A Singapore shipping company said Tuesday it will refuse to pay Sri Lankan court-ordered damages of $1 billion for causing that country's worst case of environmental pollution. In an exclusive interview, X-Press Feeders chief executive Shmuel Yoskovitz said he believed paying would have wide-ranging implications on global shipping and "set a dangerous precedent." The company operated the MV X-Press Pearl that sank off Colombo Port in June 2021 after a fire — believed to have been caused by a nitric acid leak — that raged for nearly two weeks.