About three hours after his flight departed Singapore for Taipei on Sep. 14, passenger Ethan heard the pilot come over the intercom and inform everyone that they had to return to Singapore due to "operational issues".

"I was quite confused by what was going on," he told Mothership.

"Some people were panicking a bit, as apart from the pilot saying the plane didn't have any technical issues, there was no further explanation about what the 'operational issue' was."

A flight attendant he sought answers from did not have more details to share.

At about 5:50pm, about five hours after the plane took off, it landed back in Singapore.

In response to Mothership's queries, a Scoot spokesperson similarly explained that flight TR872 was diverted because of "operational reasons".

A replacement aircraft was deployed for the affected passengers, and it departed Singapore for Taipei at 8:05pm that same day.

Re-accommodating passengers

According to Ethan, the passengers were initially told that they would receive some meal vouchers to be used at Changi Airport upon arrival.

However, when they reached Singapore, ground staff allegedly said that there were no meal vouchers due to the short interval between the original and the replacement flight.

Passengers were given light refreshments at the boarding gate instead: a chocolate croissant, potato crackers, a bread roll, and a small bottle of water.

Ethan took the replacement flight to Taipei, where he said Scoot provided a complimentary hot meal, with the choice of either a three bean tofu curry with rice or a braised chicken with rice.

Apart from this replacement flight, affected passengers were also offered options to either book an alternative Scoot flight, or request for a full refund should they choose not to continue with their travel, the Scoot spokesperson told Mothership.

Those who had booked their original flight through travel agents or partner airlines were advised to contact them directly for assistance.

Inconvenience

The flight diversion disrupted Ethan's travel plans as he originally wanted to continue south to Chiayi city after arriving at Taoyuan International Airport on the same day.

However, as he ended up arriving past midnight, he had to book a hotel near the airport instead, delaying his journey to Chiayi to the next day, which led to "further complications" on his trip.

The Scoot flight TR872 was also a connecting flight for some passengers who would be continuing their journey from Taipei to Seoul, South Korea.

According to FlightAware, this flight to Seoul took off after 2am on Sep. 15, ultimately delaying the arrival by 7 hours and 39 minutes after the originally scheduled time.

The Scoot spokesperson emphasised that the safety of their customers and crew is their top priority, adding that the airline apologises for the disruption and inconvenience caused.

Leong Sze Hian, 72, a Singaporean who ran in the 2020 general election and blogs about politics and finance, forfeited S$45,000 on Sep. 17, 2026 as he was the bailor for lawyer Lim Tean, 61.

This was after Lim had allegedly absconded to Malaysia instead of turning himself in to start his jail term.

Bailor said he fulfiled obligation

Leong argued against the forfeiture, CNA reported.

He said he had contacted Lim the day before he was due to surrender at the State Courts on Aug. 3.

According to Leong, Lim had assured him he would turn himself in after saying something about jobs in Singapore.

Lim's lawyer also told Leong that Lim had transferred two cases to him, which gave Leong reason to believe Lim would not run away.

Leong argued that he and his wife were in poor health, according to CNA.

However, the judge ruled that Leong had failed to fulfil his obligations as surety.

S$15,000 of S$45,000 was in non-monetary security, which refers to the pledging of items, such as jewellery and watches, as bail.

Two men who allegedly helped Lim leave Singapore illegally were charged in August 2026.

Who is Lim Tean?

Lim was sentenced to jail for three months and one week for practising law without a valid certificate.

He was found to have been practising as a lawyer without a valid certificate for about two months in 2021.

He had attended court hearings on 32 occasions during that time.

A district court in February 2025 sentenced him to six weeks' jail and a S$1,000 fine.

The High Court then increased his sentence to three months and one week's jail.

The judge said the initial sentence was "manifestly inadequate".

After he allegedly ran away while on bail, he was arrested by the Royal Malaysia Police on Aug. 6.

He was handed over to the Singapore Police Force on Aug. 11.

He is now in jail and has not been charged for his alleged abscondment.

Lim was convicted in July 2024.

Lim was declared bankrupt in April 2026.

He was fined S$30,000 that month for how he handled a former client's money.

Lim is the founder of Peoples Voice and secretary-general of the People's Alliance for Reform.

He contested Potong Pasir SMC during the 2025 general election in a three-way fight.

He finished with the least number of votes.

Relationship between Leong and Lim

Previously, in 2020, Lim had represented Leong in a defamation suit brought by then-prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Leong lost and had to pay Lee S$133,000 in damages.

Leong was issued a Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) correction direction in 2024 for his Facebook post about housing grants.

A 42-year-old man in Singapore was arrested for drink driving after the car he was driving mounted a kerb along Raffles Avenue and hit a female pedestrian.

According to Shin Min Daily News, the incident took place at around 10pm on Sep. 16, near Esplanade Mall.

The female pedestrian was reportedly a tourist from China who was travelling with a group of colleagues.

Woman suffered a spinal fracture

A witness told the Chinese-language newspaper that he saw a woman lying on the ground after she was hit.

She appeared to be conscious but was occasionally touching her lower back, the witness said, adding that several passers-by stepped forward to help her and called for an ambulance.

One of the woman's colleagues, surnamed Zhou, was also injured in the incident.

Zhou told Shin Min that the group had been walking to catch a bus when the accident happened.

According to him, his colleague, who was walking ahead, was struck by the car.

She then collided with him as a result of the impact, causing him to hit a concrete bollard by the roadside.

He also suffered an abrasion to his arm.

Zhou said he initially thought his injuries were minor, but was later taken to an ambulance after experiencing chest tightness and dizziness.

He was later admitted to the hospital and discharged the following day.

Zhou said his female colleague suffered more serious injuries.

Doctors told her that she had suffered a spinal fracture and required surgery, he said.

He added that her family had been notified and were on their way to Singapore from China.

Driver arrested

When Shin Min reporters arrived at the scene, they saw a Mercedes-Benz sedan that had veered onto the side of the road.

Airbags had been deployed, and the front of the vehicle was heavily damaged.

The driver, who was wearing a white shirt, was questioned by police at the scene and was later escorted away at around 11pm.

In response to Mothership's queries, the police said they were alerted to an accident involving a car and two pedestrians along Raffles Avenue at about 10pm.

Separately, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) confirmed that a 40-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man were taken to the hospital while conscious.

The 42-year-old male driver was arrested for drink driving and is assisting with investigations.

Driver reeked of alcohol

Speaking to Shin Min, another witness said the driver did not immediately check on the injured woman after getting out of the vehicle, but instead ran towards the bushes at the back.

The witness claimed that the driver reeked of alcohol and appeared to be trying to remain composed.

The same witness also alleged that the driver attempted to shake hands with a police officer when officers arrived, but the officer did not respond.

Zhou similarly said the driver appeared disoriented after getting out of the vehicle and did not seem to realise that he had hit someone.

A Singaporean has died on Sep. 17 while climbing Mount Manaslu in Nepal.

Lau Wee Seng, 50, died at around 6,000m while descending from Camp II during an acclimatisation rotation, The Himalayan Times reported.

He reportedly felt uncomfortable while descending and passed away while resting.

Lau's family has been informed, with a helicopter mobilised to bring his body to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.

Lau was apparently travelling with 8K Expeditions.

The cause of death has not been confirmed, though it was reported that initial assessment indicates he may have suffered a heart attack.

Meanwhile, an avalanche had disrupted rope-fixing work above Camp III on the morning of Sep. 16, The Himalayan Times reported.

A man died on board a Malaysia Airlines flight bound for Sydney on Sep. 16 2026.

The Daily Mail Australia reported that the man was on flight MH141, which departed from Kuala Lumpur in the morning and landed in Sydney at 7:40 Australia time, flying for a total of eight hours.

The Daily Mail said it understood the man to be an Indian national in his seventies.

He reportedly suffered an asthma attack on board and died after.

In response to Mothership's queries, Malaysia Airlines confirmed that a "medical situation" took place on board.

It stated that the passenger was travelling with a family member.

Malaysia Airlines added that when the emergency occurred, immediate medical assistance was provided.

Three nurses, a doctor, and a cabin crew member immediately attended to the passenger and applied CPR.

However, the passenger was unable to be revived, and was subsequently pronounced deceased by the doctor on board. 

Malaysia Airlines did not confirm the cause of death.

"Malaysia Airlines extends its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased passenger. The airline regrets the inconvenience experienced by passengers affected by the disruption to flights MH141 and MH140 and appreciates their understanding," the airline said, adding that it prioritises their guests safety and well-being.

According to The Daily Mail Australia, the New South Wales Police are not investigating the matter.

Being on a company’s payroll without actually doing any work might sound like a dream — you receive Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions and have all the time to pursue other activities.

But what someone in this position might not be aware of is that they’re now part of an illicit scheme, and their actions are very much illegal.

Individuals like these are called phantom workers. And no, the term doesn’t refer to that one colleague who’s on vacation or MC.

Who are phantom workers?

Phantom workers are locals who receive CPF contributions from an employer, but who don’t do any work for the employer.

These workers are employed in name-only.

But why?

Companies ‘hire' phantom workers for a variety of illicit reasons.

One such reason is to inflate their foreign worker quota — by using local phantom workers, companies won’t have to hire any local workers and pay them their salaries.

Sometimes, phantom workers are also hired to inflate the number of local workers companies hire. This allows the company to take advantage of government benefits or schemes that incentivise employers to hire local workers, such as subsidies or other monetary aids.

Another reason is that phantom workers can also be hired for tax evasion purposes.

CPF contributions made to these workers can be used by the employer to file claims for expenses in their tax declarations. This allows an employer to falsely declare a lower yearly taxable income.

Recent arrests

According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), those who collude with companies by providing their particulars for fraudulent CPF contributions to inflate foreign worker quotas can be prosecuted for abetment of false declaration.

This carries a fine of up to S$20,000, jail of up to two years, or both.

In July 2026, the MOM arrested 14 people comprising four directors, nine foreign workers, and one key appointment holder from an employment agency.

These individuals are suspected of making fraudulent CPF contributions to 139 locals to bring in workers via the inflated foreign worker quotas, alongside other employment-related offences.

Earlier in April, a similar case occurred where 10 individuals, including directors and employees from five construction companies, were arrested for making fraudulent CPF contributions to locals not under their employment.

They had done so to inflate their companies’ foreign worker quota. These companies then used the inflated quota to make work pass applications to MOM to hire more foreigners.

More recently, on Sep. 2, MOM arrested four people over alleged fraudulent CPF contributions to locals not under employment.

What to do?

If you’re wondering whether you’re a phantom worker, here are some red flags you can look out for.

As employers hiring phantom workers will require personal details such as your Singpass, NRIC or CPF account details, it is possible for you to unknowingly divulge this information without being aware of how they can be misused.

It is also possible for companies to obtain your personal details illicitly without you even being involved.

As such, the solution is to keep an eye on your CPF transactions.

Do not accept CPF contributions from unknown or illegitimate sources. Under the transaction history section of your CPF dashboard, you can track your CPF contributions.

If you spot a CPF contribution from an unknown source, you should investigate immediately.

If it came from an employer you’re not employed under, it could be a sign that the employer has registered you as a phantom worker.

Another sign is if you suddenly find yourself ineligible for certain subsidies due to wages that have been declared incorrectly.

If you are sure that you do not work for them, seek clarification with the employer directly. If they remain unresponsive or cannot be contacted, you can lodge a report to MOM.

Above all, you can simply make sure to never hand out your personal information without first verifying the requestor’s authenticity, especially if they offer you CPF contributions in exchange.

This branded article is brought to you by the Ministry of Manpower.

A 51-year-old man, a Myanmar national, was convicted of forging a divorce certificate and attempting to use it to apply for Singapore permanent residency.

Aung Zaw Moe faced four charges consisting of making false declarations, forgery and charges under the Women’s Charter and Immigration Act.

He pleaded guilty to two charges on Sep. 15, Shin Min Daily News reported.

The two other charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

Married

Investigations revealed that Aung was married to a 44-year-old woman in Myanmar.

They got married in 2005.

In 2008, the couple had a son.

In 2011, Aung came to Singapore to work.

He kept in contact with his wife through Facebook.

Aung also provided money for his family's living expenses.

Extramarital affair

In March 2015, he met another woman from Myanmar in Singapore and got into an extramarital affair with her.

The woman agreed to be his mistress despite being aware that he was married and not yet divorced.

By 2019, Aung stopped providing living expenses to his family and stopped contacting his wife.

Some time before February 2023, his wife discovered his extramarital affair and exposed him on Facebook.

Aung attempted to ask for a divorce, but his wife disagreed.

In 2019, his wife came to Singapore to work as a foreign domestic worker.

Forged divorce certificate

As Aung intended to marry the woman he met in Singapore, he asked a friend in Myanmar to help him forge a divorce certificate, which falsely claimed that he was divorced on Jul. 5, 2011.

In charge sheets seen by Mothership, on Mar. 31, 2023, Aung submitted the forged divorce certificate to apply for permanent residency in Singapore.

On Oct. 7, 2025, the woman he was having an affair with discovered that she was 30 weeks pregnant during a health check-up in Bangkok, Thailand.

As Aung deceived the woman with the forged divorce certificate, claiming that he was single, she agreed to marry him.

They decided to register their marriage in Singapore.

On Oct. 23, 2025, Aung submitted the forged divorce certificate to the Registry of Marriages.

On Oct. 30, 2025, they registered their marriage at a flat at Kim Keat, but it was deemed invalid.

As Aung’s wife had discovered the bigamy, on the same day, she contacted the woman's father to inform him that she and Aung were not divorced yet and were still legally married.

After learning this from her father, the woman confronted Aung, who admitted the divorce certificate was forged.

Correction

The prosecution sought four to five months’ jail for Aung.

The judge will decide whether the sentences should run consecutively or concurrently.

During mitigation, the woman he was having an affair with and his wife appeared in court.

It was revealed that the woman had given birth to Aung’s son on Nov. 27, 2025.

Aung’s lawyers sought three months’ jail for Aung.

Aung’s lawyers argued that Aung and his wife had grown apart due to their long-term separation after he came to Singapore for work.

The judge noted that the state of their relationship did not justify Aung’s actions.

Aung’s lawyers reportedly referred to the woman he wanted to marry as his “wife’ and said she had forgiven Aung and was present in court to support him.

The judge immediately interrupted and corrected his lawyers, pointing out that the two were not legally married and that she could not be referred to as his “wife".

Aung pleaded for leniency.

His sentencing was adjourned to Oct. 7.

An American man who was shot thrice after attempting to save one of his friends from a fatal robbery claimed that bystanders filmed him as he bled out instead of helping him.

According to the New York Post, the incident occurred when 21-year-old Matthew Lanske and his friends chanced upon an illegal street takeover in Seattle, Washington.

An illegal street takeover is an event where car enthusiasts gather to perform dangerous driving manoeuvres such as racing and drifting on public roads, typically drawing large crowds.

A man and a woman brandished a gun to rob Lanske's friend, 20-year-old Issac Elijah Rios.

Shot twice in stomach, once in pelvis

Lanske tried to stop the armed attackers but was shot twice in the stomach and once in the pelvis.

According to his family, his intestines were severely damaged and his pelvis was fractured as a result of the shooting.

The New York Post reported that an artery was also hit.

Rios was fatally shot.

Lanske managed to flee, walking two blocks to a 7-Eleven for help but was turned away.

His mother, Shanda Barney, told Fox 13 that bystanders locked the doors and filmed Lanske as he bled out.

Barney said her son begged to be let in as blood pooled out of his stomach:

"He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, ‘Mom, they wouldn’t let me in. They locked the doors. I begged them to let me, and there was so much blood coming out of my stomach, I thought I was going to die."

On life support in trauma ICU

Two Seattle police officers watched over Lanske until paramedics arrived.

Lanske, who was placed on life support in the trauma intensive care unit (ICU), went through two surgeries, including one to reconnect his intestines.

He woke up from his surgeries to find out that his friend, Rios, was killed, according to the New York Post.

Lanske's sister told local Seattle news station Komo News that he experienced survivor's guilt, having hoped to help his friend, only to wake up to the devastating news.

The New York Post reported that both families are seeking eyewitnesses, and a US$1,000 reward (S$1,275) has been offered for crucial information that may lead to an arrest.

The 71-year-old Singaporean man who sexually abused 11 girls, including his daughter, his granddaughters, and four of his nieces was sentenced to 21 years' jail on Sep. 17.

The four other victims were students who attended an enrichment centre he ran with his wife.

The victims were aged between five to 10 when they were abused.

The abuse took place over three decades, from 1997 to 2021.

The man faced a total of 33 charges.

He had pleaded guilty to 10 of them on Jul. 24, including rape, sexual assault by penetration, committing obscene acts involving a child, and showing pornography to a minor and outrage of modest.

The remaining charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The man, who cannot be named due to a gag order protecting the identity of the victims, has been diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a rare form of blood cancer.

Prosecution sought up to 36 years' jail

The prosecution sought a sentence of 32 to 36 years' jail for the man, but the judge rejected it.

According to a report by The Straits Times (ST), the judge said that though his conduct was "most reprehensible", the sentence sought was disproportionate to the man's overall criminality when compared with similar cases.

Taking into account the man's reduced life expectancy due to his terminal illness, the judge ultimately reduced the jail sentence from 26 to 21 years.

This was so that the sentence would not amount to a life sentence, she said.

The offences

Court documents seen by Mothership stated that the man and his wife operated an enrichment centre from 1997 to 2021.

He began sexually abusing his daughter in 1997, when she was about six or seven years old.

He told her not to tell anyone about the abuse, warning that the family would split up and that it would be her fault that her siblings no longer had a family.

His daughter was therefore frightened and did not dare to tell anyone about the abuse.

He subsequently raped her in 2005, when she was 15.

He stopped sexually abusing her after that.

In 2023, the man and his wife stayed temporarily with his granddaughters' family while they waited to move to a new house.

On one occasion during this period, the man showed his older granddaughter a pornographic video before sexually abusing her.

She was aged seven at the time.

He told her not to tell anyone what had happened, or she would no longer be his favourite grandchild.

He also sexually assaulted his other granddaughter, who was five, at the residence during the same period.

The abuse came to light on Aug. 4, 2023, when the younger girl told her mother what had happened.

Her mother subsequently lodged a police report.

Between 1994 and 1996, one of the man's nieces went to his home for tuition and would stay over to play with her cousins.

He began sexually abusing her in 1994, when she was about nine or 10 years old.

On one occasion, she cried after the assault.

In response, the man gave her S$50 and told her not to tell anyone what had happened.

She subsequently made excuses to avoid going for tuition and stopped going sometime in 1996.

In 2012, one of her aunts confronted the man about the abuse of her daughter, who was also one of his nieces.

In 2006 and 2010, the man also sexually assaulted two students, aged six and 10, who attended the enrichment centre he operated with his wife.

His offences only came to light in 2023, after the mother of one of his granddaughters made a police report.

According to ST, the man had previously been jailed twice, in August 1999 and March 2020, for molestation and sexual exploitation offences involving other victims.

An Institute of Mental Health report had earlier also stated that the man has a paedophilic disorder, with a sexual attraction to pre-pubescent girls, and assessed him as posing a danger to children.

Singaporean mum Yanti Lala was on the MRT when she noticed a male commuter who had just boarded approach her direction, eventually choosing to sit on the floor next to her son's pram.

The fellow commuter immediately started eating a bun, which she did not pay much heed to at first, except for a fleeting thought that he was breaking the no-eating rule.

To her horror, the stranger allegedly tried to feed her son his half-eaten bun.

Yanti subsequently posted to TikTok about the incident, which has garnered over 118,000 views at the time of writing.

"We shouldn't normalise feeding [a] stranger's child," she wrote in her caption with an angry face emoji.

Yanti told Mothership that she was travelling from Jurong East to Bukit Gombak on the night of Sep. 11 when it happened.

Her son, Khalis, is 17 months old.

"Happened in a split second"

According to Yanti, she was seated in the priority seat, with Khalis in his pram in front of her, and her other son in the seat next to hers.

She recalls talking to the other son, turning her attention away from Khalis for just a moment.

But that moment was enough for the stranger to attempt the feeding.

"It happened so quickly that by the time I realised what was happening, the pau was already right in front of Khalis' mouth," Yanti said on TikTok.

And Khalis was about to take a bite.

"I immediately screamed and pulled Khalis closer to me," Yanti continued.

"Who in their right mind thinks it's okay to feed a stranger's baby, especially with half-eaten food?!"

Stranger shakes head

Yanti said the stranger looked shocked and gasped when she screamed, with the expression on his face making it seem like she was overreacting.

In the video, Khalis looks at the stranger dressed in a lime green shirt, who continued to eat his bun while shaking his head.

Yanti said she repeatedly told her son "No" and turned the pram away to make it clear he was not allowed to eat the bun.

She noted that besides the hygiene concerns, there was no way of her knowing if the pau was halal.

"We are Muslim, so I am careful about what my children consume and whether the food is permissible for them."

"I wouldn't want my son to be eating anything with [a] stranger's saliva on it," Yanti added.

Did not confront man

Yanti added that she did not have the opportunity to confront the man as her family was already approaching their stop.

She did not report the incident to SMRT or any station staff, noting that it was her first time experiencing a situation like this.

"I don't mind when strangers sayang sayang [show affection to] my children, but to give unknown food to my child? That's a whole new level."

The mother told Mothership separately, "It may seem like a harmless gesture to some, but parents and children have different boundaries, and those should always be respected."

Users online equally shocked

Most users were shocked by the man's behaviour, with many saying there was no way of knowing if the child had allergies without consulting the parents.

Another commented on the man's behaviour, pointing out that he had "the audacity to shake his head."

Other users also noted that the stranger should not have been eating on the train in the first place, and that the man should have been reported to station staff.

According to Rapid Transit Systems Regulations, passengers in trains or stations are not allowed to consume food or drinks.

MRT signs also state that eating or drinking carries a fine of up to S$500.

@yantilala95We SHOULDNT normalize feeding strangers' child.😡♬ Saxophones getting louder - Sped Up - AntonioVivald