China said it will release reserves of commodities “essential for livelihood” in a timely and targeted manner, the state planner said on Friday, after floods hit some regions and amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections in the country.The Nati...

Huawei Technologies reported its worst decline in interim revenue, as United States sanctions on its components and software crimped its smartphone sales.The company’s first-half revenue fell 29.4 per cent to 320 billion yuan (US$19.5 billion), acc...

Antibody levels in people inoculated with CanSino Biologics’ single-dose Covid-19 vaccine fell by some 30 per cent after six months, but a booster shot could offer a significant lift, a senior executive said late on Thursday.The decline in antibodi...

China reported 80 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Friday, a slight increase on the previous day that brought the infection tally from the latest outbreak to 591.The highly transmissible Delta variant has spread to more than half of China’s pr...

A towering Merlion looks out over a stylised Singapore skyline below a field of hybrid orchids. Malaysia’s Petronas Twin Towers peek through a vibrant swoop of multicoloured flowers and fluttering butterflies. India’s famed Taj Mahal appears in a...

President Joe Biden underscored US support for Pacific island nations battling Covid-19 and the climate crisis on Friday as Washington tries to counter China’s expanded influence in the region.In a video message at the opening of a forum of 18 isla...

Known for his enigmatic signature look of wide, dark shades and a surgical mask, even when giving speeches or accepting awards, investigative journalist-turned-lawyer Zhou Xiaoyun is no stranger to challenging power but it now appears he has been det...

This is the third part in a series of stories looking at China’s economic outlook in the second half of 2021 as it continues its recovery from a coronavirus-hit 2020. China has long relied on the old playbook of investing in infrastructure project...

Hong Kong police have broken up three triad-run syndicates and arrested 56 people on suspicion of conspiring to take out some HK$140 million (US$18 million) in fraudulent bank loans under a government-backed pandemic relief scheme.The arrests were ma...

China’s crackdown on off-campus tutoring and education has extended to overseas-based language-learning apps such as Duolingo, Memrise and Beelinguapp, which have all disappeared from some of China’s biggest Android app stores.Duolingo, a US-base...

Daily new Covid-19 cases have climbed to a six-month high in the United States, with more than 100,000 infections reported nationwide as the Delta variant ravaged Florida and other states with lower vaccination rates.The seven-day average of new repo...

Australia will introduce new powers to sanction alleged perpetrators of “egregious acts of international concern,” a move likely to put China in the crosshairs and further strain Sino-Australian relations.Under the proposals, Canberra would be ab...

Adopting technological applications based on artificial intelligence (AI) into Hong Kong’s banking system raises the risk of prejudicing certain categories of people in a “systematic way”, meaning human intervention remains essential, said the ...

A 30-year-old Hong Kong man was arrested on suspicion of murder in Tuen Mun on Thursday night, after the body of an elderly man with multiple stab wounds was discovered in a nearby playground pavilion.According to the force, a pedestrian called polic...

Amazon has removed dozens of stores from yet another large Chinese company using the platform to sell overseas, with millions of dollars having been frozen since late July amid a continuing crackdown from the US e-commerce giant on violations of its ...

With executives from the Detroit carmakers watching, US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a target for half of all cars sold in the United States to be zero-emission vehicles by 2030.Biden cast the move as a way to compete with China and othe...

With 11 billion more doses of vaccines needed to inoculate 70 per cent of the world’s population against Covid-19, Beijing is positioning itself as a leader in tackling the widening gap in distribution between richer and poorer countries.The UN’s...

Hong Kong enters a season of elections starting next month, leading up to the selection of a new chief executive in 2022.The city’s political landscape has been reshaped radically following Beijing’s overhaul of local electoral systems in March t...

A UK-based website has published a report that says US companies including Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and Cisco are selling products to facilitate “China’s surveillance state”, highlighting the current sensitivity and scrutiny of commercial and tec...

Although Chinese regulators say they are determined to rein in the nation’s education sector, it remains to be seen how extensively local governments will implement new restrictive policies.And then there’s the fact that similar, but more vague, ...

Beijing has strongly condemned the United States for its temporary offer of “safe haven” to Hongkongers, demanding Washington abandon a “plot to oppose China and stir up trouble in the city”, and warning that the move is doomed to fail.The st...

The largest wildfire in California this year has decimated the Gold Rush town of Greenville.The Dixie Fire is already the sixth biggest in the state’s history, and was still spreading thanks to gusting winds and record-low humidity.This week it all...

In his first week in office, Peru’s new left-wing administration under President Pedro Castillo has been quick to extend a friendly hand to China, the Andean nation’s most important commercial partner and the main buyer of its copper, a crucial s...

Two Belarusian coaches have been stripped of their Tokyo Olympics accreditations over an alleged attempt to force a sprinter to fly home, an incident that drew international condemnation.The International Olympic Committee on Friday said it had remov...

China’s hydroelectric power capacity, left unused after the ban on cryptocurrency mining, has created the perfect opportunity for electric car (EV) changing networks to grow, creating the condition that could further bolster the popularity of so-ca...

Australian officials on Friday warned Sydney residents to brace for a surge in Covid-19 cases after the country’s largest city logged record infections for the second straight day despite a weeks-long lockdown to stamp out an outbreak of Delta vari...

China’s surprise ban on pineapple imports from Taiwan five months ago was widely viewed as an attempt to undermine President Tsai Ing-wen’s standing with a political constituency. Trade data show the move has produced anything but the desired eff...

If the Chinese internet were to have its way, the next official slogan to promote the country’s three-child policy could be: “If you do not get married or have children, you will end up in jail. If you do, you will be ensured a happy life.”This...

After a three-week trial under the Hong Kong national security law, an unprecedented three-judge court found a motorcyclist guilty of terrorism and inciting secession when he rode into a police line on July 1, 2020. At the heart of this trial was an ...

Japan is expected to use its meeting on Friday with the five Mekong River states to reiterate its commitment to the region, although analysts said it will also aim to reinforce its foreign policy objective of countering China’s influence.Japanese F...

After flying its founder Richard Branson to space, Virgin Galactic is restarting ticket sales beginning at US$450,000, the company announced on Thursday.The new price is about double the US$200,000 to US$250,000 paid by around 600 people who previous...

Hong Kong will kick off a one-week nomination period on Friday for candidates aspiring to be on the 1,500-member powerful Election Committee, with a large proportion of seats likely to be uncontested because of coordination within the pro-Beijing cam...

In a small hotel near the Olympic Village hired out exclusively for their use, a team of South Korean chefs has been cloistered away preparing meals throughout the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for the country’s entire delegation of 232 athletes and 122 offi...

The wife of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny stayed with him in a Russian prison for three days, taking him borscht and cherries and sending “a big hi to everyone” on his behalf, she said in a social media post on Thursday.Navalny is serving ...

President Xi Jinping on Thursday said China promises to provide 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to other countries in 2021.China will also donate US$100 million to the Covax global vaccine distribution programme for developing countries, Xi said...

The US Justice Department said on Thursday it has sent almost half a billion dollars of “misappropriated” public money back to Malaysia.The department said court documents showed the money came “from 1MDB”, a Malaysian state fund set up by co...

Local governments across China have started to roll out measures targeting off-campus tutoring providers in their jurisdiction, moving on the back of Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on the sector.Northwest China’s Shaanxi province and the southern c...

China and the US have been at loggerheads on almost all fronts, but with tensions continuing into the Joe Biden presidency, where is the relationship heading? After US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman’s visit to Tianjin last week, and the Wa...

Apple unveiled plans to scan US iPhones for images of child abuse, drawing applause from child protection groups but raising concern among some security researchers that the system could be misused by governments looking to surveil their citizens.App...

US prosecutors pursuing Meng Wanzhou on fraud charges had acted “honourably”, and claims that they tried to mislead her extradition case in Vancouver were unsubstantiated, a Canadian government lawyer said on Thursday.The final phase of the Huawe...

Forces from Ethiopia’s Tigray region have taken control of the town of Lalibela, whose famed rock-hewn churches are a United Nations World Heritage Site, and residents were fleeing, eyewitnesses said.Lalibela, also a holy site for millions of Ethio...

China fell slightly in strategic priority for American companies over the past year as deteriorating relations between the countries continued to weigh heavily on executives, according to the annual US-China Business Council (USCBC) member survey rel...

Poland accused Belarus of sending a growing number of migrants over the border in retaliation for Warsaw’s decision this week to give refuge to Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, a Belarusian athlete who refused to return home from the Tokyo Olympics.A deput...

Bikers have been rumbling their way towards South Dakota’s Black Hills this week, raising fears that Covid-19 infections will be unleashed among the 700,000 people expected to show up at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in the Midwestern US state.The r...

Hundreds of extra police and troops were deployed in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday as separatist groups called for a shutdown to mark a “black day” on the second anniversary of New Delhi imposing direct rule.Kashmir has been divided bet...

Ebrahim Raisi took office as Iran’s president on Thursday, vowing to pursue a “fully peaceful” nuclear programme and calling for international sanctions to be lifted.The 60-year-old said in his speech after being sworn in that the policies of s...

China is updating its lab animal testing laws as it tightens up on animal use in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and allegations that the pathogen leaked from a laboratory.The draft changes to the Regulation on the Administration of Laborat...

Richard Chang, a semiconductor industry veteran and founder of China’s biggest chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), is behind a new chip making plant in the country, which began operations this week, according to...

The Israeli air force said it carried out air strikes on neighbouring Lebanon for the first time in seven years Thursday, following a second day of rocket fire across the border.Lebanon condemned the strikes as an “escalation” that could mark a c...