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SINGAPORE, WEEKEND OF FRIDAY,
AUGUST
4,
20
2
3
3,000 ATTEND
TAMIL CONFERENCE
IN KUALA LUMPUR
PAGE 5
FILM SLAMMED
FOR TRIVIALISING
HOLOCAUST
PAGE 8
FIRST SINGAPORE
FOOTBALLER IN
CAMBODIA LEAGUE
PAGE 12
Report on page 4
Waste
collectors
hit $1.6m
jackpot
These sanitation workers from Kerala pooled their money to buy a lottery ticket.
PHOTO: TWITTER
Page 2
August 4, 2023
tabla
!
INDIA
Five dead in violent clashes in
Haryana
At least five people were killed in
violent clashes near New Delhi, police
said on Tuesday.
Mobs pelted a Hindu religious
procession with stones and set cars
alight on Monday in the
predominantly Muslim district of Nuh
in Haryana, around 75km south of the
national capital.
The authorities rushed hundreds of
riot police to the area and cut mobile
Internet service in parts of Haryana.
Twenty killed in crane collapse
At least 20 workers were crushed to
death on Tuesday when a crane
collapsed over an expressway being
built in Thane, Maharashtra, disaster
response officials said.
The crane toppled onto large
concrete slabs, with the debris then
smashing down as labourers worked
on the Samruddhi Expressway.
The National Disaster Response
Force said 20 bodies were recovered
and three injured individuals were
taken to hospital.
Constable shoots four people
dead on moving train
A Railway Protection Force constable
on Monday shot dead four people,
including his senior, on board a
running train near the Palghar railway
station in Maharashtra, in what
appeared to be a hate crime.
Chetan Singh reportedly fired 12
rounds from his official automatic
weapon when the train was on the
way to Mumbai from Jaipur. All three
passengers killed were Muslims.
He was later arrested after
attempting to run away. Chetan’s
lawyer claimed in court that he has no
knowledge about the firing.
Moosewala murder accused
extradited from Azerbaijan
Sachin Bishnoi alias Sachin Thapan,
who was wanted in the murder of
popular Punjabi singer Sidhu
Moosewala, was extradited to India
from Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday by
the Delhi Police Special Cell.
Sachin had claimed that he killed
Moosewala.
A Central Bureau of Investigation
official told the Hindustan Times: “He
fled to Dubai on a fake passport
issued in the name of Tilak Raj Tuteja,
a resident of Sangam Vihar in
south-east Delhi. He later flew to
Baku, where he was detained.”
Financial cops visit motorbike
maker’s offices, chairman’s home
Officials from India’s financial
crime-fighting agency visited offices
of Hero MotoCorp in Delhi and
Gurugram and chairman Pawan
Munjal’s residence, India’s largest
manufacturer of motorcycles said in a
statement on Tuesday.
It was related to the Enforcement
Directorate taking cognisance of a
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence
case under the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act registered against Mr
Munjal, CNBC-TV18 reported.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs
in June ordered an investigation to
assess Hero MotoCorp’s relationship
with a third-party vendor in a case
related to alleged diversion of funds.
Hollywood saves PVR Inox as
Bollywood bombs at box office
International cinema helped India’s
biggest movie operator PVR Inox post
a rise in first-quarter revenue as Hindi
films failed to bring moviegoers to
theatres.
A struggling Bollywood, coupled
with the popularity of streaming
services, has made it difficult for
traditional theatres to bring in more
people.
The company said the June quarter
witnessed a muted start, with limited
releases in Hindi, but saw the highest
number of Hollywood movies since
the pandemic. This helped the firm’s
revenue from operations jump more
than 30 per cent to Rs13.05 billion
($210 million).
IAS officer suspended for razing
monument to build mansion
The Ministry of Home Affairs has
suspended 2007-batch IAS officer
Udit Prakash Rai, who is accused of
demolishing a heritage monument
and constructing a government
accommodation in its place.
Earlier this year, the Delhi
government’s vigilance department
served a notice to Mr Rai for his
action.
The monument, a palace from the
Pathan period (1418), was the only
remnant of the Khizrabad city
founded by Khizr Khan of the Sayyid
dynasty. It was located in Jal Vihar, in
south-east Delhi.
Foxconn plans US$500 million
component factories in Karnataka
Apple’s main supplier, Foxconn
Technology Group, is planning to
invest close to US$500 million ($671
million) to build two component
factories in India, Bloomberg News
reported on Monday.
The factories will be built in
Karnataka, with at least one
producing Apple parts including for
iPhones, the report said.
SpiceJet passenger ends up at
wrong destination
A passenger on a SpiceJet flight was
surprised on Monday when she
arrived at a completely different city
from her intended destination.
Ms Wasifa Jan was to fly from New
Delhi to Srinagar but boarded a flight
to the western city of Pune.
She was then flown back to New
Delhi and put on a flight to Srinagar,
Indian media reported. A SpiceJet
spokesman has apologised for the
incident.
Gold demand might dip 10%, hit
three-year low
India’s gold demand in 2023 might
fall 10 per cent from a year ago to its
lowest in three years, as record high
prices are dampening retail purchases,
the World Gold Council (WGC) said
on Tuesday.
The lower purchases in the world’s
second-biggest gold consumer might
limit a rally in global prices. Falling
demand for gold imports can also
narrow India’s trade deficit and
support the rupee.
“We remain cautious about gold
demand as it faces uncertainties due
to elevated local prices and slowdown
in discretionary spending,” said Mr
Somasundaram PR, regional chief
executive of WGC’s Indian
operations.
Demand could fall to 700 tonnes in
2023 from 774.1 tonnes a year ago, he
said.
Pakistan hockey team arrives in
India for Aug 9 match
The Pakistan hockey team arrived in
India on Tuesday via the
Attari-Wagah border to participate in
the Asian Champions Trophy, which
started in Chennai on Thursday.
The highly-anticipated match
between arch-rivals India and
Pakistan will take place on Aug 9 at
Chennai’s Mayor Radhakrishnan
Hockey Stadium.
Bumrah back from injury to lead
India in T20 series against Ireland
India pace-spearhead Jasprit Bumrah
will return from a long absence to
lead the side against Ireland in the
Twenty20 series this month, the
Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) said on Monday.
The 29-year-old right-arm seamer
has not played international cricket
since last September and underwent
rehabilitation following back surgery
in March.
Visitors at the immersive
exhibition Run As Slow As
You Can in Mumbai on
Wednesday.
On display at the Nita
Mukesh Ambani Cultural
Centre till Oct 22, the
exhibition showcases the
creations of Toiletpaper, the
renowned Italian creative
studio and image-based
magazine founded by
Maurizio Cattelan and
Pierpaolo Ferrari.
It immerses visitors in an
oversaturated, hyperreal
universe that seamlessly
blends commercial
photography with a
surrealist approach.
Toiletpaper’s largest
exhibition in India delves
into the hyper-consumption
of images – with a dose of
irony.
Italian studio puts up its largest exhibition in India
PHOTO: AFP
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Editor-in-Chief
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Wong Wei Kong
Editor
Jawharilal Rajendran
Contributing Editor
V.K. Santosh Kumar
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INDIA
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!
August 4, 2023
Page 3
Two Indian navy ships docked in Papua
New Guinea on Wednesday, underscor-
ing the strategic importance of the
country to global superpowers – the
United States and China –and their al-
lies.
The INS Kolkata guided missile de-
stroyer and INS Sahyadri frigate would
stay in PNG’s capital Port Moresby for
two days, an Indian embassy official
said.
The visit will “enhance maritime
cooperation and security in the region”,
an embassy statement added. India cur-
rently holds the rotating presidency of
the G20.
The ships will then join naval exercis-
es in Australia as part of the Quadrilat-
eral Security Dialogue, or Quad – a
group that also includes Japan and the
US. The Malabar exercise begins next
Friday.
The US and its allies are seeking to
deter Pacific island nations from form-
ing security ties with China – a rising
concern amid tension over Taiwan, and
after Beijing signed a security pact with
the Solomon Islands. PNG struck a de-
fence agreement with Washington in
May.
Pacific island leaders, whose territo-
ries span 40 million sq km of ocean,
have said rising sea levels caused by cli-
mate change is their most pressing se-
curity priority.
The navy port call follows a visit by
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
in May to Papua New Guinea,an under-
developed but resource-rich nation
north of Australia.Mr Modi took part in
a summit meeting of Pacific nations.
The leaders of both France and Indo-
nesia, as well as senior US and British
officials, have also visited PNG in quick
succession. US President Joe Biden was
forced to cancel a visit because of debt
ceiling negotiations in Washington.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Ma-
nasseh Sogavare,who was feted on a Ju-
ly visit to Beijing, on Wednesday broke
ground on a China-financed project to
build 161 Huawei telecommunications
towers across an archipelago with a
population of 700,000.
“We will not be deterred by misin-
formation such as debt traps,” a govern-
ment statement cited him as saying.
Michael Green, CEO of the United
States Studies Centre at the University
of Sydney, said it was not the first time
the Pacific Islands have come to world
attention during major transitions in in-
ternational relations.
At the end of World War I,the islands
“consumed attention” at the 1921-22
Washington Naval Treaties amid con-
cern over Japan’s access to an undersea
cable, said Mr Green, a former senior
US national security adviser.
After World War II, the US was “de-
termined to keep the former Japanese
islands out of the Communist bloc be-
cause they were critical to protecting
the southern flank below Japan and
above Australia,” he said. With China’s
rise, Pacific Islands airfields and under-
sea cables have again come into play, he
added.
China is PNG’s largest trading part-
ner. The director of the Lowy Institute
Pacific Islands Program, Dr Meg Keen,
saidtherecentpushbyChinaintosecur-
ity has “raised concern among Western
countries with strong national interests
in the region”.
“The US is trying to secure a bilateral
security agreement with PNG and show
it is in the region to stay and will make a
positive difference. To date its engage-
ments have been modest,” she said,
adding that Pacific Island nations have
welcomed the additional interest from
the West but will continue to engage
with China.
“The Pacific will want more than fre-
quent flyers,they want genuine partner-
ships that deliver results.”
Reuters
India strengthens Pacific relationship
Indian ships dock in Paua New Guinea
PHOTO: BHARAT SHAKTI
“The US is trying to secure a bilateral security agreement
with PNG and show it is in the region to stay and will make
a positive difference. To date its engagements have been
modest. The Pacific will want more than frequent flyers,
they want genuine partnerships that deliver results.”
– Dr Meg Keen, director of the Lowy Institute Pacific Islands Program
