AnewZ Morning Brief - 3rd August, 2025
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for 3rd August, covering the latest developments you need to know....
Singapore has directed Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to block Singaporeans' access to posts by three foreigners accused of attempting to influence the country's upcoming election along racial and religious lines.
Singapore has ordered Facebook parent Meta to block Singaporeans' access to posts made by three foreigners accused of trying to influence a national election next month on racial and religious lines.
The orders were issued after some posts deemed "intended to promote or prejudice the electoral success or standing of a political party or candidate", the Elections Department and home affairs ministry said on Friday.
Meta did not respond to a request for comment. Two of the three people whose posts were blocked rejected the accusations.
The May 3 election, the first under new social media rules introduced in 2023, looks set to be dominated by the People's Action Party, which has won most seats in every vote since independence in 1965.
The rules bar foreigners from publishing online election advertising, which it defines as online materials that could help or hurt any political parties or candidates.
Authorities identified the foreigners behind the posts as Iskandar Abdul Samad, treasurer of the Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia; Mohamed Sukri Omar, its party's youth chief in the Malaysian state of Selangor; and Facebook and Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff, an Australian who renounced his Singapore citizenship in 2020.
The PAP-led government said their posts interfered with domestic politics and influenced citizens to vote on racial and religious lines.
Authorities found that Zulfikar had accused Malay-Muslim lawmakers of failing to represent Muslim interests. Sukri had reposted Zulfikar's post and Iskandar had expressed support on social media for the Workers' Party's vice chair.
Iskandar did not respond to a request for comment.
In a Facebook post on Saturday about the order, Sukri said he never sought to interfere in the election and his concerns were for the plight of Malay-Muslims in Singapore "a community increasingly marginalised in various aspects, whether in education, economy, or cultural freedom."
Parti Islam Se-Malaysia secretary general Takiyuddin Hassan said the views of the two party leaders did not reflect its official policy or stance.
While the party respected Singapore's concerns, the government's response to their remarks was "somewhat exaggerated and unilateral," he added.
Zulfikar on Facebook said that the order showed the PAP and its supporters were scared and that "desperation reeks".
The Workers' Party said in a statement on Saturday that it has no control over foreign parties who express support for its candidates. The PAP did not respond to a request for comment on Zulfikar's remarks.
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.
Australian researchers have created a groundbreaking “biological AI” platform that could revolutionise drug discovery by rapidly evolving molecules within mammalian cells.
Australian researchers have pioneered a low-cost and scalable plasma-based method to produce ammonia gas directly from air, offering a green alternative to the traditional fossil fuel-dependent Haber-Bosch process.
A series of earthquakes have struck Guatemala on Tuesday afternoon, leading authorities to advise residents to evacuate from buildings as a precaution against possible aftershocks.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for 3rd August, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Severe weather conditions have battered parts of eastern Australia, leaving tens of thousands without electricity and prompting warnings of flooding and travel disruption.
NASA's Sean Duffy and Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov met in Florida for the first NASA-Russia space chief talks since 2018, focusing on lunar and ISS cooperation.
A new study observed an increase in hospital admissions for cardiovascular conditions following tropical storms.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has launched an investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith to determine whether he violated the Hatch Act, a law restricting political activity by federal employees, several U.S. media outlets reported Saturday.
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