Category Archives: Singapore

Singapore executes man over plot to smuggle 1kg of cannabis

Posted on by

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...

Singaporean on death row denied access to lawyers, say activists

Posted on by

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...

Singapore man sues woman for just wanting to be friends, not partners

Posted on by

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...

Fears the Year of the Rabbit could bring about a wave of abandoned pets

Posted on by

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...

‘Billionaire biffo’ shines light on hugely ambitious $30bn Sun Cable solar project

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

New York and Singapore top the list of world’s most expensive cities in 2022

Posted on by

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...

Singapore lifts gay sex ban but blocks path toward marriage equality

Posted on by

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...

TikTok tells European users its staff in China get access to their data

Posted on by

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...

Richard Branson refuses Singapore invitation to debate death penalty

Posted on by

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...

Terra founder wanted by Interpol tweets he is making ‘zero effort’ to hide

Posted on by

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.”

Continue reading...

‘A leader of the world’: south-east Asian countries open to Putin pivot

Posted on by

Only Singapore has imposed sanctions, while others have been receptive to Moscow’s offers of friendship

The head of Myanmar’s military junta beamed with joy as he shook hands with Vladimir Putin this week. “We would call you not just the leader of Russia but a leader of the world because you control and organise stability around the whole world,” Min Aung Hlaing said.

His remarks came as Putin claimed in a defiant speech that European efforts to isolate Russia would fail: instead, he would pivot to Asia.

Continue reading...

Suez Canal briefly blocked again after another ship, Affinity V, becomes stuck

Posted on by

Tanker blocked canal for hours, close to where Ever Given container ship became stuck, disrupting supply chains for a week

A tanker getting stuck used to be more the domain of niche business news, but that was before the Ever Given, so all eyes were soon on the Affinity V tanker’s plight in the Suez Canal.

On Wednesday, the 250-metre long Affinity V tanker was bound for Saudi Arabia when it ran aground close to the same spot in the narrow southern section of the canal in Egypt where the Ever Given container ship caused a week-long halt to traffic in March 2021, dominating global headlines and paralysing supply chains.

Continue reading...

Singapore to repeal law that criminalises sex between men

Posted on by

Scrapping of colonial-era section 377A law hailed as ‘a win for humanity’ by LGBTQ+ rights groups

Singapore will repeal a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men, a landmark decision described by LGBTQ+ groups as “a win for humanity”.

In a national address on Sunday, the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said that scrapping section 377A of the penal code would bring the law into line with current social attitudes and “provide some relief to gay Singaporeans”.

Continue reading...

Sri Lanka on a knife-edge as Rajapaksa lands in Singapore

Posted on by

Country in state of emergency amid protests against president, who is reported to be heading for Saudi Arabia

The Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has arrived in Singapore, with his final destination reported to be Saudi Arabia, as the beleaguered leader continues his pursuit of a safe haven.

Sri Lanka has been gripped by mass protests over its economic meltdown, and tensions remained on a knife-edge on Thursday, with a curfew imposed in the commercial capital of Colombo and military tanks deployed on the roads.

Continue reading...

Penny Wong says she is open to meeting with Chinese counterpart at G20

Posted on by

Foreign minister confirms Australia’s willingness to engage with China but insists ‘coercive’ trade sanctions must be scrapped

Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, has signalled she is open to meeting her Chinese counterpart at a looming meeting of G20 foreign ministers, but she has warned any diplomatic thaw will require the removal of Beijing’s “coercive” trade sanctions against a variety of exports.

Wong was asked during a visit to Singapore on Wednesday to disclose whether or not arrangements were now in place for a conversation at the G20 meeting in Indonesia later this week – and if so, what her message would be to China’s Wang Yi.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Singapore craft beer uses recycled sewage to highlight water scarcity

Posted on by

Collaboration between national water agency and craft brewer described as ‘highly quaffable’

It is a beer made with only the finest ingredients: premium German barley malts, aromatic Citra and Calypso hops, farmhouse yeast from Norway – and reclaimed sewage.

NewBrew, a collaboration between Singapore’s national water agency and the local craft brewery Brewerkz, has already proved popular and has sold out on tap at the brewery’s restaurants, according to reports.

Continue reading...

Richard Marles’s ‘full and frank’ meeting with China ends Australia’s diplomatic freeze

Posted on by

Defence minister says the controversial interception of an Australian aircraft by a Chinese jet last month was discussed, as well as broader issues in the Pacific

Australia’s deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has had a “frank” hour-long discussion with China’s defence minister in Singapore, marking the highest level in-person contact between the countries in almost three years.

Marles, also the defence minister, said he raised the controversial interception of an Australian aircraft by a Chinese jet last month and broader issues in the Pacific with China’s minister of national defence, Wei Fenghe, during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue ministerial conference in Singapore.

Continue reading...

Defence minister rubbishes Coalition claims on France compensation deal – as it happened

Posted on by

Marles brushes off suggestions former Coalition government was close to signing compensation deal with France; nation records at least 24 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Interview with minister for NDIS and government services Bill Shorten now. First question is about energy policy.

Shorten says “the real issue about power, in my opinion is for 10 years we’ve had a decade of denial and delay.”

What we are suffering from this winter in the short term is floods of coal mines, outages of a plant which is more than 50 years old, but the real long-term problem is that we haven’t made a plan for transition to renewables, now the chickens have come home to roost.

Continue reading...

Australian defence minister warns China risks sparking arms race

Posted on by

Richard Marles outlines vision of economic cooperation and military deterrence but warns lack of transparency can upset balance

China’s military buildup must be accompanied by transparency and reassurances to its neighbours or risk triggering an arms race, Australia’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, has said.

Speaking in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Marles laid out a vision of economic cooperation balanced with military deterrence, but sounded a warning about militarisation in the Asia Pacific.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

US warns of ‘stark’ stakes in Taiwan Strait if status quo unilaterally altered

Posted on by

Defence secretary says US does not support Taiwan independence, which China says would prompt it to take island back

The US has warned of “especially stark” stakes in the Taiwan Strait if the status quo is unilaterally altered, as China reiterated its resolve to take the island back if it declares independence.

Speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Saturday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington does not support Taiwanese independence, and the Joe Biden administration “categorically” opposes any change of the status quo.

Continue reading...