In Matthew Lim's WhatsApp group chat with his National Service buddies, football banter and workout routines are frequently brought up. But in the past year, their light-hearted conversations have taken a somber turn after two of the 30-year-old's friends were laid off. Lim, who has been in the tech industry for six years, is not feeling too confident about keeping his job either. He added that the recent news reports of mass layoffs in the once-booming tech sector, such as when consumer electronics giants Dyson and Samsung axed jobs last October, gave him the «chills.» «The price of a cup of kopi first went up by 20 cents, and now 50 cents,» he told AsiaOne on Monday (Feb 3). «I'm not even concerned about a pay raise, but more about whether I will still have a job at the end of the year.»

Two men have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a man with a brick in Geylang. The police were alerted to the incident which occurred at Lorong 21 Geylang on Tuesday (Feb 4) at 9am, according to a statement released on Wednesday. The two individuals, aged 21 and 22, had allegedly used a brick to attack a 43-year-old man. The victim was conveyed to Changi General Hospital after being found with multiple fractures on his face and abrasions on his body. Officers from the Bedok Police Division used images from CCTVs and police cameras to identify the suspects and arrested them within 11 hours of the report. The two men will be charged in court on Thursday with the offence of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous means with common intention. If convicted, the suspects face jail terms of up to 15 years. They may also be caned and/or fined. «The police have zero tolerance for such brazen acts of violence and will not hesitate to take action against those who blatantly disregard the law,» said the police.

SINGAPORE - Nearly $7 billion will be spent on marriage and parenthood initiatives in financial year 2026, up from over $4 billion in 2020. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah cited this figure to show how much recent policy changes to the early childhood sector and to parental leave entitlements will add up to on an annual basis. Speaking in Parliament on Feb 5, Ms Indranee said Singaporean families continued to be a top national priority, even as family formation and fertility rates fall here and around the world due to changing social norms. She noted that the $7 billion figure is over and above government subsidies in other areas such as education and housing. “The decision to marry and have children is a deeply personal one, but we know from our surveys that the majority of Singaporeans aspire to get married and have children,” she said. “This is encouraging and gives hope for the future.” In the last five years, the Government has made a series of “major shifts and bold moves” to address people’s concerns in order to make Singapore as conducive to marriage and parenthood as possible, she said.

No government e-services can be used with only a person's NRIC number and its date of issue, said the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) on Tuesday (Feb 4). In a written reply to questions raised by several MPs during Parliament, Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo said that government agencies have conducted checks on the potential impact on online services. These checks came after scammers used compromised Singpass accounts to change the addresses of victims via the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's (ICA) e-service platform last month. «So far, there have been no transactional services identified that can be completed in the same manner,» she said. Teo explained that government agencies are required to conduct regular risk assessments of their tech systems, including risks arising from systems managed by other agencies, adding that vulnerabilities must be addressed immediately.

A backpack containing over $14,000 in cash was returned to its rightful owner, thanks to an honest passenger and bus captain. The incident was shared on the SBS Transit Facebook page on Tuesday (Feb 4). Bus captain Chen Long was driving bus service 58 when a passenger handed over a backpack that had been left behind. The 42-year-old bus captain immediately contacted the operations control centre, and learnt that a passenger had reported the missing backpack 25 minutes prior.  He brought the misplaced backpack to Bishan Interchange after his shift and handed it over to the staff, who discovered that it contained more than $14,000 in cash. «I was overjoyed to see everything intact! Deeply grateful to the staff who helped recover my belongings, and I wish the bus captain all the best in his work,» said the owner, who was relieved after picking up her backpack. The money was intended to open a bank account, she added. «It's about doing the right thing,» said Chen, sympathetic to the owner's anxiety.

Rather than starting the new year on the right foot, these men appear to have chosen to use their fists instead. A volunteer was allegedly attacked by three devotees at the Sheng Hong Temple in Jurong East, according to a Facebook post by the temple's management on Monday (Feb 3). According to them, the incident occurred during the early hours of Jan 29, the first day of Chinese New Year. It is known to be a time where many devotees rush to be the first to plant their incense offerings, believing that it would bring them good fortune. Prior to the worship hall opening to the public for prayers, one devotee purportedly attempted to rush in, accidentally tripping and falling, the post read. Clamouring to his feet, they stated that the devotee then began attacking a volunteer dressed in the temple's uniform. Two other devotees also got involved, attacking the volunteer, said the temple's management. They added that a fourth person wanted to «talk with [the volunteer] outside», to which the volunteer declined, expressing that he did not want there to be any trouble on the first day of Chinese New Year.

The Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others (CMIO) framework has worked well for Singapore, and helped forge and preserve racial harmony, said Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam on Wednesday (Feb 5). He was responding to a parliamentary question by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leong Mun Wai on when the Government plans to review the CMIO model. During an Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) conference last month, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong said that the CMIO framework should be constantly reviewed to reflect Singapore's increasingly complex multicultural landscape.  In his reply during Parliament, Shanmugam said the CMIO framework helps the Government administer race-based policies and programmes which promote social cohesion, provide targeted interventions within the various racial communities, and safeguard the rights of minorities. This includes the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) which draws from the CMIO framework to ensure a good mix of races in public housing estates. 

SINGAPORE — Singapore has passed a law designed to protect against foreign interference in its race-based clans and business associations, as the government looks to limit outsiders from undermining racial harmony in the multicultural city-state. Under the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill, which was passed late on Tuesday (Feb 4), if an organisation is designated as a race-based entity, they will have to disclose foreign and anonymous donations, foreign affiliations and their leadership. The government can also impose a restraining order to stop an entity from accepting donations from a foreign principal, prohibit anonymous donations or require the entity to return or dispose of donations. The new law also empowers the home affairs minister to issue restraining orders against individuals involved in «content that prejudices the maintenance of racial harmony in Singapore». Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam told parliament the bill was not a panacea for all racial issues and could not prevent insensitivity or racial slights in everyday dealings.

SINGAPORE — A 32-year-old woman has sued her former obstetrician and gynaecologist over an injury she suffered during childbirth in 2020, alleging that his negligence had impacted her marital, social and professional life. The woman is seeking unspecified damages from Dr Khoo Chong Kiat, who practises at CK Khoo Clinic for Women & Laparoscopy. She was working in the funeral business when she had her baby and is now a housewife. Her identity is not disclosed in this story for her privacy. The trial opened in the High Court on Feb 4. The woman, a first-time mother, had a healthy baby girl via vaginal birth on May 3, 2020. Her medical negligence suit, filed in April 2023, levied a host of allegations against the doctor over his treatment of a tear in the tissue wall separating the vagina and the rectum that she suffered during childbirth. The tear led to a rectovaginal fistula, an abnormal connection that allows bowel contents to pass through the vagina. It also caused inflammation and infection in the area. The woman alleged that Dr Khoo did not tell her about the tear before he stitched her up in the delivery suite.

A former police officer convicted of the murder of two men in 2013 has been executed on Wednesday (Feb 5). Iskandar bin Rahmat was sentenced to capital punishment on Dec 4, 2015 for killing Tan Boon Sin, 67, and his elder son, Tan Chee Heong, 42, on July 10, 2013. Iskandar had previously appealed against his conviction but was rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2017. His petitions to the president for clemency were also denied. According to a statement from the Singapore Police Force on Wednesday, the 46-year-old was accorded full due process under the law and was represented by legal counsel both during the trial and at the appeal. «Capital punishment is imposed only for the most serious crimes, including murder,» they added. Kovan double murder During the time of the killings, Iskandar had been facing financial troubles and imminent bankruptcy with over $60,000 in debt.

SINGAPORE - More than 100 Singaporeans have been marked for deportation by the United States authorities since November 2024. The 111 Singaporeans are among more than 1.4 million foreign nationals who were issued deportation orders and are on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) non-detained docket. That means they are not being held by ICE but may be detained by other agencies for running afoul of the law. The ICE list, with about seven million individuals, includes foreign nationals who came to the US seeking asylum and are waiting for immigration proceedings. They could also be US permanent residents who have been convicted of a crime or are under a programme called Alternatives to Detention, which means they may be free to move around but are required to report regularly to the authorities or wear an ankle monitor, among other things. Out of the seven million people, only about a fifth have got “final orders of removal”, which means they will be deported within 90 days of receiving the order, according to latest figures from November 2024. However, there are exceptions.

A fast moving boat cuts steadily across the busy Singapore Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Unknown to the four men onboard, a sleek grey hull vessel along the strait had turned around towards them.  In an instant, the grey vessel lit up its strobe light and siren and sped steadily towards the fast moving boat, deemed to be suspicious. The grey vessel skillfully manoeuvred through other maritime traffic in the vicinity, and the pursuit ended in seconds when the boat stopped in the water.