Penulis: Agus S

The president’s actions – even on immigration – are increasingly unpopular, yet he continues to forge ahead instead of reaching out for unity

The nationwide demonstrations knocked the parade off the top headlines. A shooting during a march in Salt Lake City that left one person critically injured pushed Trump’s event further below the fold.

US holds first major military parade after 34 years to honour army’s 250th anniversary

230 mothers donated 900 litres, helping to support 120 infants in neonatal intensive care units

Hong Kong’s first breast milk bank supported 120 infants in its first six months, with 230 mothers donating 900 litres (1,902 pints), just shy of exceeding health authorities’ initial full-year target.

Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau on Monday recognised donors’ selfless dedication, saying that “donating breast milk could even be harder than donating blood”.

“Donors have to take care of and breastfeed their own newborns while undergoing blood tests before they can donate their breastmilk. This requires a lot of effort,” he said at the official opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Breast Milk Bank.

He added that the authorities initially had set a target of collecting 1,000 litres per year, a goal that was almost reached in half that time.

Donation collection started on January 6 this year and began providing breast milk in March to babies with health complications due to illness or premature birth in neonatal intensive care units.

Among the 230 registered donors, Yoyo Chan Ho-yin shared her personal motivation at the ceremony, driven by her experience of two miscarriages.

“The moment I knew about the programme, I decided that I would want to help save the lives of other premature and sick babies,” said Chan, who was at the ceremony with her one-year-old daughter.

Housing Bureau also says it expects an extra 10 months of construction due to site’s ‘complex geology’

Hong Kong housing authorities have revealed that a now-suspended plan to build 8,300 public flats in a northern town will face higher costs of up to 90 per cent for each home and require an extra 10 months to complete if it goes ahead.

The Housing Bureau said on Monday that the postponement was prompted by its investigation that found the site had “complex geology with a deep bedrock layer”.

“The authority stresses that it has not abandoned the project,” the bureau said.

It added that geological issues were expected to bring a longer-than-normal construction period and significant costs for foundation works.

The bedrock level had been found at depths exceeding 80 metres (262 feet) below ground in general, with the deepest recorded at 120 metres.

Deep foundation work would be involved if the site were to be used to build public housing, the bureau said.

The international unit of TP-Link is scaling back its chip development efforts after one product failed final testing, sources say

TP-Link, China’s leading Wi-fi router manufacturer, has laid off most employees at a chip development unit in Shanghai amid setbacks, according to people familiar with the matter and local media reports.

Lianzhou International, known globally as TP-Link Systems and the overseas arm of the router maker, cut the majority of workers at its Shanghai-based chip unit last week, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, who declined to be named because they are not authorised to speak to news media.

The lay-offs, first reported by Chinese media on Saturday, primarily affected employees working on the front-end module of Wi-fi chipsets, spanning roles such as algorithms and verification, according to the reports.

The total number of affected employees remains unclear. TP-Link did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

One source said the cuts followed difficulties in chip development, with one product failing to pass final testing.

Xi is looking to foster solidarity with his counterparts against unilateralism and protectionism

The trip is Xi’s third abroad this year and his sixth to Kazakhstan in the decade or so since he became president, making it Xi’s second most visited country after Russia.

He is accompanied on the trip by top aide Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and was greeted on arrival in Astana on Monday by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, with the two leaders holding in the afternoon.

In addition to Xi and Tokayev, leaders from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan will be in Astana for the summit, two years after the Chinese city of Xian hosted the first gathering.

This week’s summit comes as leaders of the Group of 7 gather half a world away in Canada to confront a global economy battered by uncertainty and conflict.

Sun Weidong, head of the China-Central Asia Mechanism which organises the regional summit, said Beijing’s aims were to deepen political trust between the partners, stabilise global industrial and supply chains, and foster an open and stable trade environment.

Former actor acknowledges having sex with a 15-year-old is a ‘very huge mistake’, apologises to the victim as he begins 40-month jail term

Alongside him, Fang’s mother rejected what she called inaccurate reports, saying they had “proof” that he did not give the victim a sexually transmitted infection.

Speaking to reporters outside Singapore’s State Courts, the 35-year-old Fang said in Mandarin: “When you make a mistake, you have to take responsibility. I’m here now to accept the punishment and legal consequences that I deserve. Of course, I also hope that everyone can give me a chance to be reborn, to start over.”

In English, Fang added: “This is something that I need to pay. It’s an expensive and very huge mistake that I need to pay off. But I believe it will definitely make me a better person.”

He also directly apologised to the victim, saying: “I am sorry. Everyone has been hurt.”

Fang’s public appearance marked his first since his conviction on May 19 on three counts of sexual penetration of a minor.

According to the court records, Fang met the teenage girl at an entertainment event in 2024. The two went on to have unprotected sex on multiple occasions, even though she was underage. He also admitted harassing the girl during the investigation, including repeatedly calling her late at night and pressuring her to plead for leniency on his behalf.

China has rapidly expanded its visa-free entry schemes in recent years to boost its tourism sector. Here is how the systems work

Visiting China used to be a costly, time-consuming process. Obtaining a Chinese visa often requires filling out pages of paperwork, paying more than US$100, and waiting for days for the documents to be processed.

But things have changed rapidly over the past few years, as Beijing has introduced a slew of new visa-free entry policies in a bid to attract more foreign visitors and boost the country’s tourism sector.

There are also several other visa-free policies in effect, each of which has different rules and eligibility criteria. Here are five different options for travellers planning to enter the mainland without a Chinese visa.

Passport holders from 55 nations – including Australia, Russia, the United States and countries throughout Europe – can enjoy an extended stay in much of mainland China when transiting through one of its international airports.

Travellers can enter China via 60 ports of entry across 24 provincial-level regions under the scheme, including airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guilin, Kunming, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xiamen, Guangdong province and the Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang cluster.

From supply chain competition between Beijing and Washington to domestic consumption picking up in China, here’s a round-up from today’s coverage

Supply chain competition between China and the United States is set to intensify over the next five years, with eight developing countries – including four in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) – poised to benefit from the relocation of manufacturing from China, according to a recent study.

China’s economic data sent mixed signals in May, with US tariffs continuing to weigh on the country’s manufacturing and exports but domestic consumption picking up slightly in the run-up to a major online shopping festival.

The Chinese military carried out patrols in the South China Sea on Saturday, as the Philippines and Japan held a joint drill in the disputed waters.

Ana Alias Martinez alleges her contract at HKUST was not renewed due to her complaints against male colleague

A Spanish language lecturer at a university in Hong Kong is suing her boss and the tertiary education institution after her contract renewal was allegedly rejected due to her complaints about workplace harassment.

A writ filed to the District Court showed Ana Alias Martinez was seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress, reputational harm and financial losses.

She accused her supervisor of becoming hostile and opting against renewing her employment contract after she made a harassment complaint last year.

The plaintiff joined the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2004 as a part-time Spanish language instructor at the institution’s centre for language education. She became a full-time lecturer in 2021.

She said she had no “disciplinary warnings, complaints or negative performance reviews” during her time at the university.

According to the writ filed on Friday last week, the dispute could be traced back to September 2024, when the lecturer lodged a workplace harassment complaint against a male colleague.

The show, which runs from Wednesday until October 6, includes Islamic carpets, ceramics and manuscripts

An exhibition featuring 90 works, including Islamic carpets, ceramics and manuscripts, from the 10th to the 19th centuries will open in Hong Kong on Wednesday amid government efforts to forge stronger ties with the Middle East.

The show, “Wonders of Imperial Carpets: Masterpieces from the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha”, is hosted by the Hong Kong Palace Museum and marks the Qatari institution’s debut in the city.

“This exhibition showcases a millennium of cultural exchange between the Islamic world and China and sheds light on the historical roots of today’s Belt and Road Initiative,” Hong Kong Palace Museum director Louis Ng Chi-wa said on Monday, referring to Beijing’s scheme to grow global trade.

Shaika Nasser Al-Nassr, director of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), said dozens of national treasures would be on display and were chosen from a vast 12,000-piece collection. The show marked a “significant moment” for the institution, she added.

“This collaboration reflects our belief that art has the power to connect culture and transcend borders,” she said, adding that they were committed to creating spaces that invited dialogue, curiosity and deeper understanding.

Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu led a visit to the Middle East earlier this year, following one in 2023, with the aim of driving more business and people-to-people ties amid escalating China-US tensions and geopolitical uncertainty.