It was almost 2pm in one of the outer western suburbs of Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city of more than three million inhabitants. Merry, 50, a transwoman, had just alighted from a bemo, or public transport van, to head home after a day spe...

Four presidential aspirants in the Philippines had varying strategies to resolve disputes in the South China Sea including through building alliances with other nations and boosting military presence in the region, according to interviews with GMA Ne...

A 49-year-old Briton was found dead at his home with knife wounds in western Thailand, and a Thai suspect was in custody, police said on Sunday.Another British man, 55, suffered injuries and was in hospital, police in Kanchanaburi province said, addi...

China has set itself a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, but how it will reach the goal is unclear.According to a recent report by oil and gas multinational Royal Dutch Shell, one way China could build a carbon-neutral energy system befo...

Police are investigating a suspicious fire and “unusual” explosion that took place in a residential building in Tai Po, leaving two people dead.A 62-year-old woman died after being taken out of the residential unit in Sun Hing Garden where the fi...

Hong Kong authorities confirmed 140 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, as a top government pandemic adviser warned the “escalating” fifth wave of cases could take two to three months to contain, while easing social-distancing measures around t...

Ray Chui Man-wai, 40, still remembers how bad business was at his restaurant chain last summer when Hong Kong was just emerging from its fourth wave of coronavirus infections.“Many of our restaurants were still full during rush hour, but between th...

Thousands of mourners packed a temple in Vietnam’s Buddhist heartland on Sunday to pay tribute to the late Vietnamese monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, credited with bringing mindfulness to the West.The Zen master, whose reach within Buddhis...

Hong Kong’s finance chief has said that his next budget will offer support for those affected by the pandemic while also boosting the city’s economy, as industry representatives urge the government to provide more assistance to workers and small ...

The United States, the World Health Organization’s top donor, is resisting proposals to make the agency more independent, four officials involved in the talks said, raising doubts about the Biden administration’s long-term support for the UN agen...

Hong Kong health experts have urged quarantine hotels to pump more fresh air into high-risk corridors and enhance ventilation in guest rooms to minimise the risk of spreading Covid-19 in the wake of a cluster caused by cross-infections.“For quarant...

When the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou detected a Covid-19 case a few days back, it did not worry public relations expert Liu Ling in the least.After all, authorities had immediately sprung into action for what had been a well-practised routine in...

When Indonesian singer and influencer Syahrini last month announced a metaverse tour sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), they were sold out hours after the launch.Powered by cryptocurrency exchange firm Binance, the 17,800 NFTs came under three categ...

The recent rationing of French fries by McDonald’s in Japan due to a disruption of potato imports is spurring competitors to seize a bigger share of the market, triggering what social media users have called “a potato war”.The operator of McDon...

Thousands of Hong Kong stockbrokers are bracing themselves for slimmed down or nonexistent bonuses to kick-start the Year of the Tiger, after a months-long market rout that savaged their firms’ profits.Many of the city’s 600 brokerages will be of...

Britain alleged that it had information that Moscow was plotting to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv as fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine grow.Tensions have soared in recent weeks as tens of thousands of Russian troops mass on Ukraine’s bo...

When Ili Aqilah heard about the viral TikTok trend dubbed ‘unboxing Pengantin’ or ‘unboxing bride’, she was appalled.The Malay-Muslim newlywed bride felt it was “TMI” – too much information – and, in this instance, a strange new habit...

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was forced to call off her own wedding on Sunday as she tightened Covid-19 restrictions in the face of an outbreak of the Omicron variant.“My wedding will not be going ahead,” she confirmed after detailin...

In the second of a two-part series marking the second year of Hong Kong’s battle with the Covid-19 pandemic, we look at the shift in the zero-Covid policy and when the city will have its best chance of reopening its borders. Part one can be found h...

Hong Kong based virtual reality start-up Sandbox VR plans to expand to 40 locations around the globe, more than tripling the 12 shops it already has, in a rebound after Covid-19 pushed it into bankruptcy, company founder and CEO Steve Zhao said in an...

Taiwan is boosting defence in the face of growing pressure from Beijing, a move mainland Chinese analysts say could worsen tensions across the strait.The self-ruled island lives with the threat of invasion by Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own t...

Nearly 20 years ago, after Pyongyang admitted that its agents had abducted Japanese nationals, someone smeared on the walls of Chung Hyon-suk’s Tokyo home: “North Koreans live here. Be careful.”The sense of danger she felt that day has returned...

Germany’s top naval officer resigned after comments he made about Russia, including a call to show respect toward President Vladimir Putin, caused a diplomatic incident.Ukraine summoned the German ambassador in Kyiv earlier Saturday to protest the ...

A Taliban delegation arrived on Saturday in Norway for three days of talks with Western diplomats and members of Afghan civil society, which it hopes will help “transform the atmosphere of war” in Afghanistan.Footage broadcast by the Verdens Gang...

Peru declared an environmental emergency to battle an oil spill caused by freak waves from a volcanic eruption in the South Pacific.The stunningly powerful eruption last Saturday of an undersea volcano near Tonga unleashed tsunami waves around the Pa...

China needs to brace for a “digital cold war” with the United States as the two nations go head-to-head for dominance of the internet economy.The warning from a top Chinese think tank analyst comes amid heightened technological rivalry between th...

Billionaire former premier Silvio Berlusconi withdrew from the race for Italy’s presidency on Saturday, two days before voting starts, but repeated his opposition to Prime Minister Mario Draghi taking the job.The 85-year-old media mogul, who is sti...

A 75-year-old Frenchman attempting to row across the Atlantic “to laugh at old age” was found dead in his cabin at sea on Saturday, his support team said.Portugal’s coastguard found Jean-Jacques Savin’s overturned boat off the Portuguese arch...

Spain and the Netherlands have taken up air surveillance in Bulgaria amid soaring regional tensions, as Nato and Western allies fear Russia may be preparing to invade Ukraine.The Spanish and Dutch will send up to nine fighter jets as part of an air p...

The Saudi-led coalition denied carrying out an air strike on a prison in Yemen’s rebel-held north that aid groups said killed or wounded dozens of people.Claims the coalition ordered the raid, which reduced buildings to rubble and left rescuers scr...

Thousands of people gathered in European capitals on Saturday to protest against vaccine passports and other requirements governments have imposed in hopes of ending the coronavirus pandemic.Demonstrations took place in Athens, Helsinki, London, Pari...

A British politician who accuses the government of blackmailing opponents of Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will take his allegations to the police.William Wragg, an MP from the governing Conservative party, said legislators calling for a chall...

President Joe Biden marked the 49th anniversary of the Landmark Supreme Court ruling establishing abortion rights in the United States by again urging that those rights be enshrined in federal law.“The constitutional right established in Roe v Wade...

The pursuit of “absolute national security” can extract a heavy price, a Chinese foreign policy adviser has warned, citing the collapse of the Soviet Union as proof of the pitfalls of putting military expansion over long-term security.The unfette...

Kazakhstan said Saturday it was holding more than 460 people on terrorism and disorder charges in the wake of mass unrest that saw Russian-led forces called in to restore calm.The former Soviet republic has been roiled by clashes that escalated from ...

A University of Arkansas professor pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about patents he had for inventions in mainland China.Simon Saw-Teong Ang pleaded guilty in federal court in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday to one count from a 58-count federal ...

Thich Nhat Hanh, the revered Zen Buddhist monk who helped spread the practice of mindfulness in the West and socially engaged Buddhism in the East, has died. He was 95.The death was confirmed by a monk at Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam who said that ...

A pro-Beijing newspaper has ramped up pressure on Hong Kong’s government over its efforts to combat the latest coronavirus outbreak, calling it a war that could threaten national safety and urging the city to seek help from mainland China if needed...

China’s zero-Covid policy is still the “best choice available” as Omicron looks set to dominate, according to the country’s top government adviser on the coronavirus.Liang Wannian, a former National Health Commission official and head of a pa...

Two strong earthquakes jolted the southern Philippines on Saturday, but no major damage was expected and there was no threat of a tsunami, government seismologists said.A 6.1-magnitude quake struck at 10.26am (02.26 GMT) off Balut island, 1,130 kilom...

Hong Kong customs has arrested nine people and seized 25,000 CBD items worth HK$14.6 million (US$1.87 million) in a citywide operation after the goods were found to contain traces of an illegal active ingredient in marijuana.The confiscated products ...

Trouble has returned to India’s remote northeast, a region that has long had a testy relationship with New Delhi. The area spans seven states, including four that share a border with Myanmar and one with China.More than 200 ethnic groups and tribes...

Food suppliers have warned that consumers could face higher prices for imported goods as air and sea freight costs rose heavily last year under Hong Kong’s stringent travel restrictions.Several importers told the Post that air freight costs had alr...

Malaysia’s Johor state will dissolve its assembly on January 22, paving the way for the country’s third state election under Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration.The decision was consented to by the southern state’s royal ruler...

The driver of a luxury sports car and his passenger narrowly avoided death when their vehicle crashed into a lamp post and split almost in half on a Hong Kong road just before noon on Saturday.An online video shows the Black Lotus Exige driving along...

Slovenia’s plans to open a Taiwan office looks likely to provoke a “shocked” Beijing into yet another diplomatic spat despite hopes of mending ties with the European Union, analysts said.This comes after Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa rev...

Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad is in a stable condition after undergoing treatment at the National Heart Institute, his daughter said in a statement on Saturday.Marina Mahathir said her 96-year-old father had been readmitted to h...

Hong Kong’s property buyers turned out in droves, defying the city’s worst one-day explosion of new Covid-19 cases to snap up apartments at the first new housing project to be launched in 2022.Henderson Land Development sold all 136 units on offe...

More than 200 people from Malaysian civil society groups and opposition parties on Saturday staged a protest on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur demanding that the country’s under-fire graft chief step down, defying a massive police presence and warni...

Residents of the second Hong Kong public housing block imposed with a five-day lockdown order criticised the decision on Saturday as “hasty” and “cruel” after authorities said they could not supply dinner boxes for the first night.Chief Execu...