In 2010, the year Ken Eom arrived in South Korea, he was joined by just over 2,400 of his fellow North Korean escapees.Like many of those who made the difficult and dangerous journey from the authoritarian North to the democratic South, Eom was drive...

Thousands of Hongkongers flocked to Wong Tai Sin Temple on Friday for the first day of the Lunar New Year, though this year’s search for blessings and good fortune came amid new crowd and infection control measures demanded by the coronavirus pande...

Microsoft has lobbied for other countries to follow Australia’s lead in calling for news outlets to be paid for stories published online, a move opposed by Facebook and Google.Microsoft last week offered to fill the void if rival Google follows thr...

Supporters of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi clashed with police on Friday as hundreds of thousands joined nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations in defiance of the junta’s call to halt mass gatherings.Mostly peaceful protests erupted arou...

The United States has condemned China for banning the broadcast of the BBC World News, saying China should allow the public full access to the internet and media.The ban is the latest in a string of disputes between Beijing and overseas media, includ...

Hong Kong’s hardest-hit industries appealed for more government aid to weather the coronavirus pandemic on Friday as 24 new cases were recorded on the first day of the Lunar New Year.Nine of the latest cases were untraceable, while six were importe...

Tokyo 2020 Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori resigned Friday after making sexist comments that caused an international outcry with less than six months until the virus-postponed Games.“My inappropriate statement has caused a lot of chaos … I wish to re...

The White House said it was considering how best to counter China‘s information operations and interference in foreign democracies despite denying that it withdrew a rule proposed by Trump administration requiring American schools and universities ...

The US mayor of Miami city Francis Suarez has proposed paying municipal workers and collecting taxes in bitcoin, expanding a campaign to promote cryptocurrencies.The mayor wants to allow the City of Miami’s workers to choose to receive all or a por...

The second-most populous city in Australia will enter a five-day snap coronavirus lockdown, authorities said on Friday, barring spectators for much of the Australian Open tennis tournament.A fresh Covid-19 cluster linked to a quarantine hotel in Melb...

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is due to appear in court on Friday on charges of insulting a World War II veteran after the trial was interrupted last week by the plaintiff’s health issues.Navalny was charged after he criticised a video broadcast...

Businesswoman Eva Leung Fung-wah, 63, used to go travelling with her family during the Lunar New Year holiday every year.A short trip to Macau for gambling fun was a must on her annual itinerary. “To test our luck,” she explained. But there will ...

As the prayers draw to a close, the pastor waves a blue card before his congregation and promises them salvation – from the coronavirus.“No one who possesses these cards has been infected by the virus and those who previously tested positive were...

As it bids to ensure the security of its food supply, China will switch to paying more attention to improving its domestic production having relied on record import levels during a coronavirus-hit 2020, a trade which is likely to stabilise or even st...

Taiwan’s decision to allow imports of US pork containing growth and leanness agent ractopamine has triggered a political storm for Tsai Ing-wen, the island’s president, and her administration after a referendum was forced on the issue, set to be ...

Hong Kong’s two biggest real estate agents, Midland Realty and Centaline Property Agency, are ready to hand out “lai see” money totalling about HK$900,000 (US$116,000) to their agents as an incentive to sell flats during the Lunar New Year holi...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ripped into the performance of his cabinet and fired a senior economic official he appointed a month ago, saying they had failed to come up with new ideas to salvage an economy in decay.The report by state media on Fri...

Ravi Zacharias, a prominent US preacher who travelled around the world defending Christianity, engaged in sexual misconduct with massage therapists and carried on many amorous extramarital relationships via text message and email, according to a repo...

China’s economic rebound from the coronavirus shock allied to enduring structural growth promises to propel local company earnings in the Year of the Ox – in keeping with the creature’s fabled characteristics. Oxen are esteemed in Chinese cult...

Hong Kong’s top soothsayers expect the Chinese Year of the Ox, which arrives on Friday, to be a good one for Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and, despite the challenges presented by Covid-19, possibly the city’s battered economy as wel...

The Lunar New Year holiday will be tinged with sorrow this year for Deng Wei, a 26-year-old resident in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.Instead of celebrating, she will commemorate the deaths of her father and grandmother during the festive season ...

Pei Gang is one of China’s top life scientists and chairman of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ research ethics committee.Throughout his career, Pei has shed light on how cells communicate with each other.But in 2019 he was accused of fraud over ...

The Lunar New Year mood was in the air at a temporary festival fair in a Kowloon neighbourhood in Hong Kong, with dozens of booths selling red packets, dried flowers, calligraphic greetings, decorations and more.Shoppers who took a closer look, howe...

Japan’s health ministry is planning to move ahead with a formal approval of the coronavirus vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc on Sunday, when the first batch of doses is expected to arrive in the country, sources familiar with...

As Myanmar’s protests against the military junta gather steam, young demonstrators are turning out in the streets in droves to express their anger against the coup.The street rallies that have followed the putsch are the biggest demonstrations the ...

The Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership (RCEP) is unlikely to bring immediate significant benefits for its developing member countries in terms of flow of goods and services or major infrastructure investments, analysts and economists said.The ...

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced legislation on Thursday to award congressional gold medals to the US Capitol Police and Washington’s police force for protecting the Capitol on January 6 against an assault by rioters.That...

The more contagious coronavirus variant from Britain is estimated by the French government to be responsible for about 20 to 25 per cent of cases in France, health officials said on Thursday.In comparison, variants from South Africa and Brazil are b...

More accountability, better reporting and greater Asian-American representation in police, government and judicial ranks are needed to stem hate crimes against this targeted community, according to a report released on Thursday.The Asian American Bar...

American actor Shia LaBeouf’s legal team has denied allegations of sexual battery and assault made by his former girlfriend, British musician FKA twigs, in a civil lawsuit last year.LaBeouf’s lawyer said in a court filing that the Honey Boy actor...

A nuclear deal with Iran could be a chance for China and the United States to work together as the two powers begin a search for common ground in the wake of US President Joe Biden’s ice-breaking call to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.In the go...

Nepalis on Thursday protested against proposed new travel rules that could force young women to require permission from their family for travelling in some circumstances, calling them an attack on fundamental rights.The government says the regulation...

When Canada unveiled new details of its open work permit scheme for Hongkongers this month, it framed the action as part of a defence of democratic values, against Beijing’s “controversial national security law”.Canada stood “shoulder to shou...

Stockholm, already a world capital of pop music heritage with its renowned ABBA museum, is now on its way to becoming a pilgrimage site for electronic music fans with both a landmark and museum dedicated to the late Swedish DJ Avicii.City politicians...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Ben Leonard on politico.com on February 11, 2021.Former US president Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyer David Schoen said on Thursday that his fellow impea...

A jailed Chinese lawyer who defended other human rights lawyers arrested in a sweeping crackdown against activism has won an international human rights award, the jury said on Thursday.Yu Wensheng was arrested in January 2018, a day after publishing ...

The British Broadcasting Corp’s World News has been taken off the air in China following the UK’s removal of Chinese state-backed broadcaster CGTN’s licence last week.BBC reports on China violated regulations that news bulletins should be “tr...

China is threatening to outcompete the United States on infrastructure and public transport, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday, as he sought support from lawmakers for a spending bill for US upgrades.Addressing reporters in the Oval Office befo...

A British judge ruled on Thursday that a newspaper invaded Duchess of Sussex’s privacy by publishing personal letter to her estranged father.Judge Mark Warby said Associated Newspapers misused the duchess’s private information in five February 20...

Denmark said on Thursday it will significantly strengthen its defence capabilities in the Arctic, including long-range drones and radars, as shrinking sea ice has fast-tracked a race among global powers for control over resources and waterways.The mi...

Police have stepped up patrols at a dog-friendly park in an affluent Hong Kong neighbourhood after 15 suspected cases of animal poisoning, in which six dogs died, were reported in the past week.As of Thursday, the management at Cyberport Waterfront P...

Amsterdam overtook London as Europe’s largest share trading centre in January after Brexit saw about half of the city’s volumes move to the continent.An average 9.2 billion euros (US$11 billion) of shares a day were traded on various Dutch venues...

The leaders of the United States and China finally broke the ice with a phone call on Thursday, but the two sides played up different aspects of their highly anticipated conversation in a sign that turbulent ties between the strategic rivals will con...

With the coup against the civilian-led government of Aung San Suu Kyi last week, Myanmar has repeated its path of military dictatorship and entrenched rule. But now that the Tatmadaw have turned to the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha t...

Hong Kong business operators have expressed concerns over how they would enforce a new rule requiring customers to use the Covid-19 risk exposure app when they reopen after Lunar New Year.At least two “substitutes” for the app were already found ...

News emerged earlier this week that the first person charged under Hong Kong’s national security law will be tried without the presence of a jury.Tong Ying-kit, who stands accused of riding a motorbike into police during a July 1 demonstration last...

With the United States announcing plans to reimpose sanctions on Myanmar over a coup earlier this month, analysts said the Southeast Asian nation’s new junta will not be as isolated as previous iterations, with India, its Asean neighbours and Japan...

Taiwan’s top envoy to the US Hsiao Bi-khim has met US acting assistant secretary Sung Kim at the State Department, signalling that high-level official contact between Taiwanese and American officials has not stopped despite the change of government...

China’s tourism industry showed signs of recovery towards the end of last year, but analysts believe holiday spending is unlikely to pick up in coming months.Some 25.25 million people joined package tours in the fourth quarter, down by nearly half ...

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned about an “explosion of risk” from digital markets, including the misuse of cryptocurrencies, but said new financial technologies could also help fight crime and reduce inequality.In remarks to a finan...