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One injured in double-decker bus accident along Orchard Road

One injured in double-decker bus accident along Orchard Road

SINGAPORE: A person was taken to hospital on Saturday evening (5 July) after an accident involving an SMRT double-decker bus along Orchard Road.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the incident at about 6:45pm. The accident occurred near Grange Road.
When emergency responders arrived, they found that one individual had sustained injuries and was subsequently conveyed to Raffles Hospital for medical treatment.
Images circulating online, including a post by netizen on Xiaohongshu, showed a gaping hole in the upper window of the bus. The photos also show SCDF personnel, police officers and the bus driver at the scene assessing the damage.
It is unclear what caused the incident or how the window was damaged.
Police investigations are ongoing.
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Hackathons produce scam simulation tool for education, platform identifying birds based on calls
Hackathons produce scam simulation tool for education, platform identifying birds based on calls

Straits Times

time36 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

Hackathons produce scam simulation tool for education, platform identifying birds based on calls

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Tamagotcha team members taking dogs from Metta Cats And Dogs Sanctuary for a walk in February. Their web-based game teaches responsible pet ownership. SINGAPORE – A scam simulation where users role-play falling prey and losing money to scammers. A web-based game that teaches users responsible pet ownership. A platform that helps to identify local bird species based on their calls. These are among projects that were created during two hackathons in the last two years: the Hack For Public Good (HFPG) in 2025 and Build for Good (BFG) Environment in 2024. Organised by Open Government Products (OGP), an independent division of the Government Technology Agency (GovTech), HFPG is a month-long hackathon held every January since 2020 that encourages its employees to build solutions that tackle public issues. The BFG Environment, organised by OGP in partnership with the SG Eco Fund, is open to all Singapore residents aged 18 and above. Here, five winning teams will take part in an eight-week accelerator programme to develop their innovations, with up to $100,000 in funding, mentorship by industry experts, and product workshops. Innovations that have emerged from these hackathons include ScamShield, the anti-scam app that helps people filter scam messages and calls, and RemediSG, which collects and redistributes unused medication. The Straits Times sat down with three hackathon teams to find out what societal issues they are trying to solve, how their creations have evolved since the hackathons, and what plans they have. Unpacked: A scam simulation platform for up-close education Many people have probably seen countless anti-scam advertisements in public spaces and on social media, not to mention read about scam victims in multiple news reports. But have they ever assessed their own abilities to identify a scam? Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore First BTO project in Sembawang North to be offered in July HDB launch World Tariffs will kick in on Aug 1 barring trade deals: US Treasury Secretary Singapore Woman on SMRT's 190 bus injured after bottle thrown at vehicle leaves hole in window Business Great Eastern says Takeover Code not breached when it shared IFA valuation with OCBC Asia 'Don't be seen in India again': Indian nationals pushed into Bangladesh at gunpoint Asia Thousands evacuated as Typhoon Danas lashes Taiwan Asia Two women fatally stabbed at bar in Japan by man Life Star Awards 2025: Christopher Lee wins big, including Special Achievement Award and Best Actor They can go ahead and try out Unpacked, an immersive scam simulation built by a group of five OGP employees, which allows users to experience first-hand what it is like to interact with scammers posing as government officials. Created during HFPG 2025, the educational tool complements ScamShield, the anti-scam app that helps people filter scam messages and calls. 'The way citizens consume scam education, such as via advertisements in MRTs and on social media, is very passive,' said software engineer Rayner Loh, one of the team members. 'These traditional methods are not particularly effective in reducing scams and making the public more aware or able to protect themselves... We want to show things like how psychological manipulation happens in real time.' Accessed via a mobile device on Unpacked's webpage , the multi-sensory experience starts with a call from an unknown number. The 'caller', which is actually a voice created digitally, would then identify herself as a DBS Bank employee. The user is told that there has been unusual activity on his or her bank account, and that the bank suspects it is the result of identity theft. The call is then transferred to the 'police', and the conversation continues on a messaging platform that resembles WhatsApp. Throughout the experience, the user can respond based on choices provided. The simulation ends when the user simulates transferring his or her life savings to an unknown bank account. The team behind Unpacked, an immersive scam simulation created during Hack for Public Good 2025. PHOTO: OPEN GOVERNMENT PRODUCTS The manner in which scammers speak, type, and the communication channels used are specifically crafted based on information from advisories that the police have put out, and interviews with officers and victims of government official impersonation scams (Gois). 'Some of the insights were that the scammers would sound local, and they would be wearing a police uniform during the video call,' said Mr Loh. 'For Gois, it's also never on a single platform – they'll pass the victims around different platforms such as on phone calls and WhatsApp.' He added that while the team is working to simulate other scam variants in the future, it chose to focus on Gois first due to its high financial impact. There were 1,504 Gois cases reported in 2024, and an average of $100,622 was lost per case, according to the annual scam figures released by the police in February. This is the highest amount of money lost per case on average in 2024, compared with other scam types such as investment or social media impersonation scams. Immersive scam simulation Unpacked is based on information including those from interviews with victims. It ends when the user simulates transferring life savings to an unknown bank account. PHOTO: SCREENSHOT FROM UNPACKED Unpacked has hosted around 7,400 unique visitors since February when it was displayed during the HFPG demonstration day. The team is working on making improvements such as making the simulation available in Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. There are no plans now to integrate Unpacked as a feature in ScamShield's app, but the team continues to share about the simulation through word-of-mouth and online, said Mr Loh. 'However, if there are organisations that are interested in using Unpacked for their own anti-scam education and training purposes, we welcome the public to use it,' he added. Tamagotcha: A web-based game that teaches responsible pet ownership A record number of animal welfare and cruelty cases in Singapore prompted the creation of Tamagotcha – a game inspired by the popular 1990s pocket-size gadget on which players care for a virtual pet. Created by a team of five during HFPG 2025, Tamagotcha uses gameplay to teach existing and potential pet owners the responsibilities of caring for a furry companion. In web-based game Tamagotcha, players are faced with scenarios that test their knowledge on pet care. PHOTO: SCREENSHOT FROM TAMAGOTCHA Earlier in January, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) reported that the number of cases of animal cruelty and welfare concerns has hit a 12-year high , with a total of 2,190 animals falling victim in 2024. But it was not just statistics that inspired the team. Being pet owners themselves, they knew that new owners can be caught off-guard by the needs of their pets. 'As a first-time cat 'pawrent' some years ago, I was really surprised how different their needs are from that of dogs that I had prior experience with – such as their innate need to scratch, play, and explore,' said Ms Nitya Menon, lead policy and transformation specialist at OGP. 'With so many unanticipated scenarios that can make a new pet owner feel ill-prepared, we wanted to focus on upstream education to help new adopters make informed decisions.' Currently, players can choose between only a cat and a dog, although some pieces of advice given throughout the game are applicable to all pet owners. To collect information for the game while it was in development, the team surveyed 129 people based in Singapore including pet owners, community animal caretakers and rescue operators. The prototype was also tested by SPCA, and Metta Cats And Dogs Sanctuary. Some key insights were that healthcare, nutrition, training and costs were the most common areas where pet owners felt they lacked enough information. The game, which is currently a prototype, can be found on its webpage . Users can choose to play with Snowy, a cuddly and affectionate dog, or Nala, a feisty and fearless cat. They start with nine hearts and nine coins. The goal is to maintain good care of the pet, which would result in a decrease in coins (expenditure on pet care), but an increase in hearts (the pet is happy). In one instance, the player is confronted with a situation in which Nala pounces and tries to bite the owner's feet. The player can either choose to scold, or set aside playtime and provide suitable toys for Nala. 'Another area that often catches new owners by surprise is the cost of caring for a pet,' said Mr Goh Kyi Yeung, team member and assistant director at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information. Basic needs such as cost of food and toys, licensing, grooming, and vet visits can add up quickly, he added. 'The game includes scenarios around these practical aspects too, so players can better appreciate the financial commitment involved.' Moving forward, the team hopes to partner with agencies and animal welfare groups to integrate the game into adoption processes, licensing requirements, or broader public awareness initiatives. Said Ms Menon: 'We welcome pet owners and shelters to try Tamagotcha out and give us their feedback. This will help us decide on next steps, including whether OGP should invest additional resources to expand the game's role as a public education tool.' 'Our longer-term vision is for Tamagotcha to inspire the reimagination of other learning and training platforms by the Government, from Driver Improvement Point System (DIPS) retraining to election duty,' said Mr Goh, referring to the course meant to correct driving behaviour of errant motorists who have accumulated demerit points. Koel: A tool to identify wild birds by their calls Koel team members setting up equipment to record bird sounds. The online platform's goal is to make environmental impact assessments less challenging to conduct. PHOTO: MAX KHOO To make the process of identifying birds easier and less time-consuming when an area is being assessed for environmental risk during development, a group of engineers and developers came together to create an online platform that can identify species of birds via audio recordings. Koel was created by a team of five during the BFG Environment hackathon in 2024, and the goal is to make environmental impact assessments (EIAs) less challenging to conduct. Companies and agencies such as the National Parks Board (NParks) commission independent consultants to carry out EIAs, which evaluate the potential impact a new development can have on the environment. Currently, identifying animals in an area either requires someone to count them manually, or via a camera trap that can detect animals when there is movement. But these methods are not very effective when it comes to birds, said team member and engineer Ervin Cheng. 'Birds are often in trees, and cameras are not pointed upwards and have a limited view,' said Mr Cheng. 'Audio recording has a lot of benefits, such as being omnidirectional, and having a range of a few hundred metres.' At the start of Koel's development, the team used open source models mostly developed in the US and Europe, which can identify around 900 species of birds that are primarily from these regions. In order to beef up the platform's ability to identify birds found in the South-east Asian region, they reached out to Mandai Nature – the conservation arm of Mandai Wildlife Group – which allowed them to record the calls of birds such as the straw-headed bulbul and some hornbills from within its aviaries. The straw-headed bulbul is a critically endangered bird species, but Singapore is a stronghold for the songbird, with a third of its world population found locally. The team also chose to record the calls of five other bird species in Mandai Nature's aviaries, as these birds face potential threats to their natural habitats. 'Our focus currently is to bring up the accuracy of our model, to be able to better identify these species,' said fellow team member and engineer Ritwik Jha. After users upload their audio recordings, they can also give feedback on whether Koel's identification was correct – a process the team said will help to refine the system's accuracy. Singapore is home to around 400 species of birds, of which Koel is able to detect around 30 to 40 species at the moment. The team is working to increase this number over time. Koel began working with NParks in mid-2024, and the agency has submitted audio recordings for identification, said Mr Cheng. The main insight that can be derived from analysing audio recordings taken over a period of time is the presence and absence of species, and the general frequency of how often a species was heard calling in an area. Aside from birds, the platform is also able to identify reptiles and amphibians such as frogs, even though it is not able to distinguish between species currently. 'Mammals tend to not create as much sound, so there aren't as many audio recordings available as open source models,' said Mr Ritwik. 'But animals like frogs are a very good indicator of how healthy the biodiversity and habitat is.' For now, Koel accepts audio recordings only from NParks and not the community, as there are concerns about bad actors possibly using it for the wrong reasons. 'If the platform is made available to everyone, there could be potential for people interested in poaching or capturing endangered animals to also use Koel,' said Mr Ritwik. 'Perhaps at some point, if we develop the ability to segregate endangered species and keep that data secure, then we might open it up to the public.'

Cofidis have 11 bikes stolen from truck before Tour de France stage two
Cofidis have 11 bikes stolen from truck before Tour de France stage two

CNA

time8 hours ago

  • CNA

Cofidis have 11 bikes stolen from truck before Tour de France stage two

Team Cofidis had 11 bikes stolen from their truck overnight before the start of the second stage of the Tour de France, the team said on Sunday. The team, based near Lille, were able to find enough bikes to start stage two, a 209.1-km hilly ride from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer, but they condemned the burglary. Each bike is estimated by the team to have cost 13,000 euros ($15,311.40). "The door of the workshop truck was forced open, and 11 of our LOOK Cycle bikes were stolen despite the security measures that had been put in place," the team said in a statement. "The Cofidis team strongly condemns this act of incivility and calls on the perpetrators to act with civility and responsibility." The team added that police officers visited the hotel to document the burglary and had begun their investigation. ($1 = 0.8490 euros)

Board games, bracelets and bike rides - how Sweden avoid boredom at Euros
Board games, bracelets and bike rides - how Sweden avoid boredom at Euros

Straits Times

time9 hours ago

  • Straits Times

Board games, bracelets and bike rides - how Sweden avoid boredom at Euros

CHAM, Switzerland - Sweden may spend most of their time focusing on football at the Women's Euros but in their downtime defender Magdalena Eriksson and her teammates are doing everything from playing board games and making bracelets to going on bike rides to avoid boredom. However, when the games or deck of cards come out so too does Eriksson's competitive streak, which means in the time earmarked for relaxation there is another battle to win. "Who do you think?" Eriksson said laughing when asked who the sorest loser in the team is, before pointing to herself. "Actually, there's a lot of them -- maybe I'm the most outspoken in that way, but I think many, many in our team are really sore losers," she added. Asked who the worst losers in the squad were, midfielder Hanna Bennison was not afraid to name more senior teammates. "I would say Magda, Filippa (Angeldahl) and (Johanna) Rytting Kaneryd," the 22-year-old told Reuters. "I'm competitive but I'm not like a bad loser or a bad winner. I'm pretty relaxed and chilled." Headquartered in a hotel in the picturesque Swiss town of Cham specifically designed to meet the needs of elite athletes, the Swedes feel they have the facilities and tranquillity they need, but the solitude does pose occasional problems. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore First BTO project in Sembawang North to be offered in July HDB launch Singapore Woman on SMRT bus 190 injured after bottle thrown at vehicle leaves hole in window Asia 'Don't be seen in India again': Indian nationals pushed into Bangladesh at gunpoint Asia Two women fatally stabbed at bar in Japan by man Business High Court orders Instagram seller to pay Louis Vuitton $200,000 in damages over counterfeit goods Singapore MOH studying 18 proposals to integrate TCM into public healthcare Asia Malaysian commando dies during military diving exercise off Kuantan coast Singapore His world crashed when he got F9 in O-level Tamil but PropNex co-founder Ismail Gafoor beat the odds "As you can see, around here there is not much to do, but we have a village close by and a lake. Last night, we took some bikes down to the lake and had a swim, so we try to do these things to get out of this place a little bit as well," Eriksson said. The weather has been so hot in Switzerland lately that players have been staying out of the sun to save energy, which has meant finding other ways to spend their time at the hotel. "Sometimes we play games, we also make bracelets, like with plastic pearls, yeah? Otherwise, we have just been watching all the other games. Usually we sit together in the players' lounge and watch together," Bennison explained. "We're following the games and watching the games, and we're training," Eriksson said. "We're focusing on recovery and gym, so I think, for the moment, we're finding things to do. And yeah, we're really enjoying this beautiful country." With Eriksson nursing an unspecified injury that saw her miss the opening 1-0 win over Denmark, the hotel's gym and recovery facilities are essential as she seeks to regain fitness for the remaining Group C games against Poland and Germany. "I think from a physical point of view, we have everything we need here to be at our best when the game comes, so it's a great facility in that way," Eriksson said. Despite the Swedes' innate love of winter sports, none of them have paid a visit to the hotel's ice rink yet. "I have not been out on the ice, and I shouldn't be -- then I might get another injury! No, I haven't heard of anyone who's been down there yet," Eriksson said. REUTERS

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