More than three million DBS PayLah! users can now make QR code payments at over 100 million Alipay and Weixin Pay partner merchants across China after a cross-border expansion by DBS Bank.

Enabled through new partnerships with Ant International and TenPay Global, the feature supports two-way QR functionality—allowing PayLah! users to either scan a merchant's QR code or present their own app-generated QR code to be scanned at checkout.

To scan Alipay+ and Weixin Pay QR codes with DBS PayLah!:

To allow a merchant to scan your DBS PayLah! QR code:

Transactions carry no additional fees and utilise competitive foreign exchange rates.

To ensure full cost transparency before checkout, the PayLah! app displays the exact purchase amount in Chinese Yuan (CNY), the applicable exchange rate, and the final Singapore Dollar (SGD) equivalent prior to user confirmation.

To access the new payment capabilities in China, users need to update their DBS PayLah! app to the latest version.

Singapore national football coach Gavin Lee has emphasised the importance of team standards when questioned about defender Irfan Fandi's continued absence from the Lions squad.

The 29-year-old had earlier been left out of Singapore's squad for the FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026.

He was subsequently omitted from the 24-man squad announced on Nov. 4 for Singapore's November friendlies.

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Speaking to The Straits Times (ST) on Nov. 11, Lee did not specify why Irfan had been omitted, but said his priority was selecting the strongest possible squad for each international window.

He added that players who missed out on selection, including Irfan, could still earn future call-ups.

"The door is never fully closed," Lee said.

Coach stresses importance of team standards

An earlier online report in September by The Monitor claimed that Irfan had broken a hotel curfew during the 2026 ASEAN Championship.

Lee was subsequently asked by ST whether Irfan's exclusion was meant to send a message to the rest of the squad, but did not directly address the allegation.

"Ultimately, for every team and for every organisation in the world, the team standards come first," he said.

Lee stressed that representing Singapore required players to place the team's interests above their own.

The Football Association of Singapore (FAS), meanwhile, told ST that it would not address the curfew allegation, citing its policy against commenting on unverified claims and speculation.

Irfan also declined to comment when approached by ST.

Mothership had earlier reached out to FAS when The Monitor story broke. FAS declined to comment.

A spokesperson for the Fandi family had also declined to comment on Mothership's queries.

A man was caught on camera allegedly shaking a claw machine in a store in Yishun.

In response to his antics, the claw machine operator put up a video of the man's back view while at the store.

And it appeared that it was not an isolated incident.

In an Instagram post on Nov. 10, the operator, Toys Clawlector, claimed it had “at least 5 videos” of the man damaging its machines at its Junction Nine store.

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Shaking machine

In surveillance footage attached to the post, dated Nov. 10 at about 8:16pm, the man was seen shaking the machine.

At one point, the lights on the claw machine went out.

This apparently occurs whenever a machine is tampered with or shaken too hard.

The man then left the premises.

When he turned to leave the store, it was revealed that a girl had been standing in front of him and facing the control panel of the machine.

Operator outs man

“Just because we keep quiet doesn’t mean we don’t know,” the claw machine operator wrote in the post.

The operator also claimed that the man had been its customer “since day one”.

“You have been getting overboard already,” the operator added.

In the Instagram caption, the operator wrote that they would “just lodge a police report for vandalism”.

Mothership has reached out to Toys Clawlector for more information.

A 24-year-old Singaporean man has been sentence to 17 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane for sexually assaulting his younger half-sister and filming a woman in the shower at a university hostel.

The sexual assaults committed against his half-sister only came to light when he confessed to his father about them after his arrest for voyeurism.

According to The Straits Times, the man pleaded guilty to five charges: aggravated rape, aggravated sexual assault by penetration, aggravated outrage of modesty, producing child sexual abuse materials and voyeurism.

Nine other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

He cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identities of the victims.

Half-sister was aged eight to nine at time of offences

According to court documents seen by Mothership, the man was around 19 to 21 years old at the time of the offences.

His half sister lived in a HDB flat with her father, mother, older brother and helper.

The man stayed with his grandmother.

Sometime in 2022, he started tutoring his younger half-sister, who was around eight to nine years old.

The man began staying over in the half-sister's bedroom, which she shared with her older brother, over the weekends.

Sexually assaulted half-sister on three occasions

Between 2022 and 2023, the man sexually assaulted his half-sister on three occasions.

Sometime in the second half of 2022, his half-sister was about to fall asleep in her bed, while the man was lying down on a mattress in the same bedroom.

After the lights were switched off, the man knelt down beside the victim and touched her private parts.

He also exposed himself to her before going back to sleep.

Sometime between June 2023 and September 2023, the man instructed his half-sister to perform a sex act on him when she playing mobile games in the bedroom.

The half-sister stopped after feeling disgusted.

The man went on to masturbate himself and ejaculate on a piece of tissue in front of her.

On the third occasion, which also took place in 2023, the man and his half-sister were again in the bedroom.

He pulled down her pants and proceeded to penetrate her with his finger.

Apart from the sexual assaults, the man also took photographs of her showering, which he kept on his phone.

Voyeurism at university hostel

The next year on Jan. 22, 2024, the man arrived at a university hostel to spend time with his girlfriend.

Later that evening, he heard noises coming from the common toilet.

At the time, a 23-year-old female university student was taking a shower.

The man went over to the toilet.

He then proceeded to video the female student using his mobile phone.

As he was recording, the female student shouted, prompting the man to stop and delete the recording.

That night, a police report was made about the incident. The man was arrested the next day on Jan. 23.

Comes clean to father about sexual assault

Following his arrest, he confessed to his father about the sexual assaults he committed against his half-sister.

His father called the National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline to seek assistance, and the matter was referred to the Ministry of Social and Family Development's Child Protective Services (CPS).

A CPS officer then made a police report on Jan. 26 regarding the assault against the man's half-sister.

Investigators found the photos he took of his half-sister on his phone.

A medical report noted that the half-sister felt scared, sad, and angry since the sexual abuse began in 2022.

She also had recurrent thoughts and nightmares of the abuse, became afraid of males, had difficulty trusting others and had difficulty focusing during classes.

Judge found behaviour not due to youthful folly

The prosecution sought 15 to 17 years of jail and 24 strokes of the cane, according to court submissions.

In relation to his half-sister, the prosecution noted that the man is her half-brother and is 12 years older than her.

"Instead of being her protector and guardian, the accused subjected the said victim to unimaginable suffering in the safety of her home by sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions when she was between eight and nine years old," the prosecution argued.

They added: "Even after the offences against the first victim ceased, the accused continued to reoffend against the second victim, who was his fellow schoolmate."

During the sentencing hearing on Nov. 11, the judge noted that the man committed multiple offences over a period of at least one year, ST reported.

She also noted that the man's criminal behaviour was not a one-off incident due to youthful folly, ST wrote.

The court was told by the man's lawyer that he was pursuing university studies on a scholarship.

The lawyer also pointed that the man had shown great remorse by confessing to his father and pleading guilty.

Following the sentencing, the man was allowed a deferment of his sentence so he can spend time with his grandmother and help her with matters relating to a relative who recently died, according to ST.

He was granted S$120,000 bail and ordered to surrender to the State Courts on Dec. 11.

Singapore Airlines' (SIA) CEO Goh Choon Phong has hinted that the airline might be open to reconsidering their new business class seat colourway.

The Business Times (BT) reported that Goh was speaking at a SIA town hall on Nov. 11 when he responded to criticism over the carrier's business class seat revamp.

Noting the negative feedback proliferating online, Goh reportedly said, "We'll look at it, we'll see what's feasible."

However, he believes that customers will come to like the seats after experiencing its comforts for themselves, reported BT.

The airline's new business class seats garnered criticism online after it unveiled its new cabin overhaul as part of a S$2 billion investment on Nov. 7.

While response to the economy, premium economy, and first class seats were varied, netizens were highly vocal about the business class' new grey-and-yellow colourway.

Users called it "dull" and "depressing", with some likening it to a "dental office".

"Hardly feels like I am going on holiday," one wrote.

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At the townhall, SIA’s chief commercial officer Lee Lik Hsin also called the furore a good learning point, but reiterated that he hopes customers will mind the colours less after experiencing the seats. 

"I suppose, you know, it’s the 80-20 rule; you can’t please them all,” he reportedly said. 

"Modern", "refreshing"

Julia de Bono, the CEO of design firm Designworks, told Australian publication The Age that they wanted the business class seats to be "modern, progressive, and refreshing".

"It's more like a suit with a sneaker," she said.

BMW Group-owned Designworks came up with the new business class seat design, including its colourway.

A video showing SIA executives reportedly speaking at a Q&A also saw them claim that the seats were designed in accordance to customer feedback.

Ong Wah Li, vice-president of product experience, called it "modern, fresh, yet elegant and refined, that's suited to business travel."

She also acknowledged that SIA's warm and classic aesthetic had served it well over the years, but said that the new business class design was intended to have "its own character".

Responding to concerns that the four cabin classes all had different colours, and thus had a lack of continuity, Ong stressed that SIA "does not subscribe to a fixed colour palette across [their] cabins".

According to BT, aside from the colour scheme, the new business class seats come with a slew of new features.

These include a larger footwell, a sliding privacy door, as well as a reclinable seat that can turn into a flat bed. 

An SIA spokesperson told BT, “As with all our products, we will continue to closely monitor feedback and draw on operational insights to refine and enhance elements of the customer experience."

Long John Silver's outlet at White Sands in Pasir Ris is slated to close on Nov. 18, 2026.

Nov. 17 will be the outlet's final day of operations in the shopping mall.

Photos of the store's closure notice circulated on social media, as seen in this Instagram post by another business, My Digital Lock.

The poster noted that the nearest outlets in the area could be found at Eastpoint Mall, Paya Lebar Square and 18 Tai Seng.

According to Long John Silver's website, the chain still has a total of nine outlets in Singapore.

In addition to the three outlets in the east, the other outlets are: Junction 8, Northpoint City, Wisteria Mall, Tiong Bahru Plaza, Hillion Mall and Yew Tee Point.

In a July 2025 Mothership article, it was reported that the chain had 17 outlets in Singapore at the time.

Netizens weigh in

The White Sands outlet opened in November 2023, based on a Facebook post from the chain.

Most netizens reacted to the news with sadness, with many commenting on the post of the closure notice with crying emojis.

Others were more sceptical, opining that Long John Silver's food was average.

Related articles

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) is inviting Singaporeans to share their views and suggestions for the upcoming Budget 2027.

It is scheduled to be presented in February 2027, a Nov. 12 MOF press release stated.

Views, suggestions

Singaporeans, organisations and businesses can provide views and suggestions from Nov. 12, 2026 to Jan. 6, 2027.

This includes themes such as strengthening economic resilience and competitiveness, investing in workers, and providing greater assurance for Singaporeans.

According to the release, they may do so through any of the following feedback channels.

This includes the Singapore Budget Website, REACH Budget 2027 Microsite, REACH Singapore Facebook, REACH Singapore Instagram, and the PA ShareYourViews Webpage.

Engagement

In addition, REACH, the Singapore Government's feedback and engagement unit, will be conducting a physical pre-Budget Listening Point to gather public views and suggestions for Budget 2027.

Further details will be announced on REACH's social media platforms closer to the date, the release stated.

It added that the People's Association (PA) and its grassroots organisations will also engage Singaporeans through PA's ShareYourViews initiatives in neighbourhoods across Singapore and over online community channels, to gather views and suggestions for Budget 2027.

Members of the public may refer to the PA webpage for details of physical ShareYourViews engagements.

Related articles

A 37-year-old female cyclist died after an accident in Katong involving a tipper truck on Nov. 11.

In response to Mothership's queries, the police said it was alerted to an accident at the junction of Amber Road and Amber Gardens at around 3:15pm on Wednesday.

The female cyclist was pronounced dead at scene by a Singapore Civil Defence Force paramedic.

The driver of the tipper truck, 47, was arrested for driving without reasonable consideration causing death.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Footage of the aftermath of the accident was posted onto TikTok.

In the video, a blue tent was seen on the road next to a tipper truck.

Part of the road and the adjacent pedestrian walkway appeared to be cordoned off, and several police vehicles and officers were at the scene

Nvidia is reportedly looking to oust its CEO Jensen Huang amidst the U.S. government's investigations into his relationship with Alice Huang, an alleged Chinese spy.

On Nov. 8, Huang admitted to having an affair in an email to company staff.

Allegations of a second affair have also emerged between Huang and Nvidia's healthcare vice-president Kimberly Powell, company staff told the New York Times.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Nvidia's board is planning to meet as soon as Nov. 11 to determine Huang's fate.

The company is reportedly working with an external firm to identify potential replacements for Huang, Bloomberg reported.

Naming a temporary chief in the meantime is also said to be under consideration.

Following allegations of the second affair, the company's shares dipped about eight per cent after hours, following a recent slide after Huang's alleged relationship with Alice Huang was first revealed.

Jensen Huang, 63, is facing another affair allegation, The New York Times (NYT) reported, based on conversations with five people who worked at Nvidia.

NYT identified the other party as Kimberly Powell, 48, the vice president of healthcare at Nvidia.

Powell joined Nvidia in 2008, according to her employee profile.

Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.

The two were reportedly caught on camera being affectionate at a hotel during a Nvidia conference in March, according to two people who worked at the company, NYT said.

When contacted by NYT, Huang told them, "I don't think you should be talking to me directly."

Nvidia will be having their board meeting on Wednesday to decide whether to oust Huang, Reuters reported. Nvidia's stock price fell nearly 10 per cent on Wednesday after news broke that Huang might be removed.

The latest scandal follows reports of Huang allegedly having an affair with a former exec at a Singapore-based company, who was alleged to be an intelligence asset for China.