Twists and turns can be expected for the rest of this year.

Synopsis: Every fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times will now analyse the hottest political and trending talking points, alternating between its Malaysia and Greater China bureaus.

For May, host and deputy foreign editor Albert Wai teams up again with senior China correspondent Yew Lun Tian. Their focus is on the Xi-Trump summit held in Beijing from May 13-14, 2026.

Heading into the event, expectations were modest as US President Donald Trump appeared to be distracted by war in the Middle East. At first glance, the deliverables might have seemed slightly underwhelming.

But the bottom line is both men got a bit of what they needed. Mr Trump got purchases for Boeing jets, agricultural products and possibly energy, while Chinese President Xi Jinping articulated a “new positioning” of bilateral relations.

There are also implications for cross-strait ties, with Beijing framing the Taiwan issue as something to be treated with utmost caution while Washington signalled that it might be rethinking the latest tranche of arms sales to the island.

With many geopolitical issues on the agenda, the tariff war appeared to have taken a back seat. Nonetheless, the announcement on the boards on trade and investment has opened up additional and much-needed room for dialogue.

There are at least three more bouts of engagement between Mr Trump and Mr Xi for the rest of this year, and plenty of opportunities for both sides to bargain and make deals.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:34 The world can breathe a sigh of relief

5:14 What is “constructive strategic stability”?

9:09 Temple of Heaven, Imperial Garden: Visit steeped in symbolism

10:43 A captivated Chinese public

13:11 Taiwan should be worried

19:20 Trade tensions take a back seat

21:16 China hugs the US and Russia

Read more: https://str.sg/pyWN

Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters

Host: Albert Wai (albertw@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7

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Will a new bystander campaign by the police get more people to speak up for victims for molest and voyeurism?

In this episode of The Usual Place, I chat with Ms Lim Shoon Yin, the executive director of Singapore women’s rights group Aware, about what holds bystanders back and what they can do.

Also on the podcast is Dr Julia Lam, a forensic psychologist, who assesses people who have committed offences like sexual crimes. She studies impulse control disorder and behavioural addiction, among other areas.

She explains why perpetrators cross the line and act on urges, despite knowing it’s a crime.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:51 Are more people reporting sexual assault?

4:20 Why do bystanders freeze?

6:01 Could you become a molester or voyeur?

9:15 Why perpetrators choose to cross the line

10:36 Why take the risk of getting caught in public?

13:42 How bystanders can safely intervene, if unsure

17:33 Perpetrators not deterred by warning announcements, posters

20:22 Do conservative societal attitudes contribute to such behaviour?

26:02 What victims need when they report harassment

Host: Natasha Ann Zachariah (natashaz@sph.com.sg)

Read Natasha’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm

Follow The Usual Place podcast on IG: https://str.sg/8KNT

Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN

Filmed by: Studio+65

Edited by: Eden Soh, Hadyu Rahim & Amirul Karim

Executive producer: Danson Cheong

Producers: Natasha Ann Zachariah and Elizabeth Law

Assistant producer: Stacey Ngiam

Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday:

Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/9ijX

Spotify: https://str.sg/cd2P

YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast

Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg

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In an Autonomous Vehicle (AV) crash, should AI save the young instead of the elderly? Germany banned this, but a pragmatist asks: why not let algorithms choose based on age?

Synopsis: On Wednesdays, The Straits Times takes a hard look at Singapore's social issues of the day with guests.

Traffic accidents in Singapore have hit a 10-year high. Every day, motorists are caught speeding, running red lights, and looking at their phones. The proposed solution is radical: take the steering wheel away from humans and hand it entirely to Artificial Intelligence.

But as Singapore drafts the legal framework to roll out autonomous vehicles (AVs), where are the dangerous lines we are crossing? From programming algorithms to decide who lives and dies in a split-second crash, to the terrifying threat of a hacked network, are we actually ready to surrender our safety to a machine we don't fully understand?

In this episode, ST assistant podcast editor Lynda Hong sits down with the man building the robot's brain: Professor Marcelo Ang from the Advanced Robotics Centre at the NUS Mechanical Engineering Department, a researcher who first tested an AV in 2013.

They debate the ethics of the trolley problem about picking who to collide with in an unavoidable crash, the liabilities in the event of a driverless car crash, and the brutal reality awaiting thousands of middle-aged drivers whose jobs are about to be automated.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:47 Tesla vs. true driverless - the different levels of self-driving

9:04 The "Guardian Angel" - an underlying physics algorithm that overrides bad AI decisions

11:48 Why level 3 autonomous driving can be dangerous

14:20 Should the algorithm hit the 80-year-old or the 10-year-old in an unavoidable crash

23:55 The hardest engineering challenge: Predicting irrational human behaviour

Read ST’s Opinion section: https://str.sg/w7sH

Follow Lynda Hong on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/Gm2v

Host: Lynda Hong (lyndahong@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Teo Tong Kai

Executive producers: Danson Cheong and Lynda Hong

Follow In Your Opinion Podcast here and get notified for new episode drops:

Channel: https://str.sg/w7Qt

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/wukb

Spotify: https://str.sg/w7sV

Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg

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The Usual Place Podcast YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast

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