While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, June 14
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and US President Joe Biden signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Italy.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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US, Ukraine ink 10-year defence agreement
US President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement on June 13 aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s defence against Russian invaders and getting Ukraine closer to Nato membership.
The deal, signed on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Italy, aims to commit future US administrations to support Ukraine, even if former president Donald Trump wins November’s election, officials said.
“Our goal is to strengthen Ukraine’s credible defence and deterrence capabilities for the long term,” Mr Biden said, at a joint news conference with Mr Zelensky.
He said the G-7‘s message to Russian President Vladimir Putin is “You cannot wait us out. You cannot divide us.”
US lawmakers to meet Dalai Lama on India trip
REUTERS
Republican Representative Michael McCaul is expected to lead a bipartisan US congressional delegation to India in the coming days, where he and other lawmakers, including Democratic former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, plan to meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Mr McCaul, Mrs Pelosi and a group of other US lawmakers will visit Dharamsala – the town in the northern Indian Himalayas where the 88-year-old Tibetan monk lives in exile - from June 18-19, an official of the Tibetan government in-exile, known as the Central Tibetan Administration, told Reuters.
The meeting comes days ahead of a planned trip by the Dalai Lama to the US to undergo medical treatment for his knees, but it is unclear whether he will have any engagements during that time.
Sunak aide apologises for ‘error’ over election date bet
A British lawmaker and close aide to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologised on June 13 for a “huge error of judgment”, after he placed a bet on when the country’s election would happen, triggering an investigation by the gambling regulator.
The latest embarrassment for Mr Sunak’s Conservative Party campaign followed a Guardian report that Mr Craig Williams, who is standing for a parliamentary seat in Wales, bet £100 (S$170) that Mr Sunak would call an election for July, just days before he did. Mr Williams stood to win £500, the report said.
The July 4 date of the vote came as a surprise to most other lawmakers and voters, who had expected an autumn election.
Antelope dies at US zoo after choking on plastic cap
An antelope choked to death at a Tennessee zoo last week after swallowing a plastic cap from a squeezable food pouch that a guest apparently brought into the animal park in violation of its safety rules.
Lief, a seven-year-old male sitatunga antelope, died on June 8, said Brights Zoo, in rural Limestone, about 100km east of Knoxville, Tennessee.
“Some ask why we don’t allow squeezable pouches into the zoo,” Brights wrote in a series of social media posts.
Patrick Cantlay scorches Pinehurst with late birdies
Patrick Cantlay used a sizzling burst of late birdies to grab a one-shot US Open clubhouse lead over Swede Ludvig Aberg on June 13 at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, where Scottie Scheffler was struggling to make a move.
Cantlay, in pursuit of his maiden major victory, birdied three of his final five holes on a tricky layout en route to a five under-par 65 that matched Martin Kaymer’s record for the lowest start at Pinehurst No. 2 during a US Open.
“Played pretty solid most of the way,” said Cantlay, who needed only 23 putts on the notoriously challenging turtle-shell greens that are one of the course’s greatest defence.
