An e-bike caught fire along Balestier Road in the early hours of Sunday (March 22) morning.Lawrence Lim, who is a member of a local private-hire vehicle drivers' Facebook group, wrote in a photo post that the e-bike «exploded» in front of him.The photo shows a man dressed in black standing next to the burning e-bike. It is unclear if he was the rider or a passerby. Responding to media queries, the Singapore Civil Defence Force said that they were alerted to the incident at about 12.15am.It added that firefighters put out the fire using a fire hose and conveyed one person to Singapore General Hospital.Fire investigations are ongoing.[[nid:732016]]editor@asiaone.com 

The police are investigating a suspected case of fireworks being set off illegally on Friday (March 20) in Ghim Moh.A video of the incident posted on Threads shows fireworks set off from what appears to be the open deck of a Housing and Development Board (HDB) multi-storey carpark. 

Two more Malaysian men were arrested for their alleged involvement in government official impersonation scams, bringing the total number of arrests for such cases in March to eight.The two men, aged 20 and 30, were arrested for allegedly scamming an elderly woman on Friday (March 20), according to the police.In a press release on Saturday, the police said that the 62-year-old victim received calls from people claiming to be from telecommunications operator M1 and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), informing her that she had an overdue bill of $350 which could not be deducted from her bank account. The conversation was later moved to WhatsApp, where the scammers told the victim that there were further purchases of iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch made using her accounts, and the items were delivered to an address in Bukit Batok. When the victim said that she was not familiar with the address and sought to cancel the transactions, she was referred to an investigation officer purportedly from MAS.

A man and a woman standing on the road by a kerb at Somme Road near Jalan Besar were knocked over by a passing car, causing them to fall backwards onto a grass verge.The incident occurred at 1.19am on Thursday (March 19), according to CCTV footage posted to the SGRV Admin Facebook page.The video shows the pair chatting by the roadside below a signpost when a black car comes up close to them, appearing to knock into them.The two are seen tumbling backwards onto the grass verge. The man gets up almost immediately and signals to the driver while the woman appears to be in pain as she continues to sit on the grass, clutching her left ankle.The male driver is then shown walking over to the woman sitting on the ground.A later part of the clip showed another woman comforting the female victim as police officers arrive at the scene.The video then cuts to the driver handling some paperwork on the boot of a separate vehicle with another man, as another woman looks on and speaks to both parties.The man who was knocked over is then shown carrying the woman, who is able to stand up, away on his back.

A lone Malayan tapir was recently spotted along Lorong Halus in Pasir Ris.Eric Teo shared a video of his encounter on March 19, sharing that he was cycling when he spotted the animal.«It was skittish, foraging briefly before retreating into the forest,» he wrote in a post on Nature Society Singapore's Facebook group. «Repeated sightings point to one thing, the Serangoon River forest is its home. Should we be doing more to protect a forest this rich in diversity?»In the video, the animal can be seen being wary of Teo and walking towards the forest as he approaches.Teo shared in an interview with The Straits Times that he had spotted the animal at around 2am that day, and felt that seeing a tapir in the wild was «rarer than striking lottery». PHOTO: Screengrab/Facebook This comes after a February sighting of a tapir at the Defu industrial area near Paya Lebar.

SINGAPORE - As the global oil shock pushes pump prices at major petrol retailers well past the $3-a-litre mark, Cnergy’s stations continue to undercut the competition in what its management says is a calculated move to gain market share.By keeping its prices significantly lower than the market average – up to S$1 lower than the competition when excluding discounts – the upstart Singapore brand has triggered localised traffic jams, gained social media fame, and generated a surge of about 40 per cent in the share price of its parent company, Union Gas Holdings.But Union Gas is not relying on hedging strategies, where companies lock in oil prices months in advance to protect against market shocks, to keep pump prices down.Instead, it is absorbing the rising wholesale costs directly, engaging in an aggressive customer acquisition play that relies on volume to offset tight margins.“We make a very, very marginal profit... there are days that we really go without profits,” Union Gas chief executive Teo Hark Piang told The Business Times in an interview on Friday (Mar 20).

A private-hire vehicle (PHV) driver recently took his passenger to the police station after suspecting the latter to be on Kpods.A dashcam video of the incident was shared March 16 on TikTok, and shows a man in a hoodie stumbling around in front of an HDB block as he approaches the car.The clip then cuts to the vehicle pulling up outside a police station, where the man can be seen being dragged inside by a police officer. 

Household electricity contract renewal prices in Singapore have increased by as much as 11 per cent since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.CNA reported that on Feb 27, a day before the war began, fixed-price retail plans for residences ranged from 24.88 to 28.67 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).By Saturday (March 21), prices increased to between 28.80 and 29.18 cents per kWh depending on plan and retailer, according to AsiaOne’s checks on the Open Electricity Market’s price comparison website.The most expensive plan was from Senoko Energy Supply, whose monthly fixed price plan rose from 25.88 cents to 29.18 cents. This is almost a 12 per cent increase.According to CNA, a four-room HDB flat consuming an average of 357 kWh of electricity per month, will pay $10.42 more for a 24-month fixed price plan from Senoko Energy.But the retailers have different promotional gifts and rebates to lower the cost.Senoko Energy offers customers up to $240 in promotional gifts and rebates, compared to the $160 bill rebares previously.

A 56-year-old woman was arrested on Tuesday (March 17) in a raid that was part of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore's (IRAS) crackdown on Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund fraud.The IRAS said in a statement on Thursday that 179 luxury watches worth over $1 million were seized for investigation.The woman allegedly created fictitious purchases, inflated transactions and used false tax invoices to support fraudulent GST refund claims.Accounting records, electronic devices and other evidence linked to the alleged offences were also seized.In all, tax investigators from the IRAS conducted raids at over 20 business and residential premises island-wide on March 17. Another seven people from other cases are assisting with investigations.IRAS said that businesses across various industries, including logistics and wholesale trade, were identified in separate GST refund fraud cases.Some of them allegedly used shell companies to facilitate fraudulent GST refund claims.IRAS added that they conduct regular audits to detect anomalous GST refund claims and ensure claims comply with GST rules.

If you've noticed a burnt smell in the air over the past few evenings and are wondering if it's the haze at work, here's why.The National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a Facebook post on Friday (March 20) evening that hotspots with smoke plumes were observed in Central Sumatra and Johor.Noting the dry and warm conditions over Singapore and the surrounding region from this weekend until the end of next week, along with prevailing winds from the northeast, NEA said that there may be an increase in hotspot activity and a «continued risk of smoke haze».Checks by AsiaOne on the agency's 1-hour PM2.5 reading at 11.30pm indicate that Singapore's air quality remains in the «normal» band.The 24-hour Pollutant Standard Index ranged from 45 to 57, within the «Good» to «Moderate» range, as at 7pm.Warmer conditions expectedDaily maximum temperatures in Singapore may reach a high of 35 to 36 deg C on some days in the coming week, NEA said.