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French teen fined in Singapore 'straw licking' case

A French teenager was fined in Singapore on Thursday after pleading guilty to a public nuisance charge for a straw-licking stunt that landed him in hot water in the city state. Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 19, was handed a Sg$600 ($465) fine after admitting to posting to social media a video of himself putting a straw he had licked back into the dispenser on an orange juice vending machine. The clip went viral on Instagram shortly after the incident on March 12, triggering a backlash that led to his arrest in Singapore, which is known for its strict enforcement of public order and hygiene rules. Handing down the sentence, Judge Kelly Ho said given Maximilien's "age and nature of the offence", alternatives like probation or a community-based sentence would not be imposed. Prosecutors agreed to the defence's proposal for a fine, saying the offence was at the "lower end" of its seriousness and while hygiene was compromised, no member of the public u...
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America has 'true friendship' with PM Shehbaz and CDF Munir, says US War Secretary Pete Hegseth

United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has lauded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir for their role in the US-Iran peace negotiations, saying that Washington and Islamabad are developing a “true friendship”. “I mentioned India here, but I very easily could have mentioned Pakistan and the role that the field marshal and the prime minister are playing in peace negotiations,” he said while responding to a question at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. “I think an unexpected development and a true friendship [are] developing there, which I think is important.” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says America and Pakistan are developing a “true friendship,” praising Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir for their role in peace negotiations.#USPakistan #PeteHegseth #PakistanUSA #PeaceTalks #PMShehbazSharif #AsimMunir… pic.twitter.com/sRNen205pq — Pakistan TV (@PakTVGlobal) May 30, 2026 Relations between Pakistan and the US hit rock bottom in 2011 after the US raid in Abbottabad that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. They improved somewhat in 2020, when the US acknowledged Pakistan’s role in facilitating the Doha Agreement with the Afghan Taliban. However, with President Joe Biden's arrival in 2021, ties entered a diplomatic freeze once again. They were relegated to the sidelines for much of his term as the Biden administration leaned on India to counter China’s growing influence in the region. Relations between the two countries have reached a new high under President Trump’s second term. In March 2025 — weeks after Trump’s second inauguration — Pakistan arrested and extradited to the US an Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) operative, Mohammad Sharifullah, who was accused of helping plan the 2021 suicide bombing outside Kabul airport that killed 13 American soldiers. That prompted Trump to praise Pakistan at the start of his second term. “I want to thank especially the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster,” Trump said in his first address to Congress during his second term. Diplomatic engagement between the United States and Pakistan reached new heights after Trump helped broker a ceasefire between Pakistan and India during their brief war. Since then, leaders from both countries have exchanged cordial gestures and praised each other’s leadership on international platforms. PM Shehbaz even nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his mediation efforts. Trump, in turn, has frequently praised PM Shehbaz and Pakistan’s military leadership, notably describing CDF Munir as his “favourite field marshal”. Building on this positive momentum, Islamabad now seeks to translate the goodwill into tangible economic benefits by pursuing a more favourable trade agreement with Washington, including tariff concessions and expanded market access for Pakistani exports. Most recently, after a war broke out between the US and Iran in February this year, Pakistan emerged on the international stage as a peace broker. Islamabad brokered a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran on April 8, followed by critical talks in Islamabad attended by senior delegations from both countries on April 11 and 12. However, neither side was able to reach an agreement to bring the conflict to an end. Since then, the two sides have exchanged proposals and counter-proposals in an effort to find common ground and resume a second round of direct talks aimed at ending the conflict.

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