US to send Ukraine US$5.5 billion in new fiscal, military aid
The United States will send an additional US$5.5 billion (S$7.58 billion) in aid to Ukraine, made up of US$4.5 billion in budgetary support and US$1 billion in military assistance, to help it come to grips with the turmoil of this year's Russian invasion.
The US$4.5 billion budgetary grant will fund urgent government needs including payments for pensions, social welfare and healthcare costs, bringing total US fiscal aid for Ukraine to US$8.5 billion since Russia's February invasion, the US Agency for International Development said.
The funding, coordinated with the US Treasury Department through the World Bank, will go to the Ukraine government in tranches, beginning with a US$3 billion disbursement in August, USAID said.
It follows previous transfers of US$1.7 billion in July and US$1.3 billion in June, USAID said.
Crypto 'mixer' used by North Korean hackers is slapped with US sanctions
A popular cryptocurrency service that allows users to mask their transactions was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department based on evidence North Korean hackers relied on it to launder illicit gains, officials announced on Monday.
Tornado Cash, a type of anonymising virtual currency exchange designed to preserve the privacy of blockchain users, has laundered more than US$7 billion (S$9.65 billion) in virtual currency, a senior Treasury official said in a press conference.
North Korea's Lazarus Group has laundered US$450 million through Tornado Cash, according to the official.
S'porean charged with wife's murder in UK tells court he does not remember killing her
The 51-year-old Singaporean man accused of smothering his wife to death with a pillow accepts that he carried out the act but cannot remember doing it, a jury heard on Monday.
Fong Soong Hert told Newcastle Crown Court that he has no recollection of the incident at County Aparthotel in Newcastle, in the early hours of Dec 6 last year.
"I don't remember, I really want to, I cannot explain," he said, later adding: "I'm really desperate to understand what happened and what went wrong."
Grease star and singer Olivia Newton-John dies at 73
Singer Olivia Newton-John, who gained worldwide fame as the high school sweetheart Sandy in the hit movie “Grease”, died on Monday after a 30-year battle with cancer. She was 73.
Newton-John “passed away peacefully at her ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends,” said a statement from her husband John Easterling posted on her official social media accounts.
The entertainer, whose career spanned more than five decades, devoted much of her time and celebrity to charities after first being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992.
Motor racing: F1 great Hamilton thinking of extending career beyond 2023
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has said he could continue in Formula One beyond the finish of his current contract with Mercedes.
The 37-year-old Briton won six drivers' world championships in seven years between 2014-2020 following a maiden title success with McLaren in 2008.
But he was denied a record-breaking eighth title last year by Max Verstappen in a dramatic battle for the Championship that went all the way to the finish of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
