The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, welcomed the first batch of Palestinian scholars to Singapore.

On social media, Zhulkarnain said he took the scholars, including four Palestinian undergraduates, out to a Singaporean dinner.

In the caption, he shared that these scholars came from Gaza, Jenin, Hebron, and other cities in Palestine, and came to Singapore to pursue their studies at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore Management University (SMU), and the National University of Singapore (NUS).

"I hope that during their time here, they will experience the warmth and hospitality of Singaporeans, learn from Singapore's own development experience, and build friendships and memories that will stay with them long after graduation," he wrote.

He added that the Singapore-Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Scholarship was Singapore's way of contributing to Palestinian capacity building by investing in people.

"I wish all our scholars the very best in their studies and a meaningful and productive stay in Singapore. May they return home enriched by their experiences here and, in time, contribute meaningfully to the development and well-being of their communities."

A Singaporean man, 37, found himself in a bit of a situation after his bike fell while he was on a grassy patch in Giswil, Switzerland, according to local reports.

Sukas is a livestreamer who travels the world and shows his viewers different "cool areas" of the world. He told Mothership he has made multiple trips to Malaysia and Thailand, but this was his first time riding in Europe.

He has had some funny clips from his travels gone viral as well.

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A post shared by Don | ‘Sukasblood’ 🇸🇬 (@sukasblood)

This incident was not as funny.

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A post shared by Don | ‘Sukasblood’ 🇸🇬 (@sukasblood)

The clip started with Sukas trying to lift his motorcycle, which appears to have fallen over.

He struggles, commenting on how slippery the grass patch is.

A man approaches him from a distance, and Sukas asks him for help.

However, the man berates him for riding in a "forbidden" place. When Sukas says he did not see the sign, the man pulls out one of these.

Sukas immediately says that is racist, which the man appears to ignore.

The man then says he wishes the bike is damaged, before leaving.

Not offended

Speaking to Mothership, Sukas said he was not offended "one single bit" by the gesture, even saying the man looked funny with his tongue sticking out.

He also explained what the man meant by forbidden.

The man, who Sukas said had a house nearby, said it was forbidden because of the "no entry" sign, which is often depicted with a red circle:

Overall, Sukas said he is doing well and remains unaffected.

He also delved a bit more into the incident.

He had been going at below 30km/hour on the gravelly road, but the ride itself was not what led to the incident.

He had actually stopped his bike on a grass patch, placing it on the side stand.

Due to the soil being too soft, though, the bike toppled.

Reactions

Sukas' story has been shared by local media there, and his clip has gone quite viral, leading to quite a few reactions.

Sukas described it as polarising, with some locals apologising to him for the experience. Others have told him he deserved it as Switzerland is known to be a "country of rules and extremely hefty fines", a descriptor Sukas, the Singaporean, found familiar.

Others have also said he should not ride a bike he cannot lift.

To the locals who apologised, he told them that they should not apologise on behalf of an unrelated individual, and instead lavished praise on their country.

Some Swiss residents in Singapore have even offered to buy him food and invited him to events.

For now, he is looking forward to returning to Singapore before heading off on his next adventure: a journey from Singapore to Yunnan in December.

Despite the experience, his ultimate dream journey is to ride from Singapore to Western Europe.

After receiving no notice that her flight was cancelled, local actress Cynthia Koh rushed to book another ticket from Singapore to Bangkok.

However, that "kiasu" move cost her, as she did not realise she had been rebooked onto another flight.

No notice

Koh was scheduled to leave for Bangkok on Sep. 29, but on the morning of her flight, she shared on Instagram that her flight was cancelled.

She wrote that her flight was cancelled with no email or text notifications, and when she tried to call the Thai Airways hotline, no one answered.

"All their flights are cancelled today but the rest of the aircraft are departing... How?" She wrote.

Koh then discovered that Thai Airways had posted on their social media that certain flights were cancelled due to the flooding in Bangkok while she was asleep.

So Koh decided to buy a Scoot ticket, as the retreat she was heading to Bangkok for was not cancelled.

"I'm not upset thought, I think its good that one must experience this to handle such a situation," she added in another Instagram story.

Kiasu

When Koh finally reached the airport on Sep. 29, she discovered that she was put on another flight as she was a Star Alliance member.

In her Instagram story, she said she was "a bit silly" when she found out that after Thai Airways cancelled her flight, she was put on a Singapore Airlines flight.

"But, at the same time, because I'm so kiasu, I went to buy a Scoot flight. Aiya, buang (throw away) the Scoot flight."

Flooding in Bangkok

Bangkok has been experiencing heavy floods in late September after days of extreme rain.

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt recently declared all 50 districts of the capital city disaster-affected zones.

However, he has also asked residents not to worry about any potential food shortages, and urged everyone to stay home.

Thailand has also declared a two-day holiday for civil servants from Sep. 28 to 29.

According to Reuters, the Thai cabinet approved the special holidays for Bangkok and three surrounding provinces — Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, and Samut Prakan — due to heavy rainfall and flooding.

The Thai government said that it is part of measures to reduce travel and mitigate traffic disruptions for the public, though it added that important business may still be conducted as deemed appropriate.

Singaporean actor Thomas Ong has moved into a two-room Flexi Flat.

The 57-year-old revealed on Facebook that he has been living in the new Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat for more than a month, writing, "As soon as you enter, the bedroom is just two steps away; another two steps away is the kitchen; yet another two steps is the bathroom.

"There's really not much space to move about at home."

The two-room Flexi Flat is the smallest configuration offered by HDB, designed for singles and senior citizens.

It comprises one bedroom, one bathroom, one kitchen, a living and dining area, and a household shelter.

It's all in the perspective

Despite the size, Ong is more than satisfied with his new abode.

He wrote, "But from a different perspective, 'small' has its own advantages."

The size of the room "forces" him to spend time outside, he claimed, adding that he often finds himself walking to the nearby mall to buy food or taking a stroll and exercising.

For him, Ong added, the home has become a simple place where he returns to rest and relax.

He further noted the convenience that a tiny house affords him.

Relishing the ease of doing chores, he wrote, "Want to vacuum the floor? It's done in an instant. Want to mop the floor? It's done in less than 10 minutes... the whole house is tidy and clean in less than half an hour."

He concluded the post, referring to himself as "Lao Wang" (Old Ong):

"For many people, they move into increasingly bigger houses, like a symbol of success.

He humorously noted that he was naturally lazy, and that after over a month in the new place, he found that it "suits" him very well:

"Whenever I reach home, I don't feel like going out at all."

He added that he took a video of the renovation process and will share it in the future.

Chinese tea brand Chagee has shifted its focus in Singapore from the central region towards the heartlands in 2026, after customers' feedback.

Among its 44 outlets to date, some of the newest were opened in Pasir Ris Mall, Punggol Coast Mall, and Bedok Mall in August 2026.

The company plans to keep expanding in Singapore, said Eugene Lee, Chagee's vice president and chief marketing officer for Asia Pacific.

"There's a bit more potential for this market here," he added.

Singaporeans' tea palate

Milk tea brands abound in Singapore, with an increasing number coming from China in recent years. What has helped Chagee gain popularity here?

Lee, who is Malaysian, believes Singaporeans' tastes are strongly aligned with Chagee's tea-forward approach.

"Customers really enjoy the fact that the product itself contains a lot of tea," he told Mothership.

To him, this sets the brand apart from others that make their tea secondary to flavours such as mango and pistachio in their drinks.

Contrary to what many might think, Chagee is not bubble tea, he emphasised.

Instead, he described Chagee as "Starbucks for tea", serving premium, "very refined" tea originating from China that many Singapore customers appreciate.

"I think Singaporeans have one of the most sophisticated palates in Southeast Asia," Lee said.

"A lot of the customers here actually know about tea, and they care about whether it's Tieguanyin... whether it's a Da Hong Pao."

More health-conscious

Chagee has also adapted its menu in Singapore over the years based on customer feedback.

Singapore was one of the first markets in Southeast Asia where the brand introduced lighter, non-dairy alternatives for the milk in their drinks.

Roughly 10 per cent of customers choose oat milk, and about 20 per cent get non-fat milk, according to Lee.

This preference stems largely from a growing health-consciousness among Singaporeans, he has observed.

"What we're seeing as well is customers moving more and more towards... brewed tea... instead of going with their regular milk tea."

It's a trend Lee finds unique as he has not seen it in many other markets in the region.

The C-wave

Chagee's popularity also comes on the back of the growing consumer enthusiasm for Chinese brands and products.

In recent years, a flood of new players from China have entered Singapore's market, not just in the food and beverage sector, but also in entertainment and electronics.

Lee said they have contributed to a "Chinese wave" that rivals the "Korean wave" that has dominated the past decade.

Chinese companies have been expanding rapidly into Singapore because the hunger is here, he believes.

"Singaporeans actually have to like and enjoy Chinese flavours and Chinese foods for these brands to start to come in."

A third space

Looking to the future, Chagee will continue to cast itself as a third space for customers.

Lee's team works to ensure that each outlet they open is aesthetically beautiful and large enough for people to sit down and enjoy their tea with one another.

The company is also strategic about securing spaces for its outlets on the ground floor of malls to maximise their prominence and accessibility.

"Whenever you see a Chagee, it's always on the first floor," Lee said. "Customers see us every day as they're walking into a mall."

This new approach to location was one of the main reasons Chagee decided to rebrand itself in Singapore.

When the company first entered the country in 2019, it operated under a grab-and-go concept with smaller kiosk-style outlets, mostly situated on basement levels and in MRT stations.

After exiting the market completely in December 2023, Lee's team took some time to re-strategise, then launched the brand under a new model in Singapore in August 2024.

They plan to maintain their requirements for a large, ground-floor space, even though it hinders them from growing at the speed of other brands.

"The challenge has always been about finding the right location," Lee said. "We've been successful so far, but hopefully we can continue to find more locations in Singapore to help us expand a bit quicker."

Singapore shuttler Loh Kean Yew has become the first Singaporean to win a silver medal at the Asian Games badminton men’s singles event.

The 29-year-old missed out on gold on Sep. 29 after losing to world number one Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn at the finals in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Loh lost to Kunlavut with a score of 2-0.

He lost the final game 21-16 after losing the first round 21-12.

Loh’s silver is the first time Singapore has won an Asiad medal in the badminton event in 20 years, the last being the women’s team bronze at the 2006 Doha Games.

Earlier beat former World No. 1

Loh, who is currently world number 13, earlier became the first Singaporean shuttler to be guaranteed a medal at the Asiad after beating then-world number one Jonatan Christie during the quarter-finals on Sep. 27.

It marked Loh’s first victory against the Indonesian and 2018 champion after 11 meetings.

Earlier in the Games, he beat India’s Lakshya Sen in the second round, according to CNA.

In the round of 16, he beat Malaysia’s Justin Hoh 21-14, 21-14 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Kunlavut is the first Thai to make it to the Asian Games men's singles final, and the first to win gold.

A 42-year-old man is assisting with investigations after he allegedly hit a boy with the sports utility vehicle (SUV) he was driving at a pedestrian crossing at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10.

The police told Mothership that they were alerted to the accident on Sep. 22 at about 7:55pm.

Police investigations are ongoing.

What video showed

A video by SG Road Vigilante on Facebook identified the pedestrian as an 11-year-old boy.

The dashcam footage showed a boy on a kick scooter crossing the road.

The green man traffic light sign showed that pedestrians had the right of way at the time.

However, a white car, believed to be a Honda Crossroad making a discretionary right turn, apparently failed to give way.

The car could be seen on video hitting the boy.

Driver allegedly unhelpful

The caption of the post claimed that the the boy lost his phone in the accident, according to the boy's mother.

The driver of the car, it was alleged, refused to let the boy use his phone or call his family.

The driver apparently took the boy to the void deck of his block, but did not bring him up to his home.

Someone else apparently helped the youth back home.

The boy's mother apparently said the boy was fine after a visit to the doctor.

However, the boy started throwing up the next day.

A 13-year-old boy and his friend ended up trapped on a parapet between the second and third floors of a public housing block in Yishun.

According to Shin Min Daily News, the boy’s home electronic door lock apparently ran out of battery.

The duo were stranded after they thought they could try to climb out of the stairwell to enter the flat through a window.

The incident at Block 333A Yishun Street 31 occurred on Sep. 28 at about 1pm.

Rescue

Emergency responders were called to the scene.

A ladder was set up, and a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officer was seen climbing it to reach a boy in a red top.

Police officers were stationed at the foot of the block.

Door

A 15-year-old boy, apparently the 13-year-old’s older brother, told Shin Min that his family used an electronic door lock, but the battery had run out.

The 13-year-old boy and a friend then reportedly climbed out of the stairwell in an attempt to enter the flat through the window.

But they could not pull it off.

“When we were notified about the incident, we rushed back and saw the police talking to them downstairs. Both of them were fine,” the elder brother said.

The 13-year-old was not injured.

The family reportedly replaced the door lock’s battery following the incident.

The friend also purportedly went home on his own.

In response to media queries, SCDF said it received a call for assistance at around 12:50pm on the day of the incident.

Upon SCDF's arrival, two persons were seen on a parapet between the second and third floors.

SCDF firefighters brought the two persons to safety using a ladder.

No injuries were reported.

Some errands can wait until the weekend, but what happens when you need something today?

My family had been recovering from the flu for the past few days, so we were going through tissues much faster than usual, and the laundry was quickly piling up.

That morning, I realised we had blown through most of our tissues and were down to our last few laundry pods. At that rate, we'd run out of both before the next day.

Normally, that would mean taking the train to Bishan, picking up what we needed and hauling everything home.

Not exactly how I wanted to spend my morning, especially when I had other things to get done.

As a frequent user of Shopee, ordering the essentials online was an obvious alternative. The difference this time was that I needed them that day.

It was around 9am, three hours before the 12pm cutoff for Shopee's Buy Today, Get Today, where eligible Fulfilled by Shopee (FBS) items ordered before noon can arrive later the same day with free shipping and S$0 minimum spend.

That left one question: could I get what we needed by the end of the day and skip the Bishan run altogether?

What else could I get delivered that day?

As I added the items on my shopping list to cart, I started looking around the dedicated FBS page to see what else was available for same day delivery.

We were also running low on a few household staples, including paper towels and other cleaning products.

Given that these were some of the heavier and bulkier things I'd normally have to carry home, getting them delivered that very same day with no minimum spend free shipping felt like a no-brainer.

What surprised me, though, was how much further the selection went.

I had assumed Buy Today, Get Today would mainly come in handy for household essentials.

Instead, I also found eligible FBS products across beauty, electronics, home and living, gifts, baby products and pet supplies, including laptops, air fryers, diapers and pet treats.

As someone with sensitive skin, I even found myself browsing skincare.

When a Torriden sheet mask caught my eye, I used seller chat to check whether it was suitable for sensitive skin.

The response was a reassuring "yes dear". The only other person who regularly calls me "dear" is probably my mum, so that’s a win.

And there were savings too

As I browsed, I noticed some products came with bundle deals, and eligible FBS products also had an exclusive 25 per cent off product voucher.

This could be stacked with the FBS no minimum spend Free Shipping voucher, which meant I could get eligible items delivered that same day without having to hit a minimum basket size for free shipping.

With everything sorted before the 12pm cutoff, there was only one part of the experiment left. Would it actually arrive that day?

From screen to doorstep in the same day

After placing my order, I received regular delivery updates, so I could keep track of its progress while getting on with the rest of my day.

At about 9:46pm, the delivery arrived. Everything was neatly packed, with items that needed additional protection carefully wrapped.

And there it was: the household haul I'd ordered that morning, sitting at my doorstep before the day was over.

For me, that was the part that landed. I'd started the morning realising we were about to run out of everyday essentials.

By that night, I'd restocked what we needed and discovered that the same day selection extended well beyond a typical grocery run.

No waiting until tomorrow. No hauling bulky household supplies home from Bishan.

And, perhaps most importantly, the same day part really did mean the same day, without having to hit a minimum spend.

If you're keen to try Buy Today, Get Today for yourself, orders must be placed before 12pm, Monday to Sunday (excluding public holidays), to qualify for free islandwide same day delivery.

This sponsored article by Shopee made sure this writer and her mum didn’t have to make their dwindling tissues last another day.

On the morning of Sep. 27, five men were spotted acting suspiciously near a small village in Southwest England.

A farmer who spotted the five made a call to the police.

This quick phone call to the police has unfolded into an all-out domestic security incident in the United Kingdom in years, causing the evacuation of the village, a local airbase on alert, and a response from Donald Trump.

But what's happened, and what's the fallout?

What happened?

Around 1am on Sep. 27 (UK time), local police in Gloucestershire were alerted to three suspicious vehicles heading towards RAF Fairford, a military airbase that supports U.S. military air force aircraft, according to the BBC.

Police responding to the call later arrested five men in a village called Whelford, about 3.2km away from the airbase.

They were concerned enough that a police cordon of 400m was set up around a number of vehicles, and a bomb disposal team was deployed to the village.

The 85 occupants of the village were also asked to evacuate their homes, with a community centre set aside to house those who could not turn to family or friends.

The Guardian published a picture of the five men sitting by a road, topless with their arms restrained behind their backs.

Bomb disposal robots were seen operating near the vans.

What is RAF Fairford?

RAF Fairford is a World War II-era British Air Force base in the southwest of England.

At its founding, it supported airborne operations by British and American forces, but after the war was used by the U.S. Air Force 501st Combat Support Wing .

At the present moment, it is predominantly used by USAF heavy bombers such as the B-1B Lancer, the B-2A Spirit, and the B-52H Stratofortress.

The base has supported bombers and air refuelling tankers in both Gulf Wars in 1991 and 2003, and is also know for hosting a major international air show, the Royal International Air Tattoo.

Perhaps most significantly, ever since Mar. 1, the base has been used to support heavy bombers carrying out missions against targets in Iran.

A British Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson said that the U.S. was using British bases for specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the Middle East region, as reported by the BBC.

Aura farming

There is some dispute over whether the five men were known to authorities or not, but there is a straightforward answer in this particular case.

The BBC spoke to a farmer who allegedly first reported the men, apparently foiling whatever plans they had.

The farmer said she was making her way home from a party after 1am when she found the road blocked by three white vans.

She then spotted men wearing hoods and masks lingering near the treeline.

When the men realised she was there, they ran away in two directions, some into a field and some towards a neighbouring village, tipping the farmer off that “something highly unusual was taking place.”

She tried, but failed, to call the Ministry of Defence, resorting to calling the police as a fallback.

The police responded quickly, flooding the village with armed police within 10 minutes.

One of the vans was seen sporting company branding of a fake company "Fuel 2You", although there is a similarly named company called “Fuel2U”, which delivers diesel.

The company, when speaking to BBC Verify, said that the vans bore no relation to the company, with everything from the logo design, to the phone number listed, being different, and all their own vehicles were accounted for.

How have the authorities reacted?

Perhaps the most notable reaction to the incident has come from U.S. President Donald Trump, who said that authorities had the suspects "under view" for “a long time, and we got them.”

“We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort, and working with the British worked out great.”

An analyst working for the BBC said that there seemed to be an inconsistency between what Trump had said and how close the men had gotten to the airbase before the police were alerted by the member of the public.

Added to this was British authorities telling the press that the police operation was not intelligence-led, suggesting that the arrests were made solely due to the tip-off.

Coincidentally, most of the relevant UK ministers are gathered at the Labour Party Conference, being held in Liverpool from Sep. 27 to 30, with several giving speeches to the conference.

British Secretary of State for Defence Wes Streeting spoke rather cryptically to Sky News, on the one hand, thanking the member of the public for acting “quickly and thoughtfully”, then saying that, “with respect, though, she does only have a partial picture.”

Streeting was asked about a connection between the foiled attack and Iran by the BBC, but declined to draw a connection, saying that investigations were ongoing.

However, he did say that "we know that Iran and their proxies wish to do us harm. We know that they hate our democracy.”

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the party conference that the events at RAF Fairford were “a reminder of the threats our country faces.”

“We will all stand up for our security against those who would do us harm.”

Released on bail

As of Sep. 29 however, the five men have been released on bail.

The Guardian reports that the five are all British, in their 20s, and from London, and that the police believe that it was unlikely that they were close to setting off an attack near the base, as no explosive material had been found in the three vans.

However, the UK's head of counter-terrorism policing said that the investigation into their actions continued, and that the men remain subject to "stringent conditions."

He suggested that that the police continued to consider multiple possible angles, including that the men may have been used as proxies, knowingly or unknowingly working on behalf of a foreign state.

The Guardian also reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps had threatened the airbase earlier in the year, although Iran's embassy in the UK denied any involvement in the incident.

Trump, for his part, was surprised at the men's release, saying "I would not have released them," while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told press that the incident "clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor."