Dozens of China’s internet personalities and three celebrities were blacklisted by the China Association of Performing Arts on Tuesday, for their “bad behaviour”, either violating the law or “creating a negative social impact”.The list incl...

Hong Kong will resurrect controversial legislation to rework its intellectual property regime and offer certain exemptions for the education sector, libraries, museums, archives and online service providers, the government has revealed.The revised bi...

Tesla raised the price of its entry-model electric car for the second time in five days, and marked up its sports-utility vehicle, as a global shortage of automotive chips forced the market leader in the world’s largest automobile market to make a ...

Chinese authorities have summoned and criticised the cloud computing units of technology giants Alibaba Group Holding and Baidu for allowing access to fraudulent websites amid Beijing’s campaign to clean up the internet.The Ministry of Industry and...

Hong Kong has priced its first yuan-denominated green bonds, raising 5 billion yuan (US$783 million) just days after selling its first euro-denominated green offering as the city seeks to position itself as Asia’s hub for sustainable finance.The ci...

Hong Kong police have arrested a hit-and-run motorist accused of taking part in an illegal street race that led to a seven-seater car flipping over, injuring six people.The 46-year-old man was among three people who were caught on Monday, about 24 ho...

A spacecraft that must ultimately crash to succeed was launched late on Tuesday from California on a Nasa mission to demonstrate the world’s first planetary defence system, designed to deflect an asteroid from a potential doomsday collision with Ea...

Singapore is still holding out hope for a travel bubble with Hong Kong, despite previous plans to launch one being foiled at the eleventh hour, the city state’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Wednesday.Ong, who arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday,...

Hong Kong business leaders now required to demand use of the city’s coronavirus contact-tracing app for entry to their restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues are urging the government to give them something in return – loosened restrictions.S...

Famous photographer Chen Man and international luxury brand Dior apologised on Tuesday for a photograph displayed at a Shanghai exhibition that was heavily criticised. Chen said she was “immature and ignorant”.The photo, which went viral in China...

For more than 20 years, a line of German shepherds named Gunther has been presented in news stories as the wealthy beneficiaries of a German countess.The story appears to be a ruse created by Maurizio Mian, the scion of an Italian pharmaceutical comp...

Taiwan is among 110 invitees to a Washington-led democracy summit next month, the US State Department announced on Tuesday, in a move that is expected to enrage Beijing.President Joe Biden is to host the first of two Summits for Democracy early nex...

US banking agencies provided more insight into their plans for regulating cryptocurrencies on Tuesday, issuing a to-do list of their priorities for next year and announcing a new policy that would require banks to seek permission before offering digi...

China undercounted the number of children born in 2000 to 2010 by at least 11.6 million – equivalent to Belgium’s current population – partly because of its stringent one-child policy.The latest statistical yearbook released by the government p...

Taiwanese businesspeople have raised concerns about possible retaliation on the mainland after authorities in Beijing fined a business donor to the island’s political parties over a range of regulatory breaches.State news agency Xinhua reported on ...

Singapore’s economy is expected to grow about 7 per cent in 2021, at the top of the official forecast range, and will expand at a slower pace next year as an uneven recovery continues across sectors, the government said on Wednesday.Gross domestic ...

Samsung Electronics Co outlined plans for a US$17 billion US semiconductor plant that will add more than 2,000 jobs, widen the South Korean giant’s foothold in Texas, and bolster its role as a vital supplier in the global manufacturing supply chain...

Born to deaf parents, Cindy Chan Kai-yee’s mother tongue is sign language, even though she herself can hear.From a young age, Chan has lived between the deaf and hearing worlds, signing with her parents at home and later learning Cantonese from rel...

Apple on Tuesday sued the Israeli spyware maker at the centre of the Pegasus surveillance scandal, seeking to block NSO Group from targeting the over one billion iPhones in circulation.The suit from the Silicon Valley giant adds to the trouble facing...

New Zealand will keep its borders closed to most international travellers for a further five months, the government said on Wednesday, outlining a cautious easing of border curbs that have been in place since Covid-19 hit in March 2020.Along with its...

Major cities in China are slashing the price of land they are auctioning off in an effort to attract bids from cash-strapped property developers facing a market downturn.Beijing put 12 parcels of land on the market on November 19, including two in ea...

Hong Kong health experts have called for a ban on masks with air valves in quarantine facilities after one of the “selfish” face coverings was blamed for a recent coronavirus cross infection in a local hotel.The cross infection attributed to the ...

A Thai-Australian model who wowed her way to this year’s Miss Universe Thailand title with an empowering message of “#realsizebeauty” has cast a spotlight on changing standards in a country where a smaller frame has long been seen as the ideal ...

Jon Batiste led the Grammy nominations on Tuesday in a best album field that spanned rap to jazz music and embraced newcomers like teen sensation Olivia Rodrigo and veteran Tony Bennett alike.Batiste and Justin Bieber will compete for the top prize �...

Talks between China and the United States are unlikely to improve ties significantly as the countries are set for long-term confrontation decades in the making, said the chairman of the Asia Society’s Hong Kong centre on Tuesday.Changes in US leade...

Conservation of heritage buildings is gaining traction in Asia, as more investors and companies are piling in and devoting resources to preserve an increasing number of historical sites, either by giving them a new lease of life or repurposing them a...

The man accused of driving his vehicle into a traditional Christmas parade near Milwaukee made his first court appearance on Tuesday since the weekend rampage and was charged with homicide, as the death toll rose to six.The death toll was raised afte...

China has voiced support for a nuclear weapon-free zone in Southeast Asia as it seeks to strengthen regional alliances, pushed by concerns over the new Aukus security pact, according to observers.While Beijing has yet to sign the protocol to the Asea...

A jury ordered white nationalist leaders and organisations to pay more than US$25 million in damages Tuesday over violence that erupted during the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.After a nearly month-long civil trial, the jury in...

More than 300 passengers and crew on a British Airways flight could have been spared a months-long hostage ordeal in 1990 in Kuwait if Britain’s Foreign Office had informed the airline that Iraq had commenced its invasion of its oil-rich Persian Gu...

Wired internet never reached the village of Lac La Hache, in the remote eastern interior of British Columbia.So when Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies and local firm ABC Communications announced in 2019 that they were teaming up to provide a...

The European Union has called for China to provide “independent and verifiable proof” of the “well-being and whereabouts” of tennis star Peng Shuai, as international concern for her grows despite efforts by Chinese state media to present her ...

Brian Laundrie, who was found dead last month in a Florida swamp, had died of suicide, officials announced on Tuesday.Laundrie had been the subject of a manhunt for more than a month as investigators searched for clues in the slaying of his fiancée,...

China’s investments in the European Union dropped by almost two-thirds last year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and Brussels’ crackdown on foreigners buying up strategic European assets.A new report from the EU shows that Beijing’s sha...

After testing positive for Covid-19, France’s prime minister is being singled out on social media and beyond as an example of what not to do in the pandemic.Multiple videos are circulating of a maskless Prime Minister Jean Castex vigorously shaking...

Jerome Powell’s nomination for a second term as chair of the US Federal Reserve has fuelled market expectations of faster-than-expected stimulus tapering and earlier than expected interest rate increases, triggering calls for China to make early pr...

Government officials in the US and Taiwan completed a second annual economic dialogue, focusing on semiconductor supply, “economic coercion”, Taipei’s new representative office in Lithuania and other issues that figure in the strained relations...

Russia’s defence minister on Tuesday accused US bombers of rehearsing a nuclear strike on Russia from two different directions earlier this month and complained that the planes had come within 20km (12.4 miles) of the Russian border.The accusation ...

The only person convicted of killing British student Meredith Kercher in Italy is free, granted early release 14 years after the grisly murder that became a global saga, his lawyer said on Tuesday.Ivorian Rudy Guede was convicted in 2008 for the murd...

Threatening letters have been sent to two more judges who jailed anti-government protesters, after two similar cases occurred in the past two weeks.Additionally, the judge who jailed the youngest person under the national security law said after sent...

The US will release 50 million barrels of crude from its strategic reserves in coordination with China, Japan, India, South Korea and the UK in an unprecedented, coordinated attempt by the world’s largest oil consumers to tame prices that could pro...

A meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and 10 local government heads on Monday shows Beijing is on high alert for mounting headwinds for the world’s second-biggest economy, after the central government promised a new round of supportive measu...

Suicide was the cause of almost a quarter of all Hong Kong child fatalities reviewed by the Coroner’s Court from 2016 to 2018, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of unnatural deaths.A new report released by the Child Fatality Review Panel on Tuesday...

The recent stumbles of American video game makers Roblox and Epic Games in mainland China suggest that the country is headed towards a future where its metaverse – touted by enthusiasts as the next evolution of the internet – could be closed to f...

Xiaomi Corp’s quest to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor in three years hit a speed bump in the third quarter, as sales slowed because of the global semiconductor shortage and weak demand in China’s highly competitive handset market....

Five candidates fighting for the seat representing the education field in the Hong Kong legislature have called on the government to adopt small-class teaching but avoid closing schools as a way to cope with a declining student population.While they ...

More than half of Hong Kong voters do not know the identities of candidates running for direct seats in their own constituencies, a poll has found with less than a month to the Legislative Council election.The latest survey by the Public Opinion Rese...

Hong Kong should aim for a vaccination rate of at least 90 per cent against the coronavirus, health experts have said, after the city took almost nine months to hit its initial target of 70 per cent on Tuesday.The call to ramp up inoculation numbers ...

Fifteen green groups in Hong Kong have accused authorities of skipping a strategic environmental assessment of a plan to create artificial islands off Lantau Island and failing to consider alternative solutions to a shortage of land in space-starved ...

The Chinese foreign ministry said people should not be “maliciously hyping up” the controversy surrounding tennis player Peng Shuai, as questions over her well-being continue.The remarks by ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian came one day after Peng g...