Johor police say Singapore loan sharks behind petrol bomb attacks; Singaporeans can share their views on Budget 2025: Singapore live news

American singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams will be performing at The Star Theatre in Singapore on 3 April next year.

Abrams, who is the daughter of Hollywood director JJ Abrams, will be in Singapore to kick-off the Asian leg of her ‘The Secret of Us’ tour. Other Asian cities she is set to play include Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Bangkok.

“I’m so unbelievably excited and honoured to perform in each of these cities,” Abrams wrote on Instagram.

The 25-year-old has earned two Grammy nominations in a blossoming career which has also seen her open for big stars such as Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift.

And just last month Swift sang the praises of her Eras Tour opener Abrams. “She’s been giving the most amazing performances every night on this tour,” Swift said.

A presale session for Abrams' Singapore concert will be held on 12 December for Live Nation members while general sales begin the following day.

More ticketing details can be found here.

DBS Group has ‘beefed up its wealth management team to cater to rich Russians’ according to a Bloomberg report.

The report said DBS had hired two people in recent months to expand their team of Russian-speaking private bankers to ‘at least nine’ in Singapore.

In an emailed response to Bloomberg, a DBS spokesperson said: “Like any other responsible bank, we welcome any client who favours our suite of products and services and we thank them for choosing us.”

“However, we will not deal with anyone who falls afoul of our controls (including sanctions screening or money laundering surveillance) or our risk appetite,” said DBS.

The spokesperson claimed that DBS doesn’t have a specific team serving only Russian clients nor does it specifically target Russian clients alone.

More details can be found in the Bloomberg story, here.

Restaurants without a pet cafe licence will be able to seat patrons together with their pets outdoors from 1 January 2025. However, no pet food is allowed to be served.

Currently, all retail food businesses must convert their licence to a pet cafe licence in order for ‘fur-parents’ to dine-in with their ‘fur-kids’ accompanying them. This will change next year but operators will still need a pet cafe licence if the business intends to serve food for human consumption and pet food.

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) announced the impending change yesterday (2 December) as part of a ‘regular review of our food safety regulatory framework’ which looks at food safety risks, while enabling a pro-enterprise regulatory environment.

The SFA revealed there are 120 businesses with pet cafe licences currently and they expect some 40 food businesses to benefit every year from their latest decision.

Pets will still not be allowed at hawker centres island-wide. “This is in consideration that hawker centres are communal spaces,” said SFA.

Shaw Theatres has announced today (3 December) it will close its outlet at The Seletar Mall on 15 December 2024.

In a statement, the Singapore-based cinema chain cited the end of its lease as the reason for the closure, adding that the mall had “alternative plans for the space".

The company opened its Shaw Theatres Seletar outlet 10 years ago in December 2014.

“Thank you and we are truly grateful to have had you as part of our journey at Shaw Theatres Seletar,” said Shaw Theatres in a Facebook post.

A message on the Shaw Theatres website advised that after 15 December patrons may visit the nearest Shaw Theatres at Nex in Serangoon or Waterway Point in Punggol.

Icon Sir Elton John revealed he was unable to watch his new show, 'The Devil Wears Prada: The Musical' because he currently has next to no vision in both eyes.

The 77-year-old lost vision in his right eye due to a severe infection contracted in July and he only has limited vision in his left eye. He has described the recovery as an ‘extremely slow process’ that will take some time for sight to return.

John wrote the score for the musical production of the ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and he spoke about his health issues while at the show's charity gala night in support of the Elton John Aids Foundation.

“I haven’t been able to come to many of the previews because, as you know, I have lost my eyesight. So it’s hard for me to see it. But I love to hear it and boy it sounded good tonight,” John said.

Actor Park Min-jae has died at the age of 32, according to multiple media outlets in South Korea.

Park, who appeared in titles such as ‘Little Women’ and ‘Mr. Lee’, reportedly suffered cardiac arrest while travelling in China on 29 November.

“My beloved brother has gone to rest. I hope as many people as possible can remember my brother,” said the late actor’s brother in Korean on Instagram yesterday (2 December).

Park’s agency Big Title also paid tribute on social media: “We are truly grateful for the love and interest you have shown actor Park Min-jae.”

“Although we will no longer be able to see his acting, we will remember him and be proud of him as an actor at Big Title. We pray that the deceased may rest in peace,” the company said in a statement.

A Singaporean illegal money-lending syndicate has been linked to a series of Molotov cocktail attacks in Johor, Malaysia.

According to Johor police, a 17-year-old teenage girl is believed to have been paid by the gang to petrol bomb homes in Taman Bukit Indah, Kangkar Pulai, and Taman Damai Jaya late last month.

The teenage suspect was also hired to splash red paint and to leave threatening notes in a bid to scare the victims to pay up on money allegedly owed.

She was paid RM1,000 ($300) to torch a vehicle or house and RM600 ($180) for splashing red paint.

“Police investigations found that the suspect received money from a Singapore loan shark syndicate as payment to petrol bomb the homes of its loan defaulters,” said M. Kumarasan, Iskandar Puteri police chief Assistant Commissioner on Monday (2 December).

“Further checks also showed that the syndicate uses Singapore-registered mobile phone numbers in the notes left behind,” he said.

The police said the teenage girl is unemployed and applied for the ‘job’ for the loan sharks through a Facebook ad.

She was arrested in connection to the attacks on 27 November.