Two women were arrested for suspected vice-related activities following an enforcement operation at a massage establishment along Sims Avenue.

The operation was conducted on Sep. 18 by officers from the Geylang Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) and Bedok Division Compliance Management Unit, according to a Facebook post by Geylang NPC.

4 women seen in police photos

A photo posted on Facebook showed four women seated on a sofa with their faces blurred out.

Two women were subsequently arrested for suspected vice-related activities.

The police reminds members of the public not to take part in such activities and to report suspected cases to the police.

When ICA officers came to a Hougang flat in May, a 30-year-old man allegedly told the Indonesian woman living there to hide in a wardrobe.

He is also said to have instructed a 20-year-old man to delete messages from her phone.

Sharizal Saidon now faces three charges, according to Lianhe Zaobao, which cited an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority statement.

Three years

Alfira Mongan's special pass expired on May 19, 2023.

Sharizal is alleged to have helped her remain in Singapore unlawfully from the next day until May 26, 2026, without reasonable excuse.

That is just over three years.

He is also alleged to have allowed her to stay at his flat at Hougang during that period, despite knowing that she had overstayed.

The raid

The obstruction charge relates to May 26, 2026, when ICA officers came to the Hougang unit.

Sharizal is alleged to have obstructed them in carrying out their duties, telling Alfira to hide in a closet to avoid the search, and instructing a 20-year-old man to delete messages from her phone.

Barred

Alfira was convicted earlier and sentenced to 14 weeks' jail and a S$2,000 fine.

She has since completed her sentence, been repatriated, and barred from returning to Singapore.

What he faces

Knowingly harbouring an immigration offender carries between six months and two years’ jail, as well as a fine of up to S$6,000.

Negligently harbouring an immigration offender carries a fine of up to S$6,000, up to 12 months’ jail, or both.

Obstructing an immigration officer in the execution of their duty carries a fine of up to S$4,000, up to 12 months’ jail, or both.

Sharizal has been charged and has indicated he intends to plead guilty. His case has been adjourned to Nov. 2.

An employee of Bee Cheng Hiang's marketing department mistakenly caused a personal data breach involving 95,364 of the company's members when they used an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to send mass marketing emails.

Only the members' email addresses were affected, according to the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC).

As the marketing email was sent in batches of 1,000, each affected member's email address was disclosed to up to 999 other recipients within the same batch, displayed in the "To" field of the emails.

Bee Cheng Hiang Marketing notified the PDPC of the incident, which happened on Apr. 25, two days later.

It is the first AI-related data breach in Singapore that the PDPC has been notified of.

The commission investigated the incident and conducted a voluntary undertaking from Bee Cheng Hiang on Sep. 2 to improve its compliance with the PDPC.

They found that the affected data was not managed, processed, or generated by any AI-powered operation or process.

There was also no evidence of further misuse of the affected personal data.

How it happened

The incident was caused by a human error when the employee developed an email distribution Python script with an AI tool.

There was a configuration error in the generated script.

It was missing a bracket that caused all recipient email addresses within each batch to be grouped together as a single object in the “To” field, rather than as individual, isolated recipient entries.

PDPC underscored that the error was due not to a malfunction in the AI tool, but to the prompt given, as it did not include specific instructions to make sure other recipients' email addresses was not visible to each recipient.

The employee did not realise the error before deploying the script, PDPC said.

They tested it by checking activity logs without reviewing the contents of the actual test email.

No review process

The incident likely happened because Bee Cheng Hiang Marketing did not conduct sufficiently robust testing to check the email distribution script before it was deployed, according to the PDPC.

The company also did not have a review process for supervisory checks of the employee’s work, nor a governance framework or policies in place to guide employees on the use of generative AI tools for work.

It was the first time the company had attempted to incorporate AI tools in its business operations.

The PDPC advised organisations to take precautions before adopting AI tools to enhance their operational efficiency.

They should carry out appropriate data protection impact assessments, develop policies and processes for the AI use, and implement testing and review mechanisms.

This way, they can better ensure that their employees use AI tools responsibly and safeguard personal data.

Remedial action

Bee Cheng Hiang Marketing "took prompt remedial actions" when they discovered the error, PDPC said.

They included immediately halting the bulk marketing email distribution process to prevent further email activity, and rectifying the erroneous script.

The company also notified all affected members, and implemented double-verification checks by at least two staff for all bulk email communications before sending out.

As part of the voluntary undertaking, the company has taken and will take a few further steps to ensure data security, and the PDPC will verify their compliance.

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was seen shedding tears next to his wife's grave on Oct. 1, three days after her death .

He was paying his last respects alongside family members during funeral rites for Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, who passed away at the age of 100 on Sep. 28.

Mahathir was in a motorised wheelchair.

During the 15 minutes he spent at Siti's grave, he was seen crying as he prayed and scattered rose petals.

According to the New Straits Times, Mahathir had stopped by on the way home from the National Heart Institute after undergoing regular treatment.

The 101-year-old has been suffering from a lack of sleep since his wife's death, his press secretary said.

A 23-year-old South Korean man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a female high school student after attempting to kidnap her with the intention of sexually assaulting her.

According to local news outlet The Korea Times, the man, Jang Yoon Gi, was sentenced on Sep. 30, 2026.

He was earlier indicted on May 5, 2026 on charges including murder in the course of rape over the death of 16-year-old Lee Chae Won.

The charges

The incident took place at around 12:10am on a deserted walkway in Wolgye-dong in Gwangju's Gwangsan District, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.

Jang was also charged with attacking a second-year high school male student, who ran over upon hearing Lee scream, with a weapon.

In addition to the murder charge, Jang was also charged with other sex-related offences.

He allegedly stalked and sexually assaulted a woman who worked with him at a part-time job two days before the murder.

He was also accused of secretly filming a teenage girl's body while serving as a social service agent.

Prosecution sought the death penalty

The prosecution sought the death penalty at Jang's final hearing on Aug. 31, 2026, reported Korea JoongAng Daily.

Jang's charge of murder in the course of rape carries two possible sentences under South Korean law: death or life imprisonment.

He admitted to all the charges in court and submitted three letters expressing remorse.

The court also ordered him to wear an electronic ankle monitor and barred him from working at institutions for children, adolescents and people with disabilities for 10 years, should he be released.

Separately, the victim's family reportedly staged a one-person protest around the time of the sentencing, calling for the maximum penalty allowed under law, and submitted a petition seeking severe punishment.

The petition had garnered about 100,000 signatures.

A family member told reporters that the ruling has "killed our family once more".

The court ultimately found Jang guilty on all charges and said the prosecution's argument that he should be isolated from society permanently was reasonable.

South Korea has not carried out an execution since December 1997.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and social media giant TikTok have partnered up to create a new programme aimed at developing expertise in microdramas.

According to a press release by IMDA, this new initiative will equip media professionals with the skillset to conceptualise and produce 50 to 100 microdrama episodes and bring them to market.

It is a part of IMDA’s Digital Content and Capability Development (DCCD) programme launched earlier this year.

The first run of this programme will only be applicable to professionals from 20 accredited media companies.

IMDA has said that future editions of the programme may be expanded to a wider pool of applicants.

Microdramas are short, fast-paced series designed to be viewed vertically on smartphones, with each episode running from one to three minutes.

According to IMDA, microdramas and other short-form vertical video content have rapidly grown popular, with the global market projected to generate $150 billion in revenue this year.

Two tracks

The programme will last six to nine months, in which participants will learn microdrama storytelling techniques from TikTok and their partners.

These techniques and skills include vertical content production, cliffhanger design, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Two tracks will be made available to participants.

The first is a live-action track, focusing on content filmed with live actors and real sets which may be supplemented with AI-augmented content.

The second is an AI-enabled animation track, which focuses on animated content generated using AI. Participants will learn, among other things, prompt engineering, character consistency planning, and Seedance 2.5, an AI video generation tool by TikTok's parent company ByteDance.

Participants will also be onboarded onto TikTok's wider content ecosystem, learning the full life cycle of content creation from delivery to distribution to audience engagement.

They will also receive bespoke consultancy to help their content reach global markets.

Yvonne Tang, the Assistant Chief Executive for IMDA's Media Industry Group, said that the partnership is an "important step towards building a vibrant, globally competitive media sector."

Warning: This article contains descriptions of mutilation. Discretion is advised.

A financial dispute was the main reason behind the gruesome murder and dismemberment of Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi, prosecutors told the Hong Kong High Court on Sep. 30.

They argued that Choi's former father-in-law enlisted his two sons, including her ex-husband, to help him kill her after he became "extremely resentful and angry" over her insistence on selling a HK$72 million (S$11.7 million) flat where he had been living, The South China Morning Post reported.

That was the first day of the court trial over the 28-year-old socialite's murder, which shocked the city when it happened in 2023.

Days after Choi was reported missing in February 2023, the police found some body parts believed to be hers in the refrigerator of a house her ex-husband's family was renting.

Police later found her head in pots filled with soup and minced meat.

Her ex-husband Alex Kwong, his brother Anthony Kwong, and his father Kwong Kau, were arrested and jointly charged with murder and with preventing the lawful burial of a body.

Difference in wealth

At court, prosecutor Charlotte Draycott pointed out that Choi and her ex-husband came from very different financial backgrounds.

Choi, born to a wealthy family in Hainan, China, married Alex Kwong when she was only 18 as she had become pregnant, according to Hong Kong's The Standard.

Throughout their marriage, Alex Kwong never held a stable job, and his family was not very well-off. His father was a retired police sergeant, while his brother Anthony Kwong was Choi's personal driver.

The couple thus depended on Choi’s family to support their expenses, Draycott told the court.

She also said Alex Kwong was involved in multiple online gold-trading scams, and was eventually arrested after fleeing with HK$6.2 million (S$1.01 million) he got from scamming people.

The flat in dispute

After Choi separated from him in 2015 and married someone else, she continued to provide "generous allowance" to the Kwong family, Draycott went on, as quoted by CNN.

This included buying an apartment so that the two children she had with Alex Kwong could live nearby.

According to The Standard, she registered the flat under Kwong Kau's name as a nominee owner to save on stamp duty.

In 2022, tensions grew when she tried to sell the flat and move her in-laws to another area where her children could go to school, Draycott said.

She asked her former father-in-law to vacate the flat and sign a power of attorney so that she could negotiate a sale with property agents, but he repeatedly refused.

On one occasion, he lost his temper and attempted to assault her over this dispute.

According to private audio messages to her mother, heard in court, Choi called Kwong Kau a "crook" and his wife a "ghost", SCMP reported.

In one message, Choi said, "A huge amount of money was spent on that flat, and it was spent for them. To be honest, for the sake of my children, for the sake of my two children and my good heart, that’s why she can lead such a good life, right?"

Murder plot

Draycott argued that Kwong Kau plotted to murder Choi.

"If she died, the flat would be in his name and he could move back there," the prosecutor said, as quoted by CNN.

"He made a plan with his two sons Alex, her ex-husband, and Anthony, and we say three of them decided they would do it together. Each of them played a part by bringing her death and burying her body."

According to SCMP, Choi's ex-husband and his brother pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of her body, while their father pleaded not guilty to it.

However, all three of them denied murdering her.

Choi was a mother of four, two with Alex Kwong, and another two with her second husband.

Taiwanese actor Darren Wang appeared at Taiwan's High Court on Sep. 30 for the first hearing of an appeal in his Personal Data Protection Act case.

Wang and his girlfriend, Chueh Mu-hsuan, said that they are not guilty.

Former police officer Liu Chu-jung admitted guilt over the offence for which he had been convicted at first instance, according to Yahoo News Taiwan.

What the case is about

Prosecutors accused Wang of approaching Yu Hsiang-min for help in two separate matters involving the retrieval of personal data.

Yu subsequently contacted Liu, then acting head of a criminal investigation team with the Taipei City police.

The first involved a man surnamed Pan, from whom Chueh was trying to recover NT$4 million (S$160,173) in investment-related debt.

The second involved Chen Chih-ming, the head of a draft-evasion ring, whom Wang was unhappy with after allegedly taking payment without providing the service.

His account in court

On the Chen matter, Wang told the court he had asked someone to help locate a man known only by the nickname “Xiao Hei”, without providing his real name.

When he later learned Chen was in prison, Wang said he told them there was no need to continue looking for him.

On the debt, he said he had approached Yu to help his girlfriend recover money she had been cheated out of. Since the two did not know each other, he set up a group chat with them and left them to communicate directly.

He said he did not take part in the discussions beyond occasionally sending polite messages such as “thank you”, and was unaware of the data lookups or debt collection that followed.

The sentences being appealed

The New Taipei District Court sentenced Wang to six months, convertible to a fine of NT$180,000 (S$7,206). Chueh received the same.

Yu was sentenced to three months, convertible to NT$90,000 (S$3,603), as did Chen Tzu-chun, a member of the Four Seas Gang.

Liu was the only defendant whose sentence could not be converted to a fine.

He was sentenced to one year and four months for making false entries as a public official, and admitted to the charge at the hearing.

Chen Chih-ming was also brought to court for the hearing.

Prosecutors in the U.S. state of New York have commenced an investigation into a case of alleged rape of a Cornell University student by seven other fellow university students.

The Tompkins County District Attorney's office told ABC News that it may now bring criminal charges related to the case after a civil lawsuit was filed against the seven men by the complainant.

Previously, the same office stated that it had "conducted a thorough review of the police investigation," but "there was insufficient evidence to support criminal charges", as reported by CBS News.

Allegations detailed in civil lawsuit

The complainant, identified only as Jane Doe in the civil lawsuit, alleged that she was drugged and raped in a fraternity house of Cornell University in October 2024.

A fraternity is a social organisation in American universities (some known as colleges) for male undergraduate students.

While they provide social networks and are typically involved in charitable outreach activities, they have also come under scrutiny for "hazing", excessive drinking and disruptive behaviour.

Most fraternities have houses near campus where member students can stay instead of having to rent housing elsewhere.

At the time, Doe was 20 and attending Cornell as a student. She visited a friend at the house of the Chi Phi fraternity while intoxicated, and alleged she was pressured by two male fraternity members into snorting a substance they claimed was ketamine.

Doe then alleged she was sexually assaulted by the two members.

A man then sent a message to the fraternity Snapchat group, suggesting that the woman was available for sex. Doe alleges that more men arrived, and she was raped for hours.

Screenshots obtained by The New York Post showed one person asking if the "shop was still open".

Police investigation and no criminal charges

After three weeks, Doe filed a complaint with the university. Cornell conducted an investigation, which led to two students being expelled, with others receiving lighter penalties such as suspensions, workshops and having to write essays.

Doe's attorney, Thomas Giuffra, said that no student was arrested following the investigation.

With no criminal charges brought, Doe's civil lawsuit accuses the university and other defendants of breach of contract, negligence and violations of state law.

Doe, who dropped out of the university afterwards, is seeking monetary damages, although an exact amount is not specified.

The named defendants in the lawsuit are as follows, as reported by The Guardian:

• Matthew Ingalls
• Johnathan Newell
• Winston Lee
• Gillio Lopes
• Diego Sarabia
• Scott Norris
• Scott Kretzschmar

Two of the defendants, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar, have denied the allegations.

In a statement to ABC News, Kretzschmar's attorney said:

"At bottom, Scott never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way. Period.

We look forward to confronting the plaintiff in a court of law for her selfishly false claims with both the evidence and her own words."

Norris said, through an attorney:

"I did not participate in any sexual activity or drug use. I was not found responsible by Cornell for any of the accusations involving sexual activity and drug use for which others received serious consequences.

I thoughtlessly engaged in Snapchat and briefly stopped in the room where misconduct happened but not when it happened."

More statements

The news of the civil lawsuit generated strong backlash on social media, with actress Florence Pugh commenting about the case on social media.

Cornell released a statement saying it takes sexual violence extremely seriously, and launched a task force following the incident, with changes implemented according to the task force's recommendations. The Xi chapter of Chi Phi fraternity is also barred from campus.

The District Attorney, Matthew Van Houten, also released a statement explaining and defending the office's earlier decision not to bring criminal charges, saying that the allegations in the civil lawsuit are "dramatically different" from Doe's statement to the police in 2024.

Speaking to ABC News, Van Houten said his team intends to present the case to the Tompkins County grand jury with Jane Doe's cooperation.

"We want to reexamine whether there's additional evidence that we were not aware of in November of 2024, that exists now that would change our assessment of the case and would result in the grand jury finding that there was criminal conduct."

Van Houten said he generally refrains from public comment on criminal investigations, but the community outrage stemming from "incomplete news and social media coverage" required an answer for why there was a lack of criminal charges previously.

The Guardian reported that he said:

"Jane Doe’s sworn statement in November of 2024 did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped. On the contrary, Jane Doe’s statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.

My office obviously did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later.

Furthermore, I have never been contacted by Jane Doe’s attorneys. Not to inform me the original statement was inaccurate and not to ask me to reconsider our decision.

Rather, I reached out to Jane Doe’s attorneys after the lawsuit was filed to understand the discrepancy between the original statement and the lawsuit’s allegations and the proper path forward in light of the lawsuit’s allegations."

However, Giuffra disputes Van Houten's description of the woman's initial statement to Cornell University police, and faulted the authorities for not following up with his client, ABC News further reported.

"In my experience, speaking with an abuse survivor requires delicacy, understanding and specialised training. An average University Police officer would not have these skills.

It would be the role of a specially trained detective or district attorney. However, Ms. Doe was never contacted by anybody with those skills."

Van Houten has asked a senior prosecutor, a woman, to prepare a case for a grand jury, and that he recognises that the process of healing from trauma is personal and different for everyone.

A man helped a woman in need book a cab from East Coast Lagoon Food Village on Sep. 15 at 2am.

The man recounted his experience to Stomp.

According to him, he encountered a woman in her 20s or 30s with her hair "drenched".

She was alone and told him she had lost her phone.

The man, seeing that she was alone and it was so late, booked her a ride on his Comfort app to Yishun.

The lady initially gave a location in Yishun, but changed it to another area, also in Yishun.

According to Stomp, the woman even reminded him to put the cash option, and said she would go up to her place and get the money for the driver.

When he was on his on way home in another private hire vehicle, the man received a call from the taxi driver that picked her up. She had supposedly left without paying the fare.

The man eventually ended up footing the bill, which came to S$55.18. He has not filed a report yet but says if he does, it is likely the lady could be traced from in-vehicle camera footage.

He warned others not to "not to make the same mistake I did".

Mothership has reached out to Comfort to see what measures drivers can take in this situation. And whether camera footage from the taxi has been used to identify people who might skip out on fares.