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Kamis, 18 Juni 2020

Singaporean on FBI's most wanted list charged with falsifying invoices to conceal trade with North Korea - CNA

SINGAPORE: A 43-year-old Singaporean managing director, who is on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) most wanted list, has been charged with falsifying invoices of two companies to conceal transactions with North Korea-linked entities.

Tan Wee Beng, managing director of commodity trading company Wee Tiong Holdings, was charged in Singapore on Friday (Jun 19), with Malaysian national Bong Hui Ping, 38, who is a shipping manager at the company.

Tan was charged with falsification of papers with intent to defraud, while Bong was charged with abetting those offences by intentionally aiding Tan.

Wee Tiong Holdings is alleged to have sold sugar to customers from North Korea between 2014 and 2016, with the payments for those sales made to the company and its related firm, Morgan Macros.

Tan and Bong are accused of falsifying invoices of both companies between November 2016 and October 2017 in order to “conceal” the companies’ transactions with North Korea-linked entities from two banks, police said.

If found guilty of falsifying papers with intent to defraud, Tan could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both.

“The police take a serious view of persons who abuse Singapore’s financial system and will not hesitate to take swift action against the individuals or parties involved,” the force said.

READ: Singaporean businessman wanted by FBI denies laundering money for North Korea: Report

FBI’S MOST WANTED LIST

A federal arrest warrant was issued for Tan in the United States District Court in New York in August 2018, an FBI notice said.

According to the notice, he is wanted for allegedly conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by doing business with North Korean proliferation entities.

Tan Wee Beng FBI poster — A poster showing Singapore commodities broker Tan Wee Beng is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (Image: Federal Bureau of Investigation)

The bureau said Tan and others in his company had allegedly fulfilled millions of dollars in commodities contracts for North Korea.

“To do so, Tan Wee Beng allegedly made a concerted effort to launder money through the United States and Singaporean financial systems by concealing payment origins and structuring transactions to avoid regulator scrutiny,” the FBI said.

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2020-06-19 04:35:49Z
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Trump presidency in turmoil after bombshell book, Supreme Court vote - CNA

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's presidency was in turmoil on Thursday (Jun 19) after top ex-aide John Bolton declared him unfit for office in a bombshell book and the Supreme Court blocked a key part of his re-election vow to deport undocumented migrants.

The mounting drama around the Republican's already rocky re-election bid raised the stakes for his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday - the first he will have held since the US coronavirus lockdown began, but mired in controversy over whether it is safe.

Trump's once supremely self-confident march toward a second term was already in a hole due to criticism over his responses to the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide anti-racism protests.

A Supreme Court ruling against his administration's bid to remove protections for hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants classified as "Dreamers" struck another blow as Trump's re-election platform rests in large part on his promise to crack down on illegal immigration.

The ruling was doubly stinging because Trump has long boasted that his appointing of two justices succeeded in tilting the nation's top court to the right.

In an outburst on Twitter, Trump called this and other recent rulings he didn't like "shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans".

He also faced a blistering insider attack from Bolton, a lifelong Republican who saw Trump from up close as national security advisor.

"I don't think he's fit for office. I don't think he has the competence to carry out the job," Bolton told ABC News to promote his book The Room Where it Happened.

READ: Trump unfit to be US president, Democrat Pelosi, conservative Bolton agree

READ: Bolton says Trump unfit for office as book alleges sweeping misdeeds

The book - which the White House is trying desperately to get blocked by court order - alleges that Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for re-election help, obstructed justice and was no match for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Putin thinks he can play him like a fiddle," Bolton told ABC.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who Bolton alleges shared his assessment of Trump, lashed out late Thursday in a statement that read, "I was in the room too."

"It is both sad and dangerous that John Bolton's final public role is that of a traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trust with its people," Pompeo said.

Trump again attacked Bolton, calling him a "sick puppy" and dismissing the book as "fiction".

READ: Troubled Trump attacks ex-aide who calls him not 'fit' for office

"BACK ON THE ROAD"?

On Saturday, Trump will fly to Tulsa to hold his first campaign rally since March.

With his TV show background and natural populist flair, Trump is far happier in front of cheering crowds than in the formal settings of the White House.

He is "very excited to get back on the road", his advisor Kellyanne Conway said.

He'll be hoping that the razzmatazz and the energy of the 20,000-strong crowd will jumpstart his re-election, which polls show him currently losing heavily to Democrat Joe Biden. Even as Americans only slowly ease out of lockdown, several other rallies are already being planned.

But Tulsa is seeing a local spike in coronavirus cases and the city's main newspaper and the state health chief have warned that the huge crowd in an enclosed space could become a viral incubator.

A lawsuit filed in a court in Tulsa to try to stop the rally called it a virus "superspreader".

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said Thursday "it's going to be safe and we're really, really excited". And the Trump campaign says it will take temperatures and distribute masks to rally-goers.

Tellingly, though, it is also requiring anyone attending to sign a waiver that they won't hold organisers responsible for getting sick.

Trump's Tulsa rally suffered a further setback when it was scheduled originally for this Friday, which is the June 19th or "Juneteenth" anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States.

Amid soaring racial tensions and anger from civil rights groups at his handling of the police violence protests, that struck the wrong tone and Trump was forced to shift to Saturday.

"Nobody had ever heard of it," he claimed in a Wall Street Journal interview published Thursday. "I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous."

In fact, the White House annually puts out a statement commemorating the occasion, which is also marked by nearly all US states.

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2020-06-19 02:43:54Z
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China backs Hong Kong as finance hub as it pushes ahead with security law - South China Morning Post

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China backs Hong Kong as finance hub as it pushes ahead with security law South China Morning Post
Hong Kong security law draft to be put before China's top parliament body CNA
China lawmakers to discuss Hong Kong security legislation this week The Straits Times
What Hong Kong really means to transactional Trump South China Morning Post
Just like Zoom, more companies should expect political pressure from China The Washington Post
View Full coverage on Google News

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2020-06-19 01:02:36Z
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China backs Hong Kong as finance hub as it pushes ahead with security law - South China Morning Post

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

China backs Hong Kong as finance hub as it pushes ahead with security law South China Morning Post
Hong Kong security law draft to be put before China's top parliament body CNA
China lawmakers to discuss Hong Kong security legislation this week The Straits Times
What Hong Kong really means to transactional Trump South China Morning Post
National security law: Hong Kong Journalists Association survey reveals 98 per cent oppose legislation amid fears over personal safety, self-censorship Yahoo Singapore News
View Full coverage on Google News

China releases 10 Indian soldiers after border battle - CNA

NEW DELHI: China has freed 10 Indian soldiers captured in a high-altitude border clash in the Himalayas which left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead, media reports said on Friday (Jun 19).

The release follows several rounds of talks between the two sides in a bid to ease tensions after the battle on Monday, in which scores of troops from the two sides fought with nail-studded batons and hurled rocks at each other.

The 10 soldiers were freed late on Thursday, the Press Trust of India news agency and other media reported.

The Indian government made no comment but the army released a statement saying: "It is clarified that there are no Indian troops missing in action" after the fighting in the Galwan Valley area of Ladakh.

Protesters hold posters of Chinese President Xi Jinping during an anti-China demonstration near the Chinese embassy in New Delhi. (AFP/Sajjad HUSSAIN)

The Hindu newspaper said an agreement on the release was reached at major general-level talks between the Indian army and China's People's Liberation Army.

India and China have blamed each other for the most serious fighting in more than 50 years along their bitterly contested Himalayas border, where they fought a war in 1962.

READ: Satellite images suggest Chinese activity at Himalayan border with India before clash

Amidst calls for a boycott of Chinese goods, thousands attended funerals on Thursday for many of the 20 Indian soldiers killed in the clash. Chinese flags and posters of China's President Xi Jinping were burned in at least two cities.

Family members lay wreaths on the coffin of an Indian soldier killed in the clash with Chinese forces in the Galwan valley area. (AFP/NARINDER NANU)

READ: India says 20 soldiers killed in deadliest clash with China in decades

READ: India holds funerals for soldiers killed in China border clash as tensions stay high

The Indian military said 18 troops were still being treated for serious injuries.

China has admitted that it suffered casualties but has not given figures.

The two sides have held a series of political and military talks in a bid to bring tensions down but warned each other in public statements.

India should "not underestimate China's firm will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty," China said after talks between its foreign minister Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Jaishankar said in turn that China had launched a "pre-meditated" attack which would have a "serious impact" on relations between the world's two most populous countries.

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2020-06-18 22:09:27Z
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Satellite images suggest Chinese activity at Himalayan border with India before clash - CNA

NEW DELHI: In the days leading up to the most violent border clash between India and China in decades, China brought in pieces of machinery, cut a trail into a Himalayan mountainside and may have even dammed a river, satellite pictures suggest.

The images, shot on Tuesday, a day after soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the freezing Galwan Valley, show an increase in activity from a week earlier.

India said 20 soldiers were killed in a premeditated attack by Chinese troops on Monday night at a time when top commanders had agreed to defuse tensions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), or the disputed and poorly defined border between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

READ: India says 20 soldiers killed in deadliest clash with China in decades

China rejected the allegations and blamed frontline Indian soldiers for provoking the conflict which took place at the freezing height of 4,300 metres in the western Himalayas.

The 4,056-kilometre border between India and China runs through glaciers, snow deserts and rivers in the west to thickly forested mountains in the east.

The Galwan Valley is an arid, inhospitable area, where some soldiers are deployed on steep ridges. It is considered important because it leads to the Aksai Chin, a disputed plateau claimed by India but controlled by China.

The satellite pictures, taken by Earth-imaging company Planet Labs and obtained by Reuters, show signs of altering the landscape of the valley through widening tracks, moving earth and making river crossings, one expert said.

The images shows machinery along the bald mountains and in the Galwan River.

"Looking at it in Planet, it looks like China is constructing roads in the valley and possibly damming the river," Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at California’s Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

"There are a ton of vehicles on both sides (of the LAC) - although there appear to be vastly more on the Chinese side. I count 30-40 Indian vehicles and well over 100 vehicles on the Chinese side."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said he was unaware of the specifics on the ground but reiterated that the Indian army had crossed into Chinese territory in several places in recent days and that they should withdraw.

BACKLASH

The clash was the most serious since 1967. Since early May, soldiers have faced off on the border where India says Chinese troops had intruded and set up temporary structures. The confrontation turned into a deadly brawl on Monday.

The fighting was triggered by a row over two Chinese tents and observation towers that India said had been built on its side of the LAC, Indian government sources in New Delhi and on the Indian side of the border in the Ladakh region said.

China had sought to erect a "structure" in the Galwan Valley on India's side of the LAC even after military officials had reached an agreement on Jun 6 to de-escalate, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told China's senior diplomat, Wang Yi, in a phone call on Wednesday, the Indian Foreign Ministry said. It was not immediately clear to what structure he was referring.

The problem arose when an Indian patrol visited the area near a ridge to verify a Chinese assertion that its troops had moved back from the LAC, the two government sources aware of the military situation said.

The Chinese troops had thinned out and left behind the two tents and small observation posts. The Indian party demolished the towers and burnt the tents, the sources said.

The satellite images show possible debris from the observation posts on Tuesday morning on a ridge on India's side of the LAC. There was no such structure in the image taken a week earlier.

A large group of Chinese soldiers arrived and confronted the Indian troops, led by Colonel Santosh Babu. They were lightly armed in line with the rules of engagement at the LAC, one of the sources said.

India and China have not exchanged gunfire at the border since 1967, despite occasional flare-ups. Soldiers are under instructions to keep their rifles slung at their backs.

It was not clear what happened next, but the two sides soon clashed, with the Chinese using iron rods and batons with spikes, one of the sources said.

Colonel Babu was one of the 20 victims, they said. More Indian troops were rushed in and the confrontation turned into an hours-long brawl eventually involving up to 900 soldiers, the source said. Still no shots were fired on either side.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao rejected the Indian version of the events. "The rights and wrongs of this incident are very clear. The responsibility does not lie with China."

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2020-06-18 18:09:01Z
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Cold and wet conditions at Beijing food market could have caused coronavirus outbreak - The Straits Times

BEIJING - After an outbreak of the coronavirus at Xinfadi food market in Beijing last week, health workers collected thousands of samples and found that the most contaminated sections in the 112ha wholesale market were those selling seafood and meat such as beef and mutton.

Experts believe the low temperature and high humidity environment there could be the reason for the latest outbreak, which infected more than 100 people .

“Why do these places become the centre of transmission? The temperature is low, which is suitable for virus survival, and the humidity is high. But further investigation is needed,” said Dr Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, at a daily briefing on Thursday (June 18).

The outbreak last December in the central city of Wuhan also started in a market that sold seafood and wildlife, among other things.

The findings from Xinfadi and Wuhan’s Huanan market provide “a new direction for solving this mystery”, said Dr Wu, who added that infected seafood vendors in Xinfadi had developed symptoms earlier than the rest.

Traces of the virus were discovered on a chopping board for imported salmon at the market, leading the authorities to suspend incoming salmon from Europe this week.

But health officials also said there is no evidence that salmon could be a virus carrier, and the outbreak was likely caused by human transmission and contaminated surfaces or goods.

Chinese Customs said on Thursday that it has tested more than 32,000 samples of imported seafood, meat, vegetables, fruit and other foods, and found them safe.

Top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan on Thursday also said the outbreak at Xinfadi was more closely related to the food sold there than in Wuhan’s Huanan market.

“Virus in a wet and cold environment can be a problem, we should be more aware of that,” he said at a talk organised by the University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre.

China's four-tier emergency response
China undertook reform of its emergency management system after the 2003 Sars crisis.

The Emergency Response Law was passed in 2007. It outlines how to prevent and deal with emergency situations, ranging from natural and accidental disasters to public health and social safety crises.

The last covers terrorist attacks or riots.

Based on their scope and severity, these emergencies are graded from one to four in China's four-tier emergency response system.

Level 1 is reserved for the most serious incidents, which are managed by the central government, the State Council. It coordinates the response, mobilises national resources and hands down directives to the various local governments to implement.

All local governments are required to establish an emergency response command body comprising key officers of the various government departments.

Lower-grade response levels are handled by local governments.

Kamis, 18 Juni 2020

China's four-tier emergency response

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