International

Following a protest by Reuters journalists and editors outside their Asia-Pacific headquarters at 18 Science Park Drive on Monday (3 Sep), Singapore Police Force (SPF) has issued a warning to the public regarding organising and/or participating in a public assembly without a police permit, stressing that doing so would be illegal. Persons who are found guilty of organising a public …

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 has hit Hokkaido, an island in the northernmost prefecture of Japan, around 2 a.m. Singapore time today (6 Sep). According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the earthquake had struck at a depth of 40km at around 3 a.m. local time. NHK World announced that "two people have been confirmed dead, 140 are …

Former United States Defense Secretary and CIA director under President Barack Obama's administration, Mr Leon Panetta, has expressed his lack of confidence in US President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in Singapore in June regarding the looming nuclear threat, stating that it was “doomed to failure from the beginning”. “I’m very worried about the situation because frankly, I …

A UN backed fact finding mission, mandated by the Human Rights Council to investigate allegations of abuse of the Rohingya in Myanmar, have called for the leaders of Myanmar’s military to be prosecuted for genocide in the Rakhine state as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine and northern Myanmar. The group of investigators issued the …

In a landmark Constitutional Court ruling on 28 June this year, South Korean authorities were ordered to impose substitutes to military conscription against conscientious objectors in the Republic's national service, nearly 65 years post-Korean War. However, the court remained steadfast in its decision to uphold the imprisonment of able-bodied South Korean men between the age of 18 to 35 who …

Singaporean documentary maker, Jason Soo and Co-Founder and Patron of British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians and widow of Singapore exile Francis Khoo, Dr Ang Swee Chai, were among the 22 multi-national activists on board of the al-Awda ("The Return") Freedom Flotilla that was intercepted by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) yesterday. According to the Israel Navy, the vessel's journey …

It has been over a year since the battle between the Islamic State (IS) group and the Iraqi forces had officially ended in Mosul, according to Al Jazeera. Yet, the health system is still in ruins and struggling to cope as thousands of people continue to return to the city, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on 9 July. …

Letter from Dr Ang Swee Chai Dear Friends and Family, I am due to join the al-Awda (The Return) Freedom Flotilla to Gaza next week on its last leg from Europe to Gaza. She has started her journey from Norway on the 70 Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba and this journey is highly symbolic. The Nakba is the Arabic word …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is closely monitoring and probing new leads surfacing from Malaysia and elsewhere in relation to the 1MDB scandal, said MAS managing director Ravi Menon on 4 July. In a briefing on the central bank’s annual report, Mr Menon said that the MAS has “proactively” responded to “every request for information made by the Malaysian authorities," according …

Singapore, the world’s largest sand importer, has come under fire in the past several years for its alleged massive involvement in illegal sand mining. According to a recent report by The Guardian, the Singapore government has claimed to import only 3 million tonnes of sand from Malaysia in 2008. However, the figure cited by the Malaysian government was 133 million …