SINGAPORE: Singapore’s high court ordered two news bloggers to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong a combined S$370,000 ($275,113) in damages on Wednesday, over an article about the status of the home of his late father and the city-state’s modern-day founder, Lee Kuan Yew.
The premier filed lawsuits against writer Rubaashini Shunmuganathan and editor Xu Yuan Chen, also known as Terry Xu, over the August 2019 article published on The Online Citizen that included references to a disagreement within the Lee family about what to do with the property.
High court judge Audrey Lim said the article “impugned Lee’s reputation and character” by alleging he was dishonest.
“This struck at the heart of Lee’s personal integrity and could severely undermine his credibility, not just personally but also as the prime minister, and call into question his fitness to govern with integrity,” Lim said in a written judgment.
Xu, a Singaporean, was ordered to pay Lee S$210,000, while in a separate suit over the same article, Malaysian Rubaashini was ordered to pay S$160,000. Neither immediately responded to requests for comment.
Lee appeared in court in the case in May, during which he said “sensational allegations” had been made.
Lee’s press secretary in a statement on Wednesday said the damages awarded would be donated to charity.
Senior figures in the ruling People’s Action Party, including Lee Kuan Yew, have also sued foreign media and political opponents for defamation, calling it defense of their reputations.
In April, an activist and a financial adviser separately turned to crowdfunding in Singapore to raise tens of thousands of dollars to pay Lee damages after the premier sued both for defamation.
Some activists, including the New York-based Human Rights Watch, say such moves are stifling freedom of speech and political opposition.
Singapore prime minister wins $275,000 in latest defamation suits
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Singapore prime minister wins $275,000 in latest defamation suits
- The premier filed lawsuits against writer Rubaashini Shunmuganathan and editor Xu Yuan Chen
- Some activists say such moves are stifling freedom of speech and political opposition
US military ready to carry out lawful orders of next administration, Pentagon chief says
WASHINGTON: US Défense Secretary Lloyd Austin told troops that the Pentagon was committed to an orderly transition to the incoming administration of Donald Trump, adding that the military would not get involved in politics and was ready to carry out “all lawful orders.”
“The US military will also continue to stand apart from the political arena; to stand guard over our republic with principle and professionalism; and to stand together with the valued allies and partners who deepen our security,” Austin wrote in a memo to troops that was sent out on Wednesday night.
Germany arrests a US citizen over accusations of spying for China
- The suspect, who was only identified as Martin D., was arrested in Frankfurt
- His home was being searched
BERLIN: Germany’s federal prosecutor office said it arrested an American citizen on Thursday who allegedly spied for China.
The office said that the suspect, who was only identified as Martin D., was arrested in Frankfurt and that his home was being searched.
The accused, who until recently worked for the US Armed Forces in Germany, is strongly suspected of having agreed to act as an intelligence agent for a foreign secret service.
Earlier this year, he contacted Chinese government agencies and offered to transmit sensitive information from the US military to a Chinese intelligence service, according to an investigation by Germany’s domestic intelligence service.
He had obtained the information in question in the course of his work in the US army, the prosecutor’s statement said, without giving any further information.
Zelensky tells European summit ‘peace through strength’ is needed now
- Zelensky said that concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin were unacceptable
KYIV: An approach of “peace through strength” is needed urgently as Europe confronts the danger posed by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told leaders at the European Political Community summit in Budapest on Thursday.
Zelensky said that concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin were unacceptable for Ukraine and suicidal for Europe.
US military judge reinstates 9/11 mastermind plea deal: official
- The prosecution has the opportunity to appeal the decision, but it was not immediately clear if they would do so
WASHINGTON: A US military judge has reinstated plea agreements for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants, an official said Thursday, three months after the deals were scrapped by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The agreements — which are understood to take the death penalty off the table — had triggered anger among some relatives of victims of the 2001 attacks, and Austin said that both they and the American public deserved to see the defendants stand trial.
“I can confirm that the military judge has ruled that the pretrial agreements for the three accused are valid and enforceable,” the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The prosecution has the opportunity to appeal the decision, but it was not immediately clear if they would do so.
The plea deals with Mohammed and two alleged accomplices were announced in late July in a step that appeared to have moved their long-running cases toward resolution after years of being bogged down in pre-trial maneuverings while the defendants remained held at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba.
But Austin withdrew the agreements two days after they were announced, saying the decision should rest with him given its significance.
He subsequently told journalists that “the families of the victims, our service members and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out in this case.”
Much of the legal jousting surrounding the men’s cases has focused on whether they could be tried fairly after having undergone methodical torture at the hands of the CIA in the years after 9/11 — a thorny issue that the plea agreements would have avoided.
India’s Hindus bathe in holy river defiled by pollution
- Thousands celebrated the festival of Chhath Puja for the Hindu sun god Surya, entering the stinking Yamuna waters to pray
- A parliamentary report in February called the Yamuna ‘more of a toxic waterway than a river’
NEW DELHI: Sweeping aside thick toxic scum, thousands of Hindu devotees ignored court warnings Thursday against bathing in the sacred but sewage-filled Yamuna river, a grim display of environmental degradation in India’s capital.
Thousands celebrated the festival of Chhath Puja for the Hindu sun god Surya, entering the stinking waters to pray as the evening rays set in the sky.
A parliamentary report in February called the Yamuna “more of a toxic waterway than a river,” saying the foam clouds were formed from a potent chemical soup including laundry detergent and phosphates from fertilizers.
“Please understand you will fall sick,” a high court order said Wednesday, Indian media reported, restricting ritual bathing on health grounds. “We can’t allow you to go into the water.”
But housewife Krishnawati Devi, 45, said she was not worried.
“I believe the waters of the river are pure and blessed by the sun god himself,” she said. “Nothing will happen to me — god will take care of everything.”
Hindu faithful ignored the order, with women wrapped in fine saris and heavy jewelry wading into the grey waters.
White foam swirled around their feet. In places, it was so thick it looked like the river had frozen.
“Chhath is a festival of unflinching faith,” said Avinash Kumar, 58, a government office worker. “We can also offer prayers at home but it doesn’t feel the same as praying in the river.”
Others thumped drums and sang.
New Delhi’s authorities have poured in anti-foaming agents to disperse the froth, and used nets to sweep the scum away — but it has done nothing to clean the fetid water itself.
“It stinks, but it’s ok,” said 14-year-old schoolgirl Deepa Kumari. “What is important is that we get to celebrate in the river with our people.”
Rituals in the days-long festival culminate at dawn on Friday.
“I don’t bother about the pollution,” said Pooja Prasad, 20, a student. “The mother goddess will take care of all our troubles,” she added.
The sprawling megacity of some 30 million people is also smothered in poisonous smog — fueled by burning crop fields and vehicle exhaust fumes.
Levels of fine particulate matter — dangerous microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants that enter the bloodstream through the lungs — have this week surged beyond 50 times the World Health Organization recommended daily maximum.
“Toxi-city,” broadcasters dubbed the capital.
City authorities have declared repeated efforts to clean the river.
From an icy source of a Himalayan glacier, the Yamuna feeds into the mighty Ganges, flowing more than 3,100 kilometers (1,925 miles) to the sea in the Bay of Bengal.
But barely 400 kilometers into that journey, the water passing New Delhi is already effectively dead.
The parliamentary report warned of an “excessive presence of heavy metals” and cancer-causing pollutants ranging from arsenic to zinc, from everything from batteries to pesticides.
“Contamination... transform it into a carrier of untreated industrial waste, garbage, agricultural run-off and municipal waste,” the report read.
“This has a profound effect on the well-being of the people.”
Government statistics say 80 percent of the pollution load is raw sewage, far exceeding permissible levels for bathing.
Some of the faithful have traditionally drunk the water.
Levels fluctuate, but in one spot in 2021 in south Delhi, fecal bacteria levels exceeded maximum health regulations by 8,800 times.
But many say they are frustrated at the situation.
“The river is sacred to us, but all the filth from the industrial belt nearby is being pumped into it,” added Kumar.
“Every year they say they are going to clean it, but nothing ever happens.”
