A 20-year-old man was arrested for attempted suicide at Block 613C Punggol Drive on Monday (Feb 19).

Stomp contributor Hazel was on her way home when she noticed a huge crowd had gathered below her block.

"There were police cars and ambulances. The area was cordoned off," she said.

When she looked up, she saw a man sitting on a ledge.

"I think he was on the top floor, the 16th storey," she said.

In response to Stomp's media queries, a police spokesman said that the police were alerted at 7.22pm to a case of attempted suicide at said location.

"A 20-year-old man was arrested in relation to the case," he said.

Police investigations are ongoing.

SINGAPORE - Singapore said on Tuesday it had agreed to a request from Britain not to carry out corporal punishment on a suspected bank robber if he is extradited to face charges in the city-state.

David Roach, a Canadian national who allegedly stole $30,000 from a Standard Chartered bank branch in July 2016, was detained in Britain in January on an extradition request from Singapore.

He is being sought on one count of robbery, which carries a minimum prison sentence of two years and at least six strokes of the cane, and on one count of money laundering.

"The Singapore government has agreed to the UK authorities'request. UK extradition laws prohibit UK from extraditing Roach to Singapore in the absence of such an assurance," the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.

"The provision of the assurance is being done to try and ensure that Roach does not escape justice, and does not affect the general position taken by Singapore on corporal punishment. The UK Courts will decide whether to extradite Roach."

The rare bank robbery in Singapore sparked a flurry of debate about whether the country has grown too complacent about security.

Singapore has very low levels of crime, thanks in part to decades of strict policing and tough punishments, ranging from death for drug trafficking and murder to prison and caning for lesser crimes.

Stomp contributor Alan was at Chinatown Point's carpark when he witnessed a fight between two drivers at around 5.26pm on Feb 9.

He caught the entire incident of what he described as "absurd behaviour" on his car camera and shared it with Stomp.

Alan was waiting to turn right when the driver of the car in front of him suddenly exited his vehicle in a rage to confront a van driver who had turned right only to reverse into a parking lot to the left.

In the video, the driver in yellow storms towards the van and starts berating the driver, even reaching into the vehicle to grab a bag and throw it to the ground.

A man, believed to be a companion of the van driver, rushes over to confront the man in yellow and starts throwing punches.

Soon the van driver leaps out of his vehicle to join the fight, throwing kicks and punches before grabbing the man by the neck and throwing him to the ground.

Other acquaintances of both drivers rush to break up the fight and they proceed to retreat to their respective vehicles.

However, the driver in yellow then unexplainably drives his vehicle right at a man from the van before jamming his brakes in what appears to be an act of intimidation.

He then turns right and stops a few lots down from the van before the video ends.

A 45-year-old married man had sex with a 15-year-old girl five times within three days and was sentenced to 24 months' jail.

The sexual acts took place in a hotel pool, a multi-storey carpark and in his car, between November and December 2016, reported Shin Min Daily News.

After the incident was exposed, the man, a director of a company, divorced from his wife, lost his job and is now working as an Uber driver.

Chen Liyuan, 45, fetched a monthly salary of over $10,000 during the time of the incident.

He forked out $1,600 from his salary which he paid as 'allowance' to his sugar baby, who was only 15 years old then.

Chen faced five counts of having sexual relations with a minor, of which he was charged with three.

The two others were taken into consideration during the sentencing.

The court heard that Chen had met the girl in November 2016 via a website, 'Seeking Arrangement' and exchanged contact details with her.

The two chatted on WhatsApp after that and reached an agreement -- Chen would give the girl a $1,600 'allowance'.

In exchange, the girl would provide Chen with companionship and sex.

According to court documents, on Dec 15, 2016, at around 7.30pm, Chen and the girl met at Capella Hotel in Sentosa.

He then brought the girl to a pool, where he asked her to perform oral sex on him.

On the same day, Chen drove the girl to Nex Shopping Centre.

Along the way, Chen stopped his car at a section of Bishan Road, near a bus stop.

There, the girl was asked to perform oral sex on Chen again.

Three days later, on Dec 18, Chen and the girl met again at a void deck of a Housing and Development Board (HDB) block in Hougang so the girl could collect her allowance.

Afterwards, the girl performed oral sex and the pair engaged in sexual intercourse in Chen’s car which was parked at a multi-storey carpark nearby. 

Chen's lawyer said during the mitigation plea that Chen has a seven-year-old son from his previous marriage, and owed credit card debts amounting to $37,000.

He also said that his client felt remorse over his actions and was depressed, having lost his job and his marriage.

Chen was sentenced to 24 months' jail.

About 685,000 registered user profiles on the HardwareZone (HWZ) Forum website were found to be affected in a security breach, following an investigation into a suspicious posting on Feb 18, 2018.

According to a press release from SPH Magazines which owns the website, investigations found that a Senior Moderator’s account had been compromised by an unidentified hacker. It was used to view approximately 685,000 registered user profiles since September 2017.

"The hacker used the compromised credentials to impersonate the Senior Moderator to retrieve user profile data which comprised name, email address and user ID, and possible optional data fields," said the statement. 

It added that the HWZ database does not contain NRIC numbers, telephone numbers and addresses as these were purged in line with the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) Guidelines in July 2015.  

Forum users have been advised to change their forum account password.

SPH Magazines says a police report has been lodged and PDPC has been informed. It has also engaged security consultants to conduct a thorough review of the system.  

"SPH Magazines and HWZ sincerely apologise to HWZ users for this breach of security. We remain committed to protecting all personal data shared with us," said the statement.

a1admin@sph.com.sg

SINGAPORE - A Singaporean man convicted over a high-profile fraud case at a megachurch was caught Wednesday trying to flee in a boat before he was due to start his sentence, police said.

In a case that gripped the city-state with a heady mix of religion, showbiz and fraud, six leaders from City Harvest Church were convicted in 2015 of pilfering tens of millions of dollars from the place of worship to promote the pop career of the pastor's wife.

Among them was investment manager Chew Eng Han, who was sentenced to three years and four months but had his imprisonment delayed by a series of appeals.

After losing his final challenge, the 57-year-old was allowed to remain out of prison on bail until after the Lunar New Year holiday, and was meant to start serving his sentence on February 22.

But in the latest bizarre twist to the case, police caught Chew around 8:45 am (0045 GMT) in a small fishing boat off eastern Singapore allegedly attempting to flee to Malaysia.

He was with a second man who was piloting the craft.

"Preliminary investigations suggest that the duo were attempting to depart Singapore illegally," said a police statement.

The men were carrying $5,000 in cash, three mobile phones and fishing gear. A source close to the investigation told AFP that when approached, the pair claimed they were going fishing.

They will be charged in court on Thursday and are accused of attempting to leave Singapore unlawfully, an offence that carries a maximum six-month jail term and fine of $2,000.

Read also

Former City Harvest Church leader Chew Eng Han had been 'praying hard' to prepare for jail before failed escape bid

The church leaders were convicted of using $24 million from a church building fund to help advance the music career of the pastor's wife Ho, and were also found guilty of misappropriating huge sums as they scrambled to cover their tracks.

Pastor Kong Hee was initially sentenced to eight years but his term was cut to three and half years in 2017 by the High Court on a technicality, sparking a storm of criticism.

An appeal court this month upheld the decision to reduce his sentence.

Instead of leaving after finishing his delivery run, a man was caught on camera lingering in the corridor of a condominium along Dunearn Road and taking a resident's parcel instead.

The Dunearn Suites resident, Stomp contributor binary0018, said she had been expecting a courier delivery from FedEx on Feb 19.

As she was not home, the courier called at around 6pm to inform her that he had left her parcel on her doorstep.

According to Binary0018, her parcel contained $343.31 worth of beauty products and toiletries.

She told Stomp on Feb 20: "I was okay with it as my condo is quite secure and rarely anyone ventures to my floor.

"I returned after work at nearly 8pm and there was no parcel on my doorstep. I immediately checked with my courier, who confirmed he had delivered it."

The resident then contacted her condo management and viewed CCTV footage showing what transpired.

She said: "We saw that about half an hour after my courier left my item, another guy came up to my floor. He was delivering something to my neighbour who stays on the same floor.

"The video showed saw him loitering in front of my door before surreptitiously picking up my parcel and going down the lift with it."

In the video, the man can be seen entering the lift and leaving with a white parcel tucked under his right arm at around 6.33pm.

Binary0018 believes that the guy is an Uber Eats deliveryman after making checks with her neighbour.

She continued: "My neighbour was able to provide me with details of her Uber Eats transaction, the delivery person's name and even a full-face profile photo of him (from the app) -- which matches the person captured in the CCTV."

The resident has since made a police report and contacted Uber Eats about what happened.

She added that her parcel was not see-through, though there was a folded invoice, so it is unclear if the man knew what items it contained.

In response to a Stomp query, the police confirm that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.

A spokesman for Uber Eats told Stomp: "What has been described is unacceptable and violates our Community Guidelines.

"We are currently looking into this incident and stand ready to support the relevant authorities in their investigations."

Stomp contributor Binary also said: "A team member from Uber Eats got in touch with me yesterday (Feb 21) for further discussion after Stomp contacted them."

Robots may be gradually entering the workforce, but as CNBC recently found after testing a hotel robot in Singapore, they're not completely flawless.

CNBC ordered a few items to a room at the M Social Hotel, from AURA, the hotel's new robot.

AURA is made by a San Francisco-based manufacturer, Savioke, which has dispatched other robots to several locations around the world. AURA is not capable of delivering food items yet, so we ordered several bottled waters and towels.

As a hotel guest, the experience was relatively seamless. The only notable flaw was when AURA indecisively turned in circles in front of our hotel room after the delivery was made before finally cruising back down the hallway toward the elevators.

But during a separate trip in which CNBC followed AURA from its charging station in the lobby to the hotel room, things weren't completely smooth.

AURA has the ability to wirelessly call for an elevator (the staff says it has a preferred one), but this time it hesitated to enter an opened elevator with several guests already inside with large luggage waiting to go to their rooms. The robot delayed the lift, and then waited outside as the doors closed without it.

The guests inside waited for the elevator to ascend, but it didn't.

The doors opened again and the guests walked out annoyed, while AURA made its way in - in their place. This time the doors closed and ascended up with AURA ready to make its delivery.

Later, while cruising down the hallway, the robot got distracted by a housekeeping cart and hesitated to go inside the open room, before continuing on its journey to our room, where the delivery was completed.

But, AURA still gets the job done despite the minor quirks. In fact, maybe small flaws are simply part of the design to make it feel more ... human?

Also read: M is for Millennials at M Social hotel, oozing with mystery and tech

This article was first published on CNBC

Singapore - The looming demolition of a horseshoe-shaped tower block that symbolised Singapore's growth from a port town to an affluent city-state has sparked soul-searching about whether enough is being done to protect the country's recent history.

Pearl Bank Apartments, on the edge of the business district, was groundbreaking when it was completed in 1976 - at the time it was the tallest residential building in Singapore, and became a model for high-rise living in the country and across cities in Southeast Asia.

It was a turning point for the city-state's Chinatown, as it was the first skyscraper in an area dotted with low-rise buildings.

But the 37-storey, 280-apartment block has seen better days, with residents now complaining of leaking pipes and ageing lifts. Earlier this month it was sold for Sg$728 million ($550 million) to a developer, who plans to construct a modern, high-rise residential building on the site.

The block was constructed in a 1970s style that has now fallen out of fashion, and lacks the colonial-era charm of buildings from British rule, many of which enjoy official protection.

But Pearl Bank and other buildings from the era are held dear by some Singaporeans as they are a reminder of the country's blistering development after independence in 1965.

"The buildings that were built just after independence were a reflection of the aspirations and hopes of a new nation," said photographer Darren Soh, who has been documenting Pearl Bank and other buildings from the same period.

"If we tear all these down, there will be nothing to remind us of the era." Some publicly-owned buildings from that era, including a town hall and a conference hall, have been listed as national monuments, which should protect them from the wrecking ball.

But Ho Weng Hin, from architectural conservation consultancy Studio Lapis, said there were no cases of privately-owned residential blocks from that period being conserved and there was a "real threat" to such buildings.

However residents of Pearl Bank who backed the sale said that conservation was not practical due to the high cost.

"A lot of the people calling for conservation are outsiders looking in but if you lived here yourself, you'll understand the difficulties," resident Marie Lim, a 68-year-old retiree, told AFP.

SINGAPORE - A church official convicted in a multimillion-dollar fraud case was charged again in court on Thursday after trying to flee Singapore on a boat a day before he was to begin serving a reduced jail sentence.

The five-year-long legal battle that mixed fraud and faith had gripped the wealthy southeast Asian island, where there is little tolerance of corruption.

Chew Eng Han, who was the treasurer of the City Harvest Church and an investment manager, had hired a boat to escape to neighbouring Malaysia, a trip of less than an hour, when he was arrested by the coast guard on Wednesday, Singapore police said.

Chew was arrested "for attempting to leave Singapore illegally," the police said in a statement, adding that their investigation continued.

Chew and another man were arrested in a motorboat off the island of Pulau Ubin. Chew had S$5,000 in cash, the police said. The pair claimed to have been fishing when questioned.

Chew, who is in custody, could not be reached for comment. Reuters could not immediately contact his lawyer to seek comment.

Chew was among six church leaders convicted in October 2015 of misusing millions of dollars to support the pop-singing career of the wife of a church co-founder. She was not charged in the case.

Chew was to have begun serving a sentence of three years and four months, which had been cut from six years on appeal.

Earlier in February, a Singapore court rejected a prosecution appeal to reinstate longer jail terms for the church leaders, after they were cut by the High Court in April 2017.

Chew and the other accused all had their sentences cut nearly in half, prompting public criticism and a pledge by the government to amend a law that led to the shorter sentences.

The 57-year-old Chew had been allowed to stay outside of prison on bail until after the Lunar New Year so that he could spend time with family, his lawyer told the court last month.

While megachurches originated in the United States, some of the largest are in Asia, where packaging the traditional biblical message into a more dynamic format of pop music, lively services and social media has lured a new generation of followers and turned the churches into major enterprises.

City Harvest had a congregation of 15,923 and more than 50 affiliations in China, the United States, and seven other countries in 2016, its latest annual report shows.

DUBAI - Saudi Arabia's aviation authority has terminated a concession agreement with Singapore's Changi Airports International and its local Saudi partner to operate the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) awarded the contract last April for a period of up to 20 years. It did not elaborate on its reason for cancelling the agreement.

Changi and its partner, the Saudi Naval Support Company, confirmed in a separate statement that the consortium had received a notice of termination from GACA.

The companies said they had "strictly observed the request for proposal process stipulated by GACA".

"(The consortium) submitted all required documentation for GACA's review and had obtained all requisite approvals prior to the award of the concession", they said.

Saudi Arabia has brought in foreign firms to manage some of its airports for the past several years as part of a broader privatisation drive, which will eventually involve selling stakes in the airports themselves.

The kingdom awarded a build, transfer and operate contract for a new airport in Medina to TAV Airports Holding and Al Rajhi Holding in 2011, then later chose the same consortium to develop and operate airports in Yanbu, Qassim and Hail.

It awarded a contract to manage and operate Riyadh airport's new Terminal 5 to Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) in 2016.