The People's Action Party (PAP) will continue to focus on forging new opportunities for Singapore, while renewing itself to represent all Singaporeans, said Prime Minister and PAP secretary-general Lawrence Wong.Addressing more than 1,800 party activists at the biennial party convention on Sunday (Nov 9) at Singapore Expo, Wong outlined the party's priorities and tasks ahead following the recent election.He noted that the global environment is becoming increasingly uncertain, shifting from globalisation to protectionism and economic nationalism.«First, we will secure Singapore's place in this changed world... The world has always been dangerous place, but it's getting worse,» said Wong«They are deep structural shifts and they will affect the survival and success of small open economies like Singapore,» said Wong.

Two 83-year-old women were injured after a car crashed into them in Choa Chu Kang on Sunday (Nov 8) afternoon. One of the women later died of her injuries in hospital.The accident happened along Teck Whye Lane at about 2.50pm.In response to AsiaOne's queries, police said the accident involved a car and two pedestrians. Teck Whye Lane was closed off to traffic after the accident as Traffic Police investigators carried out their investigations. PHOTO: AsiaOne/Charlotte Ong «An 83-year-old female pedestrian was conveyed conscious to the hospital, while another 83-year-old female pedestrian was conveyed unconscious to the hospital, where she subsequently passed away,» police said.

SINGAPORE – Thinking she had found her “lifelong partner”, a single mother sold her flat and transferred the earnings together with her life savings worth over $120,000 into a scammer’s cryptocurrency wallet.Even though they had never met and had not had any video calls together, she still packed up her belongings, withdrew her two children from school and was about to begin a new life abroad with her “lover”.A day before her flight, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Lee Hua Sheng from the Anti-Scam Command’s (ASC) Crypto Tracing Team (CTT) asked her to go to the ASC office, as he suspected she was a scam victim.Her bank had alerted ASC about the suspicious transactions, which prompted ASP Lee to contact her. She told him that her “lover” had been ignoring her messages.The CTT is only eight months old, having been operationalised in March to address the threat of scam proceeds dissipating through virtual assets like cryptocurrency.Almost a quarter of the $1.1 billion lost to scams in 2024 involved cryptocurrency, with one victim losing $125 million in cryptocurrency funds in a malware-enabled scam.

SINGAPORE – Ms Ng C.C., 52, and her family, who live in a Housing Board flat in Jurong West, have four cars registered to their name.The regional finance director lives with her boyfriend, a dental surgeon, and they each have a car, because of their different work schedules.Living with them are her younger brother, who has two cars, and his secondary school-going son.They are among the 2,000 HDB households that owned at least three cars as at Sept 30. In comparison, 9,000 non-HDB households owned at least three cars.As at Sept 30, 274,000 HDB households and 207,000 non-HDB households own at least one car, while 20,000 HDB households and 46,000 non-HDB households own at least two cars, data provided by Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow showed.The figures were released by Mr Siow on Nov 4 in response to a question from Pioneer MP Patrick Tay, who had requested a breakdown of car ownership by household type.Mr Tay had asked for the number of HDB and non-HDB households – such as those in landed properties and condominiums – that own at least one, two or three cars.

Two men have been charged for the murder of a 56-year-old man at Chin Swee Road which occurred during the wee hours of Saturday (Nov 8).Tan Boon Hui, 58, and Poh Choon Kiat, 59, were arrested following a fight which broke out on the 17th floor of Block 51 Chin Swee Road.In a statement to AsiaOne, police said they had received a call for assistance to Block 51 Chin Swee Road on Nov 8 at 3.10am, where they found a man lying injured outside his unit.The man was conveyed unconscious to the hospital, where he later died, said police in a statement to AsiaOne.Preliminary investigations later revealed that four men were involved in a fight that arose from a dispute.During the fight, one of the men allegedly stabbed the victim, police stated.Two knives were recovered and seized, with investigations are still ongoing.According to The Straits Times, the two men were charged via video link on Sunday, with Tan appearing on camera from Changi General Hospital where he was warded. Poh, who was dressed in a red polo T-shirt, was held in a different location.

A Malaysian national was charged in court on Friday (Nov 7) for allegedly offering a bribe to a Traffic Police officer in relation to an illegal ride-hailing service. Lee Keh Meng, 44, allegedly offered a bribe of $50 to Sergeant Ahmad Hafiz Bin Abdul Sukur on Oct 23, as an inducement not to report a case of an unauthorised cross-border ride-hailing service. Sergeant Hafiz rejected the bribe, and the case was subsequently referred to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau by the police. Lee faces one charge punishable under Section 6(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. If convicted, he can be fined up to $100,000, or sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both. [[nid:721951]]esther.lam@asiaone.com 

A preschool centre for children from lower-income families, operated by Beyond Social Services (BSS), will close by the end of 2025.The Healthy Start Child Development Centre (HSCDC) in Bukit Merah was the preschool that four-year-old Megan Khung attended before her death in 2020.In a statement on Oct 14, BSS said that HSCDC will wind down due to declining enrolment, which had fallen from more than 50 children in 2018 to just 14 in 2024.Referrals have decreased as families relocated due to housing redevelopment, the organisation added.More affordable and accessible preschools have become available in Bukit Merah and other areas, reducing the need for a specialised centre like HSCDC, said BSS.HSCDC opened in 2002, after a community survey in the Henderson and Bukit Merah estates found that many children were at risk due to inadequate childcare, parental incarceration or leaving school early.The organisation added that it plans to redirect its resources towards community-rooted initiatives.

The rule of law is a cornerstone of Singapore’s system, not “rule of the mob”, and suggesting that public opinion can trump a court decision is a "very dangerous idea”, said Law Minister Edwin Tong on Saturday (Nov 8).Tong, who is also Second Minister for Home Affairs, was speaking on the sidelines of a community event in Buona Vista. He was responding to a comment made by Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh on an episode of CNA's series The Assembly 2 which aired on Nov 5. During the interview, Singh was asked by a participant how he felt about being called “a liar” due to former WP Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan’s case.In his reply, Singh said that being in the “business of politics” means that political opponents will “do whatever it takes” to lower his and the Workers’ Party esteem in the public eyes.

A multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) registered in Singapore was caught at the Johor Bahru checkpoint on Wednesday (Nov 5) for allegedly providing illegal private-hire services.In a Facebook post the next day, the Johor Road Transport Department (JPJ) stated that it had been conducting Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) enforcement operations at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) CIQ Complex that day.JPJ officers detained the MPV, which was inbound, at the entrance of the checkpoint after finding that its driver conducted private-hire services without a valid operator's license.Pictures posted to Facebook showed two passengers in the vehicle during this time.The vehicle was seized, and its owner will be charged under the Road Transport and Land Public Transport Acts, said the post.The department stated that it will «continue to be committed to carrying out monitoring and enforcement to ensure all vehicles comply with the laws for the sake of safety and well-being of road users, especially on the Malaysia-Singapore international route».[[nid:724098]]bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com

Two suspects linked to the $3 billion money laundering case spent more than S$69.8 million on properties in London while on the run from the authorities in Singapore.The Straits Times, working with investigative reporting group, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), learnt that the pair had purchased the properties through their UK-listed firms between July and September 2023.One of the suspects, Su Binghai, bought nine apartments in London worth $27 million just one week after he escaped police raids in Singapore.China-born Su Binghai, who holds Cambodian citizenship, and has passports from Vanuatu, a South Pacific Ocean nation, and St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, was among 17 suspects who evaded arrest during the police operation on Aug 15, 2023.In all, 10 foreigners were arrested that day. They were eventually convicted, sentenced and barred from returning to Singapore.

Victims have lost about $52,000 to scammers impersonating Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officers since September this year.There have been at least seven cases of such scams, said the police in a news release on Friday (Nov 7).In this scam variant, victims would first receive unsolicited calls from scammers posing as representatives from a bank.These scammers would claim that a credit card had been found under the victim's name, or that transactions had been made using a credit card supposedly belonging to them, according to the police.Upon denying this, the victim would be transferred to another scammer impersonating an officer from MHA who would accuse them of being involved in criminal activities such as money laundering — even presenting them with fake official documents in some cases.These documents included a «warrant of arrest», a «notice of investigation» and a «court hearing appointment”, said the police.The scammers would subsequently instruct the victims to make monetary transactions »for investigation purposes". 

From March 1 next year, Singaporeans will be able to use their $100 SG Culture Pass credits to purchase SingLit books, said Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo.Neo made the announcement during his opening speech at the Singapore Writers Festival 2025 on Friday (Nov 7) at Victoria Theatre.«Literature gives voice to our hopes and dreams, and gives us our bearings in times of change,» Neo said, adding that the works particularly by Singapore's early literary community have illuminated shared experiences and helped to shape national identity.According to Neo, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) has been working closely with bookstores, publishers and distributors since the announcement earlier this year by then-Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong.«I hope SG Culture Pass will be a key catalyst to help Singaporeans love SingLit,» Neo said, highlighting National Library Board’s 2024 National Reading Habits Survey, which found that only around one in three adults had read a SingLit book last year.

Two children were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a second-floor Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat on Friday (Nov 7) afternoon.The incident took place at about 1.20pm at Block 128 Yishun Street 11.In a Facebook post on Nov 7, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that the fire started in the bedroom.«Upon arrival, a bedroom in a second-floor unit was on fire. Firefighters entered the smoke-filled unit and extinguished the fire with a water jet,» SCDF said.Three occupants from the affected unit had evacuated before SCDF's arrival.Police and SCDF also evacuated 50 residents from the affected block as a precautionary measure.Two people from the affected unit were assessed for smoke inhalation and taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital. AsiaOne understands that there are seven occupiers in the affected unit, including five children. At the time of the incident, only a woman and two of her youngest children were at home. The woman's husband and three other children were away when the fire broke out. 

Neighbours Singapore and Thailand strengthened cooperation on rice trade and healthcare during Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul's one-day official visit to Singapore on Friday (Nov 7).At a joint press conference with his Thai counterpart after both sides held a bilateral meeting, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said that the two countries have forged a relationship built on «trust, respect and deep friendship». «Our ties today are deep and resilient, and our bilateral relations are excellent,» PM Wong said, adding that «there remains tremendous potential for us to do even more together».

The driver involved in the Telok Blangah hit-and-run case has been charged for various traffic offences.Kenneth Kang, 34, was handed seven charges on Friday (Nov 7), for: driving while under disqualification, dangerous driving, driving without due care and attention causing hurt, failing to stop after an accident, failing to make a police report after a traffic accident, failing to render assistance after a traffic accident, and leaving a vehicle in a position likely to cause danger. At about 8.30am on Nov 4, Kang was allegedly driving a car along Telok Blangah Drive despite being disqualified from holding a driving licence from Nov 11, 2024, to Nov 10, 2025, according to charge sheets.Police officers had been patrolling the area when they spotted a car that had mounted a kerb. As the officers were checking on him, the driver suddenly drove off — colliding with two cars, a van and a bus, said the police in a news release on Nov 6.A 48-year-old man, who was driving one of the cars, was injured and taken to hospital.

Two children were sent to hospital after a fire broke out at a second-floor Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat on Friday (Nov 7) afternoon.The incident took place at about 1.20pm at Block 128 Yishun Street 11.In a Facebook post on Nov 7, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that the fire started in the bedroom.«Upon arrival, a bedroom in a second-floor unit was on fire. Firefighters entered the smoke-filled unit and extinguished the fire with a water jet,» SCDF said.Three occupants from the affected unit had evacuated before SCDF's arrival.Police and SCDF also evacuated 50 residents from the affected block as a precautionary measure.Two people from the affected unit were assessed for smoke inhalation and taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital. AsiaOne understands that there are seven occupiers in the affected unit, including five children. At the time of the incident, only a woman and two of her youngest children were at home. The woman's husband and three other children were away when the fire broke out.