US military delivering some weapons to Ukraine after pause, World News
The pause in some weapon shipments last week appears to have been tied to concerns that US military stockpiles might be too low, officials had said.
Since then, Trump said he did not know who ordered the pause and that he would send more weapons to Ukraine, primarily defencive ones, to help the war-torn country defend itself against intensifying Russian advances.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 155 mm artillery shells and GMLRS (mobile rocket artillery) missiles were now being provided to Ukraine.
The officials did not say how many weapons were being sent and whether the shipment was complete. It was also unclear why the latest shipments only included shells and artillery missiles and whether any decision had been made to resume shipments of other weapons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he ordered an expansion of contacts with the United States to ensure critical deliveries of military supplies, primarily air defence.
Trump has said he will consider sending Patriot air defence missiles to Ukraine, but it is unclear when.
The shipment paused last week included 30 Patriot missiles, 8,500 155mm artillery shells, more than 250 precision GMLRS missiles and 142 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles.
Kyiv has said that more air defence systems are desperately needed to help counter the swarms of drones and missiles Russia has been sending since its invasion in 2022.
Russia targeted Ukraine with a record 728 drones overnight.
The attack, which follows a series of escalating air assaults on Ukraine in recent weeks, showed the need for "biting" sanctions on the sources of income Russia uses to finance the war, including on those who buy Russian oil, Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
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Straits Times
39 minutes ago
- Straits Times
A 15-year bond between Trump and Epstein: Parties, jets and women
A message calling on President Donald Trump to release all files related to Jeffrey Epstein is projected onto the US Chamber of Commerce building across in Washington, DC, on July 18. NEW YORK - In the swirl of money and suntanned women that was their Palm Beach-and-Manhattan set, Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein spent nearly 15 years mingling side by side as public friends. There were lavish dinners with boldface names at Epstein's mansion on New York City's Upper East Side and raucous parties with cheerleaders and models at Mr Trump's private club and residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. In between, there were trips back and forth from Florida to New York on one of Epstein's private jets. But behind the tabloid glamour, questions have lingered about what Mr Trump's long association with Epstein says about his judgment and character, especially as his allies have stoked sinister claims about Epstein's connections to Democrats. After their relationship ruptured, the disgraced financier ended up behind bars not just once, but two times, after being accused of engaging in sex with teenage girls. One of the young women who later said Epstein groomed and abused her was recruited into his world while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago. Another accuser recalled being eyed by Mr Trump during a brief encounter in Epstein's office, and claimed that Epstein had told Mr Trump at the time, 'She's not for you.' Another woman has said that Mr Trump groped her when Epstein brought her to Trump Tower in Manhattan to meet him. This past week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Trump gave Epstein a note for his 50th birthday in 2003 that included a sketch of a naked woman and a cryptic reference to a 'secret' the two men shared. Mr Trump has denied writing the message and filed a libel lawsuit on July 18 challenging the story. The New York Times has not verified the Journal report. Mr Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein case, and has said he had 'no idea' that Epstein was abusing young women. In response to a request for comment about the president's history with Epstein, Ms Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Mr Trump had barred Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club 'for being a creep'. 'These stories are tired and pathetic attempts to distract from all the success of President Trump's administration,' she said in a statement. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 1 in 3 vapes here laced with etomidate; MOH working with MHA to list it as illegal drug: Ong Ye Kung Singapore HSA extends hotline hours, launches new platform to report vaping offences Singapore Tampines regional centre set to get more homes, offices and public amenities Multimedia How to make the most out of small homes in Singapore World Diplomats dismissed: Inside the overhaul reshaping Trump's foreign policy Life US tech CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay 'kiss cam' video Opinion I thought I was a 'chill' parent. Then came P1 registration Singapore 'God and government are the only things beyond our control,' says Group CEO Mr Trump and Epstein largely went separate ways after a falling-out around 2004, taking drastically different paths – one toward jail and suicide, the other toward further celebrity and the White House. As criticism of the handling of Epstein's case mounted over the years, some of Mr Trump's staunchest allies promoted theories that the government had covered up the extent of his network to protect what they have described as a cabal of powerful men and celebrities, largely Democrats. Now, that story has entangled Mr Trump himself in what amounts to one of the biggest controversies in his second White House stint. The conflict has come primarily from his own appointees, who, after months of promoting interest in the files, abruptly changed course and said there was no secret Epstein client list and backed the official finding that Epstein had killed himself. Still, under mounting pressure from his own supporters to release the government's files on Epstein, the president this past week ordered the Justice Department to seek the unsealing of grand jury testimony in the criminal case brought against Epstein in 2019 and one year later against his longtime partner Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence on a sex-trafficking conviction. She has asked the Supreme Court to consider her appeal. Even if they are released, the transcripts are unlikely to shed much light on the relationship between the two men, which did not figure prominently in either criminal case. What seemed to draw them together, according to those who knew them at the time, was a common interest in hitting on – and competing for – attractive young women at parties, nightclubs and other private events. Palm beach neighbours Mr Trump and Epstein appear to have met around 1990, when Epstein bought a property 2 miles north of Mar-a-Lago and set about staking a claim in Palm Beach's moneyed, salt-air social scene. Mr Trump, who had purchased Mar-a-Lago five years earlier, had already established his own brash presence in the seaside enclave as a playboy with a taste for gold-leaf finery. The two had much in common. Both were outer-borough New Yorkers who had succeeded in Manhattan. Both were energetic self-promoters. And both had reputations as showy men about town. In 1992, an NBC News camera captured the pair at a Mar-a-Lago party that featured cheerleaders from the Buffalo Bills, who were in town that weekend for a game against the Miami Dolphins. At one point in the footage, Mr Trump can be seen dancing amid a crowd of young women. Later, he appears to be pointing at other women while whispering something in Epstein's ear, causing him to double over with laughter. Months later, when Mr Trump hosted a party at Mar-a-Lago for young women in a so-called calendar girl competition, Epstein was the only other guest, according to Mr George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who arranged the event. Mr Houraney recalled being surprised that Epstein was the only other person on the guest list. 'I said, 'Donald, this is supposed to be a party with VIPs,' ' he told the Times in 2019. 'You're telling me it's you and Epstein?'' Mr Houraney's then-girlfriend and business partner Jill Harth later accused Mr Trump of sexual misconduct on the night of the party. In a lawsuit, she said Mr Trump took her into a bedroom and forcibly kissed and groped her, and restrained her from leaving. She also said that a 22-year-old contestant told her that Mr Trump later that night crawled into her bed uninvited. Ms Harth dropped her suit in 1997 after a related case filed by Mr Houraney was settled by Mr Trump, who has denied her allegations. Mr Trump and Epstein were spotted again at a 1997 Victoria's Secret 'Angels' party in Manhattan. The lingerie company was run by Mr Leslie H. Wexner, a billionaire businessman who handed Epstein sweeping power over his finances, philanthropy and private life within years of meeting him. Court records show that Mr Trump was among those who got rides on Epstein's private jet. Over four years in the 1990s, he flew on Epstein's Boeing 727 at least seven times, largely making jaunts between Palm Beach and a private airport in Teterboro, New Jersey, just outside New York. 'I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,' Mr Trump told New York magazine in 2002. 'He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.' An encounter at Mar-a-Lago In 2000, court records show Maxwell, a British socialite who had long been tied to Epstein, struck up a conversation with a 17-year-old girl outside a locker room at Mar-a-Lago. Her name was Virginia Giuffre, and she was a spa attendant at the club, having gotten the job through her father, who worked there as a maintenance man. According to Ms Giuffre, Maxwell offered her a job on the spot as a masseuse for Epstein after seeing that she was reading a book about massage, telling her that she did not need to have any experience. She said that when she was brought to Epstein's Palm Beach home, she found him lying naked on a table. Maxwell, she claimed, instructed her on how to massage him. 'They seemed like nice people,' she later testified, 'so I trusted them.' But over the next two years or so, Ms Giuffre claimed that she was forced by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with a series of famous men, including Prince Andrew, a member of the British royal family. The prince has denied the accusations and declined to help federal prosecutors in their investigation of Epstein. Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, always maintained that she was trafficked to the prince and other men, once telling the BBC that she had been 'passed around like a platter of fruit' to Epstein's powerful associates. Some women who were in Epstein's orbit have said they encountered Mr Trump during this period. One woman Maria Farmer, who has said she was victimised by Epstein and Maxwell, described an encounter with Mr Trump in 1995 at an office that Epstein once kept in New York City. An art student who had moved to New York City to pursue a career as a painter, Ms Farmer recalled in a 2019 interview that when she was introduced to Mr Trump, he eyed her, prompting Epstein to warn him, 'She's not for you.' Ms Farmer's mother Janice Swain said her daughter had described the interaction with Mr Trump around the time it occurred. Ms Stacey Williams, a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, has said she was groped by Mr Trump when she was introduced to him by Epstein, whom she was dating at the time. It was 1993, she said, and she was on a walk with Epstein on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan when he suggested that they pop into Trump Tower to say hello to Trump. Williams thought nothing of it at the time because, as she later put it, 'Jeffrey talked about Trump all the time.' After Mr Trump greeted them in a waiting area outside his office, Ms Williams said, he pulled her toward him, touching her breasts, waist and buttocks as if he was 'an octopus'. She said she later wondered whether she had been part of a challenge or wager between the two men. 'I definitely felt like I was a piece of meat delivered to that office as some sort of game,' she recalled to the Times in 2024. At the time, Mr Trump's presidential campaign denied that the episode had occurred, calling the allegations 'unequivocally false' and politically motivated. In an interview on July 18, Ms Williams said she was upset to hear Mr Trump referring to some of the Epstein story as a 'hoax' and 'boring' news. 'I mean, it's absurd,' she said of his speaking dismissively of the case. Parting ways Eventually, in late 2004, Mr Trump and Epstein ended up squaring off – this time, over a piece of real estate. It was the Maison de l'Amitié, a French Regency-style manse that sat along the ocean in Palm Beach. The two hypercompetitive men each had their lawyers bid on the property. Ultimately, Mr Trump came out ahead, purchasing it for US$41.35 million (S$53 million). There is little public record of the two men interacting after that. Mr Trump later told associates he had another reason for breaking from Epstein around that time: His longtime friend, he has said, acted inappropriately to the daughter of a member of Mar-a-Lago, and Mr Trump felt compelled to bar him from the club. Mr Brad Edwards, a lawyer who has represented many of Epstein's victims, said Mr Trump told him a similar story in 2009. Not long after the standoff over the beachfront mansion, the Palm Beach police received a tip that young women had been seen going in and out of Epstein's home. Four months later, there was a more substantial complaint from a woman who claimed that her 14-year-old stepdaughter had been paid US$300 by Epstein to give him a massage while she was undressed. That led to a sprawling undercover investigation that identified at least a dozen potential victims. Epstein hired a team of top lawyers to defend him – including Mr Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor who would later represent Mr Trump, and Mr Ken Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. The two men helped negotiate a lenient plea deal with R. Alexander Acosta, who was then the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Under the deal, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor. In exchange, he was granted immunity from federal charges, as were all of his potential co-conspirators. He also had to register as a sex offender. In the end, Epstein wound up serving almost 13 months in jail before he was released. For his part, Mr Trump largely steered clear of the controversy. But in February 2015, as he was gearing up for what would end up being a hard-fought campaign against Mrs Hillary Clinton, he sought to connect Epstein to her husband, the former president. Bill Clinton has 'got a lot of problems coming up, in my opinion, with the famous island with Jeffrey Epstein', Mr Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, referring to Epstein's private island where he resided and was suspected of trafficking underage girls. 'A lot of problems.' Mr Clinton has denied visiting the island or having any knowledge of Epstein's criminal behavior, and has said he wishes he had never met him. 'I Wasn't a Fan' In July 2019, Epstein was arrested again. Prosecutors from the public corruption unit of the US attorney's office in Manhattan charged him with sex trafficking and a conspiracy to traffic minors for sex. Mr Trump, then in his third year in the White House, immediately sought to distance himself from his old friend. 'I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,' he told reporters after the charges were revealed. 'I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don't think I've spoken to him in 15 years. I wasn't a fan.' The new charges brought renewed scrutiny to the original plea deal. Days after Epstein's arrest, Mr Acosta, who had become Mr Trump's labour secretary, announced he would resign amid criticism of his handling of the case. Speaking to reporters about Mr Acosta's decision, Mr Trump reiterated that he had broken off his ties with Epstein 'many, many years ago.' He added: 'It shows you one thing: that I have good taste.' Asked if he had any suspicions that Epstein was molesting young women, Mr Trump replied, 'No, I had no idea.' The next month, after Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in Manhattan in what was later ruled a suicide, Mr Trump weighed in again, reviving what was by then a years-old effort from his first campaign. He shared a social media post that tried to link the death to Mr Clinton. Days later, when pressed about his unfounded claims of Mr Clinton's involvement, Mr Trump did not let up, calling for a full investigation, even though he offered no facts to support his allegations. 'Epstein had an island that was not a good place, as I understand it,' he said. 'And I was never there. So you have to ask: Did Bill Clinton go to the island?' When Mr Trump was asked about the arrest of Maxwell in the summer of 2020 on charges that included the enticement and trafficking of children, his answer left some of his own allies confused. 'I wish her well, whatever it is,' Mr Trump said. In recent weeks, right-wing influencers and Mr Trump's rank-and-file supporters expressed outrage over his administration's conclusion that there were no revelations to share about the case – not least because some of the president's top law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, had promised to reveal more information about Epstein's crimes. Mr Trump sought to quiet the demands, calling the Epstein scandal a 'hoax' made up by his Democratic adversaries. He also described it as a subject unworthy of further scrutiny. 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?' Mr Trump asked reporters with exasperation at a Cabinet meeting July 8. 'This guy's been talked about for years.' NYTIMES
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
‘America has to come first': Trump wins favour with Native Americans
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Navajo Nation resident Gilberta Cortes, 42, who uses a generator for electricity, outside her home in Cameron, Arizona, as she waits for electricity from the power grid to reach her residence. TUBA CITY, Arizona - Fed up with rising gas prices, Ms Nita Mexican voted in November 2025 for Mr Donald Trump, who is increasingly popular among Native American communities which have long supported the political left. 'A lot of the younger ones are for him now, including friends of our grandkids,' the 77-year-old member of the Navajo Nation reservation told AFP. As a Republican voter, Ms Mexican was used to being in the minority in Tuba City, a small, remote hamlet in the Arizona desert, located on a plateau part of the vast Native American reservation. But in recent years, she has witnessed a change in attitudes towards the divisive US president. Like her, some neighbours have begun to blame immigration from Latin America for the unemployment and drug trade plaguing the impoverished reservation. 'Trump is cleaning up America, it's a good thing,' said Ms Mexican, a former power plant employee who praised Mr Trump's hardline deportation policy. 'America has to come first,' she said. 'Us Natives, we are Americans and we should have the jobs first.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 1 in 3 vapes here laced with etomidate; MOH working with MHA to list it as illegal drug: Ong Ye Kung Singapore HSA extends hotline hours, launches new platform to report vaping offences Singapore Tampines regional centre set to get more homes, offices and public amenities Multimedia How to make the most out of small homes in Singapore World Diplomats dismissed: Inside the overhaul reshaping Trump's foreign policy Life US tech CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay 'kiss cam' video Opinion I thought I was a 'chill' parent. Then came P1 registration Singapore 'God and government are the only things beyond our control,' says Group CEO Rising inflation is an enduring concern in this isolated region, where cars are essential for getting around. Ms Mexican and her husband Joe spend US$40 (S$51) a day on gasoline to tend to their sheep, which are kept in a pen some 40km away. The couple also provide financial support for some of their unemployed grandchildren. 'Sometimes we don't have enough to get groceries for the both of us,' Ms Mexican said, adding that she would like Mr Trump to 'slow down' on his tariffs targeting multiple imported products . Surprising inroads Spanning the southwestern states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, the Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the United States. Mr Trump made surprising inroads in the 2025 presidential election in the region that has been a Democratic stronghold since the 1980s. The Republican leader notably won by 17.1 points in Navajo County, double his margin of victory from four years earlier, and lost by just 19 points in Apache County, down from 33.6 in 2020. A similar trend was observed nationwide, from North Carolina to Montana, with Native American voters overall backing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, but with much less enthusiasm than in the past. Like with Latino voters, more men than women from the minority group voted for Mr Trump, according to polls. At her home, which does not get electricity, Ms Gilberta Cortes said she 'butts heads ... all the time' with her 21-year-old son, who voted for Trump. 'He talks about inflation, he says that cartels are ruining everything for Native Americans,' Cortes said. The 42-year-old mother is not as impressed by the billionaire president. She resents his mockery of the Native American origins of Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, whom he regularly refers to as 'Pocahontas'. 'Favouritism' Laws enacted by Mr Trump during his first term to probe the disappearance of thousands of Native American women did not persuade her either. 'It was just favouritism so that he would get our votes,' said the left-wing voter. And the president's anti-immigration rhetoric and policies have unsettled her further. Several Navajos have been stopped in recent months by immigration agents because of their skin color, according to some reservation officials. 'You see a lot of racism ... When I go out, I feel like I'm just walking on eggshells,' said Ms Cortes. Mr Trump's climate change skepticism is also a concern, with many Native Americans claiming a spiritual connection to the environment. Ms Cortes has had to forbid her children from playing outside in the summer because of heat waves, which are growing more intense in the Arizona desert. 'If he drills oil like crazy and he makes cuts to environmental agencies, it's gonna make things worse in the long run,' Ms Cortes said. Mr Elbert Yazzie thinks some of his friends will soon regret their decision. Mr Trump's recently passed signature spending bill is expected to shrink the federal food assistance program, among other cuts that could hit out at low-income Americans. 'They voted for him because they thought there would be more jobs for us American citizens. But instead, he's cutting off food stamps,' Mr Yazzie told AFP from his caravan. 'That's going to affect a lot of people around here.' AFP
AsiaOne
3 hours ago
- AsiaOne
Azerbaijan leader says he wants Russia to admit it accidentally shot down passenger plane killing 38, World News
KHANKENDI, Azerbaijan - Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, on Saturday (July 19) said he wanted Russia to publicly acknowledge that it had accidentally shot down an Azerbaijani passenger plane in December last year, killing 38 people on board, and to punish those responsible. President Vladimir Putin apologised at the time to Aliyev for what the Kremlin called a "tragic incident" over Russia in which an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed after Russian air defences opened fire against Ukrainian drones. But he stopped short of saying Russia had shot down the aircraft. Aliyev, speaking at a news conference in the city of Khankendi during an event called The Global Media Forum, made clear that he wanted much more from Moscow whom he accused of inaction following the downing of the airliner. "We know exactly what happened - and we can prove it. Moreover, we are confident that Russian officials also know what happened," Aliyev said. "The real question is: Why didn't they do what any responsible neighbour should do?" He said Azerbaijan expected the incident to be formally acknowledged, for those responsible to be held accountable, for compensation to be paid to victims' families and those injured, and for Moscow to reimburse the cost of the destroyed aircraft. "These are standard expectations within the framework of international law and good-neighbourly relations," he said. Flight J2-8243, en route from Baku to the Chechen capital Grozny, crash-landed near Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities. Thirty-eight people were killed and 29 survived. Ties between Moscow and Baku have seriously deteriorated in recent months after Russian police detained a group of ethnic Azerbaijanis living in Russia and accused them of various historic crimes. Speaking at the same event, Aliyev said he wanted a transit corridor to be opened between Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhchivan that would run via Armenia. Aliyev said: "We are talking about unimpeded state access from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan. And we understand this literally - we are talking about a connection between parts of one country." He said that, if and when it is set up, that Azerbaijani train passengers should not be exposed to physical danger from Armenian civilians whom he accused of throwing stones at such trains in the Soviet era and called for "reliable and verifiable" security guarantees. "This is an absolutely legal and fair demand," Aliyev said. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on July 16 that the US had offered to manage the potential transport corridor. The potential corridor, which Baku is keen to secure, would run roughly 32km through Armenia's southern Syunik province, linking the majority of Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave that borders Baku's ally Turkey. The transit link is one of several stumbling blocks to a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia, neighbours in the South Caucasus region who have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s and remain arch rivals. The countries said in March they had finalised a draft peace deal, but the timeline for signing it remains uncertain. [[nid:719676]]
