CNA938 Rewind - Big Shot: Secret Service agent leads Singapore team to fight cybercrime
CNA938 Rewind
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In May's edition of Big Shot, Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman speak with a Secret Service agent who protected US President Donald Trump and now leads the Interpol's cybercrime unit in Singapore about life as an agent and his work fighting cybercrime. He's Neal Jeatton, Interpol's Cybercrime Director.
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AsiaOne
31 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
Harvard's US-funded defence projects totaled $232 million in recent years, study shows, World News
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -When the Trump administration cut federal funding to Harvard University, it abruptly ended an estimated $180 million (S$232 million) that the federal government had poured into US military projects at Harvard in recent years, according to an analysis from a defence software company. The Trump administration announced in April that it was moving to freeze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University. President Donald Trump said he was trying to force change at Harvard - and other top-level universities across the US - because in his view they have been captured by leftist "woke" thought and become bastions of antisemitism. Some of the grants paid for military-specific medical research, studies on countering weapons of mass destruction and research on lasers, among numerous other topics, Reuters found. The abrupt halt stopped years-long projects and upended programs spread across several universities, not just Harvard. In 2025 alone, an estimated 103 grants totaling about $14 million will grind to a halt, according to an analysis by Govini, a defence software company. For example, US officials ended Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Professor Katia Bertoldi's $6 million Pentagon-funded project developing shape-changing structures with military applications two weeks ago, despite being at a critical juncture in its research cycle. "We've been in year three, so we set up all the tools, and now we're really gaining momentum, and now it stops," Bertoldi said. Funded through the Department of Defence's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, she was developing technology based on origami that would lead to reconfigurable antennas, and deployable shelters like field hospitals. Since 2020 the Pentagon, Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency and every branch of the US military have given Harvard 418 grants valued at $180 million, according to the analysis by Govini. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth "directed the termination of several programs, contracts and grants that were not aligned with the Department's priorities to cut wasteful spending, implement the President's orders, and reallocate savings to mission-critical priorities," a Pentagon spokesperson told Reuters. The bulk of those grants went to military medical research, basic scientific research and applied scientific research, Govini found, with the Army providing the most funding. The administration has frozen approximately $3 billion in federal grants to Harvard, with Trump complaining on Truth Social that Harvard has hired "Democrats, Radical Left idiots and 'bird brains'" as professors. On Monday, Trump said he is considering redirecting billions of dollars of previously awarded scientific and engineering research grants from Harvard to trade schools. [[nid:718336]] Harvard has sued to restore the funding, calling the cuts an unconstitutional attack on its free-speech rights. The research cancellations affect extensive collaborative networks. Bertoldi's project included researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgia Tech. Scientists warn these cuts may have strategic implications as China has heavily invested in research. Bertoldi said, "In China, as far as I know, colleagues that moved back to China, there's a lot of support for this type of research."
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Trump plans to double steel, aluminium tariffs to 50%
WEST MIFFLIN, Pennsylvania: US President Donald Trump on Friday (May 30) said he planned to increase tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminium to 50 per cent from 25 per cent, ratcheting up pressure on global steel producers and deepening his trade war. "We're going to bring it from 25 per cent to 50 per cent – the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States," he said at a rally in Pennsylvania. Trump announced the tariff increase on steel products at a speech given just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was talking up an agreement between Nippon Steel and US Steel. Trump said the US$14.9 billion deal, like the tariff increase, will help keep jobs for steel workers in the US. He later posted on social media that the increased tariff would also apply to aluminium products and that it would take effect on Wednesday. Shares of steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc surged 26 per cent after the market close as investors bet the new levies will help its profits. The doubling of steel and aluminium levies intensifies Trump's global trade war and came just hours after he accused China of violating an agreement with the US to mutually roll back tariffs and trade restrictions for critical minerals. Canada's Chamber of Commerce quickly denounced the tariff hike as "antithetical to North American economic security". "Unwinding the efficient, competitive and reliable cross-border supply chains like we have in steel and aluminium comes at a great cost to both countries," Candace Laing, president of the chamber, said in a statement. Trump spoke at US Steel's Mon Valley Works, a steel plant that symbolises both the one-time strength and the decline of US manufacturing power as the Rust Belt's steel plants and factories lost business to international rivals. Closely contested Pennsylvania is also a major prize in presidential elections. The US is the world's largest steel importer, excluding the European Union, with a total of 26.2 million tons of imported steel in 2024, according to the Department of Commerce. As a result, the new tariffs will likely increase steel prices across the board, hitting industry and consumers alike. Steel and aluminium tariffs were among the earliest put into effect by Trump when he returned to office in January. The tariffs of 25 per cent on most steel and aluminium imported to the US went into effect in March, and he had briefly threatened a 50 per cent levy on Canadian steel but ultimately backed off. Under the so-called Section 232 national security authority, the import taxes include both raw metals and derivative products as diverse as stainless steel sinks, gas ranges, air conditioner evaporator coils, horseshoes, aluminium frying pans and steel door hinges. The 2024 import value for the 289 product categories came to US$147.3 billion, with nearly two-thirds aluminium and one-third steel, according to Census Bureau data retrieved through the US International Trade Commission's Data Web system.
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
Trump says he plans to double steel, aluminum tariffs to 50%
[WEST MIFFLIN] US President Donald Trump on Friday said he planned to increase tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum to 50 per cent from 25 per cent, ratcheting up pressure on global steel producers and deepening his trade war. 'We are going to be imposing a 25 per cent increase. We're going to bring it from 25 to 50 per cent – the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States,' he said at a rally in Pennsylvania. Trump announced the tariff increase on steel products at a speech given just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was talking up an agreement between Nippon Steel and US Steel. Trump said the US$14.9 billion deal, like the tariff increase, will help keep jobs for steel workers in the US. Later, he added the increased tariff would also apply to aluminum products and that it would take effect on Jun 4. 'Our steel and aluminum industries are coming back like never before,' Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Shares of steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc surged 26 per cent after the market close as investors bet the new levies will help its profits. The doubling of steel and aluminum levies intensifies Trump's global trade war and came just hours after he accused China of violating an agreement with the US to mutually roll back tariffs and trade restrictions for critical minerals. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Trump spoke at US Steel's Mon Valley Works, a steel plant that symbolizes both the one-time strength and the decline of US manufacturing power as the Rust Belt's steel plants and factories lost business to international rivals. Closely contested Pennsylvania is also a major prize in presidential elections. The steel and aluminum tariffs were among the earliest put into effect by Trump when he returned to office in January. The tariffs of 25 per cent on most steel and aluminum imported to the US went into effect in March, and he had briefly threatened a 50 per cent levy on Canadian steel but ultimately backed off. Under the so-called Section 232 national security authority, the import taxes include both raw metals and derivative products as diverse as stainless steel sinks, gas ranges, air conditioner evaporator coils, horseshoes, aluminum frying pans and steel door hinges. The total 2024 import value for the 289 product categories came to US$147.3 billion with nearly two-thirds aluminum and one-third steel, according to Census Bureau data retrieved through the US International Trade Commission's Data Web system. By contrast, Trump's first two rounds of punitive tariffs on Chinese industrial goods in 2018 during his first term totaled US$50 billion in annual import value. The US is the world's largest steel importer, excluding the European Union, with a total of 26.2 million tonnes of imported steel in 2024, according to the Department of Commerce. As a result, the new tariffs will likely increase steel prices across the board, hitting industry and consumers alike. REUTERS
