The design of a community garden in Choa Chu Kang has given some residents goosebumps.  Located next to Block 672A Choa Chu Kang Crescent, the gardening plots resemble graves, said some residents.  There are a total of 21 gardening plots enclosed by cement walls, Shin Min Daily News reported.  A woman surnamed Wu, who has lived in the estate for 25 years, told the Chinese evening daily that the new community garden allows residents who love gardening to grow plants.  However, the 74-year-old found the garden's design unsettling.  «When you look down at the community garden from the upper floors, it looks even more like a cemetery,» she said, adding that her friend has similar sentiments. A resident surnamed Wang said: «When I walk past the community garden at night, I get spooked by the inauspicious sight. So, I'll make a detour.» The orderly arrangement of the gardening plots contributed to its cemetery-like appearance, a resident surnamed Huang noted. «If a fence was built around the area, maybe it would look less [like a cemetery], or the plants could simply be grown on land,» said the 79-year-old. 

SINGAPORE — A flight from Singapore to Wuhan on Dec 10 returned to Changi Airport more than four hours into the journey, due to a technical issue. According to information on flight tracking website Flightradar24, Scoot flight TR120 departed from Singapore around 7pm. The plane was flying over the South China Sea when it made a U-turn, and touched down back in Singapore around 11.30pm. In response to queries, a Scoot spokesman said a technical issue was detected around 2½ hours into the flight, without elaborating. «As a precaution, a decision was made to return to Singapore,» said the spokesman. «TR120 subsequently landed uneventfully in Singapore at 11.21pm on Dec 10.» The passengers were transferred to a replacement aircraft, which departed Singapore at 2.18am on Dec 11, said the spokesman, adding that affected customers were offered refreshments and meals. A netizen on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu said he was a passenger on the flight and claimed that the plane had to turn back due to broken glass in the plane. Scoot did not respond to The Straits Times' queries about this.

The 21-year-old woman who died in a motorcycle crash in Johor on Tuesday (Dec 10) had just surprised her mother in Genting. Alssa Lyn Tay was traveling back to Singapore that morning with her 23-year-old boyfriend when he lost control of the motorcycle and crashed into a steel road divider along the North-South Expressway. Tay's stepfather, Xu, spoke to Shin Min Daily News at her funeral on Wednesday and said that he was on a trip in Genting with his wife when Tay called him on Monday night. She had just received her new passport and wanted to surprise her mother in Genting. «I tried to persuade her not to travel [to Genting] by motorcycle, but she insisted on seeing her mother.»

Yip Pin Xiu has earned herself many titles, including Sportswoman of the Year and Singapore's most decorated Paralympian. On Wednesday (Dec 11), the 32-year-old swimmer got a new one — fiancee. The seven-time Paralympic gold medallist announced the good news on Instagram with a series of photos from the proposal as well as a message dedicated to her partner, Bruce. https://www.instagram.com/p/DDcKlF5ysUi/ «I am unequivocally happy,» Yip wrote. Recounting the proposal, she said that Bruce was so nervous that «he couldn’t remember a word of (his whole speech)». «He did not need any words for me to understand him.» Addressing Bruce, she wrote: «With you, I can be softer yet more steady. I have space to be myself. I feel safe and seen.» Bruce reciprocated the heartfelt message in the comments, saying that he was lucky to have her in his life. In her post, the bride-to-be added: «We are in our fiance era… time for us to plan a party!»

A manager of a home-based pet grooming salon appeared in a district court on Dec 11 over the death of a dog she had allegedly left unattended on a table. Vanessa Chiu Yan Er, 29, who is also a partner at Pawkins SG, the home-based salon, was charged with one count of causing unnecessary pain and suffering to a corgi named Fendi in a unit of a Serangoon Central block of flats around 1.45pm on July 24. This case first made headlines in July, after a video of a dog falling off a grooming table and being hanged to death with its leash went viral online. According to court documents, Chiu was Fendi’s groomer, and she allegedly failed to secure the dog with a “double arm lock” and left it unattended on the table. The three-year-old dog slipped off the table and died after it was hanged by its neck with its leash for an extended period. In a video posted on Instagram on July 24, six dogs seen in a room start to bark after being triggered by something off camera. No one can be seen in the footage at this point.

The woman who was stabbed to death in Hougang on Tuesday (Dec 10) has been identified as 34-year-old Vietnamese national Dao Thi Hong.  The mother of three moved to Singapore from Hanoi five years ago, reported The Straits Times.  She worked at the Quan Long Nippon Paint hardware store at Block 210 Hougang Street 21, where she was repeatedly stabbed by a 42-year-old man, who was an employee.  The attack happened at about 11am on Tuesday. According to witnesses, the woman was screaming and the man was brandishing a knife. Another employee at the store, a 26-year-old man, tried to intervene and was wounded.  Dao's friend, who gave her name as Sally, told The Straits Times she took leave on Wednesday to pay her respects to the deceased at a makeshift altar set up behind the store.  «I came to light a candle and pay respects to her,» said the woman. "I wanted to stay here and accompany her for a while. It’s better for her.”

The woman who was stabbed to death in Hougang on Tuesday (Dec 10) has been identified as 34-year-old Vietnamese national Dao Thi Hong.  The mother of three moved to Singapore from Hanoi five years ago, reported The Straits Times.  She worked at the Quan Long Nippon Paint hardware store at Block 210 Hougang Street 21, where she was repeatedly stabbed by a 42-year-old man, who was an employee.  The attack happened at about 11am on Tuesday. According to witnesses, the woman was screaming and the man was brandishing a knife. Another employee at the store, a 26-year-old man, tried to intervene and was wounded.  Dao's friend, who gave her name as Sally, told The Straits Times she took leave on Wednesday to pay her respects to the deceased at a makeshift altar set up behind the store.  «I came to light a candle and pay respects to her,» said the woman. "I wanted to stay here and accompany her for a while. It’s better for her.”

From Dec 16, travellers arriving or departing Singapore by bus will be able to clear immigration without their passports. QR code clearance will be rolled out progressively at all automated lanes and special assistance lanes at the bus halls of Tuas and Woodlands checkpoints, said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) in a media release on Wednesday (Dec 11). The implementation of the passport-less clearance system, which will start at Tuas Checkpoint, is targeted to be completed at both checkpoints by mid-January 2025. This follows trials that were conducted at selected lanes of the checkpoints' bus halls in end-November. The trials recorded over 48,000 travellers as of Dec 1. Feedback collected from these travellers enabled ICA to fine-tune and improve the QR code clearance experience, the authority said.

Several residents in Jurong West are at their wits' end over a man who has been pouring what was believed to be urine outside their flats. Huang, who lives at Block 823 Jurong West Street 81, told Shin Min Daily News that his neighbour, who is in his 60s, has been behaving strangely for years. The 52-year-old engineer said that he lodged a police report on Nov 26 after two other neighbours found traces of urine-like liquid along the common corridor. On Dec 3, Huang called the cops again after detecting traces of the liquid in the corridor outside his unit as well as the clothes he had hung out to dry. «I saw a figure flash by, but no one answered the door when the police arrived,» said Huang. «He lives on the other end of the corridor and I heard he had received warnings from the authorities before.» Several residents living on the floors below the man's flat also said that they found the foul-smelling liquid along their corridors. Some of them lodged a police report and alerted the town council.

A Singaporean woman died in a motorcycle crash along the North-South Expressway in Malaysia on Tuesday (Dec 10).  The accident occurred along the southbound expressway near Sedenak in Johor at about 9.15am, according to the New Straits Times.  The 21-year-old was riding pillion to her 23-year-old boyfriend, who is also Singaporean, on a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10. The couple was reportedly making their way back to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur when «the motorcyclist lost control of his vehicle, skidded and hit the steel road divider,» said Kulai District police chief Tan Seng Lee told Malaysian media.  The woman sustained severe head injuries and died on the spot while her boyfriend sustained leg injuries, according to the police. Both victims were taken to Temenggong Seri Maharaja Tun Ibrahim Kulai Hospital.

How did this happen? A woman placed a package outside her door to be collected by the delivery driver, but he took something else instead «I want share a very bizarre incident that happened to me,» said Stomp contributor Joan, who has an online business and relies on a delivery company to ship orders to her customers. «As I have multiple orders daily, for the sake of convenience of not having to keep opening the door and cause my dogs to bark, I would always place the package outside and leave a delivery note for the driver, informing them that the package is near the gate with the address of the recipient. »So just take and go, as I've already made payment in the app through credit.« On Nov 21, she did her usual and took her dog for a walk. PHOTO: Stomp »One hour after I had placed the order, I noticed that the package was still there, but my CCTV camera was missing," recounted the Stomp contributor.

SINGAPORE — Former Singapore Idol judge Ken Lim, 60, was acquitted on Dec 11 of insulting a woman's modesty over an incident which happened more than 12 years ago. Lim was then the executive director of record label Hype Records. After a trial, District Judge Wong Peck found him not guilty of uttering sexually inappropriate words to the woman, 25 at Hype Records' premises in Henderson Road on July 25, 2012. Details about her cannot be disclosed due to a gag order. During the trial, the woman, who is now a singer-songwriter based overseas, accused Lim asking her if she was a virgin. He was also accused of uttering the words: «What if I have sex with you right now.» Lim currently faces six other charges allegedly involving four more women. He is alleged to have insulted the modesty of three of them, and is accused of molesting a woman at the Hype Records office in Henderson Road on Nov 23, 2021. The cases will be dealt with at a later date.

SINGAPORE — Pet owners and eateries have welcomed the recent move allowing patrons to dine outdoors with their furry companions without the need for a pet cafe licence, even as some seek more clarity on the new rules. A spokesperson for waterfront cafe Whisk & Paddle told The Straits Times that in the past, it had to turn away customers with pets as it was not licensed to accommodate them. «This caused disappointment among potential customers, especially since we are located along the Punggol Park connector,» the spokesperson said. The park connector is frequented by dog owners. From Jan 1, such pet-friendly eateries with outdoor dining areas will no longer need to worry about seeking additional approval from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), if they are not serving pet food. Since SFA's announcement on Dec 2, Whisk & Paddle has started sourcing for pet-only chairs, which will allow dogs to be seated. The Tebing Lane eatery is also looking to get disposable pet water bowls.

A 42-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly murdering a 34-year-old woman in Kovan on Tuesday (Dec 10). The police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force told AsiaOne they received a call for assistance at Block 210 Hougang Street 21 at about 11.05am. Police officers found the woman and a 26-year-old man with stab wounds at the location.  Both were taken to hospital, where the woman subsequently died. The woman was stabbed multiple times at Quan Long Nippon Paint hardware store in Kovan, reported Lianhe Zaobao. Witnesses reportedly said that the older man was heard arguing with the woman, who works at the hardware store. The man then brandished a knife, causing people to scream and flee. The 26-year-old man reportedly working at the hardware store had tried to de-escalate the situation but was stabbed in the abdomen, reported Zaobao. 

She went to court but to no avail. A private tutor has resorted to engaging debt collectors to collect the $680 in tuition fees owed by a pupil's mother after filing a claim with the Small Claims Tribunal failed. Stomp contributor Joyce said she has been trying to get payment from the woman, whose name is Eunice, since the beginning of 2024. The Stomp contributor had tutored her daughter in English, Chinese, science and mathematics for PSLE at Eunice's parents' home in Hougang. «I went three times a week from 7pm to 10pm,» said the tutor. «Her daughter initially promised to pay but ended up backing out.» After filing the claim, the Stomp contributor went to Hougang to serve the court notice to Eunice. «She received the court notice after being called out of her room — she didn't come out initially — and denied knowing about the whole tuition, even though I had sent her the payment details which she had acknowledged and repeatedly patronised me that 'she'd pay' but never did,» recounted the Stomp contributor.