The Law Society has taken over two legal firms linked to a HK$62 million (US$6.68 million) property scam in Hong Kong and ordered employees to stop work for clients as the association assesses the damage to the public.The society took action on Thurs...

Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK does not have the right to freedom of expression, according to a court which also found fault in a watchdog’s decision to warn the station about its portrayal of police in a controversial satire.The Communications ...

Chinese media firm 36kr Holdings gave away 1,124 metaverse-themed digital collectibles at a conference in Shenzhen on Wednesday, in the latest sign of growing interest in digital assets in China despite Beijing’s wariness of non-fungible tokens (NF...

Hong Kong customs officials have confiscated HK$147 million (US$18.9 million) of cocaine hidden in an electric transformer that arrived by air from Guatemala – the largest seizure of the drug at the airport in two decades.The 145kg consignment, sei...

A century-old underground reservoir in Hong Kong that was saved from demolition will be open for free guided tours from mid-December to allow residents to view the massive arched structure up close.The service reservoir, located in Bishop Hill at She...

The World Health Organization’s latest group of experts to investigate the origins of the new coronavirus has begun its work, after a months-long process to assemble the team.The Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (Sago) �...

Two operators including Chinese internet search giant Baidu have been given the green light to start charging passengers to use their autonomous taxis in Beijing.Baidu and Pony AI became the first companies to be granted licences by mainland Chinese ...

China’s State Council says local governments should be held accountable for wasteful spending, as Beijing seeks to strike a balance between controlling growing debt risks and maintaining steady economic growth.While China’s overall debt level has...

Hong Kong singer and actor Alan Tam Wing-lun and his agency refuted social media allegations that he had an affair with a female fan.On Tuesday, a mainland man wrote a long article on Weibo, alleging the 71-year-old artist had an affair with his girl...

Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials are widely expected to strike a deal on Thursday over reopening the border after nailing down final details such as a launch date, daily traveller quota and suspension mechanism.The Hong Kong delegation led by...

A polyp removed during President Joe Biden’s colonoscopy last week “is a benign, slow-growing, but thought to be precancerous lesion” for which no more action is required at this time, the White House doctor said in a letter released on Wednesd...

Germany passed the threshold of 100,000 Covid-19 deaths, with the latest wave of the pandemic still pushing new infections higher and hospitals in some hotspots under severe pressure.Since the pandemic took hold at the beginning of last year, 100,119...

Cathay Pacific is cutting back on both long and short-haul passenger flights to Hong Kong next month to adjust for a looming staffing shortage over the Christmas and New Year holidays.About a third of inbound flights to the city operating under the a...

This is the second in a three-part series looking at the potential impact of China’s proposed property tax law.On the fourth Friday of every month, 30-year-old Ding Xunan makes a nearly 20-hour train journey of over 1,700km from Shenzhen in souther...

One of the highest vaccination rates in the world and growing natural immunity could protect Singapore from a Covid-19 resurgence like that currently engulfing Europe and the US, even if another wave hits as expected, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said...

Indonesia is to boost development in the resource-rich Natuna Islands in a bid to underline its sovereignty following visits by Chinese vessels to nearby waters.Jakarta reiterated its commitment to the archipelago of 27 islands, which lie within Indo...

China’s increasingly extreme zero-Covid policies are standing in the way of a full recovery for the shipping industry and prolonging a crisis that has snarled ports and emptied shelves worldwide.In its attempts to keep the coronavirus out, China ha...

Australia on Thursday said it was sending police, troops and diplomats to the Solomon Islands to help after anti-government demonstrators defied lockdown orders and took to the streets for a second day in violent protests.Prime Minister Scott Morriso...

Representatives of eight Hong Kong NGOs dedicated to helping the city’s underprivileged visited an exhibition last month showcasing the success stories of local businesses, a tour organisers hoped would offer inspiration.The groups invited to Swire...

Australia is considering not sending any government officials to the Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing next year amid growing calls from lawmakers for an official diplomatic boycott, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Thursday.Australian polit...

Three funeral home workers in northern China have been detained for stealing the ashes of a dead woman to sell to a local family for an illegal ghost marriage business.Ghost marriage, banned in China today, is a superstitious activity originating fro...

Pfizer has sued a long-time employee for allegedly stealing “scores” of confidential documents, including some related to its Covid-19 vaccine, as she prepared to jump to a competitor.In a complaint filed on Tuesday in San Diego federal court, Pf...

Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group is expanding its foray into the automobiles sector with the formation of a joint venture that will offer car services such as sales and parking.Wanda Automobile Technology Services was founded on Monday with a ...

Smugglers have resorted to “guerilla tactics” to transport frozen meat from Hong Kong to mainland China on speedboats in a daring comeback despite a crackdown on the rampant trade, according to law enforcement sources.The change in strategy emerg...

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh on Wednesday agreed to step up security cooperation between their countries while sharing “serious concerns” over aggressive moves in regional waters in a veiled...

Chinese viral immunologist Zhang Linqi considers himself lucky that he and his team developed a Covid-19 treatment and vaccine so swiftly and so effectively.Zhang, based at Tsinghua University in Beijing, is the driving force behind an antibody treat...

Hong Kong’s foreign domestic helpers, dozens of whom were caught up in summer sting operations involving more than HK$39 million (US$5 million), are the focus of a new education campaign aimed at stemming the city’s growing money-laundering trend...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he has taken an experimental nasal vaccine against the coronavirus, three days after he received his booster shot.Russia is facing its worst surge of infections and deaths since the pandemic began an...

The Pentagon is creating a new office to investigate unidentified flying objects amid concerns that after broad probes it cannot explain mysterious sightings near highly sensitive military areas.Deputy Secretary of Defence Kathleen Hicks, working wit...

Britain and France were on Thursday looking at new measures to limit migration across the Channel and break people-smuggling networks after at least 27 migrants trying to reach England drowned off the northern French coast.The disaster is the deadlie...

The US government added a dozen more Chinese firms to its export blacklist on Wednesday, the latest move from Washington to crack down on American business ties to China’s hi-tech defence sector.“Global trade and commerce should support peace, pr...

A deal announced on Wednesday confirmed that Germany will have a new government, a new chancellor and, according to the coalition agreement, a new and tougher policy on China.Social Democrat Olaf Scholz will succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor...

Jurors on Wednesday convicted the three white men charged in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, the black man who was chased and fatally shot while running through their neighbourhood in an attack that became part of the larger national reckoning on racial ...

Sweden’s Prime Minister-elect Magdalena Andersson on Wednesday handed in her resignation hours after being appointed by parliament, after her budget failed to pass and the junior Green Party quit the coalition government.While her stint was unexpec...

South African authorities jailed two Chinese nationals caught with over US$60,000 worth of illegally fished abalone, a coveted delicacy smuggled mainly to Asia, police said Wednesday.Poachers have been stripping South Africa’s coasts of the much so...

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said on Wednesday he regretted his remarks that the Wall Street bank would last longer than China’s Communist Party, moving quickly to avoid any longer-term fallout.Speaking at a Boston College series of C...

The US government put a dozen Chinese companies on its trade blacklist on Wednesday for national security and foreign policy concerns, citing in some cases their help developing the Chinese military’s quantum computing efforts.The department also s...

Hongkong Post will inspect all mail addressed to court buildings before delivery as part of stepped-up security measures, the judiciary has revealed as it expressed grave concern over a spate of attempts to intimidate judges.The enhanced system was r...

Hong Kong has not done enough to prepare for a fifth wave of Covid-19, including adopting digital contact-tracing systems to detect and prevent the spread of the pandemic, according to the city’s health minister.Health secretary Sophia Chan Siu-che...

China has urged the United States to stop further official contacts with Taiwanese officials, after representatives from Washington and Taipei held their second annual economic dialogue earlier this week.The call was made by Chinese foreign ministry ...

China will join coordinated global efforts to release oil reserves “based on its own needs” with Beijing in communication with other nations who have already laid out details of their plans to tame worldwide market turbulence, the foreign ministr...

China is developing a powerful nuclear reactor for its moon and Mars missions, according to researchers involved in the project.The reactor can generate one megawatt of electric power, 100 times more powerful than a similar device Nasa plans to put o...

Germany is set to mark 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 this week, passing a sombre milestone that several of its neighbours crossed months ago, but which western Europe’s most populous nation had hoped to avoid.Teutonic discipline, a robust health car...

K-pop superstar Lisa from Blackpink on Wednesday tested positive for Covid-19, her production company announced.YG Entertainment said the three other members Rose, Jennie and Jisoo received negative test results, Yonhap reported. The three were not l...

Magdalena Andersson, the first woman elected Sweden’s prime minister, is a “bulldozer” who faces a tough battle fending off an unprecedented challenge by the right-wing and far-right in next year’s general election.The Social Democrat, a 54-y...

Two Hong Kong men planning to work as Uber drivers have applied for a judicial review of the government’s refusal to grant them hire car permits that would render their intended services lawful.Chen Hai-tao, a 44-year-old member of the catering ind...

Singapore’s central bank on Wednesday said it would consider supervisory actions after DBS Group Holdings suffered one of the worst digital disruptions for Southeast Asia’s biggest lender in the past decade.“This is a serious disruption and MAS...

The head of the European Union’s public health agency Andrea Ammon said on Wednesday that Covid-19 vaccine boosters should be considered for all adults, with priority for those above 40 years, in a major change to the agency’s guidance.Recommenda...