China and South Korea will allow 70 more flights per week between the two countries in view of fast-growing, two-way tourism and a drop in Chinese group travel to Japan. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in Seoul said in a statement ...

Yao Shunyu, the former OpenAI researcher now leading Tencent Holdings’ artificial intelligence model development, pushed back against concerns that the tech giant is slow in AI, arguing that the race is just beginning with massive untapped opportun...

Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to North Korea next week, his first overseas trip this year and his first to the hermit nation since 2019. The trip will take place on Monday and Tuesday, Xinhua said without elaboration. Xi’s la...

A proposal by Quad to build a port in Fiji, seen by analysts as a move to counter China’s rising economic clout in the Pacific region, has fuelled doubts about whether the four-member security bloc is committed to completing the project amid differ...

French billionaire Pierre-Edouard Sterin, who has stirred controversy over his right-wing politics, is pleading with lawmakers to modify rules so he can disinherit his five children, saying he prefers to give his fortune to charity. “I would like t...

Hong Kong sweltered through its hottest day of the year so far on Friday as temperatures hit 34.6 degrees Celsius (94.3 Fahrenheit) in the afternoon, according to the city’s weather forecaster. The Hong Kong Observatory said that this marked the hi...

Europe’s political and business leaderships appear to have concluded that China’s economic dominance represents an existential threat – not from intrinsic competitiveness but from subsidies, technology theft, state-owned enterprises and a perva...

A mismatch in the job market, declining demand for junior roles and relatively comfortable living conditions among Hong Kong’s youth have contributed to a higher share of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) compared with o...

A race to dig rare earths and metals in the mineral-rich mountains of eastern Myanmar is polluting waterways that millions of people living downstream depend on after a new tungsten mine reportedly began operations near the Thai border, according to ...

Malaysia is heading into a run of state elections, including two triggered by early assembly dissolutions, after Negeri Sembilan became the latest state to call a snap poll amid fraying ties inside Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling alliance. Wh...

Hong Kong’s competition watchdog aims to submit proposals to criminalise bid-rigging as early as September, paving the way for the government to table legislative amendments by the end of the year, following the city’s deadliest fire in decades. ...

The artificial intelligence frenzy has made Zhongji Innolight, a supplier of optical modules to US hyperscalers, the biggest constituent of China’s stock benchmark, highlighting AI’s profound impact on the world’s second-largest equity market. ...

Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has named one of his youngest sons as foreign minister in a major cabinet reshuffle – largely seen as a move to prepare for the next generation of leaders in the oil-rich kingdom. As the 10th child and fourth son ...

A 24-year-old Chinese woman keeps managing to shine on stage despite wearing a patch and a mask after she lost an eye and her left upper jaw to cancer. Han Yifei, from eastern China’s Jiangsu province, has moved many people online and garnered over...

Peru’s duelling presidential hopefuls have made a final pitch to voters, capping a bruising and razor-tight race dominated by anger over rising crime and political instability. Conservative Keiko Fujimori and leftist Roberto Sanchez staged rival ev...

The threat by the US to impose additional tariffs on imports from India over forced labour supply-chain concerns is a “pressure” tactic deployed by Washington to drive a harder bargain in its trade talks with New Delhi, according to analysts. Fol...

Chinese scientists have created the world’s first superfast memory for quantum computers, solving a critical data-reading bottleneck and paving the way for big-data challenges such as drug discovery and detecting fraudulent financial activities. Wh...

King Charles’ disgraced younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor held leases for 10 properties, three of which he sublet, while the monarch ⁠pays rent for the former prince’s daughters’ palace ⁠homes, a report by the UK’s spending watch...

Hong Kong’s biggest international school group has rolled out a “through-train” arrangement, linking all its kindergartens to its primary schools from September next year and guaranteeing pupils a place all the way to secondary graduation. The ...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please conside...

Hong Kong’s food hygiene authorities have prosecuted a popular butcher shop in Kwun Tong after a viral video and a subsequent inspection found rats running over pig carcasses, as well as cracked ceilings and stained floors. A spokesman for the Food...

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has confirmed for the first time his intention to challenge Keir Starmer to be Britain’s prime minister, drawing immediate criticism from the premier who vowed not to walk away from the job. “If I get your su...

Homes in New Zealand’s capital were flooded with faeces and sanitary products on Friday after an overnight storm blocked waste water pipes, the city’s utilities company said. Wellington Water said the waste water overflow in the picturesque subur...

Following the ⁠first confirmation of screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, on a US farm in decades, federal and state officials have fanned out in South Texas, where a calf was found infested this week. US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on...

A revision to Malaysia’s public university admissions rules has reopened one of the multicultural country’s most sensitive political debates: how far its national education system should accommodate Chinese-language schooling. Malaysia’s govern...

Hong Kong is embracing its growing role on the international stage in vital sectors driving global prosperity – a message highlighted at an annual gathering of international industry leaders, corporate executives and local policymakers who back the...

A wanted director of a scandal-hit Hong Kong charity who fled the city is facing a sweeping 14-count civil lawsuit in the United States over an alleged multimillion-dollar property scheme that the plaintiff described as a “shell game”. In a compl...

German airline Lufthansa said it was investigating after the nose gear of a Boeing jet collapsed while the aircraft was parked at a gate at Frankfurt Airport, injuring several employees. Only crew members and ground staff were on board the Boeing 787...

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea on Monday and Tuesday in a show of the two countries’ strong ties. At the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Xi will pay a state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea fr...

Asia-Pacific is expected to drive global retail sales over the next five years, even as the Middle East conflict is hurting consumer confidence, according to business analysts. The war could continue to weigh on consumer and business sentiment for no...

Few things age faster than a business plan built for a world that no longer exists. That may be the most important lesson from the saga of 11 Skies, the vast retail, entertainment and commercial complex beside Hong Kong International Airport that now...

South Korea’s Ministry of Justice on Tuesday sought to defuse criticism over a 1.2 billion won (US$779,162) plan to install air conditioning in prisons, clarifying the equipment will cool corridors, not inmates’ cells. The ministry framed the ins...

A Chinese shipbuilder has unveiled a blueprint for a massive, nuclear-powered floating island that will serve as a container transfer terminal and a charging station for vessels. The floating terminal will be powered by advanced molten salt reactors ...

A Chinese pancake seller in the US has announced plans to run for mayor within three years, despite past controversy over an arrest. Tang, 31, was born to a rural family in Sichuan, southwestern China, and left school after secondary education. He is...

On a recent stormy Sunday, domestic helpers on their weekly day off were seen hastily erecting tents and laying out plastic sheets under footbridges and inside transport hubs in Hong Kong’s Tsuen Wan district as they sought refuge from the downpour...

The recent deaths of two men from crocodile attacks in North Sumatra have put a spotlight on Indonesia’s record as the country with the world’s highest number of such killings annually, raising questions over whether habitat destruction is pushin...

A US citizen who lived and worked for state media in China for several years pleaded guilty on Thursday to acting as a foreign agent for Beijing after allegedly collecting US$100,000 in return for collecting intelligence in the US on “American targ...

US President ⁠Donald Trump on Thursday indicated ⁠that he would not nominate mortgage regulator ⁠Bill Pulte to be the nation’s intelligence chief once his temporary appointment expires early next year. His comments follow a backlash against P...

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced plans to add a potential “Trump promenade” to the iconic Lincoln Memorial, in his latest grandiose bid to leave his mark on the US capital. Trump said the walkway would link the huge marble monument, b...

After it was sanctioned by the US government for allegedly helping Iran, a Chinese satellite company has released high-definition images of the Nvidia and Apple headquarters in California’s Silicon Valley. They were among photos posted on social me...

China accused the United States of using “invented allegations” to justify its terrorism case against Cuba, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators he needed no new evidence to tie the island to violent leftist groups across the wester...

US President Donald Trump’s eldest son warned against investing in China during an event for investors on Thursday in Zurich, even as his father’s administration has pushed forward on plans to improve commercial ties between the two countries. �...

I just spent two weeks in a broken Britain, which is an unfortunately apt description for a country that has fallen from its former glory. Its people are funny, witty, creative, intelligent, sports-mad and educated, part of a society that has constan...

US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told lawmakers on Thursday that American dependence on China for food, fertiliser and other agricultural inputs poses an “existential” threat, framing food security as a national security issue while defend...

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s proposals for peace in Ukraine could end the fighting, but said Kyiv needed to compromise – and that he saw no signs of that, so was ready to fight on to victory. Speaking...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney launched his AI strategy on Thursday, warning that his country’s slow adoption of the frontier technology had created risks and that domestic capacity needed a boost to avoid it being “weaponised against us”....

Franco-Iranian author and film director Marjane Satrapi, renowned for her graphic novel and film Persepolis, has died aged 56, a year after the passing of “the love of her life”, a member of her close circle said on Thursday. “Marjane Satrapi d...

Hong Kong police took away seven people who appeared in Causeway Bay on Thursday evening carrying flowers and dressed in black to mark the 37th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. They included Chan Po-ying, former chairwoman of the now-de...

Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the US Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison time, a person familia...

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic has called for practical approaches and “meaningful discussion” to tackle the growing trade concerns between Brussels and Beijing, following his meeting with China’s chief international trade negotiator, Li Chengga...