Ci Yuan CC said that the accidental removal of a queue-pole belt led to a “chaotic situation”, resulting in the “crowd surging forward”.

Videos of the crowd surge showed residents, some raising their cash and phones in the air, pushing forward and being jostled at the reception area of the community club.

A signboard in one video stated that the ticket sales were from 11am to noon.

Staff members were seen at the front of the crowd, gesturing to residents to disperse.

The Singapore Police Force was called in to assist with crowd control.

The marketplace event is part of the Ci Yuan CC’s SG60 campaign to encourage active participation in local community events, said the organisation.

It was launched in March to offer residents essential items at just S$1 each.

“The safety of our residents is of utmost importance. We will review our crowd management procedures to prevent such incidents from recurring,” said Ci Yuan CC.

“We thank residents for their cooperation and support. All tickets had been sold by noon that day. We sincerely apologise for the unpleasant experience of this event.”

CHIP WAR PREDATED TRUMP’S TRADE WAR

An exemption would please the company, which has long argued that export controls are ineffective and give a boost to domestic players including Huawei. And while Beijing is not backing down, access to AI chips is one thing it desperately wants.

We’ve seen Trump blur the lines over tech national security concerns in the past. The various export controls on Nvidia predated his tariff blitz and are meant to hold China back in the AI race over fears that Beijing’s edge could give it military or economic advantages.

But the president has ignored similar worries before: He extended a deadline for TikTok to be banned in the US, turning the China-owned social media platform into a key leverage on tariffs. 

The White House may yet roll back the crackdown on AI chips in China. Regardless, it’s a timely reminder that this trade war is risking America’s hard-won gains in the race for tech supremacy. Washington cannot fight on two fronts.

Access to chips and computing power has been at the core of Silicon Valley’s lead over China in AI, but that gap is closing fast. Washington’s tightening chip restrictions have been porous, but they have no doubt bought time.

SINGAPORE: The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) said on Saturday (Apr 19) that it will field veteran technologist Harish Pillay, 65, in Bukit Gombak SMC for the upcoming General Election. 

Mr Pillay has over four decades of experience in technology, education and civic innovation, according to the party’s press release. He holds a master’s degree in computer science and electrical and computer engineering from Oregon State University and was an early contributor to ARPAnet, the precursor to today’s Internet.

In 1993, Mr Pillay co-founded the Singapore Linux Users’ Group. He also played a key role in establishing Red Hat’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region, growing its Singapore office from a one-man operation to over 450 employees over two decades.

“Singapore was once a shining diamond on how countries can develop, but this bright spot has dulled over the last few years due to a lack of bold visioning of competing ideas,” he said in the release.

“To make Singapore shine bright for the next 60 years and beyond, we have to reignite the imagination of Singaporeans to innovate and excel by aiming for visionary goals, like reducing the percentage of people who face economic challenges to under 1 per cent, and ensuring that our seniors live out their retirement in dignity and honour.”

Mr PIllay also pledged to serve as a full-time MP if elected. 

He will likely go up against the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Low Yen Ling, who is Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry as well as Culture, Community and Youth. Ms Low was part of the PAP team that contested and won Chua Chu Kang GRC in the 2020 election. 

Bukit Gombak SMC, which has 26,364 registered voters, comprises Bukit Gombak and Hillview estates that were carved out from Chua Chu Kang GRC in the latest electoral boundaries review. 

In January, PSP said its members were harassed while distributing flyers to residents of Goodview Gardens in Bukit Gombak. The party claimed that the individuals involved were PAP volunteers. 

In response, Ms Low said in a Facebook post that PSP had “twisted the truth” and given an “untrue picture” of what happened. She also alleged that a male PAP volunteer was slapped twice during the altercation. The matter was subsequently referred to the police. 

So which is it? Is the Abrego Garcia matter about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged gang member, wife-beater, and human trafficker? Or is it about the Constitution and all of us? Politically, it would seem best for Democrats to stress the latter. But they’re having a hard time doing it.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) got the beat on the rest of his fellow Democrats by flying to El Salvador with no guarantee he would get to see Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen’s strategy paid off late Thursday when authorities allowed him to spend an hour with Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen announced his big score in a tweet showing a photo of himself sitting at a cafe table with Abrego Garcia, leaning toward Abrego Garcia and appearing to look deep into his eyes. “I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar,” Van Hollen wrote. “Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love.”

Speaking with reporters after his return to Washington on Friday, Van Hollen appeared to choke up a little when he described passing along the message of love to Jennifer. “I told her what he said to me,” Van Hollen said, “that he missed her and his family. As he said that, you could see a tear.” With that, some in the Democratic world perhaps shed a tear of their own. “When I told him that his wife and family sent their love and were fighting for Kilmar to return home every day, he said he was worried about all of you. He said that thinking of you, members of his family, is what gave him the strength to persevere,” Van Hollen said.

Friday also saw the appearance of more information about Abrego Garcia’s past, specifically previously unseen documents about the 2022 Tennessee traffic stop. “On December 1, 2022, subject was observed speeding and unable to maintain its lane and was subsequently pulled over,” the documents said. “Upon approach to the vehicle, encountering officer noted that there were eight other individuals in the vehicle with the subject, who was identified as the driver. Subject stated he was driving ‘three days ago’ from Houston, TX to Temple Hills, MD to bring in people to perform construction work. There was no luggage in the vehicle, leading the encountering officer to suspect this was a human trafficking incident. All the passengers gave the same home address as the subject’s home address. During the interview, subject pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions.”

Something odd was going on there. This was at the height of the Biden rush of illegal border crossers into the United States, and it is not clear whether those in the car with Abrego Garcia were in the country legally or not. There is still more to find out.

What did Van Hollen have to say about that? Here’s the thing about Van Hollen’s news conference late Friday afternoon. Nobody asked him anything about the basics of Abrego Garcia’s resume — the gang accusation, the domestic issue, the Tennessee stop. Here Van Hollen was, having just had the first chance of anyone to talk to Abrego Garcia, and no journalist asked him a single question about those issues. Of course, Van Hollen might not have questioned Abrego Garcia about them either, but it would be good to know that.

Despite the fact that Abrego Garcia entered the country illegally, was ruled deportable by an immigration court, and was credibly accused of membership in a violent transnational gang, Van Hollen did his best to convince all Americans that Abrego Garcia’s fate could befall them, too, in the Age of Trump. Over and over, Van Hollen called the case an “illegal abduction.” “This case is not just about one man,” he said, catching up to his party’s talking points. “It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States of America. … This case is about upholding constitutional rights for Kilmar Abrego Garcia and every American.”

Two final notes. One, Van Hollen revealed that Abrego Garcia is no longer being held at the Salvadoran “megaprison” known as CECOT. The prison and the alleged brutality of its staff have been a regular feature of coverage of the Abrego Garcia story. Now he is somewhere else and, at least at first glance, appears to be healthy. 

The other note is that when Salvadoran officials took some photos of Abrego Garcia meeting Van Hollen, the pictures included a glimpse of Abrego Garcia’s left hand. He appeared to have tattoos across his knuckles. President Donald Trump immediately characterized them as MS-13 tattoos, and Abrego Garcia’s knuckles became internet sensations. Look for plenty of pushback, and in the end, we will know more about gang tattoos than we did before.