Beijing has for the first time revealed the intricate composition of China’s consumer price index (CPI) basket, and a fresh recalibration sees it shift more weight towards services and new types of consumption goods. The basket adjustment itself, c...

A Hong Kong district councillor who illegally parked his car and blocked access to a fire exit lane has been “sternly reminded” to watch his conduct, a minister has said, following a similar offence by a colleague within a week. Secretary for Hom...

Public anger in the Philippines over the multibillion-peso flood-control scandal has reopened a debate that has simmered for years: will this finally force politicians to tackle a tax system many Filipinos see as unfair, inefficient and tilted agains...

A director of Hong Kong-based Prince Jewellery and Watch has sold a flat in Kowloon and upgraded to a two-storey unit in the same neighbourhood, with an analyst saying that wealthy homeowners are taking advantage of improving sentiment to swap their ...

The mother of two infants found dead in a freezer in eastern France has been charged and placed in pre-trial detention, a prosecutor said on Friday. The case is the latest suspected instance of infanticide to emerge in France in recent years. Prosecu...

Martin Lee Ka-shing, chairman of Hong Kong’s Henderson Land Development, has taken an actress to court over allegedly defamatory remarks that suggested they had an illicit relationship, while also seeking damages from US tech giant Google and five ...

Dozens of diners flocked to an 80-year-old cha chaan teng in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai to get a last taste of its famous egg tarts and milk tea before the restaurant shuts its doors next month. The Honolulu Coffee Shop was packed during lunch hour on Fr...

Cleaning up his act through a court-ordered community service in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, the first Singaporean convicted of littering under Malaysia’s stricter law had a simple message for others: follow the rules and do not litter. Mohamed Nuh Qur...

Thailand has sought to counter perceptions of rising holiday budgets, maintaining that the country is not “too expensive” for South Korean tourists looking for cost-effective indulgence and comprehensive wellness. According to officials from the ...

In the Philippines, cheating comes easy in a relationship – but so does forgiveness, according to a recent survey. Though one in four Filipinos had seen or experienced infidelity, about 43 per cent said they were willing to trust their partner agai...

In the highest-ranking sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui, 11 crimson beads remained undisturbed for 3,000 years among bronze vessels, ivory tusks and fragments of gold. They are carnelian – a red gemstone prized across the ancient world, from the Indus...

A Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) student who was arrested for sedition after launching a petition calling for an independent committee to investigate the Tai Po fire has said he has been expelled from the institution. “I was just expelled b...

A 30-year-old Chinese woman earning over 1 million yuan (US$140,000) per month has publicly announced her retirement plans to travel to Iceland, igniting widespread envy among younger generations online. Deng Yiran, a geophysics graduate from Nanjing...

India’s approval for a 3.6 trillion rupee (US$40 billion) purchase of defence equipment on Thursday – including 114 Rafale French fighter jets – will significantly boost the capabilities of the country’s armed forces amid heightened tensions ...

China has banned carmakers from selling new vehicles for less than it costs to make them, including through discounts and subsidies, as regulators continue trying to smother a persistent price war that has sent hopes of profitability up in smoke for ...

Chinese foundry Hua Hong Semiconductor said the global memory shortage was an opportunity to raise prices on its logic chips, as it reported record revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025. On its earnings call on Thursday, Hua Hong chairman and presid...

Hong Kong authorities will announce long-term rehousing plans “shortly” for residents displaced by the deadly Tai Po fire, after settling differences in individual preferences and resolving uncertainties over insurance and legal issues, the city�...

The United States will send the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East to back up another already there, a person familiar with the plans said on Friday, putting more American firepower behind US President Donald Trump’s efforts to c...

Chinese researchers say they have found a viable pathway to building long-distance quantum communication networks. In a study published this week in Nature, a team from Peking University said it had developed a prototype networking capacity that coul...

North Korea on Friday threatened a “terrible response” if it detects any more drones buzzing across the border from the South. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sought to repair ties with North Korea since taking office last year, criticis...

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...

The US military said it completed a withdrawal from a strategic base in Syria on Thursday, handing it over to Syrian forces, in the latest sign of strengthening US Syrian ties that could enable an even larger American drawdown. The al-Tanf garrison i...

Hong Kong police have arrested two people on suspicion of stealing a passenger’s watch worth HK$300,000 (US$38,380) on an inbound flight from Abu Dhabi on Thursday. The force said on Friday that a male passenger discovered a watch missing from his ...

Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisations appear to be recalibrating their stance on Palestine by softening earlier criticisms of President Prabowo Subianto’s decision to join US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace”, in what analysts d...

Beijing’s push to internationalise the yuan is gaining a new vehicle in Africa as another major multilateral lender is set to diversify towards the Chinese currency to slash borrowing costs and reduce the risks of dollar volatility. Multilateral le...

Goldman Sachs’ chief legal ⁠officer Kathy Ruemmler has resigned, CEO David Solomon said on Thursday, after recent documents by the US Justice Department showed she accepted gifts from late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and advised him on how to ad...

Jealousy has been identified as the main motive behind the brutal murder of a woman found dismembered in Indah Permai, Malaysia’s Sabah state, following the arrest of two suspects. The suspects, a father and his son, were held to facilitate investi...

The PLA has been told to close the funding loopholes and tackle the deep flaws in combat readiness exposed by an anti-corruption drive in the aftermath of the downfall of China’s top general. In a brief Lunar New Year speech via video link to the P...

US President Donald Trump on Thursday revoked a landmark scientific finding underpinning US regulations to curb planet-warming pollution, marking his biggest rollback of climate policy to date. The repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 20...

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company MiniMax has released a new model “designed for real-world productivity”, hot on the heels of new releases from its domestic rivals in a frenetic week for China’s AI industry. The update to its M2 lar...

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh was visibly moved when she was honoured for her lifetime achievement during the opening of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival on Thursday evening. “Please allow me this one personal moment,” the 63-year-ol...

Across social media, a curious phrase has been circulating: “You met me at a very Chinese time in my life.” It appears under videos of hotpot dinners, DHGate hauls, Chinese streetwear fits and users joking about switching their phone interfaces i...

A 10-year-old girl from northern China began buying gold with her Lunar New Year lucky money three years ago, fearing her parents would spend it. She has since been hailed as a “genius” due to the skyrocketing prices of gold. The girl, hailing fr...

China’s marriage registrations edged up in 2025, offering a glimmer of hope for the birth outlook this year, but analysts caution that deeper demographic headwinds remain entrenched and difficult to reverse without broader policy support. China rec...

South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and mainland China are emerging as popular Lunar New Year destinations for Hongkongers this year, as residents take advantage of a calendar arrangement allowing them to enjoy nine consecutive days off by taking just two da...

Hong Kong could see another cinema shut down in a prime retail district after the management of IFC Mall began informally sounding out potential tenants for the roughly 20,000 sq ft (1,858 square metres) occupied by Palace IFC, whose lease expires at...

The Central Military Commission, the top decision-making body overseeing the People’s Liberation Army, is set for a leadership reshuffle after the downfall of most of its members. President Xi Jinping is now in his third term as chairman of the com...

North Korea’s claim that Japan has crossed a diplomatic “red line” by deepening its security partnerships is less about Tokyo’s defence policies than Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s decisive election victory, analysts say, as a weaker manda...

The families of victims of a shooting in a remote Canadian Rockies town grappled with unrelenting grief on Thursday as details emerged about those killed in the country’s deadliest mass shooting in years. Authorities said the 18-year-old alleged sh...

The Trump administration reached a trade deal with Taiwan on Thursday, with Taiwan agreeing to remove or reduce 99 per cent of its tariff barriers, the office of the US Trade Representative said. The agreement comes as the US remains reliant on Taiwa...

As Washington withdraws from United Nations agencies and other member nations cut their funding, pushing the organisation into a severe financial crisis, the head of one well-funded agency won re-election on Thursday, despite criticism over some of h...

In January, James Zimmerman returned to the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) as its chairman. He previously served in that role for four one-year terms in 2007, 2008, 2015 and 2016. A lawyer by training and a resident of China for...

Hong Kong stands at a definitive demographic crossroads. With one-third of our population projected to be over 65 by the 2040s, the city can either treat ageing as a fiscal burden or it can transform longevity into a sustainable growth engine. Drawin...

The United States has issued a warning that Peru risks eroding its sovereignty after a court ruling limited state oversight of a Chinese-controlled megaport, prompting a sharp rebuke from Beijing and intensifying geopolitical tensions over a strategi...

Japanese authorities seized a Chinese fishing boat and arrested its skipper, authorities said on Friday, in a move likely to further heighten tensions with Beijing. In November, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi enraged mainland China by suggesting that ...

The Paris prosecutors' office on Thursday said that nine people were being detained as part of an investigation into a suspected decade-long, €10 million (US$11.8 million) ticket fraud scheme at the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum. The ar...

The CIA released a provocative recruitment video on Thursday targeting Chinese military officers, a move that exposes the underlying tensions threatening a fragile calm in US-China relations ahead of April’s highly anticipated meeting between the t...

The UK’s top civil servant resigned on Thursday, the third senior aide to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to quit in a matter of days in fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. “Chris Wormald will stand down as the cabinet secretary and head of the...

A UK childcare worker who filmed himself sexually abusing youngsters at a nursery where he worked and downloaded over 26,000 indecent images of children was on Thursday jailed for 18 years. Vincent Chan, 45, who admitted a raft of 56 charges includin...

Hong Kong health authorities have urged diners to thoroughly cook and properly reheat food during the Lunar New Year holiday to prevent food poisoning, following two new infection clusters involving seven people who ate raw oysters at a Tsim Sha Tsui...