St Joseph's Church stabber identified, attack not an act of terrorism: Singapore live news

In a bid to combat the worsening scam situation in Singapore, police may be given powers to control the bank accounts of stubborn scam victims.

The expanded powers come from the Protection from Scams Bill, which had a first reading on 11 Nov.

Under the Bill, the police are allowed to issue restriction orders (ROs) to banks which will then restrict the banking transactions of an individual’s accounts. These include money transfers, the use of ATM facilities and all credit facilities, affecting even PayNow and in-person over-the-counter transactions.

If the Bill is passed, police officers may issue an RO to the bank if they think the victim will transfer money to the scammer, or they deem it necessary to protect the victim. ROs will take effect for up to 30 days at a time, and can be extended up to five times.

It will also make Singapore the first in the world to give the police such powers.

The police have shared that a big challenge they face is convincing people they're the victims of a scam. Currently, they can't do anything to stop a victim from transferring money even when they're suspected of being scammed.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the RO will only be issued as a last resort, after other options to convince the scam victim have been exhausted.

M1 customers were experiencing issues with voice calls and texting on Monday (11 Nov) afternoon.

According to CNA, more than 1,800 reports related to the telecommunications company were seen on outage-tracking website Downdetector around 3.10pm.

M1 took to Facebook to address the situation and said their engineers were investigating the issue.

At about 3.36pm, they announced that "all affected voice call and SMS services are now fully restored".

Singapore-based Malaysian actor Zhang Yaodong just made a startling revelation on Instagram.

In a post uploaded on Saturday (9 Nov), the 46-year-old revealed that he's a father of two. He shared the news with a picture of two girls, who look to be in their teens, wearing traditional Korean clothing with their backs to the camera.

The location tag was listed as Seoul, South Korea.

Zhang wrote, "It’s the first time travelling abroad with my two lovely and beautiful daughters. The trip was short but meaningful.

"In the past, I missed out on their childhood for various reasons and I deeply regret it. From now on, I will be by their side in every moment of their growth and witness their every step. I will no longer be absent from their life journey."

For the longest time, the actor was believed to be a bachelor.

In July, some netizens on Xiaohongshu made several allegations about his personal life and partners on social media. Zhang filed a police report and the accounts took down the posts.

Celebrity couple Tom Holland and Zendaya are reuniting onscreen again.

This time, it's for Christopher Nolan's upcoming project with Universal – which also stars Oscar winner Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon.

This will be the couple's first non-Spider-Man film.

Holland and Zendaya, both 28, first met on the set of 2016's Spider-Man: Homecoming. They sparked romance rumours in 2017 before confirming their relationship publicly in 2021.

Holland also confirmed that he agreed to star in Nolan's film without any knowledge of what the project is about. He described it as "the phone call of a lifetime" and said it was similar to when he was cast as Spider-Man.

For more on Nolan's secret film, read here.

Singapore bank DBS is looking to expand into Malaysia with potential acquisitions of stakes in its banks.

According to two sources with knowledge of the matter, DBS is looking into a purchase of Temasek's 29.1% stake in Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd, valued at $460 million.

Another option involves buying Kuwait Finance House's Malaysian retail banking assets, worth more than $500 million and which have been put up for sale.

However, discussions are still in its early stages, revealed the two sources who declined to be named as these talks are confidential.

When approached by Reuters for a comment, DBS said, "We do not comment on market rumours and speculation."

Temasek declined to comment.

For more on DBS's supposed push into Malaysia, read here.

After clinching 0 wins in three matches during the Premier League, Arsenal finally had a shot at the title when Gabriel Martinelli scored in the 60th minute.

The goal seemed to take the wind out of Enzo Maresca's team for a moment. Despite the setback, Chelsea managed to come up from behind when Pedro Neto scored an equaliser just 10 minutes later.

Speaking to media after the match, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he hopes the "nightmare" period with injuries will end soon.

"What I’m praying for is that after the international break we have the team fully physically equipped, that they are available and that they are fit, because, it’s been a nightmare for eight weeks."

Leading up to the match, Declan Rice was nursing a broken toe and he played with his injury, but was replaced after 71 minutes. Meanwhile, Bukayo Saka was taken off the field following a robust tackle 10 minutes later.

For more on the Chelsea versus Arsenal match, read here.

The man who stabbed a priest with a foldable knife at St Joseph's Church on Saturday (9 Nov) has been identified as Basnayake Keith Spencer.

The identity of the 37-year-old assailant was reported by The Straits Times and independently verified by CNA. Parishioners told The Straits Times that the man had been seen at the church previously but wasn't a regular.

Basnayake was previously convicted and jailed in 2019 for voluntarily causing hurt, having pleaded guilty to stabbing his ex-girlfriend at a party while he was on drugs.

The attack on the priest, Father Christopher Lee, happened on Saturday evening during mass. A video circulating online following the stabbing shows a lean, bald man in a bloodied white T-shirt being led away from the church with his hands behind his back.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, preliminary investigations by the police showed that the man acted alone. "There is currently no evidence to suggest that it was a religiously motivated attack or an act of terror," they added.

The suspect will be charged on Monday (11 Nov) with voluntarily causing grievous hurt by a dangerous weapon and the police will be seeking a court order for the man to be remanded and undergo psychiatric evaluation.