SINGAPORE — Home-grown fashion retailer Love, Bonito has laid off 29 employees globally, 14 of whom are from Singapore. This accounts for 6.9 per cent of the company's total workforce. Affected employees will receive a support package in line with local regulations, said Dione Song, chief executive of Love, Bonito. «This includes a payout based on length of service, including encashment of pro-rated annual leave and notice period,» she said. In addition, Love, Bonito will extend the affected employees' medical insurance, and work with relevant agencies to provide career transition support, alongside recommendation letters, Song added. She said: «Our immediate focus will be on helping impacted individuals, as well as the remaining employees, through this transition phase.» The company did not respond when asked which job functions were affected and if the lay-offs would affect its expansion plans. Love, Bonito opened its first brick-and-mortar store in the Philippines in July 2024. In June 2023, the company launched its first pop-up store in New York City, which had remained open until the end of the year.

Following a two-week suspension by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) starting Tuesday (Oct 15), gelato shop Tom's Palette has released a video on Instagram apologising for the lapses at its Bugis outlet. According to the notice by SFA, the branch of the popular scoop shop, located at 51 Middle Road, had accumulated 12 demerit points within a 12-month period. It was fined $800 for the offences of failing to «register [an] assistant», as well as selling «food which is not clean». The period of suspension will end on Oct 28. Tom's Palette has two other outlets in Kovan and Outram which are unaffected by the suspension. The video by Tom's Palette released on Oct 16 showed a team member apologising «for the sudden closure of our Bugis outlet». A caption to the video read, «Sorry guys we messed up.» Bacterial contamination detected in gelato In the clip, the female spokesperson shared that they wanted to «give an explanation of exactly what happened, so that you guys know what's going on as well». The woman stated that SFA had gone to their Bugis outlet in May to investigate their Sicilian Pistachio flavour.

The Insurance Act was amended after Parliament passed a Bill on Wednesday (Oct 16). The new amendment requires the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to seek the approval of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) for applications related to insurers that are co-operative societies (co-ops) or are linked to co-ops. The bill was tabled and discussed on Wednesday, following the government's announcement on Monday that it halted the deal between Income and German insurance provider Allianz in its current form to safeguard public interest, although it remains open to a transaction that addresses its concerns. As he presented the Bill for debate, MAS deputy chairman and Second Minister for Finance Chee Hong Tat said: «We are making the amendments on an urgent basis because the proposed transaction is under active consideration by Income's shareholders.»

SINGAPORE — A female cyclist who jumped onto a car bonnet and clung on to it during a row with a driver in East Coast Road in June 2023 was sentenced to a five-day short detention order (SDO) on Oct 17. Offenders given an SDO are jailed for a short time, but they will not have a criminal record after their release. Nicolette Tan Shi-en, 33, who was a lawyer at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty in April to a harassment charge involving the driver, Elaine Michele Ow, 49. One count of causing an obstruction along the road was considered during sentencing. The incident was caught on a video which went viral in June 2023. Stressing that Tan's behaviour cannot be condoned, District Judge Janet Wang said in her judgment on Oct 17: "As a legal professional, the accused (Tan) is well-versed in the traffic rules and regulations. And it was precisely her perception of a traffic violation on Ow's part that accounted for her confrontation with the latter.

SINGAPORE — Mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation One Championship has laid off a number of employees — including those from its Singapore headquarters — on Oct 16. In response to queries from The Straits Times, a spokesperson said: «On Wednesday, One Championship made the difficult decision to lay off a few dozen employees as part of its overall strategic plan to bring the company to profitability in the coming months. »This decision was not made lightly and reflects our ongoing commitment to streamlining operations and focusing on long-term sustainability and growth." According to its LinkedIn profile, One has a global staff strength of between 201 and 500. Besides Singapore, it also has offices in Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, London, Shanghai, Milan, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and Bengaluru. Its institutional investors include Temasek Holdings. While One did not reveal how many of its staff in its Singapore office were let go, an affected party who declined to be named said that over 20 of his colleagues here, across the broadcast, e-sports, finance, marketing and public relations departments, were laid off.

It's Halloween season. As some prepare to celebrate this eerie occasion, others question their boundaries. Stomp contributor Koncerned Kat was walking along a park connector in Katong when she stumbled upon a 'pet cemetery' in a resident's backyard. Likely inspired by Stephen King's horror novel of the same name, the Stomp contributor shared that the cemetery featured four graves with names written in red on white crosses. There was also a freshly dug grave with a red light emanating from within. To top it off, a sign with the words «Pet Cemetery» is splattered with 'blood' next to some cobwebs. PHOTO: Stomp «It's not even Halloween yet and this guy has already set up an elaborate and seemingly bloody pet cemetery,» said the Stomp contributor. «Is this even appropriate or legal as it seems to imply bloody violence towards animals?»

A fire broke out at Northshore Primary School in Punggol on Wednesday (Oct 16) night at around 8.50pm. The fire was put out and there were no injuries reported. Smoke was seen billowing from the school and «a burning smell permeated the scene», resident Chen Jiaqi (transliteration) told Lianhe Zaobao. The fire involved an electrical distribution board in an office located on the ground floor. The Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted to the fire and put out the fire with two water jets. Photo: Lianhe Zaobao In response to queries from AsiaOne, the Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted to the fire at around 8.50pm. Fire engines were dispatched to the scene and firefighters managed to extinguish the fire with two water jets. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  AsiaOne has reached out to Northshore Primary School for comments.

SINGAPORE — The new Plus and Prime flats launched on Wednesday (Oct 16) will come with a subsidy clawback clause of between six and nine per cent, said the Housing and Development Board (HDB), as it rolled out 8,573 Build-To-Order (BTO) homes under a new flat classification system. The new launch will sort BTO projects into the Standard, Plus and Prime categories based on their proximity to the city centre, transport connectivity and amenities. It replaces the system of demarcating estates as either mature or non-mature. Plus and Prime flats, which are in more attractive locations, come with significant additional subsidies to keep them affordable, said HDB. It has said the subsidy recovery clause is needed to curb the «lottery effect» of owning flats in prime and central locations. «To maintain parity with other BTO flat buyers who are not accorded additional subsidies, Plus and Prime flat owners will be required to pay HDB a percentage of the resale or valuation price (whichever is higher) of the flat upon selling it, after meeting the 10-year minimum occupation period (MOP),» said HDB on Oct 16.

Two men were rushed to the hospital after the driver of a white car allegedly lost control, hit a taxi and collided with a lamp post outside Hougang Neighhourhood Police Centre. The police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to the accident at about 9.30pm on Tuesday (Oct 15), which occurred near the junction of Hougang Avenue 9 and Hougang Avenue 4. The driver of the white car was a 59-year-old male while the taxi driver was a 53-year-old male.  When interviewed about the accident, 60-year-old Hougang resident Chen Meixiu told Shin Min Daily News she heard a loud crash from her residence. Looking out of her window, she saw that the white car had crashed into the lamp post. There was also a taxi parked near the accident site.  The front of the white car was badly dented from the impact of the collision. One of the taxi's tyres almost fell off, reported the Chinese daily.  Chen also saw three ambulances at the scene, and one person lying on the ground.  Another resident who declined to be named told Shin Min that the white car was moving against traffic. 

The third day of Pritam Singh's trial has ended, with former Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan once again facing hours of cross-examination by Singh's legal team. Khan answered more questions on Wednesday (Oct 16) about whether Singh had encouraged her to keep up with the lie she had made in parliament about a sexual assault case. Singh, 48, has been charged with two counts under Section 31(q) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act. The WP chief is accused of giving false answers to the Committee of Privileges (COP), which was convened in November 2021 to look into a controversy involving Khan. Here are some highlights from the third day in court. 1. Defence challenges Khan's credibility Today's hearing continued where Singh's lawyer, Andre Jumabhoy, had left off on Tuesday - attempting to impeach Khan's credit as a witness.

The collision between the two Hunter armoured vehicles during Exercise Wallaby was likely caused by low visibility from the dust clouds that formed during the movement of the vehicles.  Preliminary checks showed that dust clouds were a «likely contributory factor», said Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen in a written reply to a parliamentary question on Tuesday (Oct 15) about the incident which occurred in Queensland, Australia, in September.  The question was posed by MP Dennis Tan, who asked about the cause of the accident and if there were lessons to be learnt about improving training safety.  In his reply, Dr Ng also said: «It was also ascertained that the soldiers on board the vehicles had adhered to the safety protocols, including the use of seat belts and protective gear, and consequently only sustained no or mild injuries.» A total of 12 Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) servicemen were injured from the accident, but all were able to rejoin their units after receiving medical care. 

A pedestrian was taken to hospital after a tree collapsed along Jurong West Ave 1 on Tuesday (Oct 15) at about 5.10pm, striking her, Lianhe Zaobao reported. The pedestrian, a woman in her 50s, was crossing the road when the tree fell. The tree, which was approximately four storeys tall, had fallen on the road, cutting across multiple lanes and smashing into the road divider. A sign attached to a traffic light was also damaged in the process. «There was another man with me and we found the woman who fell and was injured,» a 40-year-old food deliveryman who wished to remain anonymous, told Zaobao. «We quickly helped her to the side [of the road],» he recalled, adding that she suffered injuries to her face and knees. «She looked terrified, but there were no visible injuries elsewhere on her body. When paramedics arrived, they sent her to the hospital for treatment.» Residents in the area told Zaobao that they had heard the sound of branches breaking apart before witnessing the tree topple over. He Yonglun (transliteration), said that the woman didn't appear to have suffered severe injuries.

SINGAPORE — He claimed to have drunk a small glass of beer before a traffic accident, then consumed only four or five cans at home after leaving the scene. Song Chee Kiong, 52, later changed his story, saying he drank 10 cans of beer at home. But for all his claims, the court still convicted him of drink driving and careless driving. He was sentenced to 10 weeks' jail, got a $19,000 fine, and was banned from driving for life. Song appealed against his conviction and sentence, but the High Court dismissed his appeals on Oct 4. This was his third drink-driving conviction. Song was driving along Bukit Batok Road on Oct 8, 2020, when he hit a car in front at about 8.40pm. He exchanged particulars with the other driver, and they agreed to claim damages from their respective insurance policies. But after Song left the scene, the other driver called for a tow truck and made a police report, saying he smelled alcohol on Song. The Traffic Police conducted a breathalyser test on him about 5.5 hours later.

A Singaporean couple running a livestreaming business selling branded goods from overseas underdeclared product values, evading over $90,000 in Goods and Services Tax (GST) and $4,000 in freight charges. Wang Siew Ching, 34, and her husband Rayson Loo Sian Hao, 33, were convicted and fined $396,000 and $453,000 respectively on Tuesday (Oct 15), totalling $849,000. The couple run fashion retailer business Vanity Closet, where Wang is a company director and Loo is a manager. Singapore Customs said in a media release that Wang would source and promote branded goods via Facebook livestreams while Loo would arrange the shipments to Singapore. In January 2022, Customs conducted checks on Vanity Closet's shipments imported in 2021 and found discrepancies between the actual values of the goods and the values declared. Investigations revealed that the couple and their employees would conduct sales livestream at retail outlets selling branded goods in the US and the UK. Goods ordered by customers will be purchased at the end of the session and shipped to Singapore by air.

SINGAPORE — By using false statements, a man worked with a female accomplice to dupe two banks into disbursing loans totalling $1,218,000 starting in 2014. According to court documents, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) (Singapore) was cheated of $178,000, while Maybank (Singapore) was cheated of the remaining $1.04 million. Lee Beng Yong, 55, who is also known as Muhammad Zaki Lee, was earlier convicted of six counts of cheating. One of the charges involved SCB, while five were linked to Maybank. On Tuesday (Oct 15), Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Cheah Wenjie urged the court to sentence Lee to up to five years and six months' jail, stressing that the offender had made no restitution.

A bus captain from SBS Transit has been disciplined after he took the wrong route and ended up missing several bus stops in Boon Lay. He was operating bus service 198 towards Boon Lay Interchange on Sept 28 around 7.30pm.  A commuter waiting at a bus stop told Stomp that the driver continued driving straight after missing the turn from Corporation Road into Boon Lay Avenue and subsequently missed multiple bus stops along the route. The bus driver eventually stopped at Corporation Road bus stop — a bus stop not on service 198's route. «I saw a couple getting down from the bus. They had sounded out to the bus driver who did not know until they informed him,» the commuter said. The couple notified the driver about his mistake and asked him to alert the rest of the passengers aboard. According to the commuter, the bus captain appeared to be a new driver who was unaware that he had taken the wrong route. In response to media queries, SBS Transit apologised for the incident and said that the driver «has been disciplined». 

Pritam Singh's lawyer has accused former Workers' Party MP Raeesah Khan of being a habitual liar during the party chief's ongoing trial at the State Courts. In the cross-examination on Tuesday (Oct 15), defence lawyer Andre Jumabhoy had referred to Khan's anecdote in parliament on Aug 3, 2021, asking her: «You are in fact a liar, correct?» Khan, 30, replied: «Yes, I've lied.» «You tell lies non-stop, don't you?» Jumabhoy continued. When she denied this, he said that he was referring to the anecdote, the Committee of Privileges (COP) as well as the court proceedings that began on Monday. Giving an example, Jumabhoy said Khan had claimed to have spoken with a 25-year-old victim of rape and accompanied her to a police station, where the victim later left crying. She admitted that it was not true. «So that’s a flat-out lie, isn't it?… you can’t be in any doubt that you’ve never accompanied anyone to the police station,» he said. When Singh sought more details on Khan's anecdote, she had replied with more lies such as the number of the person who put the victim in touch with her was not working anymore.

SINGAPORE – In what prosecutors called “one of the worst cases of animal cruelty”, a man vented his frustrations by abusing cats in the Ang Mo Kio area. Besides kicking and suffocating them, Barrie Lin Pengli also killed two cats by throwing them off high floors at HDB blocks. On Oct 15, Lin, 32, admitted to three counts of animal cruelty. Two other similar charges will be taken into consideration for his sentencing on Nov 13. The court heard that Lin has major depressive disorder, but Deputy Principal District Judge Kessler Soh declined to call for a mandatory treatment order in lieu of jail time. Judge Soh said: “Rehabilitation has been wholly eclipsed... given the cruelty inflicted by the defendant on the cats and the extreme harm suffered by them.” The court heard that Lin began abusing cats around the end of 2019. Deputy Public Prosecutor Regina Lim said whenever Lin was feeling frustrated with life, he would go for walks in the Ang Mo Kio area. DPP Lim said this was because Lin knew the area had more cats and he wanted the option to harm them when he felt angry.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) scrambled two F-15SG fighter jets on Tuesday night (Oct 15) in response to a suspected bomb threat on a Singapore-bound Air India Express flight, said Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen. In a Facebook post, Dr Ng revealed that the budget airline had «received an email that there was a bomb on board». The fighters escorted the plane «away from populated areas», before eventually landing at Changi Airport at 10.04pm. Ground Based Air Defence systems and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team were also activated. https://www.facebook.com/ngenghen/posts/pfbid038M9CzuwNNMX22Jraovks3SWyT2XovBWMSGjur8WGBu7Xf7heRuhzEo5G9CBBnzntl At about 9.45pm, what sounded like the roar of fighter jets was briefly heard over Hougang and Punggol. The fighters returned at around 10.12pm.

The 41-year-old man who is accused of murdering a 48-year-old woman inside a food stall at Maxwell Food Centre was taken back to the crime scene on Tuesday (Oct 15).  Wu Tao, a Chinese national and Singapore permanent resident, arrived at the scene at about 9am. He allegedly killed Thai national Tan Kamonwan, inside Chinese and Thai food stall, Dao Xiang Ju, between 10.25pm and 10.55pm on Sept 6.  Dressed in a red polo shirt, black shorts and slippers, Wu had a blue surgical face mask on and was restrained at his wrists and ankles.  He was accompanied by eight police investigators and forensics officers. Upon arrival, investigators led Wu into the stall, where forensics officers who had earlier brought in marker arrows were waiting.  Police had earlier set up a cordon spanning about five food stalls.  At times, Wu was made to sit at a stool outside the stall as officers continued their investigations. He remained mostly expressionless, but would occasionally answer questions posed by an officer standing next to him. 

A Sengkang resident called the police for help after coming face to face with an unknown man who allegedly attempted to unlock her digital lock. The incident occurred in the Rivervale Shores estate at about 10.35pm last Friday (Oct 11), reported Shin Min Daily News. The Chinese evening daily received a tip-off on a Facebook post made by the resident, who said the stranger had acted as if he had returned to the wrong flat when she opened her door. «If he had really gone to the wrong unit, why would he unlock the lock of the wooden door and not the lock of the metal gate outside?» CCTV footage uploaded by the homeowner reportedly shows a bearded man in a blue shirt looking stunned and taking two steps back after the door opens. The resident, who declined to be named, told Shin Min she called the police that night, and officers later arrived to take her statement. According to the Chinese evening daily, police officers patrolled the area, but did not spot the man captured in the footage.

First-generation Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) trains that remain reliable can continue to be used if they have not exceeded the total service life of 38 years, said Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat in Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 15). In a ministerial statement, he addressed a series of parliamentary questions on the East-West Line MRT disruptions that took place last month. Responding to questions on first-gen trains' operations and maintenance by Workers' Party MPs Gerald Giam and Dennis Tan, Chee said that the total service life of the trains — 38 years — had been determined by an independent assessor, which evaluated the trains' structural integrity, in 2012. «The reliability of a train depends on several factors, and not only on its age alone,» he said. Chee explained that under the New Rail Financing Framework, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) owns rail operating assets such as the train fleet while rail operators are responsible for maintaining, deploying, and operating the assets.