A 34-year-old Indian national who used to work as an instructor at a yoga centre in Singapore was found guilty of molesting three women during his classes. Rajpal Singh will return to court for sentencing in July. His passport has been impounded and currently he is out on bail of SGD 25,000. Singh was accused of touching the private parts of five women during his yoga classes in 2019 and 2020. But he was acquitted on three counts of molesting a fourth student after the judge found that the woman’s testimony was not “unusually convincing.” The man faces a total of 10 charges.
Hindu American Foundation gets $1 mn donation
Indian-American philanthropist Ramesh Bhutada has donated $ 1 million to the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) for Hindu causes in the US. Houston-based businessman Bhutada during a recent gala of Hindu American Foundation committed USD 1 million over the next four years to HAF. In March 2023, he donated $ 1 million to the Florida-based Hindu University of America, the only institution in the US whose mission is to provide education based on Hindu philosophy. Addressing the gathering, tech entrepreneur from Silicon Valley Sundar Iyer shared his frightening experience of allegations of caste-based discrimination.
Indian origin charged for cheating
An Indian origin man faces three counts of cheating by personation and sending emails to the president's office, the ministry of national development and parliament. Prakash Paramasivam, 24, who appeared in the court on May 17, allegedly posed as a Singapore Prison Service staff member to send emails to President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, National Development Minister Desmond Lee and to the Parliament. He allegedly e-mailed the Parliament on February 16 and Lee two days later, followed by another email sent to President on Feb 24, according to a report. Court documents did not disclose the contents of the e-mails or why Prakash allegedly sent them. His case will be mentioned again in court on June 20. For each count of cheating by personation, an offender can be jailed for up to five years and fined.
16 Lankans killed fighting in Ukraine war
At least 16 Sri Lankan mercenaries have been killed fighting in the war between Russia and Ukraine, the island’s deputy defence minister said. Tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began more than two years ago, and Moscow has been on a global quest for more troops. Soldiers from Sri Lanka’s regional neighbours India and Nepal have also signed up to fight since last year, with several confirmed deaths in combat from citizens of both countries. Sri Lanka opened an inquiry into the recruitment of its citizens for the conflict that has since identified the participation of 288 retired soldiers from the island nation, deputy defence minister Pramitha Tennakoon said.
50 dead, 2,000 houses damaged in Afghan floods
At least 50 people were killed following a fresh bout of heavy rain and flooding in central Afghanistan, an official said. Mawlawi Abdul Hai Zaeem, the head of the information department for the central Ghor province, said that there was no information about how many people were injured in the rain spell that began on Friday, which had also cut off many key roads to the area. Zaeem added that 2,000 houses were completely destroyed, 4,000 partially damaged, and more than 2,000 shops were under water in the province's capital, Feroz-Koh. Last week, flash floods caused by heavy rains devastated villages in northern Afghanistan, killing 315 people and injuring more than 1,600, authorities said.
Container ship Dali escorted back to port
Nearly 2 months after container ship Dali lost power and crashed into one of the Baltimore bridge’s supporting columns, killing six construction workers & halting most maritime traffic through the Port of Baltimore, the ill-fated ship was slowly escorted back to the port. Refloated at high tide, the vessel slowly backed away from the site of the March 26 disaster, guided by several tugboats. To refloat the Dali, crews released anchors and pumped out more than 1 million gallons of water that had kept the ship grounded and stable during the complicated cleanup effort. The crew, comprising 20 Indians and one Sri Lanka, still remain on board the vessel.
Zuma can't run for parliament, rules SA court
South Africa’s highest court has ruled that former president Jacob Zuma cannot run for parliament in national elections on 29 May, the latest twist in the most competitive polls since the country’s first post-apartheid vote 30 years ago. The constitutional court found that Zuma was ineligible to stand for election due to a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court in 2021, after he failed to appear before a corruption inquiry. Zuma was president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018, when he was forced to resign by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party amid graft allegations, which he denies.
Myanmar ethnic group claims control of town
A Myanmar ethnic minority armed group claimed its fighters had seized control of a town in western Rakhine state, in what would be another blow to the junta. Clashes have rocked Rakhine since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked security forces in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the 2021 military coup. AA fighters have seized territory, including along the border with India and Bangladesh, piling further pressure on the junta as it battles opponents elsewhere across the country. “We seized all bases of the Myanmar Army in Buthidaung,” in northern Rakhine state, the AA said. Those seized included a “military strategic headquarters”, it added, without giving details.
Boy kills himself after bullying at school
An Indiana boy killed himself after being bullied at school for several days. His family has claimed that they complained to the school at least 20 times last year. Sammy Teusch, 10, died on May 5. Sam and Nicole, Sammy’s parents, claimed that they let the fourth-grader’s school, Greenfield Intermediate School, know about the bullying around 20 times. “They were making fun of him for his glasses in the beginning, then on to make fun of his teeth. It went on for a long time,” Sam said. “He was beat up on the school bus, and the kids broke his glasses and everything,” he said. The school district’s superintendent, Dr Harold Olin, claimed that no bullying report was ever submitted by Sammy or his parents.
Twitter has officially become X.com: Musk
The social network formerly known as Twitter has fully migrated over to X.com, owner Elon Musk said. The billionaire head of Tesla, SpaceX and other companies bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and announced the rebrand to X last July. Although the logo and branding were changed to “X”, the domain name remained Twitter.com. “All core systems are now on X.com,” Musk wrote on X, posting an image of a logo of a white X on a blue circle. Queries to Twitter.com redirected users to X.com, though the original domain name still appeared on some browsers.
