Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong is set to take over a second hotel in the city to provide additional workspace, according to people with knowledge of the matter.The Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People’s...

Beijing has accused the United States and Japan of sowing division after President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said they would counter China’s “intimidation” in the Asia-Pacific region.The two called for “peace and stability a...

Hong Kong’s police chief has slammed as immoral the doxxing of a city school for taking part in National Security Education Day, while accusing some local media and academics of smearing the force through their coverage and commentary of its open d...

The French community in Pakistan is torn between disbelief, fear and annoyance in reaction to their embassy’s call for them to leave the country after Francophobic rioting this week by an extremist Islamic party.Most, it seems, have decided to stay...

Japan’s plan to release radioactive water into the Pacific has put Taiwan’s government in a bind, caught between standing up for its fishing industry and avoiding a dispute with its northern neighbour.Japan’s decision this week to release more ...

Australian and New Zealand beef are commonplace in Chinese kitchens, supermarkets and e-commerce platforms, but China’s increasingly discerning diners have, until recently, been hard-pressed to find much beef from other major beef exporters such as...

Philippine authorities on Saturday said they have seized some 200 tonnes of illegally harvested giant clam shells worth nearly US$25 million in one of the biggest known operations of its kind in the country.Conservationists have expressed alarm over ...

Iran has begun enriching uranium to its highest-ever purity, edging close to weapons-grade levels, as it attempts to pressure negotiators in Vienna during talks on restoring its nuclear deal with world powers after an attack on its main enrichment si...

As India’s daily tally of Covid-19 infections surged by a record 200,000-plus cases on two consecutive days, public health experts worry that a new – possibly more virulent – coronavirus variant could be racing through the crowded nation of mor...

Hong Kong authorities have quarantined for 21 days about 80 residents of a Jordan building, where a man believed to be infected with the city’s first community-detected mutant coronavirus strain was staying.The Indian national, who might be carryin...

South Africa’s wine sector may be raising a glass to the consequences of China’s dispute with Australia after its share of the Chinese market grew since Beijing slapped tariffs on Canberra.Exports of South African wine to China rose 50 per cent i...

One of the most notable measures taken by Washington and its allies in response to China’s rise and the threat it poses to the liberal international order has been the development of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or “Quad”.China sees the...

Singapore is betting on floating solar farms and vertical panels to increase its clean-energy supplies and cut carbon emissions, a model that could work in other densely populated cities, urban experts said.With renewable energy options such as wind,...

Shenzhen resident Huang Pengtao, the father of a six-year-old boy, is a worried man. His concern is for his son’s educational path after he performed badly in a “simulation” recently offered by Whittle School & Studio, a popular international s...

When Walter Tsui Yu-hang graduated from Chinese University with a degree in economics, he felt good about his chances of landing a job. But it would take more than six months and dozens of interviews before he finally landed a human resources positio...

When the Singapore-headquartered super app Grab announced on Tuesday that it was going public in the United States via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), it caused a flurry of excitement. And it’s not the only Southeast Asi...

When Alex* and Louis* started their Facebook page about siu mai, the popular Cantonese dim sum item, it was for the love of the steamed dumplings sold as humble street food as well as in luxe restaurants across Hong Kong. “We saw a page about potat...

The Chinese government on Tuesday issued a ban on “ugly architecture”, nearly seven years after President Xi Jinping famously criticised the “weird” buildings popping up across China in recent decades.As China has experienced rapid urbanisati...

The 300 million-year-old shark’s teeth were the first sign that it might be a distinct species.The ancient chompers looked less like the spear-like rows of teeth of related species. They were squatter and shorter, less than an inch long, around 2cm...

China said on Friday that the United States needed to take more responsibility on climate change but welcomed greater cooperation after a visit by envoy John Kerry, according to state media.The former secretary of state turned US climate emissary was...

The United States and Japan called for “peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” in a joint statement released after a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga who reaffirmed their commitment to count...

China and Bhutan agreed to resume long-delayed talks on their disputed boundary amid the ongoing border row between Beijing and New Delhi, but analysts say a breakthrough is unlikely, given Indian influence over Bhutan.During a four-day meeting of ex...

Nasa said on Friday it has awarded billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX a US$2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to bring astronauts to the moon as early as 2024, picking it over Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and def...

Raul Castro said on Friday he is resigning as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, ending an era of formal leadership by him and his brother Fidel Castro that began with the 1959 revolution.The 89-year-old Castro made the announcement Friday in a speech...

Justin Trudeau’s special immigration initiative for Hong Kong residents received more applications than expected in its first three weeks, according to a spokesman for Canada’s immigration minister.From February 8 to 28, 503 people applied for a ...

Beijing has blocked the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) website in China, after the Washington-based group released a piece criticising the country’s sanctions on a European think tank.This latest page in deteriorating US-Chin...

A founding member of the right-wing Oath Keepers on Friday became the first person to plead guilty to taking part in the US Capitol attack, signalling a new stage in the investigation of the deadly January 6 assault on the seat of American democracy....

Four foreign domestic workers from Indonesia have been arrested in Hong Kong after they were caught offering dental services despite having no training, authorities revealed on Friday.The workers, aged 31 to 35, rented a room in a guest house on thei...

China is committed to building a “green and low-carbon” economy and will keep its word on global climate agreements, President Xi Jinping told the French and German leaders in talks on Friday.“[China] will use the shortest time in human history...

A Chilean study said Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s vaccine is 67 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 infections and wards off 80 per cent of fatalities from the disease.This is the first such evidence showing how well the Chinese shot ca...

The United States did not designate China as a currency manipulator on Friday, as the Treasury Department released its first foreign exchange report of President Joe Biden’s administration. China remained on the watch list over its currency practi...

More than half the passports Cyprus issued to rich foreigners in an investment scheme were illegal, a government-appointed board of inquiry has found.More than 3,000 foreign investors who stumped up a minimum of 2 million euros were given Cypriot pas...

For just seven yuan (US$1), you can have a reasonably satisfying meal at a popular hotpot chain in China: just spread free ground beef over rice that costs five yuan, and add a two yuan egg and complimentary tomatoes to a plain water hotpot base –...

Hong Kong’s children are the unhappiest they have been in at least five years, a survey by a major youth group has found, while almost 10 per cent see emigration as their goal.Findings released by the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association (BGCA) o...

Two men accused of throwing 30 animals from a building on Valentine’s Day last year did not surrender themselves as widely reported, Hong Kong’s Department of Justice revealed on Friday.Senior assistant law officer William Liu Kwun-wa said police...

A drone ship used for intelligence gathering “by a foreign country” has been found by Chinese fishermen off the nation’s east coast, according to state media. The small unmanned ship – equipped with solar panels, antennas and surveillance equ...

Johnson & Johnson had reached out to rival Covid-19 vaccine makers to join in an effort to study the risks of blood clots, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.AstraZeneca, which had been buffeted by simi...

A joint research team from China and the US have created the first part-human, part-monkey embryos with the aim of transforming organ transplants, as some critics warned it could “open Pandora’s box”.The researchers grew the mixed embryos, or c...

The European Union’s plans to take new measures against Beijing’s roll-out of sweeping electoral reforms in the city have been withdrawn after failing to gain support from all 27 member states. The EU had planned to issue a statement on Hong Kong...

China’s central bank is now spearheading the country’s carbon-neutrality initiative, with plans to provide low-cost capital, boost green financing and invigorate the carbon-trading market to fund the ambitious undertaking.Its involvement comes af...

When Suriya Koedsang uploaded photos of his wedding to Facebook on April 4, the 28-year-old Thai never could have imagined the hate his heartwarming post would soon receive from online trolls in Indonesia. Within days, the pictures of Koedsang and h...

Russia on Friday asked 10 US diplomats to leave the country in retaliation for Washington’s expulsion of the same number of Russian diplomats over alleged malign activity and suggested the US ambassador return home for consultations.The measures, p...

A 65-year-old retiree suffered the biggest phone scam loss in Hong Kong history when swindlers impersonating mainland Chinese officials duped her out of nearly HK$69 million (US$8.9 million), police said on Friday as they revealed the arrest of three...

A Chinese diplomat has said it is unfair to label them and their colleagues as “Wolf Warriors” when they are only reacting to aggressive posturing from the United States.The diplomat also said they had been shocked by Donald Trump’s decision to...

The growth of new home prices in China’s biggest cities slowed amid tighter regulation, potentially paving the way for more stringent cooling measures in lower-tier cities that saw higher growth, analysts said.Prices of new homes in the four first-...

China has given domestic and international banks permission to import large amounts of gold into the country, according to five sources familiar with the matter, potentially helping to support gold prices after a months-long decline.China is the worl...

India, the world’s vaccine capital, produces some 60 per cent of the inoculations used around the globe – but right now, it is producing just over half of the Covid-19 vaccines it needs for domestic use every month.The South Asian nation needs ar...

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has been charged with an additional national security offence for allegedly calling for foreign sanctions and another of perverting the course of justice for helping in a fugitive’s escape to Taiwan.Prosec...

Voices in Washington calling on the Biden administration to tighten technology restrictions on China have gotten louder in recent weeks, making it harder for the two great powers to ease tensions in what has become a bitter hi-tech rivalry.US Senator...

Chancellor Angela Merkel urged lawmakers on Friday to approve new powers that would allow her to force coronavirus lockdowns and curfews on areas with high infection rates, saying a majority of Germans were in favour of stricter measures.“The third...