Singapore’s DBS Bank is being sued for an estimated S$1.298 billion (US$1.03 billion) in damages linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, Southeast Asia’s largest lender DBS Group has said.
The claimants include the liquidators of four companies: BlackRock Commodities (Global), Platinum Global Luxury Services, Affinity Equity International Partners and TKIL Global Investments. The liquidators did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
DBS on Wednesday rejected the…
Singapore man Malone Lam pleads guilty after massive US bitcoin heist and spending spree
A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to teaming up with friends to steal nearly a quarter-billion dollars in bitcoin from a Washington resident – one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in US history – and then embarking on a wild spending spree with the laundered proceeds.
Malone Lam, an eighth-grade dropout who came to the US from Singapore, faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years after pleading guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge. US District Judge Colleen…
Singapore ‘open’ to using chemical castration for sex offenders if proven effective
Singapore remains open to considering chemical castration as a measure to tackle sex crimes if there is clear evidence that it is effective in reducing crime, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam has said.
However, the evidence so far was inconclusive, he said in a written parliamentary reply on Tuesday.
“We remain open to considering measures including pharmacological anti-androgen treatments, also known as chemical castrations, if it is clear that such measures are effective in bringing down…
UK plastic packaging tax data increases scrutiny on supply chains
New government data reveals that curiously the number of businesses registered for plastic packaging tax (PPT) increased last year despite revenues from the tax continuing to fall.
Japan must reckon with how it views foreign workers
Japan will substantially raise its fees for residence permits next month. Depending on the period of stay applied for, renewing or changing one’s residency status could cost as much as ¥75,000 (US$480). The application fee for permanent residency will rise to ¥200,000 from ¥10,000.
The government is also tightening the requirements for permanent residency. Applicants are already expected to be able to support themselves. New criteria proposed include an above-average household income, sufficient…
El Niño: risk of extreme weather calls for business response
Businesses that source goods or materials from around the world can learn from how some companies have responded to the Middle East crisis, to ensure their supply chains are resilient against the risk of extreme weather events, an expert has said
PAS chief to face Malaysian police over claims US would help ‘topple’ government
Malaysian police have contacted Islamist opposition leader Abdul Hadi Awang over his explosive claim that the United States once offered to help his party topple the government – an allegation Washington has flatly dismissed as false.
The controversy erupted after Hadi told thousands of delegates at the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) congress in Kelantan on Saturday that American representatives had approached party leaders when Barack Obama visited Malaysia in 2014.
Hadi’s political…
New Delhi building collapse kills 3, traps dozens
A building collapse in the Indian capital New Delhi killed at least three people on Sunday, local media reports said, as authorities worked to rescue those trapped in the rubble.
The building, housing mostly students, came crashing down about midday in the southwestern Satya Niketan area of the city, with police and disaster response personnel cautiously lifting the rubble using heavy machinery.
Three people died in the accident, according to The Hindu newspaper and other local media reports,…
Why China’s shrinking population may be a blessing, not a curse
There is little in common between Daron Acemoglu and Xi Jinping. As a strong advocate of the Western model of liberal democracy, Acemoglu, co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics, may be considered the ideological opposite of the Chinese president.
But on a crucial point about China’s future, the two may, strangely, be on the same page: an across-the-board introduction of cutting-edge technology may enhance productivity and maintain economic growth. It may counteract the negative…
Chinese man, Nepali woman found alive 10 days after flood
Rescuers pulled out a 64-year-old Nepali woman alive on Saturday from her home, buried under thick mud and debris when the region was struck by massive flooding 10 days ago, killing over 1,300 people and leaving at least 5,500 missing.
Emergency personnel said earlier they had rescued a Chinese man, named only as Luhaitao, found alive inside a 225-metre tunnel of the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project in Nepal’s Rasuwa district.
Footage shared by the Nepali army showed him being given…