British ⁠counterterrorism police said on Tuesday that ⁠former government minister Ann Widdecombe, who was found murdered at her home last week, was clearly targeted, adding that officers were still working to establish the motive. “It is clear that this was a targeted attack. We are still working ‌to understand the extent of any planning or preparation and the motivation that sits behind that attack,” Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of Britain’s counterterrorism policing, told...

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday suspended vehicle stops related to immigration enforcement, two sources briefed on the matter said, after agents fatally shot two men six days apart during stops in Texas and Maine. The policy shift came one day after an ICE officer killed a driver in the coastal Maine town of Biddeford, about 24km (15 miles) south of Portland. The US Department of Homeland Security released a statement nearly 12 hours after the shooting asserting that the...

Writer E. Jean Carroll has collected over US$5.6 million that a jury awarded in her sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against US President Donald Trump, court records and her lawyers said. The payment – representing the US$5 million jury award, plus interest – was made Monday from an account where it had been held in escrow since the 2023 verdict, according to court records. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, confirmed the payment on Tuesday. “We are pleased to report that she has received the...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday abandoned plans to impose a 20 per cent charge on commercial cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, less than a day after unveiling the proposal, while pressing ahead with a naval blockade targeting Iranian trade. Trump said the proposed fee would be replaced by trade and investment agreements with Gulf states following discussions with regional leaders. “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the...

Singapore’s Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said on Tuesday they would donate to charity the damages awarded to them in their defamation suit against Bloomberg. In separate social media posts published on Tuesday night, hours after the High Court delivered its judgment, the ministers reiterated that the lawsuit was about protecting their integrity and reputations, as well as the standing of their ministerial offices. Earlier on Tuesday, the High...

Hong Kong police have arrested a 21-year-old student and a jobless 19-year-old on suspicion of deliberately causing more than 120 traffic accidents across the city in “crash-for-cash” scams, racking up more than HK$1 million (US$127,570) in fraudulent compensation. Chief Inspector Tam Tsz-wai of the New Territories North regional crime unit said officers suspected the pair were linked to 123 staged traffic accidents between May last year and this July. “We believe the 21-year-old was the...

US consumer inflation slowed more than expected in June as energy prices retreated, but the moderation was insufficient to convince financial markets to take an interest-rate increase from the Federal Reserve this year off the table against the backdrop of renewed conflict in the Middle East. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Labour Department on Tuesday also showed underlying inflation subsiding last month amid declines in the costs of motor vehicle insurance, communication, apparel,...