Myanmar’s military on Saturday said it would protect and abide by the constitution and act according to law, in a move that could allay concerns in the country that the armed forces might attempt to seize power.The statement comes a day after UN Se...

A Buddhist monk known for his support for LGBT+ rights has sparked outrage among conservatives after he called for Thailand to decriminalise abortion.Phra Shine Waradhammo was among about 20 pro-choice activists who protested in front of the Thai par...

Hong Kong’s deputy director of social welfare (services), Lam Ka-tai, died on Saturday after collapsing in his office 10 days ago. He was 59.Lam fainted in his office at the Wan Chai Wu Chung House on Wednesday, January 20, a person with knowledge ...

A World Health Organization team visited one of the first hospitals in Wuhan to treat patients with Covid-19, on the second day of a long-delayed and politically charged investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.The delegation of 13 ...

The world could be on the verge of having two more vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, but virus variants popping up worldwide are forcing companies that make the shots to develop boosters for a disease that could remain active for years.Vaccine...

Indian farmers began a one-day hunger strike on Saturday in protest against new agricultural laws after a week of clashes with authorities that left one dead and hundreds injured.Angry at what they see as laws benefiting large private buyers at the e...

Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, warned of “an escalating nuclear crisis” with Iran as the Biden administration seeks to salvage the multinational agreement that former US president Donald Trump abandoned.Tehran is moving...

Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party on Saturday said it would cut short a key five-yearly congress as it battled its biggest flare-up yet of Covid-19. The congress will end on Monday, a day earlier than previously scheduled, state media reported.The n...

A new trend in China for selling pets in “lucky bags” online has caused concern among animal rights advocates who fear for the well-being of the creatures.The idea is that consumers chose the type of pet they want, but not the specific breed, col...

Every week, media company The Royal Singapore puts up two to three videos on its Facebook page. The content often revolves around feel-good stories of ordinary people doing upbeat things, and celebrations of grit and determination. There is the fune...

The US said on Friday that Chinese military flights in the past week in the South China Sea fit a pattern of destabilising and aggressive behaviour by Beijing but posed no threat to a US Navy aircraft carrier strike group in the region.“The Theodor...

Hong Kong launched a recruitment and infrastructure drive for its first Covid-19 vaccination campaign, expected to start late next month, to combat a persistent fourth wave that brought another 28 new cases on Saturday.The figure is the lowest since ...

Two pipe bombs left at the offices of the Republican and Democratic national committees, discovered just before thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol, were actually placed the night before, federal officials said on Friday.The FBI sai...

First-world problems, perhaps, but on the seventh day of my three-week mandatory hotel quarantine in Hong Kong, the toilet flush stopped working.The concierge of my hotel in Aberdeen, which my husband and I chose for the view and a window that could ...

The development the world spent much of 2020 waiting for – viable Covid-19 vaccines – is finally upon us. Yet in many countries the end to the pandemic remains out of sight.That’s because getting access to a dose – or two – really depends o...

A New Zealand citizen who was heavily intoxicated from a night of drinking in Singapore flew into a rage when a taxi driver missed a turn while driving him home, punching him several times and fracturing his nose.He also flung the driver’s mobile p...

From Sunday, Hong Kong residents considering moving to Britain can start applying for a special visa that opens a new pathway to immigration and citizenship there.Britain made it easier for Hongkongers to leave after Beijing imposed a wide-ranging na...

 Without sounding finicky, I believe there are local experiences that only a true Hongkonger can understand. Even non-locals who have been in the city for years and view it as their second home are not able to fully comprehend or appreciate some of ...

Britain has doubled down on its offer of a pathway to citizenship for Hongkongers, vowing not to “look the other way” after Beijing said it would stop recognising the British National (Overseas) passport as a travel or identification document.Lon...

Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November, global momentum for action is increasing as governments, businesses, experts and civil society seek common ground on reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This is the fi...

The biggest video game companies in China, including Tencent Holdings and NetEase, are betting on known properties and the widespread appeal of fictional worlds like those of Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter to grow their presence ...

When Hong Kong’s biggest free television station, TVB, announced last week that it was appointing comedians Eric Tsang and Wong Cho-lam as senior executives, observers were left wondering how the pair might turn around the broadcaster’s flagging ...

Nepalese pupil Noyem Limbu, 10, struggles to speak Chinese, despite taking classes on the subject since kindergarten.Born and raised in Hong Kong, Limbu says his English-medium school in Sham Shui Po only teaches basic Chinese to students, most of wh...

Portugal’s parliament on Friday passed a law allowing medically assisted dying, putting the Catholic-majority country on course to become the fourth in Europe to legalise euthanasia.Before coming into force the bill must first be signed into law by...

It’s moving-in day for students at an unnamed university in “an alternate universe” and things are already heating up in the boys’ dormitory, although the issues at hand are hardly academic.The freshmen – first-year students who in this cas...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Doug Palmer on politico.com on January 29, 2021.The United States supports quickly ending the impasse the Trump administration created over the selection of...

Malaysian retail investors joined forces on social media and pushed up stocks of under-pressure rubber glove makers on Friday, taking inspiration from the recent GameStop trading phenomenon in the US.Shares of the American video game shop chain surge...

The Biden administration plans on responding quickly and decisively to China’s increasingly assertive and bellicose policies toward Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang and beyond, the top US national security official said on Friday – building leverage b...

Drones, driverless surface ships and underwater gliders are imperative if China is to protect its maritime interests, according to an academic report.The authors, from China’s Naval Research Academy and Northwestern Polytechnic University’s Schoo...

The temple of Kinkaku-ji in the Japanese city of Kyoto has been given a major facelift, and without the eyesore of scaffolding and signs of ageing, the landmark’s famous golden walls are now shining again in full splendour.In fact, it’s the first...

The brother and aides of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny were placed under house arrest on Friday ahead of new rallies, as Russian authorities warned that protesters could face charges of taking part in “mass unrest”.Moscow police also annou...

Eswatini has backed out of its plan to join the US’ anti-China “Clean Network” campaign, less than two weeks after the two countries agreed to “exclude high-risk digital equipment suppliers”.Eswatini’s acting minister of information, comm...

China may come under pressure to lift its ban on Australian coking coal and copper concentrates amid dwindling supplies of high quality raw materials, analysts said, although there are few signs that Chinese authorities are willing to relent just yet...

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Friday proposed a ban on Muslim headscarves in all public places, seeking to build on a record recent poll putting her almost neck-and-neck with President Emmanuel Macron.The hijab policy, which would be conte...

After a round of talks in Moscow, the Taliban said on Friday they expect the United States to fulfil its pledge to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by May.Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanikzai, who led the Taliban delegation that held meetings with s...

A Canadian judge has refused to order the removal of private security guards tasked with preventing Huawei Technologies Co. executive Meng Wanzhou from escaping when she leaves her Vancouver mansion.Meng’s lawyers had argued at a bail hearing in th...

The European Union on Friday backtracked on a threat to restrict exports of coronavirus shots to Northern Ireland in its growing row with Britain, as the WHO warned against “vaccine nationalism”.Outbreaks are raging around the globe with Covid-19...

Hungary’s medicine and food safety regulator on Friday approved China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, making it the first country in the European Union to do so.The decision followed a government decree on Thursday that streamline...

Bulgarian authorities have arrested a counterfeit gang that promoted the quality of its illegal documents and banknotes by showing a fake Bulgarian passport bearing the picture of US actor Sylvester Stallone.Prosecutors on Friday charged four Bulgari...

Romania was in shock on Friday after a fire broke out in the country’s main hospital for coronavirus patients, killing five in the second such incident in three months.Emergency responders in capital Bucharest found three patients dead at the Matei...

A leading biologist whose team recently discovered that the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 may be able to insert its genes into human DNA has said there is no cause for alarm over vaccines that mimic the process of infection.The discovery by Profes...

US President Joe Biden called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny during their phone call this week, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday.Biden pressed Putin on a number of issu...

Defence relations between Vietnam and the United States are expected to strengthen under new administrations in both countries and with wide public support in Vietnam for Washington’s increased role in the South China Sea, a Vietnamese analyst said...

Hong Kong catering giant Maxim’s was fined HK$9,000 (US$1,160) on Friday after a woman took a bite out of a bun only to find a small lizard among the filling.The questionable food item was sold at Maxim’s Cakes bakery at Butterfly Plaza in Tuen M...

A senior US military official said China was “pouring a lot of money” into anti-ship ballistic missiles but it may not help the People’s Liberation Army win a conflict between the two nations.Vice Admiral Jeffrey Trussler, deputy chief of naval...

Hong Kong homebuyers gave a lukewarm response to Wheelock Properties’ Monaco residential project in Kai Tak on Friday evening, setting the tone for over 600 units that go on sale at four housing projects up to Sunday.Wheelock said it had sold nearl...

Beijing’s two top agencies overseeing Hong Kong affairs have lashed out at the new head of the Bar Association, describing him as an anti-Communist lawyer who has challenged national sovereignty and the bottom line of the “one country, two system...

A teacher at a Hong Kong primary school was driven to suicide by the actions of the principal who pressured her to resign, a coroner has said.Lam Lai-tong fell to her death from a building at TWGHs Leo Tung-Hai Lee Primary School in Tin Shui Wai in 2...

Johnson & Johnson’s long-awaited vaccine appears to protect against Covid-19 with just one shot – not as strong as some two-shot rivals but still potentially helpful for a world in dire need of more doses.J&J said on Friday that in the US and sev...