NewsLite

In his opening remarks at a summit between the United States and China on Thursday (May 14), Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed hope that conflict could be avoided between the two great powers, and asked: "Can China and the United States transcend the so-called 'Thucydides Trap' and forge a new paradigm for major-power relations?"

Those uninitiated in ancient history or foreign policy might not have a clue about what Xi was referring to, although the term has been circulating for the last 15 years, especially in academia.

Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general who wrote an account of the Peloponnesian War that was fought between Sparta and Athens. In History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides wrote: "It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable".

American political scientist Graham Allison coined the term Thucydides' Trap around 2011 based on that observation, to describe an apparent tendency towards war when an emerging power — such as Athens — challenges the status of a dominant power — such as Sparta. The scholar further built on that term in his 2017 book destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides' Trap? in which he argued that "China and the US are currently on a collision course for war".

The body of a 22-year-old man was found on a beach in Sentosa on Friday (May 15) afternoon.

In a post shared on Xiaohongshu the same day, policemen can be seen surrounding a blue tent set up along the shore.

Responding to AsiaOne's queries, the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force said they received a call for assistance at 10 Siloso Beach Walk at about 1.40pm.

The police said a 22-year-old man was found motionless and pronounced dead on the spot by an SCDF paramedic.

A cat was found dead in a rubbish chute in Yishun with a cable tie around its neck, in what a community cat group described as a deliberate and savage killing.

The incident has been reported to the National Parks Board (NParks), which said it is investigating the matter.

In a Facebook post on Thursday (May 14), the group said its volunteer was alerted by Nee Soon Town Council on May 10 after a cleaner discovered the carcass in one of the rubbish chutes at Block 398 Yishun Ring Road.

According to the images shared in the post, the black cat, which had an untipped ear, was found wrapped in a red plastic bag and discarded into the chute.

A father and daughter found dead in a Sengkang HDB flat in 2025 were determined to have died from natural causes.

State Coroner Adam Nakhoda on Friday (May 15) declared an open verdict and said there was no suspicion of foul play.

He noted their bodies were so decomposed by the time they were found, the cause of death could not be determined.

Mr Xu Baolu, 75, had lived with his 47-year-old daughter, Ms Xu Na, in an HDB flat on the eighth floor of Block 324D Sengkang East Way.

Singapore's MRT network reliability in April was the highest since November 2024, according to the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) monthly report released on Friday (May 15).

Rail reliability is mainly tracked using the mean kilometres between failure (MKBF) metric, which counts the average distance a train travels before it meets a delay lasting over five minutes.

The MKBF target for the MRT network is 1 million train-km.

Over a 12-month moving average, MKBF for trains increased to 2,220,000 train-km in April, up from 1,740,000 train-km reported in March.

A Chinese man has been permanently banned from Thailand after he allegedly caused 450,000 baht (S$17,600) worth of damage to two automated immigration gates at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday (May 13).

The man, identified as 30-year-old Zheng Liwei, was seen on closed-circuit television cameras kicking the auto gates at around 2.35pm when they didn't open for him.

He is also accused of verbally insulting immigration officers who approached him afterwards, according to multiple local reports.

The incident occurred at the airport's departure immigration area.

Egged on by his older, "cool" friends, Desmond Ryan Patrick began taking crystal meth, also known as 'Ice', when he was 14.

This resulted in him becoming addicted to drugs. He was in and out of prison up until the age of 26.

Speaking to AsiaOne on Friday (May 15), Ryan, now 30, said that he had taken drugs because he wanted to feel a sense of belonging.

"I looked up to them as role models... I just wanted to fit in," he shared.

Ayden Sng has left Mediacorp's The Celebrity Agency (TCA).

TCA announced his departure in an Instagram post on Friday (May 15), stating that his contract has concluded.

"During his time with us, he has taken on many memorable roles, winning hearts locally and across the region. We wish him all the best in the next chapter of his career and look forward to future opportunities to collaborate."

Fellow actors Romeo Tan, Chantalle Ng, Priscelia Chan and Benjamin Tan were seen showering supportive comments for him on TCA's post.

If you see advertisements on concert crew positions put up on social media, beware.

There have been at least 20 scam cases involving such "advertisements" since March, said the police and the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech).

The cases were uncovered via collaboration between the Anti-Scam Centre and the Singpass Trust and Safety team, said the police and GovTech in a joint statement on Friday (May 15).

The authorities urged the public "to remain vigilant against job scams involving the impersonation of representatives from legitimate recruitment agencies and the misuse of Singpass accounts".

Stay in the know with a recap of our top stories today.

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After she was caught pumping Ron95 petrol into her Singapore-registered vehicle at a BHP fuel station in Air Tawar, Malaysia, this driver tried asking for forgiveness, according to a video uploaded to Facebook group SG Road Vigilante on Friday (May 15).

In the video, the person recording can be heard confronting the driver — a middle-aged woman — as he paces around the latter's vehicle on Wednesday... » READ MORE