A woman who was hoping to gift a piece of gold jewellery to her relatives got a rude shock when she opened her safe and found it empty. The Pinevale condominium resident surnamed Wang, 56, had recently returned home from her holiday when she discovered the theft on Oct 24, 2023, reported Shin Min Daily News. She had planned to fly overseas the next day to visit her relatives.  Inside the safe were several pieces of gold jewellery, including a necklace worn during her wedding tea ceremony and her child's full month celebration gift, said Wang, who works in the finance industry. She estimates the jewellery to be worth about $60,000 to $70,000, adding that around $20,000 to $30,000 in euros and US Dollars were also missing from the safe. However, Wang told Shin Min that it is difficult to determine when exactly the cash and jewellery were stolen as she has no CCTV cameras at her Tampines home and had last checked the contents in her safe several months back. «I asked my maid about the theft and searched her room but didn't find any gold jewellery, so I decided to call the police,» she said.

SINGAPORE — It was in a record label office in 2012 that former Singapore Idol judge Ken Lim allegedly asked a singer-songwriter if she was a virgin, and what would happen if he had sex with her right then. Unaware that this was a crime, the woman kept silent for more than a decade. But, after she was made aware that Lim had been charged over similar offences, she decided to come forward and report the matter to the police. On May 6, the singer-songwriter took the stand in a trial against Lim. Lim, who is facing six counts of insulting a woman's modesty and one count of molestation, is expected to undergo five different trials, each involving one of his five alleged victims. There is a gag order in place to protect the victims' identities. In her opening statement on May 6, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gail Wong said the victim who took the stand that day had met Lim twice in his office in 2012 after being introduced by a mutual contact. Lim was the executive director of record label Hype Records at that time.

SINGAPORE — From 2027 to 2029, Maris Stella High School (MSHS) will be rebuilt to provide better facilities for both its primary and secondary school students. The primary school section will, for the first time, take in girls in 2027 when it moves to its holding site at the former MacPherson Primary School site in Mattar Road. The school, which currently admits 270 Primary 1 pupils, will look into increasing its intake in 2027. The secondary school section's holding site will be at the former Bedok North Secondary School site in Jalan Damai. Maris Stella High School was founded in 1958 and moved to its current Mount Vernon site in 1966. The Catholic boys' school is known for its strong bilingual programme and counts among its alumni Health Minister Ong Ye Kung. In a statement on May 6, the Ministry of Education said MSHS (Primary) will turn co-educational to better serve the needs of local residents.

SINGAPORE — From 2027 to 2029, Maris Stella High School (MSHS) will be rebuilt to provide better facilities for both its primary and secondary school students. The primary school section will, for the first time, take in girls in 2027 when it moves to its holding site at the former MacPherson Primary School site in Mattar Road. The school, which currently admits 270 Primary 1 pupils, will look into increasing its intake in 2027. The secondary school section's holding site will be at the former Bedok North Secondary School site in Jalan Damai. Maris Stella High School was founded in 1958 and moved to its current Mount Vernon site in 1966. The Catholic boys' school is known for its strong bilingual programme and counts among its alumni Health Minister Ong Ye Kung. In a statement on May 6, the Ministry of Education said MSHS (Primary) will turn co-educational to better serve the needs of local residents.

She wants her AirPods back - and she's pulling out all the stops for it. A determined Rachel Ong decided to put up fliers under a HDB block in Keat Hong in Choa Chu Kang after her AirPods were taken by a stranger, she shared in a post to Facebook group Complaint Singapore last Thursday (May 2). Ong, a 24-year-old working in administration, lost her AirPods at Choa Chu Kang interchange after alighting from bus 301 last Wednesday at around 6pm. A stranger had picked them up, and Ong was able to track them to a HDB block in Keat Hong. Because she couldn't find the stranger, Ong created fliers and posted them around the block, offering a $20 reward for returning the AirPods. Addressing the stranger, she wrote on her Facebook post: «I won't bite nor call the cops on you, I just want my stuff back.» According to her, the AirPods, named «Xiaobaooo's Toothbrush», were gifted by an «important person» who «scrimped and saved» to purchase the earbuds, giving them to her to «commemorate and occasion».

Tempers flared at a food centre in Circuit Road when a stall owner and a diner got into a physical altercation over cutlery.  The incident occurred at Block 79 Circuit Road last Thursday (May 2) at about 4.30pm, reported Shin Min Daily News. A 64-year-old laksa stall owner surnamed Liang told the Chinese evening daily that a young man had bought food from the fishball noodle stall next to hers.  He then asked Liang for a fork and spoon, but got upset when Liang said no.  «I tried to tell him nicely, but he was very angry. He pushed my pots and utensils onto the floor.»  Outraged, Liang grabbed the pendant that the man was wearing. He then hit her on the head, she claimed. During the tussle, the pendant dropped onto the ground, which escalated tensions.  The food centre's manager eventually broke up the fight and called the police.  «He asked the man to sit on the other side [of the table] and helped retrieve the pendant,» said Liang.  When police officers arrived, they escorted the man away, said Liang, who added that she was worried that he would return.

A private-hire vehicle (PHV) driver has expressed concern about her fellow drivers flouting the rules when it comes to child seats after her encounter with a passenger. In a post on Facebook group Professional PHV Drivers Singapore on Sunday (May 5), Tada driver Charlene Lin detailed her experience with a passenger who insisted that a child seat was not needed for her toddler. Upon reaching the passenger's location at the Civil Service Club at Pasir Ris, Lin found out that the group of four she was picking up included a toddler, who she believed was less than 1.35m tall. She then told the passenger that she could not accept the ride as she did not have a child seat. However, the passenger insisted that Lin could still fulfil the ride, adding that other drivers had done so for an additional payment of $4. The Tada app allows passengers with young children to opt for a vehicle which carries either a baby seat for children 1m and below, or a booster seat for children between 1m and 1.35m at an additional cost of $4 and $2 respectively.

One food delivery customer took to social media recently to express dissatisfaction with their meal, after claiming what was ordered turned out to be «totally different» from the menu. In a Facebook post on Saturday (May 4), user Nan Wei shared how she had placed a takeaway order with Alijiang at Vivo City through the Deliverychinatown app. When the food arrived however, she was disappointed by the portion size of a vegetable dish which cost $19.95. «The [takeaway] box was not even one-third full», Nan Wei said. «Contacted Deliverychinatown to complain about the pathetic amount of vegetables that was served for what [I] was charged for.» After lamenting that the amount of vegetables served was totally different from the photo shown in the menu, Nan Wei said that the response she got was that the latter is «only meant for reference». According to screenshots from a series of messages, a representative from Deliverychinatown told Nan Wei said the eatery would not be providing a refund as there were no issues with the portion size. 

To budge or not to budge. This was the dilemma for two drivers after getting themselves into a road incident last Wednesday (May 1) evening. Driving through a narrow private residential enclave at Lentor Green, the driver of a silver Toyota Prius was met by a fellow road-user driving a Toyota Estima upon making a right turn. It seemed as though both drivers wanted to make a turn but neither were keen to provide enough space for the other to do so. The situation escalated to the point where police were called in to intervene. A 46-second clip recorded from the cam car of the Prius was shared on Facebook group SG Road Vigilante - SGRV on May 4.

SINGAPORE — Noel Peter Xavier was pulled from the brink of death almost 11 years ago at the age of 40. Then a workaholic and a party animal, he felt unwell on May 13, 2013, after a party at his friend's place. «It happened to be Mother's Day that day, and I was rushing home to share a meal with my mother. She had prepared briyani, my favourite,» said Xavier, who was divorced at the time. «I was on my way home when I felt the left side of my body pulling away from the rest of me. It felt heavy. My head was spinning and I threw up. To steady myself, I sat by the kerb. That was when I blacked out. I guess passers-by thought I had a heart attack, and they called an ambulance.» He had suffered a stroke, and doctors found a blood clot the size of a golf ball in his brain. After two operations — during one of which he suffered another stroke on the operating table — Xavier fell into a coma, with doctors giving him only a five per cent chance of survival. But he overcame the odds and even wrote a book, titled Zero To Hero, which documents his journey out of darkness. It will be launched at the National Library in Victoria Street in early June.

A man ordered items from Tip Top Curry Puff at One Raffles Place on Labour Day (May 1) — only to be told that the store was closed and he could not get a refund. Stomp contributor Jon shared with Stomp he had paid $10.08 for his order but was livid when he was told by a Grab customer service agent that they were 'unable to process a refund' for him as the order was ongoing. The agent explained that the opening hours for the store differed on Labour Day due to it being a public holiday and apologised that this was not updated on the app. Jon asked the agent: «Are you expecting me to pay for something you cannot deliver? Or do I have to put this on Stomp just to get my refund?» PHOTO: Stomp The agent apologised again and said that because the order was categorised as a self-pick-up, only the merchant could cancel the order. 

SINGAPORE — Regrets, she's had a few — but they don't keep Carolyn Too up at night. Pain, however, does — a sharp stabbing pain from cancer tumours in her abdomen. «When it gets really bad, I take an ice pack and put it on my stomach until the pain subsides,» says the 48-year-old, who was told by her oncologist in May 2023 that she probably had six months to live. As she is also a renal patient, Too takes painkillers only when the pain is unbearable, as analgesics reduce blood flow to the kidney. After being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2022, she went through two rounds of unsuccessful chemotherapy and an operation to remove her womb. The cancer has spread to other parts of her body. For someone facing Death's dark gaze, the former business development manager is remarkably cheerful, chirpy even. «When I was told I had only six months, I said: 'Okay, fine. Let's make the best of the six months.' I refuse to mope about it. I can wake up every day and say: 'I'm dying, I'm dying.' But I try not to. »My mind at that point in time was: 'Bucket list, bucket list. What do I want?'"

Member of Parliament Tin Pei Ling has shared an update on the 15-year-old girl found living at the wet market along Circuit Road in a 10-minute video posted to Facebook on Friday (May 3). Recalling her visit to the child at the hospital on Thursday, Tin said the girl is «coping well», «healthy» and «cheerful». The teenager had showed Tin her new soft toys, along with a Pokemon game card that another child patient had given to her. Her father also regularly visits her at the hospital, added the MacPherson MP. She said: «While the father is assisting with investigations… the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) is also working hard to work out a longer-term care arrangement for her.» To that end, foster care appears to be the best option for the girl and the MSF is currently reaching out to its foster network to do so, Tin said.

SINGAPORE — Heavy rain prompted flood warnings for large parts of Singapore on the morning of May 4, and caused delays at Changi Airport. At about 10am, PUB posted a flood alert on social media platform X that heavy rain was expected over «many areas of Singapore» from 10am to 10.45am. Earlier, the national water agency also put up three posts saying that heavy rain was expected from 6.45am to 7.45am, 7.45am to 8.30am, and 8.05am to 9am. PUB also told the public at about 8.10am to avoid TPE (Punggol West Flyover) and Jalan Pokok Serunai in Bedok for an hour, because of heavy rain. The agency warned about the risk of flash floods as well, in Upper Paya Lebar Service Road (from Lim Teck Boo Road to Rochdale Road), Jalan Lokam near Upper Paya Lebar Road, Thrift Drive near Jalan Usaha, Jalan Seaview, the junction of Mountbatten Road and Tanjong Katong Road South, as well as Craig Road from Duxton Road to Tanjong Pagar Road. An event involving Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat launching an unmanned aircraft flying area at the Dover Hiking Trail was postponed because of the bad weather.

A terminally ill taxi driver suffering from renal failure and autonomic dysfunction has organised a banquet to express his gratitude to family, friends and doctors, also donating $3,000 to charity and planning his own funeral, Shin Min Daily News reported on Friday (May 3). The 46-year-old Su Zhixiong (transliterated) also suffers from hyperlipidemia, hypertension, hyperglycemia and had lost two toes to diabetes in 2019. Due to his autonomic dysfunction, standing too long makes him dizzy and might cause him to faint. A checkup also revealed he has kidney disease and requires treatment, but he refused to do so, reported the Chinese daily.  «In the past four years, I've been in and out of the hospital, sometimes staying for 12 to 18 days,» he told Shin Min, adding that the cost of dialysis is too high and he doesn't wish to financially burden his family even more. As his condition deteriorated, so did his relationship with his mother due to the pressure on the household's finances. He reportedly forced himself to continue working as a taxi driver till March, when his condition worsened and his vision started blurring.

SINGAPORE – A 22-year-old man was in the early hours of May 3 arrested for drunkenness in public causing annoyance, after latching onto the rear of a moving armoured security vehicle. He held on for about 850m between Victoria Street and Stamford Road, until he was discovered by the auxiliary police force officers in the vehicle, the police said. The security officers then got out of the vehicle, at which point the man “immediately stepped down and walked away”, police added. Investigations revealed that the man – who appeared intoxicated – had tried to enter the armoured vehicle at about 3am that day in Queen Street when the auxiliary police force officers were loading ATM cash cartridges into the armoured vehicle. They stopped him before driving off. The officers called the police for assistance at about 4.20am after discovering the interloper. The man was arrested within two hours. He will be charged in court on May 4. If found guilty of drunkenness in public places and causing annoyance, he may be fined up to $1,000, jailed for up to six months, or both.

SINGAPORE — Singapore law firm Shook Lin & Bok was hit by a ransomware attack in April, and the incident is now under investigation by the local authorities. In response to queries from The Straits Times, the firm said in a statement that the incident was discovered on April 9, and it immediately engaged a cyber-security team. The firm's systems were contained as of 2am on April 10, and the incident has been reported to the police, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), and Personal Data Protection Commission Singapore, the statement said. The firm is working closely with cyber-security teams and other specialists to minimise impact on its clients and stakeholders. There is no evidence so far that the firm's document management systems which contain client data were affected, and the firm continues to operate as usual, the statement added. According to a report by independent website SuspectFile, which posts primarily about ransomware incidents, the law firm allegedly paid 21.07 bitcoins to Akira ransomware group spread across three transactions.

SINGAPORE — Despite five futile attempts to enter the polytechnic of his dreams, Aloysius Lim was unfazed. He finally succeeded on his sixth try and was accepted into Nanyang Polytechnic's (NYP) Infocomm and Media Engineering course. Three years on, the 24-year-old has excelled and graduated with a near-perfect grade point average of 3.99 out of 4. Lim is one of 5,300 graduates from NYP's Class of 2024 and is also one of the polytechnic's top eight graduates. On May 3, he received from Education Minister Chan Chun Sing the Tay Eng Soon Award for ITE Upgrader, presented to the most outstanding graduate who progressed to NYP from the Institute of Technical Education. When asked how he felt when he eventually received the acceptance call from NYP, Lim said: «I don't know how to explain the feeling, it's like I finally made it into my dream school after five years.» The former Greendale Secondary School student first wanted to apply to NYP in 2017, but did not qualify as he received an E8 in English language at the O-level exams. The minimum requirement to enter a polytechnic was a D7 for the subject.

A Singaporean man almost became the target of a lynch mob in Batam on April 29 after he was suspected of trying to kidnap a child. According to an iNews report on May 1, the man, who was identified as GW, had gone to a convenience store in a residential area at Batu Aji, Batam. When he came out of the store, the bespectacled man gave some of his sweets to a child who was playing nearby. An individual saw this and accused GW of trying to kidnap the child. Locals started to crowd around the trio and the mob became more hostile as it grew in size. Fortunately, a police patrol car was passing and officers stepped in to take the Singaporean away from the mob. GW had trouble explaining himself at the police station as he did not speak Bahasa Indonesia but the police did not find any reason to suspect a kidnapping attempt as alleged by the locals. Batam Immigration Office head Samuel Toba said: «What the man did was not a common gesture in the area, so the community grew suspicious.» Toba added that GW was deported in order to remove him from the hostile situation.

Shortly after achieving an all-time high resale flat price of $968,000, Sengkang has crossed the million-dollar line in the same month.  This is the first time a resale flat in that estate has reached the million-dollar mark.  A 1,539 sq ft maisonette at Block 205B Compassvale Lane was sold for exactly $1 million in April, HDB records showed. Located on the seventh to ninth floor, the flat is 25 years into its 99-years lease, which commenced in 1999.  Block 205B is within a 10-minute walking distance to Buangkok MRT station and Sengkang Grand Mall. It is also within a one to two kilometre radius to schools such as North Vista Primary School, Sengkang Primary School, and North Vista Secondary School. PHOTO: Screengrab/HDB In a media statement released on Wednesday (May 2), Singapore Realtors Inc (SRI) said that one of their agents facilitated its sale last month.

One is an organisation representing the security services industry, the other is a union for security workers. Both parties are now in a war of words over a video produced with the intention of educating security officers to report non-compliance of the Progressive Wage Model (PWM). The model aims to help raise the income of lower-wage workers, including security officers, by developing a clear career pathway for them, alongside training and improving their productivity.  The video, commissioned by the Union of Security Employees (USE), is produced by local content producer SGAG and was uploaded on the latter's Instagram page on April 25. But the Security Association Singapore (SAS) has taken offence at how security officers are portrayed in the clip. It shows a skit where two security officers are being briefed by their superior and ask several silly questions, including whether they can get guns to shoot terrorists and when to go for toilet breaks. 

When she was told that the seat she wanted was taken and that she had to sit somewhere else, one woman lost her cool and threw the hot cocoa she had just ordered on the countertop. The incident, which was captured on CCTV, happened on Wednesday (May 1) afternoon at The Homme Baker, a bakery cafe in Queenstown. It filed a police report the next day. On the day of the incident, the bakery shared the CCTV footage in an Instagram story, seeking help to identify the woman so it could make a police report and file claims for any damage to its equipment. «This customer threw her scalding hot cocoa on our countertop and all over our electricals, potentially causing damage to our POS (point-of-sale) equipment,» the bakery wrote.  It added that the woman had supposedly gotten upset after being told that the four counter seats were occupied and she had to sit at the communal area outside. «She also used [an] expletive... on one of our bakers. We do not tolerate such abusive language or behaviour towards any of our staff.»

In his May Day Rally speech this week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong noted that Singapore once experienced frequent train breakdowns but that rail reliability has since improved significantly. He attributed it to the efforts of SMRT and Land Transport Authority engineers, as well as employees of the National Transport Workers’ Union. But what most people do not know is that PM Lee himself was very much involved in helping to resolve the issue, former transport minister Khaw Boon Wan revealed in an interview with Petir, the People's Action Party digital newsletter. Khaw, who entered politics in 2001 and retired in 2020, took up the transport portfolio after the General Election in 2015 — amid persistent problems with the MRT system that became a hot-button issue leading up to the polls. The government was on a quest to improve the reliability of the rail system. Khaw, 71, who is now the chairman of SPH Media Trust, recalled that PM Lee took a personal interest, even in the engineering details of the rail network.

One property agent has declared that he will now require students to fork out a higher deposit up front, after a group of them left a rental condo unit in disarray. Taking to TikTok on Wednesday (May 1), Eric Yeo from Propnex Realty said in a video that he had a «horrible» handover at Parc Riviera on West Coast Vale. Entering the unit, Yeo added: «I think it is going to be a tough time to pass over to the next tenant». In the two-minute clip, it showed that the previous student tenants had left several belongings - including a mattress propped up in the living room - behind. Giving a tour of the kitchen, Yeo briefing panned the camera to a dirty sink and appliances that were still on the hob as well as inside the drawers. «How can people live in these kinds of conditions?» The property agent said, before showing a half-filled fridge that was supposed to be cleared out during a handover. «When I hand the condo to you, it's in superb tip-top condition,» Yeo added. «Are you now torturing me in this kind of manner?» Towards the end of the inspection. Yeo said that only the master bedroom was left in a decent condition.

A woman was caught on video tripping a young boy and causing him to fall at United Square shopping mall on May 1. Stomp contributor John alerted Stomp to the incident and shared CCTV footage of the woman caught in the act. «This crazy woman attacked an innocent child for no reason!» he said. In the video, she is seen approaching the boy from behind and sticking out her leg, causing him to trip and fall. She then walks away before she is stopped by the boy's father. The Stomp contributor's footage also included photos of the woman holding a Toys 'R' Us wrapped package while being confronted. H told Stomp the CCTV footage was provided by the manager of a bubble tea stall in the mall. «The family walked out from the nearby Toys 'R' Us when the woman walked behind them and suddenly kicked the young child at his calf, causing him to fall,» said John. «The child's father saw it and immediately stopped the woman who tried to deny it and wanted to escape.»

SINGAPORE – After entering Singapore on social visit passes, three Chinese nationals hatched plans to sell knock-offs of branded phones bought in China to victims here. All three were sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to one count of cheating each on May 2. Court documents did not say if the men knew one another or were working together. Li Jianxin, 41, arrived in Singapore on Feb 27. At around 6pm on March 20, he approached his victim near Liang Seah Street and offered to sell him an iPhone 15 Pro Max and a charging cable for $800. He also provided a forged receipt after he claimed that the phone was bought from an Apple store in Singapore for $1,600. After bargaining, the victim agreed to buy the phone from Li for $700. He later realised it was fake when comparing his phone with his colleague. Li was arrested on March 21 while trying to leave the country. Investigations revealed he had bought the knock-off phone for $200 in China, with the intention of selling it in Singapore. Li was sentenced to 10 weeks in jail. The prosecution said he had expressed an interest in making restitution to the victim.