While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, April 2, 2025
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A Ukrainian serviceman using a grenade launcher during a training session in the east of Ukraine, on March 29.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Trump officials eye a longer road to Ukraine peace
Senior Trump administration officials have discussed in recent days the likelihood that the US will be unable to secure a Ukraine peace deal in the next few months and are drawing up new plans to pressure both Kyiv and Moscow, according to two US officials familiar with the matter.
At the start of his administration, President Donald Trump and his top advisers set out to reach a full ceasefire by April or May. They hoped to broker a lasting peace deal in the following months.
But neither agreement appears imminent, the officials said, raising the possibility that the three-year-old war will drag on and that Ukraine will need more Western support for its military operations.
Such an outcome would be anathema to Mr Trump, a self-styled dealmaker who has repeatedly promised a quick end to a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and risks pulling Nato into a direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.
‘We won’t give up’: SCDF rescuers recall saving quake victim
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM SCDF/FACEBOOK
When rescuers from Singapore’s Operation Lionheart arrived in Myanmar one day after a massive earthquake struck the country, they were stunned to see long stretches of buildings flattened by the temblor.
At site after site, the team of 80 kept their composure and searched under piles of rubble for any hope of life. The death toll in Myanmar from the devastating 7.7-magnitude quake on March 28 now stands at nearly 3,000.
The long hours they pulled were not in vain. On March 30, from under a collapsed three-storey building at their second search site in Naypyitaw, the team helped pull out a man alive after eight hours of trying.
Epstein accuser in serious condition after Australia car crash
Virginia Giuffre, a sex trafficking victim of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, was in serious condition after a car accident and receiving medical care, her agent said on April 1.
Ms Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, was injured in the incident in rural Western Australia and left “banged up and bruised” on March 24, Ms Dini von Mueffling said, in a statement.
“On March 24, in rural Western Australia, a school bus hit the car in which she was riding. The police were called but said that there was no one available to come to the scene,” the statement said.
US senator mounts all-night protest speech against Trump
A Democratic US senator launched a fiery protest speech against President Donald Trump’s “unconstitutional” actions late on March 31, then kept going, and going, and 13 hours later on the morning of April 1 was still going.
Senator Cory Booker’s display of endurance – to hold the floor he must remain standing and cannot even go to the bathroom – recalled the famous scene in Frank Capra’s 1939 film classic “Mr Smith Goes to Washington.”
Although Mr Booker’s stunt was not actually blocking the majority Republican Party from doing anything in the Senate, as would be the case in a true filibuster, his defiance quickly became a rallying point for beleaguered Democrats.
Tiger’s April Fool’s prank: Plan to play Masters a joke
USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
Tiger Woods took to social media on April 1 to play an April Fool’s prank on golf fans, giving false hope he could overcome an injury to play in next week’s Masters.
Woods, a 15-time major winner and five-time Masters champion, posted a message on X celebrating a miracle recovery from a ruptured left Achilles tendon.
For precious minutes there were some who believed the 49-year-old American superstar was all set for a shock return to Augusta National Golf Club. Then came the follow-up message from Woods.
