Lewis Hamilton will be hoping his march towards a sixth Formula One world title around the streets of hazy Singapore this week is not affected by smoke from wildfires raging in neighbouring Indonesia.
The National Environment Agency is forecasting pollution at the “low end of the unhealthy range” for Sunday’s showpiece night race after dense smog last weekend.
Formula One bosses are reported to have a contingency plan in place should the “highly changeable” air quality deteriorate, though the race weekend is still scheduled to go ahead as planned.
Hamilton, who has a 63-point lead in the title race over teammate Valterri Bottas after winning eight grands prix this season, and Mercedes have prospered in the past at the Marina Bay Circuit.
But they could do little to prevent Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc from storming to consecutive victories on power-friendly layouts in Belgium and Italy in the two races since the summer break.
Parts of Singapore may have appeared in Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops III, but if you want a proper first-person shooter (FPS) experience revolving around an actual wartime campaign in Singapore, there’s a way.
Chandu: The Malay Regiment puts you in the boots of real-life World War II hero and all-round badass Lieutenant Adnan Saidi in the Battle at Bukit Chandu, the oft-chronicled firefight in 1942 when Malay soldiers put up a fierce defence and sacrificed their lives against Japanese troops.
Created by students at Malaysia’s Multimedia University, their still-in-progress title ups the immersion by making it a virtual reality game that’ll require a HTC Vive headset (and a powerful enough PC) to run. The game was first spotted at the Kr8tif Conference & Content Festival in Malaysia earlier this month and was shared on Facebook by Cyberjaya Community.
SINGAPORE: A cyberattack has been ruled out as the cause of the Internet access incident that affected StarHub users on Tuesday (Sep 17) evening.
The telco said in a statement on Wednesday that the technical difficulty that affected its mobile data and fixed internet services was caused by an Internet routing issue. A StarHub spokesperson declined to elaborate more on what the issue was about, other than to say it was a “software-related” issue.
The problem was first detected shortly after 6pm on Tuesday.
Mobile data service was fully restored within 20 minutes while most fixed Internet customers were able to access services “soon after”, which all services fully restored by 9.50pm the same evening, StarHub said.
StarHub also said that it takes the incident “seriously” and is implementing measures to prevent a recurrence.
“StarHub apologises to customers for the inconvenience caused by this incident and sincerely thanks customers for their patience and understanding,” it added.
Fing Internet Alert detected the outage from 6pm on Sep 17, 2019. (Image: Twitter/outagedetect)
Frustrated customers took to social media to complain of an Internet outage on Tuesday, with users affected nearly islandwide.
According to user reports on the Down Detector website, issues with broadband and mobile data services were reported in areas such as Clementi, Buona Vista, Woodlands, Lavender, Punggol, Choa Chu Kang and Katong.
SINGAPORE – After strangling a 28-year-old nurse in a jealous rage, a middle-aged man took photos of her nude body and tried to have sex with the corpse.
Boh Soon Ho, a 51-year-old Malaysian, told himself that “since (the woman) has died and I have never seen her naked before, I should undress her”, the High Court heard on Wednesday (Sept 18), the first day of his murder trial.
The cafeteria worker has been charged with strangling Chinese national Zhang Huaxiang with a towel between 12.15pm and about 5.50pm on March 21, 2016, in his rented Circuit Road bedroom. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment or the death penalty.
“This is a case of a murder driven by jealousy, rage and unrequited desire,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Wong Kok Weng said in his opening statement.
The DPP told the court that Boh considered Ms Zhang to be his girlfriend as they went shopping and had meals together, even though they had never been physically intimate. Boh also bought her gifts.
SINGAPORE: Connectivity in Changi will improve over the next decade, with new cycling paths and roads to serve new developments in the area such as Changi Airport’s Terminal 5 (T5), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) said on Wednesday (Sep 18).
Slated to start next year and be completed by 2029, the massive project will see parts of land within Laguna National Golf and Country Club and parts of land owned by JTC acquired by the Government.
The works are divided into two sections: Changi Northern Corridor and Changi Southern Corridor.
The improvements to the road and cycling network in Changi will complement the upcoming Cross Island Line, LTA says. (Image: LTA)
CHANGI SOUTHERN CORRIDOR
The Changi Southern Corridor project includes the construction of a 3.5km cycling path that will link to T5.
“These cycling paths will complement the existing Park Connector Network (PCN) and on-road cycling lanes to connect Tampines and East Coast to T5,” LTA said. “This will make it safer and more comfortable for pedestrians, cyclists and other active mobility users.”
New roads connecting T5 to Tanah Merah Coast Road and East Coast Parkway (ECP) will also be constructed. Tanah Merah Coast Road and existing roads such as the Pan Island Expressway (PIE), ECP and Xilin Avenue will be realigned and widened, while Changi Flyover and Tanah Merah Flyover will be reconfigured.
The acquisition of land from Laguna National Golf and Country Club and parts of three plots of land owned by JTC will be necessary for road works for Changi Southern Corridor, LTA and SLA said.
These acquisitions involve ancillary features such as greenery areas, storage zones and fencing. No main building structures will be affected.
“The Singapore Land Authority has gazetted the acquisition of the affected land today. SLA and LTA will work closely with the affected landowners to assist them throughout the land acquisition process and to minimise the impact on them,” they said.
CHANGI NORTHERN CORRIDOR
Under the Changi Northern Corridor project, a new viaduct will be constructed along Loyang Avenue between Tampines Expressway (TPE) and Loyang Way. A bus lane will also be added on Loyang Avenue.
There will also be 3km of new cycling paths added along Loyang Avenue, Telok Paku Road, Nicoll Drive, Changi Coast Road and Aviation Park Road. These cycling paths will connect to the existing Park Connector Network in the north of Changi.
The majority of works for Changi Northern Corridor will be completed by 2026, with the remainder completed in tandem with nearby Cross Island Line (CRL) stations by 2029.
The first phase of CRL, Singapore’s eighth MRT line, will open by 2029 with 12 stations including Loyang and Changi.
The Changi East Depot, an above ground facility for CRL trains. (Image: LTA)
On Wednesday, LTA and SLA said that the works are “necessary to serve existing and new developments” which includes T5, as well as growth in aviation and logistics industries, and residential developments.
“Prior to commencement of the construction works, LTA and relevant agencies will work closely with affected landowners and stakeholders to develop mitigation measures to alleviate the inconveniences from construction works,” it added.
LTA will call tenders from the fourth quarter of this year for the roads and cycling path projects.
SINGAPORE – Students are allowed to wear masks in school if they want to, given the haze situation, the Ministry of Education (MOE) assured parents on Tuesday (Sept 17), even as many debated whether there was a need to.
Even so, wearing an N95 mask is not necessary with the measures that will be in place in schools if the haze situation worsens, MOE said.
This comes after a parent posted on Facebook that her daughter’s primary school allegedly did not allow her child to wear an N95 mask in school. The school has since clarified that teachers have not told pupils this.
Replying to queries from The Straits Times, an MOE spokesman said that all classrooms of primary and secondary schools, MOE kindergartens, and special education schools are equipped with air purifiers to ensure students’ well-being when the haze worsens in Singapore.
When the air quality hits the very unhealthy range, or when required, schools will close the doors and windows of classrooms and turn on the air purifiers, said the spokesman.
SINGAPORE: Nearly S$30,000 worth of electronic vaporisers (e-vaporisers) and accessories were seized last week after authorities uncovered a suspicious package at Changi Airfreight Centre, the Health and Sciences Authority (HSA) and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Wednesday (Sep 18).
Eleven suspects are assisting HSA in investigations, the news release added.
On Sep 9, immigration officers at Changi Airfreight Centre noticed anomalies in the scanned images of a consignment of 31 parcels.
Following further checks, they found that the parcels contained 27 sets of e-vaporisers and 400 pieces of related accessories, which are prohibited in Singapore.
HSA was then alerted and conducted further investigations, the release said.
On Sep 12 and 13, the agency searched the homes of the consignees and seized additional sets of e-vaporisers and accessories.
Parcels containing e-vaporisers and related accessories seized by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority on Sep 9, 2019. (Photo: ICA)
This brought the total number seized to 63 sets of e-vaporisers and 2,368 accessories, with a street value of S$29,460.
The suspects had ordered the e-vaporisers from overseas online sellers and declared them as toys to evade the law, the release added.
E-vaporisers and accessories seized during house searches by authorities on Sep 12 and 13, 2019. (Photo: HSA)
E-VAPORISERS STRICTLY PROHIBITED IN SINGAPORE
“HSA takes a serious view on the smuggling and peddling of e-vaporisers and will continue to clamp down on such activities,” the authorities said.
Through HSA’s ground operations in the first eight months this year, the illegal activities of 43 such peddlers in Singapore have been stopped, they added in the joint release.
E-vaporisers and accessories seized during house searches by authorities on Sep 12 and 13, 2019. (Photo: HSA)
“HSA will continue to work closely with ICA through online surveillance and strict border checks to curb the smuggling and peddling of such products,” the release said.
Offenders can be fined up to S$10,000 or jailed up to six months or both. The use, purchase or possession of e-vaporisers is also an offence, punishable with a fine up to S$2,000.
“The public should not purchase any e-vaporisers, including through the Internet, to be brought into Singapore. The public should also refrain from using e-vaporisers and discard any e-vaporisers they have in possession,” the joint release said.
A warrant of arrest has been issued against Visvanathan Vadivelu, 50, who had pleaded guilty to the robbery and was to be sentenced on Tuesday.
But he told the court that he wanted to retract his guilty plea, saying he had been misled by his former lawyer into admitting to the offences. He also insisted on a psychiatric assessment, TODAY said.
His former lawyer A Revi Shanker, whom Visvanathan discharged on Monday, told the court he spent more than 10 minutes checking other courtrooms and around the State Courts after Visvanathan failed to return after the break.
Visvanathan was also uncontactable on his mobile phone, Mr Shanker said.
WANTED TO RETRACT GUILTY PLEA
Visvanathan was arrested on Jul 31, 2017, hours after a Shell petrol station along Upper Bukit Timah Road was robbed in broad daylight.
He admitted to taking off with S$1,193 from the petrol station, after threatening a female employee with a kitchen knife and ordering her to place money from the cash register in a plastic bag. He then fled the petrol station on a scooter.
The Shell petrol station at 219 Upper Bukit Timah Road where an armed robbery was reported. (Photo: Leong Wai Kit)
At the time, it was the first such case of armed robbery in broad daylight in Singapore in 10 years, the police said.
Besides the robbery, Visvanathan had also pleaded guilty to three other unrelated charges of drug consumption and possession. Another five similar charges were to be taken into consideration for sentencing.
But on Tuesday, he said he wanted to retract his plea and accused Mr Shanker of lying to him and misleading him into pleading guilty. Visvanathan also claimed he had mental health issues.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Yong accused Visvanathan of abusing the court process and dragging the matter out “until he is past 50 years old and can no longer be caned”, TODAY reported.
Offenders who commit armed robbery by day can be jailed up to 10 years and given at least six strokes of the cane.
The prosecutor told the court: “Now he says he’s confused, and his inability to answer as to what led him to plead guilty is a clear sign that this is complete fiction, designed solely to drag out the process even more.”
The judge then called for a 10-minute break for the prosecution to ask Mr Shanker about his former client’s allegations.
When Visvanathan did not return to court after the break, the judge issued a warrant of arrest against him and revoked his bail of S$70,000.
Visvanathan’s mother, who posted bail for him, will have to turn up for a hearing on Oct 29 to explain why the bail amount should not be forfeited.
SINGAPORE – The haze that envelops Singapore for the past week hits unhealthy levels on Wednesday (Sept 18) morning as workers head to work and students to school.
The 1-hour PM2.5 reading ranged between 82 micrograms per cubic metre in the northern part of the island and 94 in the southern part, within the elevated band, at 7am.
The 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) was 100 in the central region and higher across the island. The highest reading of 116 was recorded in the south.
A PSI reading of 101 to 200 is in the unhealthy range, for which the National Environment Agency (NEA) advises the public to cut down on outdoor activities.
