MALAYSIA
Mahathir under probe
The government has launched an inquiry into massive foreign-exchange losses by the central bank more than two decades ago, in a probe that could lead to criminal prosecution of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Opposition leaders slammed the inquiry as a political ploy to discredit Mahathir just months after he set up a new political party. He leads an opposition coalition aimed at ousting Prime Minister Najib Razak in general elections due next year. Mahathir, 92, led the country for 22 years before stepping down in 2003. A five-member Royal Commission of Inquiry meeting for the first time yesterday said it would investigate how much the central bank lost in currency trading in the 1990s and determine if there was a cover-up.
AUSTRALIA
Drug raids net 17 suspects
Police in three countries have arrested 17 people and seized nearly 2 tonnes of drugs in connection with what Australian authorities said was an effort by organized crime groups to transport large amounts of drugs into the country. Federal Police said 10 people in Sydney, five Australians in Dubai and two people in the Netherlands were arrested yesterday as part of an investigation into what police say were two interlinked crime syndicates operating across the three nations. Officials in the Netherlands seized 1.8 tonnes of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, 136kg of cocaine and 15kg of crystal methamphetamine, all bound for Australia. The drugs were worth about US$640 million.
INDONESIA
Coffee for fighter jets?
The government yesterday said it would trade palm oil, coffee and tea for Russian fighter jets, saying it wanted to capitalize on international sanctions on Moscow as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to arrive for a visit. The two nations signed a memorandum of understanding to exchange 11 Russian-made Sukhoi fighters for key commodities in Moscow last week, a spokesman for the trade ministry said. The EU and US have targeted Russia with sanctions for alleged meddling in the US presidential election and its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea. The exact time frame and value of the exchange were not clear.
SINGAPORE
American appeals expulsion
A US citizen whose Singapore permanent residence status was revoked after the government identified him as being an agent of foreign influence yesterday said he had appealed the decision to expel him. The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday said it had canceled the permanent residence of Huang Jing, a professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and of his wife, Shirley Yang Xiuping, also a US citizen. The ministry said Huang interacted with a foreign country with the aim of bringing about a change in the nation’s foreign policy and that his wife was aware of his activities. It did not identify the foreign country with which he was said to be interacting.
INDIA
Cops faked Everest climb
Two police officers who falsely claimed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest last year have been sacked, authorities said yesterday. Nepal’s government last year imposed a 10-year mountaineering ban on Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod, a married couple, after finding they had doctored photos to support their claim. Now the police force in the western Indian city of Pune where the couple worked has dismissed them after conducting its own investigation.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of