China reported 10 new Covid-19 cases within the Winter Olympics bubble on Sunday, less than a quarter of the 45 infections a day earlier.Among the cases, six were athletes and team officials and the rest were found among other “stakeholders”, a c...

China and the World Health Organization have discussed the need for “stronger collaboration” on tracing the origins of Covid-19, amid tensions over the WHO’s plans to further investigate the theory that the virus could have leaked from a Wuhan ...

China has joined the World Intellectual Property Organization’s treaty on protecting industrial designs, which should help Chinese designers safeguard their work internationally, the UN agency said on Saturday.Beijing has entered the WIPO’s Hague...

In Israel’s Negev desert, far from the skyscrapers of Tel Aviv, the town of Yeruham hopes to cultivate an international reputation as the country’s medical cannabis technology powerhouse.Dozens of start-ups are already working on medical cannabis...

Police in Indian-controlled Kashmir said they arrested a prominent journalist on accusations of publishing “antinational content,” in a widening crackdown against media in the disputed region.Fahad Shah, the editor of news portal Kashmir Walla, w...

Russia has stepped up preparations for an all-out invasion of Ukraine, but it is not clear if Moscow has decided to take such a step, US officials have said citing intelligence assessments.Russia has assembled 110,000 troops along its border with Ukr...

Patriot and lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu recently suggested that health experts who were in favour of Hong Kong “living with Covid” could be contravening the national security law. According to him, such a strategy that breaks with the national pa...

Tesla’s dominance in the world’s largest electric car market may come increasingly under pressure in the Year of the Tiger, as China’s home-grown brands develop new models to pick up the slack left by Elon Musk’s company.To get there, NIO, Xp...

The great-grandson of the Kuomintang leader and former Taiwanese president Chiang Kai-shek is expected to announce that he is running for mayor of Taipei after the Lunar New Year holiday.Wayne Chiang Wan-an, a KMT legislator in Taiwan’s parliament,...

Bollywood superstar Lata Mangeshkar, known to millions as the “Nightingale of India” and a regular fixture of the country’s airwaves for decades, died on Sunday morning at the age of 92.Mangeshkar was born in 1929 and started her musical traini...

Budianto has been helping his family sell bowls of bakmi ayam (chicken noodles) in Jakarta, the capital of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, since he was a little boy.His father started selling the noodles on a cart in 1969, later renting a garage ...

South Korea on Sunday surpassed 1 million cumulative Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began, as health officials reported a daily record of 38,691 new infections driven by an outbreak of the Omicron variant.South Korea saw its first confirmed Covid-...

China’s ambitions to arm its most advanced fighter jet with hi-tech weapons, such as lasers or particle beams, may be frustrated by its underpowered engines, according to military analysts.An increasing number of countries are researching cutting-e...

Hong Kong reported another 342 Covid-19 infections on Sunday, marking the second day in a row the number of cases has surpassed 300.According to health authorities, all of the latest infections were local, with 136 listed as untraceable. Fifteen case...

China’s shift towards joint operations in space, cyberspace and nuclear technology point to a “proactive defence” strategy that could include a pre-emptive strike, according to a new international study.This more aggressive strategy could desta...

Canada’s relaxed immigration pathway for Hongkongers drew a strong response last year, with nearly 14,500 applying to work or study there as a step towards obtaining permanent residence (PR).Most Hongkongers hoping to emigrate eyed moving to Britai...

In South Korea’s presidential election campaign marked by mudslinging, even the would-be first ladies haven’t been spared from personal attacks.This is in stark contrast to the traditional way in which the wives of male leaders in Asia have tende...

Hong Kong’s business leaders are worried about the possibility of more stringent social-distancing rules being unveiled on Tuesday to better contain the Covid-19 pandemic, as further curbs could hurt restaurants and retailers as well as lead to a r...

Investments in public health projects by China’s Belt and Road Initiative soared by 246 per cent last year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a Chinese study.The dramatic shift in focus for President Xi Jinping’s pet global infras...

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and members of the Nordic country’s indigenous Sami community on Saturday protested against possible plans for an iron ore mine in northern Sweden.The government is next month to decide whether to green...

Two years have passed since the onset of the Covid-19 epidemic, and a major outbreak unfolded recently in Kwai Chung. The problems that emerged in Kwai Chung Estate, especially the emergency response process and compulsory home quarantine arrangement...

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth used her Platinum Jubilee – marking a record 70 years on the British throne – to state that Camilla, the wife of Prince Charles, should have the title queen consort when the time comes for Charles to take the throne.Th...

After a relentless digging operation, rescuers in northern Morocco on Saturday retrieved the body of a five-year-old boy who had been trapped deep inside a well for five days, the country’s state news agency MAP said.The child, named Rayan Awram, w...

Spotify’s popular US podcaster Joe Rogan apologised on Saturday after a video compilation surfaced that showed him using racial slurs in clips of episodes over a 12-year span.In a video posted on his Instagram account, Rogan, who hosts a podcast ca...

The famous tapestry of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, which is considered by numerous art critics as perhaps the most powerful anti-war painting in history, returned to its place of honour at the United Nations on Saturday after a year-long absence that...

When the Black Mirror episode “San Junipero” aired on Netflix back in 2016, the notion of falling in love within a simulated reality seemed far away – but certainly not impossible.Six years on, our world has become more virtual than ever, as mo...

France and the European Union are investigating why a massive swarm of dead fish was released by a huge trawler in the Atlantic Ocean off France, after an environmental group released dramatic video and photos of the incident.The images by the group ...

Britain’s Prince Andrew is expected to give evidence under oath next month as part of a civil sex assault case against him.Andrew will face what is known as a deposition on March 10 in London, in what has been described as a neutral location.A sour...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday hired a new chief of staff as he rebuilds his top team following a series of scandals that have left him fighting to shore up his authority.Cabinet minister Steve Barclay, formerly Brexit minister unde...

France’s duelling far-right presidential candidates were holding back-to-back campaign rallies Saturday, trying to steal each other’s thunder and keep their anti-immigration, anti-Islam agenda front and centre in the race for April’s presidenti...

US steps on lifting sanctions are “good but not enough”, Iran said Saturday, following Washington’s announcement it was waiving sanctions on Iran’s civil nuclear programme.The US action came as talks to restore a 2015 deal between Tehran and ...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that he and his wife, Emine, have tested positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, but they are doing well at home.“Thank God, we are pulling through the sickness, which we learned ...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Saturday it was fraud for GoFundMe to “commandeer” US$9 million in donations sent to support protesting truck drivers in Canada and that he will investigate what he called “deceptive practices” by the web...

Four separate avalanches have claimed the lives of at least nine snowsport enthusiasts in western Austria in the past 24 hours, officials said on Saturday. Austria’s Tyrol region, as well as Switzerland’s Alpine chain are on alarm level three, o...

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth kicked off celebrations for the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne by inviting local community groups on Saturday to her Sandringham residence in the east of England.Sunday will mark the queen’s platinum jub...

China and Russia called on the United States to stop missile deployment plans in the Asia-Pacific and Europe, after a highly anticipated summit cemented a Chinese-Russian stand against Western pressure.In a joint statement after the summit between Ch...

An Australian constable goes on trial on Monday with prosecutors trying to secure the country’s first murder conviction against a police officer over the death of an Aboriginal person.Zachary Rolfe is accused of shooting dead 19-year-old Kumanjayi ...

Veteran Hong Kong activist Koo Sze-yiu was denied bail on Saturday after being taken to court by national security police to face a charge of attempting to commit a seditious act.The legal document available at Kowloon City Court did not spell out th...

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday defended the sale of an oil and gas concession to a firm controlled by a tycoon ally after a senate panel approved the filing of charges against energy ministry officials.“I am convinced that this was...

Former commerce minister Frederick Ma Si-hang has vowed to inject a weekly dose of positivity into Hong Kong with a new talk show featuring exclusive interviews with prominent figures, including a property tycoon who shared his rags-to riches story.I...

Four people were sent to hospital on Saturday after an early morning fire gutted a flat in Hong Kong.The blaze broke out shortly before 2am at Kwong Ming Court in Tseung Kwan O, resulting in about 220 residents fleeing the building before rescue serv...

Ice on a glacier near the summit of Mount Everest that took millennia to form has shrunk dramatically in the last three decades due to climate change, a new study has shown.The South Col formation may already have lost around 55 metres (180 feet) of ...

Lockdowns have had little effect on reducing Covid-19 mortality while exacting “enormous economic and social costs”, a study by the Johns Hopkins University has concluded, calling for the rejection of such “ill-founded” policies.Mandated lock...

There has been talk in recent months about which Asian city is best positioned to become a regional hub for philanthropy. Hong Kong is the obvious and natural choice for four reasons.First, Hong Kong has a long and impressive history of philanthropy ...

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatoa volcano sent thick ash 1,500 metres into the sky on Saturday, the country’s Geological Agency said. The volcano first erupted on Friday, sending a column of grey smoke 1,000 metres in the air, according to the agency.Ana...

China is a reliable partner for Central Asian nations and seeks to deepen cooperation in areas ranging from energy to security, Beijing has stressed, in its latest push to step up engagement with the region.This came as Chinese President Xi Jinping m...

A security breach at one of Hong Kong’s largest online shopping platforms last month led to the unauthorised access of customer information such as delivery addresses, recipient names and contact numbers.Hong Kong Technology Venture Company Limited...

Myanmar villagers and anti-coup fighters have accused troops of burning hundreds of homes in the country’s restive northwest, as the junta seeks to crush resistance to its rule.Mass protests against last year’s coup have been met with a brutal mi...

One of Hong Kong’s largest department stores has temporarily closed this weekend after two employees tested preliminarily positive for the coronavirus, as the city’s major banks suspended branches to stop the spread of the fifth wave.Two staff me...

China reported 45 new cases of Covid-19 within the Winter Olympics bubble on the Games’ opening day, a doubling in cases in 24 hours as arrivals accelerated.In all, 25 of the cases were athletes and team officials and the rest were found among othe...