Laois woman leads this year's family carers ‘Heart of Gold' campaign
Family Carer of the Year 2024 Sarah Dooley, from Mountmellick, Laois is leading this year's Family Carers Ireland national Heart of Gold campaign.
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Straits Times
a few seconds ago
- Straits Times
Nobel laureates urge Trump to keep pressing for release of Belarusian prisoners
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House campus in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 5, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo Nineteen Nobel prize winners have signed an open letter urging U.S. President Donald Trump to keep up pressure to secure the release of as many as 1,300 people imprisoned in Belarus on political grounds. The letter thanks Trump, who raised the issue in a phone call last week with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and urges him to do more. "We respectfully urge you to continue your active efforts to secure the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience in Belarus. Their freedom will not only restore justice to individuals but also open the path toward reconciliation and dialogue," it said. The signatories included Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, literature laureates Svetlana Alexievich and Herta Mueller, and 16 winners of the prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine and economics. They also called for the dropping of politically motivated prosecutions in order to facilitate the return of Belarusians who fled abroad en masse when Lukashenko crushed huge street protests over a disputed election in 2020. Trump's surprise intervention last Friday came hours after Dmitry Bolkunets, an exiled Belarusian opposition activist, emailed the U.S. president to ask him to raise the issue of the Belarusian prisoners at his summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lukashenko is a close ally of Putin. "We intend to nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize should you help secure the release of Belarusian political prisoners," Bolkunets wrote in the email. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP 2026 to be held at National Stadium to accommodate more Singaporeans Singapore Girl, 14, among 3 injured after minibus falls into Bukit Panjang canal Singapore Man to be charged after allegedly slashing another man with Swiss knife at City Plaza Singapore What led to Changi Airport runway incident involving 2 China Eastern Airlines planes in Aug 2024 Singapore FairPrice apologises after worm found in salmon bought from Bedok North outlet Singapore Married man who offered cash to 12-year-old girl for sexual acts gets 19 months' jail Singapore Recruits on Pulau Tekong to get six hours of drone training as part of new programme Trump, who claims credit for resolving six wars, has made no secret of his desire to win the award. Later the same day, while en route to the Alaska summit, he posted on social media that he had held "a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus" in which he had thanked Lukashenko for freeing 16 people and discussed the release of 1,300 more. He said he also looked forward to meeting Lukashenko, who for years has been ostracised by Western countries over his human rights record and backing for Russia's war in Ukraine. Bolkunets said he had no doubt that Trump's decision to contact Lukashenko was a spontaneous response to his email, which was copied to several of the president's advisers. "Literally within 1-2 hours, the call took place," he said, also noting that Trump had used the same figure for the number of prisoners that he had stated in the email. "Now, Lukashenko is in a position where refusing the U.S. president would be extremely disadvantageous for him. Therefore, it is likely that he will try to somehow expedite the release process... The key here is to ensure that this focus is not lost or diluted," Bolkunets told Reuters. Since mid-2024, Belarus has released several hundred people convicted of "extremism" and other politically related offences, in what analysts see as a bid by Lukashenko to ease his isolation from the West. Lukashenko denies there are any political prisoners in the country. REUTERS
Straits Times
a few seconds ago
- Straits Times
Hyflux founder Olivia Lum and ex-CFO gave input to ‘play down' energy component of Tuaspring project
SINGAPORE - Drafts of a news release showed that Hyflux founder Olivia Lum and former chief financial officer Cho Wee Peng had given input to 'play down' key details about the energy component of the failed Tuaspring project, a court heard on Aug 19. E-mails which included these drafts formed a crucial part of the testimony of Ms Winnifred Heap Ah Lan, who took the stand on the fourth day of the criminal trial. Ms Heap was Hyflux's head of corporate communications and investor relations at the time. According to the prosecution, Lum did not disclose information about the company's business risks because she did not want to detract from the positive news of winning a landmark water project, and feared deterring investors. The company's collapse due to weak electricity sales left about 34,000 investors of perpetual securities and preference shares, who had sunk in a combined $900 million, with nothing. The first draft of the news release about Hyflux being named preferred bidder of the Tuaspring project said: 'Integrated within the design of Tuas II desalination plant is a 350MW combined cycle gas turbine power plant which will supply electricity directly to the desalination plant.' It added: 'The remaining capacity will be retailed through Singapore's wholesale electricity market, the National Electricity Market of Singapore, to electricity retailers and subsequently sold to contestable consumers.' The release also said that Hyflux will set up separate entities to undertake the power generation and energy retailing businesses. The company began working on the release about three months before the actual announcement on March 7, 2011. But the prosecution showed that mentions of the sale of electricity were removed by the third draft. This draft was included in an e-mail sent by Ms Heap to Lum, Cho and former senior vice-president for legal (business) Yang Ai Chian on Jan 19, 2011. In Ms Heap's e-mail, she wrote: 'Make the changes following input from Olivia and Wee Peng. However we still need to discuss on how much we need to disclose on the funding aspect.' When asked what she was trying to convey, Ms Heap said there was a 'typo' in the e-mail. She said it should have been: 'Made the changes following input from Olivia and Wee Peng', as these changes had already been discussed. Deputy chief prosecutor Christopher Ong also asked why the reference to the sale of electricity had been taken out. 'Any significant changes to the announcement would have been directed by Olivia and Wee Peng,' she said. 'This is one of the key points that we are not in a position to take out. Mei Kiang and myself don't have the authority to take this out of the press release.' She was referring to Ms Seah Mei Kiang, who was with Hyflux's corporate communications department. When asked why the sale of electricity was a key point, Ms Heap said: 'Because the excess capacity will be sold to the grid, and analysts and investors want to know how much will be sold to the grid, whether you have the track record and the people who can execute the strategy.' In the fourth draft of the news release, Ms Heap wrote: 'Attached is the cleaned up draft for news release and presentation following input from Olivia and Wee Peng. The key is to play down energy while highlighting our expanded bench strength and core capabilities.' This draft was included in an email sent by Ms Heap to Lum, Cho, Ms Yang and Ms Seah on Feb 8, 2011. When the prosecution asked whose idea was it to 'play down energy', Ms Heap said: 'It is indicated in the email - 'following input from Olivia and Wee Peng.'' The draft was later sent to the PUB for vetting. It added these sentences to the news release: 'Hyflux will also be constructing a 411MW combined cycle gas turbine power plant to supply electricity to the desalination plant. Excess power will be sold to the power grid.' These sentences appeared in the final version that was sent to SGX. Ms Heap said these lines would have come from the PUB. The prosecution also took Ms Heap through an email exchange between Ms Seah and a journalist named Robert Clow. Mr Clow, in his email on March 31, 2011 had said: 'I understand the banks working on the Tuas project would like to delay Hyflux's signing of the deal - scheduled for April 6 - because they fear that the three-month financing deadline, which comes into force after signing could be too tight. Specifically, I understand the banks are concerned that selling power into the Singapore merchant market to subsidise the desalination process will make the projects' cash flow uncertain and difficult to model.' Mr Clow's email was forwarded by Ms Seah to Ms Heap, Cho and Ms Yang. Cho in response to Ms Seah said: 'The discussions between Hyflux and the banks are in progress and confidential and are unable to comment further at this time.' Lum, who was subsequently included in the email chain, said: 'We should refrain from giving any specific reply. Just give no comment.' When asked why Lum gave the instruction to not comment on the matter, Ms Heap replied: 'Clow is a journalist. I suppose sometimes there is no obligation to reply.' For the final 45 minutes of the Aug 19 hearing, Ms Heap was also cross-examined by Lum's lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh. Mr Singh spent much of the time questioning Ms Heap on the accuracy of her memory of events that took place more than 15 years ago. At several points during the cross-examination, Mr Singh told Ms Heap to 'not talk over him', as she would interrupt him before he could finish asking a question. 'Because the events you were asked about go back more than 15 years, you have said repeatedly that you are unable to recall many things. Would that be fair?' he asked at the opening of his cross-exam. Ms Heap replied: 'Fair in the sense that when there's no email evidence, it is difficult to recall. Even if there are things in writing, there's difficulty recalling.' He then asked if she could recall when Sam Ong, the former chief financial officer and former deputy chief executive, left the company. Ms Heap said she could not. When asked why she could not recall if the board of directors had been involved in the announcements , Ms Heap replied: 'Because I am not involved in the process of sending the announcements to the board.' On the Jan 19, 2011 email which included the third draft of the news release, Mr Singh asked: 'Do you agree with me that you were not asked whether there is a mistake in the email? ... Although you were not asked if there is a mistake, you volunteered an answer?' Ms Heap replied: 'Yes, it looks wrong.' 'Are you aware that there is evidence in this court by an Investigating Officer about whether the word in that email is 'Made' or 'Make'?' Mr Singh asked. He was referring to testimony from the Commercial Affairs Department's lead investigating officer, Ms Jacqueline Wei Maojun. She was the prosecution's first witness. To which, Ms Heap said: 'No I am not aware.' Mr Singh asked her to explain why she volunteered the information that there was a typo in the email, when the question originally posed to her was on why the email was sent. Ms Heap replied: 'I told them there was a typo. In my mind, I just wanted to clarify there was a typo.' 'Isn't it a position that you came to court to volunteer that information, regardless of whether you were asked?' Mr Singh said. She replied: 'I wouldn't come to court to volunteer this information.' Mr Singh said: 'Your evidence is that not knowing you were going to be asked in court or not, you came prepared to volunteer that evidence? Ms Heap agreed. The hearing continues.
Straits Times
a few seconds ago
- Straits Times
Ukrainians to keep propping up Poland's labour market, Fitch says
FILE PHOTO: Refugees brave the cold in a frozen field after they fled from Ukraine because of the Russian invasion at the border checkpoint in Medyka, Poland, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo WARSAW - Most Ukrainian refugees living in Poland are likely to stay there even if Ukraine reaches a ceasefire deal with Russia, meaning they will continue to prop up the Polish economy, where the public finances remain a key concern, according to Fitch Ratings. Poland, one of Ukraine's Western neighbours, is still host to about 1 million Ukrainian refugees who fled after Russia invaded their homeland in February 2022. They have helped fuel Poland's tight labour market and boost economic growth, according to observers, a trend Fitch sees continuing. "We don't see that that's going to change much because they are very well-integrated into the Polish labour market. So even if there was a ceasefire tomorrow, we really don't see that many Ukrainian refugees coming back to Ukraine," Milan Trajkovic, Fitch Ratings' analyst for Poland told Reuters. "We are pretty much certain that a big percentage of these people is actually going to stay in Poland and contribute to the Polish labour market and GDP growth and, of course, other macroeconomic and fiscal variables," he said. Fitch analysts forecast Poland's economic growth at 3% in 2025, 3% in 2026 and 3.1% in 2027. The Polish government expects the growth of 3.4%, 3.5% and 3.0% respectively. As well as the million or so refugees, anywhere from several hundred thousand to more than 1 million more Ukrainians were living in Poland before the war, according to various estimates. Poland is counting on its growing economy to help it tame a bloated fiscal deficit, which came in at 6.6% of economic output last year, missing the government's 5.7% target for the year set out in its fiscal consolidation plan. It has pledged to bring the shortfall down below 3% by 2028. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP 2026 to be held at National Stadium to accommodate more Singaporeans Singapore Girl, 14, among 3 injured after minibus falls into Bukit Panjang canal Singapore Man to be charged after allegedly slashing another man with Swiss knife at City Plaza Singapore What led to Changi Airport runway incident involving 2 China Eastern Airlines planes in Aug 2024 Singapore FairPrice apologises after worm found in salmon bought from Bedok North outlet Singapore Married man who offered cash to 12-year-old girl for sexual acts gets 19 months' jail Singapore Recruits on Pulau Tekong to get six hours of drone training as part of new programme "The biggest the rating perspective would be the failure to implement the fiscal consolidation plan leading to the stabilization of the public debt. And this is our main negative rating sensitivity," Trajkovic said. Trajkovic called Poland's deficit miss for 2024 "a much worse starting point." He cautioned that fiscal rigidities such as social spending and public wages, which accounted for the biggest increases in government outlays, in addition to military spending and growing interest payments, made lowering the shortfall harder. "For this year, we are projecting the deficit to remain the same at the level of around 6.6%... We see it coming down to around 4%, maybe 4.5% of GDP by 2028." Poland's debt should stabilise at around 65% of GDP in 2028 or 2029, according to Trajkovic. Brussels expects governments around the EU to target deficits of no more than 3% of GDP and public debt equivalent to no more than 60% of economic output. He said however that Poland's solid track record in state finances still worked in its favour, adding that its external balance sheet has helped it keep its "A-" rating. Fitch is scheduled to publish its rating review for Poland on September 5. "We don't see Poland as a country that would suddenly give up its prudent economic policymaking for a long period of time. And I think the markets share that view as well," he said. "It's the highest-growing European economy for decades now. And ... one thing you know about Poland is, Poland is going to grow." REUTERS
