The defence ministries of Singapore and Australia on Monday (July 27) announced the signing of an arrangement to strengthen defence industrial cooperation, which they said will support their two countries' armed forces.Singapore's Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said in a statement that the Industrial Base Resiliency Arrangement (IBRA) was signed during Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing's working visit to Australia for the 15th Singapore-Australia joint ministerial committee meeting.The arrangement was signed by Permanent Secretary for Defence Development Melvyn Ong and Australia's National Armaments Director Nadine Williams, and witnessed by the two defence ministers.

Singapore and Australia share a «special relationship» that is grounded in trust and alignment.This, in turn, has enabled the two countries to deepen engagement — in a relevant and timely way, said Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday (July 27).«The deep reservoir of trust, goodwill and strategic alignment has not changed in decades,» Dr Balakrishnan noted in his remarks at a joint press conference at the 15th Singapore-Australia joint ministerial committee meeting in Adelaide.Going back in history, the minister noted that Australian troops were housed in Singapore in the early days following its independence, and, later, while continuing to be part of the Five Power Defence Arrangements, the two countries sought to maintain trade links.

As part of the changes to Cabinet and other appointments announced on July 22, four political office holders — Ng Chee Meng, Jeffrey Siow, David Neo and Sim Ann — were sworn in as ministers by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Monday (July 27).Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was present at the ceremony held at the Istana.Speaking on July 22 when he announced the Cabinet reshuffle, PM Wong said he had asked National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) secretary-general Ng Chee Meng, who is also MP for Jalan Kayu GRC, to return to his Cabinet.Explaining his decision, PM Wong said that Ng's addition to the Cabinet «will strengthen the Government team as we tackle the challenges ahead.»

SINGAPORE - Former child actor Amos Yee is set to plead guilty on Sept 7 to charges that he had avoided National Service obligations.Yee, 27, was handed three charges under the Enlistment Act in March.According to court documents, Yee failed to report for the national service pre-enlistment medical screening and had remained outside the country without a valid exit permit after leaving for the US in December 2016 to seek asylum.Yee is said to have left Singapore without a valid exit permit from Dec 13, 2015, to April 19, 2016, and from Dec 15, 2016, to March 19, 2026.During this period, he allegedly failed to report for national service medical screening from April 26, 2016, to March 19, 2026.Yee fled to the US after repeated run-ins with the law in Singapore over comments that he made that were derogatory to Christians and Muslims. He was granted asylum in the US in 2018.He was deported from the US on March 19 following his conviction by a grand jury in an Illinois court for solicitation and possession of child pornography. His record was expunged from the website of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

The defence ministries of Singapore and Australia on Monday (July 27) announced the signing of an arrangement to strengthen defence industrial cooperation, which they said will support their two countries' armed forces.Singapore's Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said in a statement that the Industrial Base Resiliency Arrangement (IBRA) was signed during Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing's working visit to Australia for the 15th Singapore-Australia joint ministerial committee meeting.The arrangement was signed by Permanent Secretary for Defence Development Melvyn Ong and Australia's National Armaments Director Nadine Williams, and witnessed by the two defence ministers.

A fitness trainer has denied allegations linking her to former Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim after online rumours falsely identified her as the woman involved in the circumstances surrounding his recent resignation.Rasidah Caudal shared a screengrab of what appeared to be a Telegram message claiming she was «the one who caused MP Faishal to resign» and alleging that she was «married to a French man», in an Instagram (IG) post on Monday (July 27).The same image has also been posted on TikTok, where it gained over 82,000 views as at Monday.Calling it an «untrue allegation» in her IG post, Caudal said she had been «wrongfully accused as the woman in the [Assoc] Prof Faishal['s] case».«I would like to take the occasion to categorically reject these accusations,» she wrote.'I have been wrongfully accused'Caudal, a certified senior Piloxing — a high-energy fitness workout — and Pilates trainer, conducts classes at various community centres.

A grieving pet owner was enraged after finding his deceased pet dog's remains dumped inside a rubbish bin near a HDB block despite having paid for a pet cremation service. Liu Jianping (transliterated), a 46-year-old secretary, and his wife were the owners of a female dachshund named Kimi since 2010, reported Shin Min Daily News. It was 16 years old when it died on the morning of July 19. Liu told the Chinese newspaper that given his dog's long life, he was not too sad and searched online on how to properly handle his dog's remains.He reportedly found a company called Express Pet Cremation that specialises in pet cremation, and would scatter one's pet's ashes at sea.«One of their male employees came to my house early that morning to pick up (Kimi's) body, put it in a bag and left,» said Liu. He added that the employee also gave him an invoice, which reportedly stated that the body would be cremated at Ubi, and asked the 46-year-old to transfer him $180. 

As part of the changes to Cabinet and other appointments announced on July 22, four political office holders — Ng Chee Meng, Jeffrey Siow, David Neo and Sim Ann — were sworn in as ministers by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Monday (July 27).Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was present at the ceremony held at the Istana.Speaking on July 22 when he announced the Cabinet reshuffle, PM Wong said he had asked National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) secretary-general Ng Chee Meng, who is also MP for Jalan Kayu GRC, to return to his Cabinet.Explaining his decision, PM Wong said that Ng's addition to the Cabinet «will strengthen the Government team as we tackle the challenges ahead.»

A self-radicalised 14-year-old planned a mass-casualty stabbing attack at his secondary school, drafted a 21-page manifesto and intended to livestream the violence before taking his own life.He is the youngest person ever detained under Singapore's Internal Security Act (ISA). The teen was arrested in May, about a month before he planned to launch the attack during the June school holidays, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Monday (July 27).His case was one of three youth radicalisation cases announced by the authorities. The other detainees were a 15-year-old ISIS supporter who aspired to establish a violent «Malaya Caliphate» in Southeast Asia and a 19-year-old who allegedly plotted attacks against SAF personnel and LGBTQ students.All three individuals, aged 14, 15 and 19, were self-radicalised online by violent extremist ideologies and had planned to conduct attacks in Singapore.The 14-year-old non-Chinese Secondary Two student had planned on conducting a mass-casualty stabbing attack at his school during the June holidays.

A woman was appalled when she witnessed a dog hanging outside of a car door as the vehicle was moving. The Tiktok user @tinadestruit posted a video on Sunday (July 26) of a white dog with its head out of the window of a moving silver BMW.In her caption, the motorcyclist wrote that she spotted a «cute dog» in a car but was not prepared for what happened next.Moments later, as she trailed behind the BMW in the video, she noticed the dog hanging out of the car door by its leash.«The dog [came] out,» she said repeatedly in the video.The motorcyclist ahead of her could also be heard honking his horn to alert the driver of the silver car.As the dog released itself from the car door, the car also came to a halt. The white dog could be seen bolting away from the road as the driver of the car stepped out to retrieve the dog.The motorcyclist added in her caption that it was a good thing the road was not busy. She did not specify where in Singapore the incident took place.In her video, she reminded pet owners to «always keep an eye on your pets in vehicles».

Chairman and chief executive officer of independent investment banking firm Evercore Asia, Keith Magnus, will be appointed to the Singapore Land Authority's (SLA) board from August 1, the Ministry of Law announced on Monday (July 27). The 52-year-old replaces DBS banker Lim Soon Chong, who completes his current term of office on July 31.Magnus, who also chairs The Kallang, has spent over 25 years in investment banking. This includes 22 years at the helm of Evercore Asia's Singapore office, a major international financial institution headquartered in Wall Street.Having advised on transactions worth close to half a trillion (SGD), Magnus received over 30 awards from leading industry publications, including best merger and acquisition adviser in Asia, and in Singapore.As the founding chairman of The Kallang Group, which owns and manages The Kallang precinct, he is involved in turning the precinct into a 24/7 integrated destination.

The body of a 78-year-old man who lived alone in a Lengkok Bahru flat was found last Saturday (July 25), more than a week after he was last seen around the neighbourhood.Volunteers making the rounds that morning had noticed last week's bread still hanging on his gate and called the police for help, reported Shin Min Daily News.A reporter from the Chinese evening daily visited Block 58 Lengkok Bahru and observed that the dead man's flat was filled with clutter.His relatives arrived at the home at about 4pm, and they burned joss paper when his body was taken away at about 5.30pm.The deceased, who was unmarried, was identified as Lin Yaba (transliteration) by Shin Min.A neighbour surnamed Chen, who last saw Lin on July 16, said Lin used to ride his bicycle every day. «The volunteers visited (on July 25) and discovered that the bread from last Saturday (July 18) was still hanging at the door,» he claimed.Lin's younger sister said her brother had always been in good health, though he had complained about prostate issues about two weeks ago.His death came as a shock to her, she said.

SINGAPORE — Merging the Category A and Category B certificates of entitlement (COEs) into a single pool, and introducing rebates and surcharges based on vehicle value, were among the ideas discussed during the refresh of the Land Transport Master Plan.The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a statement on July 27 that more than 400 participants in the master plan’s second phase of focus group discussions had explored ideas for categorising COEs.These included using vehicle size as a differentiating criterion and allocating COEs based on need, particularly for large families with young children.They also suggested creating a separate category for car leasing companies, imposing surcharges on those who own multiple cars, and removing the Open category (Category E) COEs, which are typically used for larger and more powerful cars.At the focus group discussion on this topic, Edward Chia, deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Transport, proposed pooling the Category A and B COEs.He also suggested offering discounts for vehicles with lower open market values and imposing surcharges on those with higher values.

Singapore's manufacturing output rose by 7.2 per cent year-on-year in June, driven mainly by growth in the electronics, precision engineering and transport engineering clusters.Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output in June increased by 9.6 per cent, down from the 17.7 per cent spike in May, according to official data from the Economic Development Board (EDB) released on Monday (July 27).On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output decreased by 7.2 per cent, from the 0.7 per cent drop in May, while output excluding biomedical manufacturing dropped by 11.2 per cent.General and biomedical manufacturing, chemicals sectors droppedBiomedical manufacturing declined 11.4 per cent in June from the 24.2 per cent recorded in May.This was due to the pharmaceuticals cluster seeing a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients being produced, EDB said.General manufacturing also saw a decline — by 6.8 per cent — reversing the 11.8 per cent increase posted in May.

Thinking about catching up with friends and family during the upcoming National Day long weekend?There's good news if you are concerned about transport.Public transport operators SBS Transit and SMRT will extend the operating hours of train services on the eve of National Day (Aug 8).In addition, the operating hours of 53 bus services will also be extended to complement the extension of train operating hours. Commuters are advised to plan their journeys early and note the changes. NSL, EWL, CCL and TELSMRT will extend the departure time of its last train on the North-South Line to leave City Hall MRT station for Jurong East, Marina South Pier and Tuas Link stations to 12.30am. Meanwhile, the last train departing East-West Line's City Hall station will also be at 12.30am.On the Circle Line, the last train leaving Marina Bay and HarbourFront stations will be at 11.57pm and 11.30pm respectively.The last train departing from Woodlands North and Bayshore on the Thomson-East Coast Line will be at 12am and 12.12am respectively.

A private hire ride took an unexpected turn when the driver offered dating advice and tried to play Cupid by recommending his son to an amused female passenger.A TikTok video posted on Sunday (July 26) by user @expiredstankysocks recounted the incident and showed the woman seated in the back seat of a car while conversing with the driver. «Grab driver's dating advice,» the video captioned. «I will always entertain these type of conversations.» The woman is heard saying, «You recommend your son to me?» before learning forward to apparently get a look at a photo of the driver's son. She added that he looks «quite handsome». The driver goes on to share his two cents about Singaporean men, adding that he doesn't like the kind of guys who expect to split the bill on dates. The woman then asks what if the man is very handsome, to which the driver responds: «If the guy go out one time (and) split (the bill it's) ok, next time you block him.»The driver then compliments the girl on her appearance, quipping that her queue of suitors would stretch all the way from Tuas Checkpoint to Woodlands Checkpoint.

The police are appealing for information on the whereabouts of an 86-year-old elderly man, Tew Chiu Hung.In a news release published on Monday (July 27), the police said he was last seen at Block 922 Tampines Street 91 at about 11am on Sunday (July 26).He was wearing a yellow buttoned top, beige Bermuda shorts and black sandals.The said address is in vicinity of Pathlight School (Tampines) and Junyuan Primary School.AsiaOne understands that the 86-year-old man has dementia. Those with information are urged to contact the police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/i-witness. All information will be kept strictly confidential, the police said.[[nid:735166]]editor@asiaone.com 

A total of eight motorists, aged between 30 and 55, will be charged in court on Tuesday (July 28) for speeding offences involving heavy vehicles not fitted with speed limiters.Police said in a news release on Monday afternoon that the alleged offences were committed between December 2025 and May 2026.Three cases involved bus drivers who exceeded their vehicles' imposed speed limit of 60kmh.They were caught speeding at speeds of between 74kmh and 75kmh along the various expressways.There were also three cases involving drivers of cement mixers, which have a speed limit of 40kmh. The first driver, a 48-year-old man, travelled at 64kmh along Pan Island Expressway (PIE) towards Tuas, while a 40-year-old was found travelling at 58kmh along Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) towards Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE).A third cement truck driver, aged 51, drove along MCE towards KPE at a speed of 56kmh.All three cases involving cement truck drivers took place between March and May this year.