My first foray into stock investing was nearly derailed at the first hurdle. Hear me out.

I had just passed probation at my first real job and was beginning to get some real money.

As my parents had taught me, I started to put away some money for the future, but I had no real idea what to do with it.

So when I started looking around, Mum suggested just tucking the money away with some shares in a couple of Singapore’s larger local companies so the money wasn’t just sitting idle.

I thought that was great because I had read about how investing was about letting your money work hard for you, and I thought why not get started?

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After some hemming and hawing, I finally went to try to get the ball rolling, but baulked at the price, certainly more in a single moment than I could afford, and wouldn’t.

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Mum offered to split the “lot” with me, and that’s how I learnt about what board lots were, and how they affected the number of companies I could afford to buy due to the larger upfront amount. I imagine this would be the same for other young investors..

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The good news is that from Oct. 5, 2026, SGX is shrinking the minimum number of shares that can be transacted, making it much easier and far more affordable for us retail investors to trade Singapore’s most popular stocks.

But before we get into that…

… what’s a board lot?

I think most of us instinctively know what a share is: a fraction of a company’s ownership that investors can purchase, and share in its profits.

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Shares allow the ownership of a company to be split between thousands of shareholders.

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In order to make trading of shares simpler and more efficient, stock exchanges regularly put them in groups with nice round numbers, something like standard pack sizes otherwise known as “round lots.”

This means everyone trades in fixed bundle sizes so people don’t buy awkward amounts like three or 82 shares, which really helps keep the market neat and organised.

It’s like buying eggs – you usually cannot buy just one single egg but you have to buy them in a carton of 10 or 12 for instance.

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Stock exchanges set this rule and this varies across exchanges around the world, so the local standard was referred to as a “board lot.”

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The Singapore stock exchange is no different in this regard, often operating on board lots of 100 shares.

Take local banks like DBS, UOB or OCBC for instance. Prior to the change, buying a single board lot of 100 shares in DBS (trading around S$77) meant you had to drop S$7,700 in one go.

And since the median monthly income in Singapore for 2025 was S$5,775, the average salaryman wouldn’t even be able to meet the minimum purchase of the DBS stock even if he put his whole month’s salary into the purchase!

A lot of lots

​These lots represent the smallest number of shares that can be traded in a single transaction.

And so whether you’re a young whippersnapper dipping your toes into investing, and trying to purchase shares in companies you’re familiar with, or a regular investor making tweaks to your portfolio, this minimum investing amount can be a daunting proposition.

Getting into investing when I did in the early 2010s, board lots back then were actually set at 1,000 shares, rather than the 100 they are now.

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If they remained that size till now, trying to invest in shares like DBS would require at least S$77,000!

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Even today, you’re looking at an outlay of around S$7,700, for one stock alone, and then after that, all your wealth is tied up in one stock, rather than in a healthy, diversified portfolio.

Now, I can get started at just S$770; it's cheaper to get started investing than buying a new iPhone!

Now you can invest too

There are still ways of investing smaller sums, such as using certain brokerages that offer fractional shares or Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), but the fact of the matter is there are catches to those methods.

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Sometimes you really just want to invest in one or two companies of your choice, and it’s a bummer to have to go with some fund that may not be what I was really looking for.

And fractional shares… if you think odd number of shares are messy, fractional shares are way messier for everyone.

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But SGX has retail investors in mind, with a plan to make it easier to participate in Singapore’s stock market by reducing the board lot size of the first batch of 11 of the exchange's highest priced and most heavily traded shares from Oct. 5, 2026 onwards.

According to SGX, these 11 stocks account for 35 per cent of trading activity for the first six months of 2026.

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The revision from lots of 100 to 10 is expected to lower barriers to market participation and improve affordability for people like you and me.

It’s also important to note that should the price of a stock fall back below the S$10 or S$100 threshold, their board lot size reductions will remain unchanged.

Lots of reduction

More stocks are due to be added to the list of reduced lot sizes as they become eligible, so you can be sure SGX won’t be stopping with these 11.

Every calendar quarter, SGX will conduct a review to see if there are other stocks that qualify for a reduced board lot size, starting from January 2027.

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SGX will take into consideration stocks’ daily closing prices from July 2026 to December 2026 for that January review.

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Changes will be announced within the first five trading days at the end of each calendar quarter, and implemented within the first five trading days of the second month after the quarter.

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For shares that are priced between S$10 and S$100, board lots will be reduced from 100 units to 10.

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For shares that are priced above S$100, board lot reductions will be reduced to one unit.

The 11 stocks picked are currently trading at over S$10, making the current lots relatively sizable.

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So if you’ve been looking for a sign to start your investing journey, there’s no easier time than now!

A couple in Maharashtra, India, sold their one-month-old baby boy for 120,000 rupees (S$1,595). They used the money to treat themselves to a gold chain and mobile phones.

According to NDTV, the mother had gone to the police on Sep. 20 to report her husband for beating her. During their investigation, they discovered that the couple had sold their son.

The couple was living together and making ends meet by working odd jobs. The father was an alcoholic.

They sold their son for 120,000 rupees (S$1,595), and used that money to buy two phones for 25,000 rupees (S$332) and a gold necklace for 62,000 rupees (S$824).

The police report states that the couple sold their son to a middleman for 120,000 rupees (S$1,595), who then sold the boy to another lady for 270,000 rupees (S$3,591).

That lady then resold the baby to a man, Suresh, who claimed he was a doctor for 350,000 rupees (S$4,655)

Suresh finally gave the baby to his relative, Uma, for 350,000 rupees (S$4,655).

After locating the baby, the police went to rescue him from Hyderabad and arranged to have him sent back to Maharashtra. He was found more than 550 kilometers away from his home.

According to NDTV, a total of 7 people were arrested, and cases were opened against them. The mobile phones and gold necklace were seized.

Police are conducting further investigations as to whether the middlemen and fake doctor had been involved in other trafficking cases.

FairPrice Group (FPG) will temporarily reduce the prices of selected chicken and egg products from now till Dec. 31.

The discounts will see the products being offered at their lowest prices since 2021.

This translates to S$4.95 for a tray of 30 eggs, and S$2.50 for 1kg of frozen chicken.

The lowered prices will be available at over 100 FairPrice supermarkets across the island, excluding FairPrice Finest, FairPrice Xtra and FairPrice Online.

Discounts on selected fruits and vegetables will also be extended to the public till the end of 2026, said the group in an Oct. 1 statement.

Keeping protein affordable

The move comes as part of a year-end initiative to deliver over S$2.5 million in savings directly to customers.

FPG is affiliated with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and has a social mission to keep essential food affordable for Singapore households.

Vipul Chawla, group CEO of FPG, explained that they managed to achieve the lower prices by partnering with suppliers to increase the supply of chicken and eggs.

"Chicken and eggs are daily staples for most Singapore households, and we want to give customers greater certainty that these essentials will remain within reach," he said.

Earlier this year, FairPrice froze prices on chilled pork and selected seafood and vegetable products for Chinese New Year.

In May, it again froze prices for over 500 essentials amid heightened global uncertainty from the Middle East conflict.

Get ready to shop.

Changi City Point is holding its "Great Outlet Sale" from Oct. 1 to Oct. 4, the mall announced. And they're calling it their “biggest outlet shopping event yet”.

56 brands will be participating in the sale and shoppers can look forward to deals and promotions of up to 90 per cent off.

Here's the full list of merchants:

Exclusive perks for CapitaStar members

Exclusive perks and eVouchers are also available for CapitaStar members.

To be one, download the CapitaStar app on the App Store or on Google Play app.

Outlet rewards at participating stores

CapitaStar members can redeem 30,000 STAR$ points (worth S$30) with a minimum spend of S$300 across same-day receipts.

Here are terms and conditions to be fulfilled:

• At least one receipt must be worth S$100
• Each additional receipt must be at least S$20
• The redemption is limited to one per member per day
• Only the first 400 redemptions are valid

There's also a separate chance to redeem 20,000 STAR$ points (worth S$20) with a minimum spend of S$400 across same-day receipts.

• The first S$300 must have at least one receipt worth S$100 or more
• Each subsequent receipt must be worth at least S$20
• Receipts making up the additional S$100 must be at least S$20 each
• The redemption is limited to one per member per day
• Only the first 300 redemptions are valid

Dining perks

Redeem 1,000 STAR$ points when you pay at least S$20 using eCapitaVoucher in a single receipt at an F&B outlet.

Each member is limited to one redemption per day.

12 eVouchers up for grabs

On top of that, members can enter reward code "TGOS2026" to receive 12 eVouchers that can be used at 12 outlets.

Totalling S$165 in value, these vouchers can be used from now till Oct. 31

Not around for the event this year?

Not to worry—the current sale marks the mall’s first annual shopping event, which means it will be back next year.

A diner asked for S$5,000 in compensation from a restaurant in Serangoon after he allegedly found a cockroach in a plate of noodles.

The incident was recounted by the diner in a post on Threads dated Sep. 17, in which he included a picture of what appeared to be a full cockroach tucked between the noodle strands.

It occurred at Al-Majlis restaurant in Serangoon, according to the post.

However, the restaurant later refuted the allegations, stating that it would pursue legal action against defamation.

The allegations

In the comments section of the post, the complainant posted a video captioned "Listen to the full story."

It appeared to describe the incident through a rap format, titled "Roach Kway Teow".

A line said: "Something fat sitting inside my food, six little legs spoil my whole mood."

The rap's lyrics added that the complainant rejected the free meal as he had lost his appetite.

"Then suddenly story change very fast. They say maybe...I planted it. Wah lau eh."

Family recounts alleged incident

In response to Mothership's queries, the original Threads poster, who is the diner's niece, said her uncle rejected the free replacement meal as he did not consider the gesture adequate in addressing the incident.

The man also purportedly emailed the restaurant's management the same afternoon to seek an amicable resolution, but received no response.

He then filed a report to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).

Compensation

Later, the diner contacted the restaurant via WhatsApp to speak to its boss, but the meeting was repeatedly delayed, his niece said.

According to her, staff members claimed that their boss was in hospital in one instance, and sleeping in another.

When they finally met two weeks later, the diner was apparently asked how much he was seeking in compensation, to which he responded with S$5,000.

"He only gave this number after being asked. There was no mention or accusation during the meeting that he had planted the cockroach," his niece claimed.

However, the diner was allegedly ghosted after making his request.

He also discovered that the meeting had been recorded without his knowledge, after which he claimed allegations of him planting the cockroach emerged.

When the family asked for evidence of this, they were allegedly told that the relevant footage of that day had been overwritten.

The diner's niece told Mothership that her family was not, in any way, seeking to taint the restaurant's reputation, nor did it hold any personal vendetta against them.

"Our family has been regular customers, including my own grandmother.

Our intention is not to harm anyone or their business; we are simply seeking a fair and reasonable resolution to what occurred."

Restaurant denied allegations

Al-Majlis responded to the accusations in the Thread's comments, denying that their kitchen contained pests.

The diner's claim was made long after the alleged discovery and "coincided with a financial demand", it said.

"Strict third-party pest control audits confirm our kitchen is entirely pest-free," the restaurant added in its reply.

It stated that while it welcomes genuine feedback, it would not tolerate bad-faith allegations.

It added that the matter is now with its legal team, and it reserves its rights to pursue legal actions against false or defamatory statements.

A post by another Threads user claiming to be a friend of the restaurant's owner said the diner had ordered the food on Aug. 22, but did not complain about the cockroach at the time.

The alleged incident and S$5,000 claim was only raised on Sep. 5, nearly two weeks later, the poster said.

The restaurant's director had told Shin Min in a Sep. 21 report that they had suspected they were being framed.

He told the paper that they found the customers' behaviours unusual and decided to refuse the request. He also said that if the cockroach was fried, it would not look "intact".

In response to Mothership's queries, SFA said it has inspected the restaurant and did not detect any pest or food safety lapses.

Nonetheless, the food operator was reminded to ensure the premises are clean and well-maintained and that food handlers adhere to good food safety practices.

When contacted by Mothership, the stall said that they had lodged a police report regarding the matter.

"As the matter has been referred to the authorities, we do not wish to comment further or speculate on the circumstances at this stage. We would prefer to let the appropriate process take its course."

A Singaporean architecture student spent 1,737 hours hand-drawing a hyper-realistic recreation of Singapore's iconic skyline.

Sim Heng Ee, 22, told Mothership that he did this over 21 months.

Some days, he would even spend up to 15 hours drawing, though he clarified that this was the exception, not the norm.

All those hours do not include the time spent on research and actually going down to visit the buildings.

Done on a piece of A1 paper, the artwork features buildings drawn in miniature at a scale of approximately 1:3000, or 1mm per residential floor.

It encompasses tourist areas such as Marina Bay Sands and the Sports Hub, as well as heartland areas like MacPherson and Aljunied.

Already outdated

Sim said that given Singapore's speed of development, it was a race against time to complete the drawing before the urban landscape changed too much.

As he began the piece in 2024 and decided to keep the whole drawing to the same time period, some parts are "already slightly outdated", he added.

To ensure that the drawing was entirely accurate, he would personally go down to double-check certain details, such as block paint schemes, which he said change very frequently.

He would also use websites to check on the progress of construction sites, all of which are drawn to be accurate to late-2024, he said.

Childhood dream

Asked about his inspiration behind the piece, the student said that he has been interested in architecture and the built environment since a young age.

While he has always wanted to create a large drawing of Singapore's cityscape, it remained a "pipe dream" due to his academic commitments.

It was only after the end of his National Service (NS) and before the start of his university studies abroad when he would finally get the chance to do so.

However, due to the intensely demanding nature of the artwork, Sim doesn't see himself completing another drawing of this scale anytime soon.

"I wouldn't discount the possibility of creating smaller pieces down the road, but as it stands I'm grateful that the piece has turned out rather well and would like to leave it as it is for the time being," he added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has met U.S. President Donald Trump twice in 2026, with a possible two more lined up later in the year.

When they met, Xi returned to a theme that he has visited consistently throughout the past decade, that of the Thucydides Trap:

"China and the United States must hold the line of no conflict and no confrontation between us, and we can certainly find the right path for our two great countries to get along on this planet we both call home..."

"The Thucydides Trap can be overcome."

The Trap references Classical Greek historian Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, an account of the devastating war that saw the rising power of Athens take on the established power of Sparta.

It is a distinctly American interpretation of the war, originating with American thinkers, and first referenced between China and the U.S. by U.S. political scientist Graham Allison over 10 years ago.

So what is the Trap, why does Xi keep referring to it, and is it as straightforward as it seems?

What is the Thucydides Trap

The Thucydides Trap is the idea that a declining power’s fear and suspicion of a rising power would inevitably lead to war.

The name of the Trap alludes to the account of the Peloponnesian War by the Greek historian Thucydides, the 5th century conflict between the rising power of Athens and the established power of Sparta.

The Trap is essentially the devastating war that two powers and their allies fought, and that war was made nigh on inevitable due to the fear and suspicion felt by Sparta in response to Athens’ growing power and influence.

In the post-Second World War period, political scientists and historians developed the theory that stated that most, but not all, similar situations in history likewise led to war.

12 in four, leads to war

Allison refers to 16 examples, spanning the 17th century all the way to the 2000s, and notes that in 12 cases war was the result.

Recent examples of this include the first world war, where the rising power of Germany warred with the established British and French empires, the Second World War where the, er, rising power of Germany warred with the established powers of British and French empires, but also the rising power of Japan fought against the established power of the United States.

But war is not the only outcome, the rise of the U.S. replacing the imperial power of Britain, and to a lesser extent France, was without the globe-spanning conflict of the World Wars, and while the rising power of the Soviet Union was fraught with conflict, it did not result in global all-out war.

But Allison had a dim outlook for the future of the relationship, saying in 2015:

“War between the U.S. and China is more likely than recognised at the moment. Indeed judging by the historical record, war is more likely than not.”

But as even Allison acknowledged, it was possible to avoid this conflict, but “escaping this trap requires tremendous effort.”

Seeing the trap

Xi appears to have first publicly referenced the trap in 2014, and usually in the context of U.S.-China relations, while on a visit to the U.S. or involving a U.S. leader.

In 2015, Xi’s modus operandi was to say that the Trap did not exist, saying while visiting Seattle that:

“There is no such thing as the so-called Thucydides Trap in the world. But should major countries time and again make the mistakes of strategic miscalculation, they might create such traps for themselves.”

By the 2020s, he appears to acknowledge the Trap’s existence, but insists that:

“The ‘Thucydides’ Trap’ is not inevitable, and Planet Earth is vast enough to accommodate the respective development and common prosperity of China and the United States.”

The declining power

Xi clearly sees China as the rising power of the present trap, with the U.S., and to a lesser extent, the West as a whole, as the established or declining power.

The idea that the Trap was possible to overcome was a theme that he would revisit in his most recent visit to the U.S. in Sep. 2026, saying that U.S.-China competition should be “a healthy one and should be kept within bounds.”

But others have snidely noted that Xi’s use of the term has allowed him to call the U.S. a declining power to its face.

Even Trump appears to have noticed, writing about it on social media, although he has chosen to interpret his words to mean a declining power... before Trump returned to power.

Allison himself remarked on Xi’s use of the term to describe the relationship, saying that “Both Xi and Trump realise that structurally, their two nations are destined to be the fiercest rivals in history.”

It is a natural fear that the fiercest rivals might become the fiercest enemies, leading to the fiercest of wars.

The Great

But Allison is not the originator of the Trap, nor is he the only political scientist to have drawn lessons from the war between Sparta and Athens.

Robert Gilpin wrote about the clash of dominant, hegemonic powers, and, TL;DR: it doesn’t always work out the way you think it will.

Conflict at that level is resource-intensive, it's devastating, it shakes up the very foundations of the regional or world order, and more to the point: it exhausts the powers involved.

Neither Athens nor Sparta won in the end; their war destroyed their societies and economies, allowing the rise of the third power: the kingdom of Alexander the Great, Macedon.

This might be among Xi's underlying worry, that even if it were able to withstand a conflict with the U.S., it might wipe out its achievements of the past five decades.

Singaporean actor and comedian Suhaimi Yusof paid tribute to the late Lydia Shum for her help during his first acting role.

The 57-year-old posted a Living with Lydia clip on Instagram, a Singaporean-Hong Kong sitcom that aired on Channel 5 from 2001 to 2005.

It was Suhaimi's first acting role after he transitioned from being a radio DJ.

Shum, by then, was already an iconic and well-established Hong Kong comedian and actress.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Suhaimi Yusof Official (@suhaimiyusof_official)

In the caption, Suhaimi shared how he had no prior acting experience before Living With Lydia.

He had not even acted in any Malay-language productions prior, making Living With Lydia his first-ever acting role as well as appearance on Channel 5.

His first appearance on the show was in the second season.

Initially, according to Suhaimi, he was supposed to star in only "two cameo roles".

However, owing to the encouragement and mentorship of Shum, he gradually made his way into full seasons of the show, noting that the "producers, writers and directors trusted my skills."

"And the rest is history," he added.

"LESSON LEARNED:

Go to the people who lift you up & you lift them up higher after that. (Miss you Lydia.)"

In the show, Shum plays Lydia Lum, a Hong Kong restaurateur who is forced to move to Singapore after her dim sum restaurant is hit with a food poisoning scandal.

Suhaimi plays Sulaiman Yusof, with the gag being that Lum mishears his name as the Cantonese-sounding "Soh Lye Mun".

Living With Lydia was a hit with both viewers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Since then, Suhaimi has taken on several iconic roles in local television and film, such in The Noose and Police & Thief.

This is not the first time Suhaimi has shared fond memories of himself with Shum.

He shared this clip in 2023 of him teaching Shum Malay.

@suhaimiyusof_official "Cincang udang dan bawang" - when the late Lydia Sum learned Malay from Suhaimi Yusof🤪 #tiktokSG #tiktokmalaysia #fyp ♬ original sound - Suhaimi Yusof Official

A 44-year-old foreign domestic helper in Singapore, who threw a bottle of lotion at her employer's bedridden mother, was sentenced to 16 weeks' jail on Oct. 1, 2026.

Eka Yulianti Suryanto had become frustrated by the 70-year-old woman, whom she claimed disrupted her sleep.

Investigations later found that she had also stolen two pieces of gold jewellery from her employer and pawned them for S$2,880.

To date, no form of restitution has been made.

Eka had pleaded guilty to one count of theft, as well as one count of committing a rash act.

Helper said the elderly woman was "being noisy"

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Eka had worked as a domestic helper for her employer for about 11 years at the time of the offences.

She shared a room with another domestic helper and her employer's mother, and her duties included cleaning the household and caring for her employer's children.

The employer's mother has Parkinson’s disease and would sometimes make involuntary noises as a result of the condition.

Eka became frustrated by the noises in November 2025, as she felt they were disrupting her sleep.

When she could no longer tolerate the noise, Eka would throw household items — either an air freshener or a body lotion bottle — in the elderly woman's direction.

The items would make a loud noise when they landed, after which the elderly woman would remain quiet.

In the early hours of Jan. 22, 2026, Eka again became frustrated and threw a bottle of body lotion at the older woman.

The bottle struck the elderly woman's lips.

Eka did not check on her after throwing the bottle and instead went back to sleep.

The following morning, the second domestic helper woke up and began changing the elderly woman’s diaper.

She then noticed that the woman’s lips were bleeding and bruised, and took a photograph of the injury.

When asked about it, Eka admitted that she had thrown a body lotion bottle at the elderly woman as she was "being noisy".

Neither domestic helper told anyone about the incident immediately, and the elderly woman also did not receive any medical attention.

The second helper was initially hesitant to tell her employer what had happened as she was afraid of Eka.

Three days later, however, on Jan. 25, 2026, she decided to inform her about the incident while Eka was out of the house on her day off.

Stole jewellery and vouchers

Investigations later found that Eka had also stolen jewellery and supermarket vouchers belonging to her employer at various points in 2025.

Among the items were two pieces of gold jewellery, which Eka pawned for S$2,880.

She would later say she had remitted the money back to Indonesia to deal with financial issues there.

The employer had noticed that the two items were missing and asked Eka about them.

However, Eka denied seeing the jewellery and told her that she or her daughter might have misplaced them.

National water agency PUB has shared that the 30-year-old Myanmar man who was charged for creating an AI-generated image of a crocodile at Pandan Reservoir is a worker employed by their reservoir maintenance contractor.

The man, Ye Lin, also deleted the image from his phone. He was later charged in court on Sep. 29.

In a Oct. 1 Facebook post, PUB said. it had attempted to verify the authenticity of the image using several AI checker tools, but the results were “inconclusive”.

Supervisor alerted PUB

According to PUB, his supervisor alerted the agency to the image on Aug. 20.

After getting “inconclusive” results on whether the image was AI-generated, PUB and the National Parks Board (NParks) took immediate steps to deploy resources to conduct search and capture operations in the area.

“In the interest of public safety, PUB acted quickly and took the necessary precautionary measures,” the agency said.

When it was established that the image was fake, PUB made a police report.

In an earlier post, PUB urged the public to avoid circulating false information or edited images that could cause alarm, noting that such incidents could result in unnecessary deployment of public resources.

Man charged

Ye was charged on Sep. 29 with communicating a false message and obstructing the course of justice.

He was granted agency bail of S$5,000, with his next court date scheduled for Nov. 10.