Latest news with #BingHongLok
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Eateries in foodie haven Singapore close as costs rise, spending falls
By Bing Hong Lok SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's well-known food scene has been battered by closures in the past year, affecting low-cost hawker stalls, mid-sized operators and Michelin-star restaurants, who say costs are rising and consumers are spending less. Closures in the food and beverage sector have averaged 307 per month so far this year, up from 254 per month in 2024 and around 230 a month in 2023 and 2022, government data shows. Alvin Goh, a co-founder of Wine RVLT, is set to add to the statistics later this year. He said he will not renew his lease when it runs out in August after almost a decade serving natural wines and bar bites in the wealthy Asian financial hub of 6 million people. "We've been in the red since 2023 June. We've been topping up money to ensure that rent, salaries and suppliers are being paid," he said. Like other operators, Goh has been hit by rising costs for goods, utilities, rent and salaries. He has fewer patrons and those who do dine and wine are spending less than during what Goh called the 2022 "euphoria of opening up" following the COVID pandemic. The ratio of closures to openings in 2025 and 2024 was higher than before and during the pandemic, pointing to a shrinking sector. Closures since last year have affected a range of establishments, from low-cost hawker stalls to rooftop bar Smoke & Mirrors and a string of Michelin-starred restaurants such as Art di Daniele Sperindio and Sommer and Braci. Maybank economist Brian Lee expects closures to remain elevated in 2025. Operating costs remain high and many Singaporeans are prioritising travel over dining out, he said. One of those is Glenn Chew, 26, who works in public relations. He said he travels to other Southeast Asian cities where dining out can cost 30-40% less than in Singapore. The concern is that closures will lead to a loss of the island's culinary heritage and its status as an Asian food capital, said food blogger Seth Lui, 40. "We will start to see more fast food-style concepts with automation and franchise brands everywhere rather than having unique, quaint concepts," he said. Still, there are hopefuls like Jay Gray, 34, co-owner of Club Street Laundry restaurant which opened this year, his sixth venture in 11 years. "I guess I believe in the Singapore market enough and I do believe if you focus on hospitality, which is the most important thing, you'll be able to sustain it," he said.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Servers used in Singapore fraud case may contain Nvidia chips, minister says
By Bing Hong Lok SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Servers used in a fraud case that Singapore announced last week were supplied by U.S. firms and may have contained Nvidia's advanced chips, a government minister said on Monday. Singapore last week charged three men with fraud in a case local media linked to the movement of Nvidia's AI chips from the city-state to Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek. Broadcaster Channel News Asia said it understood the cases were linked to the alleged movement of Nvidia chips from Singapore to be used by DeepSeek, without identifying its source. Singapore's Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam told reporters on Monday that the servers involved in the case were supplied by Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computer before they were sent to Malaysia. "Whether Malaysia was the final destination ... we do not know for certain at this point," he said, adding the authorities were investigating the case independently after an anonymous tip-off. He also said Singapore has asked the U.S. authorities if the servers contained U.S. export control items, and told them it would work with them in any joint investigation. The United States is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model's performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using U.S. chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. Reuters also reported last year that Chinese universities and research institutes obtained Nvidia's advanced AI chips embedded in server products made by Dell, Super Micro and Taiwan's Gigabyte Technology. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Servers used in Singapore fraud case may contain Nvidia chips, minister says
By Bing Hong Lok SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Servers used in a fraud case that Singapore announced last week were supplied by U.S. firms and may have contained Nvidia's advanced chips, a government minister said on Monday. Singapore last week charged three men with fraud in a case local media linked to the movement of Nvidia's AI chips from the city-state to Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek. Broadcaster Channel News Asia said it understood the cases were linked to the alleged movement of Nvidia chips from Singapore to be used by DeepSeek, without identifying its source. Singapore's Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam told reporters on Monday that the servers involved in the case were supplied by Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computer before they were sent to Malaysia. "Whether Malaysia was the final destination ... we do not know for certain at this point," he said, adding the authorities were investigating the case independently after an anonymous tip-off. He also said Singapore has asked the U.S. authorities if the servers contained U.S. export control items, and told them it would work with them in any joint investigation. The United States is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model's performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using U.S. chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. Reuters also reported last year that Chinese universities and research institutes obtained Nvidia's advanced AI chips embedded in server products made by Dell, Super Micro and Taiwan's Gigabyte Technology.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Yahoo
Singaporeans lose record $822 million to scams in 2024, police say
By Bing Hong Lok SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singaporeans lost a record S$1.1 billion ($822 million) to scams last year, with cryptocurrency schemes accounting for almost a quarter of the losses, the city-state's police force said on Tuesday. The amount lost to scams increased by 70.6% from S$651.8 million in 2023, while the number of cases rose by about 11% to 51,501, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a report. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Cryptocurrency scams accounted for 24.3% of total money lost, while the e-commerce scams were the most numerous, with S$17.5 million lost in 11,665 cases. "The majority of the cases, more than 70%, saw less than S$5,000 in losses. The increase in total amount lost was driven by a small number of cases with very high losses," the SPF said, with four cases accounting for S$237.9 million of the police said that while people aged 65 and above only made up 8.4% of scam victims, the average amount lost per victim was the highest among the various age groups. Of the total amount lost, Singapore's Anti-Scam Command recovered more than S$182 million, the police said. In January, Singapore passed a new law allowing police to freeze bank accounts of potential scam victims to prevent further losses. ($1 = 1.3388 Singapore dollars)
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Singapore detains teenager radicalised by far-right extremism
(Refiles to fix syntax in headline) By Bing Hong Lok SINGAPORE (Reuters) - An 18-year-old Singapore student who was radicalised by violent far-right extremism online and who idolised the gunman behind deadly attacks on two mosques in New Zealand has been detained under the Internal Security Act, the government Lee Xing Qiu identified as an "East Asian supremacist" and envisioned starting a "race war" between Chinese and Malays in Singapore, the Internal Security Department (ISD) said in statement issued on Monday. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. "At the point of his arrest, Lee's attack ideations were aspirational and he had no timeline to carry them out," the ISD said, adding investigations into his online contacts had not revealed any imminent threats to Singapore. Lee has been detained since December under the ISA, which allows suspects to be held for up to two years without trial. The ISD said Lee found Islamophobic and far-right extremist content on social media in 2023, and then began actively searching for such content. It said he idolised the gunman who killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch in 2019, role-playing as him in an online simulation. "Lee aspired to carry out attacks against Muslims in Singapore with like-minded far-right individuals that he conversed with online," the ISD said. Lee is the third Singaporean youth with far-right extremist ideologies to be dealt with under the ISA, the department said, noting far-right extremism was a growing concern globally. "Youths may be more susceptible to such ideologies and may gravitate toward the sense of belonging and identity that far-right movements appear to provide," the ISD said.
