International

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 …

It's no surprise that Singapore’s PM Lee Hsien Loong is still paid the highest salary among all world leaders. But how does the salary of other world leaders compare to the citizens in their country? For example, Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minster of Australia, earns 10x average salary in Australia. IG Index analysed the annual base pay of Organisation for Economic Co-operation …

Canada will be the second country, and the first G7 nation, to legalise the recreational use of marijuana after the Canadian Senate passed a "historic" bill on Tuesday with a vote of 52-29. In the neighboring country of United States (US), nine states and the District of Columbia now allow for recreational marijuana use, and 30 allow for medical use. …

Last week, in preparation for the Trump-Kim Summit, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan visited both Washington and Pyongyang. He told the media last Sat (9 Jun), "Basically I went there to make sure everything was spick and span, and in place, and that there would be no last minute spoilers or difficulties." He added that he was "very impressed" with Pyongyang …

Commenting on the North Korea-US summit in Singapore on Tuesday, Ms. Anwita Basu, Analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU), said: “The statement is quite vaguely worded as was expected but has the right phrases such as ‘commitment to complete denuclearization’ and ‘security guarantees’ and ‘stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula’”. “Notably, there is no mention of sanctions …