While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Aug 1, 2025
US President Donald Trump doubled down on his wide-ranging levies on July 31.
Trump's trade policy faces test, hours from tariff deadline
President Donald Trump's dream of a new world trade order faced a crucial test on July 31, with dozens of economies – including key commercial partners like Canada – yet to secure US tariff deals ahead of a midnight deadline.
The last-gasp scramble to strike bilateral accords came as an appeals court in Washington considered the legality behind Mr Trump's strategy of invoking emergency economic powers to declare sweeping duties on imports.
The 79-year-old Republican doubled down on his wide-ranging levies, posting on Truth Social: 'Tariffs are making America GREAT & RICH Again.'
He insisted in a separate post that the world's biggest economy would have 'no chance of survival or success' without protectionist measures.
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Russia's actions in Ukraine 'disgusting', says Trump
PHOTO: REUTERS
US President Donald Trump said on July 31 that Russia's actions in Ukraine were 'disgusting' and indicated that new sanctions against Moscow were coming over its invasion of its neighbour.
'Russia – I think it's disgusting what they're doing. I think it's disgusting,' Mr Trump told journalists. 'We're going to put sanctions. I don't know that sanctions bother him,' the US president said, referring to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
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Singapore 'For one last time, let's go home': Tears, laughs as last scheduled Jetstar Asia flight touches down
Singapore Over half of job applications by retrenched Jetstar Asia staff led to offers or interviews: CEO
Singapore No entry: ICA to bar high-risk, undesirable travellers from boarding S'pore-bound ships, flights
Singapore 5 foreign women suspected of trafficking 27kg of cocaine nabbed in Changi Airport
Singapore Fallen tree branch damages two Yishun flats, showering one home owner in shattered glass
Singapore Man accused of raping woman who hired him to fix lights in her flat claims she made first move
Singapore 1 ticket wins $12.8 million Toto jackpot draw
Singapore 'Switching careers just as I became a dad was risky, but I had to do it for my family'
On July 31, at least 16 people were killed, including a six-year-old boy, and more than 100 wounded during a pre-dawn wave of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv
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US Senator Roger Wicker to visit Taiwan
PHOTO: REUTERS
US Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, will lead a congressional delegation to Taiwan in August, a senior congressional official said on July 31.
The trip, which was first reported by the Financial Times, takes place as some members of Congress - both President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans and Democrats - have expressed concern that Mr Trump is de-emphasising security issues as he works on negotiating a trade deal with China.
Lawmakers have proposed legislation to put pressure on China and voiced unhappiness with reports that Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te is set to delay a diplomatically sensitive trip his team had floated to the Trump administration for August that would have included stops in the United States.
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US end of parcel tax relief threatens eBay, Etsy trade
PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
Americans shopping for secondhand, vintage or handmade items on platforms like eBay and Etsy face steep customs duties on international purchases in August, potentially hurting trade on those peer-to-peer sites.
In a surprise move late on July 30, US President Donald Trump ordered the removal of 'de minimis' duty-free treatment on parcels under US$800 (S$1,000) from all countries, starting Aug 29 - bringing forward a change previously set for July 2027.
The acceleration follows pressure from groups that argue the exemption facilitates fentanyl smuggling and has led to a flood of cheap products entering the US duty-free, undermining US retailers and manufacturers.
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Summer McIntosh claims 3rd title, misses world mark
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
Even after producing yet another dominant performance to claim her third title of the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore, Summer McIntosh's immediate reaction was not one of jubilation.
Instead, the Canadian sensation looked visibly upset, covering her face with her hands after seeing her timing of 2min 1.99sec that won her the women's 200m butterfly final at the WCH Arena on July 31.
It was a personal best, championships and Americas record, but the 18-year-old's first thought was how she had just missed out on the all-time mark set in 2009 by China's Liu Zige – by just 0.18 of a second.
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Colombia ex-president Uribe sentenced to 12 years of house arrest, will appeal
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox BOGOTA - Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was sentenced by a judge on Friday to 12 years of house arrest for abuse of process and bribery of a public official, in a long-running case over connections to former right-wing paramilitaries. Uribe was convicted of the two charges on Monday by Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia in a witness-tampering case that has run for about 13 years. He has always maintained his innocence. Heredia read the sentence to the court in an afternoon hearing on Friday. Uribe will be fined $578,000, Heredia's ruling said, and barred from public office for more than eight years. Uribe, whose legal team has said he will appeal the ruling, is to report to authorities in Rionegro, in Antioquia province, where he resides, and then "proceed immediately to his residence where he will comply with house arrest," the ruling said. Uribe and his lawyers appeared virtually at the afternoon hearing. There is an appeal hearing scheduled for August 4. The conviction made Uribe the country's first ex-president to ever be found guilty at trial and came less than a year before Colombia's 2026 presidential election, in which several of Uribe's allies and proteges are competing for top office. It could also have implications for Colombia's relationship with the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that Uribe's conviction was a "weaponization of Colombia's judicial branch by radical judges" and analysts have said there could be cuts to U.S. aid in response. Uribe, 73, and his supporters have always said the process is a persecution, while his detractors have celebrated it as deserved comeuppance for a man who has been accused for decades of close ties with violent right-wing paramilitaries but never convicted of any crime until now. TESTIMONIES FROM FORMER PARAMILITARIES Uribe, who was president from 2002 to 2010 and oversaw a military offensive against leftist guerrillas, was charged over allegations he ordered a lawyer to bribe jailed paramilitaries to discredit claims he had ties to their organizations. Those claims stemmed from leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda, who collected testimonies from former paramilitaries who said Uribe had supported their organizations in Antioquia, where he once served as governor. Uribe alleged in 2012 that Cepeda orchestrated the testimonies in a plot to tie him to the paramilitaries, but the Supreme Court ruled six years later that Cepeda had not paid or pressured the ex-paramilitaries. Instead, the court said it was Uribe and his allies who pressured the witnesses. Cepeda has been classed as a victim in the case and attended both Monday and Friday's hearings in person. Two jailed former paramilitaries testified that Diego Cadena, the lawyer formerly representing Uribe, offered them money to testify in Uribe's favor. Cadena, who is also facing charges, has denied the accusations and testified, along with several other ex-paramilitaries, on Uribe's behalf. Each charge carried a potential sentence of six to 12 years. Uribe, who was placed under house arrest for two months in 2020, is head of the powerful Democratic Center party and was a senator for years both before and after his presidency. He has repeatedly emphasized that he extradited paramilitary leaders to the United States. Colombia's truth commission says paramilitary groups, which demobilized under deals with Uribe's government, killed more than 205,000 people, nearly half of the 450,000 deaths recorded during the ongoing civil conflict. Paramilitaries, along with guerrilla groups and members of the armed forces, also committed forced disappearances, sexual violence, displacement and other crimes. Uribe joins a list of Latin American leaders who have been convicted and sometimes jailed, including Peru's Alberto Fujimori, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Argentina's Cristina Fernandez and Panama's Ricardo Martinelli. REUTERS
Straits Times
39 minutes ago
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Tesla ordered by Florida jury to pay over $400m in Autopilot crash
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox A Tesla car passing the US Courthouse in Miami, Florida, where the case is being heard. MIAMI - A Florida jury on Aug 1 found Tesla liable in the 2019 fatal crash of an Autopilot-equipped Model S, and ordered Elon Musk's automaker to pay US$329 million (S$424 million) to the family of a deceased woman and an injured survivor. The payout includes US$129 million of compensatory damages and US$200 million of punitive damages. Tesla was sued by the estate of Naibel Benavides Leon, and by her former boyfriend Dillon Angulo. The lawsuit concerned an April 25, 2019 incident where George McGee drove his 2019 Model S at about 100kmh through an intersection into the victims' parked Chevrolet Tahoe as they were standing beside it on a shoulder. 'Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere,' Mr Brett Schreiber, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. 'Today's verdict represents justice for Naibel's tragic death and Dillon's lifelong injuries.' Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment. REUTERS
Straits Times
39 minutes ago
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Caribbean activists celebrate as Saint Lucia strikes down gay sex ban
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox CASTRIES, Saint Lucia - Caribbean gay rights activists celebrated a landmark court ruling this week striking down colonial-era legislation in the island nation of Saint Lucia that criminalized gay sexual relations and imposed prison terms of up to a decade. The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court issued the decision on Tuesday in the case brought by LGBTQ rights alliance ECADE on behalf of a gay couple. The court ruled that sections of the criminal code that outlawed "buggery" and "gross indecency" were unconstitutional. "Our own courts are now recognizing that these colonial-era laws are incompatible with human dignity," Dane Lewis, regional program manager at rights group CariFLAGS, said. Many Caribbean countries still have laws forbidding intimacy between people of the same sex, a legacy of British colonial-era statutes. Though rarely enforced, activists say these cement widespread institutional biases and discrimination. Jessica St. Rose, founder of local rights group 758Pride, said the ruling marked a "momentous legal change." "It sends a clear message that love is not a crime," she said, though Saint Lucia still needs reforms to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination and threats to their safety. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Tech Reporting suspected advanced cyber attacks will provide a defence framework: Shanmugam Business Singapore's US tariff rate stays at 10%, but the Republic is not out of the woods yet Asia Asia-Pacific economies welcome new US tariff rates, but concerns over extent of full impact remain Business ST explains: How Trump tariffs could affect Singapore SMEs, jobs and markets Asia Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupts Singapore Thundery showers expected on most days in first half of August Singapore Synapxe chief executive, MND deputy secretary to become new perm secs on Sept 1 Singapore 5 women face capital charges after they were allegedly found with nearly 27kg of cocaine in S'pore Saint Lucian politicians were mostly silent about the decision publicly, including Prime Minister Philip Pierre who made a national address ahead of Friday's Emancipation Day. In nearby Guyana, where "buggery" is a felony subject to a lifetime behind bars, rights group Guyana Together welcomed that another country in the CARICOM regional bloc had "dismantled these archaic laws." More than 60 countries worldwide criminalize gay sex, many former British colonies across Africa and the Caribbean. There was some criticism on social media from Saint Lucia residents of the decision, some citing Christian scripture and calling the ruling a sin. "We do expect the religious society to come out to speak out against the recent ruling," St. Rose said. Bradley Desir, a gay man from Saint Lucia who moved to Canada in 2016, said he was encouraged by signs of change and would feel safer visiting the island though he would still maintain his guard. "I hope they carry on with the discussion and possibly call for the legalization of (gay) marriage," he said, adding he did not expect this in his lifetime. The growing visibility of LGBTQ people through global media was a positive sign, he added: "Kids today are growing up in a different world." REUTERS
