China is accelerating efforts to secure its copper supply chain, designating the metal as critical across strategic industries such as electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and defence amid rising geopolitical tensions. Provincial governments ar...

A Chinese woman who has lived for eight years with the rare neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) recently held a farewell ceremony at a funeral home to celebrate love and life. Liu Jie, 42, organised the gathering at a funeral par...

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command, the division that oversees Taiwan and that has been hit hard in Beijing’s anti-graft campaign, appears to be presided over by two officers who joined the division only recently. According to an anal...

McDonald’s China arm has raised prices on most menu items, igniting a social media backlash as consumers grapple with job uncertainty and stagnant wages. Patrons discovered this week that prices for burgers, snacks and combos rose by up to 1 yuan (...

We have put together stories from our coverage on science from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China desalination tech makes fresh water cheaper than tap wa...

A group of lawmakers from South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party is seeking to relax a decades-old ban on North Korean websites like the online Rodong Sinmun, reigniting debate over national security and freedom of information. The proposed revision...

US President Donald Trump finally agreed to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s plea that the company be allowed to sell H200s to China, estimated to be a US$10 billion opportunity. Although Trump claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping responded “positi...

The Singaporean community in Hong Kong will donate HK$1.83 million (US$235,230) to the government’s relief fund for the Tai Po blaze, praising city residents for embodying the “Lion Rock Spirit” as groups rallied to support those affected. The ...

The Philippine Army has rolled out a locally developed remote weapons system that officials said would boost troop protection while advancing Manila’s push to build a self-reliant defence industry amid limited manpower and resources. The Controller...

China’s top economic policy coordinator has urged the country to confront unavoidable challenges, while expressing confidence that investment and consumption growth will recover next year as efforts to boost domestic demand intensify. An unnamed of...

Peking University intends to establish a research institute in Hong Kong’s future university town in the Northern Metropolis, the city leader has said as he wrapped up his three-day duty visit to Beijing. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu met Peking...

The head of the Hong Kong Bar Association has called on the public and foreign governments to review the judgment against former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, convicted of national security offences, before forming their own opinions, acknowledgi...

Once South Korea’s top prosecutor and head of state, Yoon Suk-yeol now faces the courtroom reckoning of a lifetime, as successive rulings brand his failed attempt to impose martial law “unconstitutional and unlawful”, setting the stage for a ve...

A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was fatally shot at his home near Boston, and authorities said on Tuesday they had launched a homicide investigation. Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, was shot ...

Passengers travelling on the Tuen Ma line on February 1 and March 8 next year will need to change trains at Hung Hom station due to rail track works, which are expected to add about four to five minutes to their journeys, according to Hong Kong’s r...

Chinese scientists have turned allergy into a powerful weapon against cancer to deliver drugs and turbocharge the body’s own immune attack on cancer. The team loaded mast cells – which cause allergic symptoms when they encounter antigens such as ...

China’s state broadcaster CCTV has come under fire over a short film that romanticises food delivery jobs. The film told viewers that such jobs offer “the freedom to enjoy the scenery along the way” and “brings delivery workers closer to thei...

A woman from Tanah Merah, Malaysia’s Kelantan state, who was alleged to have two husbands, had in fact divorced her first spouse in June 2022, Kosmo reported. Kelantan Islamic Development, Da’wah (proselytising), Information and Public Relations ...

The Taiwanese government has sparked fresh controversy by refusing to enforce amendments passed by the opposition-controlled legislature about local government funding. The move risks deepening a political stand-off and has drawn criticism that the i...

Sudan has topped a watch list of global humanitarian crises by an international aid group for the third year in a row as a devastating war grips the northeastern African country. The International Rescue Committee said Sudan was at the top of its ann...

Hong Kong police have arrested a man after his car struck a 94-year-old pedestrian, who later died in hospital. The force said the accident took place on Tam Kon Chau Road towards Yuen Long at 4.06am on Wednesday. As the car approached Mai Po near th...

The alleged gunman shot dead by police during Sunday’s attack on Australia’s Bondi Beach was originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and his family did not know about his “radical mindset”, Indian police said on Tuesday. Fifteen...

Hong Kong authorities have launched public consultations for the 2026-27 budget, with the finance chief saying it will focus on how the city can boost economic development and better integrate into China’s 15th five-year plan. Financial Secretary P...

As tourist numbers climb back towards record highs, Nepal is rolling out a new digital registration system to track every foreign visitor, in a move officials say will boost safety and curb visa misuse. Starting from January 1, all foreign visitors w...

Beijing’s fresh imperative to “invest in people” – first raised in a proposal for the 15th five-year plan and reaffirmed at an agenda-setting policy meeting last week – reflects a rethink in economic strategy designed to stimulate domestic ...

Mainland China’s highly competitive retail landscape has taken its toll on one of Hong Kong’s largest health and beauty chains, which has decided to exit the market. Analysts said retailers across the board have found the going tough on the mainl...

One of Asia’s largest philanthropic organisations, the Shaw Foundation, has pledged to continue supporting small charities in Hong Kong and urged the public to do the same, after making a generous donation to victims of last month’s catastrophic ...

An increasing number of South Korean men are looking to Japan not only for employment but also for marriage, drawn by what they see as more stable living conditions compared with South Korea’s tough job market and demanding marriage expectations. A...

A top scientist has sharply criticised China’s increasingly resource-driven research culture, warning that a reliance on vast accumulated funding, manpower and data for scientific output is inefficient and actively undermines genuine innovation. Zh...

Three people were injured and more than 100 others were evacuated after a fire believed to have been caused by burning incense broke out in a Hong Kong flat on Wednesday. The fire was reported at around 2.30am in the flat at Prime View Garden on King...

Hong Kong’s Democratic Party has announced what many people had been expecting for some time – that it would disband. For the party, this is the beginning of the end; for others, the question lingers: is this also the end of the democratic moveme...

Hong Kong authorities have banned director Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai’s latest film, the campus thriller Deadline, citing national security concerns, according to the award-winning filmmaker, whose previous documentary on the 2019 social unrest was also ba...

MetaX Integrated Circuits soared on its trading debut in Shanghai as investors piled into the second Chinese producer of graphics processing units (GPUs) to go public this month amid optimism about China’s push for self-sufficiency in semiconductor...

A man who allegedly opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach was charged with 59 offences, including murder and terrorism, police said on Wednesday. The alleged father-and-son perpetrators killed 15 people on Sunda...

A 72-year-old grandmother in Taiwan has stunned the internet by donning a bikini and showcasing her toned muscles at a recent bodybuilding competition, demonstrating that age is just a number and igniting a wave of admiration online. Dubbed the “bo...

An open court and a detailed ruling in former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s closely watched national security trial have demonstrated the strength of Hong Kong’s rule of law, legal experts have said. Lawyers, including the Hong Kong Bar Associ...

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on Nicolas Maduro’s government in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South Ameri...

Indonesia’s flagship programme to provide millions of schoolchildren with free nutritious meals is back in the spotlight after a delivery van linked to the initiative ploughed into a group of students in Jakarta last week, leaving 21 children and a...

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it was expanding travel restrictions to an additional 20 countries and the Palestinian Authority, doubling the number of nations affected by sweeping limits announced earlier this year on who can tra...

Mainland China’s 17 million Alzheimer’s patients can, for the first time, pay less out of pocket for a costly drug touted as “historic” and “the beginning of the end” for the memory-robbing disease after Beijing launched a commercial insu...

Senior US and Chinese defence officials met in Washington this week in the latest sign of renewed military-to-military communication as the two countries seek to stabilise ties. Alvaro Smith, a deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, Taiwan ...

Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner was charged on Tuesday with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, which stunned their communities in Hollywood and Democratic politics, where both were widely beloved. Nick Reiner, 32, was cha...

It has been a turbulent year for the fraught US-China relationship. In the second story in this new series, we look back at the events of 2025, examining how the trade war tested policymakers and firms, forcing a rethink in business, strategy and sup...

The latest Doha Forum laid bare an uncomfortable truth: Europe is losing its seat at the table of global affairs. The convergence of the Trump administration’s newly released national security strategy and pointed remarks from senior US officials h...

A doctor who pleaded guilty in a scheme to supply ketamine to actor Matthew Perry before his overdose death was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement. Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence that included three years ...

With a stroke of his favourite black pen, Donald Trump has signed what should become his 221st executive order – a figure that exceeds the number in his entire first term, as he forges ahead with one of the biggest displays of US presidential power...

The European Commission unveiled a plan on Tuesday to drop the EU’s effective ban on new combustion-engine cars from 2035 after pressure from the region’s vehicle sector, marking the bloc’s biggest retreat from its green policies in recent year...

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on Tuesday that a racism scandal that saw the country’s Miss Finland being stripped of her crown and several politicians posting derogatory images was damaging his country’s image. “Yesterday, during a d...

The Arctic has experienced its hottest year since records began, a US science agency announced on Tuesday, as climate change triggers cascading impacts from melting glaciers and sea ice to greening landscapes and disruptions to global weather. Betwee...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr lauded domestic helper Rhodora Alcaraz as a hero for her role in saving her employer’s baby during Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades. Romulo Victor M Israel Jnr, the country’s top diplomat in Hong K...