Cranes had to be called in to lift two heavy vehicles from a ditch after a three-vehicle accident happened on the PIE towards Tuas on Saturday (June 27) at about 2.25pm.The incident involved one cement bulk tanker, a tow truck and a car. Map showing where the accident happened on June 27. GRAPHIC: Google Maps, Social media Photographs and videos of the incident posted on social media show the cement bulk tanker and tow truck in a ditch along the centre divider.The driver's cabin of the bulk tanker is seen impinging onto the road in the direction towards Changi, resulting in the closure of one of four lanes on that side of the expressway.Meanwhile, a second lane on the Tuas-bound carriageway is closed off, as two cranes work to lift the heavy vehicles. 

The director of several companies who left over 400 workers with unpaid salaries has returned to Singapore, and his passport has been impounded amidst ongoing investigations, said Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash. Ramu Palani Velu, a Singapore permanent resident, is listed as a director of KPA Engineering, SK Industries and VVR Plant Engineering, which did not pay 407 workers for months. He is also listed as a director on at least four other companies. Providing an update on the situation during a visit to Kranji Recreation Centre on Sunday (June 28), Dinesh said that Velu returned to Singapore on Friday.The minister of state met with about 280 workers from the affected companies there. «He is currently assisting us with investigations and his passport has been impounded,» Dinesh said.

SINGAPORE – Residents of Tiong Bahru's Seng Poh estate have decided to dump the familiar blue recycling bins for good.Following a three-month pilot that removed all of its recycling bins because they were often contaminated and misused, the estate will not be reinstating the bins commonly seen in housing estates.Instead, residents will take their recyclables to Tiong Bahru Community Centre (CC) and deposit them in a recycling machine launched on June 27.During the pilot, which came under a resident-led initiative called Love Tiong Bahru, residents took their recyclables to the CC, where six collection drives were held fortnightly in partnership with the estate's appointed public waste collector, Cora Environment.Conservationist and Tiong Bahru resident Kelvin Wang, who helped coordinate the initiative, said about 4,000kg of clean recyclables were collected over the six drives from April 11 to June 20. These included 1,500kg of cartons and mixed paper, 900kg of glass and 600kg of plastic.

A durian stall assistant who was given the passcode to the shop's safe while covering for his supervisor during this year's Chinese New Year stole $17,300 from it. He later gambled away the entire amount at Marina Bay Sands casino, reported Shin Min Daily News on Saturday (June 27). The 26-year-old Malaysian Tan An Sheng pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust and was sentenced to five months in jail. The incident happened at Top Durian Station, located at Blk 154 Bukit Batok Street 11. At that point, Tan had been working there for around nine months. As the stall's supervisor went on leave, Tan was assigned to temporarily take over the role.He was given the safe's passcode for the first time and was responsible for tallying and reporting each day's earnings before depositing the money into the safe.Tan later stole a total of $17,300 from the safe on two separate occasions. The first time, he took a stack of $50 bills amounting to $1,000, and the second time, he stole the remaining $16,300 of cash. 

A 20-year-old Singaporean man escaped a major car crash near Kuala Lumpur with minor injuries, but two other passengers, both Malaysians, died.The accident happened on June 27 at around 5.10am, reported Chinese publication Sin Chew Daily on June 27. Preliminary police investigations indicate that the BMW was travelling at high speed before the driver lost control and crashed into a road divider on the Dutu-Ulu Kelang Expressway. The 22-year-old Malaysian driver, a student at the University of Queensland in Australia, and the 21-year-old front-seat passenger, who was a student at Sunway University, Selangor, were trapped in the vehicle and burned to death. As their bodies were «severely burned», their identities had to be confirmed through DNA testing. The Singaporean man, who was in the back seat, managed to escape the car before it caught fire and only suffered minor injuries to his hands and feet. He was taken to Kuala Lumpur Hospital for treatment. In a Facebook post on June 27, the Kuala Lumpur fire department shared that they received an emergency call regarding the road accident. 

A teenager who was seen riding his personal mobility device (PMD) down Keppel Road in the early hours of May 23 while doing the «superman» stunt, has been caught by Land Transport Authority (LTA) officers.In the video, the teenager is seen whizzing past at least two cars driving along the leftmost lane in vicinity of Keppel MRT station. He is also seen riding dangerously by extending his legs out into the air . The update was provided in a LTA statement on June 27, when the authority accounted for its nine-day joint enforcement operation with the police at hotspots including town centres, key congregation areas and selected residential locations such as Punggol, Sengkang and Yishun.

«Too bad, it is fixed» — this was the court's response to a pregnant lawyer who requested a trial adjournment because the hearing dates clashed directly with her expected delivery date.And the senior lawyer wasn't the only one. Lawyers say screaming and name-calling in Singapore's courts have become normalised.«Nowadays, it (the court) has become a place for dehumanising and humiliating lawyers, especially junior ones. It makes lawyers want to leave the profession altogether,» another junior lawyer said.These are snippets from a recently-released study — the Legal Profession Sustainability Study — which was unveiled on Tuesday (Jun 23)Commissioned by the Law Society of Singapore, the four-year study relied on qualitative interviews with 855 lawyers.The study cited court deadlines and judicial interactions, a deepening well-being crisis and workplace culture as some of key factors why lawyers are leaving private practice.

More than 380 offences involving illegal vehicle modifications were detected during Land Transport Authority's (LTA) recent islandwide enforcement operations.In a statement issued on its social media account on Friday (June 26), LTA said 70 vehicles were fitted with illegal exhausts, 80 vehicles were caught with improper lights, while 90 vehicles displayed improper number plates.LTA reminded motorists that it will continue to take firm action against offenders to keep Singapore's roads safe. Motorists who are found guilty of carrying out illegal modifications on their vehicles could face fines of up to $20,000 and/or two years' imprisonment.

A total of 250 offences were detected with 111 active mobility devices (AMDs) and motor vehicles seized during a nine-day joint enforcement operation by Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Singapore Police Force (SPF) targeting errant riders, the authorities said on Friday (June 26).The operation, which ran on non-consecutive days from June 1, zeroed in on hotspots including town centres, key congregation areas and selected residential locations.Friday marked the ninth and final enforcement day, during which officers detected 25 offences and impounded 15 devices in a night operation that spanned Sengkang and Punggol.

Workers are at the core of successes with bus services in Singapore, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow said at Tower Transit's 10th anniversary carnival on Saturday (June 27).The carnival, which is being held at Bulim bus depot from 9.30am to 4pm on Saturday, aims to celebrate 10 years since Tower Transit arrived in Singapore in 2016.The event also saw the unveiling of new uniforms for staff as well as various activities for families, ranging from magic shows to a bus wash experience.Speaking at the event, Siow reminisced how Singapore used to only have two bus operators.«The system worked, but we wanted more - a bus network that was better connected and more reliable, reaching more corners of Singapore, serving more Singaporeans.»We wanted bus companies that not only competed on how well they put commuters first, but more importantly, how well they take care of their workers."In 2015, Tower Transit became the first public bus operator to join SBS Transit and SMRT after three decades, commencing operations in May 2016.

SINGAPORE – A judge has denied a bid by the child protection authorities to place a nine-month-old infant, who had been removed from his parents, in foster care.Instead, the judge ordered the boy to be returned to the care of his mother, under the supervision of an approved welfare officer.The father's contact with the child is subject to the officer's approval.In a written grounds of decision published on June 22, district judge Chua Wei Yuan concluded that the child needed protection, but was not persuaded that fostering was the most ideal arrangement.The judge noted that state intervention, especially removing a child from a home, is a measure of last resort.In the current case, each parent was individually capable of taking care of the child.«The real concern was that the parents' relationship was so acrimonious that it would endanger (the child's) safety to place him around both parents at the same time,» said the judge.He said it was not unsafe to leave the child in the care of one parent at one time.

A Tengah resident has expressed her concerns after security camera footage allegedly showed a deliveryman taking her parcel, according to a post to Facebook group Complaint Singapore by user Christine Toh on Saturday (June 27).«So sad,» Toh, 44, wrote in her post. «Think my Shopee delivery got taken away by the delivery guy himself.»In video footage taken from her security camera, a man in an orange shirt can be seen holding a parcel and a phone, walking past Toh's door.He then goes up to the neighbouring unit beside Toh, snapping a photograph of the home with his phone while waving it around.The man then takes another picture, this time including the parcel in his other hand, placing it in the foreground of the shot.He also visibly wiggles the phone as he takes the photograph.Without leaving the parcel behind, the man then walks out of sight of the camera as the video ends.«Seems like he tried to blame my neighbour by taking photo of proof of delivery to my next-door neighbour and took it away for himself,» Toh surmised.

After seeing a dove tied down with a string, a user went to the internet to ask if it was animal abuse.In a Reddit post uploaded on Friday (June 26), a user posted a video of a dove that had its legs tied with a string attached to an open rattan dish.The bird was spotted attempting to fly off but was «violently recoiling» after being held down.«Is this not animal abuse?» the netizen asked.«Surely a bird trying to fly off but is stuck violently recoiling in place with each attempt is animal cruelty right?»The netizen said that they had reported to NParks a week ago.NParks reached out to the user after the post, stating that they had visited the unit and «engaged with the bird owner».«A Letter of Advice will be issued to the pet owner, emphasising the importance of responsible pet ownership,» the agency allegedly told the user.«The owner was also reminded to ensure proper care and improve the living conditions of their pets.»Netizens in the comments pointed out the danger behind this situation, adding that the dove can easily fall prey to other predatory birds due to its inability to fly.

A couple returned from their Vietnam vacation with one more precious «cargo'» — their baby girl, born prematurely at 27 weeks and one day.Their extraordinary birth journey was shared by the Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children in a Facebook post celebrating their discharge from the hospital on Monday (June 22).According to a handwritten note penned by the new father, identified only as Chen, he and his pregnant wife had travelled to Vietnamese city of Da Nang for a «short holiday» on March 10 before returning to Singapore «to wait for the arrival of our princess girl».But his wife began experiencing discomfort the night before their flight home and was admitted to the hospital.She was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia, a serious complication where the mother experiences high blood pressure, leakage of protein in the urine, and/or other signs of organ damage. It can affect her life as well as the baby's.«Our life changed, tone switched 180 degrees,» Chen's letter read.«Suddenly, we have to face life and death in a foreign country and communicating using only Google translate.»

The mobile speed camera deployed along a stretch of Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) towards Woodlands Checkpoint since June 16 will be operationalised from July 1.Police stated on Friday (June 26) that the camera has been undergoing calibration and testing since its deployment.«The camera will be operationalised with effect from July 1. Motorists are advised to adhere to the speed limits at all times,» the police said, adding that the deployment is part of enhancements to speed management measures there to improve road safety for all road users.AsiaOne reported on the deployment on June 17, and noted that about eight in 10 vehicles had slowed down while passing the stretch of road, even though they were already driving at or below the speed limit of 90kmh.

A 41-year-old woman was arrested for her alleged involvement in the online sale of counterfeit goods on Thursday (June 25).She was nabbed by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department during a raid at Yishun Street 61, where police found more than 700 purportedly fake items.Police said on Friday night that the items seized, with an estimated street value of over $34,000, included accessories, apparels, footwear, luxury bags, sunglasses, watches and wallets.They added members of the public that the distribution and sale of counterfeit goods, including through online platforms, are serious offences.«The police will not hesitate to take tough action against those who profit at the expense of legitimate businesses and consumers.»Investigations into the woman are ongoing.Those convicted of possessing goods with falsely applied trademarks for the purpose of trade may be fined up to $100,000, jailed for up to five years, or both.

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers had to deploy crowbars and cutters to cut and pry open parts of a Malaysia-registered tanker truck during an enhanced check at Tuas Checkpoint on June 11.An image analyst found anomalies in the scanner image of its floorboard where search and examinations went on to uncover 3,050 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes.A 42-year-old male Malaysian driver was arrested and referred to the Singapore Customs for further investigation.This incident happened days before a Malaysia-registered bus hid more than 880 cartons and 110 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes from the modified engine compartment of the vehicle. In a video posted on its social media on Friday (June 26), ICA officers and workers are seen standing in a manhole, using a cutter to open up the tanker's floorboard.After cutting open a section of the modified compartment, workers used a crowbar to pry open the welded panels.