weather over the four-day period. A monsoon surge occurs when strong winds over the South China Sea create extensive rainclouds, leading to prolonged rainfall and cooler conditions. Singapore is expected to experience moderate to heavy thundery showers, with temperatures potentially dropping to as low as 22°C in some areas, the NEA noted. The national water agency PUB warned that intense rainfall could temporarily overwhelm canals and drains, causing flash floods in low-lying areas. Residents are encouraged to stay vigilant and monitor real-time weather updates via the MyENV app or the PUB Flood Alerts Telegram channel. As Singapore grapples with increasingly erratic weather patterns and more intense storms linked to climate change,...

  ***Update:   Latest update from SCDF, 3 dead as 1 more body found on another room. RIP. A tragic fire at Block 971, Hougang Street 91, on Jan 9 resulted in the loss of two lives. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was alerted to the incident at approximately 12:40pm. Firefighters from Ang Mo Kio and Sengkang Fire Stations were swiftly deployed to the scene. The fire occurred in a unit on the third floor of the residential block. Upon arrival, SCDF officers faced challenges entering the affected unit due to excessive items cluttering the space. Forced entry was conducted, and firefighters worked tirelessly to contain the blaze. During the operation, two individuals were discovered inside a bedroom. Despite SCDF's immediate response, both were pronounced dead at the scene by an SCDF paramedic. Their identities and the circumstances leading to their entrapment remain under investigation. As a precautionary measure, about 30 residents from Levels 1 to 7 were evacuated by t...

  About 100 people were evacuated after a fire broke out at a two-storey shophouse in Sembawang on Jan 8. The incident occurred at 10A Jalan Tampang, with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) receiving an alert at 8:25pm. The blaze prompted an extensive firefighting operation involving eight emergency vehicles and around 40 firefighters from multiple units, including Yishun, Woodlands, and Tampines Fire Stations, as well as the Special Response Unit. Firefighters had to forcibly enter the shophouse and deployed two water jets inside to contain the fire. Simultaneously, two more water jets were used on the exterior of the building to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring units. The efforts were captured in a TikTok video, showing flames rising above a row of shophouses while firefighters and police worked at the scene. The fire was brought under control and fully extinguished within an hour. SCDF personnel continued damping down the area, a process involving the applica...

  A fatal shooting in Johor Bahru’s Taman Setia Indah claimed the life of a 40-year-old man at a restaurant on Jan 8. The incident occurred at approximately 12pm, prompting a local resident to alert authorities via the Malaysian Emergency Response Services 999 hotline. According to Johor Bahru South Assistant Commissioner Raub Selamat, the victim was dining at the restaurant when he was shot. A medical team from Sultan Ismail Hospital later confirmed his death. Preliminary investigations are underway to identify the perpetrators, locate witnesses, and uncover the motive behind the attack. CCTV footage from nearby premises is being examined, and police have not yet disclosed the number of shots fired. A post-mortem report is expected on Jan 9 to provide further clarity. A witness, a workshop worker who wished to remain anonymous, recounted hearing three consecutive explosive noises before seeing a motorcycle speeding away from the scene. He initially mistook the sound for fireworks ...

  During a parliamentary session on Jan 8, opposition MPs raised pressing questions regarding the unmasking of National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) numbers on the Bizfile portal managed by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). The issue involved full NRIC numbers being displayed on the portal from Dec 9 to Dec 13, which sparked public concern over data security. Eight opposition MPs, including members from the Workers’ Party (WP) and Progress Singapore Party (PSP), sought clarifications from the Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo and Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah, following their ministerial statements on the matter. One of the main questions, posed by Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh, was why the incident wasn’t brought to parliament earlier. He noted that previous public consultations in 2022 and 2024 had already raised concerns about safeguarding NRIC numbers, emphasizing the significant public interest in t...

  A distressing incident has come to light involving a student from Admiralty Secondary School, who suffered a severe head injury after being assaulted by a classmate. The victim, a new student, was allegedly hit multiple times with a metal water bottle during class, resulting in a deep cut measuring approximately 4–5 cm in length and 7–8 mm in depth. Despite the severity of the injury, the school initially described it as a "minor cut" and informed the family accordingly. Upon rushing to the hospital, the family discovered the true extent of the injury. The student required specialist stitches, and while the wound continues to bleed, further medical assessments like CT scans have been delayed due to concerns about radiation exposure in children. The family must now monitor the student’s condition closely over the next 72 hours to assess any potential complications. The family expressed their outrage over the lack of immediate intervention during the assault and the school’s ...

  More than 500,000 searches were made on the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority’s (Acra) Bizfile portal between December 9 and 13, exploiting a flaw that revealed full NRIC numbers. This incident sparked widespread concern, prompting a ministerial response in Parliament on January 8. Incident Overview The new Bizfile portal was launched on December 9, and its free People Search function allowed users to access full NRIC numbers. Concerns surfaced on December 12, and the search function was disabled the following evening. The surge in searches, far exceeding the typical daily average of 2,000–3,000, came predominantly on December 13 from approximately 28,000 IP addresses, most of which were from Singapore. Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah explained that while the portal’s function to prevent automated bot searches failed, there is no evidence that malicious actors accessed the data. Security Oversight and Response Ms. Indranee acknowledged that the Bizfile port...