While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 3, 2025
A Maxar satellite image showing the site of Iran's underground Fordow nuclear complex, after it was hit in US bunker busting strikes on June 22.
Iran's nuclear programme degraded by up to two years: US
The Pentagon said on July 2 that US strikes had degraded Iran's nuclear programme by up to two years after destroying the three targeted sites.
Mr Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the estimate at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was 'probably closer to two years.'
US military bombers carried out on June 22 using more than a dozen 13,600kg bunker-buster bombs.
The results of the strikes are being closely watched to see how far they may have set back Iran's nuclear programme, after President Donald Trump said it had been obliterated.
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Sean 'Diddy' Combs convicted on prostitution counts
Sean 'Diddy' Combs was found guilty after a criminal trial in which two former girlfriends testified that he physically and sexually abused them.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Sean 'Diddy' Combs was found guilty on July 2 of prostitution-related offences, but cleared of more serious charges, in a blow to prosecutors who had urged a jury to find him guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.
Combs was convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking, a partial win for the former billionaire known for elevating hip-hop in American culture.
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Singapore Singapore and Cambodia to expand collaboration in renewable energy, carbon markets and agri-trade
World Trump announces Vietnam trade deal with 20% import tariff
Singapore From camping to mentorship, Singapore Scouts mark 115th anniversary of the youth movement
Singapore Ong Beng Seng's court hearing rescheduled one day before he was expected to plead guilty
World Sean 'Diddy' Combs convicted on prostitution counts but cleared of more serious charges
Singapore Teen, 17, to be charged with allegedly trespassing on MRT tracks
Singapore Granddaughter of Hin Leong founder O.K. Lim fails to keep 3 insurance policies from creditors' reach
Singapore Man on trial for raping drunken woman after offering to drive her and her friend home
After the judge dismissed the jury and lawyers for both sides, Combs knelt before his chair and appeared to pray. Combs then rose and faced the courtroom gallery.
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US ex-student pleads guilty to four murders in Idaho
Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty on July 2 to stabbing four University of Idaho students in November 2022.
PHOTO: REUTERS
A 30-year-old man pleaded guilty on July 2 to murdering four students in the US state of Idaho in an agreement with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid the death penalty – and enraged some relatives of the victims.
Bryan Kohberger, a former criminology student, was facing trial in August for that rocked the small town of Moscow and made national headlines.
University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were attacked around 4am while they slept in their off-campus group house and stabbed to death.
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Trump announces Vietnam trade deal with 20% import tariff
Vietnam will also pay a 40 per cent tariff on transshipping, said US President Donald Trump.
PHOTO: REUTERS
US President Donald Trump said he had reached a trade deal with Vietnam, following weeks of intense diplomacy between the two nations and ahead of a deadline next week that would have seen higher tariffs imposed on the country's imports.
'I just made a Trade Deal with Vietnam. Details to follow,' Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post on July 2.
The deal with Vietnam would be just the third announced following agreements with the UK and China as trading partners race to cut agreements with the US ahead of a July 9 deadline.
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UK government backs FM after tears in Parliament
A video grab shows Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves looking tearful during a question and answer session in Britain's Parliament with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
PHOTO: AFP
The British government said on July 2 that Finance Minister Rachel Reeves was 'going nowhere' after she appeared visibly upset in Parliament as rumours swirled around her future.
Tears rolled down Ms Reeves' face after Prime Minister Keir Starmer declined to guarantee that she would remain in place until the next general election, likely in 2029.
It came after Mr Starmer's Labour government U-turned over key welfare reforms, wiping out a multibillion-pound boost to public finances and triggering speculation that Ms Reeves could lose her job.
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Russian drones swarm Kyiv for hours into the early hours
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Russian drones swarmed the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv into the early hours of Friday morning, officials said, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage. More than four hours into an air raid alert, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the capital's military administration, noted drone attacks at 13 locations in five districts on both sides of the Dnipro River bisecting the city. Tkachenko said many of the targets had been dwellings. Reuters witnesses heard strings of explosions and constant barrages of fire as air defence units tried to down the drones. "At the same time, there is no end to the attacks," Tkachenko wrote on Telegram. "There are a great many targets over Kyiv. We are working on Russian drones in all districts." Two fires had broken out in Svyatoshynskyi district in the west of the city and Tkachenko said injuries were likely. Drones triggered two fires on a roof and in a courtyard in buildings in adjacent Solomanskyi district. Tkachenko and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitscho had earlier reported a fire on the roof of a 16-storey apartment building in a northern suburb. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Seller's stamp duty rates for private homes raised; holding period increased from 3 years to 4 Asia Japan urges evacuation of small island as 1,000 quakes hit region World Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending Bill wins congressional approval World Trump eyes simple tariff rates over complex talks, says letters going out Friday Sport A true fans' player – Liverpool supporters in Singapore pay tribute to late Diogo Jota Business More Singapore residents met CPF Required Retirement Sum when they turned 55 in 2024 Singapore Universities like NUS need to be open, to become a sanctuary for global talent: Vivian Balakrishnan Singapore 193ha of land off Changi to be reclaimed for aviation park; area reduced to save seagrass meadow Video on local media showed residents bedding down in subway stations in anticipation of further attacks. REUTERS
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Freed from US jail, Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil seizes his new public platform
NEW YORK - U.S. President Donald Trump's fight with elite American universities was only a few days old when federal immigration agents arrested the Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil at his Columbia University apartment building in New York in March. Over the more than three months he was held at a jail for immigrants in rural Louisiana, the Trump administration escalated its battle. It arrested other foreign pro-Palestinian students and revoked billions of dollars in research grants to Columbia, Harvard and other private schools whose campuses were roiled by the pro-Palestinian student protest movement, in which Khalil was a prominent figure. "I absolutely don't regret standing up against a genocide," Khalil, 30, said in an interview at his Manhattan apartment, less than two weeks after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered him released on bail while he challenges the effort to revoke his U.S. lawful permanent residency green card and deport him. "I don't regret standing up for what's right, which is opposing war, which is calling for the end of violence." He believes the government is trying to silence him, but has instead given him a bigger platform. Returning to New York after his release, Khalil was welcomed at the airport by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a political foe of Trump; supporters waved Palestinian flags as he reunited with his wife and infant son, whose birth he missed in jail. Two days later, he was the star of a rally on the steps of a cathedral near Columbia's Manhattan campus, castigating the university's leaders. Last week, he appeared before cheering crowds alongside Zohran Mamdani, the pro-Palestinian state lawmaker who won June's Democratic primary ahead of New York City's 2025 mayoral election. "I did not choose to be in this position: ICE did," Khalil said, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who arrested him. "And this of course had a great impact on my life. I'm still, honestly, trying to contemplate my new reality." He missed his May graduation ceremony and emerged from jail unemployed. An international charity withdrew its offer of a job as a policy adviser, he said. The government could win its appeal and jail him again, so Khalil said his priority is spending as much time as possible with his son and wife, a dentist. Khalil was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria; his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, is a U.S. citizen and he became a U.S. lawful permanent resident last year. Moving to New York in 2022 as a graduate student, he became one of the main student negotiators between Columbia's administration and the protesters, who set up tent encampments on a campus lawn as they demanded that Columbia end investments of its $14 billion endowment in weapons makers and other companies supporting Israel's military. Khalil is not charged with any crime, but the U.S. government has invoked an obscure immigration statute to argue that Khalil and several other international pro-Palestinian students must be deported because their "otherwise lawful" speech could harm U.S. foreign policy interests. The federal judge overseeing the case has ruled that the Trump administration's main rationale for deporting Khalil is likely an unconstitutional violation of free-speech rights. The government is appealing. "This is not about 'free speech,'" Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, wrote in response to queries, "this is about individuals who don't have a right to be in the United States siding with Hamas terrorists and organizing group protests that made college campuses unsafe and harassed Jewish students." URGES UNIVERSITIES TO HEED THEIR STUDENTS Khalil, in the interview, condemned antisemitism and called Jewish students an "integral part" of the protest movement. He said the government was using antisemitism as a pretext to reshape American higher education, which Trump, a Republican, has said is captured by anti-American, Marxist and "radical left" ideologies. The Trump administration has told Columbia and other universities that federal grant money, mostly for biomedical research, will not be restored unless the government has greater oversight of who they admit and hire and what they teach, calling for greater "intellectual diversity." Unlike Harvard, Columbia has not challenged the legality of the government's sudden grant revocations, and agreed to at least some of the Trump administration's demands to tighten rules around protests as a precondition of negotiations over resuming funding. Khalil called Columbia's response heartbreaking. "Columbia basically gave the institution to the Trump administration, let the administration intervene in every single detail on how higher education institutions should be run," he said. Columbia's administration has said preserving the university's academic autonomy is a "red line" as negotiations continue. Virginia Lam Abrams, a Columbia spokesperson, said university leaders "strongly dispute" Khalil's characterization. "Columbia University recognizes the right for students, including Mr. Khalil, to speak out on issues that they deeply believe in," she said in a statement. "But it is also critical for the University to uphold its rules and policies to ensure that every member of our community can participate in a campus community free from discrimination and harassment.' Khalil urged Columbia and other universities targeted by Trump to heed their students. "The students presented a clear plan on how this campus can follow human rights, can follow international law, can be inclusive to all students, where everyone feels equal regardless of where they stand on issues," he said. "They prefer to capitulate to political pressure rather than listening to the students." REUTERS
Straits Times
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Austrian town to change two streets named after Nazi supporters
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox VIENNA - The Austrian hometown of Adolf Hitler has decided to rename two streets commemorating Nazis following years of complaints by activists, officials said on July 3. Austria is regularly criticised for not fully acknowledging its history. Annexed in 1938 by Hitler's Germany, it was only from the late 1980s that the country began to examine its own responsibility in the Holocaust. Numerous places and streets throughout Austria have been renamed, including one in the city of Linz named after Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of the car company, because of his Nazi past. Hitler's hometown Braunau decided late on July 2 to rename two streets named after Hitler associate Josef Reiter and propagandist Franz Resl, municipal councillor Martina Schaefer told AFP. 'There was a secret vote regarding the Josef Reiter and Resl streets – 28 elected officials voted in favour and nine against,' said Ms Schaefer of the opposition Social Democrats. Braunau's municipal government, led by the conservatives, which also rule the country, did not respond to AFP's request for comment. The Austrian Mauthausen Committee, which has long pushed for the streets to be renamed, welcomed a 'decision with symbolic significance'. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Seller's stamp duty rates for private homes raised; holding period increased from 3 years to 4 Asia Japan urges evacuation of small island as 1,000 quakes hit region World Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending Bill wins congressional approval World Trump eyes simple tariff rates over complex talks, says letters going out Friday Sport A true fans' player – Liverpool supporters in Singapore pay tribute to late Diogo Jota Business More Singapore residents met CPF Required Retirement Sum when they turned 55 in 2024 Singapore Universities like NUS need to be open, to become a sanctuary for global talent: Vivian Balakrishnan Singapore 193ha of land off Changi to be reclaimed for aviation park; area reduced to save seagrass meadow Reiter's honorary citizenship in Braunau was 'revoked on March 19 at our instigation', committee board member Robert Eiter told AFP. In 2016, the Austrian government bought the house in the small town on the German border where Hitler was born in 1889 and began transforming it into a police station to avoid it becoming a neo-Nazi pilgrimage site. The Mauthausen Committee, however, advocates for 'a commemorative use of the house', Mr Eiter said. The Mauthausen Committee, named after the former concentration camp, works to maintain the memory of the crimes committed during the Holocaust. In total, 65,000 Austrian Jews were killed and 130,000 forced into exile during the Holocaust. AFP
