For a book on performance appraisals, it contained some surprising language – especially given its author, President Xi Jinping. The volume, published by the Central Party Literature Press, coincided with the launch of an overhaul of the Communist ...

China’s major sportswear makers have shrugged off soft consumer spending and a warm winter, according to analysts. Retail sales in China’s sportswear sector picked up in the first two months of 2026 and beat expectations, helped by fresh policy s...

In China, during the Lantern Festival, a unique folk custom involves the worship of a Toilet Goddess. The unlikely ritual sees people create life-size straw portraits of the goddess and hold ceremonies near toilets, pigpens and kitchens to honour her...

Afghan and Pakistani troops battled along their border, Afghan residents and officials told reporters on Sunday, with the fighting coming alongside multiple strikes including the former US airbase at Bagram. Months of cross-border clashes have flared...

The Hong Kong government is prepared for greater global market volatility and risks, as well as increased trade costs and shifting commodity prices, caused by the joint US–Israel attack against Iran, according to the city’s finance chief. Shortly...

Chinese companies are primed to capitalise on a vast global wave of investment in clean energy infrastructure in the coming decades, as they are able to deploy solutions at a scale and cost that few can match, analysts said. With China already rollin...

The killing of Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli air strikes has prompted governments across Muslim-majority South and Southeast Asia to reiterate calls for restraint as protests flared in several cities, with some religiou...

The top executive of Wuliangye Yibin – China’s second-largest liquor producer – has come under investigation for suspected corruption. Zeng Congqin, 57, chairman and party secretary of the state-owned liquor giant, is suspected of serious viola...

Chinese scientists have developed a flexible and safe organic lithium-ion battery that could be suitable for use in wearable electronics and in extreme conditions. The breakthrough stems from an innovative organic cathode material that enables effici...

When Malaysian rapper Zamaera hit send on an email to South by Southwest’s (SXSW) music team in mid-December, she had already been told she was returning to Austin as a showcasing artist. What she wanted was bigger: a stage for Malaysia, the kind J...

A Chinese employee became the envy of social media after she won a surprise prize of 10 days’ paid leave on the first day she returned to work from the Spring Festival holiday. On February 24, the first workday following the nine-day holiday during...

Thunderous blasts ⁠and towering fireballs from Iranian missiles streaking across Gulf states vindicated their ⁠leaders’ long-held fears that Tehran can bring war to their doorstep, likely to harden Arab rulers’ support for US-Israeli strikes....

A joint US-Israeli attack on Iran forced airlines to cancel or delay at least 27 flights from Hong Kong to destinations in the Middle East on Sunday, leaving travellers stranded at the city’s airport. Hundreds of passengers packed Hong Kong Interna...

At least five Hong Kong universities have backed the government’s proposal to launch study tours aimed at attracting non-local secondary students to pursue higher education in the city, with programmes featuring topics such as AI. The University of...

Hong Kong-listed mainland Chinese pharmaceutical companies are on track to deliver full-year profits, as surging drug sales and lucrative out-licensing deals with global partners start to pay off after years of research and development outlay. “Des...

The death of Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after almost 37 years in power raises paramount questions about the country’s future. The contours of a complex succession process began to take shape the morning after Khamenei’s assass...

The Philippines cannot afford an aircraft carrier, could not sustain one if it had it and, according to most analysts, does not need one. What it needs is messier, cheaper and harder to photograph, they say: a web of missiles, patrol boats, frigates ...

Ahead of China’s annual legislative meetings – typically a window into Beijing’s top-level policy agenda – this is the third entry in a series examining the complex economic recalibration driving China’s growth philosophy and its wide-rangi...

With Saturday’s military operation against Iran, US President Donald Trump showed a dramatic evolution in risk tolerance, adjusting in just a matter of months how far he was willing to go in using American military might to confront Tehran’s cler...

Hong Kong sees itself as a modern, well-governed, global city that moves with the times. On finance, education, legal services and logistics, that self-image holds. But when considering the green transition, particularly transport electrification, th...

A social media ban on a stand-up comic for joking about marriage has triggered an online backlash in China. Authorities said the Weibo account of Uygur stand-up comedian Xiao Pa was suspended as part of a cyberspace clean-up campaign during the Chine...

A businesswoman from central China who was raised in a family that prized sons over daughters has built her own e-commerce fashion empire. Huang Xuanni, 44, grew up in a rural family in Binzhou, Hunan province, where she was the overlooked sixth daug...

Hongkonger Chan Sai-chiu considers the 60 sq ft subdivided flat he rents to be home, going out of his way to make the cramped space in Sham Shui Po’s ageing Yee Wa Building more liveable by repainting the walls and setting up his own kitchen. The 7...

If all goes to plan, in under three years the world’s largest stadium will tower over Hanoi’s southern suburbs as a shimmering monument to the good times ahead for Vietnam and, by extension, its leader To Lam, the secret policeman who now holds p...

When targeted by nationwide protests early this year, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei unleashed the bloodiest crackdown of his nearly four decades in power. But now a US or Israeli military strike has ended his rule. Iran’s state TV ...

Hong Kong’s struggling office landlords are ramping up efforts to convert their assets into co-working spaces and student accommodation in a bid to adapt to intense competition and the flight to quality, according to analysts. With some 3.5 million...

On a visit to Texas on Friday, US President Donald Trump gave a raucous speech on the economy and then stopped off at a fast-food joint. “Hamburgers for everyone!” Trump declared to cheering customers at the Whataburger restaurant in Corpus Chris...

On a day typically considered one of the happiest on the calendar for Chinese workers – the eve of Chinese New Year, when families gather for dinner in the midst of an extended public holiday – the annual Spring Festival Gala, the world’s most-...

In international relations, interactions between states are often understood through a transactional lens. A transactional approach treats diplomacy as a series of discrete deals, short-term and conditional exchanges governed by a strict calculus of ...

The US military said on Saturday that it has been using single-use drones to attack Iran for the first time in combat, signalling adoption by the world’s wealthiest military of a technology already surging to prominence in the Ukraine-Russia war. �...

The US-Israeli attack on Tehran on Saturday marks a turning point for President Donald Trump, who is wagering that a war – the kind he once vowed not to start – will strengthen his second-term agenda. In a break from his campaign promises to keep...

Flights across the Middle East were being cancelled on Saturday as several countries slammed their airspace shut after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all announced...

Some anxious residents of fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court have urged Hong Kong authorities to help them climb stairs using makeshift aids when they return to their high-rise homes to collect personal belongings next month. Some lawmakers also proposed on...

The United States was out in force in Cape Town this month, throwing down a direct challenge to China at Africa’s biggest mining conference, the Investing in African Mining Indaba. While Chinese firms showed their technological leadership with auto...

Iran has confirmed the death of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in US and Israeli air strikes on the weekend, raising questions about who will next lead a country in a region bracing for further attacks. US President Donald Trump said cal...

Iran responded to Saturday’s attacks by the United States and Israel as it had been threatening to do for months - by first launching a wave of missiles and drones targeting Israel. It followed with strikes targeting US military installations in Ba...

Nearly 670 Hongkongers have been granted settlement in the United Kingdom under its bespoke BN(O) visa pathway, although the total number of applicants has fallen short of the British government’s lowest “core” estimate five years after its lau...

The coordinated US and Israeli strikes inside Iran mark more than another episode in a long-running confrontation. They represent a structural escalation – one whose consequences extend well beyond the Middle East. This is not the start of a new wa...

Hong Kong flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airways suspended all passenger and cargo flights to and from the Middle East on Saturday following a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran. The move was announced on Saturday evening after Hong Kong’s Airport Au...

Taiwan’s procurement of three US arms packages has come under renewed scrutiny, with military experts now questioning their effectiveness in deterring Beijing. The debate has sharpened after opposition parties repeatedly blocked a proposed NT$1.25 ...

Starting before his first term, Donald Trump has issued a litany of threats against Washington’s arch-enemy Iran, while also urging it to talks. He warned in late January that “time is running out”, urging Tehran to “make a deal”. After ind...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gifted new sniper rifles to top government and military officials following a weeklong ruling party congress celebrating his leadership, with state media highlighting an image of his teenage daughter taking aim at a sh...

A subsidiary of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings has accused Panamanian authorities of undermining due process by making an “unnotified intrusion” at a facility storing materials related to ongoing legal proceedings. The Panama Ports ...

The massive US military presence in the Middle East, including warships, fighter jets and refuelling aircraft, lays the foundation for a major campaign against Iran. Here we examine key US military assets deployed in the region, after Washington laun...

The head of Cambodia’s tourism body is looking to build partnerships with Hong Kong travel agencies as part of a drive to get visitors returning to his country, which has been plagued by safety concerns in recent years. Cambodia Tourism Board CEO K...

The average number of aspiring Hong Kong taxi drivers taking a crucial industry test each month has increased by nearly 30 per cent following the launch of a simplified version of the assessment last year, the transport minister has said. Secretary f...

The Chilean government has turned down a request from a Chinese military hospital ship to treat Chilean residents on board the vessel. The decision reflects Santiago’s tilt towards Washington and US efforts to exert more influence in the western he...

A traditional ceremony in a village in eastern China, where men bow and kowtow in reverence to their ancestors while women watch from the sidelines, has ignited debate over gender roles in cultural practices. In February, a viral video captured a com...

The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday following failed negotiations and a crackdown on mass protests against the Islamic republic. Here are the key actors in the crisis: US President Donald Trump The president has sou...

Alibaba Group Holding plans to launch new smart glasses powered by its artificial intelligence assistant Qwen at the coming MWC Barcelona trade show. On Saturday, a company representative confirmed the launch, adding that both online and offline pres...