China’s censors have deleted multiple scenes and altered reference about a recurring lesbian character in the 1990s US television sitcom Friends, which has sparked outrage among the popular show’s large audience on the mainland.That has practical...

Hong Kong’s public transport has been dealt a fresh blow by the fifth wave of the coronavirus outbreak, with patronage down 40 per cent, according to Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan.In a weekly blog post on Saturday, Chan said th...

More than 40 Chinese passengers remained camped out in Denmark’s main international airport on Saturday after they were misdiagnosed with the coronavirus and missed their flight to China.Copenhagen Airport said the 45 travellers were among 54 who f...

Peter Davies, a Hong Kong resident, travelled to Hawaii over Christmas last year to spend time with his Britain-based family, but soon found himself caught in a web of flight cancellations and logistical challenges that would keep him away from home....

Shackled by her neck and locked up all day in a squalid shack, video footage of a mentally-ill woman imprisoned by her husband has cast a shadow over the festive mood created by Beijing’s Winter Olympics.The woman, surnamed Yang, has become a sourc...

Hong Kong university students were caught by surprise when at least five institutions told dormitory residents to return home, or would ask them to do so, as a precaution amid a surge in the number of local coronavirus cases.Chinese University (CUHK)...

Hong Kong’s famed restaurant scene is rapidly losing its shine, with thousands of outlets having shut or bracing for closure after being battered by strict Covid-19 rules amid the current surge in infections.“It is all doom and gloom for the city...

Japan will ease its strict border controls, beginning with foreign workers and students, the Nikkei reported.The government will start accepting more than 1,000 people a day this month and will gradually raise the cap to several thousand.“We will t...

Beijing and Washington could go to war over Taiwan, or if four other Asian scenarios came to pass, a US-based think tank said in a recent report.Mainland Chinese observers, however, believe US ties in their current state hardly portend imminent confl...

The vast Xinjiang region on China’s far western border is one of its largest, the rolling expanse of deserts, mountains and grasslands making up almost a fifth of the national land mass.It is also China’s richest in terms of natural resources, an...

Hong Kong set another record for daily coronavirus infections as 1,514 cases were confirmed on Saturday, while top local officials met their mainland Chinese counterparts in Shenzhen to discuss how the central government could help the financial hub ...

Hong Kong police have arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of murdering his friend after he allegedly stabbed the victim in the chest with a knife during a heated argument at a public housing estate on Friday.The suspected murder occurred at a fla...

Australia and New Zealand on Saturday urged their citizens to leave Ukraine right away to avoid a Russian invasion, including a possible air assault, that the US said could occur any time.“Our advice is clear, this is a dangerous situation … you ...

A massive exodus of bitcoin mining equipment from China is facing hurdles as millions of machines remain stuck over complex relocation procedures, according to lawyers handling such cases.The country’s cryptocurrency mining industry continues to de...

China has approved emergency use of Pfizer’s Covid-19 oral pills – in the country’s first foreign treatment for the coronavirus disease.The pills, brand named Paxlovid, would be used to treat adults with mild to moderate Covid-19 with high risk...

The United States said it will open an embassy in the Solomon Islands, laying out in unusually blunt terms a plan to increase its influence in the South Pacific nation before China becomes “strongly embedded.”The reasoning was explained in a Stat...

The United States and China must find a way to prevent conflict escalating and improve top-tier communications to avoid the risk of an “accidental war” between them, according to David Shambaugh, a leading, long-time American observer of China.Sh...

Hong Kong’s adoption of the dynamic zero-infection strategy has drawn heated debate as the city struggles to contain a fifth wave of coronavirus infections.However, Hong Kong has yet to carry out massive containment measures such as a citywide lock...

Hong Kong people really are one of a kind. They are not only super resilient, but highly tolerant and (mostly) law-abiding.More than two years after Covid-19 hit the city, Hongkongers still endure some of the toughest social distancing restrictions i...

In a free and liberal society, it is not easy to define who is a “patriot”. For instance, many supporters of former US president Donald Trump, waving the national flag, would say that he was a patriot, striving to “make America great again”. ...

United States-born Eileen Gu’s first stunning Olympic gold medal for China has made her probably the most fascinating star of the Beijing Winter Games, on and off the snow.On Tuesday, the 18-year-old athlete jumped into first place at the Olympics�...

In the first of a three-part series on Hong Kong’s coming chief executive election, Chris Lau looks at the impact of going ahead with the poll amid a surge in Covid-19 infections.The Hong Kong government’s decision to press on with plans for next...

Guangdong needs to forge closer integration with Hong Kong and Macau this year as it seeks to transform the region into a world-class hub for innovation, technology and talent, according to the leadership of the southern Chinese province.Addressing a...

Zhang Wenquan, a 35-year-old Beijinger, has collected more than 5,000 Olympic mementos over the course of 20 years, the Chengdu Business News reported.While many people are looking for products of “Bing Dwen Dwen”, the panda mascot for the 2022 B...

In a surprise move on Thursday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, broke his silence on the looming race to replace him.The campaign for the March 9 presidential polls has been rife with mudslinging and personal attacks fuelled by the camps of the t...

Hundreds of residents have swamped the Hong Kong side of the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint in an attempt to cross the border and seek shelter from the worsening Covid-19 outbreak despite the required two weeks’ mandatory quarantine at a government-approv...

Truckers snarling a key bridge between Canada and the United States in protest at Covid-19 rules defied a judge’s order to leave on Friday night, with the crowd getting even bigger two weeks into the snowballing protest movement.The days-long block...

More than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, and with yet more measures being introduced by the Hong Kong government, it seems like we’re in a perpetual state of “déjà vu all over again” (as US baseballer Yogi Berra put it), and no closer ...

Police rescued an 80-year-old US woman who was held hostage in her home for nearly 21 hours by a naked man with scissors, and officers checked on the woman in part because she could not text one of her daughters her daily Wordle score during the orde...

Drones are playing a growing role in China’s military operations, from the Himalayan border areas to the depths of the seas off its eastern and southern coasts, as the People’s Liberation Army embeds the technology in nearly every sphere of opera...

British nationals are being urged to leave Ukraine immediately and those who choose to stay should not expect a military evacuation if conflict with Russia breaks out, junior Defence Minister James Heappey said on Saturday.“British nationals should...

US President Joe Biden’s administration released its long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy on Friday, one that leans heavily on alliances, military deterrence and a stronger presence in Southeast Asia to counter China’s growing regional and global f...

Star light, star bright, the James Webb Space Telescope has seen its first star (though it wasn’t quite tonight) – and even taken a selfie, Nasa announced on Friday.The steps are part of the months-long process of aligning the observatory’s eno...

The UK’s main opposition Labour Party has suspended one of its lawmakers, pending an investigation into allegations he made racist comments to a reporter this month.Neil Coyle, who represents the London constituency of Bermondsey and Old Southwark,...

An International Labour Organization committee has expressed “deep concern” about China’s policies in its far western region of Xinjiang, calling them discriminatory and asking Beijing to bring its employment practices into line with global sta...

Top diplomats from the burgeoning, informal alliance known as the Quad met in Australia on Friday and reaffirmed their commitment to a “free, open and inclusive rules-based order” in the Pacific without mentioning China by name.“We oppose coerc...

China and the United States must come to terms on how to define “market distortion” and “industrial subsidies”, because the US also appears to have adopted such practices, according to outspoken former Chinese finance minister Lou Jiwei.The s...

An aide to Thailand’s prime minister said he would seek the expulsion of human rights group Amnesty International from the country, after it was accused by ultra royalists of undermining national security.Seksakol Atthawong, a vice-minister in Prim...

Former Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying has said he envies the city’s younger generation for the opportunities they have in the Greater Bay Area and would be happy to swap his life with theirs.The vice-chairman of China’s top political a...

China is preparing to test-fly a new prototype of its largest amphibious plane, the AG600, that will be able to cover all of the South China Sea.The four engines of the AG600-1003 prototype were tested on Tuesday, paving the way for test flights, acc...

Beijing could be trying to test Taiwan’s self-defence counter-strike capabilities, Taiwanese military analysts said, after an unidentified aircraft recently flew over a Taipei-controlled island off mainland China’s southeastern coast.Residents of...

A Hong Kong court has dismissed a HK$1 million (US$128,300) discrimination claim by a British engineer who complained about being called a gweilo and excluded from a tunnel construction project after finding his poor work relationship with colleagues...

They were the hometown heroes of the Pyeongchang Olympics, the South Korean underdogs with the catchy nicknames who swept past more seasoned teams to nab the silver medal in curling. Then in a flash, the story of the “Garlic Girls” went from a he...

The United Kingdom says it is looking at what more can be done to support young Hongkongers looking to permanently settle in the country, after former governor Chris Patten put forward a proposal to extend the British National (Overseas) visa scheme ...

Hong Kong’s anti-graft watchdog charged a 57-year-old man on Friday over social media posts allegedly inciting others to cast invalid votes in the Legislative Council election in 2021.Victor Chou Wing-tat will face three charges under the Elections...

China has vowed to provide special care for elderly empty nesters, as concern grows over the nation’s fast-ageing population.“We can’t allow urban senior citizens to become isolated without their needs being met in the internet age, nor can we ...

Growing ties between China and Pakistan have come under scrutiny in India after former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Parliament last week called their close ties “a serious threat” to the country.His accusation that the Narendra Modi government�...

Hong Kong residents stuck at home for a week after testing positive for the coronavirus have complained about the government’s lack of response to their plight, saying they are still waiting for medical treatment.A 26-year-old logistics clerk, who ...

Embattled Taiwanese-American celebrity Wang Leehom, 45, is taking his estranged wife to court for breaking the couple’s custody agreement.Mainland news portal 163.com got its hands on documents from the New York County Supreme Court in the US that ...

The Beijing Winter Olympics has an official collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) featuring Bing Dwen Dwen, the event’s panda mascot that is massively popular in China, but people in the country will not be able to get their hands on one. nWay,...