in brief

Singapore Minister Held In Rare Toplevel Graft Probe

Singapore’s transport minister has been arrested in connection with a rare top-level corruption probe that has also ensnared a billionaire hotel tycoon the country’s antigraft body has said Transport minister S Iswaran was “arrested on July 11, 2023” and “subsequently released on bail” the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in an emailed statement confirming the arrest for the first time Iswaran had been ordered to go on leave earlier in the week by PM Lee Hsien Loong after the CPIB said the minister was currently assisting an ongoing investigation Hotel tycoon Ong Beng Seng, one of Singapore s richest people, was also arrested on the same day and released on bail in connection with the probe The bureau has not disclosed details of the investigation that has gripped the city-state

INFLATION-HIT NIGERIA DECLARES EMERGENCY

Nigeria declared a state of emergency that will allow the government to take exceptional steps to improve food security and supply, as surging prices cause widespread hardship The move will trigger a range of measures, including clearing forests for farmland to increase agricultural output and ease food inflation, Dele Alake a spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, said It follows the president’s removal of fuel subsidies and exchange-rate reform, which has seen the naira fall by 40% after its peg to the dollar was removed last month Consumer price growth had accelerated to an almost 18-year high of 22 4% in May

WARMING CHANGES COLOUR OF HALF OF WORLD’S OCEANS

Human-induced climate change has changed the colour of over 56% of the world’s oceans in the last 20 years according to an alarming study In particular, the tropical ocean regions near the equator have become steadily greener over time reveal the study The shift in ocean colour indicates that ecosystems within the surface ocean must also be changing as the colour of the ocean is a literal reflection of the organisms and materials in its waters Scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US and the National Oceanography Center in the UK detected the changes in ocean colour over the past two decades which according to them cannot be explained by natural, year-to-year variability alone

Netanyahu Out Of Hospital After Dizzy Spell

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was discharged after an overnight hospital stay following a dizzy spell Netanyahu, 73, was rushed to Sheba Medical Center after feeling mild dizziness

Netanyahu’s office said he had spent the previous day at the Sea of Galilee, a popular vacation spot in northern Israel where temperatures climbed to about 40°C amid as country-wide heat wave After a series of tests, the initial assessment was that the veteran Israeli leader was dehydrated The doctors said Netanyahu was in “excellent” condition after a series of tests, including cardiovascular ones

Quake Triggers Tsunami Laert In Alaska

A 7 2 magnitude earthquake triggered a brief tsunami advisory for southern Alaska, but the advisory was cancelled about an hour later, monitoring bodies reported The earthquake was felt widely throughout the Aleutian Islands the Alaskan Peninsula and Cook Inlet regions, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center In Kodiak, Alaska sirens warned of a possible tsunami and sent people driving to shelters, according to video posted to social media The US Geological Survey wrote in a social media post the earthquake occurred 106 km south of Sand Point Alaska The quake initially was reported as 7 4 magnitude but downgraded to 7 2 soon after