1 taken to hospital after fire at Admiralty Drive HDB block; Singapore Airlines checks A350 plane engines: Singapore live news

Southeast Asia’s extremely rich are more troubled by a lack of succession planning leading to family disputes than similarly wealthy individuals in other regions, claims a new poll.

A survey of 129 high net worth (HNW) advisers showed 41% of their clients in Southeast Asia were most concerned about family disputes arising from succession planning – a much higher figure than the 27% reported in North Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

The survey was carried out between early April and mid-May by life insurer Transamerica Life Bermuda.

Find out what else the super-rich are so stressed about, here.

Legendary artist Elton John is recovering from a “severe eye infection” which has left him partially blind.

The 77-year-old shocked fans with the news on his Instagram: “Over the summer, I’ve been dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye.”

“I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.”

John officially retired from touring in 2023 after decades of hits and thrilling live performances.

More on Elton John’s health scare, here.

Singapore’s tax revenue for the 2023/24 financial year reached $80.3 billion which was an increase of 17% from the previous financial year, according to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).

The IRAS said the figure for total revenue collection represents about 77.6% of the government’s operating revenue and 11.9% of Singapore’s GDP.

Corporate Income Tax contributed the largest share of IRAS’ revenue collection at 36.1% ($29.0b) followed by Individual Income Tax at 21.8% ($17.5b) while GST accounted for the third largest share of revenue collection at 20.7% ($16.6b).

The IRAS Annual Report FY2023/24 can be found here.

Singapore will provide free vaccinations for mpox clade I to healthcare workers who are at the highest risk of exposure, as well as to close contacts of confirmed cases.

The decision was announced at a press conference by Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Wednesday.

The vaccine JYNNEOS, which has been used in Singapore for protection against mpox and smallpox, will be offered to the two ‘high-risk’ groups.

Clade 1 is a deadlier strain of mpox disease while Clade 2 – responsible for the 2022 outbreak that spread globally – is milder and less infectious.

Singapore detected 14 clade II cases and no clade I cases in 2024.

Mask-wearing is not required as mpox is spread mainly through close physical contact.

For more on Singapore's latest response to mpox, read here.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been stepping up enforcement efforts against illegal chauffeur services between Singapore and Malaysia.

In the past two years LTA have caught 32 drivers offering illegal cross-border passenger transport services using foreign-registered vehicles, according to The Straits Times.

Only Singapore taxis approved by the LTA, and Malaysia taxis approved by the country’s Land Public Transport Agency, are allowed to provide such cross-border taxi services.

Singapore and Malaysia are reportedly each allowed to have 200 cross-border taxis but some consumers are still turning to unauthorised drivers.

More on the illegal Singapore-Malaysia taxi service trade, here.

OCBC is set to roll out a new service which would allow children aged between seven and 15 to operate – with controls set by parents – their own bank account using the OCBC Digital app.

The feature, OCBC MyOwn Account, will be available from 20 October and will introduce its young users to the world of digital banking including opportunities to perform QR code payments, PayNow as well as contactless payments.

OCBC said the launch follows “extensive research” where they gained insights from parents who “want to give their children an early start to learning digital banking basics and financial independence” within a supervised setting.

OCBC MyOwn Account includes a parent-and-child-view dashboard for parents to monitor their child’s account activities.

There’s also a feature where a portion of funds in the account can be locked, and a “kill switch" function which can be activated to freeze an account compromised by scammers.

More details of OCBC MyOwn Account can be found here.

Singapore’s football arch rivals Malaysia are set for a financial windfall.

Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim has announced a special allocation of $4.5m (RM15m) would be given to national football team Harimau Malaya “to ensure that the squad’s welfare and coaching needs are met.”

Anwar revealed he had taken a leaf out of legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson by focusing on man-management to improve team performances.

“Where did I learn this from? Sir Alex Ferguson,” Anwar said.

“He told me how the welfare of each football player in the squad must be placed as priority,” he said.

Singapore was drawn in the same group as Malaysia for the upcoming ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024.

You can read more on the special allocation for Harimau Malaya, here.

Singapore Airlines (SIA), on Tuesday, said it "is inspecting the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 engines that power our Airbus A350-900 fleet."

The company also confirmed that there is currently no impact on Singapore flights using the A350-900.

The update comes after a Cathay Pacific flight heading from Zurich experienced an "engine component failure".

On Tuesday, Cathay said it had inspected its entire Airbus A350 fleet and found 15 aircraft with components that needed replac.

More details on Cathay’s engine inspections, here.

A person was conveyed to hospital and 50 people were evacuated from a HDB block in Admiralty Drive because of a fire at a fourth floor unit.

Firefighters from Yishun Fire Station – supported by Woodlands Fire Station – responded to the incident at Block 469 Admiralty Drive at 2.35pm on Tuesday, according to a statement by SCDF on Facebook.

Firefighters entered the fourth floor unit and used a water jet to extinguish the fire which the SCDF says was confined to the kitchen area.

A search of the unit was conducted and a person was found in one of the bedrooms.

The rescued person was assessed for smoke inhalation and taken to Singapore General Hospital while 50 residents were also evacuated by the police as a precautionary measure.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation as of Wednesday morning.