Chinese regulators moved on Tuesday to improve the quality of credit ratings for panda bonds – a yuan-denominated asset class that has seen a surge in interest from foreign sovereign and institutional investors this year as a key tool to bolster Be...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signalled potential action against open source artificial intelligence (AI) models amid accusations that Chinese developers are creating low-cost systems using stolen US intellectual property. “This administratio...

At the remote, mountainous frontier where the mighty Mekong carves the border between Myanmar and Laos, planners have sketched the outline of a mega dam. It would be the largest hydropower project ever built on the river’s mainstream outside China,...

A flagship model from China’s Zhipu AI has helped contain an autonomous cyberattack by OpenAI’s frontier systems targeting popular developer platform Hugging Face, as concerns grow over the security risks posed by advanced AI models. OpenAI’s l...

On July 9, a fire burned through a shoe factory in Jinjiang, Fujian province, killing at least 28 people. The accident signals a larger problem: firms operating under financial pressure often cut costs by compromising safety. China’s low-cost busin...

A 19-year-old in Hong Kong has been convicted of sedition for writing anti-government graffiti in a commercial building toilet, violating the city’s domestic national security law. West Kowloon Court on Wednesday rejected a defence psychiatrist’s...

The owner of a South Korean Michelin-starred restaurant is facing one year in jail for garnishing a palate-cleansing sorbet with black ants “to add a sour taste”, local media said. Seoul prosecutors requested the prison term for the anonymous own...

Targeted viral surveillance of transit passengers at just two major aviation hubs, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, could speed global detection of new variants by about three days, a university study has found. Professor Leo Poon Lit-man, cha...

We have put together stories from our coverage on electric and new energy vehicles from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. BYD’s EV tech in the spotlight as ...

Fast-growing Chinese robot maker AgiBot is pursuing an initial public offering in Hong Kong and has hired Citic Securities as a sponsor, according to two people familiar with the matter. Additionally, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) an...

Hong Kong’s chief justice will once again reprimand a High Court judge and require him to undergo training after he was found to have plagiarised large swathes of submissions for a judgment, in what is at least his sixth instance of extensive copyi...

When global index provider MSCI warned in January that Indonesia risked being demoted from emerging to frontier market status, it unleashed a wave of volatility, sell-offs and wild trading swings. Six months on, Jakarta’s investment chief argues th...

A leading Chinese bank has processed the largest cross-border transactions yet via mBridge, a multilateral central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform, marking a major milestone for the emerging payment network as well as Beijing’s global yuan am...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Australia to give up “double standards” and join efforts to maintain the momentum of improving bilateral ties, as Canberra voiced concerns over Beijing’s military development and a recent missile test. In ...

A drink-driving suspect in central China faked his death with the help of his family to evade prosecution before fleeing south. Prosecutors in Anyang, Henan province, recently revealed the case to mainland media outlets, sparking widespread online at...

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways expects its first-half net profit to jump by as much as 75 per cent to HK$6.5 billion (US$829 million) from HK$3.7 billion a year earlier, driven partly by growth in passenger and cargo traffic. The airli...

Hong Kong travellers should be mindful of driving fatigue, unfamiliar road signs and their insurance coverage when going on road trips overseas, experts have warned after two traffic accidents involving city residents in Japan within a week. Ringo Le...

The chief of the Indonesian agency overseeing President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme said on Wednesday she had resigned, citing health reasons, the second leadership change at the beleaguered government body in just over a month...

After US strikes on Iran’s largest nuclear facilities last year, both US President Donald Trump and the White House were adamant that the Middle East nation’s nuclear programme had been destroyed. “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear site...

Indonesia’s long-stalled gas project in the North Natuna Sea is stirring back to life, with its new operator confirming that activities have resumed at a strategically sensitive field after years of commercial uncertainty and pressure from China. P...

Chinese artificial intelligence unicorn Moonshot AI, whose release of its Kimi K3 model last week sparked talk of another “DeepSeek moment”, has accelerated its fundraising ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, eyeing a n...

International luxury car brands from Mercedes-Benz to Land Rover took a further beating in China last month as wealthy consumers continued to shun expensive petrol-powered vehicles. Struggling against competition from China’s rising electric vehicl...

China is pushing to ensure that electric trucks account for at least 40 per cent of new heavy-goods vehicle sales by 2030, as part of a broader effort to reduce carbon emissions in its vast transport sector. That would mean having at least 1.6 millio...

A satellite that can provide 24/7 surveillance of a third of the Earth’s surface relies on a rare mineral whose global supply is dominated by China, a new study has disclosed. The Ludi Tance-4 01 radar satellite, powered by gallium nitride (GaN) se...

An Australian woman has given birth to identical quadruplet girls after a pregnancy doctors described as incredibly rare. Jenitar Sau Na’amoana, who is 34 years old and already had four children, delivered the babies last week at Royal Brisbane and...

A Hong Kong court has sentenced a British woman to six years in prison after convicting her of blackmailing a compatriot for £100,000 (US$134,060) over rape allegations. Isabel Anonia Barbra Eudora Rose, 26, was sentenced at the District Court on We...

Traffic almost came to a standstill 2km (1.2 miles) from the Shanghai Expo Centre on Friday, the first day of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC). With temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), scores of attend...

Searchers have found the wreckage from a Pan Am flight that plunged into the ocean off Puerto Rico in 1952, an accident that killed 52 and led to requirements for the passenger safety briefings given on every commercial flight. The plane, the Clipper...

US President Donald Trump has approved an agreement with Saudi Arabia that could potentially provide the kingdom with uranium enrichment capability for its civilian nuclear programme, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people, who ...

Pacific island nations are facing a security challenge in responding to China’s recent missile launch near Tuvalu and keeping their vision of a region as an “ocean of peace”, as analysts say the diverse nature of their ties with Beijing is comp...

A leading Chinese brokerage house has ended market making for the mainland’s only South Korea-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF), as Beijing steps up efforts to stabilise its capital markets and protect retail investors amid volatility in its East ...

The struggle between the US and China over who will lead in artificial intelligence is one of the defining competitions of our time. In the second part of our exclusive interview with a key player defining Washington’s policy on AI, Jacob Helberg, ...

A tenant in a residential block in southern China called the police, reporting a smell resembling corpses in their building. It turned out that the odour was actually coming from a neighbour cooking with Guangdong’s traditional stinky vinegar. On J...

Hong Kong’s rainfall so far this month has already surpassed typical levels for July by 23 per cent, a review of Observatory data shows, with a meteorologist warning the city will experience more extreme downpours due to global warming. The Observa...

Japan is turning to five lesser-used straits in Southeast Asia as insurance against the next maritime shock, with plans to create detailed nautical charts for ships to navigate through these waters and bring vital goods to its economy. Tokyo would wo...

The cost of the United States’ war in Iran has risen to US$37.5 billion so far, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday, as he faced sceptical lawmakers for the first time since heavy bombings resumed to seek urgent funding for the unpopu...

China’s drug regulator has for the first time approved a novel, globally tested medicine ahead of authorities in the United States, Japan and Europe, marking a “historic breakthrough” as the country doubles down on biopharmaceuticals as one of ...

China’s electric vehicle (EV) industry sits at the centre of numerous economic and geopolitical trends: consumer spending, environmental protection, trade policy, high-end manufacturing, technology and more. In this short series, we assess the curr...

Over the past year, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has seen rapid development in Central Asia. This has been evidenced by the launch of several railway and road routes connecting China’s industrial and economic centres to logistics hubs in Uzbe...

US President Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to help Lebanon “a lot” as its president, Joseph Aoun, sought Washington’s backing for a fragile effort to disarm Hezbollah and forge a path to peace with Israel. Aoun, the first Lebanese president inv...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday sacked his Soviet-trained army chief Oleksandr Syrsky following a political crisis triggered by the removal of a popular, young and tech-savvy defence minister. The Ukrainian leader announced he was a...

The Solomon Islands, widely considered China’s closest security partner in the South Pacific, will soon sign a deal allowing the US Coast Guard to patrol its waters with local police aboard, Prime Minister Matthew Wale announced on a trip to Washin...

A Chinese researcher’s vision of serving spicy crawfish soup to astronauts on Mars became an unlikely symbol of Washington’s growing anxiety over China’s scientific ambitions at a US Senate hearing on Tuesday. Drew Endy, associate professor at ...

France’s parliament on Tuesday approved a bill banning social media access for children under 15, making France the first European country to bar children from apps such as TikTok. President Emmanuel Macron has championed the ban as a flagship refo...

For years, Washington has fixated on the gap between US and Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) models as AI has increasingly taken centre stage in the strategic competition between the world’s two leading powers. The release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT...

US President Donald Trump’s administration is using another tariff threat to put fresh pressure on Canadian provinces to end their boycotts of American alcohol. But provincial leaders are not backing off. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he would not...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Manila on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump signalled that Washington would confront Beijing over its alleged interference in the 2020 election but played down the pro...

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] When Professor Fiona Devine returned to Hong Kong this year, it was her first visit since 2019. Since then, both the city and the global higher education landscape have chang...

A Hong Kong kindergarten clerk who was seriously injured by a taxi during the 2019 anti-government protests has told the High Court she has been unable to resume a normal life, citing ongoing mobility limitations, extensive leg scarring and the likel...

Hong Kong police arrested 991 people and discovered betting records amounting to HK$365 million (US$46.5 million) during a crackdown on illegal gambling during the World Cup. The force said on Tuesday that it raided 249 premises suspected of being li...