Thousands of Hong Kong beauty industry workers vented their frustrations in an online protest on Thursday, railing against extended business closures amid the city’s fourth wave of coronavirus infections and demanding the government allow operators...

Japan’s annual catch of prized Pacific saury collapsed by nearly 30 per cent last year to a record low haul, with fishing authorities blaming the decline on a combination of ocean conditions and the likes of China and Taiwan taking a larger haul.To...

Hong Kong’s unemployment rate, already at a 16-year high, will get worse before it gets better, a government economist predicted on Thursday, though further relief measures for industries slammed by the Covid-19 pandemic were on the way in the admi...

Shells and bullets are hurtling thicker and faster than ever between Indian and Pakistani forces across Kashmir’s ceasefire line, killing and maiming at a rate not seen in the entrenched conflict for two decades.Zameer Ahmad was building a communit...

The Central Shrimp Market – a wholesale centre in Samut Sakhon province, about an hour’s drive southwest of Bangkok – was where Thailand’s most recent Covid-19 cluster emerged in mid-December. Today, the market and nearby blocks of migrant wo...

Train services between Fanling and the Hong Kong border town of Sheung Shui were suspended for nearly an hour on Thursday after a man jumped onto the tracks at around 2pm and was later found dead.Police said the victim was discovered underneath a tra...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Gabby Orr, Anita Kumar and Meridith McGraw on politico.com on January 7, 2021.It was, for many of President Donald Trump’s own allies, the final straw. Wh...

Skinny women in bikinis are not what the Miss Germany contest is about any more. Men judging women for their appearance – that’s in the past. From now on, Miss Germany is a beauty pageant no more, says Max Klemmer, who organises the contest.“We...

China’s embassy in Washington has warned its citizens in the vicinity of the Capitol Hill area to take greater safety precautions, following the storming of government buildings by supporters of outgoing US president Donald Trump.The embassy issued...

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency on Thursday for Tokyo and adjacent areas, trying to stem Covid-19 infections that hit a daily record in the capital.The declaration covers the capital and the surrounding prefecture...

A new command centre in Kowloon East staffed with about 100 officers from the disciplined services and medical professionals will start operating next Monday under an enhanced contact-tracing strategy for Covid-19 cases, officials said, as Hong Kong ...

Covid-19 vaccines produced by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac are poised to be rolled out in several Southeast Asian countries, as a company official said interim efficacy data would be ready soon.Indonesia said it would start a mass vacci...

The Chinese government expressed regret that the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP25 ended without meeting goals. Critics said the summit failed to reach key outcomes, including setting a rulebook for the 2015 Paris agreement.

The year 2020 is on course to be one of the three warmest years ever recorded, according to the annual climate report by the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization. The assessment was made with two months more data to be analysed from a ...

North China’s Hebei province reported 51 new locally transmitted Covid-19 infections and 69 asymptomatic cases on Wednesday, after 63 infections were reported a day earlier, local health authorities said on Thursday.All but one of the new infection...

From wildfires and floods to storms and locust swarms, extreme weather and natural disasters around the world have caused thousands of deaths, millions of people to be displaced and billions in losses in 2020.

China’s financial regulators have slapped their most draconian rules yet on the 16 trillion yuan (US$2.5 trillion) real estate industry, hitting the country’s highly leveraged developers where they hurt most: their bank loans.A new concentration ...

All 53 former opposition lawmakers and activists arrested on suspicion of subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law will be granted bail by Thursday without charge, the Post has learned, while two more activists already behind bars have no...

Some users of China Telecom, one of the country’s three state-owned telecoms companies, can now make quantum encrypted phone calls using a special SIM card and smartphone app, the company announced last week.The move is the latest from China showca...

China’s fraught relations with India in the wake of the protracted military stand-off in the Himalayas may face fresh challenges with New Delhi taking a seat as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council this week.India’s two-y...

The mass arrests of opposition organisers and candidates of an election primary on suspicion of subversion on Wednesday left Hong Kong’s legal experts divided on which of their actions constituted an offence under the national security law.While po...

Gojek and Tokopedia – the two most valuable unicorns in Indonesia, with a combined valuation of US$18 billion – are reportedly close to a merger. Why is this happening, and how will it change the tech ecosystem in Southeast Asia? Tokopedia is th...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Lorraine Woellert on politico.com on January 6, 2021.A group representing US manufacturers said Vice-President Mike Pence should consider moving to eject Pr...

Faced with a perfect storm of a strong yuan and the rising cost of raw materials, China’s home appliance manufacturers are fearful of booming exports orders caused by the coronavirus as profits decline, leaving some on the verge of bankruptcy.On on...

The ongoing saga of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) moving to delist three of China’s biggest telecommunications companies is the latest reminder of the rapidly shifting ground Chinese companies have regularly found themselves on as Sino-America...

US President-elect Joe Biden denounced President Donald Trump for failing to stop his supporters from storming the Capitol on Wednesday, calling them “extremists” and describing their violent acts as an “insurrection” against American democra...

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn does not need a visa to re-enter Germany, where the monarch has spent much of his time since taking the throne in 2016, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.The king, 68, returned to Thailand in October amid ma...

China’s Communist Party has doubled down on its controversial “united front” efforts, with new guidelines to rally support for the country and party among Chinese citizens abroad.“[We must] strengthen guidance of thought and promote the love ...

Nuclear-armed North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un vowed to strengthen its military capabilities at a key ruling party meeting, state media reported Thursday, just weeks before Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president.In his work report to the Worker...

The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force put the spotlight on several missiles targeting “Taiwan independence-leaning forces” to mark the fifth anniversary of its founding, a warning to the self-ruled island, military experts said.In a five-ep...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Quint Forgey on politico.com on January 6, 2021.Democrat Jon Ossoff has defeated Republican David Perdue in the remaining Georgia Senate race – clinching ...

The EU-China investment deal, tentatively reached just last week, faces a new hurdle as a growing number of European Parliament members expressed concern on Wednesday over the mass arrests of pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong.“The situation in...

A woman from Italy’s Calabria region was murdered and fed to pigs in 2016 after refusing to give up her land to a neighbour with ties to a mafia clan, local media reported on Wednesday citing former gangsters.Maria Chindamo, a 42-year-old businessw...

The US Congress, having defeated Republican efforts to derail Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump, on Thursday approved states’ Electoral College results certifying the next occupant of the White House.A marathon sitting was ...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Tyler Pager, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney on politico.com on January 6, 2021.Joe Biden has selected Judge Merrick Garland to serve as his attorney general,...

After 35 rounds of negotiations, Beijing and Brussels announced the completion of the China-European Union Comprehensive Agreement on Investment negotiations in December. In a year full of uncertainty, the agreement reflects China’s determination t...

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wednesday said it is moving forward to delist three Chinese telecommunications carriers again less than two days after it halted that plan.The decision is based on “new specific guidance received on Jan. 5, 202...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Quint Forgey on politico.com on January 6, 2021.President Donald Trump applied new pressure on Vice-President Mike Pence to interfere with the Congressional...

Chinese researchers have developed a biological sensor they say can detect the new coronavirus in 10 minutes from a throat swab, based on initial study results.The sensing chip developed by a Peking University team fits a portable, laptop-sized devic...

Hong Kong’s struggling beauty salons will open on Thursday – symbolically at least – to protest against the social-distancing rules that forced them to close amid the fourth wave of coronavirus infections, with one industry leader warning of fu...

The crackdown on the opposition camp in Hong Kong appears to have dealt a fatal blow to the political fortunes of its most prominent members but their successors may find a role in governing if they do not openly challenge Beijing, pro-establishment ...

Hongkongers will have to brace for another cold snap from Friday, with weather forecasters warning temperatures will hover around 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) or lower for almost a week, the longest chilly spell of the winter so far.The...

Hong Kong’s outgoing chief justice, Geoffrey Ma Tao-li, offered his clearest views on the city’s rule of law and judicial independence on Wednesday in a ceremonial farewell sitting to say goodbye to the legal profession and the public.Donning his...

A Bangladeshi migrant worker is suing his ex-employer and dormitory operator in Singapore, accusing them of “false imprisonment” after he was locked in his room during a coronavirus outbreak.Most of Singapore’s more than 58,000 cases have been ...

Beijing says it is communicating with the World Health Organization on arrangements for its team to visit China to investigate the origins of Covid-19, after the scientists learned at the last minute that they had not yet been granted entry.Foreign m...

A naked businesswoman and her five-month-old daughter fell to their deaths from their penthouse in an upscale residential block in Hong Kong in an apparent murder-suicide on Wednesday.Emergency personnel were called after a security guard heard a lou...

Former CEO of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that he would not have accepted the position in the company if he knew that money was embezzled from its funds.He maintained that he had thought the...

Nigeria is in talks to procure China-made coronavirus vaccines, the West African country’s foreign minister said during Chinese counterpart Wang Yi’s visit on Tuesday.Geoffrey Onyeama’s revelation that Nigeria was discussing the matter with Chi...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was denied bail on Wednesday because a judge said there is a risk he may abscond while the United States tries to secure his extradition from Britain.Assange has spent more than eight years either holed up in the Lond...

A Hong Kong court has declared former opposition lawmaker Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang bankrupt over his failure to repay some HK$930,000 in wages and operating expenses he received before he was booted from the legislature in 2016.Master Hui Ka-ho...