The Omicron coronavirus strain has shown “substantial” ability to evade natural immunity and increases the risk of reinfection, South African scientists at the forefront of researching the new variant of concern have found.Early evidence presente...

Cathay Pacific has cancelled a third of its Friday flights amid the fallout over Hong Kong’s planned tightening of aircrew rules to prevent the Omicron coronavirus variant seeping into the community.According to live flight data, 23 Cathay services...

China’s aviation regulator expects airlines will resume commercial operations with the Boeing 737 MAX by the beginning of next year at the latest following a ban of almost three years, an official said on FridayThe Civil Aviation Administration of ...

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing said on Friday that it will start the process of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and move forward with plans for a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO).Beijing-based Didi was founded in 2012 by Al...

Beijing will appoint four senior officials to supervise and assist Macau’s government on matters relating to national security, Xinhua News Agency has announced.Analysts on Friday said the move was understandable but unlikely to be repeated in Hong...

The head of the most populous province in the Solomon Islands said the country would likely switch diplomatic ties back to Taiwan if the prime minister is ousted from his post following next week’s no-confidence vote, after looting and violent prot...

Actor Alec Baldwin does not believe the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust was caused by sabotage.In an interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos that aired Thursday, Baldwin said it was “overw...

Police have arrested a 16-year-old Hong Kong schoolboy in an anti-narcotics operation that uncovered HK$14 million (US$1.8 million) worth of liquid cocaine inside a San Po Kong industrial building.Acting on a tip, officers intercepted the Form Five s...

China is accelerating research into vaccines and tests to cope with possible future Omicron variant outbreaks amid global concern about its potential damage.Sino Biological, a Beijing-based company specialising in recombinant protein production, anti...

A veteran engineer dubbed “Hong Kong’s Detective Galileo” has questioned the MTR Corporation’s explanation that a loose billboard component was responsible for a rare accident in which a pair of carriage doors fell off a moving train as it pu...

Malaysia’s Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on Friday said the country needed to be prepared for the possibility that the Omicron Covid-19 variant was already in the community, as authorities announced the first imported infection for the mutated ...

A high-ranking ally of incoming Honduran president Xiomara Castro has signalled a reversal of her pre-election stance in favour of establishing diplomatic ties with China.Honduras, with a population of just under 10 million, is one of a shrinking clu...

When the Taliban overran Kabul in mid-August, seizing power for the second time, the years-old mystery over the whereabouts of the movement’s Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada deepened further.Whether the elderly cleric is alive or dead is somet...

Senior US and Chinese officials on Thursday offered competing visions of the role that businesses should play in relations between the two powers, with Beijing’s envoy in Washington pointing to economic ties as an “anchor and propeller” in the ...

The US Congress approved a stopgap funding bill on Thursday in a rare show of cross-party unity to keep federal agencies running into 2022 and avert a costly holiday season government shutdown.With the clock ticking down to the 11.59pm Friday deadlin...

Researchers around the world are trying to work out whether existing Covid-19 vaccines protect us from the latest variant, Omicron.The worst-case scenario is the virus has mutated so much in the crucial parts of its genome that it can escape Covid-19...

Nasa has awarded three companies hundreds of millions of dollars to develop commercial space stations it hopes will eventually replace the International Space Station, which is due to retire around the end of the decade.Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, aer...

Activity in China’s services sector expanded at a slower pace in November amid rising inflationary pressures and continuing small-scale coronavirus outbreaks, a private survey showed on Friday.The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers’ index...

Budiman pulls off his oxygen mask and gulps for air as he surfaces from the water, stretching out his hand to Badarudin, who is waiting on the boat.From his back pocket, Budiman retrieves a sharp metal object that resembles a spear blade. It’s abou...

After six weeks of fierce competition in which 1,814 entrants traded volleys across more than 1,300 matches, the Chinese Recreation Club Tennis Open 2021 came to an end on Monday, having raised nearly HK$40,000 (US$5,130) for a good cause along the w...

With a hit by the “godmother of punk” Nina Hagen, Germany’s military saluted a visibly moved Angela Merkel during a ceremonial farewell, just a week before she is due to bow out of politics after 16 years in office.Soldiers in full regalia and ...

Didi Global said it would commence the process of removing its stock from the New York Stock Exchange for a listing in Hong Kong, as China’s dominant ride-hailing service operator makes an unprecedented exit from the world’s largest capital marke...

A Hong Kong health code compatible with the version used in mainland China will officially be launched on December 10 as a prerequisite for resuming quarantine-free cross-border travel.The tracking feature of the mainland’s health code app has rais...

Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel platform by value, will remain focused on the domestic market as Covid-19 travel restrictions continue to ground virtually all Chinese outbound tours, the co-founder and chairman of the firm said on Thu...

A well-known Chinese producer questioned the legality of a recent blacklist of celebrities by an industry association, marking a rare public disagreement with the government’s crackdown on “poorly-behaved” entertainers.Li Xuezheng, who earned h...

Australia on Friday reported a student with no history of foreign travel had tested positive for the Covid-19 Omicron variant, the country’s first detected case of community transmission.The case, detected in Sydney, comes despite a ban on non-citi...

“All men are created equal.” So says the American Declaration of Independence, but some may be more equal than others.Tensions between the United States and China, Trump calling coronavirus the “China virus”, alarming hate crimes against Asia...

As Hong Kong grapples with runaway inflation and a still-raging pandemic, charities, food banks, NGOs and businesses have entered the fray to help the needy. In the second of a three-part series, Denise Tsang and Fiona Sun look at the raft of well-in...

The Russian military has deployed coastal defence missile systems near the Kuril Islands, a Pacific chain also claimed by Japan. The move appeared intended to underline Moscow’s firm stance in the dispute.The Bastion systems were moved to Matua, a ...

A former deputy commander of a paramilitary unit in China’s far west has been accused of corruption, state media reported on Thursday.Yang Fulin, former deputy commander of state-run paramilitary organisation Xinjiang Production and Construction Co...

When Twitter this week appointed Parag Agrawal to succeed Jack Dorsey as its new CEO, the platform was awash with excitement and pride from Indians.“Is this the Indian virus – the ‘Silicon Valley CEO virus’ – for which there is no vaccine?�...

Loyalty, competence and integrity are some of the key qualities the Communist Party is looking for to select a new generation of leaders, according to its personnel chief.Chen Xi, head of the Organisation Department, made the remarks in an article on...

A preliminary study by South African scientists published Thursday suggests the Omicron variant is three times more likely to cause reinfections compared to the Delta or Beta strains.The findings, based on data collected by the country’s health sys...

The US and European Union held a new round of diplomatic talks on their relations with China on Thursday, the latest sign of a burgeoning transatlantic united front to confront Beijing amid rising geopolitical tensions.In a joint statement issued aft...

China should chase “all possible cooperation” with its Asia-Pacific and European trading partners to counter pressure from the United States, which has recently doubled down on building a Western front against Beijing, said a Chinese think tank.T...

Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg is stepping down to make way for whoever takes over as leader of his conservative party, he said on Thursday, just hours after party strongman Sebastian Kurz said he was leaving politics altogether.Kurz stun...

The US government is inching further on efforts to boot Chinese companies off American stock exchanges for not complying with Washington’s disclosure requirements.The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday announced its final plan for putti...

US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday a winter campaign against Covid-19, with new testing requirements for travellers and a surge in vaccination efforts.Biden has brought steady leadership after the chaotic Donald Trump years, but the mutatin...

Reported comments by French President Emmanuel Macron branding British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a “clown” and a “knucklehead” were “unhelpful”, a British government minister said on Thursday.The French president’s scathing assessmen...

The United States, Canada and European allies stepped up pressure Thursday on the regime of Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko, widening sanctions on officials and businesses for allegedly stoking a migration crisis for political reasons.The sanc...

Competition is brewing between China and the United States in Africa. After US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to reenergise American engagement last month, the recently concluded Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Senegal spotlighted C...

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday that lowering Trump-era tariffs on imported goods from China through a revived exclusion process could help ease some inflationary pressures, but would be no “game-changer”.Yellen told the Reute...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that people who are not vaccinated will be excluded from non-essential stores, cultural and recreational venues, and that parliament will consider a general vaccine mandate, as part of an effort to cur...

The Omicron coronavirus variant is spreading faster in Gauteng, the epicentre of the latest outbreak in South Africa, than the Delta strain or any of the earlier mutations, an adviser to the provincial government said.There is the “strongest accele...

Stabilising economic growth in the coming year will require Beijing to implement new measures, as a larger-than-expected decline in the growth rate this year has sparked market concerns over China’s development prospects, a senior government advise...

Nearly 10 per cent of the 4.5 million sets of stolen payment card details offered for sale on sections of the dark web were fraudulently obtained in Hong Kong, according to a new cybersecurity report.The research by Panama-based internet security fir...

The killing of at least 65 protesters in Myanmar’s biggest city on March 14 this year was planned and premeditated, and the perpetrators must be brought to justice, a rights watchdog said in a report released on Thursday.Human Rights Watch accused ...