When the son of a wealthy Indian politician returned home in 2019 after acquiring an Ivy League education in the United States, his search for a prospective partner soon stalled as he realised he had no way of meeting someone suitable.“I was abroad...

Around 70 per cent of coronavirus patients tested at a Tokyo hospital last month carried a mutation known for reducing vaccine protection, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said on Sunday.The E484K mutation, nicknamed “Eek” by some scientists, was ...

While most of the world struggles to secure enough Covid-19 vaccines, Serbia faces a different battle – how to persuade its citizens to get the life-saving shot.The small Balkan country has so many vaccines available it has even offered jabs to any...

Spain is about to ask hundreds of companies to join in one of the biggest-ever tests of whether a four-day work week can be implemented without harming the economy.While initiatives elsewhere have largely been small-scale and started by individual bu...

Chinese internet users have criticised the penalty handed down to a cosmetic surgery operator who left a Chinese rising star’s nose blackened with dead flesh as too lenient.The operator was suspended from her practice for a six-month period while...

Hong Kong recorded zero local coronavirus infections for the first time in a week on Easter Sunday, with the seven new cases all imported, according to health authorities. The news came as Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, the city’s No 2 o...

Zarni was 20 years old when he received a life sentence for his involvement in Myanmar’s 1988 uprising, although he had his sentence commuted just in time to join the 2007 Saffron Revolution. He now runs a youth centre in North Okkalapa, which he s...

With one eye on the long line that snaked out in front of her, Beijing resident Wang Shuhui softly shook her head in frustration.After twice being summoned by her neighbourhood committee to get her Covid-19 vaccination, the woman in her 60s had final...

Tens of thousands of Myanmar workers have gone on strike over the past two months, hoping that economic paralysis will force the hand of the wealthy generals who ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.Bank employees, doctors, engineers...

A former chief of Hong Kong’s de facto central bank has noted an improvement in the United States’ attitude towards Hong Kong under the new Biden administration and expressed confidence the country will not deploy “nuclear” financial weapons ...

The United States is hopeful it can work with China to tackle climate change, despite long-standing disagreements that have affected their relationship, according to US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry.“Our hope is that we’re goi...

The latest maritime dispute between China and the Philippines is yet another sign that waters in the Asia-Pacific are turning increasingly stormy, and are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.Geopolitical changes and the ongoing rivalry bet...

Greenland votes on Tuesday in legislative elections largely seen as a referendum on a controversial mining project that would help diversify the Arctic island’s economy as it plans for a future altered by climate change.The autonomous Danish territ...

US museums hit hard by the pandemic are selling paintings to bridge revenue gaps, with some going further and using the funds to diversify collections, but critics say the sales betray the institutions’ mission of preserving artwork for the public....

China has changed its vaccination advice for women trying for a baby, telling them they no longer have to wait for three months after receiving the jab before trying to get pregnant.Wang Le, a government worker from Chaoyang in Liaoning province, sai...

With families flocking to beaches again, crowds returning to amusement parks, and religious services resuming at limited capacity, it looks like Hong Kong is, once again, giving reopening a shot. Two-thirds of Hong Kong’s students have been allowed...

A convenience store in North Carolina, owned by a Korean-American couple, was trashed by a man who wielded a metal post and yelled racial slurs, according to US police and a son of the owners.Surveillance footage shows a man pulling a merchandise rac...

Taiwan may come to the fore when the US and Japanese leaders meet next week. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden are also expected to discuss human rights issues in China and ways to counter its growing maritime assert...

When news broke of the latest violent attack against an Asian-American in New York City on Monday, it ricocheted across the South Korean mediasphere, generating countless articles and news bulletins. The brutal attack on a 65-year-old Filipino woman,...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Saturday after a significant leak at a large pond of waste water threatened to flood roads and burst a system that stores polluted waters.Officials in Florida ordered more than 300 homes to ...

A total of 27 police officers have been injured in unrest in Northern Ireland as political leaders call for calm over the Easter weekend.The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said 15 officers were injured in Belfast and 12 officers were hurt ...

Details from more than 500 million Facebook users have been found available on a website for hackers.The information appears to be several years old, but it is another example of the vast amount of information collected by Facebook and other social m...

After hosting the first encounter between the new Biden administration and its Beijing counterparts in a session marked by acrimony, Alaska still hopes its new-found notoriety will spur profitable ties with China.“I am optimistic that publicity fr...

Five people have died after a burning three-storey house collapsed on the outskirts of the Thai capital Bangkok on Saturday, local media said.The building caught fire on Saturday morning and was put out about an hour later, local media reports said. ...

Jordan has arrested a royal family member and asked a former crown prince to cease all activities that could threaten the country’s national stability after putting him under house arrest, a series of rare incidents in the kingdom.Hasan Bin Zeid, a...

On March 30, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee made wide-ranging changes to Annex 1 and Annex 2 to the Basic Law, which govern the methods for selecting the chief executive of Hong Kong and forming the legislature. The ostensible pu...

A procession of floats carrying the mummified remains of 22 pharaohs, including Egypt’s most powerful ancient queen, snaked through Cairo on Saturday evening, in an eye-catching parade to a new resting place.Under heavy security, the mummies were t...

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Saturday called on Tehran to be “constructive” during talks with world powers next week in Vienna.The European Union is pushing to bring US President Joe Biden’s administration back into the nuclear...

Activists opposed to cruise ships in Venice are seeking a meeting with the Italian government to argue that its latest proposal to divert big ships away from St Mark’s Square does not address pressing environmental concerns about the fragile Veneti...

The UK medical regulator said on Saturday that out of 30 people who suffered rare blood clots after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, seven have died.The British acknowledgement of deaths comes as several European countries have paused the us...

Hong Kong still has many systems that need to be improved, including education, the media, and the training and management of civil servants, the city’s leader has told state news agency Xinhua. In an interview released on Saturday, Chief Executive...

Hundreds of demonstrators joined marches and rallies across Britain on Saturday as part of a “national weekend of action” against a proposed new law that would give police extra powers to curb protests.The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bil...

He is the developer of Angry Birds, a game that was downloaded more than 4 billion times, became a feature-length animated movie and broke new ground for mobile gaming more than a decade ago.Now, Peter Vesterbacka is hoping to break ground of an enti...

Customs officers have seized HK$31 million (US$4 million) worth of products bound for mainland China, swooping on sea smugglers as they loaded their cargo near Hong Kong International Airport.Dried fish maws and shark fins were confiscated in Friday�...

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on Saturday sought to clarify a remark made during his trip to China this week that appeared to suggest he viewed Beijing as a “big brother”, saying the remark was directed at his counterpart Wan...

The MTR Corporation is retiring 28 East Rail line trains that have served Hong Kong for nearly 40 years and most are headed for the scrapyard.The 12-carriage trains made in Britain will be taken off service in phases for disposal.A spokesman for the ...

If Hong Kong is to meet its carbon neutrality goal by 2050 and improve roadside air quality, the new road map on the popularisation of electric vehicles recently unveiled by the Environment Bureau seems unlikely to help.The scope of the plan is narro...

The head of a committee in charge of liberal studies reform in Hong Kong has suggested teachers take advice from national security officers on what they can discuss with students, raising concerns the force will be given a role in policing education ...

A Taiwanese construction site manager whose truck rolled down a hill and collided with a train appeared in court on Saturday, local media reported. The accident on Friday killed 51 passengers and crew and injured nearly 180, making it the island’s ...

Eric* recalls the day in 2009 when he received the long-distance phone call from his son as if it were yesterday. James*, in his early 20s and working overseas for more than a year, told his father he was gay and in love with another man. The news pr...

The Simandou mountains, a 110km (68-mile) range deep in the interior of southeastern Guinea, is home to the world’s biggest untapped supply of high-grade iron ore, and China believes it could help cut its reliance on Australian imports amid trade t...

The Philippines on Saturday said Chinese vessels are still moored around Whitsun Reef in the disputed South China Sea. Manila has repeatedly asked China to withdraw the vessels, which at one point numbered over 200, from its exclusive economic zone ...

During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, authorities around the world asked people to put their lives on hold for a period of days or weeks to “flatten the curve” and save lives.More than a year into the global crisis, governments continue...

Swedish fashion retailer H&M is facing a new protest, this time from social media users in Vietnam who accuse it of kowtowing to China over a map of disputed territories in the South China Sea.The controversy began on Friday when the Shanghai branch ...

India’s biggest cities braced for stricter lockdowns and other Covid-19 curbs on Saturday as infections hit a six-month high, as a month-long surge continued in the country third-worst hit by the pandemic.India’s richest state, Maharashtra, accou...

When the Biden administration unveiled a US$2.3 trillion infrastructure plan on Wednesday, some economists could hardly ignore its similarities with China’s economic stimulus therapy. According to the American Jobs Plan announced by United States P...

A bus passenger in Hong Kong was injured after a window of a double-decker suddenly shattered while the vehicle was travelling along a major bypass on Saturday.At around 9am, the Citybus vehicle was on the Island Eastern Corridor in Chai Wan when a w...

A newlywed husband and wife who expressed interest in fighting for Islamic State group were arrested on Thursday at a port near New York City as they attempted to board a cargo ship that an undercover law enforcement officer said would take them to Y...

European countries are providing help for Taiwan’s indigenous submarine project, the island’s defence ministry said, in a rare admission that the sensitive programme is not getting assistance solely from the United States.Taiwan, which Beijing re...

Multimedia journalist Shahid Tantray does not tell people his name any more, unless he really has to. He stopped after being attacked by an angry mob in New Delhi last year for the “crime” of being Muslim.The Indian capital’s northeast had just...