A Singapore-registered bulk carrier came into contact with a bridge in New Jersey, United States, on Nov. 13 at about 2.15am (Singapore time).

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in a news release on Friday that the vessel, named STRATEGIC ALLIANCE, struck the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge.

No injuries, no major damage

According to MPA, there were no reported injuries to civilians or to crew members on board the vessel.

The vessel did not sustain major damage, and no marine pollution has been reported, MPA said.

Vessel now moored

MPA said the vessel is currently safely moored at the Kinder Morgan terminal in Pennsylvania.

The authority added that it was in contact with the vessel's management company and the relevant US authorities to establish the circumstances of the incident, and will investigate the incident.

The bridge has since been reopened to vehicular traffic.

According to CBS, two lanes, one in each direction, reopened to traffic at around 8:40pm local time, wihch is roughly 7.5 hours after the incident occurred.

The pedestrian path has not yet reopened, as bridge conditions are still being assessed and repairs are being made to the walkway.

Acting Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Zaqy Mohamad has visited Saudi Arabia, where he discussed preparations for Hajj 2027, and Egypt, where he visited the Rafah border crossing with Gaza and met with humanitarian organisations.

On Nov. 13, he spoke to the press about his visit, answering questions about Singapore's Hajj allocation as well as ongoing relief efforts in Gaza.

Hajj allocation

Zaqy began by acknowledging that, for many Singaporean Muslims, performing Hajj is a lifelong dream that some have saved for years.

Others have waited a very long time for their turn, and their hope for a place becomes ever more precious as they grow older.

Zaqy said that, after several years of waiting, he had been able to perform his Hajj earlier in the year and understood what the journey meant to the Singaporean Muslim community and their families.

“Every Hajj allocation is more than just a number. For me, it is also someone's hopes, someone's prayers, and someone's years of waiting.”

Same number of Hajj places as previous years

He said that for Hajj 2027, Singapore had been allocated 900 places, which is the same number it has been assigned for five consecutive seasons.

While many had been hoping for more, Saudi Arabia allocated Hajj places based on an international formula of 0.1 per cent of each country's Muslim population, and Singapore's allocation was in line with other countries.

While visiting Jeddah, Zaqy met with Saudi Arabia's Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq al-Rabiah, and made Singapore's case for more places in 2028.

But also said that he understood Saudi Arabia's concerns about keeping pilgrims safe.

Meanwhile, Zaqy said that Singapore was looking to make Hajj more accessible, doing what it could within its quota places.

For 2027, there would be more affordable packages, including a shorter 18-day itinerary.

He said that MUIS was helping pilgrims meet the enhanced medical requirements.

For someone in their 70s and above, another year’s wait can make a big difference, so MUIS has given some priority to applicants aged 70 and above.

“Our hope is simple. We want to help most Singaporeans fulfil their Hajj aspirations safely and with peace of mind.”

Humanitarian efforts

Zaqy then spoke about his visit to Egypt, especially to Cairo and the Rafah border.

He said that while at the border, "you can't help but think about the suffering of the families in Gaza, as it felt very close."

He said that many had lost homes and loved ones, especially during recent heavy rains, which have flooded makeshift shelters.

He also related stories told to him while visiting the Palestinian hospital in Cairo, where he spoke to several of the families there, hearing in emotional terms the suffering that they have gone through.

Zaqy said the suffering of Gazans should not be something that “we simply get used to.”

Big-heartedness

Zaqy praised the big-heartedness of Singaporeans he has interacted with over the years, saying that, through the “generosity of our people and our humanitarian organisations”, Singapore has given S$25 million over 11 tranches over the last three years.

He said that it would be important to continue to get help to families who needed it and that access to Gaza has improved since earlier in the year, while warning that it still remained challenging.

He spoke about the new humanitarian effort for Relief efforts in Gaza called SG for Humanity, which brings together four NGOs: Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation (RLAF), Mercy Relief, Singapore Red Cross, and Humanity Matters.

The aim of SG for Humanity was to strengthen cooperation with the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC).

The RLAF has signed an agreement to provide essential supplies, hot meals, shelter assistance, and learning spaces for children until Ramadan next year.

It was also explored how Singapore medical professionals could contribute more, and he met with relevant authorities and ministries to try to make some of these efforts possible on the ground.

He complimented the ERC, which had been able to advise Singaporean NGOs as to what worked and what didn't, highlighting the value of the SG for Humanity network.

Ultimately, he said, the measure of success was not about how much aid Singapore sent, but how much aid actually reached the people in Gaza and those displaced in Egypt or in Cairo.

An Atlantic Asphalt tanker ship collided with an American Cruise Lines passenger ship in New Orleans on the Mississippi River on Friday (Nov. 13, US time).

32 sent to the hospital

All 197 people on board were accounted for, and 32 were sent to local hospitals, reported CNN. Investigations into how the incident happened are underway.

The collision took place on the Mississippi River as passengers were preparing to disembark from the American Heritage, which had been docked.

Some passengers ended up in the water, and the boat started taking on water, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said at a news conference on Friday evening (US time).

The tanker appeared to have "lost control", said US Coast Guard Captain Melanie Burnham.

She added that authorities are not aware of the "exact reason why" it could have lost steering capabilities. The person steering the tanker was a river pilot, Burnham said.

Emergency response to rescue passengers

Emergency responders rushed to help with a mass evacuation.

Those taken to local hospitals all had non-critical injuries, according to Moreno.

The Red Cross told CNN that its volunteers provided water, blankets and emotional support on scene to those affected.

US President Donald Trump also praised first responders in a social media post, saying "All of Law Enforcement and First Responders were fantastic!"

Witness said it looked like "something off the Titanic"

A witness to the crash told CBS that he saw the cruise ship hit the dock following the collision, according to BBC's report.

"It sounded like a war movie. Just imagine tons of steel crunching. That's what it sounded like," he said.

"It looked like something off the Titanic."

He also saw passengers and crew members "hollering" and "crying" as they attempted to get off the ship while it was sinking.

Microsoft issued an apology on Nov. 14 (Singapore time) for the massive outage that saw many companies' email and software services go down due to connectivity issues.

CNBC quoted a Microsoft spokesperson as saying, “We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners.”

“We know the trust they place in our services and take that responsibility extremely seriously.”

“We are seeing broad recovery and stability across our services.”

Technical issue

The statement, which was also shared on social media, said that the outage was a technical issue and was not related to cyber or AI/Agents.

It explained that the incident was introduced by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that had surfaced after a recent network change.

Microsoft said that it has since addressed the underlying issue and was continuing to restore services to remaining customers and regions.

However, due to the scale of demand, services were restored gradually, with the company “validating stability at each stage.”

This took longer, but helped “ensure a stable restoration.”

It also said it would provide a full post-incident report after it completed a review of the incident.

Global outage

The outage affected companies globally, including Singapore, on Nov. 12 to 13.

It affected Microsoft’s Outlook Email service, as well as its Microsoft 365 suite of office software services, which included the collaboration tool Teams, as well as SharePoint and Copilot.

But while Microsoft worked to restore services, it said it was taking precautions such as extending the window where delayed emails continued to attempt delivery to 48 hours.

CNBC reported that Microsoft had said during initial updates on Nov. 12 that the problems were related to "elevated loads” on infrastructure across multiple regions, due to “a number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable, straining the remaining infrastructure.”

Initial fears from affected companies and government officials were that the outage was due to some kind of "nefarious" activity, as commented by one U.S. legislator speaking to CNBC.

The Straits Times reported that while several government and business organisations had experienced a disruption to email services, critical services like emergency services and national security readiness was not affected.

The legislator, Josh Gottheimer, a congressman from New Jersey and a former Microsoft employee, said he was concerned about the size, length, and timing of the outage.

Several tech-related content creators saw the funny side of the outage, however, with many performing skits about how tech employees were spending their time in the office as they were unable to complete any work.

Multiple traffic light outages were spotted at the intersection near Ang Mo Kio Hub and Ang Mo Kio MRT station on Saturday (Nov. 14) at around 10:45am.

Photos sent to Mothership show auxiliary police officers and traffic marshals directing traffic along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8 as it drizzled.

This is part of LTA's temporary traffic reconfiguration along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 to facilitate additional recovery works.

These works are required after unexpected ground obstructions were discovered during tunnelling works for the construction of Ang Mo Kio station on the Cross Island Line (CRL), LTA said in a press release on Oct. 16.

Officers direct traffic along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8

The traffic lights at the junction appeared to be turned off in the photos and videos shared with Mothership.

Marshals directed traffic in rain

Several officers in high-visibility vests were stationed around the junction. One wore a vest marked "Auxiliary Police" and raised a gloved hand as he directed vehicles.

Light rain could be seen falling around him.

Another officer could be seen also handling traffic by the pavement at the traffic light.

Elsewhere at the junction, an officer with a whistle in his mouth stood beside traffic cones and barriers managing heavy traffic in place of another traffic light that was turned off.

The temporary traffic reconfiguration has started on 14 November 2026 and will last till May 2028.

Motorists should expect longer queue lengths entering AMK Hub during peak periods, with an additional travel time of approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

United States aviation officials have lifted a nationwide ground stop that halted flights across the country for around four hours.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that US airspace is open again, but said the fallout from the disruption could continue for days, reported BBC.

The ground stop was ordered at around 5am Singapore time on Nov. 14. US aviation officials cited "extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety".

It was lifted around four hours later, US media reported.

At the time of the outage, more than 3,000 flights were bound for US airports, according to Flightradar24.

Ground stop unrelated to ongoing Microsoft outage

US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sought to reassure the public that the ground stop was not caused by a "nefarious act".

He repeatedly stressed that the incident "isn't another 9/11".

Mullin added that there is no reason to connect today's issues to the ongoing Microsoft outage.

Caused by communication issues and "old legacy equipment that failed"

The outage was caused by "old legacy equipment that failed", according to US officials.

Duffy told reporters that the US has "an incredibly old air traffic control system". He explained that the routers became "overloaded with data", which led to inconsistencies in the data received from them.

Criticised Congress over air traffic funding

During a briefing by US cabinet secretaries, Duffy criticised the Republican-controlled Congress for not allocating more funding to air traffic infrastructure.

"I can't build things if I don't have money," he said, while shaking his head.

Duffy is asking Congress for US$50 billion (about S$65 billion) to build new air traffic control systems to replace the current ones, which he described as incredibly old.

Stranded travellers

US airports were filled with stranded travellers and stuck families, NYT reported.

NYT reporter Jack Healy was himself stuck on the runway on a United Airlines flight due to leave Chicago for Rochester, New York, when the ground stop came into effect.

Reporting from his seat, Healy said flight attendants were doing their best to keep passengers comfortable by "passing out cookies and water", but added that frustration was growing because passengers had no information on when the situation might end.

Guy Gratton, an Associate Professor of Aviation and the Environment at Cranfield University, told BBC Verify that this is the longest US air traffic grounding event since 9/11, but is "clearly not on that scale".

Christmas is just around the corner, which means it’s time to start thinking about festive treats, and what to bring to your year-end gatherings.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is ushering in the season with festive drinks, cakes and a limited-edition tumbler. Essentially, everything you need for a sweet, delightful Christmas party.

Tis’ the season to sip and treat

First up, celebrate the season with the limited-edition Christmas Duo-Sip Tumbler with Flower Braided Strap.

Available in a S$19.90 bundle with a small Peppermint Dark Chocolate Ice Blended, it pairs a festive favourite with a keepsake to enjoy all year round.

Just looking for a drink? You can also get the ice blended with the option of coffee or non-coffee versions, available from S$8.80.

There’s also the newest addition to their festive drinks collection: Tiramisu Ice Blended.

Priced from S$8.80, it’s packed with espresso, mascarpone, and tiramisu flavours, topped with dark chocolate cocoa powder and a ladyfinger biscuit.

Looking for something warm and fuzzy to snuggle in the cosy Christmas atmosphere? The Peppermint Dark Chocolate Latte is available hot or iced from S$8.

The Joy of Sharing

No Christmas gathering is quite complete without cake.

This year's collection features four festive cake options, each priced at S$8.80 per slice.

Here's what you can look forward to:

Tiramisu Log Cake

Coffee lovers might want to start with this one.

The Tiramisu Log Cake features mascarpone mousse and homemade ladyfingers, topped with freshly made espresso cream.

Nutty Lemon Butter Cake

Inspired by the Nutcracker, this cake puts a festive spin on a classic butter cake.

It combines buttery lemon cake with a subtle salted caramel coating and a nutty crunch, with a slight tang from the lemon.

Cookie Dough Chocolate Cheesecake

For those who prefer something richer, the Cookie Dough Chocolate Cheesecake layers chocolate cheese and chocolate cookie dough, finished with a topping of 55 per cent dark chocolate ganache.

Flourless Chocolate Peppermint Cake

This cake brings together two familiar Christmas flavours: dark chocolate and peppermint.

It's an option for those who enjoy the combination of rich chocolate and a refreshing minty finish.

What’s Christmas without presents?

There's also something for those who enjoy getting a little keepsake with their dessert.

The Jolly Bakeware with Choco Strawberry Mousse costs S$12.90.

The chocolate strawberry mousse comes in present-inspired bakeware that is both oven- and microwave-safe.

Once you've finished the dessert, you can keep the bakeware and reuse it at home.

Better to be over-prepared

If you’re already planning your Christmas celebrations, you’re on the right track because we all know how the festive frenzies can get.

From now till Nov. 29, you can enjoy 10 per cent off selected 8-inch whole Christmas cakes if you pre-order online.

The cakes serve around 10 to 12 people and are available in three flavours: Cookie Dough Chocolate Cheesecake, Nutty Lemon Butter Cake and Flourless Chocolate Peppermint Cake.

The last date for collection is Dec. 18.

Set your alert, as you can also get the 600g Tiramisu Log Cake for S$29.90 (U.P.: S$45) if you pre-order it between Nov. 16 and 29.

Collection will take place from Dec. 3 to 18.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's Christmas 2026 collection is available while stocks last, with selected items available in-store and online.

Prices may vary across outlets and store exclusions apply.

This Coffee Bean-branded article is making it very hard for this writer to decide between something new, or something familiar….

Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive whom U.S. intelligence has alleged to be a Chinese spy, was reportedly introduced to recently-ousted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang by her husband, Chinese businessman Kang Wei.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Nov. 11 that people who know the couple said Kang had known Jensen Huang for about a decade.

Called wife a "personal assistant" to Jensen Huang

According to the report, Kang appeared to accept his wife’s relationship with the Nvidia chief.

He allegedly spoke openly about their closeness for about two years.

WSJ reported that he even half-jokingly told associates that she was Jensen Huang’s “personal assistant”.

Jensen Huang had reportedly known Kang since the 2010s, according to U.S. tech website The Information.

Jensen Huang, who is married, was first seen together with Alice Huang in June 2024.

They were mingling at a bar with other tech executives after a technology trade show in Taipei.

Tech investors told The New York Times (NYT) that Alice Huang and her associates often boasted about her ties to Jensen Huang, using them to raise funds and promote the business.

Nvidia declined comment to WSJ, which said it could not reach Kang or Alice Huang for comment.

Who is Kang Wei?

Kang is reportedly in his early 50s.

He founded Shanghai Hexi in 2010, a private equity firm of which Alice was reportedly a major shareholder and senior executive.

He and Alice Huang reportedly co-ran the company from 2016.

Alice Huang was previously the managing director of Singapore-based Megaspeed, which U.S. intelligence has alleged smuggled advanced Nvidia AI chips to China.

Nvidia has denied this.

Kang has also been embroiled in controversial capital operations in recent years.

He was recently under criminal scrutiny for manipulating listed stocks, Caixin reported.

Sources claimed that Chinese securities regulators previously fined him as well.

Investigations into Megaspeed ongoing

In February 2025, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Customs initiated an independent investigation into several companies and their key officers, including Megaspeed.

On Nov. 12, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Singapore police had concluded in February 2026 that there was insufficient evidence that Alice Huang had committed offences relating to possible false declarations by Megaspeed.

However, police assessed that she had given inaccurate information during investigations to downplay her role in the company.

Police issued her a stern warning and barred her from re-entering Singapore, and she has not returned since.

Police investigations into Megaspeed and six other individuals are ongoing.

Two Thai women working together at a food court in Changi Airport got into a fight involving a ladle and a pair of scissors.

The tussle left one woman with a fractured rib and the other with two stab wounds.

Shin Min Daily News reported that Changsuwan Titirat, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to 11 weeks' jail.

The court heard that Changsuwan had been working with the victim, Charoensuk Krittya, 53, at the Singapore Food Street food court in the transit area of Changi Airport Terminal 3.

The two had worked together for nearly a month but had a misunderstanding that led to tensions between them.

Fight broke out

On May 2, 2025, the friction between the two resulted in an argument at about 9:05pm.

The argument escalated into a physical altercation, with Charoensuk pushing Changsuwan and causing her to fall and hit a nearby metal stool.

This caused a minor fracture of the seventh rib on her left side.

They were separated by another employee, but began arguing again less than five minutes later.

Charoensuk, who had been preparing food outside the kitchen, returned to confront Changsuwan and threw a ladle at her.

In retaliation, Changsuwan, who was preparing food with scissors, stabbed Charoensuk twice on the arm.

She stopped when Charoensuk retreated.

Charoensuk was subsequently taken to Changi General Hospital for treatment.

She suffered a laceration to her left arm and was given three days' sick leave.

The manager of the food court then made a police report, leading to Changsuwan's arrest that same day.

She was released on bail the following day.

Other woman also facing charges

According to Shin Min, Charoensuk is also facing one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, as well as one count of criminal intimidation.

The charges allege that she threatened to break Changsuwan's nose with a ladle.

Her case is still pending before the courts.

A 75-year-old man died after his power-assisted bicycle collided with a car in Hougang on the morning of Nov. 13.

In response to Mothership's queries, the police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to the accident at the junction of Hougang Avenue 9 and Yio Chu Kang Road at about 11:25am.

The SCDF conveyed the unconscious cyclist to Sengkang General Hospital, where he subsequently passed away.

A 54-year-old male car driver is assisting with investigations, said the police

Police investigations are ongoing.

Third report of fatal accident involving cyclist this week

This is the third report of a cyclist dying in a road traffic accident this week.

On Nov. 12, a 24-year-old male cyclist died in an accident involving a tipper truck in Tanah Merah

On Nov. 11, a 37-year-old female cyclist died in an accident involving a tipper truck at the junction of Amber Road and Amber Gardens.

According to the Annual Road Traffic report released in February 2026, Singapore's road fatality rate increased by 24 per cent from 2021 to 2025.