PMO lodging police report about fake website announcing death of Mr Lee Kuan Yew

SINGAPORE - The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is lodging a police report about a fake website bearing the PMO logo and announcing the death of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Screenshots of the website started circulating on Wednesday night, leading some foreign media outlets to carry reports of Mr Lee's death, only to retract them later.

The Straits Times checked with the PMO, which said no new information has been issued since an update on Wednesday afternoon that Mr Lee was critically ill.

That PMO update drew crowds - including reporters from foreign news outlets - to the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), where Mr Lee is in the Intensive Care Unit after being hospitalised on Feb 5 for severe pneumonia.

Foreign media that mistakenly reported Mr Lee's death included CNN Breaking News and China's CCTV, Sina and Phoenix Chinese News.

CNN Breaking News said in a tweet shortly after 10pm that Mr Lee had died, citing a "government website".

But 10 minutes later, it published another tweet: "Reports emerge that statement attributed to Singapore government about Lee Kuan Yew may not be official."

CCTV, Sina and Phoenix Chinese News similarly reported on Mr Lee's death but shortly after said the reports had been wrong. Sina and Phoenix apologised for the mistake.

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