Trump’s Chinese interference claims ‘reveal huge crisis facing American democracy’

Zheng Yongnian, a leading political scientist, said the claims were campaign rhetoric for November’s midterm elections and were unlikely to have a significant impact on the China-US relationship.

Instead of repeatedly shifting blame onto other countries, Washington should reflect on how to reform its own democracy, he said in an interview.

During a prime-time address from the White House that lasted nearly 30 minutes, Trump accused China of interfering in the 2020 US presidential race – which he lost to Joe Biden –


How South Korean hypermarket chain’s fall reflects ‘time-poor’ consumer demands

A Homeplus store in Seoul. The financially troubled hypermarket chain has closed or suspended its outlets in South Korea. Photo: EPA

Homeplus was once a retail haven for millions of South Korean families who shopped for groceries and household goods regularly at its cavernous hypermarkets.

But that ritual over almost three decades ended this week when the company closed all its remaining 67 operating outlets nationwide after suspending 37 others earlier as part of its restructuring.

The sudden closure of South Korea ’s second-largest

UK’s Burnham faces test as Trump seeks British bases for Iran attack

The resumption of US strikes against Iran has thrust incoming UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham into a potential day one decision on how much to support Britain’s closest ally in its controversial military campaign.

Even as Burnham was installed as leader of the governing Labour Party on Friday, outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government was engaged in high-level talks about renewed US attacks on Iran, according to people familiar with the matter.

The prime minister-in-waiting was kept appraised of the strikes, which entered their seventh


Hong Kong’s Lalamove, EY team up to shape ‘low-altitude economy’. What’s the plan?

Lalamove and Lalamove are collaborating to capitalise on Hong Kong’s push to develop a low-altitude economy. Photo: Sam Tsang
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Chinese fossil find shows birds shed their dinosaur tails step by step

A Jurassic fossil dating back 150 million years fills in a vital part of the evolutionary puzzle of how birds took to the skies

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A Jurassic-era fossil found in China has changed the long-held belief that birds shed the long, bony tails of their dinosaur ancestors through a sudden evolutionary transition. Photo: sciencenet.cn

A fossil found in China suggests modern birds shed the long, bony tails of their dinosaur ancestors through a step-by-step process, rather than a sudden evolutionary transition as previously believed.
The transition to a short, feathered tail was one of the most important

Fierce competition and shifting tastes squeeze China’s yoga apparel market

A Lululemon shop in Shanghai on May 19. The brand is seeing slowing sales amid a backdrop of shifting consumer preferences. Photo: AFP

China’s yoga apparel market is grappling with fierce competition and slowing growth amid sluggish domestic consumption, as middle-class shoppers diversify their activities, according to analysts.

Lululemon, the Canadian athletic apparel brand popular among China’s middle class, continues to face sales pressure in the world’s second-largest consumer market.

Lululemon’s same-store sales growth at sampled Chinese shopping malls dropped 4 per cent year on year in

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UAE’s Hormuz workaround tries to bypass its trillion-dollar economic heart

Workers load and unload containers at Khor Fakkan Port in the United Arab Emirates on July 7. Photo: EPA

Geography has handed the United Arab Emirates quite the quandary: its government wants to cut dependence on the Strait of Hormuz to “zero”, yet the ports that power its economy sit squarely inside the waterway it hopes to avoid.
Jebel Ali and Khalifa ports collectively handle most of the UAE’s US$1 trillion in annual non-oil trade, much of which flows to and from Asia. Together, they form the single most

90% sign up for Wang Fuk Court buy-back amid concerns over rushed decisions

About 90 per cent of flat owners at the fire-damaged Wang Fuk Court have returned signed letters accepting the government’s buy-back offer, but some residents have raised concerns about rushed decisions tied to priority selection.

The Deputy Financial Secretary’s Office said on Friday that as of July 16, a total of 1,786 owners, or about 90 per cent, had submitted acceptance letters. Of these, 769 had already signed sale and purchase agreements with the government,


Backlash in Japan over Fukuoka officials’ costly overseas ‘research trips’

The Fukuoka prefectural government admitted it spent more than US$2 million on the excursions, triggering public anger

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The Fukuoka prefectural government office in Japan. Photo: Google Maps

Officials in Japan ’s southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka are facing growing scrutiny over a series of overseas “research trips” that included stays in Paris and London and millions of yen in hotel upgrades, as public frustration builds over political spending during a period of rising household costs.

The controversies have put pressure

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China’s tech giants fuel the rise of AI tokens as a new corporate currency

Every month, a Beijing-based ByteDance employee says he burns through close to a billion units of a new corporate currency – one that cannot buy a coffee or pay rent.

Yet, as he noted, that staggering volume “doesn’t even put me near the top of the consumption rankings in my department”.

That currency is not yuan, but artificial intelligence tokens.

“Using AI has become part of almost every task now,” said the employee, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised by the