An online loan scam reportedly led to a single mother in Thailand allegedly killing herself and her two children.

On Oct. 6, the local police station was alerted to three bodies being found in a low rent housing unit in Bang Khuwa.

The school that the two children had attended had alerted the police after the children did not attend school.

Officers found a suicide note at the scene, alongside other records related to loans.

Investigations revealed a possible motive stemming from the mother falling victim to an online scam.

The scam, according to Chiang Rai Times, would involve the scammers luring victims in by offering quick online cash.

They would then ask for their personal information before asking them to make upfront payments.

The scammers would ask the victims to read certain sentences out loud while recording themselves. Any mistake made doing so would incur “penalty fees”.

The scammers were able to scam about 1,000 Baht (S$38.16) from the single mother. Money she desperately needed to tide her over until the end of the month.

She was able to file a report through an online police reporting system. However, she reportedly remained burdened by financial debt and emotional distress, leading to the suspected murder-suicide of the family.

On Oct. 8, the police were able to arrest two suspects related to the case, a 20-year-old and a 29-year-old. The 29-year-old woman is believed to be the mastermind behind the operation.

Police investigations are ongoing.

In a drunken stupor, a 49-year-old Singaporean woman forcefully kissed two brothers, then 16 and 23, on their cheeks and lips at Boon Lay Shopping Centre.

According to court documents seen by Mothership, the woman, Goh Mei Chi, faced two charges for outrage of modesty.

She pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Oct. 9, 2026, to a total of 21 weeks in jail, according to The Straits Times.

She also faced other charges for separate offences.

Did not know the two brothers

On the night of the incident at around 11:10pm on Feb. 12, 2024, Goh had noticed the duo, walked towards them, and grabbed one brother's collar.

She then kissed him on the cheek and lips.

Goh then ran towards the other brother and did the same. Goh and the brothers did not know each other.

As the brothers walked away in shock, Goh shouted towards them in a mix of English and Mandarin.

When they tried to walk past her towards the exit of the shopping centre, Goh grabbed the bag of groceries one of the brothers' was holding and threw it onto the floor.

The brothers contacted the police afterwards.

Had drunk quite a bit

Goh was arrested around 1:35am on Feb. 13, 2024, and was released on a personal bond the next day.

Investigations revealed Goh had drank around 10 cups of beer prior to the offence.

A personal bond allows an accused to be released from remand, without requiring a surety or bailor, by providing his or her own property or money to the court as security to ensure that he or she will continue to attend all Court hearings as required, according to the Singapore Courts website.

A personal bond is also conditional on the accused not committing an offence, among others.

Smashed bottles on ground at coffee shop

However, on Mar. 5, 2024, Goh again got into trouble at a coffee shop in Jurong West after drinking.

At about 10:31pm that evening, Goh approached a table of friends and grabbed a bottle off the table.

She later threw beer bottles onto the ground, causing them to shatter. A man at the table later stepped on a glass shard by accident.

Goh was arrested at around 11:20pm on Mar. 5, 2024. She was released on a personal bond on Mar. 7.

Drunk, refused to go home

Goh went on to re-offend again while on personal bond, this time on Sep. 8, 2024, at around 1:14am.

Police received a call regarding a drunken woman in the vicinity of Block 186 Boon Lay Avenue that evening.

Goh refused the responding officer's request to return home and also raised her voice at the officers attending to the call.

She was arrested at around 2:55am.

Investigations revealed she had consumed alcohol, including at least one bottle of beer, one can of beer and one bottle of soju.

ST reported that Goh pleaded guilty to one count each of molestation, behaving in a disorderly manner and causing annoyance to others while drunk in a public place.

Three other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing, ST wrote.

The American burger chain Five Guys has shut down its outlet at ION Orchard, leaving only one outlet left in Singapore.

The restaurant outlet has been closed since Sep. 6, 2026, with the restaurant facade blocked by hoardings.

There was no indication as to what might replace the burger chain.

Mothership reached out to Zouk Group, Five Guys's franchisee in Singapore for comment.

It confirmed that the outlet has closed down and is not relocating elsewhere. It also encouraged customers to visit the outlet at Plaza Singapura.

Five Guys first opened in Singapore in 2019.

It had three outlets in Singapore, at Plaza Singapure, ION Orchard and Nex at Serangoon, but is now down to one.

A consumer complained that he was unable to receive a 10-cent refund as the Beverage Container Return Scheme (BCRS) sticker on his drink container was not legitimate.

He took to Facebook to share his issue on Sep. 29, 2026.

Paid 10 cents more per can

He said he bought two cans of Red Bull from a shop in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 on Sep. 29.

He was charged 10 cents more per can.

On his receipt, the extra 20 cents was listed as "BCRS deposit".

However, he could not get a refund from the Return Right machine subsequently.

He wrote on social media: "I discovered that the container/ deposit mark was not registered or recognised, which meant I could not get my deposit back."

He added: "If a retailer is collecting the $0.10 deposit, consumers should reasonably expect that the container is eligible for a refund under the official deposit return system."

According to a photo of the beverage cans he took, a 10-cent refund logo was present, but there was no deposit mark or barcode.

The man informed the National Environment Agency (NEA) about the issue.

He also urged consumers to always ask for a receipt when making purchases.

BCRS Ltd response

In response to media queries, a BCRS Ltd spokesperson told Mothership that the drinks in this case have not been registered and carried an unapproved sticker.

They are not approved for a deposit refund as a result.

"We have contacted the producer concerned to take the necessary corrective actions, including requesting a recall of the unregistered stock," the spokesperson added.

Stickers on cans allowed

Under the scheme, BCRS-approved deposit mark stickers are an accepted form of labelling for registered products.

The sticker can be pasted on beverages with packaging artwork that cannot be modified to include the deposit mark and/ or a new barcode.

However, stickers must be procured through BCRS-appointed vendors and comply with the applicable deposit mark and barcode requirements, the spokesperson said.

A Return Right machine will reject a stickered container if the product does not carry the required deposit mark and a barcode registered with BCRS Ltd.

Consumers who encounter an uncrushed container carrying a deposit mark and intact barcode that is rejected by the Return Right machine can contact hi@returnright.sg for assistance.

A clear photo of the product, barcode, and purchase location should be provided.

A Chinese family visiting Singapore was alarmed when their two-year-old girl was bitten by a snake near the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) on the night of Oct. 4.

The family had been taking a stroll along a pavement outside the ACM, the girl's mother recounted in a Xiaohongshu post that has since been deleted.

They did not walk on the grass nor disturb any wildlife, she said.

Then, all of a sudden, the girl's ankle was bitten hard by a snake.

The wound immediately turned red and swelled up, and the girl kept crying in pain.

The family quickly called an ambulance, and later contacted the National Parks Board (NParks) to alert them about the snake.

In response to Mothership's queries, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they received a call for assistance at 1 Empress Place at about 10:25pm that night.

They conveyed one person to KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

Condition has improved

After the girl was brought to the hospital, the family paid for the medical bills themselves, the girl's mother said.

According to HK01, she updated in the comments section on Oct. 6 that her daughter's condition had improved significantly.

In her post, the mother added that a friend of hers has lived in Singapore for over 20 years and has never seen a snake there before.

She warned families travelling in Singapore not to take the safety around tourist attractions as guaranteed, and to watch their step closely when they bring children out at night.

No snake found by NParks

NParks was alerted to the snake bite incident, confirmed NParks' group director for wildlife management How Choon Beng.

In a statement, he said that NParks carried out a survey of the area immediately, but no snake was located.

NParks will continue to monitor the area and relocate any snakes sighted.

How added that based on photos, the snake is likely to be a reticulated python.

The species, native to Singapore, can occasionally be encountered in urban areas.

"It is non-venomous and generally poses little threat to humans, especially if undisturbed," he said.

He also reminded members of public who encounter a snake in a public area to observe from a safe distance, stay calm, and back away slowly to give it space to retreat.

If bitten by a snake, they should seek medical attention immediately.

The snake should also be left alone, especially if it is in its natural habitat.

If assistance is required, members of the public can call the Animal Response Centre helpline at 1800-476-1600.

Singapore must ensure that it continues to have good government, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Oct. 8.

To do so, ministers' salaries must remain "competitive" to attract good talent, he added.

PM Wong made these comments at the 24th Forbes Global CEO Conference, an invitation-only conference that gathers hundreds of leading executives and industry leaders from across the world.

He participated in a dialogue with Steve Forbes, the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes.

In the dialogue, PM Wong discussed and commented on a diverse range of subjects, including geopolitics, AI, and economic policy.

Ministers' salary framework must be "competitive"

In response to Forbes' question on ministerial salaries, PM Wong asked:

"Well, our starting point is: Is government important? Is good government important? And I believe most of us will say 'Yes. Good government is important.' Then, if good government is important, what do you need to do to get good government?"

He continued that to create a "good government", the government must attract "the best" of every cohort by identifying individuals with good character and values, and appeal to their "sense of purpose".

However, a "practical issue" of getting such individuals to join politics is that they are often successful in their own careers, he explained, citing examples of these people being doctors, lawyers or businessmen.

And as high salary earners, "they would have made their own financial commitments for themselves, their spouses, and their children".

Singapore thus tries to have a "competitive" salary framework for ministers — this will not match their private sector pay, but is "broadly competitive".

PM Wong stated that the aim is to reduce the "burden and the financial loss and the hurdle of entering politics".

Under this principle, Singapore has been able to attract and retain good talent in the government over the past 60 years.

He pointed out that as Prime Minister, his mission is not only to complete his term, but to ensure that he is able to attract the next generation of leaders that he can pass the baton to.

His comments follow an announcement in September that political appointment holders will get a one-off adjustment of up to 9 per cent from Oct. 15, sparking debate in Parliament.

Expensive city?

In another instance, Forbes remarked to PM Wong on the country's cost of living, stating that "Singapore is not a cheap place to live."

"Not at all," he admitted.

However, PM Wong raised that cost and incomes go hand in hand and are "two sides of the same coin", pointing out that one "cannot ask for high incomes and low prices because the services that you consume, what you pay, forms a salary for the people who provide those services".

As such, the "critical" statistics are rather real incomes, accounting for inflation, as well as income inequality.

Singapore has been ensuring that real incomes continue to rise across all segments of society — "not just at the top level... but especially at the lower end — while aiming for income inequalities to go down, he added.

He also stressed that high prices are "legitimate price signals", rejecting the idea that the government should intervene to cap prices as it may generate unintended consequences.

He further explained that during the energy crisis, Singapore was buying oil at market price.

"So if prices are high, we accept that these are market prices."

In such situations, instead of intervening to cap the price, Singapore chose to provide targeted support to low- and middle-income households through utility rebates or cash support.

The AI-tech boom

In response to Forbes pointing out that Singapore makes 10 per cent of the world's semiconductors and about one-fifth of the equipment used to make them, PM Wong said that the semiconductor industry was a "big part of our economy".

While Singapore does not make the most advanced AI chips, firms such as GlobalFoundries and Micron make memory chips and specialty chips here, which AI increases the demand for.

The economy has grown at 5 per cent for the last three years, including 2026, he said, calling it "remarkable".

"[Given] where we are in terms of per capita GDP to be able to grow at 5 percent consecutively for three years with productivity at more than 3 percent — it is considerable."

When asked how long he thought the boom would last though, PM Wong admitted "No boom is forever."

He said that there would be a correction at some point in time yet to be determined.

As such, he stressed that Singapore's approach is to "make good use of this window of opportunity now, where there is external demand, capitalise on it, build new capabilities, and create better jobs for Singaporeans".

Protecting jobs

Forbes then raised the potential for AI to cause displacement and affect jobs.

PM Wong said that while it is "still early days", and it is unclear what impact AI will have on the job market, but that "clearly some jobs will disappear, and many jobs will have to change".

Therefore, Singapore is focused on protecting the worker rather than the job, he stressed, and one embracing unions as partners is one way to do so.

Claiming that Singapore's unions "have an enlightened approach", PM Wong said that they are aware "that it is better to enlarge the pie, rather than to fight for a bigger share of a smaller pie."

He stressed the importance of Singapore's "strong compact" between the government, employers, and unions, which allows for all three parties to work together to create win-win outcomes.

This makes it possible for Singapore to "make sure that the benefits of AI are shared widely," he said.

The parents of a 10-year-old Hong Kong girl have been arrested by the local police's child abuse investigation unit after a video of her struggling to carry bags of beers circulated on social media.

At one point in the video, bystanders asked why she was carrying so much on her own, prompting a man to grab one of the bags frustratedly and calling the girl "useless".

The man, who is reportedly the girl's stepfather, explained that he made her carry the bags as a way to build muscles.

Struggling

In the video, the 10-year-old could be seen struggling as she carried two plastic bags full of what appeared to be beer cans.

She had on her back an unzipped school bag with two cans of beer stuffed in its side pouches.

At one point, one of the cans slipped out.

Along the way, the 10-year-old could be seen taking brief pauses and placing the bags on the ground.

The girl appeared to be accompanied by two adults, presumably her parents.

According to South China Morning Post, one video of the incident showed bystanders asking why the girl was carrying both bags of beer.

A man seen in the video then grabbed one of the bags from the girl while calling her "useless".

The man himself appeared to already be carrying a bag of beer.

Arrested by HK police's child abuse unit

Hong Kong police said they received reports about the video at about 10:30pm on Oct. 6, SCMP reported.

The girl's stepfather, 38, and mother, 32, were subsequently arrested in Tuen Mun on Oct. 7 afternoon on ill-treatment suspicions.

Hong Kong police also said the 10-year-old was found without visible injuries.

The family reportedly told the media that the incident was a misunderstanding.

They pointed out that the man who was arrested was the girl's stepfather.

Explaining the incident, the stepfather said he had asked the 10-year-old to carry the bags as a way to build muscles.

He said he would use other methods in the future, SCMP wrote.

Girl said it's her first time carrying six packs

It appears this was not the first time the girl had carried beer, based on SCMP's report.

The girl commented that while she had carried two and four packs of beer in the past, this was her first time carrying six packs.

She also explained that the backpack seen in the video was damaged by herself and that her parents did care for her.

According to The Standard, the parents have been released on bail.

The local social welfare department has also stepped in to assess if the family requires assistance.

An American citizen in Singapore rented a semi-detached house in Kembangan where he stayed with his family, and paid only one month's rent.

After that, Anthony Thomas Price refused to pay the landlord, citing alleged defects in the property, according to a judgement dated Oct. 5, 2026.

When the owners, an elderly couple in their 80s, tried to take their house back through peaceable re-entry, the American and his family resisted it.

They subsequently took legal action to block the owners' attempt to take back the house.

The application was dismissed, with District Judge Chiah Kok Khun arguing that Price "devised a deliberate scheme" to rent the house for him and his family with no intention to pay rental.

Price had used a Singapore-incorporated private company, Noranth Ventures, to enter into the tenancy agreement.

He and his family are the company directors, and it has a paid-up capital of only S$200.

He used this company to file the court application.

The court ultimately found that Price had a history of using shell companies to rent landed properties in Singapore for his family to stay and not paying rent.

His applications were filed "in plain abuse of process of the court", Chiah said.

Breaching the tenancy agreement

The tenancy agreement for the Kembangan house was signed in April 2026, for a two-year term from May 1, 2026, to Apr. 30, 2028.

The monthly rent was S$7,500, to be paid on the first day of each month.

According to the judgement, Price and his family paid the rent only for May 2026, and has not paid any more to date, but have continued to occupy the house.

The landlords argued that besides not paying the monthly rent, they also committed multiple breaches of the tenancy agreement.

They were supposed to pay a security deposit of S$15,000.

After paying half at the time of signing the agreement, they did not pay the remaining half that was due on Jun. 1.

Under the agreement, Price and his family were also obliged to set up their own utilities account to pay all utility charges from the start of their tenancy, but they only did so on Jun. 4.

This resulted in the owners being charged S$813.74 for utilities during this period, which Price and his family refused to reimburse.

Furthermore, Price and his family installed CCTV cameras in the property premises without the owners' permission, going against the agreed terms to not make any alterations without their written consent.

Alleging defects in the house

Price tried to justify his refusal to pay rent on account of alleged defects in the property, Chiah said.

The judgement quoted WhatsApp messages from Price to the estate agent in June, before the owners attempted peaceable re-entry.

He disputed that the owners were entitled to take back the property based on his failure to pay rent due to supposed "unresolved repair, safety, tenantability, and quiet enjoyment issues".

He also highlighted "approximately 35 repair, rectification or practical occupation issues".

"These are worthless words and a roundabout way to say that Price and the claimant have no intention of paying any rent," Chiah said.

The judge argued that Price's allegations of such issues are untrue.

The owners have even been accommodating and had taken reasonable steps to resolve the repair items raised by Price, despite rent not having been paid.

When the owners attempted to take over the house on Jun. 29, Price deliberately remained at the premises to ensure that re-entry could not take place.

This was stated by Price himself on affidavit, according to the owners.

Owners' counterclaim

Above all, Chiah said the disputed fact that Price refused to pay rent was sufficient to dismiss his application.

He found that the owners "have every right" to re-enter the premises, and he allowed their counterclaim for the repossession of the house, rent arrears, and double rent.

This included the rent for June to August, which was a total of S$22,500, along with the interest of S$269.17.

On top of that, Price and his family were ordered to pay double rent of S$15,000 a month calculated from Aug. 15 until they hand over the possession of the property.

The owners were also awarded reimbursement for the unpaid utilities fees and security deposit balance, and S$6,999.14 as a proportionate refund for the agent's commission after the tenancy was prematurely terminated.

Scheme of using shell companies

Prior to this case, there had been two court proceedings involving Price's use of shell companies to live in landed properties rent-free.

He previously used Bundleluxe, a wholly owned subsidiary of Noranth Ventures, to enter into a one-year tenancy agreement with the owner of another landed property at Burnfoot Terrace in 2024.

Bundleluxe was a shell company that had already accumulated about S$1.34 million in total losses by the time this agreement was signed.

Before that, in 2019, Price used Noranth Ventures to sign a tenancy agreement with the owner of a landed property at Jalan Selamat.

Both cases turned out similarly as in the Kembangan property case.

Price paid only a portion of the security deposit, paid rent for a few months, then stopped paying rent altogether.

He and his family ended up staying rent-free at the Burnfoot property for close to 12 months, and at the Jalan Selamat one for at least five months.

The owners of both these properties took legal action against Price.

While the Jalan Selamat case was eventually settled and discontinued, the proceedings for the Burnfoot case are still ongoing today.

Under Price's scheme, the rental arrears would likely go unpaid given that the tenants on record are Price’s shell companies with minimal paid-up share capital, the owners of the Kembangan and Burnfoot properties told the court.

In dismissing Price's application, Chiah also pointed out that the pattern of using shell companies to rent residential premises is "a matter of some concern for landlords in Singapore".

He ordered Price to pay the owners legal costs of S$15,000, plus disbursements of S$2,031.98.

As the haze worsens in Malaysia, all schools under the Ministry of Education in Negeri Sembilan are temporarily closing their gates.

Students and teachers have been asked to stay home for lessons and work.

One student’s mother didn’t see a school closure notice in the school group chat and drove her child to school. She dropped her child off and left, and the child walked into the school alone, as reported by China Press.

Li Kaixiang, the principal, returned to school for work and was shocked to find that a parent had dropped their child off.

The principal stayed with the child to wait for their parents to come and pick him up.

A 44-year-old Singaporean man who sexually abused four of his daughters over 15 years was sentenced on Oct. 8 to 16.5 years' jail and 22 strokes of the cane.

The victims between 2008 and 2023 consisted of two of the man's biological daughters and two of his stepdaughters.

The Straits Times reported that the man pleaded guilty on Oct. 8 to one charge of aggravated statutory rape and two charges of aggravated outrage of modesty, with seven other charges taken into consideration during sentencing.

Court documents seen by Mothership stated that the man has eight biological children and stepchildren from three marriages.

He cannot be named due to a gag order protecting the victims' identities.

Stepdaughter from 1st marriage

Court documents stated that in 2008, when the man was still married to his second wife, his first known victim was his stepdaughter, around 12, from his first marriage.

Sometime in 2008, the man molested her after entering her bedroom. She told her mother, but she did not believe her.

The girl was afraid that the police would not believe her, and ended up not lodging a report at the time.

Biological daughter from 1st marriage

The man's next known incident of sexual assault involved his biological daughter from his first marriage, who was 17 at the time.

Sometime in 2020, the man entered the room the teen was in, while carrying another daughter who was 10 months old.

At the time, the teen was lying on her stomach while using her phone.

The man then placed the 10-month-old infant on the teen's back while kneeling down on top of her body.

He then sexually assaulted her.

Court documents stated that the teen was shocked at his actions and felt unsafe around the man ever since, but did not lodge a police report as her family did not want her to.

She was also afraid of getting disowned or kicked out of the house by her family if she went against their wishes.

His offence came to light after the teen told a hospital medical social worker about it.

A child protection officer from the Ministry of Social and Family Development's (MSF) Child Protective Service eventually lodged a police report about the offence on Mar. 1, 2024.

Biological daughter from 2nd marriage

In November 2021, while the man was married to his third wife, he molested his biological daughter from his second marriage, who was 13 at the time and staying at his flat overnight.

He lay next to the girl on a mattress and reached under her clothes to molest her.

He only stopped when someone called him from outside the room.

The girl initially did not tell anyone about the sexual assault as she felt afraid, but later lodged a police report on Jan. 1, 2022.

Stepdaughter from 3rd marriage

Court documents stated that the man also assaulted his stepdaughter from his third marriage repeatedly between 2020 and 2023.

Sometime in 2023, when the girl was eight to nine years old, the man was playing a video game with her in the living room.

He exposed himself to her before telling her to perform a sexual act on him, to which she complied and returned to playing the game as she was unable to comprehend the significance of his instructions at the time.

The man rubbed himself against her a few weeks later while playing a game of wrestling with her in a bedroom.

On Nov. 14, 2024, the girl was lying down on the bed in a guest room and watching TikTok videos on her phone.

At the time, the man who was standing near the master bedroom door did a lewd act while looking at the girl.

She could see him from her room and recorded a 32-second video of him as she felt his actions were wrong.

She sent the video to her friend via TikTok, who told her to call the police.

She was unwilling to do so as she did not want anything to happen to her family.

However, after her friend informed a teacher about the video, MSF was eventually notified, and a child protection officer lodged a police report on Nov. 15, 2024.

The man was arrested the same day.

Justification for sentencing

In noting the man's "clear proclivity towards sexually exploiting his four children", the prosecution argued that running the three proceeded charges consecutively was fully justified in this case.

"Each of his offences involve a gross abuse of the trust that the accused's children had placed in him," the prosecution said.

With the exception of one girl, the other offences were committed against vulnerable victims.

In addition, the man's sexual exploitation of one girl began as early as 2020 or 2021, when she was only five to seven years old.