SINGAPORE — On more than 460 occasions, a man forged Grab receipts and sent them to his company, causing the firm to disburse over $16,400 to him. He also made false medical certificates and an electronic letter purportedly from the Singapore Armed Forces, causing the Ministry of Health (MOH), where he worked as a temporary staff, to excuse him from reporting for work. On Nov 12, Muhammad Fariz Shaik Sha Marican, 33, pleaded guilty to two forgery charges. Two other similar charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing. Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelly Ng said that Fariz was employed by recruitment firm Persolkelly (PSK), which worked with MOH to provide manpower. Fariz was deployed by PSK in November 2021 to work as a temporary staff for MOH to support the ministry's Covid-19 operations. In April 2023, MOH checked on Fariz's annual leave balance as the ministry wanted to convert him into a staff member.

The Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT) will be able to mandate mental health treatment for those who cause unreasonable interferences in the community if a bill to amend the Community Disputes Resolution Act (CDRA) goes through.  The bill was proposed in Parliament by Minister for Community, Culture and Youth Edwin Tong on Tuesday (Nov 12). The CDRT currently hears disputes under CDRA between neighbours involving acts of unreasonable interference with the enjoyment or use of places of residence. Under the bill, the tribunal will be able to issue Mandatory Treatment Orders (MTO) should there be a belief that the acts of disturbance stem from an underlying psychiatric condition. "In those cases, the issue therefore is not just a disamenity one," Minister Tong said. "Hence, the MTO is intended to address the root cause of certain acts that a resident may engage in." Tong added that their priority remains in persuading the resident to go for treatment voluntarily, and that the CDRT-issued MTO is a measure of last resort. There are also criteria that must be met for the MTO to be issued.

SINGAPORE – The police are investigating deepfake nude photos of Singapore Sports School (SSP) students that were created and spread by other students. In response to queries from The Straits Times, school principal Ong Kim Soon said SSP is “aware of the incident involving the creation and sharing of deepfake photos by our student-athletes”. “The school does not condone such harmful behaviour,” he said, adding that it has launched an investigation and lodged a police report. The police, in response to queries from ST, confirmed that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing. A reader who identified himself as a parent of a victim had alerted ST in an e-mail on Nov 12 about the deepfake nude images that were being circulated. “Many parents of affected female students in Singapore Sports School are making police reports about deepfake nude photos of their daughters generated by male students from the school,” the parent said. When contacted, the parent said that female teachers were also targeted, and that the school has offered affected students counselling.

As a group of friends circled a hearse, chants were heard. Then, they stopped and bowed to the portrait displayed at the front of the vehicle. This was not a typical Buddhist funeral, but rather the unconventional birthday celebration of a funeral director, reported Shin Min Daily News. According to the Chinese evening daily, a video circulating online showed the friends chanting a birthday song. The hearse's interior had been decorated with balloons and a birthday banner, with the man even laying inside for photos. The clip garnered criticism from netizens, with some deeming it overboard and disrespectful to the funeral industry. In an interview with Shin Min, director of Xin An Funeral Services Chen Weisong (transliteration) explained that he had celebrated his birthday at the company's premises with his friends and family last week. Halfway through the performances by singers, his employees and business partners had surprised him with the birthday-themed hearse bearing his portrait. Chen told 8world he was not angry and did not think it was taboo. "I was too embarrassed to turn down their gesture," he said. 

SINGAPORE - When an online retailer began selling his products on e-commerce platform Qoo10 in August 2023, he did not bat an eyelid when it took 30 to 45 days for the platform to disburse his first payout, compared with about three to seven days for other e-commerce sites he was using. But nearly a year later in July, payments owed to his business by Qoo10 had ballooned to about $1.6 million, as the platform’s payment delays exceeded two months and disbursements began trickling in, in smaller amounts. The Singaporean, who wanted to be known only as Mr T and did not wish to divulge what he sold, pulled the plug on his Qoo10 shop this year in the middle of July, and filed a civil claim with the courts. He obtained a default judgment in October for Qoo10 to pay him what he is owed, after the e-commerce site failed to serve a notice of intention to contest or not contest the claim. Mr T, who added that he had borrowed nearly $1 million from banks, friends and relatives to pay his suppliers, said: “I am not holding out hope that I will get much, or any, of my money back from Qoo10... By this point, I just want closure because it’s been so stressful.”

Fugitive lawyer Charles Yeo, who is in custody in the UK, is currently awaiting an extradition hearing, reported CNA on Tuesday (Nov 12).  A court date for the extradition hearing has not been determined, but Yeo is set to attend a bail hearing on Friday, according to the report. In an Instagram post on Nov 1, the former chairman of the Reform Party said the Singapore government had made a formal request for his extradition. In his post, Yeo also said that he will be presenting himself, together with his legal team, at Westminster Magistrates Court on Nov 11. Yeo left Singapore in July 2022 after being charged earlier that year with multiple offences relating to harassment and wounding the religious feelings of Christians in several social media posts. In August 2022, a warrant of arrest was issued against him for breaching the conditions for overseas travel while on bail.  He was allowed to travel to Vietnam for work, but failed to return to Singapore and claimed he was seeking political asylum in the UK. 

KOLKATA — A court in the eastern state of West Bengal began the trial on Monday (Nov 11) of a police volunteer accused of raping and murdering a doctor at a government hospital in August, a case that sparked outrage over the lack of safety for women in India. The woman's body was found in a classroom at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in the state capital Kolkata on Aug 9, the federal police said. They also said they had arrested a police volunteer, Sanjay Roy, for the crime.

LAHORE — Pakistan's Punjab province banned most outdoor activities and ordered shops, markets and malls in some areas to close early from Monday (Nov 11) to curb illnesses caused by intense air pollution. The province has closed educational institutions and public spaces like parks and zoos until Nov. 17 in places including Lahore, the world's most polluted city in terms of air quality, according to Swiss group IQAir's live ratings. The districts of Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Gujranwala have seen an unprecedented rise in patients with respiratory diseases, eye and throat irritation, and pink eye disease, the Punjab government said in an order issued late on Sunday. The new restrictions will also remain in force until Nov. 17. "The spread of conjunctivitis/ pink eye disease due to bacterial or viral infection, smoke, dust or chemical exposure is posing a serious and imminent threat to public health," the Punjab government said.

SEOUL — South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol recently began practising golf, for the first time in eight years, in preparation for future meetings with US President-elect Donald Trump, Yoon's office confirmed on Tuesday (Nov 12). South Korean media said Yoon visited a golf course on Saturday for a sport his office said he had last played in 2016. "A lot of people close to President Trump... (told me) President Yoon and Trump will have good chemistry," Yoon told a press conference on Thursday, after congratulating Trump by telephone on his win. Former Trump administration officials and influential Republicans had offered to help build ties with the incoming president, he added. Analysts said Yoon may seek to find a way to capitalise on a personal friendship with Trump to advance Seoul's interests as Trump's "America First" foreign policy plans and his unpredictable style play out in his second term. South Korean companies rely heavily on trade with the United States, and during Trump's first term, the countries clashed over cost-sharing for the roughly 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

ISLAMABAD — The International Monetary Fund's Pakistan mission chief Nathan Porter on Tuesday (Nov 12) opened unusual talks with Pakistan over a US$7 billion (S$9.4 billion) bailout approved by its board in September, the finance ministry and sources said. The unscheduled visit of the IMF mission and talks beginning with meeting the country's finance team are too early for first review of the IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF), which is due in the first quarter of 2025. The chiefs of Pakistan's central bank and federal board of revenue also attended the meeting besides other officials from both the sides, the statement said. The ministry and the IMF have not officially released details of the visit. Sources in the finance ministry said the Nov 11-15 visit will discuss recent developments and programme performance to date, adding the mission was not part of the first review. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with the media. Pakistan has been struggling with boom-and-bust economic cycles for decades, leading to 23 IMF bailouts since 1958.

ISLAMABAD — A bus carrying 27 passengers fell into the Indus river in northern Pakistan on Nov 12, killing 14 people, according to a statement from the Gilgit Baltistan authorities. Twelve of the remaining passengers are missing, and one passenger has survived the accident with injuries, the statement from the authorities said. The accident occurred due to speeding, and the driver losing control of the vehicle, according to the authorities. According to local broadcaster Geo, the bus was part of a wedding procession headed towards Pakistan's Chakwal district when it fell into the river from Telchi bridge at the limits of Diamer district. Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads in many rural areas are in poor condition. Earlier in August, two bus accidents in north-east and south-west Pakistan killed at least 34 people.

ISLAMABAD — Beijing is pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working in the South Asian nation, during talks after a car bombing in Karachi that was seen as a major security breach, sources said. Last month's airport bombing in the southern port city that killed two Chinese engineers returning to work on a project after a holiday in Thailand was the latest in a string of attacks on Beijing's interests in Pakistan. The attacks, and Islamabad's failure to deter them, have angered China, which has pushed Pakistan to begin formal negotiations for a joint security management system. Reuters spoke to five Pakistani security and government sources with direct knowledge of the previously unreported negotiations and demands on condition of anonymity, as the talks are sensitive, and reviewed a written proposal sent by Beijing to Islamabad. "They (Chinese) want to bring in their own security," said one official, who sat in on a recent meeting, adding that Pakistan had not so far agreed to such a step.

Dec 15, 2023

Mariana Budjeryn writes: War never stops at the border, especially on a continent like Europe. The European Union absorbed millions of Ukrainian war refugees and poured billions of euros into Ukraine's defenses and economic survival. The war permanently reshaped Europe: its demographics, political economy, and energy architecture are shifting in ways that will have irreversible long-term consequences. All of this is because in a very real sense Ukraine already is inextricably woven into the fabric of Europe: Ukraine’s pain is Europe’s pain and Ukraine’s gain will inevitably be Europe's gain, too.

Feb 20, 2024

Mariana Budjeryn reflects on the tenth anniversary of her native Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity.

Oct 27, 2022

Kennedy’s statecraft in the missile crisis provides a rich source of clues that can help illuminate the challenge the United States now faces, and the choices President Joe Biden is making.

Feb 9, 2023

In the first comprehensive post-mortem analysis of the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project (NKMCAP), Reine Rambert and Amanda Sardonis examine how NKMCAP failed to live up to its potential, by focusing on three different dimensions of partnership effectiveness: 1) the sustainability of the partnership, 2) the effectiveness of the collaboration process itself, and 3) the achievement of the planned objectives. Rambert and Sardonis extract several transferable lessons from the challenges faced by NKMCAP that are highly consequential to partnership effectiveness.

Feb 24, 2023

The war in Ukraine affects regions around the world in a variety of ways. Belfer Center experts reflect on how the conflict is impacting the countries and regions they study.

Sep 5, 2023

Stephen Walt critiques Vivek Ramaswamy's claim of being a foreign policy realist.

Dec 15, 2023

Calder Walton writes that if proved, Victor Manuel Rocha's espionage would place him among the longest-serving spies in modern times. Allowing him to operate as a spy in the senior echelons of the U.S. government for so long would represent a staggering U.S. security failure.

Shahbaz noted that Zardari appealed to the PML-N to avoid mentioning allegations that former Chief Justice Hamid Dogar had arranged preferential treatment for his daughter's school admission

‘If Mumbai attack suspects arrested in Pakistan are freed, India is at fault'

U.S. feared another LeT attack in India in mid-2009, and sought Pakistan's help to ‘disrupt and prevent' it

As the November 2008 Mumbai attack has shown, LeT is capable of launching attacks that can directly undermine Pakistan,s relations with its neighbors and regional stability generally.

This cable contains information which we hope will be useful to you in engaging host governments, media, and the public after the President's address.

In a wide-ranging meeting with CODEL McCaskill February 17, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon touched on several regional security and trade-related issues.

‘India does not want to play into the hands of terrorists by shunning dialogue.'

In Ambassador Mulford's January 7 farewell call on External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Minister said he understood the seriousness of the error in releasing sensitive intelligence from the Mumbai terrorism investigations and pledged that the Ministry would not further disseminate that information.

Menon emphasized that India had been tough on Pakistan with regard to accountability, but restrained in its rhetoric and actions.

Benazir Bhutto said she was picking up disturbing intelligence of the existence of religious madrassas and other institutions, including youth training camps which could be spawning terrorism.

Benazir Bhutto claimed that the Sindh Government had informed her that if she goes to Larkhana (her ancestral home), she would be attacked.

Embassy strongly recommends against providing a U.S. Government evaluation, saying it will inevitably expose performance gaps that would not meet American standards of training and equipment.

Complicating the PPP decision-making are growing indications of a leadership struggle.

The estranged DMK M.P. spoke about party's corrupt image & predicted its downfall; criticised ‘freebies'; praised Rahul Gandhi; was ‘very downbeat' about United Progressive Alliance's electoral prospects

Spoke of DMK leader's attempted ‘blackmail' on Sri Lanka, warned that the Congress ‘will carry this grudge and retaliate at the right time'

The resignation drama has helped distract attention from the DMK party's woes in advance of next years Parliamentary elections.

Pakistan concern that freedom of expression be balanced with respect for religion as "we are not as advanced as you are" in terms of respect for freedom of religion and could not always control the reactions of sometimes ignorant crowds.

U.S. Mission in New York raised concerns about Pakistan's voting on key issues such as counterterrorism and human rights

You will find an Indian government that is more committed than ever to building a durable and wide ranging USG-GOI relationship after Prime Minister Singh's Washington visit in November.