US and South Korea reach trade deal to reduce tariffs from 25% to 15%
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Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Straits Times
Luka Doncic signs 3-year, $165m contract extension with Los Angeles Lakers
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Since joining the Lakers in February, Doncic has averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.6 steals over 28 games. LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Lakers have signed five-time NBA All-Star guard Luka Doncic to a three-year, US$165 million (S$212 million) contract extension, securing the long-term future of one of basketball's brightest stars, the team announced on Aug 2. 'I just signed my extension with the Lakers,' Doncic wrote in a social media post. 'Excited to keep working to bring championships to LA and make Laker Nation proud. Grateful to the Lakers, my teammates and all the fans who've shown so much love since day one. This is just the beginning.' Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka called it a 'monumental moment' for the franchise. 'Luka Doncic's future is with the Los Angeles Lakers,' Pelinka said in a statement. 'Luka is one of the game's most transcendent players, and his on-court dominance and passion is without compare.' Doncic, 26, was acquired by Los Angeles in a blockbuster trade in February that sent Anthony Davis to the Mavericks in a move that stunned the sports world. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore $3b money laundering case: MinLaw names 6 law firms taken to task over involvement in property deals Singapore Police reopen access to all areas in Marina Bay after crowd congestion eases at NDP Preview area Singapore Opening of Woodlands Health has eased load on KTPH, sets standard for future hospitals: Ong Ye Kung Asia KTM plans new passenger rail service in Johor Bahru to manage higher footfall expected from RTS Singapore HSA investigating teen allegedly vaping on MRT train Asia 4 workers dead after falling into manhole in Japan Singapore New vehicular bridge connecting Punggol Central and Seletar Link to open on Aug 3 Singapore New S'pore jobs portal launched for North West District residents looking for work near home Since joining the Lakers, he has averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.6 steals over 28 games to close the regular season, helping lift the Lakers to the third seed in the Western Conference. The Slovenian guard, who was the third overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, boasts career averages of 28.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists across seven NBA seasons with the Dallas Mavericks and Lakers. Doncic, who has been selected five times to the All-NBA first team, led the league in scoring during the 2023-24 campaign with 33.9 points per game and recorded a career-high 73 points in a single contest. He ranks third all-time in regular season scoring average and has notched 82 career triple-doubles, fourth among active players. REUTERS
CNA
12 hours ago
- CNA
Malaysia businesses respond to latest Trump tariff announcement
Businesses in Malaysia remain cautious despite the decision by the US to reduce tariffs on Malaysian imports. But the reduction at least helps the overall cost competitiveness of Malaysian-manufactured goods in the US market. Businesses and manufacturers are also bracing for higher operating costs and potential price hikes. Afifah Ariffin reports.
CNA
18 hours ago
- CNA
Trump fires BLS commissioner, raising concerns about economic data quality
WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump fired the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Friday (Aug 1) after data showed weaker-than-expected employment growth in July and massive downward revisions to the prior two months' job counts. Trump accused McEntarfer, who was appointed by former president Joe Biden, of faking the jobs numbers. There is no evidence to back Trump's claims of data manipulation by the BLS, the statistical agency that compiles the closely watched employment report, as well as consumer and producer price data. The US economy created only 73,000 jobs in July. Data for May and June were revised sharply down to show 258,000 fewer jobs created than had been previously reported. "We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. The BLS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. William Wiatrowski, the deputy commissioner, will serve as acting commissioner. The Trump administration's recent mass layoffs of federal government workers have raised concerns about the quality of US economic data, long seen as the gold standard. Economists, labour unions and Democratic Party leaders criticised the firing as an attempt by the Trump administration to manipulate data and warned of lasting damage to the economy. "The civil servants at BLS are not political actors. They are professionals committed to producing accurate, independent data, regardless of who is in power," said American Federation of Government Employees national president Everett Kelley. McEntarfer had worked in the federal government for more than two decades under multiple administrations, Kelley said. Trump-aligned Republicans were supportive of the BLS firing, calling McEntarfer a "Biden holdover". DATA CREDIBILITY NOW IN QUESTION "Politicising economic statistics is a self-defeating act," said Michael Madowitz, principal economist at the Roosevelt Institute's Roosevelt Forward. "Credibility is far easier to lose than rebuild, and the credibility of America's economic data is the foundation on which we've built the strongest economy in the world. Blinding the public about the state of the economy has a long track record, and it never ends well." Earlier this year, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disbanded two expert committees that worked with the government to produce economic statistics. Lutnick has also floated the idea of stripping out government spending from the gross domestic product report, claiming "governments historically have messed with GDP". The BLS has already reduced the sample collection for consumer price data as well as the producer price report, citing resource constraints. The government surveys about 121,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 631,000 individual worksites for the employment report. The response rate has declined from 80.3 per cent in October 2020 to about 67.1 per cent in July. "In my opinion, today's Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad," Trump wrote in another Truth Social post, without offering any evidence. Economists attributed the near-stall in job growth to Trump's trade and immigration policies. They said uncertainty about where Trump's tariff level would settle had made it difficult for businesses to plan long-term. More clarity has emerged as the White House has announced trade deals, but economists said the effective tariff rate was still the highest since the 1930s. Trump slapped dozens of trading partners with steep tariffs on Thursday, including a 35 per cent duty on many goods from Canada.
