Chinese President Xi Jinping has met U.S. President Donald Trump twice in 2026, with a possible two more lined up later in the year.

When they met, Xi returned to a theme that he has visited consistently throughout the past decade, that of the Thucydides Trap:

"China and the United States must hold the line of no conflict and no confrontation between us, and we can certainly find the right path for our two great countries to get along on this planet we both call home..."

"The Thucydides Trap can be overcome."

The Trap references Classical Greek historian Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, an account of the devastating war that saw the rising power of Athens take on the established power of Sparta.

It is a distinctly American interpretation of the war, originating with American thinkers, and first referenced between China and the U.S. by U.S. political scientist Graham Allison over 10 years ago.

So what is the Trap, why does Xi keep referring to it, and is it as straightforward as it seems?

What is the Thucydides Trap

The Thucydides Trap is the idea that a declining power’s fear and suspicion of a rising power would inevitably lead to war.

The name of the Trap alludes to the account of the Peloponnesian War by the Greek historian Thucydides, the 5th century conflict between the rising power of Athens and the established power of Sparta.

The Trap is essentially the devastating war that two powers and their allies fought, and that war was made nigh on inevitable due to the fear and suspicion felt by Sparta in response to Athens’ growing power and influence.

In the post-Second World War period, political scientists and historians developed the theory that stated that most, but not all, similar situations in history likewise led to war.

12 in four, leads to war

Allison refers to 16 examples, spanning the 17th century all the way to the 2000s, and notes that in 12 cases war was the result.

Recent examples of this include the first world war, where the rising power of Germany warred with the established British and French empires, the Second World War where the, er, rising power of Germany warred with the established powers of British and French empires, but also the rising power of Japan fought against the established power of the United States.

But war is not the only outcome, the rise of the U.S. replacing the imperial power of Britain, and to a lesser extent France, was without the globe-spanning conflict of the World Wars, and while the rising power of the Soviet Union was fraught with conflict, it did not result in global all-out war.

But Allison had a dim outlook for the future of the relationship, saying in 2015:

“War between the U.S. and China is more likely than recognised at the moment. Indeed judging by the historical record, war is more likely than not.”

But as even Allison acknowledged, it was possible to avoid this conflict, but “escaping this trap requires tremendous effort.”

Seeing the trap

Xi appears to have first publicly referenced the trap in 2014, and usually in the context of U.S.-China relations, while on a visit to the U.S. or involving a U.S. leader.

In 2015, Xi’s modus operandi was to say that the Trap did not exist, saying while visiting Seattle that:

“There is no such thing as the so-called Thucydides Trap in the world. But should major countries time and again make the mistakes of strategic miscalculation, they might create such traps for themselves.”

By the 2020s, he appears to acknowledge the Trap’s existence, but insists that:

“The ‘Thucydides’ Trap’ is not inevitable, and Planet Earth is vast enough to accommodate the respective development and common prosperity of China and the United States.”

The declining power

Xi clearly sees China as the rising power of the present trap, with the U.S., and to a lesser extent, the West as a whole, as the established or declining power.

The idea that the Trap was possible to overcome was a theme that he would revisit in his most recent visit to the U.S. in Sep. 2026, saying that U.S.-China competition should be “a healthy one and should be kept within bounds.”

But others have snidely noted that Xi’s use of the term has allowed him to call the U.S. a declining power to its face.

Even Trump appears to have noticed, writing about it on social media, although he has chosen to interpret his words to mean a declining power... before Trump returned to power.

Allison himself remarked on Xi’s use of the term to describe the relationship, saying that “Both Xi and Trump realise that structurally, their two nations are destined to be the fiercest rivals in history.”

It is a natural fear that the fiercest rivals might become the fiercest enemies, leading to the fiercest of wars.

The Great

But Allison is not the originator of the Trap, nor is he the only political scientist to have drawn lessons from the war between Sparta and Athens.

Robert Gilpin wrote about the clash of dominant, hegemonic powers, and, TL;DR: it doesn’t always work out the way you think it will.

Conflict at that level is resource-intensive, it's devastating, it shakes up the very foundations of the regional or world order, and more to the point: it exhausts the powers involved.

Neither Athens nor Sparta won in the end; their war destroyed their societies and economies, allowing the rise of the third power: the kingdom of Alexander the Great, Macedon.

This might be among Xi's underlying worry, that even if it were able to withstand a conflict with the U.S., it might wipe out its achievements of the past five decades.

Singaporean actor and comedian Suhaimi Yusof paid tribute to the late Lydia Shum for her help during his first acting role.

The 57-year-old posted a Living with Lydia clip on Instagram, a Singaporean-Hong Kong sitcom that aired on Channel 5 from 2001 to 2005.

It was Suhaimi's first acting role after he transitioned from being a radio DJ.

Shum, by then, was already an iconic and well-established Hong Kong comedian and actress.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Suhaimi Yusof Official (@suhaimiyusof_official)

In the caption, Suhaimi shared how he had no prior acting experience before Living With Lydia.

He had not even acted in any Malay-language productions prior, making Living With Lydia his first-ever acting role as well as appearance on Channel 5.

His first appearance on the show was in the second season.

Initially, according to Suhaimi, he was supposed to star in only "two cameo roles".

However, owing to the encouragement and mentorship of Shum, he gradually made his way into full seasons of the show, noting that the "producers, writers and directors trusted my skills."

"And the rest is history," he added.

"LESSON LEARNED:

Go to the people who lift you up & you lift them up higher after that. (Miss you Lydia.)"

In the show, Shum plays Lydia Lum, a Hong Kong restaurateur who is forced to move to Singapore after her dim sum restaurant is hit with a food poisoning scandal.

Suhaimi plays Sulaiman Yusof, with the gag being that Lum mishears his name as the Cantonese-sounding "Soh Lye Mun".

Living With Lydia was a hit with both viewers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Since then, Suhaimi has taken on several iconic roles in local television and film, such in The Noose and Police & Thief.

This is not the first time Suhaimi has shared fond memories of himself with Shum.

He shared this clip in 2023 of him teaching Shum Malay.

@suhaimiyusof_official "Cincang udang dan bawang" - when the late Lydia Sum learned Malay from Suhaimi Yusof🤪 #tiktokSG #tiktokmalaysia #fyp ♬ original sound - Suhaimi Yusof Official

A 44-year-old foreign domestic helper in Singapore, who threw a bottle of lotion at her employer's bedridden mother, was sentenced to 16 weeks' jail on Oct. 1, 2026.

Eka Yulianti Suryanto had become frustrated by the 70-year-old woman, whom she claimed disrupted her sleep.

Investigations later found that she had also stolen two pieces of gold jewellery from her employer and pawned them for S$2,880.

To date, no form of restitution has been made.

Eka had pleaded guilty to one count of theft, as well as one count of committing a rash act.

Helper said the elderly woman was "being noisy"

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Eka had worked as a domestic helper for her employer for about 11 years at the time of the offences.

She shared a room with another domestic helper and her employer's mother, and her duties included cleaning the household and caring for her employer's children.

The employer's mother has Parkinson’s disease and would sometimes make involuntary noises as a result of the condition.

Eka became frustrated by the noises in November 2025, as she felt they were disrupting her sleep.

When she could no longer tolerate the noise, Eka would throw household items — either an air freshener or a body lotion bottle — in the elderly woman's direction.

The items would make a loud noise when they landed, after which the elderly woman would remain quiet.

In the early hours of Jan. 22, 2026, Eka again became frustrated and threw a bottle of body lotion at the older woman.

The bottle struck the elderly woman's lips.

Eka did not check on her after throwing the bottle and instead went back to sleep.

The following morning, the second domestic helper woke up and began changing the elderly woman’s diaper.

She then noticed that the woman’s lips were bleeding and bruised, and took a photograph of the injury.

When asked about it, Eka admitted that she had thrown a body lotion bottle at the elderly woman as she was "being noisy".

Neither domestic helper told anyone about the incident immediately, and the elderly woman also did not receive any medical attention.

The second helper was initially hesitant to tell her employer what had happened as she was afraid of Eka.

Three days later, however, on Jan. 25, 2026, she decided to inform her about the incident while Eka was out of the house on her day off.

Stole jewellery and vouchers

Investigations later found that Eka had also stolen jewellery and supermarket vouchers belonging to her employer at various points in 2025.

Among the items were two pieces of gold jewellery, which Eka pawned for S$2,880.

She would later say she had remitted the money back to Indonesia to deal with financial issues there.

The employer had noticed that the two items were missing and asked Eka about them.

However, Eka denied seeing the jewellery and told her that she or her daughter might have misplaced them.

National water agency PUB has shared that the 30-year-old Myanmar man who was charged for creating an AI-generated image of a crocodile at Pandan Reservoir is a worker employed by their reservoir maintenance contractor.

The man, Ye Lin, also deleted the image from his phone. He was later charged in court on Sep. 29.

In a Oct. 1 Facebook post, PUB said. it had attempted to verify the authenticity of the image using several AI checker tools, but the results were “inconclusive”.

Supervisor alerted PUB

According to PUB, his supervisor alerted the agency to the image on Aug. 20.

After getting “inconclusive” results on whether the image was AI-generated, PUB and the National Parks Board (NParks) took immediate steps to deploy resources to conduct search and capture operations in the area.

“In the interest of public safety, PUB acted quickly and took the necessary precautionary measures,” the agency said.

When it was established that the image was fake, PUB made a police report.

In an earlier post, PUB urged the public to avoid circulating false information or edited images that could cause alarm, noting that such incidents could result in unnecessary deployment of public resources.

Man charged

Ye was charged on Sep. 29 with communicating a false message and obstructing the course of justice.

He was granted agency bail of S$5,000, with his next court date scheduled for Nov. 10.

A video posted on Xiao Hong Shu by a user called Momo showed a woman being escorted off an airplane.

The video has received more than 990 likes, and over 80 comments, with the caption noting a 2-hour delay.

The woman can be seeing leaving the airplane, escorted by police officers and flight attendants.

Other passengers can be heard clapping.

According to The Straits Times, Scoot said the incident happened on flight TR905, which was carrying 173 passengers.

The plane was supposed to takeoff at 6.45pm, but was delayed to about 8.45pm. Scoot said the passenger was handed over to the authorities at Macau International Airport, but did not say what disturbance the passenger had caused.

The airline apologised for the delay and inconvenience caused.

Investigation are ongoing.

An Indonesian man in Tawau, Malaysia, has been sentenced to 13 years in jail after pleading guilty to causing the death of his young daughter's rapist.

The 30-year-old man found out that his daughter, aged 12 at the time, had been raped.

She told her mother that the incident occurred when going home from a social gathering on Aug. 31, 2024, reported New Straits Times (NST).

The father subsequently went to search for the alleged rapist with parang in hand, chased him to a chicken coop and then slashed him several times.

The 33-year-old man died sometime between 7:30pm on Aug. 31 and 12pm the day after.

A hospital examination found that the girl had fresh tears to her private parts.

The rapist was identified through DNA analysis — DNA on the girl's fingernail clippings matched that from semen found on the girl's underwear.

The girl's father was later arrested at his home on Sep. 2, 2024, NST wrote.

According to Malay Mail, the father had initially been charged with murder, but the charge was later amended to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The father's jail sentence will take effect from Sep. 2, 2024, the date of his arrest.

The court also ordered that he be referred to the Immigration Department after completing his sentence.

For his offence, he could have been sentenced to a maximum of 30 years and a fine.

Khaw Boon Wan, 73, has stepped down after serving for five years as chairman of both SPH Media Trust (SMT) and SPH Media Holdings (SPHMH).

According to a press release from SPH Media, he will be replaced by Chan Yeng Kit, SPH Media's chief executive officer (CEO).

Chan will take the role of both executive chairman of SMT and SPHMH.

On his retirement, Khaw said this marks the end of a "rewarding chapter" for him, and that he was supported by a good leadership team.

He added that SPH Media is currently in a "strong position".

He said he was pleased to pass the baton to Chan, highlighting his leadership and strategic abilities.

"I have confidence that under [Chan's] stewardship, the company will successfully continue to evolve with the changing media landscape, meet the needs of our audiences, and most importantly, fulfil its critical role in engendering an informed citizenry." 

Kuek Yu Chuang, the deputy CEO of SPH Media, has also been new appointed as its managing director.

Khaw's retirement comes as part of a larger leadership reshuffle in SPH Media.

He was part of a team that saw SPH Media's transition from a publicly listed company to a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG).

The company said that it was grateful to Khaw and all outgoing board members for steering it through its CLG transition and the tumultuous periods of the Covid-19 pandemic and shifts in the media landscape.

Prime minister Lawrence Wong praised Khaw for taking on the role in 2021 after retiring from politics.

"As Boon Wan steps down today as chairman, I thank him for taking on this responsibility when he was called upon, for seeing SPH Media through an important period of transition, and for his many years of dedicated service to Singapore!"

A group of people has reportedly been seen setting up makeshift stalls and openly selling aphrodisiacs along three pedestrian walkways near the junction of Geylang Road and Aljunied Road.

At least eight stalls spotted

According to a report by Shin Min Daily News, when one of their reporters visited the area, they observed at least eight makeshift stalls set up within a 50m stretch.

The sellers were seen approaching passers-by and aggressively soliciting customers, with some offering products to men walking alone.

The stalls were located on both sides of Aljunied Road, as well as along Geylang Road.

The area outside a hotel along Aljunied Road reportedly had the highest concentration of sellers, with at least four stalls set up alongside each other.

The sellers were observed to be between the ages of 30 and 70 years old, and more than a dozen type of aphrodisiac products were displayed at each stall.

One seller set up the stall in seconds

The makeshift stalls consisted of two styrofoam boxes supporting a board that served as a table, while the aphrodisiac products were displayed on plastic sheets, Shin Min reported.

One of the sellers was even spotted setting up his stall in merely a few seconds.

It was also observed that the plastic sheets appeared to be configured so that sellers could quickly pack up their items and leave, should they be approached by the authorities.

Aggressive solicitation

According to Shin Min, many of the sellers spoke with Chinese accents, and were seen actively approaching potential customers.

They would approach men who were walking alone, telling them about their products and asking them if they were interested in making a purchase.

Though pedestrian traffic in the area was high, the sellers appeared to attract few customers.

Only three men stopped to look at the products over the course of an hour, and all three left without purchasing anything.

Other individuals were also spotted setting up stalls in more secluded areas near nearby alleyways.

Sellers keeping an eye out

Shin Min reported that the sellers were observed sitting on opposite sides of the walkway, and would alternate between looking at their phones and surveying their surroundings.

Upon identifying someone whom they regarded as suspicious, the sellers would exchange looks and signals with each other.

Some would even arrogantly taunt them to come arrest them.

Several people in the vicinity also appeared to be acting as lookouts, and would communicate with one another via phone and share information about what was going on in the area.

Shin Min also observed that the sellers appeared unfazed by the presence of CCTV cameras in the area, and their presence has reportedly caused discomfort among nearby residents and diners.

A Singaporean man devised an elaborate scheme to cheat victims of their money by having them sit in rigged mahjong games.

To do this, Marcus Ang Yi Sheng allegedly posed as a woman on dating apps to lure them into playing.

Unbeknownst to the victim, all the other players at the table would be co-conspirators who colluded to ensure that the victim lost.

The scheme was so effective that Ang allegedly bragged that they had a "99 per cent win rate", estimating that the crew made S$100,000 in ill-gotten gains.

CNA reported that one co-conspirator, Olivia Chin Hui Zhen, 31, was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment and fined S$3,000 on Oct. 1.

She pleaded guilty to four charges of conspiracy to cheat and one charge of unlawful gambling, with another 32 charges taken into consideration.

The rest of the group have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing, except for one whose case is still pending.

The scheme

According to court documents seen by Mothership, the persons involved besides Ang and Chin are the following: Jason Chin Yi Sheng, Kristy Tan Siew Boon, Leong Ying Liat, Penelope Kek Yong Ru, Chloe Low Zhiyi, Belinda Chee Yan Lin and Li Yongyi Joaquin.

The court heard that from April 2024, Ang created fake profiles on dating apps, and he would then chat with victims and ask them to play mahjong.

Once they accepted, one of Ang's female accomplices would pose as the woman in the profile and either host the game or serve as their "date" during the game.

Ang would then allegedly direct each of the conspirators present to take on pseudonyms and fake relations with one another, acting as siblings or strangers for instance.

This was so that the victim's suspicion would not be aroused by the fact that they all knew one another.

Here's how they allegedly did it.

At the mahjong table, each player took on a specific role depending on their seat.

One player would "defend" against the victim; another would form a winning hand as quickly as possible or "throw" tiles to the third player; and the third would aim to form the biggest hand possible to maximise winnings from the victim.

When Chin would serve as the host or "date", she was instructed that should the victim refuse to pay, she should pretend to offer to cover half the sum so that the victim might be more willing to pay some money.

Ang also made a WhatsApp group, “Sales appointment updates”, to coordinate games and dole out commissions to each player.

He even purportedly organised training sessions for each player to familiarise themselves with their role.

Scammed

In total, no fewer than 28 games were arranged between April and June 2024, but only 19 took place.

Victims were made to pay sums between S$1,120 to S$26,000 after they lost.

One victim purportedly refused to pay S$26,000 and left. The conspirators followed him to his house but were unsuccessful in obtaining the money.

Another victim allegedly refused to pay a similar sum, prompting the group to quarrel with him at the void deck and tell him that they would find him at his workplace and report him to the police for "raping" his fictitious "date".

Eventually, one victim made a police report.

Chin was arrested in June 2024.

Sentencing

According to CNA, Chin's lawyers sought leniency and a reduced sentence, saying that she had made full restitution.

She was the first in the group to plead guilty.

Her lawyers also argued that she had the least culpability as she was not only less experienced in the game than the others, but also did not know that the games were rigged at first, only getting involved in the scheme later.

The prosecution countered that she was involved in the conspiracy, nevertheless, and played several games, acting on Ang's instructions.

The judge said that her abilities in mahjong were irrelevant insofar as she had played a role in the scheme, but took into account the restitution that she made.

He deferred Chin's sentence by four weeks for her to settle her affairs.

For conspiracy to cheat, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

For unlawful gambling, an offender can receive up to six months' imprisonment, fined up to S$10,000, or both.

A female passenger on Batik Airlines insisted on carrying a cardboard box the size of a cabin lugagge on her lap and refused to give it to the airline’s crew for safekeeping. When she failed to comply, she was escorted off the plane by police officers.

Another passenger on the plane, known as Ke, told Shin Min Daily News about the incident. The plane, headed from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, was scheduled to depart at 12.30pm.

The takeoff was delayed, and Ke noticed a woman holding a box sitting near the aisle.

The box was apparently as big as her carry-on luggage. It was so big that it could not even fit into the overhead luggage rack.

For the next 45 minutes, flight attendants tried to have her hand over the box to them for safekeeping, ensuring her that it would be returned when the plane landed. One of the flight attendants apparently said, “I promise you.”, but she refused to cooperate.

A male flight attendant took the box away from her and left, but she refused to disembark after him. 5 police officers eventually showed up to persuade the woman to cooperate as well, but she did not budge. They ended up removing her from the plane.