Hong Kong
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A Hong Kong court postponed the national security trial hearing of media mogul Jimmy Lye on Friday due to concerns about his health after saying his defense was experiencing heart-moving pit.

Lai, the brand of democratic fire and now shuttered Apple Daily founder, appeared visibly thin and thin on Friday morning to end his debate on his groundbreaking national security incident.

The 77-year-old spent more than 1,600 days at the largest security Hong Kong prison.

Friday’s hearing was already delayed Thursday due to a massive storm, but continued about 15 minutes after the court heard about Rye’s health from his defense team.

Rai’s defense attorney, Robert Pan SC, told the judge that Rai “has some episodes that he felt were falling apart.”

Although Rai has undergone a medical checkup, prison staff have not yet provided him with a halter monitor, a device to record heart activity, Pan said.

Prosecutors said a team of medical professionals were waiting in court on Friday to address LAI’s medical needs.

However, Judge Alex Lee postponed the session on Monday, saying it would be “wise” not to start until Lye’s medical needs are present.

Jimmy Ly’s son Sebastian Ly told CNN before the hearing that he was deeply concerned about his father’s health.

“He’s 77 this year and will be 78 at the end of the year. Incarceration of all kinds is very concerned about his health, so don’t worry about solitary confinement and diabetes,” he said, calling his father’s long solitary confinement “a form of torture.”

“And over the summer, Hong Kong rises to 30 degrees, almost 40 degrees, and he’s in a small concrete cell, so he’s burning there. We’re very concerned about him.”

The Hong Kong government said it is strongly condemning what it calls a “misleading statement” about its treatment of Jimmy Lai in custody.

“The remarks by Sebastien Lai regarding the solitary confinement of Lai Chee-Ying are totally suppressing the facts, reflecting the malicious intent to smear and attack the HKSAR government,” Lai said in a statement.

The closing discussion is expected to take eight days, and it could take weeks or even months before the judge passes their verdict.

A British citizen, Lai is charged with two counts of charges with foreign military, a crime punished by life in prison under Beijing’s 2020 national security law, and another incitement charge. He pleads not guilty to all charges.

The outspoken founder of Apple Daily – the fiercely democratized tabloid newspaper known for years to force the closure of the ferocious broadside against the Chinese Communist Party has become a symbol of Beijing’s sweeping national security crackdown on the former wheel’s financial hub.

US President Donald Trump previously vowed that he had been released and confirmed in a radio interview with Fox News on Thursday that Lye’s ultimate fate was part of his continued negotiations with Beijing.

“I’m going to raise it, and I’ve already lifted it up, and I’m going to do everything I can to save him,” Trump said.

“You can understand, President Xi won’t be exactly excited about doing that,” Trump noted Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “All of that is said, so his name is already in the circle of what we’re talking about. We know what we can do.”

More than 360 people have been ill in the town of Slagen, Java, Indonesia’s Slagen town, after consuming school lunches, officials said Thursday in the biggest food poisoning incident that struck President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meal program.

Since its launch in January, the free school lunch program has been undermined by cases of heavy food poisoning across the archipelago, affecting more than 1,000 people.

Sragen government chief Sigit Pamungkas said 365 Reuters have become ill and food samples are being tested in the lab. The government will pay for treatment if necessary.

Withdandrid Hoimanyu, a ninth grader at Gemoron 1 Middle School, told Reuters that he woke up at night with a sharp pain in his stomach.

He had a headache and diarrhea, but after seeing a social media post from a schoolmate complaining about the same, he speculated that it was caused by food poisoning.

Possible contaminated lunches were turmeric rice, omelette ribbons, fried tempeh, cucumbers, lettuce salad, sliced apples, milk cooked in the central kitchen and distributed to several schools.

“We asked to temporarily suspend the distribution of food from that kitchen until the results of the lab return,” Sigitt said.

The government’s national nutrition agency that oversees the programme has raised standards for kitchen operation and delivery in the aftermath of a previous food poisoning incident, its chief Dadan Hindeyana told Reuters.

The free meal program has been rapidly expanding to over 15 million recipients so far. Authorities are expected to reach 83 million by the end of the year, and will budget a total cost of 171 trillion rupiah ($10.62 billion) this year.

Media reports say that in the case of food poisoning in West Java in West Java in May, more than 200 students became ill and the lab found that food was contaminated with bacteria from salmonella and E. coli.

Writing has been on the wall for a long time. South Korea’s birth rate has fallen over the majority of the last decade, writing about military troubles as regional threats and global conflicts boil over.

Now, new reports show that the number of South Korean troops has fallen 20% over the past six years. We found this to reflect the shrinking and expanding elderly workforce in one of the world’s fastest-aged countries, mainly due to a declining pool of young men.

The Ministry of Defense reported that it was attributed to “complex factors,” including population decline, and “complex factors,” with fewer men looking to become officers for “treatment of soldiers.” The report did not elaborate on its treatment, but research and investigations previously highlighted the military’s infamous harsh situation.

As of July, the military said it had 450,000 troops. This is down from 563,000 in 2019.

“If the number of permanent army (members) continues to decline, it can be difficult to ensure limits on elite talent and operating equipment,” a report shared last week by lawmaker Chummy warned.

This news comes at a bad time for Korea. South Korea is a key western ally that hosts a vast number of US troops and has mutual defense treaties with Washington.

Crossing the border, neighboring North Korea sent tens of thousands of soldiers to fight for Russia along the front line with Ukraine. Moscow instead shares advanced military technology with Pyongyang, increasing the fear of violating international sanctions.

Meanwhile, the North Korean dominant Kim family continues to blow up hostile rhetoric, threatening to destroy South Korea with nuclear weapons if attacked, warning that Seoul will remain “enemy.”

But experts say that doesn’t necessarily mean that North Korean troops are better.

The North faces its own population problems and declining birth rates, and its technology is far behind in the South. This now hopes to close the shortage of military recruits through innovation.

“South Korea is far ahead of North Korea in terms of traditional weapons,” said Choi Byung-ku, a national security professor at Sang-Jong University. “We have a small army now, and I like to say “small but strong army.” That’s what we need. ”

On the surface, North Korea has several advantages.

According to the CIA World Factbook, it is one of the most critically militarized countries in the world, with up to 1.3 million military personnel. That’s almost three times the number of South Korean troops.

These units also serve the military much longer. With an average of 10 years, we can “enhance unit cohesion (and) knowledge of each other’s abilities.”

In contrast, within half of the year and half of the service most South Korean conscriptions provide, “what you can develop is not very sophisticated skills,” Seiler said.

According to UN data, North Korea’s birth rate is defined as the average number of children born to women in their lifetime. Hoin Lee, a senior economist at the Southern Institute for Economic Research, says that North Korea has been giving birth to more babies a year since 2018 than in the South.

But the bigger picture is more complicated, experts told CNN.

For one thing, South Korea has around 3.1 million people in preparation. Their training may be basic, but it gives them the number they need for a potential war – it doesn’t include the 28,500 US troops stationed in the country.

Pyongyang has also faced its own population problems as its fertility rate immerses in the past years following the pandemic. Kim Jong-un, the authoritarian leader of the nation, pointed out the issue at a 2023 Mothers National Conference, urging them to “bear many children” as a patriotic duty.

It could become ill for highly isolated countries with economies that rely on labor-intensive industries such as agriculture and mining, Lee said.

It’s hard to see how much this has impacted the North Korean forces so far. However, the fact that Pyongyang sent tens of thousands of troops to fight for Russia doesn’t feel that Kim “is worried that there aren’t enough soldiers to do the job of protecting his hometown,” Saylor said.

Their army also joined in to fill the gap where more women existed. This trend began near the turn of the century after previous flooding of fertility, Lee said.

Many are young women working in the military’s communications, administrative and anti-aircraft artillery departments, Lee said. Meanwhile, middle-aged and older women are mobilized to bridge gaps in other private sectors.

In contrast, women are not drafted in South Korea. This is a controversial point that has sparked resentment among young Korean men who argue that their essential services are at a disadvantage in their research, career and personal life.

As of 2023, volunteer women accounted for only 3.6% of the total military, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Some experts suggest that eliminating more women could solve the Korean problem. But Choi, a national security professor, argued that the country needs to move away from the idea of increasing talent, and instead focused on moving forward with the technology and making the military an elite.

“I personally disagree with the opinion that we must have a large army because North Korea does,” he said. “The size of our forces is decreasing and there are no many options to increase it. As South Korea is on the path to becoming a science and technology powerhouse, I think we need to adopt this crisis as an opportunity.”

On European battlefields, Ukraine directly shows how out-of-armies and troops with guns can still be held back and inflicted painful losses on far larger enemies by embracing new and affordable technology.

Tools such as drones and cyberwarfare could help reduce South Korea’s dependence on infantry and artillery, Saylor said. Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at EWHA Womens University in Seoul, said AI support and autonomy systems could further boost the shrinking military.

Choi pointed out that South Korea spends much more on defense than in the north, and has many military training, including allies like the US, and is prepared for overall combat readiness.

However, Saylor warned at the end of the day that “You still need people. There are no robots or automation that can replace trained soldiers, airmen and Marines.” Easley agreed, saying that South Korean troops will still face a shortage of talent during the war.

And there are still wider challenges. How will the authorities change cultural attitudes towards the military within South Korea?

People can volunteer to serve longer conditions and become professional executives who train with more advanced weapons, but the number of applicants has steadily declined over the years.

Famous incidents of haze, bullying and harassment in the South Korean military may have contributed to the military’s negative perception.

In recent years, the government has eased restrictions on conscription, such as allowing mobile phones to be used at certain times, and provided alternatives to conscription.

But that’s not enough, Choi said.

“We need to improve the welfare of our military and fight the spirits as a whole,” he said. He added that supporting the current size of the military will become even more difficult in the coming decades as the population decreases further.

“By the 2040s, even maintaining a troop of 350,000 people will be difficult, so we need to establish an optimized talent structural system as soon as possible.”