Punishment for heroin trafficking comes just days after city executes first woman in nearly 20 years
Singapore has executed a 39-year-old man who was convicted of trafficking heroin in the city-state’s third hanging in just over a week, authorities say.
Mohamed Shalleh Adul Latiff was sentenced to death for possessing about 55g of heroin “for the purpose of trafficking” in 2019.
Continue reading...Saridewi Djamani was handed a death penalty after being convicted of trafficking 30g of heroin in 2018
Singapore has hanged Saridewi Djamani, the first woman to be executed in the city state in almost 20 years, amid an outcry from human rights groups.
The 45-year-old Singaporean national, who was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking about 30g of heroin, was executed early on Friday, the Central Narcotics Bureau said.
Continue reading...Killing of Saridewi Djamani is one of two this week as activists say most on death row are marginalised people
Singapore is due to execute a woman for the first time in almost 20 years on Friday, one of two killings planned for this week.
Singaporean national Saridewi Djamani was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty in 2018, after she was found guilty of possession of about 30g of heroin for the purposes of trafficking, according to the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), which tracks death row cases.
Continue reading...S Iswaran on bail along with hotel magnate and Singapore Formula One GP promoter Ong Beng Seng as case rocks city-state’s clean reputation
Singapore’s transport minister has been arrested in connection with a rare top-level corruption investigation that has also ensnared a billionaire hotel tycoon, the country’s anti-graft body has said.
S Iswaran, the minister, was arrested on Tuesday and “subsequently released on bail”, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in an emailed statement late on Friday, confirming the arrest for the first time.
Continue reading...US-based comic Jocelyn Chia strains relations between Singapore and Malaysia with joke about how Malaysia’s planes cannot fly
Malaysian police will seek Interpol’s help to track down a US-based comedian who mocked the country and joked about the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Jocelyn Chia will be investigated under the country’s laws relating to insulting speech and offensive or obscene online content, Malaysia’s state news agency Bernama reported. Police chief Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani was quoted as saying that the police would ask Interpol for assistance in finding out her full identity and whereabouts.
Continue reading...City-state is to close its only turf club in order to redevelop 120-hectare site for public housing amid declining popularity of the sport
More than 180 years of horse racing in Singapore will soon come to an end, as the “land scarce” city state closes its only race course to make space for public housing.
The chairman of the Singapore Turf Club, Niam Chiang Meng, said the club was saddened by the decision, but that it also understood the “land needs” of Singapore. The 120-hectare site was a valuable resource, he said, adding: “This transition will serve to optimise land use for the greater good of the local community and future generations.”
Continue reading...After refusing to meet with his US counterpart, general says ‘some countries’ interfering in others’ business but Beijing does not seek confrontation
China’s defence minister, Li Shangfu, has said a cold war mentality is resurgent in the Asia-Pacific region, but Beijing seeks dialogue over confrontation. The remarks came after Li refused to formally meet the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
Speaking at the dialogue, Asia’s top security summit, on Sunday, Li took thinly veiled digs at the US, repeating familiar grievances and accusing “some countries” of intensifying an arms race and interfering in the internal affairs of others.
Continue reading...Defence secretary also criticises Beijing’s unwillingness to engage with US on military crisis management
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has vowed that Washington will not stand for any “coercion and bullying” of its allies and partners by China, while assuring Beijing that the US remains committed to maintaining the status quo on Taiwan and would prefer dialogue over conflict.
Speaking in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s top security summit, Austin lobbied for support for Washington’s vision of a “free, open and secure Indo-Pacific within a world of rules and rights” as the best course to counter increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region.
Continue reading...Investments in Bristol and Santo Tomas in the Philippines will be worth £100m and £166m respectively
Dyson has revealed plans to build a new battery factory in Singapore, alongside investments by the maker of vacuum cleaners and dryers in technology centres in the UK and the Philippines.
The company, run by the billionaire Sir James Dyson, said the investments in Bristol in the UK and Santo Tomas in the Philippines would be worth £100m and £166m respectively. The Singapore investment will be significantly larger.
Continue reading...South-east Asia must not become ‘an arena for proxy wars’, the nation state’s foreign minister said
Singapore has strongly backed the Aukus defence pact, with ministers saying they trust Australia to play a bigger role in regional security and don’t want south-east Asia to become “an arena for proxy wars”.
After talks with Australian counterparts in Canberra on Monday, Singaporean ministers reaffirmed Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines would be welcome to visit once in service.
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Continue reading...Tangaraju Suppiah was hanged despite international pleas to reconsider capital punishment for drugs offences
Singapore has hanged a prisoner for conspiracy to smuggle one kilogram of cannabis, authorities said, ignoring international protests and concerns that he lacked full access to a lawyer or interpreter.
The United Nations Human Rights Office had called for Singapore to “urgently reconsider” the hanging and British tycoon Richard Branson had urged the city state halt it.
Continue reading...Tangaraju Suppiah, due to be hanged this week, forced to self-represent after unsuccessful appeal
A Singaporean man who is due to be hanged this week for abetting an attempt to smuggle cannabis is one of a growing number of death row prisoners who have to represent themselves after their appeals because they cannot access lawyers, activists have said.
Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was sentenced to death in 2018 after a judge found he was the owner of a phone number used to coordinate an attempt to traffic 1 kilogram of cannabis. He is due to be executed on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Claimant seeks $3m in damages to cover financial losses as well as rehabilitation and therapy to overcome ‘trauma’
A man in Singapore is seeking more than S$3m (£1.87m) in damages from a woman who said she saw him only as a friend, claiming she caused him trauma and damaged his “stellar reputation”.
A defamation case being brought by K Kawshigan claims the damages are to cover loss in earnings and investments, as well as “rehabilitation and therapy programmes to overcome the sustained trauma,” according to court documents.
Continue reading...Animal welfare groups in Malaysia and Singapore have urged consumers to not buy rabbits on an ‘impulse’ and to look into what it takes to care for them
Pet welfare groups in Malaysia and Singapore have warned consumers not to buy rabbits to mark lunar new year, fearing a plethora of abandoned animals could follow.
High demand for the small mammals is expected as 22 January marks the start of the Year of the Rabbit. Mohideen Abdul Kader, president of the Consumers’ Association of Penang in Malaysia, said it was inevitable considering “the belief that it will bring good luck”.
Continue reading...The row between Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest reveals the technical, economic and even geopolitical hurdles to completion
Behind the “billionaire biffo” between Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest over the future of Sun Cable is a project that has analysts dubbing “visionary” but also “extremely ambitious”.
In Australia’s first big business story of the year, Sun Cable was placed into voluntary administration on Wednesday. That signalled the company won’t be able to meet debt payments without another injection of funds said to be $60m, with Forrest the one not “aligned” with other investors in a willingness to dig deep again.
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Continue reading...Sydney sneaks into Top 10 as rising energy prices send inflation soaring globally, Economist Intelligence Unit survey finds
New York was the world’s most expensive metropolis in 2022, sharing the unwanted title with Singapore, as soaring energy prices doubled the inflation rate across the major global cities, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual survey.
Last year’s leader Tel Aviv dropped to third, while Sydney snuck into the Top 10 and Moscow and St Petersberg in Russia scaled the rankings by as much as 88 places as sanctions and buoyant oil prices propelled prices higher, the EIU’s Worldwide Cost of Living report found.
Continue reading...LGBTQ+ advocates welcome repeal of British colonial-era law while expressing dismay as parliament backs existing definition of marriage
Singapore’s parliament has decriminalised sex between men, but has amended the constitution to effectively block full marriage equality.
The British colonial-era law penalised sex between men with up to two years in jail, although the statute was not actively enforced.
Continue reading...Privacy policy update confirms data of continent’s users available to range of TikTok bases including in Brazil, Israel and US
TikTok is spelling out to its European users that their data can be accessed by employees outside the continent, including in China, amid political and regulatory concerns about Chinese access to user information on the platform.
The Chinese-owned social video app is updating its privacy policy to confirm that staff in countries, including China, are allowed to access user data to ensure their experience of the platform is “consistent, enjoyable and safe”.
Continue reading...UK entrepreneur turns down live TV debate and says government should instead engage with local activists
The British entrepreneur Richard Branson has rejected an invitation from Singapore’s home affairs minister to debate the death penalty, urging him to instead engage with local activists who oppose the “inhumane, brutal practice”.
Branson had been invited by the ministry of home affairs to debate capital punishment live on TV, after he described it as “a serious stain on Singapore’s reputation”, and condemned the execution earlier this year of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam.
Continue reading...Search for crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon after Luna and UST collapse drags down rival currencies
The crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon has denied being in hiding, even as Interpol issued a “red notice” for his arrest after the collapse of the Terra project he founded.
After South Korean prosecutors said he was “obviously on the run”, Kwon tweeted that he was making no attempt to evade law officers. “I’m writing code in my living room … I’m making zero effort to hide,” he said. “I go on walks and malls, no way none of [crypto Twitter] hasn’t run into me the past couple weeks.”
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