Australia to recognise Palestinian state in September
Australia will recognise a Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Mon...
Singaporean property tycoon Ong Beng Seng pleaded guilty on Monday to one charge of obstructing justice in a high-profile case that led to the imprisonment of former transport minister Subramaniam Iswaran last year.
Both the prosecution and defence requested judicial mercy due to Ong’s chronic illness, asking the court to impose a fine instead of a jail sentence.
He will be sentenced on 15 August.
A second charge of abetting an offence was taken into consideration.
Judicial mercy in Singapore allows courts to issue more lenient sentences under exceptional circumstances, such as terminal illness or when imprisonment may endanger a person's life.
The defence said Ong suffers from multiple myeloma, a type of incurable blood cancer that leaves him immunocompromised.
According to prosecutors, Ong had informed Iswaran that his associates were questioned and that a private flight manifest bearing Iswaran’s name for a Singapore-to-Doha trip had been seized by anti-graft investigators.
This prompted Iswaran to ask Ong to issue an invoice through Singapore GP, the promoter of the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, to bill him for the trip – a move prosecutors say Iswaran believed would reduce the likelihood of an investigation.
Iswaran, who was jailed for 12 months in October 2024 for obstructing justice and accepting more than $300,000 in gifts, became the first former cabinet minister in Singapore to be imprisoned.
He was placed under house arrest in February to serve the remainder of his sentence.
Ong had also provided Iswaran with tickets to English Premier League matches, the Singapore F1 Grand Prix, London musicals, and a private jet ride, among other favours.
Iswaran served as an adviser to the Singapore Grand Prix’s steering committee, while Ong, 78, holds the rights to the race.
The billionaire stepped down as managing director of Singapore-listed Hotel Properties in April.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will send an upgraded ‘version 3.0’ free-trade agreement to their heads of government for approval in October, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday after regional talks in Kuala Lumpur.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
Australia will recognise a Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Monday.
Thousands marched in Messina, Sicily, on August 9, 2025, protesting a government plan to build the world’s longest suspension bridge connecting the Italian mainland to Sicily.
President Donald Trump has pledged to evict homeless people from Washington, D.C., and jail offenders, with a U.S. official saying the administration is preparing to deploy National Guard troops to the capital.
A Colorado prison was evacuated Saturday as the Lee Fire, one of the largest wildfires in the state’s history, continued to spread across Garfield and Rio Blanco counties. The fire has burned over 167 square miles (433 square kilometres) with just 6% containment.
SpaceX postponed the Falcon 9 launch of Amazon’s KF-02 satellite mission scheduled for Sunday because of adverse weather conditions, the company announced.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment