Latest news with #MemorandaofUnderstanding
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
French President Macron to visit Singapore, exchange agreements on defence, AI
Emmanuel Macron will be in Singapore between May 29 and May 30, and will deliver the keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30. - AFP SINGAPORE: France and Singapore will exchange agreements to cooperate in areas including defence and security, law, artificial intelligence and transport during a state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron will be in Singapore between May 29 and May 30, and will deliver the keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30 – the first European leader to do so. The state visit will also commemorate 60 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and France, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on May 29. This is the third leg of a South-East Asia tour by Macron. He is coming from Indonesia where he signed a preliminary defence pact that could lead to new orders of French military equipment, and before that was in Vietnam where he inked a deal for Airbus planes. On the first day of his visit to Singapore, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his wife will host a dinner for Macron and his wife. The next day, Macron will receive a ceremonial welcome at Parliament House, where he will call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and attend a state banquet hosted by Tharman in honour of him and his wife. He will also meet again with PM Wong, who is also Finance Minister, and they will together witness the exchange of the Memoranda of Understanding on the areas of cooperation. Macron will be accompanied by French leaders including Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty Eric Lombard, Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, Minister Delegate for AI and Digital Affairs Clara Chappaz. - The Straits Times/ANN
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
French President Macron to visit Singapore, exchange agreements on defence, AI
Mr Emmanuel Macron will be in Singapore between May 29 and May 30, and will deliver the keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30. PHOTO: AFP SINGAPORE – France and Singapore will exchange agreements to cooperate in areas including defence and security, law, artificial intelligence and transport during a state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr Macron will be in Singapore between May 29 and May 30, and will deliver the keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30 – the first European leader to do so. The state visit will also commemorate 60 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and France, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on May 29. This is the third leg of a South-East Asia tour by Mr Macron. He is coming from Indonesia where he signed a preliminary defence pact that could lead to new orders of French military equipment, and before that was in Vietnam where he inked a deal for Airbus planes. On the first day of his visit to Singapore, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his wife Mrs Wong will host a dinner for Mr and Mrs Macron. The next day, Mr Macron will receive a ceremonial welcome at Parliament House, where he will call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and attend a state banquet hosted by Mr Tharman in honour of him and Mrs Macron. He will also meet again with PM Wong, who is also Finance Minister, and they will together witness the exchange of the Memoranda of Understanding on the areas of cooperation. Mr Macron will be accompanied by French leaders including Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty Eric Lombard, Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, Minister Delegate for AI and Digital Affairs Clara Chappaz. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
India Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
Exclusive: China hasn't shared river data with India since 2022, RTI query reveals
China has stopped sharing crucial hydrological data with India since 2022, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has revealed in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by India Today. The ministry said, 'No information on hydrological data or hydro structures has been shared by China with India since 2022.'This data is key for India's flood forecasting and water management, especially concerning the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers, which originate in China and flow into India. The information helps Indian agencies prepare for floods and plan infrastructure like dams and to the ministry, the agreement between India and China on sharing hydrological data for the Brahmaputra river expired on June 5, 2023. A similar agreement for the Sutlej river lapsed earlier on November 6, 2020. The Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between India and China on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers were designed to facilitate the sharing of hydrological data, especially during the flood season. The Brahmaputra MoU, first signed in 2002, enabled China to provide crucial data from May to October each year, which India uses for flood forecasting and water management in the northeastern states. This agreement was renewed in 2008, 2013, and 2018, but it expired again on June 5, 2023, and has not been renewed the MoU on the Sutlej river was first signed in 2005 to help India monitor water levels and manage flood risks in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. It was renewed in 2010 and 2015 but expired on November 6, 2020. Since then, China has not shared any data under this agreement either. While these MoUs are non-binding, they have been instrumental in enhancing India's preparedness for natural disasters and in managing transboundary river systems asked why the MoUs haven't been renewed, the ministry declined to give any reasons, stating that the information is 'exempted from disclosure under Section 10(1) of the RTI Act, 2005.'The halt in data sharing is cause of concern as early warnings and coordinated data exchange are critical for disaster management in India's northeast and Himalayan regions.
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Indian Express
Mumbai police EOW questioning actor Dino Morea in multi-crore Mithi River desilting scam
The Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is questioning Bollywood actor Dino Morea in the multi-crore Mithi River desilting scam. The actor, who was served a summons last week, appeared before the EOW officials on Monday morning at the Mumbai police headquarters and joined the probe. A senior police officer confirmed the development to The Indian Express and said that Morea is being inquired for his possible links with the firm linked to the Mithi River scam and close links with the arrested accused Ketan Kadamn of Vodar India Ltd. 'The inquiry is expected to last long as we are conducting a thorough inquiry,' the officer said. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Mumbai police's EOW earlier this month had booked 13 people, including five private contractors and three Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, for causing wrongful loss to the civic body worth more than Rs 65.54 crore in the alleged scam. Desilting work contracts worth nearly Rs 1,100 crore are under the scanner. Later, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai, too, initiated a money laundering probe against BMC officials and contractors, among others, for their alleged role in financial irregularities linked to the civic body's Mithi River desilting scam. The Mithi River is an 18.64 km long seasonal river having both residential slum pockets and industrial patches alongside, and plays the role of a natural stormwater drainage channel for Mumbai, carrying excess water during the monsoon. But, over the years, it has been used by residents to dump garbage, sewage, and industrial waste, polluting it to a significant level. After the 2005 Mumbai flooding, the authorities realised the issues with the Mithi River, and the government put in efforts to clean the sludge from the riverbed to ensure uninterrupted water flow. It has been alleged that massive corruption occurred in the desilting work sanctioned and carried out by the BMC. EOW SIT officials came across various financial irregularities pertaining to contracts for desilting the river between 2021-22 and 2022-23. These irregularities were related to the transportation of sludge and its dumping on the ground. EOW found that the contractors submitted nine fake Memoranda of Understanding (MoU). The Mumbai police named BMC assistant engineer Prashant Ramugade; deputy chief engineers Ganesh Bendre and Prashant Tayshette; Deepak Mohan, Kishore Menon, Jay Joshi, Ketan Kadam and Bhupendra Purohit, the directors of Acute Designing, Kailash Construction Company, NA Construction, Nikhil Construction, and JRS Infrastructure, respectively, as the accused. As per the Mumbai police FIR, the accused BMC officers allegedly misused their positions for wrongful financial gains. The First Information Report (FIR) further alleges that they conspired to defraud the BMC financially by including terms and conditions as mentioned in the contract agreement regarding the silt pusher machine and the multipurpose amphibious pontoon machine. They allegedly colluded with Mohan Menon of Matprop Company, Joshi of Virgo Specialties, Ketan Kadam, and other partners and directors of Vodar India LLP, and contractor Bhupendra Purohit, among others. 'The accused BMC officer of the Storm Water Drains (SWD) division of the Municipal Corporation, without verifying the authenticity of the dumping sites mentioned in the false and fabricated MOU submitted by the directors of the contractor companies Acute Designs, Kailash Construction Company, N A Construction, Nikhil Construction Company, JRS Infrastructure and others, provided and helped contractors take disadvantage,' the EOW officer stated in the FIR. Also, the FIR added that officials of the SWD division caused financial loss to the BMC by approving bills based on fake documents related to the weighbridge and log sheets. The EOW's FIR also mentioned that the accused Deepak Mohan and Ketan Kadam of Matprop told the contractors that Jay Joshi is the owner of Virgo Specialties and Kadam was looking after the work of Voder India LLP. They allegedly told the contractors that the Matprop firm will ink the MoU, but the machinery rental agreement will be with Virgo Specialities Pvt Ltd and Voder India LLP, and the two-year rental of the machinery will cost Rs 8 crore. After the negotiations, it was decided to pay a rental of up to Rs 4 crore for two years. This is how Matprop, in collusion with the BMC SWD division officials, forced the contractors to go to these two companies without the MoU and got more financial benefits from the contractors, EOW officials stated in the FIR. The EOW SIT has already arrested two middlemen – Ketan Kadam and Jay Joshi – in the case. Joshi is the owner of Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd, and Kadam is from Voder India LLP. EOW officials seized electronic devices from Kadam and copies of posting orders of officials in the BMC's SWD department. The police have also received notes of entries of money received from the contractors of the Mithi River desilting work. Investigators suspect that these are entries of the commissions. SIT officials have also found raw draft copies of BMC tenders from the seized devices. According to the EOW, Kadam was a hotelier before 2019, and he had no experience in desilting work. However, since 2020, he has been involved in inking deals involving Matprop Company with various contractors for the disputed silt pusher machine and multipurpose amphibious pontoon machine and in making rental agreements for the said machinery on behalf of Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd and Voder India LLP, even though they are not related, making the contractors pay his own salaries and forcing them to accept the rental by demanding more than the cost of the machine. Although Kadam is not a partner or director in Virgo Specialties or Voder India, he has allegedly signed the rental agreement as an authorised person and has kept the information about why he signed such agreements hidden. The EOW also found some records in coded language in the seized electronic device.
The Star
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Defence Ministry inks strategic arrangements worth RM11bil at Lima '25
LANGKAWI: The Defence Ministry signed 40 contracts or Letters of Acceptance (LOA), Letters of Intent (LOI), and Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), worth RM11bil, with selected strategic partners during the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2025 (LIMA'25). Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said these contracts involved 40 LOA, two LOI worth over RM30mil, to companies that have been awarded procurement contracts by MINDEF from the end of 2023 to date, and six MoUs between the ministry and selected strategic partners. "However, the total value of the contracts also includes 45 other procurement contracts worth between RM10mil and RM30mil signed previously," he said after the signing and handover ceremony of the contracts, LOA, LOI, and MoU at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC) here on Thursday (May 22). Mohamed Khaled said the procurement amount increased by about RM1 billion compared to around RM10.1bil, with 43 documents, signed at LIMA '23. All those acquisitions, he said, involve five main areas, namely the acquisition of strategic assets for land, maritime, air defence, cybersecurity, and the facilities and welfare of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF). He said that this was done to enhance the readiness of the country's defence assets to the highest level and to strengthen territorial sovereignty, for example, through a LOI to Mildef International Technologies Sdn Bhd for the procurement of 136 units of Type A Armoured Vehicles (KJA) and Infrastructure worth RM1.88bil. He said this is important in efforts to strengthen the readiness of the MAF assets to the maximum level and to support the development of defence capacity and the strengthening of local industry capabilities. He said that the empowerment of MAF's capabilities is also being carried out by ensuring that assets are always in good condition through the enhancement of existing asset capabilities. "Under this aspect, among the contracts that have been sealed include the Maintenance and Repair Contract for the Prime Minister's Class Submarine, worth RM1.02bil, and the obsolescence management service procurement contract for KD Perdana, worth RM48mil," he also said. Empowering the capabilities of the MAF is also important to address non-traditional threats through strengthening national cybersecurity and telecommunications technology such as X-Band Satellites and leasing "Secure Satellite Communication Channels". He added that procurement also involves development and research, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and new technologies while emphasising aspects of well-being. - Bernama
