Latest news with #StevenCheung
Independent Singapore
3 days ago
- Business
- Independent Singapore
Steven Cheung, financially struggling, takes to Instagram asking for employment
HONG KONG: Even though singer Steven Cheung took on various jobs to make ends meet, he continues to face financial struggles and has publicly sought help, as reported by VnExpress. Photo: Instagram/Steven Cheung He took to Instagram and posted a Story, saying that he was in urgent need of a job opportunity and required HK$6,800 (S$1,116) today, and he said, 'Help me,' as reported by The Star . Difficult situation Cheung's wife, Au Yin Man, also took to Instagram to share a post about the couple's difficult situation. In a social media post, she shared her thoughts, saying that sometimes even a small amount of effort can turn things around in life, but then she also added that sometimes, even that's just not enough. Cheung and his wife are parents to four young boys, ranging in age from one to five years old. The couple has been struggling to make ends meet. Behind on their rent Things are tight for them right now. Au revealed that they're behind on their rent by a month and a half, and it costs them HK$15,000 monthly. She also mentioned that the landlord is threatening to kick them out if they don't pay the overdue rent by the end of the month. See also Netizens think that Cecilia Cheung is pregnant Cheung, 40, has held several jobs to support his family. He's done everything from setting up cable wires and working on construction sites to handing out flyers, delivering food, and even distributing condoms. Did not get many roles If you're wondering how Cheung got his start, it was in 2003 with a boy band. Before that, they were known as Boy'z but then switched to Sun Boy'z. They were quite popular in Hong Kong and even won several music awards. However, when the group disbanded in 2008, Cheung attempted to transition into acting, but his career didn't take off. He didn't get many good roles. Cheung tied the knot with Au, who's 34, back in 2019, but things have been tough for their family, especially after that cheating scandal in 2019, the one with four women, including actress April Leung. Following that, the singer was unable to secure a job, further worsening their financial difficulties. In 2003, Steven Cheung Chi-hang, 40, a singer from Hong Kong, made his debut as part of the boy group Boy'z. The duo, formed by Emperor Entertainment Group, also included Kenny Kwan. They were quite popular and received multiple music awards in Hong Kong. In 2005, Kwan left the group and was briefly replaced by Dennis Mak. Then, things shifted in 2006 when William Chan joined, and it was then that they decided to change their name to Sun Boy'z. However, in December 2008, the group officially called it quits.
The Star
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
HK star Steven Cheung pleads for job opportunity as family struggles financially
Hong Kong singer Steven Cheung has struggled to land performance gigs since a 2019 scandal. Photo: Steven Cheung/Instagram Despite his efforts to provide for his family, Hong Kong singer Steven Cheung remains caught in a difficult struggle for financial stability. On Sunday (May 25), Cheung, 40, made a plea on his Instagram Story, writing: 'I'm in urgent need of a job opportunity, requiring HK$6,800 (RM3,648) today. Help me.' Not long after, his wife Au Yin Man, made a post of her own on Instagram, sharing: 'Just a little effort can bring about a change in life. Sometimes, it's not enough.' The couple has four sons aged between one and five. Earlier this month, Au, 33, revealed that their monthly rent amounts to HK$15,000 (RM8,049). She said then that the family had already fallen a month and a half behind on payments and risks eviction if the outstanding amount isn't cleared by the end of the month. Cheung, who was part of the Cantopop duo Boyz, has taken on various jobs to make ends meet in recent years. Among them include cable wiring, construction work, distributing fliers and condoms, as well as making food delivery orders. The singer has struggled to land performance gigs since a 2019 scandal, when he announced his marriage to Au while still dating Hong Kong actress April Leung.
NDTV
23-05-2025
- Business
- NDTV
NDTV Explains: India And The US' Awkward 'AAA' Ratings Cut, Debt Story
The US' federal debt is a staggering $36 trillion and its debt-to-GDP ratio is among the highest in the world; as of 2025 only seven countries owed more money than they earned. In baseball, that most quintessential of American sports, three strikes mean you're out. And that, in a nutshell, is what has happened to the United States' once-perfect 'AAA' credit rating. Strike No 1 was August 5, 2011. S&P Global called out the "effectiveness, stability, and predictability of policymaking have weakened...", and downgraded the US from 'AAA' to 'AA+'. Strike No 2 was August 1, 2023. Fitch pointed to a "steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years, including on fiscal and debt matters... " and said repeated last-minute, last-gasp resolutions of a growing debt merited a demotion from 'AAA' to 'AA'. Strike No 3 was May 16, 2025. Moody's, which had retained the highest creditworthiness rating for the United States since 1917, could not any longer, dropping it to 'AA1' because of a growing federal deficit that was 6.4 per cent in 2024 and could jump to nine per cent by 2035. Now, and let's get this clear, all three ratings are still very strong, and Moody's expects the US to bounce back to 'AAA' in the near future by either increasing revenues or reducing spending. For context, India is rated a stable 'BAA3' by Moody's and 'BBB-' by Fitch and S&P. Why Has This Happened Because the US is $36 trillion in debt. This debt has been growing every year since 2002, according to Treasury data, and roughly a trillion dollars is added to it every three months. Because successive US administrations have failed, for various reasons, to rein in debt levels aggravated by yearly borrowings made necessary because of a running budget deficit. Because, quite simply, the US owes more money than it makes and the annual borrowing to offset that shortfall means it now owes (interest included) a monstrous sum. White House Takes Aim At Moody's The White House, unsurprisingly, rejected the ratings cut, calling the downgrade a "political decision" and slamming Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's analytics division. "Nobody takes his 'analysis' seriously. He has been proven wrong time and time again," Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, said. The connection between Mr Zandi and the cut is unclear. Donald Trump previously argued his economic agenda, based on tax cuts, reduced regulations, and sweeping tariffs will bring more manufacturing jobs and lead to strong growth. 'Running An Economy' 101 Now, almost every country in the world runs a budget deficit - i.e., it spends more money than it makes - and, therefore, has to borrow and, therefore, has some debt due. But the US' debt levels, though, are among the highest; as of 2025 there were only a handful of countries that owed more than they produced, i.e., their debt was over 100 per cent of the GDP. April 2025 data from the International Monetary Fund-World Economic Forum placed the US eighth - with 122.5 per cent - in a list of 10 nations with the highest public debt. And of the seven with higher levels of debt, one is an impoverished African nation and two are in a severe crisis. Borrowing in a crisis, like India during COVID, is understandable. The US, though, has borrowed more for less, including to fight wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) and fund tax cuts for the rich. Countries running a budget deficit borrow to keep afloat and then have to pay back those borrowers, which, in the US' case, includes an estimated $1 trillion from Japanese investors, $779 billion from the UK, and $765 billion from China. This works to about 25 per cent. By the way, countries holding these debt (and Canada has $426 billion) have said they will leverage this in breaking high tariffs Donald Trump has slapped on their exports to the US. As of March 2025, India holds $240 billion of US debt, according to Treasury data. The vast majority - around $15.2 trillion, or 42 per cent - of the debt is held internally. India's Debt Levels India's external debt is around $718 billion according to the Finance Ministry's latest data. That means India's debt-to-GDP is around 80 per cent, placing it 31st overall. The goal for Delhi is to bring that down by one percentage point every year till it reaches 50 per cent. In fact, the Reserve Bank last year said a 'strategic realignment of government spending' could lead to a faster-than-expected decline of the debt-to-GDP ratio - to 73.4 per cent by 2030. And who holds India's debt? Well, like the US, a majority of it is held internally, i.e., private individuals and commercial organisations. A third is owned by global financial institutions. Significantly, unlike the US, only 16 per cent is owned by other nations, led by Japan with 11 per cent and Russia and Germany with two per cent each. And, also unlike the US, India's fiscal deficit is relatively contained; in the budget presented in February 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that figure was 4.8 per cent for FY25. Remember Also To Pay Back Debts The 'debt' challenge is to generate revenue enough to run the country AND pay debtors with interest, which is fiendishly hard to begin with and harder as debt levels (are forced to) grow. A good measure of how well this challenge is being met is household debt-to-GDP, which was around 73 per cent for the US in end-2024. India's figure was around 40 per cent in that period. In dollar terms, that's about $18 trillion for the US and nearly $700 billion for India. The growing household debt in the US is another reason why the major ratings agency have That 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' And this is where Donald Trump's claims about slashing operating costs and downsizing the civil service to 'save money' and jumpstarting domestic manufacturing to create more jobs - by levying tariffs on imported goods to force production to shift to the US - come into focus. These 'cost-cutting' efforts, led by billionaire Elon Musk and his DOGE, or Department Of Government Efficiency, have shut down foreign aid to over 100 countries and a domestic consumer protection watchdog, which will save less than one per cent of the total budget. All told, this slashing away will drop, Trump says, around $1 trillion from the budget. But that is not enough. In fact, CBS News in April said the Trump administration had spent $200 billion in its first 100 days - more than the first 100 days of nine of the past 10 years. And now Trump's 'One Big, Beautiful Bill'- which extends tax cuts from his first term, and will add nearly $4 trillion to debt over the next decade - has been passed. The 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' will also slash healthcare for 71 million low-income Americans. Debt Default Avoided? So does this all mean the US could actually default on its debt, like Sri Lanka, Russia, and Ghana did in 2022, Greece in 2015, Ukraine in 1998-2000, and Russia again in 1998? The United States has skirted this precipice often, very often. Since 1960 the US has raised its debt ceiling - the maximum amount it can legally borrow - a staggering 78 times to avoid default. The current debt of $36 trillion has breached that, again. If the US government does not re-raise its ceiling, for a 79th time, then yes, the United States could default on its debt, triggering a potentially severe global economic crisis, again. What This Means In the short term, not much. For example, Indian investors holding US bonds - long-term financial instruments issued by the government to borrow money - are unlikely to unduly affected, because the United States remains a safe and strong investment. If anything, it might prove beneficial because a ratings downgrade could make it more expensive for the US to borrow money, i.e., lenders may now demand higher interest rates. The impact vis-a-vis currencies may be mixed. A weaker dollar may be good news for the rupee, and uncertainty in the American currency may mean investors look for opportunities abroad. But investors use credit ratings to assess the risk profile of companies and governments when they raise financing in debt capital markets. Generally, lower ratings = higher financing costs.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Loses Final AAA Credit Rating As Markets And Bitcoin Fall — Will the Risk-Off Panic Continue?
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Financial markets were thrown into turmoil Friday after Moody's—the last major ratings agency maintaining the U.S.' pristine credit status since 1917—shocked investors by downgrading the country's long-term credit rating. The stunning announcement triggered immediate selling across both traditional and cryptocurrency markets, leaving investors scrambling to reassess positions heading into an uncertain weekend. In what many analysts are calling a watershed moment for global finance, Moody's dropped its bombshell announcement 11 minutes before futures trading closed on Friday—leaving traders with no immediate way to respond. The ratings agency downgraded US debt from AAA to Aa1, joining Fitch, which downgraded the U.S. in 2023, and the 2011 cut by S&P. Don't Miss: — no wallets, just price speculation and free paper trading to practice different strategies. Grow your IRA or 401(k) with Crypto – . Moody's cited 'the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.' The agency further warned it 'expects borrowing needs to continue to grow and for it to weigh on the US economy as a whole'—a sobering assessment that could push up interest rates and create additional financial burdens for Americans already struggling with tariffs and inflation. The Nasdaq futures contract (NQ1!) immediately cracked below its yearly opening level—a technically devastating break that signals potential further carnage when markets reopen next week. The White House response added another layer of controversy to the market upheaval. In a statement on X, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung suggested Moody's analysis might be politically motivated, writing: 'Mark Zandi, the economist for Moody's, is an Obama advisor and Clinton donor who has been a Never Trumper since 2016. Nobody takes his 'analysis' seriously. He has been proven wrong time and time again.' This political dimension adds further uncertainty for markets already processing the first time in over a century that the U.S. has lost all of its perfect credit ratings. Despite the downgrade, Moody's considers the U.S. outlook 'stable' for now, partly due to 'its long history of very effective monetary policy led by an independent Federal Reserve.' However, this assessment comes as questions have been raised about whether the Fed independence will continue to be respected under the current administration. Cryptocurrency markets, already showing significant weakness, faced compounding pressure as the Moody's news broke. Bitcoin's technical picture has rapidly deteriorated with: Repeated rejections at critical trend line support on four-hour charts A textbook series of lower highs pointing to accelerating bearish momentum Failure to overcome established weekly resistance despite multiple attempts These bearish technical signals, now amplified by macroeconomic uncertainty, have created what some traders are calling 'the perfect storm' for digital assets. While Bitcoin has weathered previous downturns, the confluence of technical weakness and sovereign credit concerns presents an unprecedented challenge. Trending: New to crypto? on Coinbase. For investors trying to navigate the turbulence, several make-or-break price levels now stand between orderly correction and potential capitulation: The $100,678 threshold represents the last significant swing low on four-hour timeframes A crucial institutional demand zone between $95,700 and $97,300 may provide temporary relief Most critically, $93,548 marks the yearly opening price—a psychological line in the sand If these support levels fail to hold—particularly the yearly open—technical analysts warn of potential acceleration to the downside as stop-loss orders trigger and leveraged positions unwind. The Moody's downgrade forces investors to confront uncomfortable questions about America's fiscal trajectory and its implications for the global financial system. With U.S. Treasury securities serving as the world's risk-free benchmark, a credit downgrade of this magnitude could ripple through everything from mortgage rates to pension funds. Moody's noted that 'increasing government revenue or reducing spending could restore America's AAA rating,' but current fiscal policy direction may be moving in the opposite direction. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget recently projected that proposed tax cuts could add $3.3 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade, with annual deficits potentially jumping from $1.8 trillion in 2024 to $2.9 trillion by 2034. Even more alarming for markets, the country is already approaching another summer deadline when the US could potentially default on its debt unless the borrowing limit is raised, according to Treasury Department estimates—setting up yet another debt ceiling showdown that could further destabilize markets. For cryptocurrency investors specifically, the timing couldn't be more precarious. Bitcoin's vulnerability at key technical junctures now coincides with a potential shift in the macroeconomic narrative that had previously supported digital asset valuations. As markets digest these developments, volatility will likely intensify across all asset classes. Whether this becomes a brief episode of uncertainty or the catalyst for a broader risk-off cycle may depend on how policymakers respond and whether Bitcoin can defend its critical support architecture in the coming days. Read Next: A must-have for all crypto enthusiasts: . 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. Image: Shutterstock Send To MSN: 0 This article US Loses Final AAA Credit Rating As Markets And Bitcoin Fall — Will the Risk-Off Panic Continue? originally appeared on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNN
22-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
The curious case of Trump's disappearing media transcripts
The Trump White House, which touts itself as 'the most transparent' administration in history, has removed a database of official transcripts documenting President Donald Trump's announcements and appearances. The 'remarks' section of the White House website now features YouTube videos rather than the transcripts that past administrations have published for decades. The change is yet another example of the Trump administration trying to exert more control. Rather than printing every transcript, thus creating a comprehensive record for the public, the White House is selectively publicizing some events and skipping others. The selection of 'remarks' videos is noticeably incomplete, as it includes fewer than 50 Trump videos from the first 120 days of his second term. Get Reliable Sources newsletter Sign up here to receive Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter in your inbox. The White House publishes a much greater number of videos on YouTube, including highly partisan attacks and propagandistic mashups. HuffPost senior White House correspondent S.V. Date, who observed that the administration was cutting back on Trump transcripts earlier this spring, wrote last week that the White House was 'excluding many of his most unhinged comments' from its website. In response, White House communications director Steven Cheung told Date to 'stop beclowning yourself.' Now the transcripts have been removed altogether, with one exception: Trump's inaugural address. Stenographers employed by the government still record and transcribe all of Trump's remarks, including his interactions with the media. Those records just aren't being posted. The YouTube videos are not a complete replacement because some of Trump's remarks are not archived in video form, either. Other records typically published by previous administrations, like White House press briefing transcripts, have also been omitted in recent months. The website currently only includes the transcript of press secretary Karoline Leavitt's very first briefing in January. The transcript purge impacts journalists and researchers more than the average taxpayer. However, searchable, text-based records of a president's words are inherently valuable for holding an administration to account. Joe Biden's White House understood that when it got caught attempting to alter the transcript of his 'garbage' remarks about Trump supporters, despite official stenographer concerns. And so the disappearing Trump transcripts are revealing in terms of the administration's priorities — and what Leavitt means when she touts 'transparency.' Perhaps 'visibility' is the more accurate word. The Trump White House is certainly visible, often prioritizing videos and photos over the written word. While Trump's bombastic and improvisational speaking style demands heavy scrutiny and fact-checking, he often seems to care far more about images — specifically those of strength and dominance. In response to a CNN request for comment about the website change, Leavitt said, 'The president's remarks are live on the website for every person in the world, including journalists, to access and watch for themselves. The Trump White House is the most transparent in history.' The White House does, indeed, live stream Trump's remarks. But the transcript purge is still quite telling. And it makes the existence of outside databases, like Roll Call's all the more valuable. 'The move certainly underscores the reason to have a free and independent record of the president's statements and responses,' founder and developer Bill Frischling told CNN. It also highlights Trump's disregard for White House staff stenographers, a dynamic that former stenographer Beck Dorey-Stein described in a 2018 op-ed for The New York Times. 'Mr. Trump likes to call anyone who disagrees with him 'fake news,'' Dorey-Stein wrote. 'But if he's really the victim of so much inaccurate reporting, why is he so averse to having the facts recorded and transcribed?'
