Singapore blocks 10 websites over potential hostile information threat; Bukit Panjang LRT service resumes after overnight repairs: Singapore live news

Former Workers’ Party (WP) secretary-general Low Thia Khiang revealed he only found out two years later that current party leadership had known about Raeesah Khan’s lie in August 2021.

Low took the stand on Wednesday (23 October) in the trial of WP chief Pritam Singh who has been charged with lying under oath to the Committee of Privileges (COP) which was investigating Khan’s lie in parliament about a sexual assault case.

Low told the court he texted Singh after Khan clarified her untruth in Parliament on 1 November 2021 to suggest forming a disciplinary panel. He recommended that the panel consist of Sylvia Lim, Faisal Manap and Singh.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ben Mathias Tan asked Low if he had known when he made the suggestion about the disciplinary panel that WP leaders already knew about Khan’s untruth since August 2021.

Low said he only found out in August 2023.

When DPP Tan asked Low what his reaction was, he said: "I was, I was wondering why take so long?”

Low was later released from the stand after the defence’s cross-examination.

Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh’s trial resumed on Wednesday afternoon (23 October) after it was stood down yesterday as defence counsel Andre Jumabhoy was unwell.

In one of the major developments today, Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan rejected the defence’s application to obtain Yudhishthra Nathan’s unredacted messages from 4-21 October 2021, and his redacted messages which were submitted to the Committee of Privileges (COP).

The messages are from a chat group which included the trio of former WP members Nathan, Raeesah Khan and Loh Pei Ying.

Jumabhoy had argued the two sets of messages would indicate whether the testimonies from Nathan and Loh were credible.

However, Judge Tan said that after carefully examining the redacted and unredacted messages, he was satisfied none were relevant to the guilt or innocence of Singh, who is contesting two charges of lying under oath to the COP.

The trial continues with former WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang the next witness to take the stand.

Singapore's core inflation rose 2.8% in September from a year earlier, according to official data.

This was higher than the 2.7% forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and the 2.7% rate in August.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said this was due to an increase in retail & other goods inflation.

The CPI-All Items inflation eased to 2% year-on-year in September which the government said was mainly driven by a steeper fall in private transport costs, and this more than offset the increase in core inflation.

CPI is the Consumer Price Index that measures the average price changes in a fixed basket ofconsumption goods and services commonly purchased by the resident households over time.

For more technical notes about the CPI please see here.

Four bars from Singapore were named in the World's 50 Best Bars 2024 list.

Jigger & Pony, which gained a following at Amoy Street before moving to Amara Hotel, was the highest ranked Singapore bar at No.5.

“Its now-famous ‘menu-zines’ keep the bar identity fresh and fun, with its latest iteration, Smash, taking guests back to the classics,” according to The World's 50 Best Bars 2024.

Vijay Mudaliar’s Analogue Initiative broke into the Top 50 this year at No.47 while Nutmeg & Clove – located in Purvis Street – was also recognised as a new entry this year.

"From the low-waste cocktails made with byproduct distillates to the central bar constructed from more than 1,600kg of recycled plastic bottles, this Singaporean bar is living proof that hospitality doesn’t need to be wasteful," wrote 50 Best about Analogue.

Atlas at Parkview Square, with its Gotham City-feel, came in at No.43. The listing noted the bar’s Atlas Martini as something not to be missed.

Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy was ranked as the top bar in the world for 2024 while the top performing Asian bar in this year’s list was Bar Leone from Hong Kong.

It was a moment LeBron James had dreamt of for many years.

And on Tuesday (22 October) one of basketball’s greatest ever players added a new milestone to his storied career – he got to play NBA basketball with his eldest son, Bronny.

The 39-year-old NBA legend and his 20-year-old NBA rookie son played over 2 minutes together late in the first half of the Los Angeles Lakers' 110-103 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The LeBron-Bronny duo are the first father and son to play together on the same team in the NBA. They are also the first father and son to even play in the NBA at the same time.

But before that happened, LeBron was caught on court-side cameras giving the his son some advice before his big NBA debut.

“You see the intensity, right?” LeBron asked. “Just play carefree though. Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out and play hard,” he said.

Earlier in the month, LeBron and Bronny did play together in a preseason game against the Phoenix Suns. However, Tuesday’s appearance made their special family moment an official record in the NBA.

Singapore ranked in the top three of ‘most burnt-out cities globally’ in a report by Instant Offices.

They analysed Google search trends across 30 global cities to see which city showed the highest signs of burnout. The number of searches for ‘burnout symptoms’, ‘how to cope with burnout’, ‘am I burnt out?’ and ‘signs of burnout at work’ were recorded for each city.

Singapore came in third with 950 burnout related searches while London topped the list with 2240 followed by Melbourne with 1040.

The report considers any city with 500+ burnout related searches as having ‘High burnout sentiment’ while cities with over 150 burnout related searches have medium sentiment.

Top 10 most burnt-out cities (Source: Instant Offices)

1. London: 2240 (High)

2. Melbourne: 1040 (High)

3. Singapore: 950 (High)

4. New York: 880 (High)

5. Sydney: 870 (High)

6. Toronto: 710 (High)

7. Montreal: 540 (High)

8. Amsterdam: 520 (High)

9. Los Angeles: 460 (Medium)

10. Berlin: 420 (Medium)

The clean-up of oil in the channel between Pulau Bukom and Bukom Kechil is expected to be completed in the coming days.

There have been no other oil sightings at sea and ashore as of 3pm on October 22, according to a joint statement by nine government agencies.

Earlier in the week, Shell said 30-40 metric tonnes of slop – a mixture of oil and water – leaked into Singapore waters following an oil leak at a land-based pipeline on Sunday.

“We have deployed vessels and absorbent booms to remove any remnants of oil in the vicinity of Bukom. We will continue working closely with the relevant authorities on the clean-up effort required and to monitor the situation,” read Shell’s update yesterday.

Singapore’s national water agency PUB continues to monitor the seawater intakes at its desalination plants.

Singapore’s trains were in the news again but this time the glare of attention was directed at our Light Rail Transit system (LRT).

Commuters heading home during yesterday’s (22 October) evening peak hour were forced to endure a train breakdown which stalled service between Bukit Panjang and Choa Chu Kang LRT stations.

The service resumed this morning after overnight repairs but the incident left another bruise on Singapore’s recent transport woes.

At around 5.20pm on Tuesday, a train stalled on the Bukit Panjang LRT near Teck Whye station.

SMRT deployed a safety train to move the faulty train to the depot – the attempt was unsuccessful.

As they began to haul the faulty train back to the depot, a tyre on the faulty train deflated. Videos on social media showed the train sagging and at one point a sudden burst of sparks and smoke can be seen.

SMRT later explained this was due to a bar underneath the carriage making contact with the power rail.

“To prevent further damage to both the train and the power rail, we will jack up the train, replace the deflated tyre, and restore the train to its correct height before hauling it back to the depot tonight,” said SMRT on Tuesday.

After SMRT engineers assessed the situation, they opted to end passenger service earlier at 10pm last night between Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Panjang stations for repair works.

Regular train service on Bukit Panjang LRT resumed at 5am this morning.

The Singapore government has taken the step to block 10 websites they have identified as “inauthentic” and “set-up by foreign actors” that could be used to “mount hostile information campaigns” against the country.

The websites blocked are zaobaodaily.com, singaporeinfomap.com, Singaporeera.com, Singdaotimes.com, Todayinsg.com, Lioncitylife.com, Singapuranow.com, Voasg.com, Singdaopr.com, and Alamak.io.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) said on Tuesday (22 October) they had considered the findings of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and were satisfied that it was necessary to disable access to the websites under Section 16 of the Broadcasting Act.

“These 10 inauthentic websites have been observed to masquerade as Singapore websites by spoofing or using terms associated with Singapore in their domain name and incorporating familiar local features and visuals,” said MHA and IMDA in a joint-statement.

“They also carried content on Singapore, some of which were generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). These are common tactics used by malicious foreign actors: build websites which can attract a local following, that may subsequently be used as platforms to mount HICs,” read the statement.

One of the blocked websites Alamak.io was said to have falsely alleged Singapore had allowed other countries to conduct their biological warfare research activities here.

You can read the the full details of the blocks by MHA and IMDA here.