NewsLite

The Chinese government has signaled it could allow some domestic companies like ByteDance and Alibaba to buy Nvidia's chip built for high-end professional computers, The Information reported on Sunday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently asked companies including ByteDance and Alibaba to report their plans to purchase Nvidia's RTX PRO 5500 chips, according to the report.

The ministry told some Chinese companies the government intends to approve the purchases, The Information report said, adding some industry executives expect the RTX PRO 5500 chip to avoid US export restrictions.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Singapore's condo resale market saw little change in activity in August 2026, as the Hungry Ghost Month likely led some buyers to put their purchases on hold. However, the absence of new project launches may have helped to keep attention on resale homes, limiting the seasonal slowdown.

Luqman Hakim, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at 99.co, noted that the small monthly change in volume did not necessarily point to stronger buying momentum, particularly as activity continued to trail both last year's level and the five-year average for August.

Buyers purchased an estimated 1,040 resale condos in August, compared with 1,044 in July, marking a month-on-month decline of just 0.4 per cent. While this suggests that activity broadly held its ground, the longer-term comparisons show a quieter market.

August's resale volume came in 7.2 per cent below the same month in 2025 and 9.4 per cent below the five-year August average. In other words, transactions barely changed from July, but buying activity remained below the levels typically seen during this period.

BERLIN — A bus carrying tourists from the Philippines toward the Oktoberfest festival in Munich veered off a highway and overturned on Sunday (Sept 27), killing at least two people and injuring at least eight others, Germany 's dpa news agency reported.

The coach left the road on a highway near the town of Buchloe in Germany's Ostallgäu region at about 6am (12pm SGT) local time, dpa said, citing officials.

Images from the scene showed the bus lying on its side in a wooded area as rescue crews worked nearby.

Martin Cornils, a spokesperson for traffic police in nearby Fürstenfeldbruck, said at the scene that the tour group had been travelling to Oktoberfest, the news agency reported.

LONDON — UK police said that five men arrested in the early hours of Sunday (Sept 27) near an air base used by the US during its war against Iran are being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act that appeared to involve three trucks.

London's Metropolitan Police, which takes the lead on potential terrorist activities, said police received a call at 12.45am (7.45 am SGT) related to the three suspicious vehicles that appeared to be travelling toward RAF Fairford, a UK-owned base that is operated by the US under an agreement dating back to the Cold War.

The arrests come at a time of heightened tensions around the threat from hostile states to the UK, with Russia and Iran among those that have used proxies to commit crimes on their behalf on British soil.

In March, officials said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states including Iran increased 50 per cent in the six months to December 2025.

NEW YORK — Taylor Swift broke records at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, as she is known to do.

The pop powerhouse received the inaugural Artist Director Honours on Sunday (Sept 27) night, becoming the most-awarded artist in VMA history.

Previously, she was tied with Beyonce for the title, with 30 VMAs each. The new award is meant to recognise artists "whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling".

"I got to start making music videos and being a part of music videos 20 years ago," Swift said in her speech, adding that she's been involved in making roughly 60 music videos, 18 of which she wrote and directed.

A five-room flat at Kallang Trivista sold for $1,588,888 in September 2026, a new Kallang/Whampoa resale record for the flat type at $1,273 psf.

A five-room flat at Kallang Trivista has set a record resale price for this flat type in the Kallang/Whampoa area. The 1,249 sq ft Premium Apartment unit at 8A Upper Boon Keng Road, between the 28th and 30th floors, changed hands for $1.588 million ($1,273 psf) when it was sold earlier this week.

This surpasses the previous town record for a five-room resale flat by $38,888.

That runner-up transaction involved a 1,259 sq ft flat at City View @ Boon Keng, a Design Build Sell Scheme (DBSS) development on Boon Keng Road. That flat sits between the 31st to 33rd floors, and fetched $1.55 million ($1,231 psf) when it was sold in October 2025.

The wife of former Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamd Ali, has died at the age of 100, Malaysian media reported.

FMT reported that Dr Siti died at the National Heart Institute at about 9.20am.

She studied medicine at King Edwar VII College of Medicine in Singapore and graduated in 1955, and later joined the Malaysian Health Ministry and worked as a medical officer, focusing on public health, maternal and child healthcare.

Dr Mahathir married her in 1956.

SHANGHAI — China's military conducted a joint naval and air training exercise around a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, it said on Sunday (Sept 27).

The training was held in the waters and airspace around the Scarborough Shoal, which ​China calls Huangyan Dao. It is also claimed by the Philippines, where ​it is known as Bajo de Masinloc.

The People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command, in a statement on WeChat, described the operation as ⁠a necessary response to actions by "certain countries" it said had undermined regional ​peace and stability.

The People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command said the training "aims to test and enhance combat capabilities in safeguarding China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests".

SEOUL — South Korea's military and the United Nations Command launched a joint investigation into a landmine explosion near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday (Sept 27), as opposition lawmakers called for transparency about the origins of the device.

The investigative team of about 40 officials searched an area near the site where the blast happened on Sept 21, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The military said it will verify the cause of the explosion through further searches and publicly disclose the outcome as opposition lawmakers called for transparency amid suspicions the device may have originated from North Korea.

Three South Korean soldiers were injured by an explosion on Monday while clearing a patrol route in the western sector of the DMZ, a heavily fortified area bordering North Korea. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said the explosion was caused by a landmine.

Two men, aged 32 and 41, were arrested on Sept 23 following the detection of drugs in a Malaysia-registered motorcycle at Tuas Checkpoint.

In a joint news release on Monday (Sept 28), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said the estimated value of drugs seized is over $1 million, and could potentially feed the addiction of about 4,600 abusers for a week.

According to the agencies, the discovery unfolded when a 32-year-old male Malaysian motorcyclist was directed for enhanced checks.

There, drugs purportedly hidden in sealed packets labelled as commercial biscuits, were found by ICA's search and examination officers in the rear storage box of the motorcycle.