Japan’s national and city governments are upping the pressure on hospitals to take in Covid-19 positive patients, threatening to “name and shame” them if they do not do so, after the death of a baby born last week to a woman self-isolating at h...

Asia’s robust economic recovery from last year’s coronavirus low is losing momentum as a surge in Covid-19 cases sees shops empty again and factories close, dimming prospects for corporate profit growth after a blockbuster half year.The rapid spr...

Russia has said it will hold joint maritime exercises with China and Iran in the coming months, in an announcement timed to show support from Moscow and Beijing to Tehran in its confrontations with Washington, an analyst said.Russia’s ambassador to...

Interpol has cancelled a red notice for a Uygur man sought by Beijing after the international police body conducted a review, as accusations mount that it is being used to repatriate dissidents to China.The red notice had led Moroccan authorities to ...

Thailand on Tuesday decriminalised kratom, a tropical leaf long used as a herbal remedy but which some health regulators around the world have criticised as potentially unsafe.Kratom – scientific name Mitragyna speciosa – is part of the coffee fa...

The telecoms authority of China’s eastern Zhejiang province has told the cloud computing unit of Alibaba Group Holding that it violated the country’s Cybersecurity Law and should make rectifications following a complaint about a 2019 information ...

The cartoon shows a man about to drown at sea, crying out for help. Another person standing ashore throws a lifebuoy to the man in need, urging: “Grab the S lifebuoy.” But the drowning man shouts back: “I only need the M lifebuoy.” The would-...

Researchers helping to develop China’s next generation of war simulation programs are looking to nature to plot a model of conflict, with battles evolving more like organisms than machines.In a paper published in the Chinese Journal of System Simul...

Rapid climate change in China’s Qinghai-Tibet plateau could destabilise water supplies and cause more frequent disasters, even though warmer temperatures had improved conditions in the short term, scientists said after an expedition to the region.T...

Leaders of a Hong Kong group behind the annual vigil marking the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown have decided to disband the organisation.A source said the standing committee of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of C...

A key figure behind a 2019 demonstration that took place days after a mob attack at a Hong Kong railway station has been remanded in custody after being charged with organising and taking part in an unauthorised assembly.Activist Max Chung Kin-ping, ...

China’s central bank chief vowed to stabilise the supply of credit and boost the amount of money supporting smaller businesses and the real economy, after both credit and economic growth slowed in July.The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will keep ...

The driver of a taxi that ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians at a busy crossing in Tai Po on Sunday – killing two people and injuring seven – has been charged with one count of dangerous driving causing death.Mok Pui-wa, 63, stands accused of c...

We already knew early into the pandemic that children were mostly getting mild coronavirus infections. But it’s taken until now for us to better understand why exactly this is the case.A child’s immune system appears to be better prepared for cor...

Hong Kong children aged 12 and above will soon be able to get their coronavirus jabs without a prior booking as the city turns its attention to boosting the vaccination rate among the young, even as lagging numbers among the elderly remain a top prio...

The guard in a control room at Iran’s notorious Evin prison springs to attention as one by one, monitors in front of him suddenly blink off and display something very different from the surveillance footage he had been watching.“Cyberattack,” t...

The United States is well aware that Asian nations are disinterested in engagement based on a “zero sum” mentality even as it seeks to deepen regional ties to challenge China’s threat to the global rules-based order, Vice-President Kamala Harri...

Hong Kong’s role in the opening of China’s economy to the world is “very special” and can never be replaced, a senior Beijing official has said, while seeking to reassure investors that the national security law imposed on the city last year ...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Ryan Heath on politico.com on August 23, 2021.Two months after G7 leaders met in Cornwall, England, the friendly fist bumps and back slaps have been replace...

The lightning-fast changes in Afghanistan are forcing the Biden administration to confront the prospect of a resurgent al-Qaeda, the group that attacked America on September 11, 2001, at the same time the US is trying to stanch violent extremism at h...

Didi Global Inc suspended plans to expand in Europe partly because of concerns over how the Chinese ride-hailing company handles passenger data, according to a person familiar with the matter.Plans to challenge Uber Technologies Inc in Europe, includ...

A deadly suicide bombing targeting Chinese engineers in Pakistan last week has added to concern in Beijing over a worsening security situation in the region.Two Pakistani children were killed and a Chinese national was one of a number of people injur...

US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ bid to reassure Southeast Asia of Washington’s commitment to the region has been picked apart by Chinese netizens, many of whom have reacted negatively to her visit to the region.Several users of Chinese social me...

All 38 students living at a residential hall block at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) were told to take a mandatory Covid-19 testing on Monday after viral fragments were detected in waste water samples collected at the block.They...

A massive 144,200 yuan (US$21,500) fine meted out by the Shanghai authority to a retired man who trimmed his own tree has shocked China.The 73-year-old man, surnamed Li, was punished after he hired workers in January to trim a camphor laurel tree he ...

China’s military made use of a large civilian cargo ship to transport troops, weapons and supplies in a recent drill, which one analyst said would be used should the PLA launch an attack on self-ruled Taiwan.The exercise was highlighted on state te...

A warning by Hong Kong’s leader that authorities could cut ties with the city’s largest association of lawyers if it becomes politicised has led to most members treading on eggshells in deciding who gets their vote in coming leadership polls, acc...

The US military shuttled thousands more people through the Kabul airport over the past 12 hours, a White House official said on Monday as Washington attempts to complete a daring airlift by an August 31 deadline for troops to leave Afghanistan.In the...

Senior cadres in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou – including those who have retired or stepped down within the last three years – will be questioned by anticorruption investigators to see if they or their family members have colluded with bu...

The Delta variant is fuelling doubt over the sustainability of the Asia-Pacific’s “zero-Covid” strategies, as growing Covid-19 outbreaks push the limits of elimination tools such as lockdowns and border closures.Political leaders and public hea...

R&B star R. Kelly shamed a 17-year-old girl he gave herpes when it caused her pain during sex – and later beat her with his size 12 Nike Air Force 1 shoe, the still-traumatised victim testified on Monday.The witness, who identified herself on the s...

Beijing’s tough new law on personal information protection will make Chinese tech giants “a lot less powerful” and force many businesses to adapt as it will be much harder to legally collect and use consumer data, experts say.China’s legislat...

The United States has resumed granting visas to Chinese students before the coming autumn semester after the Covid-19 pandemic caused a lull in visa approvals.Official data from the US State Department shows that the US began to increase its visa app...

US President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to announce the results of a three-month investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic as soon as this week, potentially aggravating US-China friction as health authorities globally s...

The Chinese military has improved the accuracy and range of its ballistic missile force, the world’s largest, according to a new US Army report.The DF-11, the most widely deployed short-range ballistic missile of the People’s Liberation Army Rock...

Two months ago, the leaders of the world’s seven major industrialised democracies met at the height of summer on England’s southeast coast. It was a happy occasion: the first in-person summit of the Group of Seven (G7) nations in two years due to...

Thousands of climate change demonstrators thronged central London on Monday, as environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion held a new round of protests, promising two weeks of disruption.Protesters were greeted with a large police presence as ...

Poland will build a fence along its border with Belarus and double the number of troops there, the defence minister said on Monday, to halt a flow of migrants the European Union said is being driven by Minsk in retaliation for EU sanctions.Poland and...

A British judge ruled on Monday that songs by punk trailblazers the Sex Pistols can be used in a forthcoming television series despite the opposition of former frontman John Lydon.Ex-Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook sued the singer...

India plans to raise 6 trillion rupees (US$81 billion) by leasing out state-owned infrastructure assets over the next four years to fund new capital expenditure without pressuring government finances.The proposal involves handing assets including roa...

The prospect of Chinese President Xi Jinping holding a face-to-face meeting with his American counterpart Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Italy this autumn have dimmed, according to sources familiar with arrangements.While Bei...

The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday fully approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine, a move that triggered a new wave of vaccine mandates as the Delta variant batters the country.Around 52 per cent of the American population is fully vacci...

Hong Kong must pick up the pace of its economic development and integration with mainland China for a brighter future as it has already wasted too much time on endless politicking and infighting, senior officials from Beijing have warned.The stark re...

India, the US, Australia and Japan – members of the Washington-led Quad security grouping – are expected to hold joint naval exercises for the second year running, in the latest coordinated effort to flex military muscles amid tensions with Ch...

The Taliban warned on Monday there would be “consequences” if the United States and its allies extend their presence in Afghanistan beyond next week, as chaos continued to overwhelm Kabul airport.The hardline Islamists’ takeover of the country ...

China must reopen its borders in time for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, a leading Chinese scientist has said.“China cannot isolate itself from the world when it hosts the Winter Olympics,” Zeng Guang, a former chief epidemiologist with...

Hong Kong should let investors trade constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Index in renminbi, a financial policy heavyweight has suggested, an idea the government says it is “absolutely open” to considering.The proposal was made by the former head ...

China has issued a new set of data security rules for cars that also cover ride-hailing platforms, adding clarity on what constitutes “important data” and how it should be handled by companies before being transferred overseas.The new rules, rele...

One of China’s top universities has cleared a respected infectious disease expert known as “China’s Dr Fauci” of accusations of plagiarism.In a brief statement on Monday, Shanghai’s Fudan University said it found no evidence of academic mis...

A Hong Kong police officer is facing 2½ years in jail after being accused of running an illegal poker house and flouting the ban on organising public gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic.Ng Hin-fung was among 36 men and 12 women, aged between 19...