About "Signalgate"

Video: Signalgate. It's Worse Than You Think. || Peter Zeihan

The Atlantic magazine publishes US attack plan mistakenly shared in chat group

MAR 27, 2025

WASHINGTON – The Atlantic magazine on March 26 published what it said was the entire text of a chat group mistakenly shared with a journalist by top US national security officials laying out plans of an imminent attack on Yemen.

Iswaran - Corruption charges - Jan 2024 and Mar 2024

Iswaran gets 8 new charges of obtaining S$19,000 in valuables such as whisky, Brompton bike from construction firm boss

Iswaran pleaded not guilty to the new charges. He now faces 35 charges in all.

Chinese turn to traditional remedies to fight Covid-19

An employee working at a traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy in Beijing. AFP

January 24, 2023


BEIJING — As Covid-19 rips through China's vast population, making millions sick and fuelling a shortage of drugs, many are turning to old-school traditional medicines to battle the aches and pains of the virus.

President Xi Jinping has promoted traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) since the start of the pandemic, while health officials have hailed its "important role" in fighting the coronavirus.

Encompassing a range of treatments from herbal remedies and massages to acupuncture and diets, TCM has been used for thousands of years to treat all manner of ailments.

Critics say it is pseudoscientific and ineffective in treating actual illness, and there is little peer-reviewed data to back claims of its efficacy.

But millions in China use it, often in conjunction with modern medicine to alleviate symptoms. 

Commentary: What Elon Musk misses about how this generation works

Young people who are prepared to quit if they cannot define work on their own terms aren't selfish or immature. Employers who want to ban working from home need to understand a crucial mindset shift, says the Financial Times’ Gillian Tett.

FILE PHOTO: Working at home and in the office in a hybrid work arrangement. (Photo: iStock)

Gillian Tett

18 Nov 2022

LONDON: The great attrition of employees shows no signs of slowing. Recent reports from management consultant McKinsey suggest that as many as 40 per cent are considering leaving their jobs, usually to seek a different type of career or “non-traditional work”, including temporary or part-time roles.

According to one survey, money is an issue, but it’s definitely not the only issue. “Meaningfulness of work” and “adequacy of workforce flexibility” around issues such as working from home are also front of mind.

The key, it seems, is a sense of personal control, both to define how and where work happens, as well as how it aligns with workers’ personal values.

Branson says no to TV debate with Shanmugam, says conversation on death penalty 'needs local voices'

A composite photo showing British billionaire Richard Branson and Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.
(Photos: AFP, CNA)

31 Oct 2022

SINGAPORE: British billionaire Richard Branson declined the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) invitation to a debate on Singapore’s approach towards drugs and the death penalty, saying the conversation “needs local voices” and that a television debate “cannot do the complexity of the death penalty any service”.

159,000 low-wage workers will earn at least S$1,400 from Sep 1

A cleaner wiping a table at Sims Vista Market and Food Centre.
(Photo: Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment)

01 Sep 2022 

SINGAPORE: About 159,000 lower-wage workers will earn at least S$1,400 under a new local qualifying salary (LQS) requirement that kicks in on Thursday (Sep 1).

BBC asked Shanmugam about S'pore's 'social controls', 'draconian' drug laws and Section 377A. Here's how he responded

Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam (left) was a guest on BBC journalist Stephen Sackur's podcast HardTalk.

• Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam was a guest on the BBC's HardTalk programme, hosted by British journalist Stephen Sackur
• Mr Sackur questioned the minister on Singapore's "social controls" and controversial laws such as the death penalty
• Refuting facts presented by the journalist at several points, Mr Shanmugam set out why the Republic takes a tough stance on drugs
• He also explained Singapore's approach on Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises gay sex

June 29, 2022

Commentary: With egg freezing, Singapore women aren’t forced to sacrifice career and self to become mothers

The ageing population and total fertility rate have long been topics of national discussion. With elective egg freezing set to be allowed, the Institute of Policy Studies’ Kalpana Vignehsa discusses what this means for Singapore women.

With egg freezing, Singapore women aren’t forced to sacrifice career and self to become mothers. (Illustration: Rafa Estrada)

Kalpana Vignehsa

15 Apr 2022 

SINGAPORE: If things go as we hope, my family will soon welcome our much-awaited second child. Getting here hasn’t been smooth – obstetricians consider this a “geriatric pregnancy” due to my “advanced maternal age”.

Still, I count myself lucky. Last year, I had a heartbreaking miscarriage late in my first trimester, a few months before this pregnancy. Two close friends had stillbirths and others struggled through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). 

Commentary: WP’s woes underline pivotal choice facing Singaporeans

February 14, 2022

Gov.sg/YouTubeThe Committee of Privileges has recommended that Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh (left) and
vice-chair Faisal Manap (right) be referred to the Public Prosecutor for further investigations for
lying under oath in their testimonies.

BY  NICHOLAS FANG

Is it the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end?

The release of the Parliament’s Committee of Privileges (COP) report on Thursday (Feb 10) marked the end of the committee’s investigations into the lies told by former Workers’ Party (WP) Member of Parliament (MP) Raeesah Khan in Parliament last August and October.

The COP has recommended that WP secretary-general and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh and the party’s vice-chairman Faisal Manap be referred to the Public Prosecutor for further investigations for lying under oath in their testimonies.

Where does the truth lie? Comparing the accounts of Raeesah Khan and WP chief Pritam Singh

By DARYL CHOO

DECEMBER 04, 2021

• A special report by Parliament’s privileges committee on Dec 3 revealed what transpired in the run-up to former Workers’ Party MP Raeesah Khan’s resignation 
• This was over a lie she made in Parliament on Aug 3
• In several areas, however, Ms Khan's account to the commitee differed from assertions made by WP chief Pritam Singh at a press conference on Dec 2

SINGAPORE — New revelations emerged late on Friday (Dec 3) in a special report by Parliament’s Committee of Privileges that shone a light on what transpired in the run-up to former Workers’ Party (WP) Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan’s resignation over a lie she made in the House.

The report, presented to Parliament on the same day, set out Ms Raeesah’s testimony that WP’s leaders had told her to stick to the lie she made during a sitting of Parliament on Aug 3.

Testifying under oath before the committee on Thursday and Friday, Ms Raeesah said that she was told by WP chief Pritam Singh, chairman Sylvia Lim and vice-chairman Faisal Manap that if she and the party could get away with it, there was no need to clarify the lie.

In several areas, her account differed from assertions made by Mr Singh at a press conference on Thursday — raising fresh questions over what led Ms Raeesah to persist with the lie before she made her confession to Parliament on Nov 1.



Here is a comparison of their accounts, based on what Mr Singh said at the press conference and what Ms Raeesah told the committee:

“Heard of Abu Nuwas liquor?”: Siti Kasim shares her thoughts on the Timah controversy

By G Vinod

19 Oct 2021

WITH the Timah whiskey controversy riling up the right-wing movements in Malaysia, a lawyer-activist told the latter of how the Arab world itself has its own popular alcoholic beverage.

According to Siti Kasim, Haddad Distilleries of Jordan is selling their own alcoholic beverage called Abu Nuwas Arak.

“The name denotes Abu Nuwas, a weird drunk poet who lived during the time of the Abbasid Caliphate. He was born in Iran, in 756, but died in Iraq, in 814. He lived during the reign of Caliph Harun Al Rashid and was even mentioned in the popular Arabic tale, One Thousand and One Nights.

“The man was also said to be a hafiz (those who memorised the al-Quran),” she said in a Facebook post.

Recently, the award-winning local liquor brand Timah got embroiled in a controversy after several groups called it being disrespectful to the Malays and Muslims.

Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (MAPIM) president Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid said that using the name Timah for a whiskey brand was insulting Muslims, claiming Timah was short for Fatimah, who was Prophet Muhammad’s daughter.

He also argued that the image of the bearded man on the bottle resembled a Muslim man in a kopiah.

“More insolent is the liquor’s advertisement uses the image of a man in kopiah with a long beard as if showing the someone with Muslim image is promoting liquor,” Azmi was reported saying.

Surprisingly, even the Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) took offence to the whiskey brand, claiming it was insulting to Muslims.

“Apart from the alcohol content, CAP does not understand how the ministry could approve the name and image (of the product) which can cause anger,” its education officer NV Subbarow added.

However, the company shot back at its critics by saying that the man featured on the bottle was not a Muslim man but a British officer named Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedy, or more popularly known as Captain Speedy.

Arab man’s face on Abu Nuwas Arak

Speedy served in British Malaya from 1861 to 1874 as an administrator to restore order during the Larut wars in Perak. He was also credited of bringing the whiskey culture in the local tin mining sector back then.

“And the word Timah is a local word meaning tin. The name ‘Timah Whiskey’ harks back to the tin mining era during British Malaya. Any interpretation of our name unrelated to Malaysian mining is false,” it mentioned.

On MAPIM’s argument that attributing the word Timah to a whiskey was offensive, Siti Kasim pointed out that the Abu Nawas liquor has Arabic script on it, complete with an Arab man’s face attached to the bottle.

“If our religious fellows read all these, they will tear off in rage their beards, the hairs from their armpits, pubic areas, nostrils and if they can reach for it, their anal hairs,” she added in jest. – Oct 19, 2021.

Fourteen US attorneys general press Facebook on vaccine disinformati

15 Oct 2021 

WASHINGTON: The attorneys general of 14 US states sent a letter to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg asking if the top disseminators of vaccine disinformation on the platform received special treatment from the company.

The line of inquiry was generated after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen used internal documents to disclose that the social media platform has built a system that exempts high-profile users from some or all of its rules.

In the letter, which was sent on Wednesday (Oct 13), the 14 Democratic attorneys general said they are "extremely concerned" with recent reports that Facebook maintained lists of members who have received special treatment, and want to know if the "Disinformation Dozen" were part of those lists.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate describes the "Disinformation Dozen" as 12 anti-vaxxers who are responsible for almost two-thirds of anti-vaccine content circulating on social media platforms.

South Dakota - Tax Haven?

[From The Washington Post Daily 202 newsletter:]

"...the rise of the Mount Rushmore state — and several others — as a harbor for shielding global wealth is interesting inasmuch as America has always lectured smaller countries about the necessity of unimpeachable financial hygiene and transparency...

From Sioux Falls, S.D., my colleagues Debbie Cenziper, Will Fitzgibbon, and Salwan Georges reported on a seven-year-old financial firm called “Trident Trust” that enticed clientele with “The South Dakota Advantage” — essentially laws making it easier to hide who owns what and where. 

IPS lecture: Govt review needed to promote positive masculine norms in S’pore, says Aware executive director

By TESSA OH

MAY 25, 2021

• Ms Corinna Lim called for a study on masculinity to be done as part of the Government’s review on gender equality
• She said this can help promote more positive masculine norms among men
• She pointed out that few studies on men have been done here
• She also renewed calls to expand National Service to include non-combat roles

SINGAPORE — To better promote positive masculinity norms among men and boys here, the Government could commission a study on masculinity in Singapore as part of its review on gender equality.

The suggestion came from Ms Corinna Lim, executive director of the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware), a gender advocacy group.

She was speaking on Monday (May 24) at a lecture series organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank under the National University of Singapore.

Commentary: How COVID-19 lab-leak theory went from conspiracy theory to politically accepted possibility

By Jemima Kelly

11 Jun 2021 


LONDON: The conversation around COVID-19’s origins has shifted markedly in recent weeks.

Suddenly, the idea that the virus could have come from an accidental lab leak, once dismissed as a “conspiracy theory”, is considered a possibility – even a likelihood, by some.

Fact-checking site PolitiFact recently decided to “archive” a fact-check it published last year on whether the virus was “man-made”, which it gave its most censorious “pants-on-fire!” rating, but which it now says is “more widely disputed”.

Likewise, The Washington Post issued a correction on a story it published in February 2020 on Republican senator Tom Cotton’s efforts to press China for evidence to back up its claims that the virus had emerged naturally.

The Post said he was repeating a “conspiracy theory that was already debunked”; it now acknowledges there is “no determination about the origins of the virus”.

Tesla Drivers Test Autopilot’s Limits, Attracting Audiences—and Safety Concerns

Some users brag online about how they misuse their cars by tricking the driver-assistance system

By Katherine Bindley and
Rebecca Elliott

May 20, 2021 

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk for years has been championing his vehicles’ driver-assistance system called Autopilot and forecasting that self-driving cars are an emerging reality. Some would-be social media stars and Tesla owners can’t seem to wait.

Param Sharma, 25, has posted multiple videos to Instagram in which he appears to operate a Tesla while in the back seat with nobody at the wheel. Police in California arrested Mr. Sharma on May 10 for alleged reckless driving after an officer said he saw him operating a Tesla Model 3 from the back seat on a Bay Area highway.

Similar videos abound on social media, even though Tesla’s technology is intended only as a way to assist drivers, who are instructed to keep their hands on the wheel. Echoing Mr. Musk’s penchant for pushing the envelope, some Tesla drivers over years have created an online-video genre out of testing what’s possible with their vehicles, in some cases appearing to override safety functions to perform stunts that they post to YouTube or TikTok.

One TikTok user shared a video last year that appeared to depict a Tesla going more than 60 miles an hour on a highway with no one in the driver’s seat while its passengers drank hard seltzer and sang along to Justin Bieber. The video, which refers to the car as the designated driver, has 1.7 million likes. The video’s poster didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Commentary: Israel's master plan for Palestine has fail

The hope that the Palestinian issue was safely sidelined has proved to be a delusion, says the Financial Times’ Gideon Rachman.

19 May 2021

Gideon Rachman

LONDON: Until about a week ago, it looked like Benjamin Netanyahu had a good chance of disproving the adage that “all political careers end in failure”.

His grip on power in Israel was weakening. But even if he lost office, Netanyahu would still leave politics as Israel’s longest serving prime minister ever – and one of its most consequential.

Last year, Netanyahu secured a historic breakthrough in the Jewish state’s relations with the Arab world. The Abraham Accords normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Israel under Netanyahu was at peace, prosperous and breaking out of its international isolation. The long and often bloody struggle with the Palestinians was out of the headlines.

A world-beating COVID-19 vaccination programme had further burnished the country’s image. There was just the small matter of avoiding conviction in a corruption trial and a possible jail sentence – and his legacy would be secure.

Why SPH news titles will continue with paid model despite government funding: Khaw

May 12, 2021

• SPH’s media publications will maintain its paid-subscription business model
• This is to keep it competitive and keep up the quality of their content, Mr Khaw Boon Wan said
• The incoming chairman of SPH Media Trust added that it is important for newsrooms to have editorial independence
• He said he will try to make a difference in helping newsrooms realise a bigger potential

SINGAPORE — News publications under Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) will continue with their subscription-based business model even when they get substantial government funding.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan, 68, the incoming chairman of SPH Media Trust, its new non-profit media entity, said that this would press the newsrooms to answer a “higher call” to quality journalism and keep them on their toes to produce quality content.

Commentary: Why the interest over TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi’s nationality and how Singaporean he is?

What does it take to be "one of us"? Singaporeans' obsessions in defining the "us" in this latest episode stems not only from a fixation on labels but insecurities amid seismic changes in society, says SUSS' Dr Leong Chan-Hoong.

By Leong Chan-Hoong

06 May 2021


SINGAPORE: Are you a Singaporean? Did you embrace our way of life?

It does not require a genius to see the subtext in discussions over our daily headline news whenever the term “foreign” is mentioned in the media. This happens both when someone has misbehaved or achieved an extraordinary feat in a profession.

We saw this most recently last week when TikTok, the social media giant named 39-year old Chew Shou Zhi its new CEO.

Schoolgirl admits to lying about beheaded French teacher

MARCH 09, 2021

PARIS — A schoolgirl who sparked a deadly online hate campaign against a French teacher after he showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to students has admitted to lying and spreading false claims about him, her lawyer said on Monday (March 8).

The girl had claimed the teacher, Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by an Islamic extremist in the street in October last year, had asked Muslims to leave the class when he showed the cartoons.

The girl's father later lodged a legal complaint and amplified the allegations online, leading an 18-year-old Chechen refugee to track down Paty in the town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris.