Shanghai has reported its first locally transmitted symptomatic Covid-19 cases in almost a month, two of them employees of a bubble tea shop, which has been closed.The city’s health department reported two new local symptomatic cases and three asym...

As France takes over the EU’s rotating presidency, it should lead the European Union towards “correct understanding” and practical cooperation with China, senior Chinese officials said.That message was delivered to Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic co...

Growth in advertising revenue at China’s three biggest technology companies – Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings, and ByteDance – slowed in 2021 amid Beijing’s regulatory clampdown on the internet industry, according to new research.Top-...

Hong Kong confirmed nine new coronavirus infections on Friday, the first time in more than two weeks the daily caseload has been in single digits.Fewer than 10 preliminary-positive infections were also recorded. The last time the city reported a sing...

A dramatic, predawn law enforcement operation in Hong Kong on Friday ended after an alleged robber rammed his getaway car into a truck carrying officers from a specialised hit team, trapping himself between police vehicles.Police also arrested two ot...

India’s Reliance Industries, owned by Asia’s second richest man Mukesh Ambani, has agreed to buy an indirect 73.37 per cent stake worth US$98 million in New York City’s Mandarin Oriental hotel.It’s the second big ticket purchase in the hospit...

Kyiv on Friday reported a massive cyberattack on key government websites as tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine escalate following several rounds of unsuccessful talks.The education ministry said on Facebook that its website was down du...

Residents of a Chinese city locked down for three weeks have taken to social media to voice concern after two hospitals were closed because their strict enforcement of virus rules led to patient deaths.Guo Shuzhong, a doctor at Xian International Med...

North Korea fired at least two ballistic missiles on Friday, the third test in two weeks, just hours after criticising a US push for new sanctions over the previous launches as a “provocation” and warning of a strong reaction.South Korea’s Join...

Taiwan on Friday cut to zero tariffs on 25 goods imported from Honduras under a free-trade agreement, offering an incentive ahead of this month’s inauguration of a new president who had threatened to break off diplomatic ties with Taipei.Honduras i...

The US Supreme Court delivered a blow to President Joe Biden, blocking his Covid vaccination-or-testing mandate for employees of large businesses.At the same time, the nation’s highest court allowed a vaccination mandate for health care workers at ...

The southern Chinese city of Zhuhai reported one Covid-19 case on Friday, as citywide mass screening of its 2.4 million people got under way.The case, a 53-year-old woman living in the township of Nanping, was detected in the testing and she was tran...

China and India have agreed to step back from confrontation over their disputed border during the freezing Himalayan winter.In a joint statement, the PLA’s Western Theatre Command and the Indian Army said they would maintain stability in the wester...

Hong Kong customs have arrested a couple who were accused of delivering narcotics disguised as dog food during an outing with their three-year-old son aimed at concealing their alleged drug trafficking activities.During Thursday’s operation, author...

South Korea will extend tougher social distancing rules for three more weeks amid concerns over a looming wave of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant especially ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, officials said on Friday.The curbs wer...

The Biden administration responded to threats from Russian officials that Moscow could begin military deployments in Cuba and Venezuela if tensions continue to rise with the United States, vowing a “decisive” response if it sees any evidence that...

A chill wind whips across the Taiwan Strait as a small group of Taiwanese marines stands shivering on a remote dock in the early hours of the morning, their shorts and thin jackets drenched after a day spent mostly in the sea.“Are you a sleeping be...

Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah criticised Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen for taking unilateral action in meeting the leader of Myanmar’s junta, as the region remains divided over how to approach the troubled nation.As the rotati...

All but conceding defeat, US President Joe Biden said he’s now unsure the Democrats’ major elections and voting rights legislation can pass Congress this year.He spoke on Thursday at the Capitol after a key fellow Democrat, Senator Kyrsten Sinema...

The Thai government and a key separatist group in the country’s south have indicated that their first face-to-face negotiations since the Covid-19 pandemic began has yielded positive results, raising hopes of concrete progress towards restoring pea...

Hong Kong’s ban on evening dine-in services will be extended for two more weeks, through the Lunar New Year holiday, according to a government source.A second source, meanwhile, said that a flight ban currently imposed on Australia, Canada, France,...

Fresh claims have emerged that two parties were held in Downing Street the night before Britain’s Queen Elizabeth sat alone at her husband Prince Philip’s funeral.The events are said to have taken place on the evening of April 16 2021 while the U...

As the Omicron variant of Covid-19 rages around the world, a surge of child infections and hospitalisations has prompted calls by some governments to vaccinate young children.In Hong Kong, for example, the government has approved Sinovac’s vaccine ...

Hong Kong has imposed some of the world’s strictest quarantine rules as it targets zero Covid infections. However, the fifth wave facing the city casts a spotlight on the government’s overall anti-pandemic measures and raises questions about thei...

China enjoyed a strong trade performance in 2021, although signs of an overall economic slowdown were highlighted by slowing import and export growth in December.Exports grew by 29.9 per cent in 2021 compared to the previous year, while imports last ...

[Sponsored article] Singles’ Day – the world’s largest online shopping event, held in China every November 11 – maintained its staggering annual sales volume this year, with many of the country’s e-commerce companies once again posting rec...

A Chinese father who donated his nine-year-old daughter’s organs after she died from injuries caused by an accident at her school said the school has apologised to him and vowed to strengthen safety management.Huang Qin’s daughter, nicknamed Tong...

Hong Kong’s catering sector is bracing itself for a shortage of Japanese seafood, especially sashimi, a favourite fare among residents, as tightened Covid-19 quarantine rules for cargo aircrew are expected to drastically restrict the supply of good...

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, is being investigated for criminal battery by Los Angeles police after he allegedly punched a fan who asked for his autograph outside a downtown nightclub early Thursday, authorities said.Ye is alleged to ...

Anxiety is spreading across China’s business community as authorities gear up to introduce a powerful new tax surveillance system that some have likened to a “giant X-ray machine”, capable of hoovering up huge amounts of personal and financial ...

With Boris Johnson in his most precarious position yet as UK prime minister, speculation is swirling over who might replace him as leader of the Conservative party and take Britain’s top political job.Rishi SunakThe UK’s first Hindu chancellor of...

Hong Kong premium meat importer Food Square Hong Kong is facing a two-week delay in getting some of its well-loved Australian meat into town.The business, which also has to stock up its new grocery outlet at Hong Kong’s food and shopping mecca, Cen...

Poland’s foreign minister said on Thursday that Europe was at risk of plunging into war as Russia said it was not yet giving up on diplomacy but that military experts were preparing options in case tensions over Ukraine could not be defused.In Wash...

Nicholas Platt, the long-time US diplomat who helped engineer the restoration of American ties with Beijing, said on Thursday that economic ties would keep the relationship intact despite hard-line policies enacted under Chinese President Xi Jinping....

Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, has been arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy in the attack on the US Capitol, authorities said on Thursday.Ten other people also were charged with seditiou...

President Joe Biden on Thursday said he will deploy more military health workers to six US states beginning next week, and give Americans free masks and more free tests to tackle the fast-spreading Omicron variant around the country.The dispatch of 1...

Queen Elizabeth’s second son, Prince Andrew, was on Thursday effectively stripped of his position in royal life, in a dramatic move as he faces a US civil case for sexual assault.British media quoted an unnamed royal source as saying he would no lo...

Britain’s domestic spy service MI5 has warned lawmakers that the Chinese Communist Party has been employing a woman to exert improper influence over members of parliament.MI5 sent out an alert and picture of the woman named Christine Lee on Thursda...

[Sponsored Article] Climate change, including global warming and an increased risk of extreme weather events, from heatwaves to storms and floods, is widely considered one of the greatest existential threats facing humankind. Over the last decade an...

[Sponsored Article] Sustainable investing, once viewed as an outlier maybe only a decade ago, has never been more popular. To put things into perspective, sustainable funds in the US attracted record investment of nearly US$2 trillion in the first q...

[Sponsored Article] Plastic waste is a huge environmental problem faced by our planet, and it’s a problem that many countries around the world are tackling head-on. Social enterprises and NGOs have also been springing up, each with different ways ...

[Sponsored Article] China has seen some of the most destructive earthquakes in history. For example, the devastating 2008 Earthquake in Sichuan province killed over 69,000 people, left up to 11 million people homeless and caused up to US$20 billion ...

China has ambitious plans to boost domestic soybean output by 40 per cent over the next four years, as an over-reliance on imports of the commodity continues to raise alarms over the nation’s food security.The country will bolster its oilseed self-...

[Sponsored Article] Daniel spent his formative years in Shenzhen during the city’s meteoric rise to become a powerhouse of innovation, technology and enterprise. As the southern Chinese city shot to global prominence, Daniel was also intrigued to ...

A coach that has fallen into discredit because it is decorated with images widely viewed as racist will no longer be used by the Dutch royal family, King Willem-Alexander announced on Thursday.“We cannot write the past anew. But we can try together...

Cinda Asset Management has unexpectedly withdrawn from the recapitalisation of Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance barely three weeks after announcing it, adding a surprising twist to the restructuring of China’s largest fintech company.Cinda said its b...

The “Made in China, sold on Amazon” community continued to grow in 2021 despite an extensive crackdown on paid reviews and other violations that removed thousands of Chinese sellers from the platform, the US e-commerce giant said.The number of ne...

The conglomerate led by Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, announced plans to invest US$76 billion towards clean energy projects, dwarfing an earlier commitment of US$10 billion by the world’s biggest fossil-fuel billionaire.Reliance Industries L...

A US Navy commander has spoken for the first time about a photograph of Chinese aircraft carrier the Liaoning taken from its guided missile destroyer USS Mustin during their close encounter in the disputed South China Sea last year.Vice-Admiral Roy K...