While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, May 31, 2025

Straits Times

2 days ago

French President Emmanuel Macron delivering the keynote address at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30. ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, May 31, 2025
Macron touts 'positive new' Asia-Europe alliance
French President Emmanuel Macron urged Asia and Europe to work together in a new coalition based on common principles to push back against the inevitability of being caught between global superpowers.
Singling out the China-US rivalry as the biggest risk confronting the world, the French leader said he wants to be able to cooperate with the US at the same time as compete with but not confront China – while adopting a 'demanding approach' that puts France's interests first.
In expanding on the French doctrines of 'strategic autonomy' and 'freedom of sovereignty' to a gathering of global leaders at a pre-eminent security forum in the Asia-Pacific, President Macron sketched out a plausible 'third way' for Europe and the rest of Asia amid significant shifts in the world order and a world beset by multiple crises.
'The time for non-alignment has undoubtedly passed, but the time for coalitions of action has come and requires that countries capable of acting together give themselves every means to do so,' Mr Macron said in his keynote address at the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30.
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Trump says China has 'totally violated' tariffs, minerals deal
US President Donald Trump said on May 30 that China had violated an agreement with the US to mutually roll back tariffs and trade restrictions for critical minerals and issued a new veiled threat to get tougher with Beijing.
'China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr NICE GUY!,' Mr Trump said, in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Mr Trump said that he made a 'fast deal' in mid-May with Chinese officials for both countries to back away from triple-digit tariffs for 90 days. He said he did this to save China from a 'devastating' situation, factory closings and civil unrest caused by his tariffs of up to 145 per cent on Chinese imports.
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Black eye? That's just from my son, says Elon Musk
Billionaire Elon Musk sparked fevered speculation when he turned up with a black eye for his Oval Office farewell with US President Donald Trump on May 30.
But the South African-born tech magnate said he had a simple explanation: his son had punched him in the face.
'I was just horsing around with lil' X, and I said, 'go ahead punch me in the face',' 53-year-old Mr Musk told reporters when asked how he got the shiner. 'And he did. Turns out even a five-year-old punching you in the face actually is...' he added, before tailing off.
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Book-fair browser Zelensky picks up title: To Kill A Tyrant
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife browsed the stalls at a literary fair in Kyiv on May 30 and left with some new reading material - a book entitled To Kill A Tyrant.
Mr Zelensky, who has led his country throughout the three-year war with Russia, has repeatedly described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a dictator.
He did not reveal if he intended, with his book purchase, to send a message to his Kremlin counterpart.
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'My greatest dream': Taylor Swift buys back rights to old music
Pop sensation Taylor Swift, who was locked in a feud with record executives since 2019 over ownership of her music, has bought back the rights to her entire back catalogue, she said on May 30.
'All of the music I've ever made... now belongs... to me,' she wrote on her website, after years of disputes over her first six albums, a number of which she re-recorded to create copies she owns herself.
'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,' she wrote in the letter to her devoted followers.
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