President Xi Jinping has stressed the need to advance indigenous technology – particularly artificial intelligence (AI) – in his first formal meeting of the year with ministers and provincial officials, as the world’s second-largest economy pus...

China’s Spring Festival has emerged as a high-stakes arena for artificial intelligence and robotics companies, with tech giants Tencent Holdings and Baidu committing a combined 1.5 billion yuan (US$215 million) to their digital red packet campaigns...

China’s Li ethnic group is known for a pottery-making tradition that is historically passed down exclusively to women. The Li people are one of China’s 56 official ethnic groups. They are also the largest indigenous ethnic minority on the souther...

The third wife of former Malaysian army chief Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan has been mocked on social media after arriving at court in a wheelchair to face money laundering charges linked to a military procurement scandal. Salwani Anuar, 27, was first...

China placed its most senior military officer and another top general under investigation for suspected “serious” disciplinary violations, extending a corruption push that has hollowed out the leadership of the nation’s military. Zhang Youxia a...

Hong Kong’s high-speed rail network is launching a limited-time “buy one, get one free” offer for tickets to Shenzhen’s Futian from Tuesday in celebration of its service expanding to 110 destinations in mainland China. The limited-time offer ...

A 2024 letter signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s Executive Secretary Ralph Recto has become central to a renewed attempt to impeach the Philippine leader over allegations that billions of pesos meant for public health were diverted into inf...

Hong Kong lawmakers have urged the government to review its new seat belt policy on buses in six months’ time, including a suggestion that operators use lap belts in certain vehicles offering short-haul rides to make it easier for passengers to ali...

The post-pandemic recovery in Asia’s hotel industry is patchy. While international tourist arrivals in some countries surpassed 2019 levels some time ago, most markets have yet to experience a full return to pre-Covid levels. According to CBRE, onl...

Chinese state media have warned the Communist Party to be vigilant against officials who “do nothing but wait for a power transition” – a clear reference to next year’s national party congress. The China Organisation and Personnel News, affil...

Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs has called on the city to improve its executive-led governance model, arguing that the legislative and judicial branches should support the government as they perform “on the same stage” rather than unde...

Young consumers’ spending on anime, comics, games and pop toys, alongside growing wellness expenditures by senior consumers, will continue to shape China’s consumption landscape this year, according to HSBC Holdings. Against this backdrop, the co...

The Beijing-headquartered Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) aims to marshal resources from governments, private parties and peer institutions to build critical infrastructure across Asia despite geopolitical headwinds, its new president sai...

Clad in tactical gear with a helmet and hurling a tear-gas canister at protesters, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino has become the public face of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign. Bovino’s public profile rose furt...

Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party has won a junta-run election, according to a party source on Monday, after a month-long vote that democracy watchdogs dismissed as a rebranding of army rule. The military snatched power in a 2021 coup, ending M...

Chinese lending to Africa dropped by nearly half to US$2.1 billion in 2024 compared with the previous year, according to a new report. The decline formed part of a decade-long trend. Lending had been on an upward trajectory since 2006 and peaked betw...

A miniseries production team in China has come under fire for allowing a baby to be exposed to heavy rain during filming. On January 17, Chinese actress Xing Yun criticised the crew she worked with last year for mistreating the infant. In a video cli...

Thailand’s most popular political figure Pita Limjaroenrat has exhorted the public to fight apathy and vote in droves at a February 8 election for his reformist party, which remains the biggest threat to the power of the country’s entrenched elit...

A former People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier has been sentenced to eight months in prison for illegally carrying passengers in his Tesla Model S luxury car using a ride-hailing platform while in Hong Kong as a tourist. Fanling Court on Monday he...

China’s central bank will support Hong Kong’s monetary authority to double the amount of yuan liquidity available to local banks, helping them increase yuan lending and enhancing the city’s role as an international offshore centre for the mainl...

Iranian authorities unveiled a new mural on a giant billboard in a central Tehran square on Sunday with a direct warning to the United States to not attempt a military strike on the country, as US warships head to the region. The image shows a bird�...

Gold surged to an all-time high of US$5,100 an ounce on Monday, with analysts forecasting further gains as the precious metal is increasingly viewed as a strategic hedge amid heightened geopolitical risks linked to the current US administration’s f...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China’s top uniformed officer Zhang Youxia is a...

Hong Kong police have arrested a 70-year-old car driver who fatally struck an elderly cyclist in Tai Po. Police received a report of the accident at 7.25am on Monday. The victim, a man in his seventies or eighties, was struck by a car travelling towa...

A rail system that accelerates heavy objects faster than the speed of sound using pure electromagnetic force has been operating in the eastern Chinese city of Jinan for more than two years. But one of the biggest mysteries remains: how does it stay i...

South Korean former prime minister Lee Hae-chan, a veteran politician and influential fixture on the country’s road to democracy, died during an official visit to Vietnam’s southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City, both governments said. Lee died on Sund...

Hong Kong banks may not cut their prime rates this year, but local interbank rates will still follow US rates lower, benefiting a majority of borrowers, according to a senior executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Analysts widely expec...

After a brief countdown by conservationists, a young Indo-Pacific leopard shark glided into the blue waters off Maiton Island in southern Thailand, released in the country’s first efforts to “rewild” the endangered species. Once a familiar sigh...

A ferry with more than 350 people on board sank early Monday morning near an island in the southern Philippines, and rescuers have saved at least 316 passengers and retrieved 15 bodies, according to officials. The MV Trisha Kerstin 3, an inter-island...

New share listings by Chinese technology firms in Hong Kong have delivered above-average returns on their debuts so far in 2026, as investors faced with a challenging macro environment bet on Beijing’s push for technology self-reliance. Graphics pr...

Google’s Gemini is rapidly gaining traction in South Korea, which has become the second largest paid subscription market for the generative artificial intelligence service. South Korea generated 11.4 per cent of Gemini’s global cumulative revenue...

About 75 per cent of paper waste and 40 per cent of plastic items sent to landfills are unclassified, according to official statistics, with environmentalists warning that such unclear records will undermine Hong Kong’s green efforts. However, the ...

A balanced diet benefits everyone, but it is especially important for the neurodiverse community, according to Love 21 Foundation, a Hong Kong charity dedicated to improving their physical and mental health. The foundation is one of 13 NGOs selected ...

Hong Kong has ambitious plans to become an international higher education hub. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced as much in his policy address. We are home to top-ranked universities, and the plan seems on track. But are we really preparing ...

China’s leading planemaker is poised for a moderate ramping up of production and deliveries of its C919 narrowbody jet this year, aiming for 28 units or more, with two having already rolled off the production line just three weeks into the new year...

The number of foreign and mainland Chinese companies and start-ups in Hong Kong surged by 11 per cent year on year to record highs, the city’s leader has said. At the 19th Asian Financial Forum on Monday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu highlighte...

French insurer AXA’s Hong Kong unit, one of the city’s largest life and general insurers, has become the second insurance company to move its domicile to Hong Kong from Bermuda, according to a statement on Monday. At least three other local insur...

A young Chinese woman who was determined to look her best as a bridesmaid at her best friend’s wedding lost 15kg in just two months through extreme dieting. The crash diet eventually led her to develop prediabetes, sparking shock online. The 26-yea...

Federated Hermes, a New York-listed asset-management firm, plans to set up a Hong Kong office to seize opportunities in Asia’s markets amid ongoing global geopolitical tensions. The company confirmed the move a year after CEO Chris Donahue said at ...

It will take 10 years to fix the Philippines’ growing learning gap and reform the education sector, a national commission has said, as related groups warn of a deepening proficiency crisis. Only four in 1,000 senior high school students are profici...

A Hong Kong think tank under the chief executive says now is the right time for the city to go paperless on arbitral decisions, a move that could boost its edge as an arbitration hub. The recommendation by the Chief Executive’s Policy Unit (CEPU) f...

The United States will impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports should Ottawa finalise a new trade deal with China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, amplifying a similar threat from US President Donald Trump a day earlier. “W...

The British government said on Sunday it will unveil plans this week to create a new national police force, dubbed the “British FBI”, to take charge of complex investigations such as counterterrorism, fraud, online child abuse and criminal gangs....

Jeffrey Ding is an assistant professor of political science at George Washington University. He is the author of Technology and the Rise of Great Powers, an award-winning book exploring the impact of technology on geopolitical competition, as well as...

Israel said on Sunday its military was conducting a “large-scale operation” to locate the last hostage in Gaza, as Washington and other mediators pressured Israel and Hamas to move into the next phase of their ceasefire. The statement came as Isr...

As China prepares its digital yuan for wider domestic and cross-border use, the global debate has turned again to a familiar question: is Beijing trying to challenge the US dollar’s dominance? But this misses the more consequential point. The signi...

A powerful ‌winter storm spread a paralysing mix of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Ohio Valley and mid-South to New England on Sunday, compounded by ‍bitter, Arctic cold gripping much of the US east of the Rockies. Winter storm warn...

The decapitated body of a woman, whose legs were also cut off, was found in a rubbish bin in Istanbul overnight, Turkish media reported on Sunday, sparking fury from women’s groups. Her body was wrapped in a sheet and dumped in a rubbish container ...

Former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton issued pointed calls on Sunday for America to stand up and defend their values after the second killing of a citizen in Minneapolis by immigration agents that Donald Trump blamed on Democratic “cha...

Eighty-six people were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass after protesters breached the grounds of a London prison in support of a pro-Palestinian hunger striker, UK police said on Sunday. The group were “protesting in support of a Palest...