China’s central bank says it will cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for major commercial banks by 0.5 percentage points, releasing 1.2 trillion yuan (US$188 billion) worth of long-term liquidity into the interbank system on December 15 with a...

Hong Kong’s constitutional minister has threatened to “take necessary action” against The Wall Street Journal over an editorial he claims incites residents to boycott or cast protest votes in the legislative election this month.In a letter to t...

Hong Kong police have launched a criminal investigation after more than 30 pigeons and a sparrow were found dead at a public housing estate over a 13-hour period on Sunday and Monday.Slices of bread and a paper plate of leftover minced meat were seiz...

The Omicron variant, now present in at least 23 countries around the world, was probably incubated in the body of a person with an immune system battered by HIV or another immune-compromising condition that can cause a prolonged coronavirus infection...

China’s grain output rose two per cent in 2021 from a year earlier, hitting a record, despite natural disasters wreaking havoc on plantations, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.Grain production totalled 682.9 million tonnes, up...

Japan will strengthen its national defences in the face of growing regional threats, including through the possible acquisition of the ability to attack military facilities in other countries, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a policy speech to t...

The Chinese lunar rover Yutu 2 is on its way to investigate a cube-shaped object, described as a “mystery hut”, on the far side of the moon.The mission team of Yutu 2 spotted the object after examining a series of photos taken by the rover, accor...

China cannot “live with Covid-19”, because it would cause large numbers of severe illnesses and deaths as well as a major “political problem”, according to a senior adviser to the government.Professor Liang Wannian, a former National Health C...

A student on trial for trying to steal a police officer’s handgun during a 2019 Hong Kong anti-government protest will challenge the legality of the decision to shoot him with a live round, a court has heard.Lawyers for defendant Patrick Chow Pak-k...

Italy, which has one of Europe’s highest vaccination rates, is further cracking down on the small minority that has so far refused the shot.As of Monday, a green pass – which is proof of vaccination, recovery or a recent negative test – will be...

Toads are a symbol of prosperity and good fortune in Taiwan, but the unexpected discovery of an invasive species has officials and environmentalists scrambling to contain their spread.With flashlights in hand and shielded by protective gloves, dozens...

A Hong Kong employer who made global headlines when put on trial for torturing Indonesian domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih has been declared bankrupt.Master Reuden Lai Tat-cheung of the High Court on Monday issued the bankruptcy order against ...

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Monday survived a no-confidence motion in parliament, after accusing the Pacific island nation’s most populous province of being “Taiwan’s agent”, and anti-government protesters of attemptin...

Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to four years in jail by a junta-controlled court, in the first conviction in a series of criminal trials she is facing in the aftermath of the February 1 coup.Suu Kyi, 76, as well as other el...

A Hong Kong construction worker was killed on Monday, a day before his 35th birthday, when a concrete slab fell on him at the site of a high-profile renovation and development project.The man was standing on scaffolding about four metres above the gr...

Alibaba Group Holding promoted Toby Xu to succeed long-standing chief financial officer Maggie Wu, and named new leaders to its commerce business, in the biggest management reshuffle for one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies as CEO Daniel...

The US embassy in Tokyo issued a warning on Monday about foreigners being stopped and searched by Japanese police in what it said were suspected to be “racial profiling incidents.”The unusual move by the embassy of Tokyo’s only formal ally came...

When Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin meet virtually on Tuesday the two presidents will have to negotiate a history of mutual suspicion as they take up the urgent issue of a major Russian military build-up on the Ukraine border.The key question hanging o...

Chinese President Xi Jinping has flagged a further tightening of control on religion, in a speech at a national religious work conference held in Beijing late last week.Xi said China would further promote “sinicisation of religion”, with a focus ...

A new history book out on Monday will tell the story of Hong Kong’s role in China’s economic reform and opening up since 1978, and how both have gained in the decades since.The city played a “vital, critical and decisive” role in China’s ec...

Rapid antigen tests are effective in detecting Omicron infections and so will remain part of Singapore’s arsenal for dealing with the new variant and pandemic, the city state’s health ministry said.Singapore has been closely monitoring studies on...

British House Speaker Lindsay Hoyle is to raise reports of drug misuse in the UK parliament with the police “as a priority”.Hoyle described reports that traces of cocaine had been found in areas of the Palace of Westminster accessible only to peo...

The luxurious Kowloon Shangri-La hotel this year invited three underprivileged families to come by for a taste of holiday cheer – literally.In partnership with Operation Santa Claus (OSC) – an annual charity drive organised by the Post and public...

The Hong Kong Legislative Council’s sole seat for the real estate and construction sector will be contested for the first time in 17 years, with two candidates vying to reflect the interests of the city’s powerful property tycoons. Shamed by stat...

A day after Cambodia marked 68 years of independence last month, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government was hit with a brace of disapproving announcements from Washington that analysts say signal future tensions in the bilateral relationship and risk ...

The World Health Organization is in contact with two major Chinese vaccine developers in the hope they will share the patents for their Covid-19 jabs.The WHO has repeatedly called for sharing Covid-19 vaccine patents to increase supplies and ensure e...

Gambian President Adama Barrow has comfortably won re-election, the electoral commission said on Sunday, though he may face a legal challenge from opposition candidates who rejected the results because of unspecified irregularities.The vote was the f...

The Hong Kong Legislative Council’s sole seat for the real estate and construction sector will be contested for the first time in 17 years, with two candidates vying to reflect the interests of the city’s powerful property tycoons. Shamed by stat...

Britain will seek to strengthen its trading relationship with the United States this week when trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan visits New York and Washington, but a full free-trade agreement remains a distant prospect.Trevelyan will meet US Trade...

Three skiers have been killed and two injured in an avalanche in central Austria, authorities said on Sunday. The victims included a rising young motorbike racer.They were part of a group of 11 skiers, eight of whom were hit by a roughly 200-metre (6...

President Ebrahim Raisi vowed to tackle Iran’s economic woes and said his government was working to lift sanctions, in a television interview Sunday marking his first 100 days in power.Raisi, an ultraconservative who took office in August, portrays...

The Chinese authorities want “more effective” monetary coordination with developed countries to ensure a “fairer” international environment, a foreign exchange official said on Saturday.The warning from Lu Lei, deputy head of the State Admini...

Police fired tear gas and used water cannon on Sunday to disperse protesters pelting officers with cobblestones and fireworks as a demonstration in Brussels over government-imposed Covid-19 restrictions turned violent.A few thousand protesters marche...

A Jordanian court sentenced five senior health officials to three years in prison on Sunday for causing the death of 10 Covid-19 patients following an oxygen outage in a major state hospital, state media said.The court found the former director of th...

Anti-racism activists were beaten up Sunday as far-right former French TV pundit Eric Zemmour held his first presidential campaign rally near Paris, a few days after he formally declared his candidacy in a video that highlighted his anti-migrant and ...

Bob Dole, who battled back from being severely wounded in World War II to become a five-term US senator and the Republican Party’s 1996 presidential nominee, died on Sunday at the age of 98.As tributes poured in for the veteran politician, Presiden...

Early indications of the severity of the Omicron Covid-19 variant are “a bit encouraging,” top US pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci said on Sunday, while cautioning more information was still needed.“Omicron has a transmission advantage” in Sout...

Hundreds of environmentalist demonstrators gathered on South African beaches Sunday to protest against oil and gas exploration by energy giant Shell.In Cape Town protesters held up the peace symbol, banners reading “Shell in Hell” and a giant mod...

A group of Western countries including the United States, Germany, Britain and France have expressed concern over reported killings and disappearances of former members of the Afghan security forces after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in Augu...

A Hong Kong hospital has apologised for a medical blunder that led to the death of a middle-aged man who had suffered an undiagnosed heart attack and failed to receive timely treatment.In a statement on Sunday evening revealing the botched diagnosis,...

It was a click that was heard around the world.Early last month, the send button was pressed on a post on Chinese tennis pro Peng Shuai’s Twitter-like Weibo account.The post alleged sexual assault against a former senior Chinese politician, a claim...

Pope Francis returned to the Greek island of Lesbos on Sunday to offer comfort to migrants at a refugee camp and blasted what he said was the indifference and self-interest shown by Europe “that condemns to death those on the fringes.”“Please, ...

If the US is to win a war with China, it should direct most of its military resources to the Indo-Pacific and form an Asian Nato to prevent mainland forces from setting foot on Taiwan.Former US deputy assistant secretary of defence Elbridge Colby als...

Princess Aiko, the only child of Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, went through official ceremonies on Sunday to mark her coming-of-age as she was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown at the Imperial Palace.The pri...

What is the E7?The Emerging 7 (E7) consists of the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China plus Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey.Unlike the Group of 7 (G7), the E7 is not an actual forum nor alliance, but merely a concept created by economists ...

China’s securities regulator said it maintains an open attitude to where companies seek to raise funds and respects their choices, denying reports of any imminent restrictions on overseas listings as it soothes market jitters to reverse a global se...

A top adviser to Hong Kong’s leader warned on Sunday that retaining talent in the education sector was an “imminent issue” amid a wave of emigration and the coronavirus pandemic, with travel restrictions forcing some teachers, including expatri...

Nearly half of unvaccinated Hongkongers say they will not be getting inoculated against Covid-19, despite a healthy majority of residents expressing their readiness to transition to a strategy of coexisting with the virus, according to a new survey.E...

The number of Hong Kong children enrolling in British schools has hit at least an 11-year high, with some being turned away for the first time, according to education consultants.Elite schools in Hong Kong, meanwhile, are feeling the loss of several ...