SINGAPORE - Five thrilling days of competition ended with another brave performance and a silver lining for Singaporean boccia player Jeralyn Tan. Despite a dramatic 5-4 defeat by Frenchwoman Aurelia Aubert in the women’s individual BC1 final on Sept 2, Jeralyn Tan still managed to claim a historic Paralympic silver for Singapore. In doing so, the 35-year-old debutante became only the Republic’s fourth Paralympic medallist after swimmers Yip Pin Xiu and Theresa Goh, and equestrienne Laurentia Tan. Yip won two golds at these Games, taking her tally to seven, while Laurentia will compete from Sept 3. Jeralyn’s silver from Paris will see her collect $300,000 as part of the Singapore National Paralympic Council’s Athletes Achievement Awards scheme. In 2022, the cash incentive for a Paralympic silver medal was raised from $200,000 to $300,000 for the Paris Games. Boccia means “to bowl” in Italian. The aim of the game, played by wheelchair-using athletes with motor-skill impairment, is to bowl balls as close as possible to a white target ball known as the jack.

A 38-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man were arrested for suspected drugs activities during a raid last Friday (Aug 30). The raid took place at a residential unit in the vicinity of Bedok North Avenue 4, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said in a media statement on Sept 2.  A total of about 2.8kg of heroin, 385g of ‘Ice’, 51g of ‘Ecstasy’, 24g of cannabis, 9g of ketamine and 13 Emirin-5 tablets were seized.  The drugs, valued at an estimated $343,000, can feed the addiction of about 1,550 drug abusers for a week.  If found guilty of trafficking more than 15g of diamorphine or ‘pure heroin’, the pair may face the mandatory death penalty. Drug situation in Singapore According to the 2023 drug situation report released in March 2024, methamphetamine, heroin, and cannabis were the three most commonly abused drugs, with 94 per cent of those arrested abusing at least one of these three drugs. CNB reportedly seized some $15.37 million worth of drugs in 2023, a slight drop from the $16.66 million in 2022.  

SINGAPORE — A 15-year-old secondary school student was taken to hospital after two schoolmates, who accused her of sharing a video of their friend vaping in a school toilet, allegedly assaulted her.  The incident took place after the students were dismissed early from school on Aug 29, the eve of Teachers' Day. The student told The Straits Times that as she was walking home with a friend after leaving school at around 10.40am that day, they were stopped by a fellow student who asked them to go to a nearby void deck, where they found a group of their schoolmates waiting for them. She said they demanded to see her mobile phone, and when she refused to hand it over, they seized it. About 10 people from the group then dragged the student and her friend to a multi-storey carpark, where she was slapped multiple times by one female schoolmate after refusing to unlock her phone. The teenager said her friend left the carpark after being told by the group to leave. 

It's common for parents to get frustrated when teaching or tutoring their child, but one woman has drawn flak from netizens for vulgarly reprimanding a girl in a public space. Taking to TikTok on Saturday (Aug 31), a parent who only wanted to be known as Mrs Lu shared a two-minute-long clip of a mother telling off her daughter while teaching her math, deeming it «mental and verbal abuse». The 44-year-old tertiary lecturer told AsiaOne the incident occurred at a rest area in Buangkok Community Club on Friday evening. In the video, the woman can be heard telling the child: «You better use your brain. If your brain never wake up, you better tell me... I help your brain to wake up (sic).» When the girl later appears to answer a question wrongly, the woman, who was initially calm at the beginning, becomes agitated. «I'm going to tell the whole world you're very f****** stupid,» she says, to which the child supposedly replies «okay». «I'm angry now... You want to piss me off right?» the woman continues. «You tired not my f****** problem okay. I don't give a damn (sic).»

A man took to social media to highlight an «unfair» charge of over $6,000 by a car rental company after he got into an accident, claiming that the brakes of the rental car were faulty. In a post made on Facebook group Singapore Road Vigilante on Saturday (Aug 31), user Aaron Goh recounted his experience with car-sharing platform GetGo. He said he had rented a Honda from the platform on Aug 22 and went to collect it from a car park for what he «assumed would be a smooth drive», he wrote. GetGo told AsiaOne that the incident took place at a car park in Ang Mo Kio.  As he began to drive the car out of the parking lot however, Goh noticed something was «terribly wrong». The man claimed that the car's brakes were not functioning as the vehicle continued to move forward despite him stepping on the brakes. In an attempt to regain control of the car, Goh said that he applied the handbrake and shifted it into park mode. However, the car did not stop and collided with a vehicle parked opposite it.

The exchange rate for Malaysian ringgit has dipped recently, but that hasn't stopped money changers in Singapore from raking it in. Over the weekend, the ringgit was trading at between RM3.28 and RM3.30 per Singapore dollar, reported Shin Min Daily News. Money changers at Chinatown and Raffles Place were selling ringgit at a rate of 3.29 to 3.295.  As of Monday (Sept 2), the exchange rate is RM3.31 to S$1. Huang Suzhen, a partner of Crante Money Changer at People's Park, told the Chinese daily that she did not notice a drop in business despite the stronger ringgit.  She attributed it to Malaysia's National Day (Aug 31) as well as the September school holidays.  «People will start exchanging money closer to the holiday period. I started stocking up on ringgit last Wednesday and Thursday, and I managed to sell 30 per cent more ringgit than usual,» she said. «I'm selling about RM30,000 to RM 40,000 every day.» 

Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates will go up by $1 at three expressway locations starting from Sept 9. The three locations are: - Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) after Jurong Town Hall Road towards the City (set of three gantries) - Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) Eastbound before the exit to Central Boulevard and at the slip road from Marina Boulevard (set of two gantries) - Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) towards the East Coast Parkway (ECP) after Defu Flyover The increased rates will apply in the morning for the AYE and KPE, and the evening for the MCE. The revised rates are below:

All public housing projects delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic are expected to be completed by early 2025, said the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Monday (Sept 2). So far, about 94 per cent - or 87 - of these Build-To-Order (BTO) projects have been completed from October 2020 to August 2024, added HDB. National Development Minister Desmond Lee pointed out how the pandemic severely disrupted HDB's building programme, and the construction delays have caused inconvenience to home buyers and disrupted many of their life plans. «Our HDB colleagues, consultants and contractors worked closely over the past few years to catch up on lost time to complete these delayed BTO projects. We are on track to deliver the remaining delayed projects within the coming six months,» he added.  «We thank flat buyers for their understanding and patience through this period.» HDB has completed around 10,500 flats across 15 BTO projects this year, including 14 which had been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

SINGAPORE - There have been 2,102 Covid-19 deaths here since the start of the pandemic in 2020 to June 2024, the Ministry of Health (MOH) told The Straits Times – a figure that public health experts describe as low. While the experts say Singapore has done well in the fight against Covid-19, the pandemic nevertheless pushed up the age-standardised death rate – an indicator that allows for a fair comparison of mortality rates over time as it removes the effect of a rapidly ageing population. Singapore’s age-standardised death rate rose to a high of 5.9 per 1,000 resident population in 2022, up from 5.2 in 2020 and 5.6 in 2021. In 2023, it went back down to 5.6. The MOH gave ST data on Covid-19 deaths in response to questions on the sharp increases in the total number of deaths over the past few years. A total of 26,888 people died last year, just 0.01 per cent lower than the 26,891 deaths in 2022, based on the Report on Registration of Births and Deaths 2023 published by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority in July.

SINGAPORE – The tears flowed freely as Jeralyn Tan hugged her coach Yurnita Omar after securing a historic Paralympic boccia medal for Singapore at the South Paris Arena 1 on Sept 1. In contrast to the outpouring of emotions, the 35-year-old was a picture of composure and determination earlier as the world No. 2 displayed great strategy and accuracy to beat Japan’s sixth-ranked Hiromi Endo 5-1 in their women’s individual BC1 semi-final. With at least a silver assured, debutante Tan will play home favourite and world No. 16 Aurelie Aubert in the final at 4.30pm (Singapore time) on Sept 2. The 27-year-old had defeated Bermuda’s Yushae DeSilva-Andrade in a tiebreak after their semi-final ended 2-2. Endo later beat DeSilva-Andrade 7-0 to take the bronze. An elated Tan said: “I’m touched by the support. We are not many but I can feel the kampung spirit. I will put all my heart and soul to play the final. With support from my fellow Singaporeans, we will brave this together.”

SINGAPORE — One of Singapore's last four kelongs could soon close, if heritage activists are unable to find a way to save it. Located off the coast of Pulau Ubin, the kelong is owned by retiree Timothy Ng, 76, who in June decided to give up running it and the adjacent fish farm after operating both for two decades. The Singapore Heritage Society (SHS) has petitioned the authorities for the kelong to be retained, and possibly used for education and research purposes. The authorities have given SHS until the end of 2024 to appoint a consultant to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of retaining the kelong as a community and education space, SHS president Fauzy Ismail told The Straits Times. He said SHS is looking for donors to fund the study, which will determine what infrastructural work is needed to repair the kelong to a condition that is suitable for community use, and assess the yearly cost of maintaining it.

Some residents of 178C Rivervale Crescent in Sengkang are fed up with a man who has been cluttering the corridor of the 14th floor for some years, prompting a joint complaint from seven of them. Shin Min Daily News reported in May 2022 that the man had placed many personal belongings, such as tables, chairs and potted plants, along the corridor, occupying the public space. In that same year, a Facebook user had posted on the Complaint Singapore group page about the situation, sarcastically writing: «This is a compliment to Sengkang Town Council (SKTC) for allowing the use of the common corridor.» The now-deleted post added that one can install «bird hanging wall inserts, camera, chilling out table and pets corner», referring to the man's alleged deeds. Two years on and the situation is persisting and has even gotten worse, according to a neighbour interviewed by Shin Min in an Aug 31 report. The unnamed woman said that residents from four other units on the 14th floor and three on the 15th floor have signed a joint letter to the town council asking them to deal with the retiree, named by the Chinese daily as Hong, 61.

SINGAPORE — Pedestrians are still dashing across a busy road in Taman Jurong to get to a bus stop, despite railings the Land Transport Authority (LTA) installed to guide them to crossings nearby. The waist-high railings along Yuan Ching Road are meant to encourage pedestrians to walk towards two traffic light crossings along the dual carriageway. One crossing is located outside Jurong Secondary School. The other crossing is at the junction of Yung Ho Road. The crossings are about 200m from the junction of Hu Ching Road, where an accident in January claimed the life of a 12-year-old student from Yuvabharathi International School. The 30m-long railings were installed in July, but checks by The Straits Times showed that some pedestrians were still jaywalking across Yuan Ching Road. Several residents of the nearby Lake Vista estate said it was the shortest route to the bus stop located opposite the junction. Sabrina Sim said: «There are two schools nearby, and what we need is a traffic light crossing at the junction to make it safer for students and the elderly to cross, especially during peak hours.»

SINGAPORE — There are plans to have more women candidates in the upcoming general election, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, noting his hope to increase the representation of women in Parliament. «To me, having that diversity in the team is very useful,» said PM Wong, urging the public to support the women political candidates when they are fielded. «Throughout my working life, I have benefited from working with men and women who bring a wider range of perspectives and help contribute to better solutions and better decision-making,» he said at the People’s Action Party (PAP) Women’s Wing conference on Aug 31. PAP women MPs now hold close to one-third of the seats in Parliament. In contrast, all PAP MPs were men in the 1970s and early 1980s. There is still work to be done to build an inclusive society, said PM Wong, noting that advancing the cause for gender equality in Singapore is not a zero-sum issue.  «Equality for women does not mean that men get less,» he said. «Gains that women make in society do not mean that men will inevitably lose out.»

A woman got emotional at the airport after finding out she could not pay her respects to her late father on his death anniversary. The 49-year-old catering business owner surnamed Han told Shin Min Daily news that she had booked a flight with Jetstar from Singapore to Haikou, China, for Wednesday (Aug 28). Han said that she arrived at Changi Airport at around 6am as her flight was set to depart at 7.25am. Seeing a crowd of people at the check-in counters, she attempted to check in using a kiosk but was unsuccessful. Han then joined the queue for the check-in counters instead, but was shocked when she finally reached the front of the line. «When it was my turn, the staff took my passport and walked away. When they came back, they told me that the plane was 'full' and I couldn't get on,» she told the Chinese daily. The Jetstar staff offered to help arrange for Han to fly to Haikou two days later. However, Aug 29 was the first anniversary of Han's father's death, and she had planned to pay her respects to him with her family on the day, reported Shin Min Daily.