snapshot

A programme initiated by the Methodist Welfare Services (MWS) to aid families struggling with debt has raised $3.07 million.

The Getting Out Of Debt or Good programme, which was started in January, will ease the burden of more than 600 families by between $2,000 and $5,000 each, The Straits Times reported online.

MWS group executive director Jenny Bong said many families in need find it challenging to plan for the future, invest in their children's education, or build assets and savings when they are beset by chronic debt.

She said the programme provides a fresh start so they can take concrete steps out of the poverty cycle, such as getting rid of bad money habits.

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A 45-year-old man was arrested for allegedly trying to enter Singapore illegally through the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

The Police Coast Guard detected suspicious activities in the waters off Sungei Buloh just after 5am yesterday, a police spokesman said.

The man, whose nationality is not known, was arrested after a search operation which ended at 12.15pm.

The National Parks Board posted on its Facebook page at around 11.30am: "For public safety, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is closed today until further notice due to police operations."

About an hour later, it updated that the reserve is open to visitors again.

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Another Honda car has been stolen in Johor Baru - the third such incident in less than a week.

Mr Yeoh Seng Hock, a retired police officer, told The Straits Times that on Friday at 8am, he had parked his car 20m away from an eatery popular among Singaporeans in Taman Sri Tebrau, about a 3km drive from the Causeway.

He found it missing when he went to check on his car about 15 minutes later. It had been parked in a row of Singapore-registered vehicles that also included a Mercedes.

He had bought the second-hand Honda Fit, with the registration plate number SGY5474T, just two weeks ago.

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Malaysia, China and Australia will meet next month to "refine" the search for MH370.

This comes after part of the plane's wing was discovered on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion last month, more than a year after it disappeared.

"With the discovery of the flaperon, we have to sit down with Australia and China to map the way forward to find the plane," Malaysia's deputy transport minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said.

"We hope to refine and prioritise the search efforts. Definitely, the search will continue in the same area," he said, adding that officials were working out the date for the meeting and the host.

The jet disappeared on March 8 last year after veering off its flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

- AFP.