SINGAPORE: Singapore’s opposition leader was fined on Monday for lying to parliament while helping a fellow party member cover up a false witness account, but narrowly avoided being barred from contesting upcoming national elections.
Pritam Singh, 48, secretary-general of the Workers’ Party, was found guilty on two counts of lying to a parliamentary committee probing a fellow MP.
The conviction comes as the Southeast Asian nation’s struggling political opposition is seeking to challenge the overwhelming dominance of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) in elections expected within months.
The PAP has ruled the wealthy city-state since 1959.
District court judge Luke Tan said that contrary to what Singh told the committee, he had not done enough to get rookie MP Raeesah Khan to admit to her lie in parliament.
The judge also gave credence to Khan’s testimony that Singh had told her during a meeting to “take the lie to the grave.”
Singh, who said he would appeal the court’s decision, was fined S$7,000 ($5,200) for each charge.
“It’s not going to be an easy election... we’ll have to fight hard, and that’s what we will do,” Singh told reporters outside the court.
“The path of choosing opposition politics is not for the faint hearted.”
Under the constitution, a person fined a minimum of Sg$10,000 or jailed for at least one year, is disqualified from running for election or holding a parliamentary seat for five years.
“He will not be disqualified as the threshold of $10,000 fine per charge is not crossed. You can’t stack up the fines,” Eugene Tan, who teaches constitutional law at Singapore Management University, said.
The Elections Department later confirmed this via a statement on Facebook.
Khan, who resigned from the legislature following the scandal, had admitted to making up a story she told in parliament about a female rape victim she accompanied to make a police report.
The former MP confessed that she lied when telling parliament in 2021 that a police officer supposedly made “insensitive comments” about the way the alleged victim was dressed and that she had drunk alcohol.
But Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam had said there was no record in the police files of such an incident and Khan eventually admitted to lying.
Singh was then accused of lying to the parliamentary committee investigating Khan.
He allegedly told the committee that he was not aware that Khan had made up the story about the rape victim, in an apparent attempt to downplay his responsibility as party leader, court documents said.
But the judge tore through Singh’s credibility as a witness.
In the 2020 general elections, the PAP won 83 of the 93 seats at stake to retain its dominance.
The main opposition Workers’ Party captured 10 seats – four more than previously held – in its strongest performance since independence in 1965.
Its leaders have said they hope to further increase the party’s numbers in parliament in the upcoming elections, which will be new premier Lawrence Wong’s first major political test.
Singapore opposition leader fined for lying to parliament
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Singapore opposition leader fined for lying to parliament
- Pritam Singh, secretary-general of the Workers’ Party, was found guilty on two counts of lying
- Singh, who said he would appeal the court’s decision, was fined S$7,000 ($5,200) for each charge
Gaza killing ‘must stop’, EU foreign policy chief says in Cairo
- EU’s Kaja Kallas held a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty
- UN said that Gaza was facing a 'nightmare' since Israel resumed military operations after a six-week ceasefire
CAIRO: The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for an end to the renewed fighting in Gaza during a stop in Egypt, before setting off for Israel and the Palestinian territories to press for resumption of a Gaza truce.
Israel on Tuesday resumed intense air strikes in the Gaza Strip, followed by ground operations, after negotiations with Hamas militants stalled over the next stage in the ceasefire.
“We strongly oppose Israel’s resumption of hostilities, which caused appalling loss of life in Gaza. The killing must stop. In a new war, both sides lose,” the EU’s Kaja Kallas said in Cairo during a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
“From the European side, it is very clear that Hamas must release all hostages and Israel must fully reinstate humanitarian aid into Gaza and negotiations must resume.”
Kallas’ team later confirmed she had departed Egypt and arrived in Israel.
During talks there and the Palestinian territories on Monday she is expected to “call for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement,” her office said.
Kallas will also refer to “the importance of unimpeded access and sustained distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale into and throughout Gaza,” it said.
The United Nations said on Friday that Gaza was facing a “nightmare” since Israel resumed military operations after a six-week ceasefire.
Aid workers warned of a desperate situation that had been made worse by Israel’s decision earlier this month to cut off aid and electricity to Gaza over the deadlock in negotiations on the next phase of the ceasefire.
Kallas was due to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and opposition leader Yair Lapid.
She will not meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
In the occupied West Bank, Kallas will hold talks with Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Mohammad Mustafa, her office said.
Israel and the United States have sought in recent weeks to change the terms of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas, which runs Gaza, has rejected this as a violation of the agreement all parties signed.
The first phase of the truce had enabled the entry of vital food, shelter and medical assistance, and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
On October 7, 2023, fighters from Hamas launched a cross-border attack in Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s ensuing bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza has killed at least 50,021 people in the territory, the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday.
The United Nations considers its figures to be reliable.
Al-Shabab attack on Kenyan police station kills 6
- Terrorists have been fighting for years to overthrow the country’s central government
NAIROBI: At least six police personnel were killed in Kenya while four were injured in an attack on a police camp by suspected militants in Garissa county in the country’s east on the border with Somalia, police said.
The assault which occurred on Sunday was carried out by suspected fighters from Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-allied Al-Shabab group, said a police report sent out to the media.
Al-Shabab frequently carries out cross-border attacks in the area against both military and civilian targets.
FASTFACTS
• Al-Shabab frequently carries out cross-border attacks in the area against both military and civilian ets.
• Militants attacked a c amp housing police reservists and ‘used assorted weapons to overrun the camp,’ the report said.
• Six fatalities have been confirmed with four injured and in hospital.
Attackers from the group launched an assault around dawn on a camp housing police reservists and “used assorted weapons to overrun the camp,” the report said.
“Six fatalities have been confirmed with four (4) injured and in hospital.”
On Tuesday, the US Embassy issued an advisory, telling Americans not to travel to some places in Kenya including Garissa and other counties along the border with Somalia due to threats of terrorism.
Al-Shabab has been fighting for years to overthrow Somalia’s central government and establish its own rule in the Horn of Africa country.
Elsewhere, militants killed at least 44 civilians and severely injured 13 others during an attack on a mosque in southwest Niger, the country’s Defense Ministry said.
The attack occurred on Friday during afternoon prayers in the village of Fombita in the rural commune of Kokorou, which is near the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali known as the epicenter of an insurgency in West Africa linked to Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
The Defense Ministry blamed the attack on the EIGS group, a Daesh affiliate.
Militants encircled a mosque, where people had gathered for prayers and carried out a “massacre of rare cruelty,” it said.
The attackers then set fire to a market and houses before retreating, the ministry said.
Troops deployed to the scene provided a provisional death toll of 44 civilians, with 13 severely injured. Three days of national mourning have been declared.
The insurgency in West Africa’s Sahel region started when militants took over territory in north Mali after a 2012 Tuareg rebellion.
It has since spread into neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, and more recently into the north of coastal West African countries such as Togo and Ghana.
Hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions displaced as militants have gained groups, attacking towns, villages, military and police posts and army convoys.
The failure of governments to restore security contributed to two coups in Mali, two in Burkina Faso and one in Niger between 2020 and 2023. All three remain under military rule despite regional and international pressure to hold elections.
Since the coups, authorities have turned away from traditional Western allies and sought military support from Russia instead.
Pope Francis returns to Vatican after five weeks in hospital
- Though the pope has returned from hospital, his doctors have said it would still take “a lot of time” for his aging body to heal fully
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Sunday after surviving a five-week battle in hospital against double pneumonia that became the most serious health crisis of his 12-year papacy.
The 88-year-old pope, who also made his first public appearance since Feb. 14 before being discharged from Rome’s Gemelli hospital, left the facility shortly after noon.
A car carrying the pontiff was accompanied by police vehicles through Rome, making a short detour to take flowers to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a church to which Francis has a special devotion and visits frequently.
Though the pope has returned from hospital, his doctors have said it would still take “a lot of time” for his aging body to heal fully.
They have prescribed a further two months of rest at the Vatican and told him to avoid large or stressful meetings, leaving unclear how much activity Francis will undertake in the coming months.
Just before leaving the hospital on Sunday, Francis smiled and waved at a group of well-wishers gathered outside. He used a wheelchair, as he has done for several years.
His face looked swollen and there were bandages visible on both arms underneath his white cassock during the appearance, which lasted only a few moments.
He spoke briefly, with a feeble voice, to thank 79-year-old Carmela Vittoria Mancuso in the crowd below. Mancuso, who visited the hospital each day during the pope’s treatment, had brought yellow flowers for him. She said afterwards that her heart “was bursting” when the pope noticed her.
Francis had only been seen by the public once before during his hospital stay, in a photo the Vatican released last week, showing the pontiff at prayer in a hospital chapel.
The pope, who has been receiving oxygen to help him breathe throughout his hospital stay, was breathing on his own during the public appearance. But he was seen using a small hose under his nose for oxygen while traveling in his car.
In the moments before the pontiff’s appearance on Sunday, the crowd of hundreds of well-wishers called out for him, chanting “Francis, Francis, Francis.”
Fears grow for British couple held by Taliban as trial delayed
- Peter Reynolds, 79, wife Barbie, 75, have lived in Afghanistan more than 18 years
LONDON: The family of a British couple fears for their health after their trial in Afghanistan was abruptly delayed, it was reported on Sunday.
Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, who have lived in Afghanistan for more than 18 years and have become Afghan citizens, were arrested in February while traveling to their home in Bamyan Province.
The couple had been presented in chains at a Kabul court on Saturday but were informed “at the last minute” that their judge had been changed, delaying proceedings.
Their daughter Sarah Entwistle told The Guardian the conditions in their maximum-security prison were “brutal” and “what I imagine hell is like.”
Entwistle highlighted the severe deterioration of her parents’ health, saying: “Mum’s health is rapidly deteriorating, and she is collapsing due to malnutrition. She and the other women are provided only one meal a day, while the men receive three.”
She also expressed concern for her father, adding: “Dad’s health is also still declining, and he’s experiencing tremors in his head and left arm.”
She said that at court “they spent four hours sitting on the floor, chained to other prisoners, before being returned to the prison.”
She added: “At the last minute they were informed that they would not be seen by the judge. The guards indicated that a different judge would now be handling the case, and we continue to hope they will receive a fair hearing in the coming week.”
Mrs. Reynolds struggled to climb the four staircases to the courtroom, and Entwistle said: “There are still no charges against them, and no evidence of any crime has been submitted.
“We are, of course, devastated by this delay. It makes little sense, especially given that the Taliban have repeatedly stated that this situation is due to misunderstandings, and that they will be released soon.”
The couple, who married in Afghanistan in 1970, remained in the country following the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, saying they “couldn’t leave the country and the people they love, in their darkest hour.” They were arrested alongside an American friend, Faye Hall, and their Afghan translator, Juya.
Mr. Reynolds has reportedly suffered beatings and is in immense pain. Entwistle said: “His health has significantly deteriorated. We hear he now has a chest infection, a double eye infection, and serious digestive issues due to poor nutrition. Without immediate access to necessary medication his life is in serious danger.”
Appealing for their release, she urged the Taliban to show mercy, adding: “Again, we ask the Taliban to release Dad, Mum, Faye, and the interpreter as a gesture of goodwill during this season of Ramadan.”
Under threat from Trump, Canada calls snap elections for April 28
- Prime Minister Mark Carney brought parliamentary elections forward several months from October
- The barrage of threats coming from the US president will be the crux of his election campaign
OTTAWA: Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday called early elections for April 28, pledging to defeat Donald Trump’s drive to annex the United States’s huge northern neighbor.
Carney, a former central banker, was chosen by Canada’s centrist Liberal Party to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister, but he has never faced the country’s broader electorate.
That will now change as Carney brought parliamentary elections forward several months from October, and he made it clear that the barrage of threats coming from the US president will be the crux of his campaign.
“I’ve just requested that the governor general dissolve parliament and call an election for April 28. She has agreed,” Carney said in a speech to the nation, referring to King Charles III’s representative in Canada, a member of the British Commonwealth.
Trump “wants to break us, so America can own us. We will not let that happen,” Carney said.
In power for a decade, the Liberal government had slid into deep unpopularity, but Carney will be hoping to ride a wave of Canadian patriotism to a new majority.
Trump has riled his northern neighbor by repeatedly dismissing its sovereignty and borders as artificial, and urging it to join the United States as the 51st state.
The ominous remarks have been accompanied by Trump’s swirling trade war, with the imposition of tariffs on imports from Canada, which could severely damage its economy.
“In this time of crisis, the government needs a strong and clear mandate,” Carney told supporters on Thursday in a speech in the western city of Edmonton.
'Closely watched election'
Domestic issues such as the cost of living and immigration usually dominate Canadian elections, but this time around, one key topic tops the list: who can best handle Trump.
The president’s open hostility toward his northern neighbor — a NATO ally and historically one of his country’s closest partners — has upended the Canadian political landscape.
Trudeau, who had been in power since 2015, was deeply unpopular when he announced he was stepping down, with Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives seen as election favorites just weeks ago.
But the polls have narrowed spectacularly in Carney’s favor since he took over the Liberals, and now analysts are calling this race, overshadowed by Trump, too close to call.
“Many consider this to be an existential election, unprecedented,” Felix Mathieu, a political scientist at the University of Winnipeg, told AFP.
“It is impossible at this stage to make predictions, but this will be a closely watched election with a voter turnout that should be on the rise.”
Poilievre, 45, is a career politician, first elected when he was only 25. A veteran tough-talking campaigner, he has sometimes been tagged as a libertarian and a populist.
Carney, 60, has spent his career outside of electoral politics. He spent more than a decade at Goldman Sachs and went on to lead Canada’s central bank, and then the Bank of England.
Smaller opposition parties could suffer if Canadians seek to give a large mandate to one of the big two, to strengthen their hand against Trump.
As for the US leader, he professes not to care, while pushing ahead with plans to further strengthen tariffs against Canada and other major trading partners on April 2.
“I don’t care who wins up there,” Trump said this week.
“But just a little while ago, before I got involved and totally changed the election, which I don’t care about [...] the Conservative was leading by 35 points.”
