DBS has been sued for an estimated S$1.298 billion in damages supposedly related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, Reuters reported on Sep. 9.

The claimants include the liquidators of four companies: BlackRock Commodities (Global), Platinum Global Luxury Services, Affinity Equity International Partners ​and TKIL Global Investments.

The liquidators confirmed to Reuters that they have served the damages claim.

DBS has put out an online statement, saying that they "categorically [reject] and will vigorously resist the Claim."

They further added that despite the fact that global recovery efforts related to the 1MDB case have been ongoing since 2018, there has been no claim against DBS the entire time.

Background

1MDB was a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund established by former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

It became the subject of a massive scandal in 2015 after it transpired that the fund was being embezzled by Najib and other perpetrators.

Najib channelled over RM2.67 billion (S$829 million) into his personal bank accounts.

The purported mastermind of the embezzlement, Malaysian businessman Jho Low, spent the funds on luxury condominiums, superyachts, and other lavish indulgences.

In total, investigations estimate that about US$4.5 billion (S$5.68 billion) was stolen from 1MDB.

Najib has been under arrest since 2018 and was found guilty of all charges in 2025.

Low is still at large and most recently asked U.S President Donald Trump for a pardon.

https://mothership.sg/2025/12/najib-jail-1mdb-charges

https://mothership.sg/2026/05/jho-low-trump-pardon

The lawsuit

Some of the companies filing the suit against DBS may not be what they seem.

While they may bear names resembling some of the largest players in global finance, they might be shell companies implicated in the 1MDB scandal, according to reports.

According to The Edge, these companies were set up by Low for money laundering purposes, hoping that legitimate-sounding names would facilitate international bank transfers.

For instance, the named "BlackRock Commodities (Global)" is unrelated to BlackRock, Inc., the largest investment fund in the world. The Edge reported that the beneficial owner of BlackRock Commodities (Global)'s bank account was listed as one Eric Tan Kim Loong, a "trusted associate" of Low's.

"Affinity Equity International Partners" seems to be named after Affinity Equity Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Asia.

In a report by the New Straits Times, an analyst from the Central Bank of Malaysia detailed how funds from 1MDB were moved into these shell companies, controlled by Low's close associate Tan.

These shell companies then transferred the money into Najib's bank account.

It is not known what allegations these companies are suing DBS for.

DBS is not the first bank in Singapore to be implicated in legal action pertaining to the 1MDB scandal.

In July 2025, Reuters reported that claimants filed a S$3.5 billion lawsuit against Standard Chartered Bank, alleging that they had facilitated and permitted intra-bank transfers that obfuscated the flow of stolen 1MDB funds.

While in the shower at her community care apartment, 85-year-old Soh Hock Lye fell down and injured her hip.

But when she pressed the emergency call button, no help came.

Soh apparently had to drag herself to the main door, where she called for help and was eventually overheard by a neighbour.

It was over two hours after her fall when an ambulance was finally called, her daughter, Mary Aw, told Mothership.

Fall in toilet

Aw said that her elderly mother has lived at the community care apartment, Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok, for about two years.

The incident happened at around 12pm on Sep. 2.

After her shower, Soh fell and injured her hip.

Unable to stand, she pressed the emergency call button, which is one of the features of the apartment.

She heard a voice, believed it was a response, and waited to help to come.

But no-one came to her aid.

"She thought she [was] going to die that day," Aw told Mothership.

"She prayed, [and] she [told] herself to survive, she needs to help herself."

Dragged herself to door

Over the next two hours, Soh dragged her body to the flat's main door.

She could not get up or even crawl, and was undressed, wet, and cold, her daughter said.

With all her strength, she managed to use her walking stick to open the main door and call for help.

After that, a neighbour and other passers-by came to her aid and an ambulance was called.

Responding to Mothership's queries, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that on Sep. 2 at about 3pm, it received a call for assistance at Block 469A Bukit Batok West Avenue 9.

SCDF conveyed one person to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

Operation, investigation

Soh underwent a hip fracture operation the same day, and is now recovering in the hospital.

While she is now safe, Aw says that what happened is "unacceptable".

"What would've happened if she fell and died, because no help came faster? [Or] if she had a stroke? ...She's already 85 years old," she said.

She added that later, they learnt that the "voice" Soh had heard after pressing the call bell was actually an automated response.

But she does not understand why nobody went to check on her mother.

"If somebody [calls and says] hello, hello, but you cannot hear properly, [you should] still go to the unit and check. You cannot just leave it at that."

Reviewing circumstances

Responding to Mothership's queries, a spokesperson from Vanguard Healthcare, which operates the facility, said that they are aware of the incident.

They explained that it appears to be an "isolated incident", and that they are reviewing the circumstances to put in place further preventive measures.

"We have been in contact with the resident and her family to provide the necessary support and keep them updated on our ongoing investigation," the spokesperson added.

Harmony Village is Singapore's first community care apartment.

Community care apartments are part of an assisted-living public housing concept that integrates senior-friendly amenities and services.

As part of the assisted living concept, all residents are required to subscribe to a basic service package, which includes features such as a 24-hour emergency response.

They can then choose to add on additional care services, such as housekeeping, day care, and meal service.

In August, The Straits Times reported that prices of the basic service packages had increased significantly ever since the project's launch in 2021.

The prices were subsequently cut after feedback from seniors, and the service offerings streamlined.

A man allegedly locked himself at home for close to an entire day after arguing with his wife, who later called the police.

According to Shin Min Daily News, the incident happened on the fourth floor of Block 224 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 on Sep. 8.

In response to Mothership's queries, the police said they received a call for assistance on a report of a missing 32-year-old man at about 8:40am that day.

Preliminary investigations revealed that he could be in a residential unit at the Ang Mo Kio block, prompting police officers to enter the unit.

After they found him there, he was assessed to potentially pose a danger to himself.

A neighbour told Shin Min she apparently heard the man tell the police he wanted to cut his thigh, that he was not getting along with his wife and she wanted to leave him.

The man was apprehended under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act, which allows police to apprehend people they believe may pose a danger to themselves or others due to mental health conditions, and take them for medical treatment.

No injuries were reported.

How police entered unit

According to the neighbour, who lives on the same floor, the police knocked on her door in the morning asking if the man residing in a nearby unit was home.

She told them she was not sure.

As there was no response at the man's unit, the police allegedly returned to her door about every two hours to ask her further about whether she had seen the man.

A large group of police officers arrived at the unit at around 7pm, requesting that the man open the door, but he did not budge, the neighbour said.

She claimed that the police subsequently found someone to forcefully open the front door, which was difficult because it apparently had five or six locks.

The police decided to enter the unit at 9pm, and the man finally opened the door for them.

Marital problems

According to Shin Min, it is believed that the man locked himself at home after an argument with his wife, and she called the police for assistance.

A resident living on the third floor said the man and his wife have been talking about getting a divorce.

The wife and their four children had allegedly moved downstairs to the third floor.

Alleged drug abuse

Other residents also told Shin Min that the man apparently went to jail three times for drug abuse.

"He often does not sleep at night, and would pace the area under the block in the early morning," a neighbour said. "But [on the day of the incident], the police arrived before he had gone out."

The neighbour added that after the man returned home from jail the year before, he quickly grew very skinny, leading the residents to wonder if he might be using drugs again.

After rapper Sheikh Haikel announced his stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis, Singapore media personalities Suhaimi Yusof, Gurmit Singh and Bernard Lee were among those who visited him.

In an Instagram post on Sep. 8, Suhaimi shared photos from their meetup at chicken rice restaurant Hai Ge Ji, which Sheikh owns.

Sheikh's wife Anna Belle Francis, Singaporean singers Mahani Mohd and Kamaliah Latiff were also present at the meetup.

In his caption, Suhaimi said, "When me and Gurmit first heard about Sheikh Haikel's condition, we were devastated."

"Today, Sep. 8, we met, we hugged, we joked, we laughed, we shed tears, and we realised how much we really appreciate each other & prayed for one another."

'Unique high-spirited dude'

Suhaimi shared: "Sheikh Haikel is a unique, high-spirited dude who not only entertains others but, even while down with this challenge, he still managed to self-entertain himself".

Suhaimi also shared an update on Sheikh's condition, which he described as "miracle news", saying that Sheikh's colon was now "clear of cancer".

However, Suhaimi noted that Sheikh now "needs to battle the ones that affect his liver".

One of the photos posted showed Gurmit and Suhaimi embracing.

'To my brother, Sheikh Haikel': Aaron Aziz

Actor Aaron Aziz and his wife Diyana Halik have also shown their support.

The couple shared a video on Sep. 6, 2026, showing a phone call between Aaron and Sheikh, along with clips from their trip to perform umrah in September 2025.

Umrah is a voluntary Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Aaron said Sheikh expressed a desire to perform umrah after disclosing his cancer diagnosis privately on Jul. 27, 2025.

In the video, Aaron said, "To my brother, Sheikh Haikel, when you told me you had cancer, you said you had one wish, which was to go on umrah".

"All you wanted was for you and Anna Belle to make dua in front of the Kaaba, and alhamdulillah, we managed to do so. It was my most unforgettable trip with you, and it is something that I will always treasure."

To make dua is to pray in front of the Kaaba, a stone building at the centre of Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Islam's holiest site.

Halimah Yacob visits reopened restaurant

Former Singapore president Halimah Yacob also visited Hai Ge Ji after the restaurant’s reopening.

In a Facebook post on Sep. 9, Halimah said Sheikh was there to greet his customers despite his illness.

She said: “It was a poignant moment but also a great testament to the resilience, grit and perseverance of the couple battling together to fight Haikel’s illness, and to keep their business thriving in the highly competitive F&B sector.”

A 30-year-old woman was charged after she allegedly broke into her ex-boyfriend's house twice by climbing into the unit, and tried to grab an officer's gun when police arrived to mediate.

Shin Min Daily News reported that Yu Meng, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty on Sep. 9 to using violence to obstruct a public servant from performing his duties.

A separate charge of violating the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

Broke into house

Charge sheets seen by Mothership stated that the incident occurred on Oct. 13, 2024, in a house at Swettenham Road in the Tanglin area.

At the time, Yu and her ex-boyfriend had already broken up after dating from September 2023 to April 2024, Shin Min reported.

After she allegedly broke in, her ex-boyfriend called the police to report the matter, noting that the doors and windows of his house were unlocked.

The police, who arrived soon after, spoke with him inside the house to understand what had happened, before taking Yu outside.

Tried to grab gun

As they brought her out, she apparently tried to grab an officer's gun, Shin Min reported.

Charge sheets stated that she intentionally used her hands to touch the vicinity of an officer's pistol and holster.

The officer then pushed her hands away, and she was arrested on the spot.

Sentencing

Following this, the prosecution called for a sentence of four to five weeks' jail.

Noting that Yu had previously been in poor mental health and was undergoing treatment at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Shin Min reported that her lawyer asked the judge to consider a mandatory treatment order (MTO).

Her case was adjourned to Sep. 15 for sentencing.

A cleaner reportedly found a 51-year-old man lying motionless on a bench in an alley in Jalan Besar on Sep. 7.

The man was later pronounced dead at the scene.

No foul play suspected

In response to Mothership's queries, the police confirmed receiving a call for assistance at 36 Upper Weld Road at around 4:25pm that day.

The man was found motionless on a bench and was pronounced dead at the scene by a Singapore Civil Defence Force paramedic.

Based on preliminary investigations, the police do not suspect foul play.

Investigations are ongoing.

Cleaner noticed man sleeping on metal box

According to Shin Min Daily News, a witness who was cycling past the area noticed that an alley had been cordoned off and that several police cars had arrived.

When Shin Min arrived at the scene at about 5pm, at least two police cars were parked by the road.

A blue tent had also been set up in the alley to cover the body, while several onlookers had gathered.

A male cleaner, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Chinese-language newspaper that he had seen a middle-aged man sleeping on a metal box in the alley the previous afternoon on Sep. 6.

The man was still breathing at the time, the cleaner said, and was believed to have been drunk and had fallen asleep there.

He added that he had worked in the area for nearly four years and frequently saw people who were intoxicated sleeping in the alley.

When he passed by the area again on Sep. 7, he saw the same man and noticed that he was no longer breathing.

He then decided to call the police.

Local actress and influencer Chen Yixin has moved to Paris, and is documenting the experience in a new Instagram series.

The 26-year-old is the daughter of actors Edmund Chen and Xiang Yun.

She announced the move in the first instalment of her social media series.

She wrote in the caption: "26, and somehow it feels like I'm only just starting. I’ve wanted this for a long time. Not to become someone new, but to find out what happens when I give myself a little more room to be me."

"It's my hundredth time taking this"

In the video, filmed sitting on her bed, Chen opened by admitting how long it had taken her to record.

She said: "It's my hundredth time taking this. I don't know why, there's no one in the room, and yet, I think I'm always just afraid of saying the wrong things."

She said she had held back from talking to the camera because so much of her personal life is already discussed.

She said: "For the longest time, I kept most of myself to myself. I didn't want to give any more ammunition to be picked apart."

Chen said she used to want to be accepted, and to give no one a reason to talk about her. She has since realised that was “never going to happen”.

She said: "They're just going to be saying what they want to be saying."

She added that she has never claimed to be perfect, pointing to her tattoos as an example. People see them as marring her skin, she said, but she is happy with them. She wondered whether part of her was acting out due to the pressure she puts on herself.

Growing up online

Chen reflected on having her adolescence documented publicly.

She said: "There's digital footprints of me growing up, which is really not the most ideal for a young girl. Of course it's not as big as it seemed in retrospect. A lot of the things were very magnified because I was still really young. I'm still very, very sensitive to unnecessary noises. So that affected me a lot."

She said she had grown disconnected from her own content, with things she wanted to share but did not dare to.

She also wrote a letter for the video but decided to “go rogue” instead because she wants to build a community that knows and loves her for who she is.

She added that she had written many songs about her life that she had never dared to share, and was trying to build the confidence to do so.

"Now here I am, the one choosing to put my life on the internet, which is very ironic,” Chen said.

Why she moved

On why she moved, Chen said she wanted to find out what her life could look like somewhere new.

She said:

"I have to trust the process and I have to grow. If it's not now then when. Even saying this statement myself, I know I'm very lucky to even be saying it."

She added: "I just have no friends here, so why not have you guys as my friends? I'll be chatting a lot more with you guys, so stay tuned."

View this post on Instagram

 

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The 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) in central Singapore crossed into the unhealthy range at 11pm last night (Sep. 9) and has climbed steadily since.

According to the National Environment Agency's (NEA) website, the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) for central Singapore hit 106 as of 9am on Sep. 10.

Overnight readings

The 24-hour PSI readings in other parts of Singapore, including the north (75), south (78), east (83) and west (86), remained in the moderate range as of 9am on Sep. 10.

As such, the overall PSI in Singapore was in the moderate to unhealthy range, from 75 to 106 at 9am.

The 24-hour PSI reflects air quality over the preceding 24 hours. NEA advises the public to use it for planning next day outdoor activities.

For immediate outdoor activities, check the 1-hr PM2.5 concentration readings.

As of 9am on Sep. 10, the 1-hr PM2.5 remains in the normal range.

NEA advisory

NEA said in a Sep. 9 advisory that the the 24-hr PSI is forecast to be in the "high moderate" to "low unhealthy" range.

Moderate to dense smoke plumes continue to be detected from fires in southern and central Sumatra and Kalimantan, with smoke haze observed to drift towards Singapore, the agency said.

It added that while some showers are forecast over central and northern Sumatra in the coming days, dry conditions are expected to persist over Kalimantan and southern Sumatra.

"With prevailing winds blowing from the southeast or south, there remains a risk of smoke haze affecting Singapore should the fires persist."

MPs Shawn Loh and Alex Yeo raised questions on the validity of pressure tactics during livestreams.

Loh asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) whether the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) could review whether interactive pressure tactics during live-stream broadcasts, such as manipulated real-time stock counters, flash countdowns, and automated social proof notifications, fall under actionable dark patterns and unfair trade practices under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003.

Yeo also asked whether, given the time-compressed decision-making for consumers during livestreams, enforcement actions, similar to those against online retailers using misleading features, will be used against these types of livestream sellers.

He also asked if there will be further consumer protection measures, such as extending a mandatory cooling-off period.

In his written reply, Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng said it is unfair practice for a business to make false or misleading representations, or exert undue pressure on a consumer to enter into any transaction in both physical and online settings, including livestream broadcasts.

He said the usage of urgency cues by livestream sellers is not, by itself, an unfair practice.

Tan noted in his reply that features such as stock counters, countdown timers and social proof notifications may serve legitimate commercial purposes by informing consumers about stock availability, time-limited promotions or purchasing activity.

Whether a particular feature is an unfair practice depends on the specific facts and circumstances, including whether the urgency is genuine and whether the information presented is false or misleading.

Consumers who have encountered potential unfair practices in livestream commerce should approach the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) for assistance.

Tan said the government will also work with CASE to raise consumer awareness of unfair practices and help them to make more informed decisions.

He also said that businesses and marketers, including livestreamers, should take note and abide by the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice, issued by the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) under CASE.

After years of rumours, the iPhone Duo is here.

It is Apple's first foldable phone in 19 years since the first iPhone launched in 2007.

Singapore prices

In Singapore, the iPhone Duo is selling for S$3,099 for the 256GB model.

The most expensive option, the 2TB model, is going for S$4,899.

Here is the full price list:

256GB: S$3,099

512GB: S$3,399

1TB: S$3,999

2TB: S$4,899

The iPhone Duo will come in two colors: Night Sky and Star White.

Pre-orders in the U.S. start on Oct. 16, 2026.

The Duo will be available in 70 countries on Oct. 23.

The entry level model available in the U.S. is priced at US$1,999 (S$2,527) for the 256GB model.

2 screens

The folding iPhone has a smaller exterior display when closed.

It opens up to a larger internal screen.

The outer display is 5.4 inches, while the interior panel is 7.6 inches, and can run two separate apps.

Passport-sized

The iPhone Duo is about the size of a passport when closed.

It is made with a titanium frame for durability and to keep its weight down.

Specifications

Inside, the iPhone Duo is powered by Apple's new A20 Pro chip and the company's own C2 modem.

There are two batteries for up to 24 hours of use when both displays are employed equally.

It offers up to 31 hours of video playback using its inner display and up to 44 hours when using the outer screen.

Apple said a 20-minute charge can replenish half the battery.