A month after Angela Merkel wrapped up her second state visit to China as German chancellor in 2007, and three weeks before the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress in October that year, she hosted Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at...

Amid a drizzle and gusts of chilly wind, Anika pulls taut a rope tied to a shovel held by Chandrika as they mix a pile of cement with sand by the side of the road. The women, both in their early twenties, have their babies fastened to their backs by ...

Former US President Donald Trump launched a sustained attack on President Joe Biden’s handling of the retreat of US forces from Afghanistan, which he called “the greatest foreign policy humiliation” in US history.Trump, a Republican who has dan...

A primary school head teacher in central China has been detained on suspicion of child molestation, after multiple women reported him to the police.Police in Gongan county, Hubei province, said late on Saturday that a 67-year-old man, identified only...

Driving through South India, it is common to come across small eateries with boards outside saying ‘Tiffin ready’. In the region, tiffin means any light snack or finger foods eaten between breakfast and dinner. These include cutlets, idlis (rice ...

Hong Kong’s coronavirus strategy of “zero infections” cannot be for the long term, a health expert has warned, urging more elderly people to get vaccinated to create better conditions for the easing of pandemic control measures.Professor Ivan H...

Could artificial intelligence, drones, and solar-powered trackers aid in efforts to conserve Australia’s beloved koala?That is the hope of university researchers in Australia’s northernmost state of Queensland, as they undertake two innovative pr...

When Tencent Holdings beat the likes of Sony to buy Hong Kong-listed video games company Leyou Technologies last year, the acquisition was expected to further boost the internet giant’s vast gaming empire.Tencent, which runs the world’s largest v...

Hong Kong police have arrested a cab driver after his taxi rammed into a pedestrian island in Tai Po, killing one person and injuring at least eight others.The crash on Kwong Fuk Road took place shortly after 11am on Sunday, near an area heavily freq...

Japan has effectively refused to issue visas for two Myanmar military-appointed diplomats the junta seeks to send to Tokyo in place of two it fired in March, according to Japanese government sources.Japan allowing the two replacements to be posted to...

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan may not be good news for China if it frees up military resources and allows Washington to focus more on the strategic rivalry with Beijing, diplomatic observers have said.US President Joe Biden has defended his deci...

“Steel-like.” That was the expression China’s Ministry of National Defence spokesperson Wu Qian used last month, for the first time, to describe the friendship between Beijing and Phnom Penh, according to a report in nationalistic Chinese tablo...

Veteran American civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson was on Saturday hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19, despite having been vaccinated, representatives said.Jackson, 79, and his wife, Jacqueline Jackson, 77, were being treated...

Hong Kong’s revitalised Central Market reopens on Monday after being closed for 18 years, and visitors can expect a wide variety of old and new brands and open spaces.The HK$500 million (US$64.1 million) project managed by Chinachem Group and resto...

About 2.5 million Afghans are scattered around the globe, in the United States, parts of Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia, making them the second largest refugee population in the world, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refug...

After a week in which they were roundly criticised by their own legislatures for the spiralling crisis in Afghanistan, top officials in Europe and Britain had few answers about the potential power vacuum in Central Asia following Nato’s rapid exit ...

Hong Kong’s public hospitals are bracing themselves for a possible surge in the number of children and elderly people falling ill with Covid-19 in a new, fifth wave of infections.Both groups are at risk because children under 12 are not vaccinated,...

Britain would have to turn to Russia and China to exercise a “moderating influence” over the Taliban, despite a mistrust between the UK and those governments, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.“We’re going to have to bring in countries with...

A swathe of the US East Coast, including New York City, was under alert over the weekend as storm Henri was upgraded to what could be the first hurricane in 30 years to hit New England.Forecasters warned of violent winds, heavy rainfall, the risk of ...

Hurricane Grace killed at least eight people, including five children from the same family, as it tore through eastern Mexico, causing flooding, mudslides and damage to homes and businesses.The storm made landfall in Mexico for a second time near Tec...

Potential Islamic State (Isis) threats against Americans in Afghanistan are forcing the US military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the airport in Kabul, a senior US official said, adding a new complication to the already chaotic efforts to ge...

Thousands of people in traditional red and white attire thronged to the riverine community of Ode-Itsekiri in southern Nigeria’s oil hub Warri on Saturday to witness the ascension of their new king.The king or Olu of Warri is one of the most import...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday to maintain dialogue with the Taliban and to take a “gradual” approach to relations with Afghanistan’s new rulers.“We must keep the channels of open d...

“It’s mathematically impossible” for the US and its allies to evacuate tens of thousands of their Afghan personnel and families by August 31, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on Saturday.Borrell, speaking to Agence France-Presse fro...

Dozens of Palestinian protesters were injured on Saturday in clashes with Israeli soldiers near the borders between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, Palestinian doctors and eyewitnesses said.The Ministry of Health said on Saturday that 41 demonstrators...

Thousands rallied in central London on Saturday to protest the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and show solidarity with Afghans opposed to the new regime in Kabul.Several thousand people descended on the centre of the British capital from lunc...

A 22-year-old student in Italy has become an unexpected internet sensation after tattooing the bar code of his Covid-19 certificate on his arm.Andrea Colonnetta said he had not given it much thought before getting his latest tattoo, but decided on th...

Sri Lanka will issue captive elephants with their own biometric identity cards and ban their riders from drinking on the job under a wide-ranging new animal protection law.Many rich Sri Lankans – including Buddhist monks – keep elephants as pets ...

The White House’s excessive politicisation of policies on China will limit the ability of the next US ambassador to improve relations between the two countries, according to Chinese analysts.US President Joe Biden said on Friday that he would nomin...

The United States advised Americans in Afghanistan to avoid travelling to Kabul airport on Saturday as thousands gathered trying to flee the country almost a week after the Islamist militants took control.The advisory came after Taliban co-founder Mu...

The Communist Party boss of a major city in eastern China is under investigation for alleged “serious violations of discipline and law”, the party’s anti-corruption watchdog said on Saturday night.The Central Commission for Discipline Inspectio...

China has stepped up defences on its border with Afghanistan to guard against potential terrorist threats, given the turmoil after Kabul’s sudden fall to the Taliban. But the narrow Afghan-Chinese frontier is not the only entry point, with less rei...

Hong Kong has outlawed kratom, a potentially addictive herbal substance, but checks by the Post have found it is still available in the city.The Post first exposed the presence and potential effect of the substance, regarded by some as “legal heroi...

When the oil wells dried up more than half a century ago in the remote Tibetan Plateau town of Lenghu, the people left.The arid, high-altitude community in Qinghai province became a ghost town, abandoned save for the occasional intrepid tourist or ph...

A council member of Hong Kong’s largest association of lawyers has decided to withdraw from its leadership election, citing unspecified safety fears, while the body has made a police report over “threatening messages”.Jonathan Ross, regarded as...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday gave her would-be successor Armin Laschet a ringing endorsement, in a bid to shore up his ailing election campaign which has triggered fears their party could crash out of government.Merkel’s conservative...

China has successfully tested two short-range conventional missiles designed to take out enemy communications systems, state media reported on Saturday.According to state broadcaster China Central Television, the People’s Liberation Army Rocket For...

Hong Kong authorities are expected to reveal arrangements for recognising Covid-19 vaccination records from the Philippines and Indonesia as early as next week, paving the way for thousands of domestic helpers to arrive from the high-risk countries.B...

Hong Kong’s property buyers returned to the market, defying bearish sentiments in the local stock market to snap up new apartments at the city’s wetlands park, as an improving economy and a tapering Covid-19 outbreak lifted sentiments.Sun Hung Ka...

Nestled in the foothills of Gutlibagh, Kashmir, the hamlet of Baba Wayil offers its residents a simple, tranquil and traditional life.Its one thousand or so villagers pass their time farming walnuts, trading Pashmina shawls and attending Friday praye...

Australian police on Saturday clashed with anti-lockdown protesters in Melbourne and Sydney as officials reported a record single-day rise in coronavirus cases.Mounted police used pepper spray in Melbourne to break up crowds believed to be over 4,000...

The group behind Hong Kong’s annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown will discuss “in days” whether to disband.The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China is the latest opposit...

Two new anti-riot guns have been given to Hong Kong police and could be used to guard against trouble when the city celebrates China’s National Day, on October 1.The pistol-shaped weapons fire either balls of pepper powder or an irritating liquid p...

An Islamic State-linked woman arrived in New Zealand with her children on Saturday, local media reported, in a repatriation that was forced upon the country after Australia stripped her of her citizenship.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced last ...

Chinese students have snapped up expensive airline tickets in a scramble to start the autumn semester on American campuses after the United States eased quarantine requirements.In the past, hundreds of thousands of Chinese students have headed to Ame...

Hong Kong is “no longer in travel talks” with other places because of differences in approach to containing Covid-19, the city’s health minister has revealed.Sophia Chan Siu-chee on Saturday said the government was still aiming to strike a bala...

China’s securities regulator has said it will “create conditions” to cooperate with the United States over how it supervises the auditing of Chinese companies.The pledge by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), which came in a stat...

United States Vice-President Kamala Harris’ upcoming visits to Vietnam and Singapore will offer clues on how Washington plans to “get its game up” to match China’s dominant economic and trade status in Southeast Asia, analysts say.The choice ...

US President Joe Biden’s special envoy for North Korea on Saturday arrived in South Korea for discussions over stalled nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang.Sung Kim’s visit comes amid fresh tensions over ongoing US-South Korean military exercises, wh...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a call for experts to join a new advisory group it is forming, in part to address the agency’s fraught attempts to investigate how the coronavirus pandemic started.In a statement on Friday, the UN heal...