demand

Aug. 9 (Asia Today) — SK hynix is rapidly expanding its manufacturing base in South Korea as the chipmaker prepares for continued growth in global demand for artificial intelligence memory through the end of the decade.

The company is increasing capacity for high-bandwidth memory, DRAM, NAND flash and advanced semiconductor packaging across its major production sites while preparing another large-scale manufacturing hub in southwestern South Korea.

Industry research firm Omdia forecasts demand for DRAM and NAND memory to grow at an average annual rate of about 19% through 2030.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has also said he expects the global shortage of memory chips to continue through 2030.

That outlook is driving SK hynix to expand production capacity at several locations simultaneously.

Yongin becomes long-term DRAM and HBM production base

In Yongin, south of Seoul, SK hynix is focused on securing large-scale manufacturing capacity for long-term memory demand.

The company plans to build four semiconductor fabrication plants, or fabs, in phases at the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster.

Construction is underway on the first fab, known as Y1, while preparations are moving forward for subsequent facilities.

SK hynix plans to invest about 600 trillion won, or approximately $407 billion, in Yongin over the long term, making the complex a major production center for high-bandwidth memory and next-generation DRAM.

The company’s board Friday approved 35.2 trillion won ($25 billion) in investment for the second phase of the Yongin project through 2031.

Construction of the second fab, Y2, is scheduled to begin in July 2027, with its first cleanroom expected to become operational in June 2029.

The facility is expected to produce advanced DRAM products, including high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers.

Cheongju expands from NAND into AI memory hub

SK hynix is also significantly broadening the role of its Cheongju production base in central South Korea.

Cheongju was historically centered on NAND flash production, but the company is adding capacity for next-generation DRAM, advanced packaging and enterprise solid-state drives.

M15X is being developed as a new DRAM production base after SK hynix accelerated the project in response to rapidly growing AI memory demand.

The company plans to expand production of high-bandwidth memory and other next-generation DRAM products at M15X while linking the facility with nearby packaging and testing infrastructure.

P&T7, which began construction in April, is dedicated to advanced packaging for AI memory products, including high-bandwidth memory.

The facility will handle semiconductor packaging and wafer testing, adding back-end manufacturing capacity to SK hynix’s existing front-end wafer fabrication operations.

SK hynix announced in January that it plans to invest about 19 trillion won, or $12.9 billion, in P&T7.

The company has said Cheongju will become a major center for AI memory production as demand for high-bandwidth memory continues to rise.

NAND capacity will also expand through M17.

SK hynix’s board recently approved 19.1 trillion won, or about $12.9 billion, for the new facility.

Construction of M17 is scheduled to begin in February 2027, with its first cleanroom expected to open in December 2028.

The facility will produce NAND flash memory for applications ranging from personal computers to enterprise and AI servers.

New $271 billion semiconductor hub planned in southwest

SK hynix is also planning a major new production base in southwestern South Korea.

The company plans to invest about 400 trillion won, or approximately $271 billion, in phases to develop a new semiconductor cluster beyond its existing Yongin and Cheongju operations.

The precise location, fab configuration and construction timetable have not yet been finalized.

The company has said rapid growth in AI services could eventually create memory demand that cannot be met by its existing expansion plans alone.

The southwestern project is therefore expected to become another major pillar of SK hynix’s long-term manufacturing network.

Together with planned investments of about 600 trillion won ($407 billion) in Yongin and 100 trillion won ($67.9 billion) in Cheongju, the southwestern project forms part of an approximately 1,100 trillion won ($781.3 billion) long-term domestic semiconductor investment strategy.

Icheon retains research and advanced production role

SK hynix’s headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, is expected to retain its role as a major research, development and manufacturing center.

The site operates the M10, M14 and M16 fabs, with M16 serving as a key production base for advanced DRAM.

As new production sites are added elsewhere in South Korea, Icheon is expected to remain an important center for both research and advanced memory manufacturing.

The overall strategy combines continued use of existing facilities with the addition of substantial new manufacturing capacity to respond to rising AI memory demand.

Chongqing sale review separate from South Korea expansion

Separately, SK hynix is reviewing options for its semiconductor packaging and testing plant in Chongqing, China, including a possible sale.

The company stressed that the review of its Chongqing operation is separate from the expansion of production capacity in South Korea.

“Nothing has been decided, and we may ultimately decide not to sell it,” an SK hynix official said. “It is one of several options being considered as part of our global fab operations.”

The official said the company’s new investments in South Korea are intended to secure additional production capacity.

The Chongqing facility handles semiconductor packaging and testing, the back-end manufacturing processes that prepare chips for final use.

SK hynix’s expansion strategy reflects the increasingly important role of high-bandwidth memory and other advanced memory products in AI computing, where rapidly growing server deployments are driving demand for both processing power and memory capacity.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260810010002802

Henry Pollock is set to demand a substantial increase on his current Northampton contract to stay at Franklin’s Gardens, with agent Eddie Hearn suggesting annual earnings of £1m are the going rate for the 21-year-old star.

“He’s certainly a seven-figure player,” said Hearn, who met with Pollock on his yacht off Monaco last month, to the Daily Telegraph., external

“The way rugby’s going and what Pollock is doing, his value over the next couple of years will skyrocket, and I think the value of rugby will.”

Pollock’s current deal with Saints, signed in December 2024 and set to expire in summer 2027, is thought to be worth £150,000 a year.

Since agreeing those terms, the back row has made his England debut, toured with the British and Irish Lions and was a key part of the Saints side that reached the Champions Cup final last year and won the Prem title in June.

His exuberant on-pitch persona, relishing confrontation and celebrating tries with rehearsed routines, has attracted attention and a legion of young fans.

Northampton’s ability to match Pollock’s wage demands may be hampered by a league-wide £6.4m salary cap and their own generation of young stars.

Each team can have one marquee player whose pay is exempt from counting towards the cap. Fly-half Fin Smith is thought to currently occupy that place on the Saints’ payroll, while Tommy Freeman, who has reportedly signed a lucrative new extension,, external and scrum-half Alex Mitchell could also make claims to it.

Northampton failed to reach agreement with club captain George Furbank on a new deal last season, allowing the England full-back to leave for Harlequins as they sought to make space under the salary ceiling to improve the terms of young stars like Pollock.

The latest salary cap report, external – which detailed payroll from the 2024-25 season – showed Saints did not pay up to the £6.4m limit, with salary spending higher at Bath, Leicester, Sale, Harlequins and Saracens.

It also showed Pollock’s reported earnings being below average for both his position, with the average back row earning a mean of £192,000, and Test experience, with players between 11 and 20 caps around £224,000.

While Bath fly-half Finn Russell, another of Hearn’s clients, is believed to be the league’s highest earner on a deal worth about £1m a year, few clubs have the resources or space in their salary structure to accommodate such a highly paid figurehead.

Newcastle Red Bulls, recently taken over by the Austrian energy drink giant, are one of the exceptions.

Bristol, who place a large emphasis on the marketability of their players, external and have signed Louis Rees-Zammit, Ellie Kildunne and Ilona Maher over the past couple of seasons, could be another.

The new series follows a reality icon as she makes her long-awaited TV comeback

Reality TV fans have been binge-watching their way through a new series they’re calling ‘perfection’.

House of Stassi follows the life of Stassi Schroeder, a breakout star of long-running Real Housewives spin-off, Vanderpump Rules. However, she was sacked from the series back in 2020 alongside Kristen Doute following a ‘prank’ on a black co-star, with the new show marking her return to TV.

The pair had called the police on reality TV personality, Faith Stowers, for a crime that she didn’t commit. In a later apology, Stassi penned that she “did not recognise then the serious ramifications that could have transpired,” adding, “I do not expect forgiveness.”

The controversial reality star’s “next act” is the subject of the new series which premiered on Freeform this week before being made available on streaming service Hulu.

Its official synopsis reads: “House of Stassi follows reality TV icon Stassi Schroeder as she steps into her next act. In this meta-docuseries, Stassi navigates her long-awaited return to television – this time with the people she loves most by her side.

“As her ambition pulls her back into the spotlight, those around her level up. But as cameras roll and truths surface, her closest relationships are put to the test.”

All eight episodes are now available on US streaming platform Hulu, with the first reactions rolling in. However, viewers in the UK face a short wait before they can indulge in the series too. The episodes will be made available to UK-based reality fans on Disney+ from August 12.

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One fan of the show penned: “Binged the whole thing. The second half of the finale is exactly what reality TV should be (and used to be). The way they left it on a cliffhanger was the perfect set-up for Disney to order more episodes.”

They continued: “It makes for great television, my fear is this type of stuff is what permanently alters relationships so hopefully they realise what they really signed up for.”

“I’m on episode five and I can’t stop watching – it’s very entertaining,” said a second viewer, while a third remarked: “So obsessed with this show. Just finished the first three eps. It’s structured amazing. I love the narration and fourth wall breaks/lack of fourth wall. I need a million more episodes.”

House of Stassi is now streaming on Hulu in the USA. It premieres in the UK on August 12 on Disney+

July 27 (Asia Today) — Growing artificial intelligence demand and stronger trade barriers are rapidly reshaping the production and supply chains of South Korea’s major manufacturing industries, the Bank of Korea said Monday.

The central bank said Taiwan has become South Korea’s second-largest semiconductor export destination as the AI supply chain draws Korean memory-chip producers closer to Taiwanese manufacturers.

Meanwhile, South Korean automakers are increasing production in the United States and expanding hybrid vehicle exports as tariffs and U.S. industrial policies make direct exports less competitive.

The findings were included in the Bank of Korea’s Map of Production and Supply Chains for South Korea’s Major Manufacturing Industries. The report used data from 2024 and 2025 to examine 11 industries, including semiconductors, automobiles, steel, shipbuilding and petrochemicals.

South Korean semiconductor exports to Taiwan nearly tripled from $12.78 billion in 2022 to $36.77 billion in 2025.

Taiwan’s share of South Korea’s semiconductor exports increased from 9% to 19.9%, moving it from the fourth-largest export destination to the second largest.

China remained the largest destination, but its share fell from 53.1% in 2022 to 40.3% in 2025.

The central bank attributed the change to a shift in demand from conventional dynamic random-access memory chips to graphics processing units and high-bandwidth memory used in AI systems.

The AI semiconductor supply chain generally involves U.S.-based Nvidia designing graphics processors, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. producing and packaging the chips and Samsung Electronics and SK hynix supplying high-bandwidth memory.

That structure has increased the volume of South Korean semiconductor products shipped to Taiwan.

Semiconductors have also become more important to South Korea’s overall manufacturing sector.

Domestic semiconductor production rose from 74 trillion won in 2014 to 210.8 trillion won in 2024 ($50.4 billion to $143.6 billion). Its share of total manufacturing production doubled from 5% to 10.1% during the same period.

Production remains heavily concentrated in the greater Seoul area, which accounted for 82.3% of the national total. The Chungcheong region accounted for another 14.7%.

Major facilities in the Seoul metropolitan region include Samsung Electronics plants in Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek and Giheung and SK hynix’s plant in Icheon.

China’s growing influence was most apparent in South Korea’s automobile import market.

The share of vehicle imports from China increased from 3.5% in 2022 to 37.2% in 2025. Chinese-made vehicles accounted for about 70% of South Korea’s electric vehicle imports by value in 2025.

The report attributed the increase to China’s price competitiveness and its extensive supply chain covering vehicles, batteries and components.

The United States remained South Korea’s largest automobile export market in 2025. Shipments were valued at $30.15 billion and accounted for 41.9% of total finished-vehicle exports.

However, the United States’ share of South Korea’s electric vehicle exports fell from 33.6% in 2022 to 5.2% in 2025.

The central bank said U.S. subsidies, local production requirements and tariff barriers had weakened the competitiveness of electric vehicles manufactured in South Korea and shipped directly to the United States.

South Korean automakers have responded by expanding U.S. factory operations while increasing exports of hybrid vehicles.

Hybrids’ share of South Korea’s finished-vehicle exports rose from 11.6% in 2022 to 20.4% in 2025.

The shift reflects automakers’ efforts to respond to slowing electric vehicle demand and insufficient charging infrastructure by offering vehicles that combine electric motors with internal combustion engines.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260727010009651

Universal Studios has issued a stern warning after an unauthorized copy of its hit film “The Odyssey” was leaked over the weekend.

“We became aware of the unauthorized posting of the film and immediately initiated takedown protocols,” the studio said in a statement. “We take copyright infringement seriously and will pursue all appropriate remedies to protect our content and intellectual property rights.”

The studio was responding to a post on X that shared a high-quality copy of the Christopher Nolan film. The post was viewed more than 2.1 million times before a takedown notice replaced the copy of the film.

The post was shared Saturday on X at 2:25 p.m. Pacific, and the account was suspended within three hours, according to Variety.

“The Odyssey” continues to be a top attraction for filmgoers, drawing huge crowds on its second weekend. Demand for advance tickets caused AMC’s app to crash in June. At the time, users on social media said wait times had reached an hour.

The film in its second weekend pulled in $87 million, acccording to Rentrak, a data analytics company that tracks box office sales.

Caracas, July 22, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan campesinos have urged authorities to halt efforts to evict them from productive lands in the northwestern state of Falcón.

The José Leonardo Chirino campesino council, which organizes around 120 families in the Barimisagua estate, located in the Iturriza municipality, has accused landowner Jacobo Salas Romer of  “intimidation” against campesinos.

Over the past two weeks, campesinos have denounced the use of heavy machinery to destroy their crops, while multiple families saw their houses set on fire.

“The Salas Romer family maintains a permanent harassment against more than 100 families in these lands,” campesino council spokesperson Gustavo Ladino told Venezuelanalysis. “They have bribed security forces, and some institutions have lent themselves to serve the interest of this fascist family.”

He added that the Barimisagua estate belongs to the Venezuelan state after it was abandoned by the former owners. Rural families began settling into the Barimisagua lands in 2000 and gradually expanded production in the estate. The campesinos have sown crops including corn, beans, and sweet potato, in addition to planting fruit trees and undertaking small-scale cattle rearing.

In a 2025 public statement, the rural collective criticized the National Land Institute (INTI) for not following the procedures established in the Venezuelan Land Law to assign idle estates to campesino organizations once they have developed productive activities for an extended period.

The campesino spokesman called on Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, Agriculture Minister Vladimir Padrino López, and Attorney General Larry Devoe to guarantee the rural families’ right to “contribute to the country’s food security.” 

“We are calling for support from the Venezuelan authorities,” Ladino said. “We urge the government to conduct an inspection and deliver the necessary title deeds so that we can produce while being free from intimidation.”

The local activist additionally condemned efforts to criminalize land struggles by charging local leaders with crimes such as trespassing and tying them down in legal proceedings.

In an assembly on July 18, the rural families ratified the campesino council’s spokespeople and issued a press statement vowing to “consolidate social justice in the countryside.”

Salas Romer belongs to a powerful Venezuelan oligarchic family. His brother, Henrique, was governor of Carabobo state and lost to Hugo Chávez in the 1998 presidential election. The family business appeared in the Panama Papers investigation into offshore capital flight.

The 648-hectare Barimisagua estate has been at the center of a protracted legal struggle for many years, with Salas Romer attempting to secure protection orders from local agrarian courts on environmental grounds as a means to evict the rural families. The campesino council has rejected offers to relocate to a different plot in Falcón state, arguing that the land is insufficient for the number of people involved.

In recent years, rural grassroots organizations have raised the alarm regarding the resurgence of landowner violence in the countryside as well as an expanding influence of agribusiness oligopolies. Rice producers have staged multiple protests demanding that authorities regulate imports during harvest season and bind agroindustrial corporations to established crop prices.

With the economy heavily constrained by US sanctions, the Nicolás Maduro government moved to liberalize agricultural policies, transferring state competencies to the private sector, including provisioning of seed and fertilizer inputs and access to tractors. Fuel subsidies were likewise phased out, with small-scale producers highlighting it as a major factor driving up production costs.

Campesino organizations have warned against efforts led by agribusiness and cattle rancher associations to reform or sideline the 2001 Land Law, which heavily favored access to land for small-scale producers. In June, the Venezuelan National Assembly preliminarily approved a new Law to Protect Cattle Rearing.

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Cali, Colombia.

With traditional number nines seemingly becoming a dying breed, clubs are turning to other positions to provide the goal threat.

That makes the midfielder, particularly one with a bit of creativity who can unlock defences, a sought-after player.

England seem to have produced a number of players who fit that bill within a similar time period – although Tottenham have spent £185m on midfield duo Sandro Tonali of Italy and Portugal’s Matheus Fernandes this summer.

With the Premier League’s home grown rule in force – requiring a minimum of eight places in a club’s 25-strong squad are set aside for players produced in England or Wales – it is also expected that clubs pay a premium price for players who have come through Football Association academies.

And with Anderson and Rogers securing their moves, could Scott and Wharton be next?

Bournemouth have already rejected a £64m bid from Chelsea for midfielder Scott as they strive to hold on to the 22-year-old, who enjoyed an impressive season on the south coast, particularly from January onwards.

Scott was selected in his first England squad last November and was then called into Thomas Tuchel’s extended pre-World Cup training camp in Florida but is yet make an appearance at senior international level.

Crystal Palace midfielder Wharton has also long been a coveted player, with Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City all previously registering interest.

Both aged just 22, the pair highlight the plethora of English talent and potential currently available in that position.

While they may not be the best in the world right now, they are part of a group of players in their early 20s who are nearing their prime and will therefore only move clubs for peak prices.

Officials say 76 of the roughly 179 people believed to have been aboard survived, and 53 bodies have been found so far.

The expected death toll from Guyana’s ferry disaster over the weekend has climbed to around 100, with the authorities facing mounting pressure to explain how the country’s worst maritime disaster in decades occurred.

Officials said on Tuesday that 76 of the roughly 179 people believed to have been aboard survived, while 53 bodies have been recovered as divers continue searching for the remaining missing.

Families have gathered in the northern town of Charity, waiting for news of loved ones still unaccounted for.

“I know my baby is in that boat,” said Samantha Ramin, who lost two of her three children.

The body of her young daughter has been found, but her baby boy is still missing.

“I know he is down there. I know he is down there,” she said. “I want to see them find my baby.”

The 87-year-old vessel, MV Barima, left Georgetown for Port Kaituma on Saturday but began taking on water and capsized off the Essequibo coast. Although its manifest listed 133 people, authorities now believe as many as 179 were aboard.

Anger has grown over the length of time it took to rescue survivors, some of whom told reporters they spent hours stranded in the water.

Passengers have also alleged the ferry was dangerously overloaded with people and heavy cargo, including engines, vehicles, fuel containers and commercial goods. One survivor said the boat was more crowded than on any of his previous trips, describing cargo packed tightly below deck.

Survivors also allege the ferry suffered engine trouble shortly after departure but that the crew attempted repairs at sea rather than turning back, and that concerns about water entering the vessel were dismissed by crew members as routine.

Government officials say the ferry was actually under its capacity limits for both passengers and cargo, but acknowledge that conflicting accounts make it too early to draw firm conclusions. The head of the Maritime Administration Department said a full investigation is needed to establish facts such as how the vessel was loaded and whether supervisory staff acted properly.

Prime Minister Mark Phillips said Tuesday that the government has nothing to hide and pledged that anyone found responsible – including for negligence or criminal wrongdoing – will face legal consequences.

Police have already detained the rescued captain, along with at least one other crew member. Both reportedly tested positive for marijuana.

Asked why such an old vessel remained in service, officials said a US$12.7 million replacement ferry purchased from India was awaiting the completion of a special pier at Port Kaituma. The MV Barima last underwent major repairs in 2024 and had additional maintenance scheduled for October.

Hundreds gather near the border as coalition figures push to rebuild communities evacuated in 2005.

Israeli cabinet members and parliamentarians have joined a march towards Gaza to call for the rebuilding of Jewish settlements in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The march on Sunday defied a military order that restricted their route at the last minute over concerns that some participants planned to cross the fence into the besieged Palestinian territory.

The rally is the latest sign of how calls to resettle Gaza have moved from the political margins into Israel’s mainstream political discourse.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party was listed among the rally’s sponsors, despite his insistence that Gaza will not be resettled.

Earlier, the Israeli army designated the surrounding area a closed military zone for 24 hours, saying it was meant to stop marchers from crossing into Gaza.

Nachala, the settler group behind the event, called it the “March of Thousands” and said more than 10,000 attended, although Israeli media reports estimated the crowd at only a few hundred.

Nachala is led by Daniella Weiss, who has long advocated Israel resettling Gaza. Speaking at a Likud party conference, she said Palestinians would “disappear” from the territory.

Some marchers bypassed checkpoints through nearby hillsides to reach the Gaza border. Video verified by Al Jazeera’s verification unit showed dozens of Israelis gathered at the border fence.

Also on the march were Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also oversees settlement affairs, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and more than two dozen ministers and legislators, Israeli media reported.

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have been sanctioned by several European countries.

Marching under the banner “returning home after 21 years,” they demanded the reconstruction of Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit, three settlements evacuated when Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Ben-Gvir, a member of Netanyahu’s cabinet, posted a video of himself among the marchers with a caption: ‘Gaza is ours’. Fellow cabinet minister Smotrich also a called on Israelis not to miss a “historic opportunity” to rebuild settlements in Gaza.

Palestinian lawyer and analyst Diana Buttu told Al Jazeera that Israel’s settlement drive has been enabled by a lack of accountability.

“Because Israel has never been punished for its crimes, it’s only natural that a country that commits genocide and ethnic cleansing feels emboldened to steal more land”, she said.

In December, a group of Nachala activists briefly crossed into Gaza and planted an Israeli flag before soldiers brought them back across the fence.

WASHINGTON — President Trump and his allies escalated attacks on U.S. elections on Friday, after the president’s prime-time effort to convince Americans that that the nation’s voting systems are fundamentally flawed, and threatened to punish California and other Democratic states that refuse the administration’s demands for voter data.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened local election officials with fines and prison if they don’t turn over voter rolls to federal officials seeking to root out purported illegal voting by non-citizens.

“Try us,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X in response to Mullin’s threats. He added that “California has free, fair, and secure elections” and that the state “will fight for them.”

The administration’s threats — made less than four months before the November midterm elections — are a continuation of an aggressive Trump-led campaign to use the federal government to attempt to overhaul the nation’s voting systems and sow public mistrust in elections.

The administration has tried for months to compel Democrat-led states into handing over sensitive voter data to the federal government, but the efforts have run into resistance in courts, in part out of concern for privacy laws. The courts have also reaffirmed in many cases that the Constitution gives states — not the federal government — primary authority over elections.

On Friday, Mullin said his agency has found “as many as” 190,832 possible non-citizens registered to vote in California, along with more in three other Democratic-led states. He said Homeland Security arrived at those numbers by checking the four states’ public voter records.

He vowed to withhold federal election security grants from states until they agree to the administration’s demands, including having their voter registration lists “scrubbed” and their election security systems updated.

“If these states want a grant and they want to be reimbursed to run federal elections, they are going to have to implement security measures,” Mullin said at a news conference. “We need to make sure that individuals who are legally able to vote are voting.”

Newsom said the state had “no idea” where that claim came from. The administration has not made its methodology public, and the system Mullin’s department has used to check for non-citizens in the past has inaccurately flagged some citizens as non-citizens. Past election reviews have found non-citizen voting is rare.

“There is plenty of reason to be suspicious of the claims from the administration,” said Brendan Fisher, director of strategic investigations at the Campaign Legal Center, “and every reason for voters to have confidence in our elections.”

Mullin’s remarks came the day after Trump delivered a prime-time address about vulnerabilities in the election system, claims that largely were not backed up by the evidence he provided. The White House released a trove of declassified documents that fell short of showing that any American election had been affected by fraud or foreign interference.

The White House dug in on the strategy Friday morning, deploying agency heads to continue amplifying the idea of election vulnerabilities, even after fact-checks showed most of his claims were exaggerated and had been previously known, investigated or debunked.

“SAVE OUR ELECTIONS,” the White House said on X.

Trump also used his address to pressure Congress to pass legislation that would tighten voting restrictions and could make it harder for millions to register to vote and cast ballots. While hardline Republicans applauded him, others in the party have rebuffed his request.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Friday that he did not understand why Trump is focusing on a past election when Republicans should focus on what is ahead.

“I think historically the midterms for the party in power are really tough,” Cornyn said. “So, yeah, I am concerned about it. We ought to be talking about things looking forward that our constituents are most concerned about.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said the nation’s electoral systems are safe, and while he thinks election officials need to be “vigilant,” he said he is more concerned about economic issues ahead of the midterms..

Discussing the legislation ahead of the speech Thursday, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said it would be “impossible” to carry out changes to the nation’s voting laws in time for the midterms.

“The only thing that will occur is an undermining of the integrity of our elections right now,” Tillis said on the Senate floor.

David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, called Mullin’s threats “laughable.”

“There is no significant pool of federal grant money appropriated, so this threat has no teeth for any state. None of them are expecting any significant federal funds for elections,” Becker said.

Mullin told reporters Friday the federal government plans to use public records requests to try to obtain the voter roll information in order to investigate whether non-citizens have voted. Any member of the public can make a public records request; the move signals that the government has few remaining avenues to force the state to turn over voter data.

But Mullin appeared to acknowledge the limitations, saying: “I obviously can’t force the states.” He later threatened to levy fines, penalties or criminal charges against elections officials in states that don’t comply with the government’s demand.

If their behavior wasn’t criminal, Mullin said he would make sure state and county officials — who do not work for the federal government — would “never work for the federal government again.”

More than a dozen courts have ruled against the Justice Department’s highly unusual demand for state voter rolls. The federal government is not entitled to the data under federal law, Becker said.

He said previous government investigations into non-citizen voting have found that most people flagged against DHS’ database were either citizens or non-citizens who had never registered themselves to vote.

The Trump administration has used a database from an immigration verification system to flag possible non-citizen voters, but election officials have found that method misidentified some voters. Even with citizens mistakenly included in the count, the number of possible ineligible voters was extremely low — in Texas, 0.0001% of voters.

Data indicate that voting by non-citizens is rare. A study of the 2016 election by the Brennan Center for Justice found that officials referred about 30 cases of suspected non-citizen voting for investigation or prosecution. A 2024 review by the American Immigration Council of the right-wing Heritage Foundation‘s database turned up 68 cases of noncitizen voting since the 1980s.

While Trump’s speech prompted warnings from his critics that he could be laying the groundwork to take further steps to interfere with or tighten restrictions on elections, experts said he was running out of moves.

Becker predicted that Trump would not actually attempt to cancel elections or send officers to the polls and that courts would block the president if he declared a national emergency to exert control over elections.

“But I think there are people in the administration, including the president himself, who would like us all to think this is possible,” he said.

Fisher said Trump may be trying to lay the groundwork to dispute the midterm results if he doesn’t like the outcome, but said his powers to do so are limited.

“There’s safeguards and laws in place to protect the freedom to vote,” Fisher said, “and voters should tune out the noise and continue to participate in our democracy.”

Exploiting racism has been a profitable strategy in Hollywood since the dawn of filmmaking: 111 years ago, D.W. Griffith’s film “The Birth of a Nation” was incredibly popular and influential, while also being so racist that it was considered controversial even in its own day.

The industry saw immediately just how lucrative fear could be. More than a century later, there is always someone in the entertainment media willing to trade in racist tropes for money, as well as an audience ready to receive them.

Two new films, “Citizen Vigilante” and “Run, Fight, Hide: Infidels,” demonstrate that streaming platforms and social media no longer simply distribute controversial content but in fact thrive on content that provokes, polarizes and sustains attention, regardless of the social cost.

Both of these xenophobic and Islamophobic films are being pushed as “anti-woke” vehicles, deliberately engineered to bypass traditional critical reception and capitalize on a fractured media ecosystem. “Citizen Vigilante,” which features an American protagonist killing dark-skinned immigrants and Muslims in an unnamed European setting, was denied a rating certificate by the German government for inciting violence. Yet despite that determination, the film secured global reach through decentralized digital distribution and high-profile promotion from Elon Musk.

Similarly, “Run, Fight, Hide: Infidels” — a campus siege narrative evoking 1980s action film nostalgia that leans heavily into outdated, post-9/11 anxieties — relies on a built-in conservative media apparatus to guarantee financial returns. The film is produced by the conservative media figure Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire, which he co-founded. It is a sequel to a 2020 film that was their film company’s premiere.

But while promoters of such films frame their work as a brave rebellion, the reality is much more sinister: rehashing 40-year-old tropes while invoking conspiracy theories of Muslims bringing sharia law to America, because outrage is cheap to produce and easy to monetize.

Stories matter. Stories shape how we see one another. They influence what we love, what we celebrate, whom we trust, whom we understand and whom we fear.

Since January, the Muslim Public Affairs Council has documented a sharp escalation in threats and attacks targeting Muslims and Islamic institutions across the United States, including vandalism, shootings, bomb threats, attempted assassinations and physical assaults. These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a broader climate in which dehumanizing representation increasingly manifests as real-world violence.

Entertainment and politics increasingly employ the same tactic as one another, recycling narratives of fear and “otherness” to mobilize audiences, voters and consumers. When political leaders encourage those narratives, as President Trump recently did by amplifying and commenting on a photo of young Muslim American students in hijab, they further normalize the same stereotypes that entertainment companies have learned to monetize.

Yet while the social costs continue to mount, the economic incentives remain firmly intact. “Citizen Vigilante” earned a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes despite receiving just a 6% critics’ score. More tellingly, it quickly climbed to the top of Amazon’s and Apple TV’s paid video-on-demand charts.

And this isn’t just a Muslim and immigrant issue — and it’s not only about who is portrayed on screens, but also who is not. Representation has been backsliding, and audiences are left with fewer opportunities to see the reality and humanity of diverse communities, making them more vulnerable to fear-based narratives.

According to a 2026 report from the nonprofit Define American, which tracks representation across television and film, Latinos account for only 23% of immigrant characters represented on screen, even though they make up more than 40% of the immigrant population in the United States. In 2020, 50% of immigrants on screen were Latino.

The industry’s defense is that whitewashed and xenophobic films reflect audience demand. But the recent research by Define American challenges this assumption. Data show that nuanced, multidimensional storytelling, in which immigrants and minority characters are woven into the fabric of everyday narratives rather than tokenized or villainized, actually leads to greater audience engagement and deeper systemic understanding.

Entertainment doesn’t simply reflect culture; it teaches us who belongs within it. Studios, distributors, streaming platforms and filmmakers all have a responsibility to reject narratives that portray immigrants as enemies and instead embrace stories that reflect the diversity and complexity of our world. At the same time — as with voters — the power ultimately rests with consumers. The choice to demand storytelling that challenges prejudice rather than profits from it belongs to all of us.

Sue Obeidi is the senior vice president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council Hollywood Bureau. Jose Antonio Vargas is the founder of Define American.

AXT (AXTI) was in focus on Tuesday as Wedbush Securities said it believes demand is “tracking better” than investors currently believe.

Shares rose 6.6% in premarket trading.

“As a reminder, AXTI’s guidance was dictated by export licenses the company had received

July 10 (Asia Today) — Qcells is accelerating its push into the North American renewable energy market as investment in power infrastructure grows rapidly amid the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers in the United States.

The Hanwha unit said Friday it will handle engineering, procurement and construction for Atlas Energy Park, one of the largest solar and energy storage complexes in the United States. The project will be built in La Paz County, Ariz.

Atlas Energy Park will include 2.8 gigawatts of solar generation capacity and 5.7 gigawatt-hours of energy storage capacity by 2028. The complex will consist of 14 solar and energy storage projects and cover an area about 22 times the size of Yeouido, Seoul’s main financial district.

Qcells will handle engineering, procurement and construction for all projects in the complex and supply all solar modules.

The company completed the sale in May of two solar power plants with a combined capacity of 357 megawatts after carrying out their early-stage development and construction. The deal is seen as evidence that Qcells has expanded beyond equipment supply into project development, construction and asset sales.

The company’s competitiveness is backed by its U.S. supply chain. Qcells operates Solar Hub, a solar manufacturing complex in Georgia, giving it module supply capacity. It has also built a supply chain for energy storage equipment.

Industry analysts say companies with U.S. production bases are gaining a stronger advantage as Washington expands policies favoring domestically made equipment.

Analysts also expect Qcells’ expansion in North America to help improve earnings. Hana Securities projected Hanwha Solutions’ second-quarter operating profit this year at 230.7 billion won, about $153 million, roughly 29% above market consensus.

“The oversupply of solar modules in the United States is easing, and prices are continuing to rise, while the expansion of local production capacity in the United States will drive earnings improvement,” said Yoon Jae-sung, an analyst at Hana Securities.

Analysts say AI will further accelerate growth in renewable energy demand.

“Power demand is structurally increasing because of AI data centers, electrification and manufacturing reshoring, making solar power and energy storage key pillars of global power infrastructure,” said Han Byung-hwa, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities. “In particular, rising power consumption by AI data centers will continue to increase demand for large-scale projects combining solar power and energy storage.”

Qcells has completed or is pursuing more than 11 gigawatts of solar and more than 6 gigawatt-hours of energy storage projects in North America, expanding its local business base.

“Atlas Energy Park is a symbolic project that once again demonstrates Qcells’ EPC capability, U.S. supply chain and comprehensive business capacity from development to construction and asset sales,” said Chris Hodrick, head of Qcells’ EPC business division.

“We will lead the growth of the North American renewable energy market by increasing customer value and business competitiveness through integrated solutions that combine solar power and energy storage,” Hodrick said.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260710010003926

Published on
10/07/2026 – 13:58 GMT+2

Global oil demand will fall by one million barrels a day in 2026, the IEA said on Friday, making it the first annual contraction since 2020, when Covid lockdowns grounded aviation and shuttered industry.

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The comparison flatters this year’s decline in one respect, since demand collapsed by around eight million barrels a day at the height of the pandemic, but it underlines how severely the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has damaged the global economy.

The contraction is “highly skewed in both product and regional terms”, the agency noted in its monthly report.

Earlier IEA analysis traced the sharpest losses to Asia’s import-dependent economies and to petrochemical feedstocks such as naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas, whose supply chains run through the Strait of Hormuz.

At the time of writing, the front month contract on Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading at around $76 a barrel, roughly 6% higher than before the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February, and far below the peaks near $120 reached in March at the height of the conflict.

The US benchmark, WTI, was trading lower at around $72 a barrel.

June’s fragile rebound

Supply improved sharply last month, if from a desperately low base.

Global production jumped by 4.1 million barrels a day in June to 98.8 million as the partial reopening of the Strait of Hormuz allowed Gulf producers to restart shut-in wells, though output was still running 9.4 million barrels a day beneath its pre-war level.

Gulf exports, counting cargoes rerouted around the strait, climbed by 6.5 million barrels a day to 16.1 million. Before the fighting began in late February, the region shipped an average of 24 million barrels.

Global oil inventories grew for the first time since US and Israeli strikes on Iran ignited the conflict, halting months of record drawdowns, although stockpiles in the wealthiest economies shrank further as buyers held back from importing.

The truce unravels

The IEA’s forecasts rest on an assumption now under visible strain which is that a ceasefire holds and the Strait of Hormuz gradually reopens.

On that basis, global supply would contract by 3.7 million barrels a day this year, leaving production 860,000 barrels a day short of demand, before expanding by 7.5 million next year and tipping the market into surplus.

Stronger output elsewhere and weaker demand than expected before the war could still restore a surplus by the end of the year, allowing countries to rebuild depleted reserves, the IEA noted.

This week brought the second and far larger breach of last month’s truce.

After Iranian forces struck three commercial vessels on Monday and Tuesday, US Central Command hit more than 80 targets across Iran, including air defences, coastal radar and over 60 Revolutionary Guard small boats, while Washington revoked the licence permitting Iranian oil exports.

Iran fired drones and missiles at Bahrain and Kuwait, causing no major damage, and US President Donald Trump has since declared the ceasefire over.

Tehran insists the only safe passage is the route it sets in the Strait of Hormuz as traffic fell to 13 tankers on Wednesday, against an average of 33 a day the previous week, according to shipping data from Kpler.

Additional sources • AFP

Grid operators warn the US heatwave could send electricity demand near record levels before the Fourth of July holiday.

Power grid operators in the United States are warning that a dangerous heatwave could put more strain on an electric grid already under pressure from surging energy consumption.

A stretch of extreme heat is expected to intensify across much of the central and eastern parts of the country this week, peaking from Tuesday through Thursday.

That heatwave is likely to continue through one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, as millions of Americans prepare for Fourth of July celebrations on Saturday.

Temperatures this week are forecasted to climb above 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) from Boston to Washington, DC, pushing up demand for air conditioning.

The heatwave coincides with two major events on the US calendar. Saturday’s holiday marks the 250th anniversary of the US’s independence, and millions are expected to gather for barbecues, parades and fireworks.

The extreme temperatures also come as the FIFA World Cup has reached the knockout stage, with many host cities, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, expected to feel the heat.

Humidity could push the heat index as high as 46 degrees Celsius (114 Fahrenheit) in some places, while overnight temperatures will offer little respite.

The US’s largest regional grid operator, PMJ Interconnection, is forecasting record summer electrical demand of 166.3 gigawatts for Thursday evening, surpassing the previous summer peak set two decades ago, in 2006.

The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the state’s grid operator, is also expecting electricity demand to approach record highs, while the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which covers 15 states in the Midwest and South, could also see its peak demand record challenged.

Authorities at MISO say they will rely on PMJ for support in covering consumer needs.

In a May report, PMJ’s executives warned of a “fundamental mismatch between how fast demand is growing and how quickly new supply can be built and connected to the grid”.

New power plants, they said, now take twice as long to build and cost twice as much as they did a decade ago.

Meanwhile, there has been increasing pressure on electrical grids from new technology like data centres and electric vehicles.

In May, PMJ said hyperscale data centres were “adding load at an unprecedented pace”.

Experts say the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is colliding with climate change, with tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude being processed in vast, energy-hungry data centres.

The most energy-intensive are the hyperscale facilities that require between 100 and 300 megawatts of electricity, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

Many of those are concentrated in northern Virginia, which sits within PJM’s service territory and is widely described as the world’s largest data centre hub.

Researchers have also identified what they call a “data heat island effect”, finding that land surface temperatures around AI data centres rise by an average of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), with some locations seeing increases of up to 9 degrees Celsius (16.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

The National Weather Service in the US warns that long periods of extreme heat create significant stress on the body.

It has urged people to limit outdoor activity, stay hydrated and keep close to air conditioning or cooling centres.

A 2024 report from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that 21,518 deaths in the United States from 1999 to 2023 were heat-related.

The highest number came in the final year of the report’s analysis, 2023. That year, 2,325 people died from causes attributed to high temperatures.

South Korea’s dismal World Cup first-round exit has prompted fury at home, and calls for a complete overhaul at the top have not been silenced by coach Hong Myung-bo’s resignation.

South Korea, World Cup semifinalists as cohosts in 2002, limped out of the tournament after failing to squeeze into the knockout rounds as one of the top eight third-place finishers.

They had the last 32 within their reach only to suffer a shock 1-0 loss to lower-ranked South Africa.

Their early exit prompted coach Hong to quit on Sunday and cast doubt over the international future of captain Son Heung-min.

It also earned the team a rebuke from the country’s president, Lee Jae Myung, who pointed the finger at “incompetent people” and apologised to the nation.

The president’s comments reflect public anger that has reached a boiling point after years of simmering discontent with South Korean football chiefs.

Former captain Park Ji-sung said, “We may have expected this outcome years ago.

“We have to look back and ask ourselves why things have come to this,” the former Manchester United player said after the team’s elimination was confirmed.

“Even after spending a decade learning how to prepare for the World Cup and develop Korean football, we have forgotten those lessons once again.”

South Korea was expected to emerge from Group A that included cohosts Mexico, South Africa and Czechia.

They started with a 2-1 win over the Czechs but lost 1-0 to Mexico before bowing out against South Africa.

The team were expected to arrive home on Tuesday morning, but local media reported that the Korea Football Association (KFA) were not planning to organise an event to welcome them back.

In 2014, angry fans pelted the team with Korean candies – seen as a deeply offensive insult – when they returned from the World Cup in Brazil, where they went out in the group stage during Hong’s first spell as coach.

‘Message to change’

Hong has been a lightning rod for criticism since he returned to the job in July 2024, five months after his predecessor, German World Cup-winner Jurgen Klinsmann, was axed.

The KFA came under fire for the process that led to Hong’s reappointment, with questions asked over its transparency and fairness.

Hong, who was regularly booed by fans, did himself no favours at the World Cup by dropping star player Son for the South Africa game, in which South Korea needed only a point to progress.

Hong admitted afterwards that he was struggling to understand what had gone wrong, as the nation nervously waited for results in other games to decide their fate.

Lee Chun-soo, a member of the 2002 World Cup team, said he “felt pathetic and frustrated rooting for Uzbekistan” against the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the hope that the result would send South Korea through.

“This is a message to change,” Lee said on his YouTube channel. “Everyone should be ready to step down.”

South Korean fans reserved a sizeable chunk of their anger for KFA President Chung Mong-gyu.

Chung said before the World Cup that he would quit after the tournament, blaming his “lack of virtue” following fierce criticism of his 13-year tenure.

The 65-year-old, who is in his fourth term as KFA president, came under fire for trying to pardon former players who were banned for life for match-fixing.

Chung and Hong might not be the only ones to bow out, with captain Son yet to comment on his future.

The skipper, who turns 34 next month, had previously hinted at retiring from international football.

Former captain Park said South Korea needed to learn from the past.

“It’s unfortunate that this kind of cycle keeps repeating,” he said.

“We must dream of and shape a better future, and move forward step by step so that we don’t repeat these mistakes.”