TODAY’s brief, Mon, Jan 26

City Harvest trial resumes

The City Harvest Church trial resumes today. Taking the stand in this fourth tranche of hearings – which is set to last two weeks – is former fund manager Chew Eng Han, who left the church in 2013. He is among the six accused of using S$24 million of church funds to invest in sham bonds, and then using another S$26.6 million to cover up the first amount. Separately, Chew is being sued by the church to recover investments managed by Chew’s firm AMAC Capital Partners.

IPS S’pore Perspectives Conference

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing take part in a dialogue session at the Institute of Policy Studies’ annual Singapore Perspectives Conference, which this year explores the key choices Singaporeans have made in politics, economy and society over the last 50 years. Academics and experts, among them Nominated Member of Parliament and Yale-NUS professor Tan Tai Yong, Ambassador at Large Bilahari Kausikan and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy professor Kishore Mahbubani will also be debating issues Singaporeans’ choices at the conference.

Obama in India

US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi worked on a series of bilateral agreements, including a nuclear deal at a summit yesterday that both sides hope will establish an enduring strategic partnership. Signalling his determination to take ties to a higher level, Modi broke with protocol to meet and bear-hug Obama as he landed in New Delhi earlier in the day. The summit continues through Monday.

AirAsia fuselage recovery efforts continue

Divers and recovery teams are expected to try again on Monday to raise the main body of the AirAsia flight that crashed in the Java Sea in December on its way to Singapore. An attempt Saturday failed when balloons attached to the fuselage lost air and efforts on yesterday were hampered by strong currents. Additional bodies were recovered over the weekend with the count now reaching 70 of 162 recovered.

Japan’s IS hostage situation

Japan’s prime minister expressed outrage yesterday at an image released Saturday that appeared to show the decapitated body of one of two Japanese hostages captured by Islamic State militants, and President Obama condemned what he called a “brutal murder.” Japan will be looking to determine what, if anything, can be done to secure the release of the remaining hostage and has publicly ruled out paying any ransom.

Greek elections

Greeks began voting yesterday in an election expected to bring to power the radical leftist Syriza party, which has pledged to take on international lenders and roll back painful austerity measures imposed during years of economic crisis. Barring a huge upset, victory for Syriza, which has led opinion polls for months, would produce the first euro zone government openly committed to cancelling the austerity terms of its EU and IMF-backed bailout programme.

Australian Open Day 8

Day 8’s action at the Australian Open see women’s top seed Serena Williams taking on Spain’s Garbine Muruguza for a place in the quarter-finals where she could meet two-time champion in Melbourne, Victoria Azarenka. Belarussian Azarenka, who is showing ominous form on her comeback from injury, faces 2014 finalist Dominika Cibulkova.The day’s other Round 4 women’s singles matches sees Venus Williams facing Agnieszka Radwanska, and a battle of the Madisons - Madison Keys vs Madison Brengle.

In men’s singles, Asian hope Kei Nishikori takes on Spain’s David Ferrer, favourite Novak Djokovic faces Gilles Muller, defending champions Stan Wawrinka meets Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Canadian Milos Raonic plays Feliciano Lopez.

Asian Cup semi-finals

The 2015 Asian Cup sees its first semi-final today between South Korea and Iraq, with the latter confirming their place yesterday following a hearing by the Asian Football Confederation which dismissed a protest from Iran over the eligibility of Iraqi player Alaa Abdulzehra. Both teams will be fighting fatigue, having survived extra-time in their quarter-finals, with South Korea particularly concerned about the health of key playmaker Son Heung-min. Having not won this competition since 1960, South Korea are keen to make up for lost time, and they will feel this is a better-than ever opportunity.

Partly cloudy

The weather today is expected to be partly cloudy with temperature between 24°C and 32°C.