While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, June 28, 2025
Mr Carney (left) and Mr Trump recently met at the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Canada and agreed to try to hash out a trade agreement by the middle of July. PHOTO: REUTERS REUTERS
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, June 28, 2025
Trump ends trade talks with Canada, threatens to set tariff
US President Donald Trump said he was ending all trade discussions with Canada in retaliation for the country's digital services tax, and threatened to impose a fresh tariff rate within the next week.
'Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period,' Mr Trump posted on June 27, on social media.
Canada and the US have one of the world's largest bilateral trading relationships, exchanging more than US$900 billion (S$1.14 trillion) of goods and services in 2024.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking briefly to a television reporter, said he had not spoken with Mr Trump yet, on June 27. 'We'll continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interests of Canadians,' he said.
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Trump would consider bombing Iran again if necessary
President Donald Trump said on June 27 he would consider bombing Iran again if Tehran was enriching uranium to a level that concerned the United States, and he backed inspections of Iran's bombed nuclear sites.
'Sure, without question, absolutely,' Mr Trump said, when asked about the possibility of new bombing of Iranian nuclear sites if deemed necessary at some point.
At a White House news conference, Mr Trump said he plans to respond soon to comments from Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, who said Iran 'slapped America in the face' by launching an attack against a major US base in Qatar following last weekend's US bombing raid.
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'Science refugees': French uni welcomes first US researchers
Eight American researchers have arrived at a university in southern France, as the country pushes to offer 'science asylum' to US academics hit by federal research spending cuts under US President Donald Trump.
The University of Aix-Marseille (AMU) welcomed the scholars on June 27, following the March launch of its 'Safe Place for Science' initiative, the first among 20 set to relocate there in coming months.
The programme has already drawn nearly 300 applicants from top institutions such as Stanford, Nasa, and Berkeley.
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WHO says all Covid-19 origin theories still open
All hypotheses on how the Covid-19 pandemic began remain open, the World Health Organisation said on June 27, following an inconclusive four-year investigation that was hamstrung by crucial information being withheld.
The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the WHO, while shredding economies, crippling health systems and turning people's lives upside-down.
The first cases were detected in Wuhan in China in late 2019, and understanding where the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 came from is key to preventing future pandemics.
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UK man jailed for 40 years for teenager's murder
A man who killed a 14-year-old boy in London during a rampage with a sword was on Jan 27 jailed for a minimum of 40 years.
Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, nearly decapitated schoolboy Daniel Anjorin during a 20-minute series of attacks in Hainault, east London, in April 2024, in which he also assaulted several other people including police officers.
Prosecutors said Monzo killed and skinned his cat before driving his van at a pedestrian and slicing him with the sword, murdering Daniel and then trying to murder a police officer.
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US Senate Republicans aim to push ahead on Trump's sweeping tax-cut, spending Bill
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US immigrants scramble for clarity after Supreme Court birthright ruling
That outcome has raised more questions than answers about a right long understood to be guaranteed under the US Constitution. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court's ruling tied to birthright citizenship prompted confusion and phone calls to lawyers as people who could be affected tried to process a convoluted legal decision with major humanitarian implications. The court's conservative majority on June 27 granted President Donald Trump his request to curb federal judges' power but did not decide the legality of his bid to restrict birthright citizenship. That outcome has raised more questions than answers about a right long understood to be guaranteed under the US Constitution: that anyone born in the United States is considered a citizen at birth, regardless of their parents' citizenship or legal status. Ms Lorena, a 24-year-old Colombian asylum seeker who lives in Houston and is due to give birth in September, pored over media reports on June 27 morning. She was looking for details about how her baby might be affected, but said she was left confused and worried. 'There are not many specifics,' said Ms Lorena, who like others interviewed by Reuters asked to be identified by her first name out of fear for her safety. 'I don't understand it well.' She is concerned that her baby could end up with no nationality. 'I don't know if I can give her mine,' she said. 'I also don't know how it would work, if I can add her to my asylum case. I don't want her to be adrift with no nationality.' Mr Trump, a Republican, issued an order after taking office in January that directed US agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the US who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order was blocked by three separate US district court judges, sending the case on a path to the Supreme Court. The resulting decision said Mr Trump's policy could go into effect in 30 days but appeared to leave open the possibility of further proceedings in the lower courts that could keep the policy blocked. On June 27 afternoon, plaintiffs filed an amended lawsuit in federal court in Maryland seeking to establish a nationwide class of people whose children could be denied citizenship. If they are not blocked nationwide, the restrictions could be applied in the 28 states that did not contest them in court, creating 'an extremely confusing patchwork' across the country, according to Ms Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst for the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute. 'Would individual doctors, individual hospitals be having to try to figure out how to determine the citizenship of babies and their parents?' she said. The drive to restrict birthright citizenship is part of Mr Trump's broader immigration crackdown, and he has framed automatic citizenship as a magnet for people to come to give birth. 'Hundreds of thousands of people are pouring into our country under birthright citizenship, and it wasn't meant for that reason,' he said during a White House press briefing on June 27. Immigration advocates and lawyers in some Republican-led states said they received calls from a wide range of pregnant immigrants and their partners following the ruling. They were grappling with how to explain it to clients who could be dramatically affected, given all the unknowns of how future litigation would play out or how the executive order would be implemented state by state. Ms Lynn Tramonte, director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance said she got a call on June 27 from an East Asian temporary visa holder with a pregnant wife. He was anxious because Ohio is not one of the plaintiff states and wanted to know how he could protect his child's rights. 'He kept stressing that he was very interested in the rights included in the Constitution,' she said. Advocates underscored the gravity of Mr Trump's restrictions, which would block an estimated 150,000 children born in the US annually from receiving automatic citizenship. 'It really creates different classes of people in the country with different types of rights,' said Ms Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, a spokesperson for the immigrant rights organisation United We Dream. 'That is really chaotic.' Adding uncertainty, the Supreme Court ruled that members of two plaintiff groups in the litigation - CASA, an immigrant advocacy service in Maryland, and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project - would still be covered by lower court blocks on the policy. Whether someone in a state where Mr Trump's policy could go into effect could join one of the organizations to avoid the restrictions or how state or federal officials would check for membership remained unclear. Ms Betsy, a US citizen who recently graduated from high school in Virginia and a CASA member, said both of her parents came to the US from El Salvador two decades ago and lacked legal status when she was born. 'I feel like it targets these innocent kids who haven't even been born,' she said, declining to give her last name for concerns over her family's safety. Ms Nivida, a Honduran asylum seeker in Louisiana, is a member of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and recently gave birth. She heard on June 27 from a friend without legal status who is pregnant and wonders about the situation under Louisiana's Republican governor, since the state is not one of those fighting Trump's order. 'She called me very worried and asked what's going to happen,' she said. 'If her child is born in Louisiana … is the baby going to be a citizen?' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
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US Senate unveils new Trump tax draft with plans to vote soon
This is as the US moves closer to a vote on the tax cut package with a July 4 deadline set by President Donald Trump. PHOTO: REUTERS US Senate unveils new Trump tax draft with plans to vote soon WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans unveiled a new version of their US$4.2 trillion (S$5.1 trillion) tax cut package, moving closer to a vote as they near a July 4 deadline set by President Donald Trump. The new draft reflects compromises among warring factions of the Senate GOP which has been divided over how much to cut safety-net programs such as Medicaid and how rapidly to phase out of renewable energy tax credits enacted under the Biden administration. A tentative deal with House Republicans to increase the state and local tax deduction is included. The bill would raise the SALT deduction cap from US$10,000 to US$40,000 for five years before snapping back to the US$10,000 level. The new cap applies to 2025 and rises 1 per cent in subsequent years. Republicans plan to start voting on the tax bill on June 28 with final votes coming as soon as early on June 29. Party leaders plan to bring House members back to Washington early next week for what they hope will be final approval of the measure in time for Trump's Independence Day deadline. It is not yet clear if the 50 Senate Republicans needed to pass the bill are all on board. The bill can be further altered on the Senate floor to secure the votes if needed. The House could make more changes if Speaker Mike Johnson has trouble corralling votes for the measure. To win over moderate Republicans, the bill would create a new US$25 billion rural hospital fund aimed at helping some Medicaid providers avoid cuts. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, however, had demanded a US$100 billion fund. Moderate Republicans also won a delay from 2031 to 2032 for when a new 3.5 per cent cap on state Medicaid provider taxes takes effect. The provider tax is a gimmick by which states boost their federal Medicaid reimbursement rates and many states have come to rely on the practice. Another change in the measure is that a tax credit for hydrogen production wouldn't be phased out until 2028 for projects that begin construction before then. Previous version ended the credit after 2025. The measure would avert a US payment default as soon as August by raising the debt ceiling by US$5 trillion. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
