Singapore jails man who planted cannabis in estranged wife’s car

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A gentleman from Singapore was given a nearly four-year prison term for attempting to ensnare his estranged wife by planting marijuana in her vehicle.

Tan Xianglong, 37, figured the amount of cannabis he planted between his sister’s car was so high that he could get the death sentence for drug smuggling.

Singapore has some of the nation’s toughest anti-drug rules, which the authorities says are necessary to deter drug-related acts.

Less than half of the chemical Tan planted turned out to be hemp, though. The remainder was filler.

According to court documents, Tan “intentionally scared the included group and caused her to face legal problems.”

He understood that if his strategy was successful, the concerned party would be unjustly detained and accused of a major crime.

He was given a three-year and ten-month jail sentence on Thursday for possessing marijuana. A second command of illegally planting of data was also taken into account by the court.

Tan and his family got married in 2021, but they divorced a year later. Because Singapore simply permits it for people who have been married for at least three times, they were unable to file for divorce.

Tan feared that if his family had a legal history, she might be able to take an exception to that rule.

He claimed in Telegram conversations with his girlfriend last year that he had hatched the “perfect murder” to shape his family.

On 16 October, he bought a brick of cannabis from a Telegram chat group, weighing it to make sure it exceeded 500g ( 1.1lbs ), and placed it in her car the next day.

What Tan allegedly neglected to account for was the fact that his sister’s vehicles had a cameras installed, which sent her a telephone notification announcing a “parking effect.”

When she examined the lived film, she observed her separated husband driving her car and called the police for harassment.

In the course of their research, authorities searched the car, found the medicines and arrested Tan’s family.

However, they turned their inspection toward Tan himself after concluding there was no supporting evidence against her.

Tan’s attorney attempted to persuade the judge that he was depressed when he committed the crime, citing medical evidence that he was not depressed when he committed the crime.

Medication hands in Singapore is punished by imprisonment, while drug trafficking is punishable by death, depending on the substance and the number seized.

Tan was liable to receive a five-year prison sentence, but he received a shorter jail term as a result of his co-operation in the proceedings and first pleas guilty, according to court records.

Last year, Singapore executed two convicted drug traffickers over a five-month period, defying opposition from international human rights groups.

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France on charm offensive as New Caledonia simmers

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Getty Images Pro-independence supporters wave flags on the side of a road ahead of legislative elections in the Vallee du Tir district in Nouméa on the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia on June 27, 2024. Getty Images

For the Pacific Islands, environment change, politics and stability have often been the bread and butter of any mountain.

Another popular theme was thrown into the mix at this year’s Pacific Island Forum Leader’s Meeting, which is the country’s biggest book event, and the unrest that occurred in the French overseas territory in May.

A controversial French proposal to extend voting rights to people who had lived on the islands for more than 10 years sparked deadly protests. Eleven people have since died – nine civilians and two French gendarmes – and there are still French police on the ground.

President Emmanuel Macron visited New Caledonia and, in June, halted the reform. But tensions remain high, with a growing push towards independence among the Indigenous Kanaks, who make up 41% of the population.

The French have stated that they want to clarify the situation. Officials from all 18 island countries and territories gathered in Tonga this past year, including New Caledonia’s President Louis Mapou, during a PR goal there.

Small island countries were skeptical, though, because the French had lost support after the crime in New Caledonia. Some people thought it was France’s attempt to hold onto a proper area of the world where the US and China were tussling for power.

” We’ve seen lots of nice media about the French group throughout this week”, Véronique Roger-Lacan, France’s adviser to the Pacific, said on Thursday, breaking into an ironic joke.

Her team regularly encouraged press to go during a press presentation that had been heavily promoted. She made it clear that they were present to answer inquiries and demonstrate accountability in what had been a turbulent some months, not just for France’s reputation in the area but also for New Caledonia.

The European delegation attended as a “dialogue companion”- one of 21 like places with interests in the region, inlcuding Washington and Beijing.

As an international European country, New Caledonia’s military, foreign affairs and police are coordinated by France. To many here, it looked like France was chaperoning the pro-independence president.

” Being a region in the Pacific we may think that we are part of a group of difficulties”, François-Xavier Léger, the French Ambassador to Fiji, said at the presentation. And before that, Ambassador Roger-Lacan said that” New Caledonia is France”.

These remarks sparked debate of decolonization and independence at the forum.

” In making this kind of speech, it’s not really helping the conversation”, said Reverend Billy Wetewea, a priest at the Protestant Church of Kanaky who likewise attended the conference.

Reverend Wetewea has collaborated with many of the Kanaky youngsters who led the demonstrations in New Caledonia. ” I do n’t justify the violence, but I think it can be explained through social dynamics”, he said, adding that years of inequality in education, health and social issues had taken their toll.

Getty Images Prime Minister of Tonga (C, front row) Hu'akavameiliku poses for a group picture with Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Leaders at the end of a retreat in Neiafu, Vava'u, Tonga on August 29, 2024Getty Images

New Caledonia is on the United Nation’s record of non-self-governing lands- places the UN screens in their progress towards democracy.

France has been obvious it is following the steps towards decolonisation. The Nouméa Accord, signed in 1998, put the country onto a course of more independence. A more impartial New Caledonia had come over the course of a 20-year time.

Three elections were likewise tabled. In the first, held in 2018, voters rejected independence by 56.7 %. Therefore in 2020, there was a narrower win for the anti-independence aspect- 53 %. In 2021, freedom events boycotted the last election, arguing that the voting was being rushed through. Campaigning was now difficult as a result of the Covid crisis, and Maori Kanaks were still performing rituals to bury their dead.

Unsurprisingly, the pro-France part won with an overwhelming majority. The Kanaks ‘ recent conflict has sparked a new era of conflict, with France playing a role in their decolonization, in the wake of that election.

Ambassador Roger-Lacan resolutely said they are going to do everything by the publication when asked by the BBC what France could do to change that perspective.

She said,” This is the ongoing work in New Caledonia with you all in the press.” ” Things have to be portrayed in a negative way, everywhere, propaganda has to be stopped, correct knowledge has to be put to the people on this self-determination and political method”.

Getty Images President of the Government of New Caledonia Louis Mapou addresses media during a press conference on June 8, 2024. Getty Images

While France may blame the internet for not reporting their part, some below blamed France’s voice – and questioned their interests.

” They want to maintain their presence in the Pacific geopolitically]with ] the fear of China taking over the Pacific”, Reverend Billy Wetewea said.

China sent its largest-ever group to the conference this time. And the US group was led by Kurt Campbell, President Joe Biden’s Deputy Secretary of State, widely credited as the designer of Washington’s new alliance-building in Asia.

When Australia canceled a multi-billion dollars deal with a European company to build nuclear submarines in the Pacific in 2021, the situation of France in the Pacific came into sharp focus. Rather, it ratified a crucial new defense alliance with the UK and the US.

This, scientist Benoît Trépied said, altered France’s strategy with New Caledonia:” Immediately there was a great new interest of European officials in the Pacific. ]The ] colonial, imperial reflex which was – no, if we want to be powerful in the Pacific, New Caledonia has to stay French. Period”.

Despite the stand-off, this year’s meeting was successful. A prepared fact-finding mission to New Caledonia was supposed to take place before, but disagreements over who was in charge of it caused the timing to slip.

But for Reverend Wetewea, there needs to be more speech.

” They don’t consider decisions without consulting the people”, he said. ” If they make their own decisions, it will be really uncomfortable again. The children today want their voices to get heard.

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CASE ‘committed’ to safeguarding consumers’ data, after S,000 fine over breaches

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SINGAPORE: The Consumers ‘ Association of Singapore ( CASE ) said on Friday ( Aug 30 ) it is&nbsp, committed to safeguarding consumers ‘ data, after it was &nbsp, fined S$ 20, 000 ( US$ 15, 350 ) by the Personal Data Protection Commission ( PDPC ).

The personal information of over 12, 000 people and more than 22, 000 e-mail names were&nbsp, potentially compromised in two distinct data breach incidents involving CASE.

In a judgement published by PDPC&nbsp, on Wednesday, &nbsp, Singapore’s privacy watchdog said CASE breached its obligations under&nbsp, the Personal Data Protection Act ( PDPA ) to protect personal data in its possession.

Additionally, it failed to create and implement the policies and practices that are necessary to fulfill its PDPA responsibility.

The buyer guardian acknowledged the vulnerabilities and accepted&nbsp, the S$ 20, 000 good, adding it&nbsp, is” committed to safeguarding customers ‘ data”.

CASE added that it has adhered to PDPC’s instructions to revise its security measures and address surveillance gaps.

We may constantly review our procedures and methods to stop such incidents from occurring again.

How HAPPENED&nbsp,

Unknown phishing emails were sent to a number of State customers in the first incident on October 8 and 9 in 2022 from two official consumer watchdog email addresses.

They were informed that their grievances had been escalated to the” series and payment office” and that they were qualified for payment. &nbsp,

The afflicted consumers were instructed to press a chat icon&nbsp to enter their banking information to finish the transaction.

The letters came from a user account that handles customer grievances on CASE’s site.

Similar letters were sent using a contact form created to communicate with customers whose complaints were brought to counseling. &nbsp,

CASE notified&nbsp, PDPC there had been a files violation incident involving a menace professional on Oct 11, 2022. Concern actor is a person or organization who purposefully harms online products or systems.

In January and February 2023, CASE received complaints about more phishing emails that had been sent from addresses that were n’t in its domain.

The damaged customers ‘ letters were “likely harvested” by the threat professional during the course of the second incident, PDPC said.

A full of 5, 205 phishing messages were sent to 4, 945 consumers, with the private guardian noting that up to 22, 542 names were exposed to “harvesting” by the danger professional.

Three affected customers informed CASE they had&nbsp, interacted with the hacking letters, reportedly resulting in economic losses of&nbsp, S$ 217, 000 in full. Since then, a police record has been released.

The risk actor had safely logged into the affected accounts&nbsp with the appropriate login credentials, according to CASE, which hired a personal forensic expert to determine the cause and degree of the first incident.

Additionally, it discovered that the appropriate registration information was obtained from a powerful hacking attempt on a CASE employee.

Moreover, some of CASE’s laptops were “running on end-of-life operating systems, and had vulnerable technology with unapplied upgrades or safety patches”, which put it at risk of distant code execution risk, according to the view. &nbsp,

SECOND INCIDENT

As the investigation into the first affair was advancing, PDPC received a problem from a State consumer in June 2023.

A qualified phishing email was sent to the complainant from an email address that did not originate from CASE’s domain.

CASE was afterwards informed of more instances of this kind, with 28 people telling the agency they had been phishing letters.

A “definitive summary” regarding the second incident’s data breach could not be reached by PDPC investigations.

However, the committee concluded that it “likely occurred” during a files movement training conducted by CASE somewhere between Dec 24, 2019, and Jan 1, 2020 as it switched IT suppliers.

Approximately 12, 218 people who participated in the data migration exercise were put at risk of illegal access and, according to PDPC.
exfiltration. 

The information included email addresses, phone numbers, names and details of grievances made.

In the second incident, the affected consumers received no financial losses.

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Workers trapped for days in Thai tunnel found dead despite rescue efforts

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Despite intensive recovery efforts lasting for more than five weeks, three foreign workers who were trapped inside a toppled train tunnel have died.

The people, two from China and one from Myanmar, were also thought to be dead as late as Thursday.

They were buried under rubble when part of the tunnel they were building collapsed on Saturday in Pak Chong district, about 200km ( 124 mi ) north-east of the capital Bangkok.

Officials announced on Friday that all three had died, with first examinations suggesting this was caused by a lack of air.

The tunnel, which was under construction and is part of the Thailand-China high-speed railway project, had collapsed due to a landslide at around 23: 40 local time ( 16: 40 GMT ) last Saturday.

Rescuers, comprising officials from the State Railway of Thailand ( SRT ) and a Chinese disaster response team, had been working round-the-clock over the past week with the hope of rescuing the victims.

In an effort to keep the workers dead, they had tried to inject air into the hole, but it’s unclear whether the tubes actually reached the employees.

The body of a Burmese truck drivers was discovered by firefighters on Thursday hidden beneath a pile of rocks and soil.

The bodies of the two Chinese workers, a supervisor and an excavator operator, were found at about 06: 00 local time ( 00: 00 GMT ) on Friday, the SRT said.

According to officials, all three bodies were discovered about 25 meters from the collapse of the hole.

Local studies claim that on Wednesday, rescuers had only managed one inch from one of the men. They claimed to have also heard subpar sound that they thought the men were making on the same day.

The workers ‘ hope that they could still be alive was also confirmed by scanners and sniffer dogs ‘ detection of vital signs, including heartbeats.

However, due to the persistent landslide-falling soil, recovery efforts continued to progress slowly and slowly.

Anutin Charnvirakul, Thailand’s interim interior minister, claimed firefighters were hampered by” the requirement of engineering.”

He said the rescuers had to construct 3m ( 9.8ft ) high supporting structures for their own safety so that their digging would n’t cause other parts of the tunnel to collapse.

” Nobody wanted]this incident ] to happen”, he said at a press conference on Friday.

” We did not only try to save the lives of the victims, we also had to]ensure the safety ] of the rescuers and workers”, he said.

On Friday, the three men’s bodies were removed from the hole.

Thai authorities have opened an investigation into the affair, and design on the tunnel has been temporarily suspended.

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Sterra made false, misleading claims about its air, water purifiers, as well as quality of Singapore’s tap water: Consumer watchdog

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Sterra apologised and gave an assurance to the guardian that it would” stop its unfair business practices and put in place an inside compliance policy to ensure that its advertising components agree with good trading rules” following the investigation. Sterra’s directors, Lim Liangzhi and Lim Wei Hou, even gave individualContinue Reading

Sterra made false claims about its purifiers and quality of Singapore’s tap water: Consumer watchdog

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Sterra claimed that it has published online articles that has suggested that Singaporean tap water is not safe for use.

In the ad in February, Sterra “attempted to mislead the public” into thinking that the government’s tap water contained dangerous micro-organisms, such as bacteria and algae.

” Restaurant does not tolerate any deceptive or deceptive statements made by businesses like Sterra to market their goods. Such claims may affect public trust in Singapore’s consuming waters”, said the agency.

It added that Singapore’s tap water is safe to drink and is well within the World Health Organization’s rules for drinking fluids value.

No point-of-use water treatment or filtering devices are required to treat the water more, according to PUB.

APOLOGY AND UNDERTAKINGS

Sterra&nbsp apologized and gave the CCCS an assurance that it would” prevent its unfair business practices and put in place an inner conformity policy to ensure that its marketing materials comply with good trading laws” following the investigation.

Additionally, Lim Liangzhi and Lim Wei Hou, Sterra’s managers, made specific commitments to stop any unfair business practices or to make any Sterra-related arrangements.

Sterra apologized in posts on Facebook and Instagram for the misleading advertising from February that made people believe Singapore’s click ocean was unsafe to drink.

Moving forward, we commit to never publishing false or misleading advertisements, even those that reference the standard of Singapore’s touch water.

Sterra thanked the CCCS and PUB for informing the company of their problems and giving it the “possibility to make things right” in its explanation.

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Woman charged with trying to rob diner at Han’s Restaurant while armed with knife

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SINGAPORE: A 50-year-old woman was charged in court on Friday ( Aug 30 ) with trying to rob a diner at a restaurant in a mall along Thomson Road&nbsp, while armed with a knife.

Lam Hoe Lian of Singapore was charged with attempted military assault and given a warrant to be remanded there for medical investigation.

Lam is accused of trying to steal a gentleman at about 9.30am on Aug 29 at Han’s Restaurant in Novena Square, along Thomson Road.

She attempted to rob a meal that, according to a policeman speech. She had taken the knife from a table there.

Nevertheless, she left empty-handed after the restaurant employees intervened and was not there when the police arrived.

Police used closed-circuit broadcast images and images from officers cameras to identify her. She was taken into custody within nine days of the document. &nbsp, A weapon was seized as a case display.

Lam may appear in court once more following month. Attempted assault is punishable by a sentence of at least six breaths of the wood and a sentence of between two and seven years.

Because women in Singapore may be caned, Lam may be caned. If not for her sex, she could have been liable for at least 12 stroke of the wood because she was allegedly armed during the attempted robbery.

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Cordlife learnt ‘valuable lessons’, implemented ‘robust’ measures in response to mishandling of cord blood units

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SINGAPORE: Personal cord blood banks Cordlife said it has learnt “valuable lessons” after a months-long expulsion over its&nbsp, mishandling of cord blood products, and has implemented “robust” security measures to cooperate with the Ministry of Health ( MOH)’s regulatory requirements. &nbsp, These measures include an improved “lab monitoring system” thatContinue Reading

Australia: Aboriginal teen dies by suicide in Perth youth prison

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A youth prison in the state of Western Australia ( WA ) in Australia has a suicide death of an Aboriginal teenager.

The 17-year-old was taken into custody on Thursday when he was discovered unresponsive in his body and unable to be revived, according to the country’s authorities. He had only been there for two days.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens are the most frequently imprisoned people on the planet, and they also pass away in prison much more frequently than non-Indigenous Australians.

Deaths in juvenile detention areas, however, are rare, and this is the next in the state in under a year.

” This is a horrible, horrible function”, WA leading Roger Cook said when announcing an inspection on Friday night.

” Undoubtedly, a failure has occurred, and we will take the crucial work of comprehending the circumstances.”

The unidentified student arrived at the center on Tuesday intoxicated and had been placed in an extensive guidance unit as a result of concerns for his wellness.

Commissioner of Corrective Services Brad Royce told investigators that there were no indications of mental stress.

The child had been checked on by team ten days in the days prior to his death, and he had spent the majority of Thursday evening outside of his body.

Cleveland Dodd, 16, became the first infantile to pass away in a WA children detention facility ten months after the incident.

This year, investigators cleared jail staff of grave misconduct, but they also discovered major failures in the months leading up to Dodd’s dying.

Mr. Royce claimed he had examined the images taken on Thursday at the detention facility and was satisfied with the staff’s “appropriate” answer.

Since Dodd’s dying, the state’s children prison have improved, according to Mr. Cook.

He said,” I have more confidence than ever in how our juvenile detention facilities are run.”

Australia has been under international pressure to increase the minimum legal age, which is 10 in some states, and disproportionately affects First Governments children.

The UN, which claims that the conditions in children detention centers violate international law, including the Agreement on the Rights of the Child, has also received foreign criticism.

” This was a treatable death. How many times, by how many professionals, should the WA state be in the dark about the hazards of their children detention facilities? Amnesty International’s Kacey Teerman said in a speech.

Responding to questions about these long-held concerns, Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia on Thursday said there was” no obvious, immediate, systemic change” needed.

” We’re responding with anything we can and anything that’s required”.

If this story has raised issues for you, you can call Lifeline at ( 13 11 14), or 13-yarn at ( 13 92 76 ).

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