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A single tip-off on a sham marriage in March last year led officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to uncover one of the largest sham marriage syndicates to date. In all, 17 syndicate members were identified between March and July last year, ICA said during a media briefing at its headquarters on Tuesday (Jun 19). A sham marriage, or marriage of convenience, is a ruse to help foreigners enter Singapore or extend their stay here. The act was criminalised in 2012. Of the 17 syndicate members, 12 have been convicted, two left Singapore before investigation started, one was...

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is overhauling its arsenal, adding new warplanes, submarines and warships as it gears up for a future with fewer soldiers. High on the agenda is the replacement for the ageing F-16 fighter jets, with Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen saying on Friday (Jun 29) that a decision will be made in the coming months. “F-16s would face obsolescence beyond 2030,” Dr Ng said of the 30-year-old jets. “To plan for a replacement is not as if you are going to buy a new car, you actually need a lead time of eight to 10...

Even as North Korea engages in diplomacy with the US for denuclearization, US intelligence officials have spotted evidence that points to the communist nation’s unwillingness to fully dismantle its nuclear program while concealing key parts, the Washington Post said Sunday. The assessment contradicts US President Donald Trump’s remarks that “there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea,” following a landmark summit with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore. The evidence collected aims to deceive the United States about the number of nuclear warheads in North Korea’s arsenal as well as the existence of undisclosed...

The recent Trump-Kim summit was an “invaluable opportunity” to show that Singapore is on the right track in building the capabilities of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to respond to present-day security needs, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen. Amid the prevailing and multi-faceted threats of terrorism, the different security agencies performed credibly in ensuring the success of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on 12 June, said Dr Ng, who was speaking to reporters on Friday (29 June) ahead of SAF Day on Sunday. Calling the summit a rare opportunity in...

The meeting was the culmination of a rapid detente between Pyongyang and Washington and saw Kim commit to working towards denuclearisation, although critics noted the summit agreement was vague and non-binding. Singapore said on Sunday it spent 16.3 million Singapore dollars (USD 12 million) on the historic US-North Korea summit, adding it was less than initially anticipated after some in the city-state complained about the high cost. US President Donald Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong Un met in Singapore on June 12 for talks aimed at ending a tense nuclear standoff. The meeting was the culmination of a...

President Trump realized long ago that our so-called “alliances” are nothing of the sort, in so far as they have been one-way “alliances” for over half a century. They have always been one-sided. Japan and South Korea have contributed nothing whenever America needed help elsewhere. As for the NATO countries, long ago they pledged that, upon a Russian invasion, they would defend Europe to the last American. As for their contribution in Afghanistan, it can be likened to their contributing a truck with the transmission shot. Worse, America has carried most of the financial burden of defending these “allies.” In...

Chinese President Xi Jinping told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday he hopes Pyongyang and Washington can fully implement the outcome of last week's nuclear summit at which Kim pledged to work toward denuclearization in exchange for US security guarantees. State broadcaster CCTV said Mr Xi told Mr Kim that through the "concerted efforts of the relevant countries" negotiations regarding issues on the Korean Peninsula are back on track and the overall situation is moving in the direction of peace and stability. The summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore marked an "important step toward...

We've made much of what President Donald Trump failed to get from Kim Jong Un in Singapore. Those failures would include steps toward verifiable irreversible denuclearization -- and a guarantee of an end to human rights abuses. Those are just a couple of the major issues. Then there's what he gave away: A sloppy salute and the upper hand in what should have been the toughest negotiation of his life. Negotiations held with an insecure hermit dictator who was said by South Korean intelligence sources to have ordered the murder of his half brother. In South Korea, however, the prism...

The four-minute movie trailer was created to show Chairman Kim the power and glory that could be his if he lays down his nukes. President Trump pitched paradise to Kim Jong Un in a four-minute movie trailer made especially for the summit in Singapore last week, complete with cautionary tale, dramatic musical score and a lot left for the imagination. It features the two men and images of glory and strength: the perfect tease for the chubby millennial ruling North Korea known for killing off family members and playing video games. Kim is like Trump. They love screens and they...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a press conference with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts Thursday morning in Singapore to elaborate on the post Trump-Kim summit strategy for denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Pompeo called the Singapore meetings between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un an enormous opportunity and turning point for advancing North Korea's relations with the U.S., its neighbors in Asia, and the rest of the global community. Pompeo reiterated that both leaders are committed to complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization before adding that the process would involve considerable coordination with Japan and South Korea.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) mangled a famous Texas saying while delivering a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday so badly that he unintentionally praised President Donald Trump for the outcome of the Singapore Summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. For generations, Texans have referred to a person who talks big but is unable to deliver as someone who is “all hat and no cattle.” New York’s left-wing “urban cowboy” reversed the words when he attempted to deliver what he intended to be a stinging rebuke of Trump’s historic accomplishments in Singapore on Tuesday. “This summit was much...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is defending the agreement signed by President Trump and Kim Jong Un at the Singapore summit, insisting it “encompasses” ‘verifiable’ and ‘irreversible’ denuclearization, even though the document does not explicitly use those terms. The document calls only for “complete denuclearization,” sparking criticism the agreement was not specific enough to allow oversight of the denuclearization process. “Let me assure you that ‘complete’ encompasses ‘verifiable’ in the minds of everyone concerned,” Pompeo told reporters in Seoul Wednesday. “One can’t completely denuclearize without validating, authenticating – you pick the word. The President is committed to that.” When a...

As the world’s most repressive tyranny, the North Korean regime has survived by keeping its people in the dark, dampening their expectations, and instilling a fear of external enemies, especially the United States. Yet that survival strategy was hardly at work during the historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Trump. North Korea’s official media told the nation of 26 million that the talks could bring a “permanent and durable peace mechanism” with the US. TV images showed Mr. Kim touring Singapore, where “every building is stylish,” the streets are clean, and the...

Videos at link. CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta defended himself Wednesday amid backlash for shouting questions at President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their historic summit this week in Singapore. Mr. Acosta, who already has a strained relationship with the Trump White House, was ripped as “annoying” and “attention-seeking” by conservatives after he was heard repeatedly questioning the two leaders as they signed a joint agreement to broker peace on the Korean peninsula. Brad Parscale, Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, renewed his call for Mr. Acosta’s press credentials to be revoked over the exchange.

After their summit in Singapore, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and United States President Donald Trump could meet again as soon as July, this time in Pyongyang. According to South Korean daily Joongang Ilbo, citing a source in Singapore, Mr Kim has invited Mr Trump to North Korea to hold a second summit in July. The invitation was in a letter written by Mr Kim to Mr Trump and hand delivered by Mr Kim's right-hand man, General Kim Yong Chol, to the White House on June 1. While Mr Trump has not revealed what was written in the letter,...

Sen. Chuck Schumer dismissed President Trump’s sitdown with North Korea's Kim Jong Un as nothing more than “a reality show summit.” Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, said Trump has already given up American leverage on North Korea. Schumer said if Pyongyang doesn't give up its nuclear weapons, the "meeting alone will be a victory for North Korea and a defeat for the U.S." Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said he was similarly surprised on Tuesday, telling reporters he is “very troubled” by the stalling of military exercises in the region. “I was surprised, frankly, because the President had said...

It looks as though President Trump won over Kim Jong-un in Singapore, but now Kim has to sell the deal to the Pyongyang power elite. The stick of a threat of “fire and fury” (meaning the military destruction of the regime) and the carrot of wealth – like that of glittering Singapore, where Kim took the opportunity for sightseeing, including a lavish casino run the Sheldon Adelson’s Sands corporation -- certainly worked on the dictator. At his press conference, President Trump mentioned that he had shown a video to Kim illustrating the wealth that could lie ahead for Kim and...

Dennis Rodman broke down in tears on television Tuesday morning in Singapore as President Trump held a historic meeting with Rodman’s friend, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The former NBA star, who has been talking to Kim Jong Un’s administration for the last five years, he said, reminisced about Kim’s offer to hold talks with former president Obama when he was in office. “And this is a true story and I have my people there who heard the conversation,” Rodman told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “He said things like, if they can move the ships back from South Korea, I...

Kim Jong Un got a taste of President Trump’s pain when CNN star Jim Acosta peppered the world leaders with grandstanding questions following their historic summit in Singapore early Tuesday. “Mr. President, how is the meeting going so far, sir?” the Trump-bashing newsman hollered as Trump and Kim exited their conference room at the Capella Hotel following a 35-minute meeting. “Any progress, Mr. President?” “Chairman Kim, will you denuclearize?” he pressed. “Mr. President, how’s it going so far, sir?”

After a one-on-one meeting and an expanded bilateral working session with senior aides from the United States and North Korea in Singapore Monday, President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un officially established a new relationship under a joint agreement of the eventual denuclearization of the regime. "President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un conducted a comprehensive, in-depth, and sincere exchange of opinions on the issues related to the establishment of new U.S.–DPRK relations and the building of a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.  President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman...