Australia delivers Abrams tanks to Ukraine for war with Russia
FILE PHOTO: General view of the delivery of the first company of U.S.-made Abrams M1A1 tanks to arrive in the country under a deal finalised in 2022, at the port in Szczecin, Poland, June 28, 2023. Cezary Aszkielowicz/ Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS/File Photo
SYDNEY - Australia's government said on Saturday it had delivered M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine as part of a A$245 million ($160 million) package to help the country defend itself against Russia in their ongoing war.
Australia, one of the largest non-NATO contributors to Ukraine, has been supplying aid, ammunition and defence equipment since Moscow invaded its neighbour in February 2022.
Ukraine has taken possession of most of the 49 tanks given by Australia, and the rest will be delivered in coming months, said Defence Minister Richard Marles.
'The M1A1 Abrams tanks will make a significant contribution to Ukraine's ongoing fight against Russia's illegal and immoral invasion," Marles said in a statement.
The tanks formed part of the A$1.5 billion ($980 million) that Canberra has provided Ukraine in the conflict, the government said.
Australia has also banned exports of alumina and aluminium ores, including bauxite, to Russia, and has sanctioned about 1,000 Russian individuals and entities.
Australia's centre-left Labor government this year labelled Russia as the aggressor in the conflict and called for the war to be resolved on Kyiv's terms. REUTERS
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
12 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Tipsy Collective sues former directors, HR head; alleges $14m lost from misconduct, poor decisions
Find out what's new on ST website and app. This new lawsuit follows an earlier court battle reported by ST in September 2024. SINGAPORE – The legal battle over control of home-grown hospitality group Tipsy Collective has taken another turn. The company – now led by its majority shareholders, who gained control after a boardroom shake-up in 2024 – has filed a lawsuit against its former leadership, seeking to recover more than $14 million in losses and damages from a string of alleged wrongful payments, mismanagement and unauthorised deletions of company records. In its statement of claim filed on June 12, the plaintiffs – Tipsy Collective and three of its subsidiaries (Tipsy Bird, Social Room Concepts and Tipsy Collective Singapore) – are alleging breaches of fiduciary and contractual duties by three former directors, David Gan Jia Liang, Derek Ong and Reuben Low Kok Cherng, and former human resources manager Avril Lim Qian Jun. Mr Gan, who was the former chief executive of the group, founded Tipsy Collective with Mr Ong in 2019. Following internal disputes, the bloc of investors and shareholders who oppose Mr Gan has increased its collective stake from 59.39 per cent to 97.3 per cent, according to the latest shareholder records from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. Mr Gan currently owns 1.66 per cent of the company's shares, and Mr Low holds 1.03 per cent. As Mr Ong died in August 2023, his wife, Ms Melody Huang Bao'er, who is the administrator of his estate, was named as the second defendant in the lawsuit. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore SMRT to pay lower fine of $2.4m for EWL disruption; must invest at least $600k to boost reliability Singapore MRT service changes needed to modify 3 East-West Line stations on Changi Airport stretch: LTA Asia Live: Thailand-Cambodia border clashes continue for second day Singapore Etomidate found in blood of 2 people involved in fatal Punggol Road accident in May: HSA Singapore More students to get Smart Buddy watches; most schools to go cashless by end-2025 Singapore Vape disposal bins at 23 CCs for users to surrender e-vaporisers, without facing penalties Business Microsoft Singapore managing director Lee Hui Li dies while on sabbatical Singapore Kopi, care and conversation: How this 20-year-old helps improve the well-being of the elderly This new lawsuit follows an earlier court battle reported by The Straits Times in September 2024 , in which Mr Gan had sued eight parties – including investors and shareholders – claiming they had breached a shareholders' agreement and tried to unlawfully seize control of the company. The defendants – Indonesian investors Reino Ramaputra Barack and Santosa Kadiman, Singaporean Rudy Hartono Widjaja and four shareholder entities – rejected Mr Gan's claims. Instead, they pointed to alleged financial mismanagement under his leadership. They cited mounting debts and lack of financial transparency, and questioned the $6 million spent developing Tipsy Unicorn beach club in Sentosa. They claimed Mr Gan had caused the company to take out $8.7 million in loans, of which $6 million remained outstanding, and that the company owed $5.2 million to suppliers and nearly $1 million to Sentosa Development Corporation. Mr Gan failed to get an interim injunction to retain control of the company's board and subsequently lost his lawsuit against the investors and shareholders. On Nov 6, 2024, the board terminated his role as chief executive and removed Mr Low as director. On the same day, Mr Barack was appointed the chairman of the board of directors of Tipsy Collective. Mr Gan resigned from the board on Nov 15, 2024, while Ms Lim's last day with the company was Nov 17 of the same year. By December 2024, the financial toll of the leadership struggle had affected ground operations. More than 100 employees had faced delays in salary payments since October 2024. The company managed to settle overdue Central Provident Fund contributions and salaries only after four shareholders injected emergency funding. The group, which once operated 13 outlets, has since scaled down. At least four outlets have been shut since October 2024, and it is now left with five outlets. Now, led by its new management, Tipsy Collective is turning the tables on its former leadership with this latest suit. The first set of allegations involves unauthorised payments made. The plaintiffs allege that Mr Gan and Mr Ong caused the companies to transfer more than $4.2 million to themselves and Mr Low, or between entities, without justification. These included $1.49 million in payments, made in December 2020, and $2.8 million disbursed between June 2020 and May 2024. The suit alleged that the payments had no commercial justification and brought no benefit to the companies, and that the three former directors failed to recover the funds, causing significant losses to the group. The lawsuit also cited a string of poor business decisions that allegedly harmed the group financially. The development of Tipsy Unicorn – a 19,000 sq ft beach club on Sentosa's Siloso Beach that opened in September 2023 – is at the centre of these claims. The construction cost of the project ballooned from $4 million to more than $6.1 million due to lack of due diligence and planning. Court documents also noted that the claimants did not have sufficient resources to undertake the construction of Tipsy Unicorn. Despite the fact that Tipsy Collective was 'in financial difficulties and needed monies from shareholders to sustain its operations', Mr Gan and Mr Ong allegedly continued to undertake more projects, the court documents noted. Another alleged mishap flagged in court documents was the group's investment in Tipsy Flamingo Malaysia. The plaintiffs claimed the venture led to a loss of more than $1.3 million. The renewal of leases for underperforming outlets, such as Tipsy Penguin, Tipsy Bunny and Tipsy Flamingo, was also highlighted. These new leases apparently involved higher rents and service charges, further straining the group's finances. The lawsuit further accused Mr Gan and Ms Lim of destroying and withholding company records. Mr Gan allegedly deleted more than 4,000 files from the company's Google Drive and continued accessing company systems without authorisation after his departure. Ms Lim is alleged to have erased nearly 5,000 files and formatted her company-issued laptop, erasing all stored data. Both of them are being held liable for damages linked to the data loss, with the plaintiffs also seeking an injunction to prevent Mr Gan from using any confidential company information that may have been retained. Separately, the Ministry of Law's website showed Mr Gan was declared a bankrupt on June 19, in proceedings separate from the civil suit.
Straits Times
12 minutes ago
- Straits Times
AI governance non-profit opens local chapter in Singapore
Find out what's new on ST website and app. (From left) Mr Looi Teck Kheong, Dr Genie Sugene Gan, Dr Rachel Ooi, and Mr Tommy Foo, at the launch of the Singapore chapter of the Global Council for Responsible AI. SINGAPORE -- Imagine an artificial intelligence (AI) tool tracking your mall visits and pushing you hyper-targeted ads the moment you step into a mall. Or picture this: an AI loan approval tool rejecting a heartland resident's loan application because of biased data weighting that does not favour lower-income applicants. These scenarios are just a snapshot of the AI-related ethical challenges that the Global Council for Responsible AI (GCRAI) aims to address as it opens a local chapter in Singapore. Founded in 2024, GCRAI is a US-based non-profit which provides a platform for championing responsible AI. It currently has 520 members worldwide, with 15 local chapters in Europe, the US, Canada, Africa, Australia, Central and South America. Members of GCRAI are largely professionals, from cybersecurity to policy and legal experts. The chapter in Singapore is the 16th globally and the first in Southeast Asia. 'The Singapore chapter will be instrumental in bridging international standards with regional expertise,' said Dr Genie Sugene Gan, Global Governor of GCRAI. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore MRT service changes needed to modify 3 East-West Line stations on Changi Airport stretch: LTA Asia Live: Thailand-Cambodia border clashes continue for second day Singapore Etomidate found in blood of 2 people involved in fatal Punggol Road accident in May: HSA Singapore More students to get Smart Buddy watches; most schools to go cashless by end-2025 Singapore Vape disposal bins at 23 CCs for users to surrender e-vaporisers, without facing penalties Business Microsoft Singapore managing director Lee Hui Li dies while on sabbatical Life When modern cars outgrow parking lots: How to navigate tight carparks in Singapore Singapore Kopi, care and conversation: How this 20-year-old helps improve the well-being of the elderly 'Our mission is to support and strengthen the future of AI through education, leadership, certification, and advisory services that center human dignity, innovation, and international cooperation,' she added. GCRAI has already convened three forums in London, San Francisco, and Washington D.C this year, and hosted policy discussions. It is planning to hold an AI leadership training camp at Lake Como in Italy. GCRAI has chosen to open a chapter in Singapore because of its role as a meeting point between East and West tech policies, a hub for AI testing, and a springboard to ASEAN's $1 trillion digital economy. As Singapore's AI ambition grows, so does its challenges in governing the technology. Balancing access to data with privacy is one critical hurdle. Other ethical concerns include the use of deepfakes to spread harmful content, bias in AI systems, surveillance risks, and job displacement. Local cases of AI misuse have underlined the need for governance. In the lead-up to the 2025 General Elections, a surge of AI-generated videos of candidates appeared, spurring a new law banning AI-generated content that misrepresents political candidates. A 2024 incident where Singapore students created deepfake nude photos of female schoolmates also made headlines. Even when not intentionally abused, flawed AI models can cause harm. In a 2024 AI safety challenge by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the four large language models (LLMs) tested were found to reinforce ethnic stereotypes . For example, when prompted to write a script about Singapore inmates, the LLMs chose Chinese names for a character jailed for illegal gambling, Indian names for a disorderly drunk and a Muslim name for a drug abuse offender. To tackle these issues, GCRAI Singapore chapter intends to work with Singapore's AI Verify Foundation - an Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) initiative that develops AI testing tools - to develop detection tools that can root out inauthentic content. GCRAI Singapore will also draw from international standards for AI governance. One such standard is the ISO/IEC 42001, which requires AI bias mitigation and fairness checks, risk and impact assessment, and robust documentation in bias management. GCRAI's proposed certification based on these guidelines will ensure banks and financial institutions test for and correct biases in AI-powered loan approval systems, promoting fair access to financial services. It will also be working with the Association for Information Security Professionals, which has 2,400 cybersecurity professionals as members, to help enterprises here align with internationally-recognised frameworks for AI governance. The local chapter of GCRAI will be led by Mr Looi Teck Kheong, a principal consultant at business advisory firm Public Policy Asia Advisors. The vice-president of the chapter, Dr Rachel Ooi, is the founder of Singapore-based management consultancy and strategic advisory firm Antioch Streams. Mr Looi and Dr Ooi are joined by four other tech professionals: - Mr Tommy Foo, who leads the transformation of Grab's commercial systems. He also serves as an advisor to the head of Grab Technology Solutions. - Mr Anthony Lim, a cybersecurity and fintech fellow at Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) - Dr Deny Rahardjo, chief information and digital officer of Sime Darby Berhad, and - Ms Michelle Yao, co-founder of CyberLite, a social enterprise that promotes cyber safety and AI education.
Straits Times
12 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Debt-plagued Maldives to host Modi, continuing to rebuild ties with lender
NEW DELHI/COLOMBO - Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to enhance India's development partnership with the Maldives in a two-day visit this week to the Indian Ocean archipelago, where India competes with China for influence. Modi, who landed in Male on Friday, is the first foreign leader to visit President Mohamed Muizzu after he took office in 2023 with a pledge to end the Maldives' "India first" policy, and upgraded ties with China. Muizzu's moves briefly soured relations with New Delhi, before India helped to prevent the $7.5 billion economy from defaulting on its debt as the Maldives struggled to get tourists to its white-sand beaches and luxury resorts. He has since visited both countries, the Maldives' main bilateral lenders, to secure financial support, as well as signing trade pacts with China and Turkey and initiating talks with India on a trade agreement and an investment treaty. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said steady diplomacy had helped to rebuild ties: "There will always be events that will impact or try to intrude on the relationship. But I think this is testimony to the kind of attention that has been paid to the relationship, and including attention at the highest levels." Former Maldives foreign minister Abdulla Shahid told Reuters that Modi's visit indicated Muizzu had "decided to step back and correct the narrative". Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore SMRT to pay lower fine of $2.4m for EWL disruption; must invest at least $600k to boost reliability Singapore MRT service changes needed to modify 3 East-West Line stations on Changi Airport stretch: LTA Asia Live: Thailand-Cambodia border clashes continue for second day Singapore Etomidate found in blood of 2 people involved in fatal Punggol Road accident in May: HSA Singapore More students to get Smart Buddy watches; most schools to go cashless by end-2025 Singapore Vape disposal bins at 23 CCs for users to surrender e-vaporisers, without facing penalties Business Microsoft Singapore managing director Lee Hui Li dies while on sabbatical Singapore Kopi, care and conversation: How this 20-year-old helps improve the well-being of the elderly India is expected to extend a line of credit worth $565 million to the Maldives, and talks on a Free Trade Agreement are expected to formally begin. Modi will also remotely inaugurate an expansion of the International Airport on the island of Hanimadhoo, which India is helping to finance, and attend Saturday's celebration of the Maldives' 60th anniversary of independence from Britain. REUTERS
