Taiwan’s recent Covid-19 outbreak has appeared to stabilise as the number of new infections dropped below 300 cases in the past week.On Monday, the island reported 185 new infections – all local cases – with 15 new deaths, taking the total sinc...

An American father-son duo accused of orchestrating former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn’s audacious escape from Japan admitted their role on Monday as they made their first appearance before a Tokyo court.Former special forces operative Michael Taylor...

President Xi Jinping has ordered cadres to “stay vigilant and politically sensitive” in preventing major safety hazards ahead of the party’s centenary, after a deadly blast in the central province of Hubei killed 12 people on Sunday.Another 138...

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday criticised a planned movie about her response to the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks as poorly timed and focused on the wrong subject.The US-backed film They Are Us has sparked an intense backlash ...

Taiwan will continue to seek greater international support and be a “force for good”, its presidential office said after G7 leaders gave the island their unprecedented backing.The G7 communique on Sunday scolded China over human rights in Xinjian...

Marine biologists are investigating a mystery skin disease afflicting whitetip reef sharks in Malaysia, with some early reports suggesting rising sea temperatures could be to blame.Named for the distinctive white tips on their fins, whitetip reef sha...

A former senior Chinese diplomat says China is prepared to face direct competition from the United States, but has called for coordination between the two nations to ensure cooperation.Former Chinese foreign vice-minister Fu Ying said competition wit...

A handful of parents and children headed to Hong Kong’s Covid-19 vaccination centres on Monday as the immunisation drive expanded to include 12 to 15-year-olds, while a medical source said the city was expecting one new imported infection.The lower...

The first time Derek Leong Wei Jian finished dragon boat training at Stanley Beach, he was so sore the 23-year-old psychology student contemplated not returning the following week. It was his fellow Malaysian teammates who gave him the push to try ag...

In China, a set of traditional family values dating back centuries can seem increasingly outdated, but rather than rejecting them wholesale, researchers have found that many Chinese are adapting them to modern life.These traditional values are a spec...

The compiler of Hong Kong’s benchmark stock index aims to launch more indices to track the performance of shares in the Greater Bay Area, according to its chief executive.New indices would also focus on biotech firms and stocks related to climate c...

Tokyo Olympics organisers plan to give away about 150,000 condoms at next month’s Games, but have told athletes to take them home rather than use them in the Olympic Village, where social distancing rules and coronavirus measures are the top priori...

Spare a thought for Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Xia Baolong. In the coming months, decisions will have to be made about who will contest Hong Kong’s chief executive election race, next March.Even determining a slate of possible cand...

Last week Thaisho, a small bar in Bangkok, got rid of its tables, chairs, glasses and cutlery, and closed its doors for good.Thailand’s third wave of Covid-19 has dragged into a third month, with no signs of slowing down, and the bar and restaurant...

After serving Hong Kong for almost half a century, the city’s post office headquarters standing in the heart of Central will be demolished to make way for a prime commercial development.But some architects believe the iconic building can be saved w...

Ned Beatty, the character actor whose first film role as a genial holidaymaker brutally raped by a backwoodsman in 1972’s Deliverance launched him on a long, prolific and accomplished career, has died. He was 83.Beatty’s manager, Deborah Miller, ...

This is the first in a series about China’s plans to reopen its borders amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Here, Zhuang Pinghui and Simone McCarthy look into what it will take for China to reopen safely.When the coastal province of Fujian announced at the...

China’s soybean imports increased significantly in the first five months of the year, in line with a recovery in the domestic hog population, but domestic demand for the crop looks to be more modest in the coming months amid rising commodity prices...

The trial of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will hear its first testimony in a junta court on Monday, more than four months after a military coup.Near daily protests have rocked Myanmar since the generals’ putsch removed her government in F...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Karl Mathieson on politico.com on May 13, 2021.The Group of Seven (G7) wealthy democracies have failed to agree on a timeline to end their use of coal for ...

The head of the EU drug regulator’s Covid-19 task force said on Sunday that AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine had a favourable risk-benefit profile for all age groups and particularly for those aged over 60.Italian newspaper La Stampa earlier quo...

Imitation, it is said, is a “form of flattery” and if that is true then China should be feeling extremely flattered by the lengths to which other powers (notably the US, Japan and Australia) are prepared to go to emulate its remarkable infrastruc...

Israel’s parliament approved a new coalition government on Sunday that sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into the opposition after a record 12 years in office and a political crisis that sparked four elections in two years.Naftali Bennett, the...

Novak Djokovic claimed a 19th grand slam title and became the first man in 52 years to win all four majors twice when he came from two sets down to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in a gripping French Open final on Sunday.The world number one triumphed 6-7 (...

US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill had tea with Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle on Sunday at the end of a G7 summit and as he wraps up the British leg of his first international trip since taking office.The 95-year-old British monarch, wearin...

Denmark’s team doctor said on Sunday that Christian Eriksen’s heart stopped and that “he was gone” before being resuscitated with a defibrillator at the European Championship.Eriksen collapsed during Denmark’s opening Euro 2020 group game a...

Pope Francis on Sunday warned the Mediterranean had become the “biggest cemetery in Europe”, as he remembered the migrants who died trying to reach the continent.During his Angelus prayer, he noted a ceremony taking place in Sicily to mark the Ap...

Philippine troops killed four Abu Sayyaf militants in a gun battle on Sunday in the country’s south, including a commander blamed for beheadings and a suspected would-be suicide bomber, military officials said.Army troops backed by police were to s...

In its strongest rebuke of China since the Tiananmen Square crackdown more than 30 years ago, the G7 has called for a fresh investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and urged China to “respect human rights and fundamental freedo...

Anti-junta protesters flooded Myanmar’s social media with pictures of themselves wearing black on Sunday, in a show of solidarity for the Rohingya, a minority group that is among the most persecuted in the country.Since the military ousted civilian...

A young lecturer from a top Chinese law school has been suspended from teaching after arguing that polygamy should be allowed for some intellectuals.Bao Yinan, an associate professor of international law at East China University of Political Science ...

The studio of Hong Kong pop singer Karen Mok has been forced to issue an apology after she prompted controversy on Chinese social media for wearing Dolce & Gabbana in her latest music video.The brand has been seen in some quarters as anti-Chinese fol...

Indonesia on Sunday reported 9,868 Covid-19 daily infections, the highest figure since February 22, the Covid-19 task force said.Total infections are 1,911,358, while 149 Covid-19 fatalities were recorded, taking the total to 52,879.The sprawling arc...

Leaders of the Group of 7 industrialised countries wrapped up their weekend meeting in Cornwall with China firmly in its sights.In a statement to be released on Sunday night, the leaders call for a fresh investigation into the origins of the coronavi...

A top official in the European Medicines Agency said it might be worth abandoning AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for all age groups where alternatives are available.Marco Cavaleri, the EMA’s head of vaccine strategy, told Italy’s La Stampa n...

One of China’s most trusted medical experts has urged the public to get their Covid-19 jabs as soon as possible as Beijing’s priorities shift from vaccine diplomacy to mass inoculation at home.Zhang Wenhong – whose public appearances have made ...

China’s move away from fossil fuel towards renewable energy is gaining momentum after the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) announced it would start to phase out the financing of coal power.Speaking at the International Financial Forum...

Officials in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou will be held to account over an ongoing outbreak of the coronavirus. A task force of municipal and provincial Communist Party disciplinary officials had been set up to investigate possible derelict...

A leading health expert on Sunday stressed that it was safe for youths to receive the BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, but noted that a high-level committee would closely track any reports of adverse reactions once Hong Kong began immunising children as yo...

A recently-announced three child policy will not prevent a long-term trend toward lower annual births in China, and the country will struggle to raise the retirement age by more than a couple of years by 2025, an influential Chinese economist said.�...

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said his government wants to restart dialogue with Beijing, as a series of trade reprisals from China strain the already-weakened relationship between the two countries.“We, of course, would like to see ...

A middle-aged minibus driver died and seven others were injured when his vehicle and a car collided at a Hong Kong junction on Sunday.Six passengers, aged 27 to 66, and the car driver, 33, were hurt in the accident, which took place at about 2.50pm ...

Taiwan was seen as the place that got the Covid-19 response just right, until it all started to go wrong.The island reported just 799 cases last year and seven deaths, while scores of other countries faced mounting fatalities, waves of infections run...

Malaysia on Sunday deported a leading figure in conspiracy circles who is wanted in France over the kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl, sources said. Remy Daillet, his pregnant partner and three children were arrested late last month on the holida...

Investigators digging under the house of a suspected serial killer on the outskirts of Mexico City have found 3,787 bone fragments, apparently belonging to 17 different victims.In excavations carried out since May 17, authorities in the State of Mexi...

Hot on the heels of a multibillion-dollar merger between Indonesia’s tech behemoths Gojek and Tokopedia is not the much-anticipated public listing by their parent, GoTo Group, but a strike from drivers of Gojek’s same-day parcel delivery service....

China’s Communist Party celebrates its 100th anniversary next month, a chance for it to reinforce to a domestic audience how the party transformed the country into the world’s second-largest economy and major world power since taking control in 1...

A gas blast at a market in central China has killed at least 12 and seriously injured another 37, China Central Television reported on Sunday.The explosion took place at about 6.30am at the Yanhu market in Shiyan, a city in Hubei province, when many ...

Hong Kong’s unemployment rate could fall further, but a full economic recovery in the coming months hinged on vaccination against Covid-19 and the easing of pandemic control measures such as the reopening of borders, the city’s finance chief said...