While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 30
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Protesters gathered outside the US Supreme Court on July 1 after a landmark ruling granting former president Trump immunity from prosecution for official acts.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
Biden proposes Supreme Court term limits, binding code of conduct
US President Joe Biden on July 29 proposed sweeping changes to the US Supreme Court, including term limits and a binding code of conduct for its nine justices, but opposition from Republicans in Congress means the proposals have little chance of enactment.
Mr Biden called on Congress to pass binding and enforceable rules that would require the justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest. He also urged the adoption of an 18-year term limit for the justices, who currently serve life tenures.
Mr Biden called for the revamp, as well as a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad presidential immunity recognised in a July 1 Supreme Court ruling involving former President Donald Trump, in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post.
Suspected Trump gunman was spotted more than an hour before shooting, FBI says
REUTERS
Police noticed the Pennsylvania man who tried to assassinate Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump more than an hour before the July 13 shooting and took a photo to share with other law enforcement officers, an FBI official said on July 29.
“The shooter was identified by law enforcement as a suspicious person,” Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, told reporters at a briefing on the agency’s investigation into the assassination attempt.
He said a local officer took a photo of gunman Thomas Crooks and sent it to other law enforcement officials at the scene of Trump’s Pennsylvania rally that day. Some 30 minutes later, Rojek said, SWAT team operators saw Crooks using a rangefinder and browsing news sites.
Ex-BBC news presenter Huw Edwards charged with indecent child picture crimes
REUTERS
Former British TV news presenter Huw Edwards, a household name in Britain, has been charged with three counts of making indecent pictures of children, police said on July 29.
Edwards, 62, was the BBC’s highest paid news presenter and anchored the broadcaster’s BBC News at Ten bulletin for more than two decades. He resigned in April.
He has been charged with three counts of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child relating to images found on a child’s phone, according to court documents.
New UK government cuts billions of pounds of spending to fix ‘unsustainable’ finances
AFP
Britain’s new finance minister, Rachel Reeves, told parliament her Conservative predecessor had left public spending on track to go over budget by 21.9 billion pounds (S$37.84 billion) this year and announced an immediate 5.5 billion pounds of cuts.
Reeves pencilled in a further 8.1 billion pounds of cuts for the next financial year and promised more measures at a full budget on Oct 30, when the newly-elected Labour government would need to make “difficult decisions”, including on tax.
Part of the cost comes from Reeves’ decision to give public-sector workers pay rises costing in total 9.1 billion pounds, following recommendations from independent pay-setting bodies which she said the Conservatives had ignored for too long.
No apologies from Pidcock as he breaks French hearts
REUTERS
Tom Pidcock made no apology for spoiling another French party at the Olympic mountain bike course after shattering the hopes of Victor Koretzky to retain his title on July 29.
Pidcock, who turns 25 on July 30, found himself 40 seconds behind Koretzky after a front-wheel puncture on the fourth of eight laps of the 4.4km Elancourt Hill.
He battled back to set up a last-lap shootout with Koretzky on the snaking gravel circuit through the trees and boulders, only for the Frenchman to surge ahead once more and look poised to emulate Sunday’s women’s winner Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.
