Man admits cheating woman of more than $268k over 59 occasions across 7 months
A 31-year-old man gained a woman’s trust after befriending her on online marketplace Carousell, even though he never delivered the items she paid him for. Thevendran Elan Goven went on to cheat her of more than S$268,000 in total over 59 occasions.
He committed the offences over seven months after lying to the 25-year-old victim that he needed to borrow money to pay for items such as a dental bill and court-related matters. The Singaporean had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of cheating involving more than $246,000, and will return to court on Oct 23 for sentencing. For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
Singapore’s cross-border bus services to depart from JB checkpoint earlier on weekdays
From Sept 15, the first buses leaving the Johor Bahru checkpoint for Woodlands on weekdays will start their services earlier at 4.50am, to help tackle early morning traffic at the Causeway. These services include the SMRT-operated service 950 bound for Woodlands, as well as services 160, 170 and 170X run by SBS Transit.
On public holidays and weekends, the three bus services will continue to depart the JB Checkpoint from 5am. Besides these three services, other cross-border bus services are the privately operated AC7 and Singapore-Johore Express as well as the Causeway Link fleet of services, with the first CW1 buses leaving the Johor checkpoint at 4am.
Canteen vendor shortage leads S’pore schools to adopt central kitchen model
From January 2026, children from 13 schools will buy food from caterers and vendors instead of individual canteen stallholders. Their schools will be switching to a central kitchen meal model, where a single operator manages their canteen, amid difficulties finding stallholders.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Education said central kitchen operators need to provide at least one full meal priced at no more than S$2.70 in primary schools and S$3.60 in secondary schools. They must also follow the Health Promotion Board’s Healthy Meals in Schools Programme guidelines and provide a good variety of food choices.
Singaporeans going to Batam, Bali, Jakarta, and Surabaya need to use new on-arrival app
From Sept 1, travellers – both foreigners and citizens – arriving at three Indonesian airports, including in Bali and Jakarta, and via ferry in Batam must use a new mobile phone app, called the All Indonesia app, to complete the arrival declaration.
The free app integrates the immigration, customs, health and quarantine arrival forms into a single digital system and is available on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store in Bahasa Indonesia, English and Chinese. Its use will be expanded to all airports and airlines, and international ports and borders in time, said Indonesia’s directorate-general of immigration in a statement on Aug 31.
The Straits Times
