More than 60 per cent of Hong Kong’s eight-year-olds could be short-sighted by 2028, optometrists have predicted, citing a shrinking “hyperopic reserve” that normally helps delay nearsightedness. The Hong Kong Association of Private Practice Op...

When the Auspicious Ark entered Dakar, Senegal, on September 25, the scene looked closer to a public health mission than a naval deployment. Senegalese people and members of the Chinese community were waiting at the port as the vessel arrived for the...

Beijing has hit back at a US lawmaker’s criticism of coffee chain Starbucks for opening its first stores in Xinjiang, rejecting the allegation that China has committed human rights abuses against the far-western region’s mostly Muslim Uygur popul...

A cluster of whale and whale shark strandings across Indonesia – five in the past three weeks alone – has raised questions over whether such incidents are becoming more frequent, with experts pointing to a mix of environmental shifts, human activ...

Despite signs that Hong Kong property prices could have bottomed out and begun rebounding in August, market sources said at least 100 secondary residential homes were sold at a loss in September, up from at least 81 the previous month. Hong Kong’s ...

A flight bound for Okinawa returned to Hong Kong airport on Sunday morning after its landing gear was suspected to have failed to fully retract after take-off. Hong Kong Airlines said the crew of flight HX676, which departed at 8.57am, decided to ret...

Funds raised through initial public offerings in Hong Kong more than doubled year on year to over HK$388 billion (US$49.4 billion) in the first nine months of 2026, already surpassing the total amount for the whole of last year, Financial Secretary P...

A 20-year-old US marine was arrested on Sunday in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture on suspicion of robbing and murdering a local woman, police said. Davin Ballard stationed at the Futenma Airbase is suspected of killing Anna Yagi, 39, and taking her wall...

Huge billboards on the walls of Tehran mocking US President Donald Trump and depicting American drones under the boot of an Iranian soldier are providing a chronicle of Iran’s war with the United States and Israel. Khaneh-ye Tarrahan, or Designers�...

Three male students have been detained by police in connection with the murder of a Form Four female student whose body was discovered at a school in Yong Peng, Malaysia’s Johor state, on Saturday. The victim, identified as 16-year-old Irene Sofiya...

Small independent bookstores tucked away in walk-up tenement buildings above neon-lit streets have long made Mong Kok a sanctuary for Hong Kong book lovers, until recently when one after another was forced to close due to economic headwinds or politi...

Hong Kong should enact laws on data governance and underlying safety standards to ensure the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI), experts have said, as the government pledged to tackle disputes or crimes involving the technology’s appli...

For months, the air over West Kalimantan has been thick enough to taste. Now, some of the province’s residents are taking the government to court over it. Indonesia’s worst wildfire season in 11 years has been sending plumes of toxic haze driftin...

Future settlers on Mars would need houses, but they must either spend huge sums transporting construction materials from Earth or use enormous amounts of energy to melt Martian soil into bricks. Scientists in Hong Kong say they have developed a quick...

Malaysia is proving to be a middle ground for many Hong Kong and mainland Chinese investors looking to buy property in a country that provides the stability Singapore offers, but with competitive price points similar to those found in Thailand, accor...

Cornell University president Michael Kotlikoff said he was “deeply disturbed” by a student’s 2024 rape allegation that has drawn national outrage. “My heart aches when I think of what she experienced,” Kotlikoff said in a video message rele...

From cooking and attending hospital visits to doing the actual quarrelling, paid “life stand-ins” are stepping in to manage these tasks, along with errands and awkward moments that many young Chinese would rather avoid. This trend, known as the �...

Two decades after stepping away from the spotlight, iconic actress Joey Wong made an unexpected return to the screen – not through a traditional production, but via artificial intelligence-powered reconstruction. In a two-minute video by NetEase th...

Final-year students invited to recruiters’ apartments for help with their applications. Coffee dates with alumni who promise to explain how the company works. Inappropriate interview questions about boyfriends, marriage plans and sex lives. For you...

Since July, Hong Kong has permitted dogs in approved dining premises under a tightly regulated scheme. More than 2,200 restaurants applied, with more than 980 taking part within the first month. On the surface, these are straightforward changes to th...

US President Donald Trump shared online the supposed phone number of a Republican US senator on Saturday in an escalating dispute over making daylight saving time permanent. In a social media post, the president urged people to call a phone number he...

Hong Kong is playing a central role as part of a broader regional hub for research breakthroughs, the head of a leading global cancer organisation has said, adding that the city’s success in reducing its smoking rate has set an example for others t...

As floodwaters surged from Bangkok’s drains, Fon’s car sank faster than her hopes of escaping the floods unscathed. She had bought it less than a month earlier. “I woke up at 5am but it was too late,” the 24-year-old said, recalling her decis...

Latvian Prime Minister ⁠Andris Kulbergs was set to retain power and form a pro-Ukrainian coalition after his centrist United List secured the biggest parliamentary election victory since Latvia regained independence in 1991. With 97 per cent of bal...

From online-gambling rings in eSwatini to SIM swapping in Kenya and cybercrime networks in Zambia, a wave of cross-border fraud is drawing African governments and China into closer security cooperation. China hosted East African security ministers an...

When one of my seniors from medical school was pregnant during her surgical residency, she planned the exact date of her C-section so she could complete her training on time. When I asked why she didn’t consider taking maternity leave to recuperate...

The head of Tennessee’s prison system is resigning, Governor Bill Lee announced on Saturday, the first major staff shake-up since Christa Pike’s stunning failed execution left her unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital. Frank Strada, commi...

Authorities have launched a probe into the building quality of a luxury residential development in one of Hong Kong’s most expensive neighbourhoods in the Southern district after receiving a complaint from an owner that insufficient steel bars were...

Christie’s auctioneer Rupert Banner leans forward with practised showmanship as bidding stalls on a rare Yongzheng bowl near New York’s iconic Rockefeller Centre. He pauses as if willing offers from thin air, scanning dozens of in-person buyers a...

Yemen’s Houthis claimed an attack on an oil facility near the Saudi capital on Saturday, where flames and smoke were seen, and accused the Gulf kingdom of striking Sanaa dozens of times. The foes have traded strikes since the Houthis seized all of ...

The US is set to deploy one of its signature anti-ship missile systems to the Japanese island closest to Taiwan, an unprecedented move that comes as tensions in the region between Beijing and Tokyo continue to simmer. The ground-based US uncrewed mis...

As global adoption of the open-source RISC-V chip architecture accelerates, US intellectual property provider MIPS is collaborating with Chinese firms at an unprecedented level, according to a senior executive, highlighting how cross-border cooperati...

North Korea said on Saturday it test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile that it claimed has manoeuvrable flight capabilities designed to evade missile defences in South Korea and Japan. The latest test comes amid heightened tensions betwee...

Hong Kong public universities will raise undergraduate tuition fees for non-local students studying general courses by up to 26 per cent in the 2027-28 academic year, marking the sharpest increase in recent years as institutions adjust to an expanded...

Hong Kong police have busted a burglary syndicate that recruited illegal immigrants and is believed to be behind at least 25 break-ins across the city in recent weeks, with stolen cash and valuables exceeding HK$3.6 million (US$458,773). Six people a...

Chinese troops have taken part in a mass multinational exercise in Russia featuring new anti-drone and ground robot systems – drills that Russian state media said “applied lessons” from the Ukraine war. The troops were among more than 47,000 mi...

Thirty-one years ago, Hongkonger Raymond Lo Shu-yuen was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer and had a quarter of the organ removed. Now 75, Lo said the illness, despite its physical and mental toll, had taught him invaluable lessons about ageing,...

The botanical societies of the United States and China have signed a plant science cooperation initiative, vowing to strengthen bilateral ties and foster an open scientific community to tackle global issues. The joint initiative was signed during a S...

A 60-year-old woman in China has captured attention on social media for giving birth to a baby girl, just two years after welcoming a son. She made the decision to have children at a later stage in life after enduring the loss of her only child four ...

Hong Kong’s stronger economic performance over the past year was the reason for raising the monthly minimum wage for foreign domestic helpers by 2.35 per cent, the labour minister has said, amid disappointment from both unions and employers’ grou...

The European Union’s demand that Britain raise tariffs on Chinese cars exposes an awkward truth about post-Brexit trade. Britain might have left the EU, but it cannot easily escape the bloc’s industrial policy. According to the Financial Times, E...

Pakistani troops are expected to take over various defensive functions for Saudi Arabia to enable the Middle East country to fight an all-out war aimed at defeating Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels. According to defence analysts, Pakistani troops ...

Latvia will vote on Saturday in an election shaped by concerns over neighbouring Russia and the cost of living, but the result is not expected to steer the country off its pro-European and pro-Ukrainian course. The centre-right United List party of i...

On his 29th birthday, Hong Kong bartender Tang Lung-wai boarded a flight to the Philippines for a holiday that would change his life. He ended up spending 26 years in jail in the country. Now 55, Tang spent years fighting his drug-related charges, in...

China has announced the expansion of the resource base for a major lithium deposit in the southwestern province of Sichuan by about 70 per cent, strengthening the country’s potential long-term supply for the metal – an essential component in the ...

More than 73,000 owners of subdivided flats in Hong Kong have applied for a three-year grace period to meet the government’s minimum standards, a figure the housing chief has described as “better than expected”. Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho ...

Mainland Chinese visitor arrivals in Hong Kong during the first two days of the National Day “golden week” surpassed the pre-pandemic total for the same period in 2018, as a catering sector representative reported a 10 per cent year-on-year incre...

The Airport Authority will reposition the 11 Skies commercial project after taking it over next April, with the government expecting it to become a high-end tourism landmark with minimal public investment, the transport chief has said. After develope...

A “handful” of Group of 20 trade ministers rejected US calls to curb excess industrial capacity and “non-market” policies, the US Trade Representative’s office said on Friday, exposing divisions within the group of major economies. The US, ...

The Flydubai co-pilot who officials said nearly crashed a Tel Aviv-bound flight with 182 people aboard was barred from flying by his native Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday. The co-...