Singapore will be progressively easing some Nipah virus public health measures from Monday (Feb 23) as no cases have been reported in the country in connection to the two reported in the Indian state of West Bengal or the case in Bangladesh.In a statement on Friday (Feb 20), the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said that it will remain vigilant against the virus even as the country returns to baseline surveillance levels.The agency said: «The Nipah virus situation in West Bengal has stabilised, with no new cases reported. No human to human Nipah virus transmission has been detected in Bangladesh.»Hence, CDA will cease temperature screening at the airport and seaports for flights and ships arriving from affected areas in India and also stop disseminating Nipah virus health advisories for travellers at Singapore's points of entry.To maintain surveillance levels, Nipah virus will continue to be covered by the SG Arrival health declarations and Maritime Declaration of Health.Incoming travellers will still have to declare if they are arriving from affected areas in their arrival cards, the agency said.

Train services along the East-West Line (EWL) and Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) will be adjusted to facilitate essential upgrading works in the coming months, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA), SMRT and SBS Transit in a joint statement on Friday (Feb 20).From March 14 to 17, there will be no train services between Tanah Merah and Expo on the EWL, so that works to disconnect train tracks linking the EWL to Changi Depot can take place.The service adjustment follows the successful operationalisation of the East Coast Integrated Depot (ECID) in December 2025.This will be the last planned suspension to link the EWL to the new East Coast Integrated Depot.During the affected period, a shuttle bus service will run at a frequency of five to eight minutes between the two stations, said the statement.Train services between Expo and Changi Airport will run at seven-minute intervals during peak hours, while services between Tuas Link and Pasir Ris will continue to operate as per normal. 

A hood of a BMW car caught fire along Woodlands Avenue 5 on Friday (Feb 20). In response to AsiaOne's queries, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SDCF) said it was alerted to the incident at about 9am. The fire, which involved the engine compartment of a car, was extinguished using a water jet, SCDF added.No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.In a Facebook post by SGRV Front Man, photos of the incident show a black BMW parked on the left side of the road with its bonnet in flames. Cloud of smoke can also be seen.At least five firefighters are seen attempting to douse the flames.  [[nid:729871]]

A car driver evaded a police check in Paya Lebar before abandoning the vehicle near Edgedale Plains estate in Punggol in the wee hours of Tuesday (Feb 17), the first day of Chinese New Year (CNY).Efforts to trace the driver are underway, police said in response to AsiaOne's queries.The car had been travelling along Airport Road towards the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway at about 2.20am when it encountered a roadblock set up by the traffic police.When signalled to stop, the driver sped off and led the police on a chase to Punggol. The car was subsequently found in the vicinity of Edgedale Plains.Users in a Telegram group said on Tuesday that they had sighted the pursuit of a Malaysia-registered car at Hougang Street 12 and Rivervale Drive.Videos uploaded later showed multiple police vehicles near Block 122A Edgedale Plains, with their warning lights flashing.An employee of a nearby minimart told Shin Min Daily News that six or seven police cars had chased a red BMW around the estate. The shop's CCTV camera did not capture the driver's appearance and escape path.Police investigations are ongoing.[[nid:729639]]

Police are looking for an unlicensed driver after an hit-and-run accident at Simei on Friday (Feb 20) early morning.Videos shared on social media show thick plumes of smoke emerging from a grey SsangYong car mounted on the curb outside Changkat Primary School.Separate videos also show a police car and ambulance parked nearby.In response to AsiaOne's queries, the police said that they were alerted to the incident at around 1am, where a car is believed to have self-skidded along Simei Street 3.A 21-vear-old man was arrested at the scene for permitting another person to drive without a valid driving licence. The driver of the car had fled the scene before the police arrived, and efforts to locate him are underway, the police said.The Singapore Civil Defence Force told AsiaOne that one person was assessed for minor injuries and that they declined to be sent to the hospital.Police investigations are ongoing.[[nid:730159]]dana.leong@asiaone.com 

Some 22,000 eligible civil servants will be receiving salary adjustments of between 2 per cent and 9 per cent come Aug 1, said the Public Service Division (PSD).The salary revisions were announced by PSD in a media release on Friday (Feb 20).It said that salary levels in the market have increased since the last revisions to the affected schemes were made in 2022, adding that the adjustments are to keep pace with market standards and enable the public service to continue to attract and retain talent to deliver well for Singaporeans.The 22,000 eligible officers are on the following schemes: management executive scheme (MXS), technical support scheme (TSS), management support scheme (MSS), corporate support scheme (CSS), operations support scheme (OSS), and their related schemes.«Officers in the above schemes perform a range of roles, such as policy and planning, administration and operations,» PSD said.Those on the MSS will receive salary adjustments of 2 per cent to 9 per cent, with higher adjustments for grades that have larger gaps with market benchmarks. There will be no adjustments for MXS officers whose salaries are already competitive.

A fire broke out at a Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat in Jurong West on the third day of Chinese New Year (Feb 19).The incident happened at about 1.05pm on Thursday at Block 337A Tah Ching Road.A video of the incident posted by realtor Aaron Wong, who lives across from the affected block, showed black smoke and flames coming out from the window of a bedroom on the 12th floor.Wong and his sister could be heard shouting across the block to alert residents there about the fire.Speaking to AsiaOne on Friday, Wong said that their maid, who was in the kitchen at the time, had heard a loud «boom» as the fire broke out.«She alerted us to the fire and my sister called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF),» he added.According to Wong, who was formerly a Singapore Airlines cabin crew, his instincts kicked in due to the training he had received at the airline.«We were just concerned about the safety of those staying there, especially the elders,» he said.At least five residents, including domestic workers with the elderly in their care, self-evacuated prior to SCDF's arrival.

A 33-year-old car driver crashed head-on into an SBS Transit bus after running a red light along Upper Changi Road North on Feb 14. Dashcam footage of the accident posted on Facebook on Tuesday (Feb 17) by SGRV Admin shows a silver Honda civic speeding past a red light. An SBS Transit bus service 5 was making a right turn at the same time and the car, which was unable to stop in time, smashes directly into the bus.   The police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) told AsiaOne they were alerted to the accident at the junction of Upper Changi Road North and Flora Drive at around 2.45pm.The male car driver was taken to Changi General Hospital and is assisting with investigations, the authorities said. Police investigations are ongoing.Netizens had mixed reactions about the incident as some debated that the traffic light design was misleading while others argued the driver did not observe safe driving habits. 

A 45-year-old man was found dead in Tampines on Feb 17, inside a Chinese New Year bazaar tent set up outside a Sheng Siong supermarket.In response to AsiaOne's queries, the police and said that they were alerted at about 8.50am to a case of unnatural death at Block 506 Tampines Central 1. A coffee shop employee, identified as 64-year-old Liao, told Shin Min Daily News that he was passing by the supermarket at about 9am when he saw that police had cordoned off the front of the supermarket.When reporters got to the scene, police had covered the body with a white cloth, with the Chinese New Year goods display area still sealed off to the public. Sidaya (transliteration), 31, who works at a nearby grocery store, told the Chinese evening daily that she saw the man at around 8am, lying on the ground with his arms and legs outstretched as though asleep. Sidaya said that staff from Sheng Siong supermarket had tried to wake the man but he did not respond, so they called the police. The man was pronounced dead at the scene by a Singapore Civil Defence Force parademic. 

A fire broke out onboard the Liberia-flagged cruise ship World Legacy on Friday (Feb 20) morning, said the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).The incident happened at around 4am, when the vessel was enroute to Singapore.In a media statement on Friday morning, MPA said the fire was brought under control by crew members. One of the 388 crew members is reported to have died from the fire. None of the crew members onboard are Singaporeans.There are also 224 passengers onboard the cruise ship at the time of the incident, of whom 185 are Singaporeans.MPA said there were no reported injuries among the other crew members and passengers.Checks by AsiaOne at 8.45am showed that the vessel is currently anchored at Raffles Reserve Anchorage, about 8.6km southeast of Sentosa and south of Pulau Semakau.

Tropical weather seems to be taking a backseat at this time of the year as heavy rains batter parts of Singapore, causing temperatures to dip.Temperatures across the Republic continued to fall on Thursday (Feb 19), with thunderstorms over southern, western and central areas in the late afternoon and alerts for flash floods by the National Environment Agency (NEA).Amid the wet weather, temperature reached a low of 21.1 deg C on Jurong Island according to data from the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) at 9.07pm.The highest temperature recorded at the time was 23.2 deg C at the East Coast Parkway region. PHOTO: Screengrab/Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) The country's coldest temperature of 19.4 deg C was recorded in 1934 and 1989, according to records from the NEA.

Two Malaysian men were arrested after Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers foiled their attempt to smuggle over 30,000 tobacco products including e-vaporisers.The incident occurred at Tuas Checkpoint on Feb 2, according to an ICA Facebook post on Thursday (Feb 19).More than 22,000 e-vaporisers and related components and over 14,000 heat-not-burn products were uncovered when enhanced checks were conducted on the Malaysia-registered lorry.The products were found hidden within a consignment declared as cosmetics, said ICA.Both the 28-year-old driver and the 21-year-old lorry attendant were arrested and the case referred to the Health Sciences Authority for further investigation.Under the enhanced penalties introduced on Sept 1 last year, those convicted of importing vapes into Singapore will face a jail term of up to six months, a maximum fine of $10,000, or both, for their first offence. 

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will visit Malaysia on Friday (Feb 20) to break fast with his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim. In a statement on Thursday evening, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said that his visit is at the invitation of PM Anwar.«Prime Minister Anwar will host Prime Minister Wong to a buka puasa (break fast) meal,» the statement read. PM Wong will return to Singapore on the same day.In a separate statement, the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the two leaders are expected to also discuss bilateral cooperation and issues of mutual interest, including the outcomes of the recent Leaders' Retreat held on Dec 4, 2025.Singapore is Malaysia's second largest trading partner with total trade reaching RM402.35 billion (S$130.3 billion) last year, an increase of 1.5 per cent compared with 2024.[[nid:726275]]editor@asiaone.com 

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme offered by Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) business school rose 10 places to rank 12th in the 2026 Financial Times (FT) Global MBA ranking on Feb 16.According to FT, its ranking features 100 of the world's top full-time MBA programmes, with 128 business schools involved in the ranking process for this year's edition. Among the key ranking criteria are weighted salary of alumni students three years after completing their MBA and salary increase from before the MBA till post-MBA. NTU Business School's MBA programme was ranked 22nd in the 2025 edition. Alongside its climb up the ranks, weighted salary of its programme graduates also climbed by about 4.3 per cent, rising to US$194,918 (S$247,000). Based on FT's career progression assessment, NTU MBA graduates also saw an average salary percentage increase of 136 per cent after completing the programme.MIT Sloan, Insead and University of Pennsylvania's The Wharton School ranked first, second, and third respectively.[[nid:719202]]editor@asiaone.com