Singapore must strike a balance between maintaining high standards and promoting efficiency within the wealth management sector, Minister for National Development and Deputy Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Chee Hong Tat said.Speaking at a doorstop interview on Wednesday (July 9), Chee said that Singapore needs to take a «risk-proportionate approach» to capture new opportunities while remaining a «trusted financial sector».He was speaking on the sidelines of a visit to DBS Bank headquarters, where he met with relationship managers to discuss the bank's plans to grow their wealth management business.«We want to maintain high standards. At the same time, we also want to make it convenient and business friendly for our clients,» Chee said, adding that the two objectives are not mutually exclusive.He highlighted three of MAS' recent initiatives to boost efficiency within Singapore's wealth management sector, saying that MAS has been «working closely» with industry partners and financial institutions (FIs).

SINGAPORE — A female primary school teacher allegedly committed sexual acts on an underage boy in 2019. The boy, who was one of her students, was between 13 and 14 years old at the time.She faces four charges in total, and court documents did not disclose if she was still his teacher when she allegedly committed the offences.The number of alleged victims in this case cannot be ascertained for now, as the names of all parties linked to it have been redacted from court documents.The 34-year-old Singaporean woman cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identity of the boy or boys.On July 9, she was charged with one count each of performing a sexual act on a minor and of harassment.The woman is also accused of sexually grooming a minor and performing an indecent act on an underage boy.The court heard that she is accused of meeting a minor, who was then between 13 and 14 years old, at a multi-storey carpark on at least two occasions to allegedly perform an undisclosed indecent act on the latter in 2019.

A police officer was taken to hospital on Tuesday (July 8) evening after the motorcycle he was riding skidded along the PIE.The police told AsiaOne that they were alerted to the accident along the PIE towards Changi at around 7.50pm.The 25-year-old officer was conscious when he was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force.Police investigations are ongoing.Photos shared on Facebook group SG Road Vigilante showed the damaged motorcycle and its broken parts scattered across the left lane on the expressway.A man from the grey Mazda with scratch marks on its side, along with other passengers, were seen attending to the injured officer. 

A homeowner has reportedly asked a tenant to move out, after a power bank belonging to the latter purportedly caught fire while it was being charged and damaged a bedroom.The incident occurred in a four-room flat at Block 339B Kang Ching Road in Jurong West last Saturday (July 5), reported Shin Min Daily News.The homeowner, surnamed Zhu, told the Chinese evening daily that she had rented out two bedrooms. Her family of four lives in the flat too, and they were at home when the fire broke out.The 46-year-old landlord recounted having breakfast in the living room when she heard a pop sound.«Suddenly, the living room was filled with smoke. My husband thought it was from someone making offerings, but later we discovered that a room was on fire,» she said.When the homeowners opened the door to one of the rented bedrooms, it was filled with thick smoke and the flames had reached the air-conditioner.Zhu told Shin Min that her husband put out the blaze with about five pails of water.«I was so out of my wits I even forgot to call (for help),» she added.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight SQ246 from Brisbane to Singapore was diverted to Perth on Tuesday morning (July 8) after the aircraft reportedly experienced a technical issue.The aircraft, an Airbus A350-900, departed Brisbane on Monday night (July 7) and was scheduled to land at Changi Airport at 5.45am on Tuesday morning. AsiaOne reviewed SQ246's flight profile on flight tracking website Flightradar24. The aircraft cruised normally at 38,000 ft after taking off. About three hours and 50 minutes into the flight, the plane began to descend and levelled off at 25,000ft as it passed north of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia. About 20 minutes later, the plane turned south towards Perth. It descended further to 20,000 ft and eventually landed safely at Perth at 4.58am (4.58am, Singapore time). 

Singapore's public service must continue to innovate in the face of rising public expectations and global competition, said Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing on Tuesday (July 8).Giving a speech at the opening of the Public Service Festival in One Punggol, Chan, who is also Minister for Defence, said that the public service has contributed much to Singapore's survival and success over the past 60 years  — citing National Service and the Central Provident Fund as «key examples of our pioneering spirit».He added that while Singapore is also ranked highly in many global indices comparing quality of life and government services, other countries are catching up or have «overtaken us in certain areas».Chan gave an example of how Estonia has become the first county fully digitise its government services, and China is serving over a billion citizens with artificial intelligence-powered services.

More Singaporeans will be able to participate in this year's National Day celebrations as they continue island-wide in the heartlands on Aug 10, following the annual parade on Aug 9. The NDP 2025 Heartland Celebrations will happen simultaneously at five community sites and are expected to draw some 170,000 residents, said members from the NDP 2025 Executive Committee (Exco) and People's Association (PA) at a media event on Tuesday (July 8).The five sites will be in Punggol (next to One Punggol), Bishan (beside Junction 8), Yishun (next to FutsalArena), Geylang Serai (beside Wisma Geylang Serai) and Bukit Gombak (ActiveSG Stadium).Organised as a joint collaboration involving grassroots organisations and partners like SportSG, the celebrations will feature district-specific themes, fireworks, and drone shows, including crowd favourites like the mobile column and the Fighter Island Flypast.

The parents of a 19-year-old police trainee from the Home Team Academy who died last month have thanked the passers-by who came to their son's aid.Mohammad Irfan Nur Iman Bin Azhar died in a road traffic accident along Tanah Merah Coast Road towards Xilin Avenue on June 22.On July 6, Irfan's mother, Iman Syuhadah, posted on Facebook saying that she hopes to identify and thank the good Samaritans.Iman also stated that these passers-by may have performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Irfan before emergency services arrived, but couldn't save him. She said those who were involved in Irfan's resuscitation can reach out to her privately via the numbers that she had provided on her post.Iman «would like to personally thank you for your courage, kindness, and effort».Authorities' responsesResponding to AsiaOne's queries, the Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that they were alerted to a road traffic accident involving a motorcycle on June 22 at about 5.45am.

The incident involving a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) tank from the National Day Parade (NDP) mobile column which bumped into a traffic light was caused by an isolated faulty component based on preliminary investigations.At a media event on Tuesday (July 8), Colonel (COL) David Kwek, co-chairman of the NDP 2025 Heartland Celebrations Committee, said the faulty component «led to the loss of steering and braking power». «The safety and well-being of the public and our crews are of paramount importance,» said COL Kwek, who added that «more detailed reviews» are still ongoing.He said the Leopard 2SG Main Battle Tank (L2SG) will resume its participation in the NDP mobile column and the Heartlands Celebration only «after all the necessary safety checks and clearances are completed».During the NDP National Education show on July 5, an L2SG was captured bumping into a traffic light while making a right turn outside Parliament House and the Supreme Court.

An auxiliary police officer who was tasked to issue weapons at the airport playfully threw a bullet in the air, loaded it into a revolver and accidentally discharged a round into a countertop.Fortunately, one of his colleagues, who was standing in front of him, was not injured.On July 7, Muhammad Mukhlis Kamis, 39, pleaded guilty to committing a rash act endangering personal safety and was sentenced to two months’ jail.Mukhlis was employed as an auxiliary police officer with Sats Security Services and held the rank of sergeant at the subsidiary of the cargo handler.He was deployed as an armourer for five years before the incident in November 2023.On the morning of Nov 22 that year, Mukhlis was at the Sats Auxiliary Police Armoury at the Singapore Air Freight Terminal Core C Building when another officer, Corporal Zulkarnaen Ramli, went to the armoury to withdraw his equipment and firearms.Cpl Zulkarnaen was supposed to be issued with one Taurus revolver, 10 rounds of 0.38mm ammunition, one extendable baton and one handcuff.However, Mukhlis issued nine rounds of 0.38mm ammunition instead of 10.

SINGAPORE — The Reform Party (RP) will withdraw from the People's Alliance for Reform (PAR), leaving the opposition group with two of its four founding members.The People's Power Party (PPP) did the same in February ahead of the general election on May 3, while the Peoples Voice (PV) and Democratic Progressive Party remain.RP secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam announced his party's resignation, which takes effect at the end of July, in a post on the party’s Facebook page on Monday (July 7).«We thank Lim Tean for his leadership and wish him and the other remaining parties in PAR all the best in the future,» he said, referring to Mr Lim, secretary-general of PV and the PAR.Mr Jeyaretnam was the chairman of the alliance.