Securing health insurance for her autistic son in Hong Kong proved distressing for homemaker Sarah*. The 50-year-old said she approached several insurance companies over about three months, but none could assure her that her son, now 18, would be eli...

Two Chinese football fans were carjacked shortly after arriving in Mexico to watch the World Cup. The Chinese embassy said one suspect had been arrested while the two victims had returned to China on Friday after less than 48 hours in the country. St...

Two big issues are bubbling up over Hong Kong’s army of foreign domestic helpers. The whole community will have to sit down and decide how to address them. The first is the availability of places for helpers to congregate safely and freely on their...

Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong have launched a month-long fundraising campaign to support families affected by the recent 7.8 magnitude earthquake in their home country’s south, with organisers saying food, drinking water and medicine are a...

Hong Kong’s older office assets and their struggling landlords could face more challenges as the wider adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by firms in the city leads companies to relocate to newer buildings that better support their requiremen...

The sudden viral rise of India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical movement seeking to push young Indians from online protest into politics, has fuelled speculation that it could mark the start of broader youth-led unrest, similar to the upr...

An 18-year-old boy in central China knelt and kowtowed to his adoptive mother after completing the gaokao, thanking her for years of devotion that helped fund his medical treatment. From June 7 to 9, more than 12.9 million candidates sat China’s fi...

In April, a family from the United Arab Emirates – four adults, three children and a nanny – spent about 300,000 yuan (US$44,228) on a seven-day educational and business tour to China. The trip was nearly cancelled as the Iran war repeatedly disr...

The drowning of two university basketball players in the Philippines has raised concerns about the extreme training conditions and pressures surrounding student athletes in the country’s highly commercialised collegiate sports industry. Incoming ro...

Hong Kong’s first astronaut is expected to chat with residents from the lofty heights of the Tiangong space station in the next two months, the city’s technology minister has said. Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong also s...

Hong Kong’s first five-year plan will map out concrete paths to address the city’s shortcomings and magnify socio-economic benefits, including how artificial intelligence can create quality jobs, the financial chief has said a day ahead of the pu...

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has said Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis will adopt a multi-focused strategy to drive advances in technology, industry and education, while helping the city overcome its bottleneck in talent attraction. Lee also sai...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pushed for stronger cross-border transport and trade ties during a visit to Mongolia over the weekend as Beijing sought to anchor the country’s newly formed government within its economic orbit. “China’s policy ...

South Korean first lady Kim Hea-kyung remains largely out of the spotlight one year into President Lee Jae Myung’s administration, adopting a low-key public role that contrasts sharply with the high-profile approach of her predecessor, Kim Keon-hee...

A four-month-old baby has died after being discovered unconscious at a home in Hong Kong, prompting police to open an investigation. The force said on Sunday that it received a report from the boy’s father at 7.15am, who said the baby had fallen un...

In the contest for influence in Southeast Asia, the United States and China agree on one thing: the region is indispensable. Yet beneath the flurry of high-level summits lies a quieter divergence in how each cultivates knowledge about the region. The...

Western allies believe Iran has most likely added new-build Russian weapons to its inventory and reconstituted large swathes of its missile arsenal during the eight-week ceasefire, giving the Islamic Republic the firepower to strike back at nearly fu...

Hong Kong authorities have hit out at The Washington Post for making “groundless allegations” about amendments to the city’s home-grown national security law in an opinion piece, while stressing that foreign businesses have no cause for concern...

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has pledged to push for “further reforms” despite geopolitical risks in the final year of his current term, citing how he had steered Hong Kong through a sustained period of economic growth since taking over in 20...

The Chinese legal system is grappling with a surge of artificial intelligence cases, but experts have warned that the lack of a unified legislative framework is hampering efforts to tackle the problem. In a recent landmark case, a court in the easter...

It was a gesture that was equal parts diplomacy and theatre: Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul coaxing a melody out of a traditional Vietnamese t’rung xylophone at a Hanoi state banquet on Monday. The real music, however, had been made in the...

Donald Trump celebrates his 80th birthday in a typically forceful style on Sunday, as the oldest US president ever to take office holds a bloody cage match on the White House lawn. The unprecedented “UFC Freedom 250” event will see 14 Ultimate Fi...

What began as an internal personnel dispute at the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation has evolved into an increasingly bitter and publicly fought battle that is engulfing the former Taiwanese leader whose political legacy it is meant to preserve. Allegations of...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s latest message of reassurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin, coming shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pyongyang, constitutes a form of strategic hedging, according to observers. The lett...

The recent enactment of a subsidiary legislation in Hong Kong regarding the appropriate procedure to be followed in cases of non-national security offences involving national security considerations not surprisingly spurred some to revisit the chief ...

Hong Kong is determined to expand into new markets while consolidating ties with traditional partners and “will not give up any markets” despite geopolitical pressures, the city leader has said. In an interview with the South China Morning Post r...

A Shanghai man who wanted to gain weight spent 10,000 yuan (US$1,500) on online health products he thought would do the job only to end up losing 6.5kg in a month. The man, surnamed Liu, has trended on mainland social media after his experience was r...

Indonesia sits at the confluence of the world’s busiest sea lanes. Its coastline stretches nearly 55,000km (34,000 miles) and its waters encompass the Malacca and Lombok straits, chokepoints through which trillions of US dollars in global trade pas...

Geely Auto, which is locked in a fierce battle for dominance against BYD in China’s crowded automotive market, has pledged to purge excess capacity through an asset restructuring while ramping up its go-global drive with an eye on greater internati...

The Tren de Aragua leader killed in a US-Venezuelan raid was a high school dropout who lived in comfort behind bars as he transformed a prison gang into one of the most powerful and extensive criminal organisations in Latin America. Hector Rusthenfor...

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he planned to appoint James McDonald as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the federal prosecutor whose office handles many of the most high-profile cases involving Wall Street. McDonald...

In less than two months, the indie film Dear You has become an unlikely mass hit. Shot in the Teochew language from the Chaoshan region of southern China’s Guangdong province, the movie follows a man uncovering his family’s past by tracing remitt...

US and Pakistani leaders forecast a Sunday signing of a long-elusive framework agreement to end fighting between the United States and Iran, but Tehran cast doubt over the timing and hardline protesters in Iran voiced opposition. US President Donald ...

Armed men in Haiti have kidnapped James Boyard, cabinet director of the Defence Ministry and a highly respected security expert who also serves as inspector general of Haiti’s police, a person with the knowledge of the situation said on Saturday. H...

US President Donald Trump is expected to discuss plans to demine the Strait of Hormuz with allies during next week’s Group of Seven summit in France, a senior US administration official said on Saturday, as mediators said an agreement to end the wa...

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea this week helped to improve Kim Jong-un’s international standing and gave him a “big strategic win”, analysts said. Pyongyang has become increasingly close to Russia in recent years and has ...

Beijing has warned of a resolute response to the Pentagon’s newly expanded blacklist of Chinese companies, accusing Washington of using national security as a pretext to curb the development of Chinese firms. The warning came after the US Defence D...

Iran’s state-run news agency said on Saturday funeral processions for its former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be held in July, as mediators say an agreement to end the war is close. The funeral, burial, and farewell ceremonies for ...

China should not try to copy SpaceX despite the US company’s successful IPO, a leading economist has said. The company raised US$75 billion when it went public on Friday and made its chief executive Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. But S...

Fluency in Cantonese has captured public attention after a mainland Chinese contestant in a celebrated Hong Kong beauty queen contest spoke about her difficulties learning the language, prompting a talent group to call for inclusion as the city seeks...

In the 21st century race to the moon, there is a question that engineers must ask: what happens when the main engine fails? China and the United States are answering this in contrasting ways. Their answers could reveal the value they place on human l...

Five Indian air force personnel were killed when a military plane crashed while landing at a base in the country’s remote northeast on Saturday, the military said in a statement. “The Indian Air Force deeply regrets the loss of five personnel in ...

Hong Kong police have arrested four men and seized 9.5kg (20.9lbs) of suspected drugs worth about HK$7.2 million (US$918,850) in a case involving two mainland Chinese men allegedly recruited by a syndicate through online gaming platforms. Police said...

The United States can launch stealth bombers across continents, track missiles from space and deploy forces anywhere on the planet. But as the nation approaches its 250th birthday next month, studies suggest a more basic question demands attention in...

Two rare brown wood owls have been bred at a botanic garden in Hong Kong, with the two chicks growing their flight feathers last month. Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in Tai Po kept the breeding programme under wraps for weeks, allowing the chicks ...

The administrator of the Hong Kong estate devastated by a deadly fire last November has missed the deadline to hold a much-anticipated meeting with flat owners, but has promised to resolve various challenges and make new arrangements soon. Hop On Man...

The invention of modern anaesthetics in 1846 is a pivotal milestone in the history of modern medicine, yet humans have long sought to alleviate surgical pain. Recent research has showed that in the 14th century, Ming dynasty (1368–1644) surgeons ut...

In a blaring nightclub in wartime Myanmar, partied-out revellers doze until dawn by the dance floor, wary of journeying home despite the end of a post-coup curfew. Lasers streak the smoke-filled air and music is cranked up to 150 decibels, according ...

Chinese investors in Indonesia’s nickel industry recently sent a formal protest letter to President Prabowo Subianto. The message reflects their concerns over Indonesia’s political and economic direction, and the long-term trajectory of Chinese i...

Two major Japanese chemical manufacturers could halt production of a gas crucial to AI chipmaking starting next month, as supply tightens and prices surge amid Beijing’s export controls on tungsten. The price of tungsten hexafluoride has jumped mor...