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Straits Times
09-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Apple's chief operating officer to retire in major changing of guard
Leadership change comes at a trying time for Apple which is grappling with tariff costs, regulatory scrutiny and AI woes. SAN FRANCISCO – Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams is retiring as the company's longtime No. 2, marking a major changing of the guard at an already tumultuous time for the iPhone maker. Mr Williams has long been known as a key decision-maker for Apple, and his departure is one of the most significant in the company's history. He will continue to oversee the design team, as well as manage health initiatives, until his departure later in the year. Sabih Khan, 30-year Apple veteran, will replace Mr Williams as COO, while the company's design team will shift to reporting directly to chief executive officer Tim Cook, the tech giant announced on July 8. When Mr Khan steps into the new role, he'll contend with challenges ranging from tariff costs to slowing iPhone growth. Apple also is grappling with global regulatory scrutiny and has fallen behind in artificial intelligence. New AI-focused start-ups are working on hardware products that could displace the company's iPhone, iPad, Mac and other devices. Mr Williams, 62, was once considered a possible successor to the 64-year-old Cook, given his title and similarities to his boss. But their small age gap – and Mr Williams' desire to retire relatively soon – shifted the company's thinking. Now, John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, is the most likely successor when Mr Cook retires, Bloomberg News has reported. Mr Williams joined the company in 1998 and took the COO job in 2015. He previously worked at IBM starting in the 1980s. At Apple, he was known for crafting a supply chain that could handle hundreds of millions of devices a year while sourcing components from thousands of suppliers around the world. 'Jeff's importance and contributions to Apple have been enormous, although perhaps not always obvious to the general public,' said Tony Blevins, a former Apple operations vice president who reported to Williams until the end of 2022. 'As a shareholder, I am saddened. Time takes its toll, and it's almost as if the band is dissolving. Jeff will be sorely missed.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Asia Why Japan and South Korea are on different paths in the latest US trade salvo Opinion Is Donald Trump unstoppable? Singapore Keep citizens at the centre of public service, Chan Chun Sing tells civil servants Business 'It's our grandfather's company, we won't sell', says Wong family as shareholders reject GE delisting bid Singapore Chuan Grove GLS site snags top bid of $703.6m from Sing Holdings-Sunway joint venture Singapore NDP celebrations to be held at 5 heartland sites, including Bishan and Punggol, on Aug 10 Sport Singapore U-16 girls given footballing lesson in first match of inaugural Lion City Cup girls' tournament Singapore Man arrested for allegedly throwing bottle at SMRT bus, injuring passenger The leadership change comes at a trying time for Apple's operations group, which includes procurement, sustainability and manufacturing teams. Over the past several months, Apple has been shifting iPhone production from China to India in a bid to reduce the impact from Trump administration tariffs. In the coming years, Apple will likely make other adjustments, including moving even more device assembly out of China and potentially adding robotics and other technologies to the production process. Mr Khan's new role also means he will be more involved in other challenges, including the company's AI woes. On July 7, Apple's top executive in charge of AI models was poached by Meta Platforms, and the company continues to consider partnering with outside companies to improve its technology. It's also wrestling with regulatory issues, including forced changes to its App Store in the European Union and an ongoing US Department of Justice lawsuit that could upend a US$20 billion (S$25.6 billion)-a-year deal with Google. That all comes as some of Apple's hardware continues to age, and AI start-ups are looking to replace the iPhone with newer, voice-controlled products. In his role as COO, Mr Williams had been one of the main faces of the company, typically presenting new Apple Watches and health-related upgrades during keynote presentations. Mr Khan, on the other hand, has been more low-profile, rarely making public appearances on behalf of Apple. In the COO job, Mr Khan will likely need to take a more public role. The departure is a continued changing of the guard for Apple. In 2024, Luca Maestri, its longtime chief financial officer, stepped down from that role into a smaller position that primes him for retirement. Apple's former hardware engineering boss, Dan Riccio, retired in 2024. And Phil Schiller, a longtime marketing leader, stepped into a lesser role overseeing the App Store in 2020. A year before that, Jony Ive, its longtime design mastermind, left to start his own design firm. Most of Apple's top executives are around the same age, and a sweeping transition has long been expected by insiders. BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
08-07-2025
- Straits Times
Jail for man who agreed to commit theft at warehouse containing vape-related items worth over $6m
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Lim Zhi Wei also admitted to multiple other unrelated charges including drug consumption, criminal breach of trust. SINGAPORE – A man who was offered $20,000 to break into a warehouse unit containing confiscated vaping-related items worth over $6.5 million and commit theft was given a jail sentence on July 8. Court documents stated that Lim Zhi Wei was offered the sum of money by one Chua Wee Ming, 34, to climb into the unit containing more than 540,000 vaping-related items that the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) had seized earlier. Lim had gone to the warehouse with a friend, Elvin Suriaganandhan, 23, whom he had roped in for the task, at around 3.30pm on March 26, 2024, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicole Teo. He was conducting surveillance at the property before HSA officers stopped the pair. Lim, 40, who was the second person to be dealt with in court this week over the plan to steal the items, was sentenced to two years, one month and six weeks' jail, and a fine of $2,400 on July 8. The Singaporean had pleaded guilty to one count of performing an act that could obstruct the course of justice. He also admitted to multiple other unrelated charges including drug consumption, criminal breach of trust and allowing his bank account to receive $10,000 from a victim of cheating. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP celebrations to be held at 5 heartland sites, including Bishan and Punggol, on Aug 10 Singapore NDP 2025: Tank that bumped into traffic light lost steering and braking power due to faulty part Singapore SIA flight from Brisbane to Singapore diverted to Perth due to technical issue Singapore New Draft Master Plan could reignite developers' interest to buy land Singapore AI cannot supplant learning, it must enable it: Desmond Lee Asia China warns Trump on tariffs, threatens retaliation on supply chain deals Multimedia 'I suspect he's cheating': She finds proof when spouses stray Opinion Here's what happened after some US schools started locking up students' phones The first person to be dealt with this week, Chee Wai Yuen, 36, was sentenced to one year, one month and six weeks' jail on July 7. The cases involving Chua and Elvin are still pending. Without revealing details, DPP Teo told the court that Chua had earlier imported vaping-related items into Singapore before the HSA seized them. HSA then stored the goods in the warehouse as they could be used as evidence in offences involving them. Information about the property's location has been redacted from court documents. The prosecutor added that Chua reached out to Lim on or around March 25, 2024, and enlisted the older man's help to steal the items. Court documents stated that Lim and Elvin went to the warehouse together at around 3.30pm the next day. DPP Teo said: '(Lim's) plan was to conduct surveillance to collect information for the execution of the theft that night. Together, they went to the 10th floor, where they saw that the occupied. ' down to the 9th floor to conduct surveillance. There, they saw an HSA officer. They then went back to the 10th floor.' HSA officers confronted and stopped them soon after. In an unrelated case, Lim was in charge of sales at a motorcycle workshop between January and April 2019 when he collected nearly $12,000 in total from 14 customers. He pocketed the money and used his ill-gotten gains to repay his debts to unlicensed moneylenders. He has since made $1,550 in restitution. Separately, Lim went on messaging platform Telegram in December 2022 and accessed a chat group called 'Fast Cash Bank Rental'. He saw an advertisement offering cash for the 'rental' of bank accounts and contacted an unknown person behind the post, who offered him $500 a month for such a service. The DPP said: 'The accused asked the unknown person if the account rented was going to be used for unlicensed moneylending. 'The unknown person guaranteed to the accused that it would not be used for that purpose, but rather, for online casino-related activities.' Satisfied with the answer, Lim handed the person details linked to his bank account. More than $436,000, including $10,000 from a victim of cheating, flowed through the account in early 2023. Lim later went to the warehouse to commit the offence involving the vaping-related items and was arrested on March 26, 2024 before he was charged in court two days later . He was out on bail when Central Narcotics Bureau officers arrested him for suspected drug consumption on March 6, 2025. His urine sample was later found to contain traces of methamphetamine. Lim's bail was set at $30,000 on July 8, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on July 25.
Straits Times
08-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Japan, South Korea seek to soften tariff blow before August deadline
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Some EU sources said that the bloc was close to an agreement with the Trump administration. WASHINGTON/TOKYO - Powerhouse Asian economies Japan and South Korea said on July 8 that they would try to negotiate with the US to soften the impact of sharply higher tariffs that President Donald Trump now plans to impose from the start of August. Mr Trump ramped up his trade war again on July 7, telling 14 nations that they would face tariffs ranging from 25 per cent for countries including Japan and South Korea, to 40 per cent for Laos and Myanmar. However, with the start date pushed back to August 1 , those countries were focusing on the new three-week window to press for an easier ride. Japan wants concessions for its large automobile industry, top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on July 8. Mr Akazawa said he held a 40-minute phone call with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in which the two agreed to actively continue negotiations. However, he said he would not sacrifice Japan's agriculture sector - a powerful political lobby domestically - for the sake of an early deal. South Korea said it planned to intensify trade talks over the coming weeks 'to reach a mutually beneficial result'. Asked if the latest deadline was firm, Mr Trump replied on July 7: 'I would say firm but not 100 per cent firm. If they call up and they say we'd like to do something a different way, we're going to be open to that.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP celebrations to be held at 5 heartland sites, including Bishan and Punggol, on Aug 10 Singapore NDP 2025: Tank that bumped into traffic light lost steering and braking power due to faulty part Singapore SIA flight from Brisbane to Singapore diverted to Perth due to technical issue Singapore New Draft Master Plan could reignite developers' interest to buy land Singapore AI cannot supplant learning, it must enable it: Desmond Lee Business ShopBack to scale up its payments business as it gets major payment institution licence Asia China warns Trump on tariffs, threatens retaliation on supply chain deals Multimedia 'I suspect he's cheating': She finds proof when spouses stray Market reaction was muted as investors assessed the latest twist in the long-running trade saga. European Union eyes deal The European Union, which is the largest bilateral trade partner of the US, aims to strike a deal before Aug 1 with negotiations focused on 'rebalancing' and concessions for certain key export industries, a European source familiar with the negotiations said. Some EU sources had said late on July 7 that the bloc was close to an agreement with the Trump administration. This could involve limited concessions to US baseline tariffs of 10 per cent for aircraft and parts, some medical equipment and spirits. Only two deals have been struck so far, with Britain and Vietnam. Washington and Beijing agreed to a trade framework in June, but with many details still unclear, traders and investors are watching to see if it unravels or leads to a lasting detente. Mr Trump's trade tactics are making it hard for nations and businesses to plan with any certainty, the executive director of the United Nations trade agency said on July 8. 'This move actually extends the period of uncertainty, undermining long-term investment and business contracts, and creating further uncertainty and instability,' Ms Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director of the International Trade Centre, told reporters in Geneva. Spreading the pain Mr Trump said the United States would impose tariffs of 25 per cent on goods from Tunisia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, with levies of 30 per cent on South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, climbing to 32 per cent on Indonesia, 35 per cent on Serbia and Bangladesh, 36 per cent on Cambodia and Thailand and 40 per cent on Laos and Myanmar. A Bangladesh team in Washington was scheduled to have further trade talks on July 9, an official said. The US is the main export market for Bangladesh's ready-made garments industry, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of its export earnings and employs 4 million people. 'This is absolutely shocking news for us,' Mr Mahmud Hasan Khan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Reuters on July 8. 'We were really hoping the tariffs would be somewhere between 10 to 20 per cent. This will hurt our industry badly.' REUTERS
Straits Times
08-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
From ‘fantastic' to ‘spoiled': How Japan's trade effort to woo Trump backfired
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Tokyo's negotiators believed they were making progress and had found a sympathetic ear in Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. TOKYO - When Japanese Premier Shigeru Ishiba first met Mr Donald Trump in February, his plan to placate the protectionist president's long-held frustration with Tokyo on trade was a promise to invest US$1 trillion (S$1.28 trillion) in the United States. It appeared to work. The pledge was hailed by Mr Trump, who said at the time he did not expect 'any problem whatsoever' in reaching a trade deal with Japan, citing their 'fantastic relationship'. In the months since, Tokyo's trade negotiators stuck to that strategy to avoid lowering barriers for imports of politically-sensitive products such as rice ahead of a dicey July 20 election, said four Japanese government sources with knowledge of the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity. But despite showing early signs of promise, the efforts backfired spectacularly, leaving negotiators with little time and few palatable options left to avert levies set to strain the world's fourth largest economy, the sources added. After calling Japan 'spoiled' in social media posts last week that accused Tokyo of reluctance to buy US rice , Mr Trump notified Mr Ishiba on July 7 that Washington would impose tariffs of 25 per cent on Japanese imports from Aug 1. 'It's a sign of Trump's frustration,' said Mr Kazuhiro Maeshima, a specialist in American government and foreign policy at Tokyo's Sophia University. 'Japanese companies will need to find ways to manage their businesses in a way that does not depend on the United States.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP celebrations to be held at 5 heartland sites, including Bishan and Punggol, on Aug 10 Singapore NDP 2025: Tank that bumped into traffic light lost steering and braking power due to faulty part Singapore AI cannot supplant learning, it must enable it: Desmond Lee Singapore SIA flight from Brisbane to Singapore diverted to Perth due to technical issue: Report Business ShopBack to scale up its payments business as it gets major payment institution licence Asia China warns Trump on tariffs, threatens retaliation on supply chain deals Singapore Grab to trial driverless shuttle for staff between Media Circle office and one-north MRT station Multimedia 'I suspect he's cheating': She finds proof when spouses stray A spokesperson for Japan's cabinet office, which oversees US tariff matters, declined to comment on Reuters' specific questions related to negotiations. Tokyo will continue to seek a pact with the United States 'that benefits both countries, while protecting Japan's national interests' Ishiba told a cabinet meeting in televised remarks on July 8. The US embassy in Japan referred questions on tariffs to the White House, which could not immediately be reached for comment. 'Dense fog' Japan, the largest foreign investor in the United States and one of its biggest trade partners, was among the first countries to engage Washington in tariff negotiations after Mr Trump announced sweeping trade duties on April 2. Led by one of Mr Ishiba's closest confidants, Economy Minister Ryosei Akazawa, Tokyo's negotiators pledged investments in sectors such as energy and steel during seven visits to Washington between April and June, the sources said. In return, they aimed to get Washington to drop tariffs on the automotive sector, which employs one in ten of Japan's workers and accounts for a fifth of overall exports. They also hoped it would head off any US demands for Japan to drop its own levies on agricultural products such as rice, moves opposed by rural voters as an election loomed. Polls show Mr Ishiba's ruling coalition is at risk of losing its majority in the upper house vote, which could cast doubt over his shaky government and his own political future, analysts say. Tokyo's negotiators believed they were making progress and had found a sympathetic ear in Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, with whom Mr Akazawa regularly spoke in Washington and by telephone. In his public remarks, Mr Akazawa repeatedly said the two sides aimed for a deal by the time Mr Ishiba and Mr Trump were due to meet for a second time on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting at Kananaskis in the Canadian Rockies, from June 15 to 17. But as the date neared, his optimism appeared to wane. 'It feels like we're still in a dense fog', he told reporters on June 10, shortly before he left for Washington. When the leaders met in Canada, Mr Trump appeared tired and disinterested and neither spoke much about trade, deferring to their cabinet ministers, said a source with knowledge of the meeting. Afterwards, Mr Ishiba told reporters the meeting had confirmed 'discrepancies in our understanding'. Two weeks later, Mr Trump took to Truth Social in frustration. 'To show people how spoiled countries have become with respect to the United States of America, and I have great respect for Japan, they won't take our rice, and yet they have a massive rice shortage,' he said. Some Japanese officials believe Tokyo will have to change tack and consider lowering barriers on farm imports to appease Mr Trump. Others, including Tokyo's top trade negotiator Akazawa, have said Washington must reduce tariffs on Japan's vital automotive sector if a broader deal is to be reached. But first Mr Ishiba must face his public, some of whom are growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress. 'Given the tariffs number that we got, frankly it makes me wonder what all the past negotiations were for,' said Mr Hidetoshi Inada, 64, speaking outside Tokyo's Shimbashi station on his way home from his office job for a telecoms firm. 'The outcome is everything,' he said. REUTERS
Straits Times
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
South Sudan's president fires army chief after seven months in post
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: U.S. Ambassador to South Sudan Michael J. Adler meets South Sudan's chief of defence forces, General Paul Nang Majok during the burial of General David Majur Dak, the commander of the South Sudan People's Defense Forces (SSPDF) who was killed when a United Nations helicopter trying to evacuate people from Nasir came under attack by the White Army militia, at the Heroes Cemetery at Simba Grounds, in Juba, South Sudan March 19, 2025. REUTERS/Samir Bol/File Photo NAIROBI - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has fired the country's army chief after seven months in the post and named a replacement, according to an announcement on state radio. No reason was given for the firing of Paul Nang Majok in the announcement late on Monday. Majok had been in the post since December. The announcement said Kiir had appointed Dau Aturjong as the Chief of Defence Forces. Majok was in charge of the army while fighting raged between the army and the White Army, an ethnic militia largely comprising Nuer youths, triggering the country's latest political crisis. "There has been a tradition that when you are appointed, or reassigned there are no reasons (given) for getting appointed and there are no reasons given for getting relieved. It is normal," said Lul Ruai Koang, South Sudan army spokesperson. South Sudan has been formally at peace since a 2018 deal ended the five-year conflict responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, but violence between rival communities flares frequently. In March, First Vice President Riek Machar was put under house arrest, stirring fears of renewed conflict. Information Minister Michael Makuei said the arrest was due to Machar contacting his supporters and "agitating them to rebel against the government with the aim of disrupting peace so that elections are not held and South Sudan goes back to war." Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP celebrations to be held at 5 heartland sites, including Bishan and Punggol, on Aug 10 Singapore NDP 2025: Tank that bumped into traffic light lost steering and braking power due to faulty part Singapore AI cannot supplant learning, it must enable it: Desmond Lee Singapore SIA flight from Brisbane to Singapore diverted to Perth due to technical issue: Report Business ShopBack to scale up its payments business as it gets major payment institution licence Asia China warns Trump on tariffs, threatens retaliation on supply chain deals Singapore Grab to trial driverless shuttle for staff between Media Circle office and one-north MRT station Multimedia 'I suspect he's cheating': She finds proof when spouses stray Machar's party has previously denied government accusations that it backs the White Army, which clashed with the army in the northeastern town of Nasir in March. In May, South Sudan's army said it had recaptured the town from the White Army. REUTERS
