Aridge, the flying-car developer backed by Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng, has raised nearly US$200 million in fresh funding as it prepares for a potential initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong this year. Existing investors including GL Ve...

War in the Middle East is again producing an oil shock, as was the case in past years. For the chief perpetrator of the new shock – the United States – this will be a multi-front war where the financial impact could hit the country harder than im...

Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) aims to recruit 50 officers during its latest round of hiring, with about 1,000 people expected to attend its learning event this weekend. Paul Lau Chi-ho, the director of the ICAC’s Ho...

When the alert arrives on his phone, Yashwant Deshmukh knows exactly what to do. The Dubai-based political analyst moves away from the windows, waits for the second message confirming the missile has been intercepted, and then goes back to work. “I...

China announced visa-free entry for Canadian and British nationals on February 17, allowing citizens of the two countries to cross the border and stay for up to 30 days with no more than a passport. The move was just the latest expansion of China’s...

Hong Kong authorities are coordinating with local airlines to increase direct flight and transfer capacity, turning the challenges posed by the US-Israel war on Iran into opportunities, the transport minister has said. Secretary for Transport and Log...

An elderly pedestrian has died after being hit by a taxi in Hong Kong’s Kwun Tong, according to police. The accident took place shortly before 10pm on Friday when the 75-year-old man was crossing the road near the junction of Hip Wo Street and Yuet...

North Korea on Saturday fired about 10 ballistic missiles towards the eastern sea, South Korea’s military said, staging its own show of force as the rival South conducts a joint military exercise with the United States. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs...

Scam syndicates allegedly from Malaysia are increasingly relying on couriers and physical handovers when targeting victims in Singapore, as tighter banking safeguards make fraudulent online transfers harder for them to pull off, according to police a...

A young Chinese single mother who started with a street stall and just 700 yuan (US$100) to her name has built a successful nationwide clothing business. The “new Chinese-style clothing” brand, now earns tens of millions of yuan each year and its...

Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees said a travel ban imposed by Donald Trump’s administration is preventing him from attending Sunday’s Academy Awards, whose nominees include a movie in which he has a starring role. The Voice ‌of Hind Rajab, a fil...

The US military has started moving at least one amphibious assault ship and more than 2,000 Marines from Japan to the Middle East as the US-Israeli war against Iran continues, according to US media reports. With the war about to enter its third week ...

On the weathered facade of the Kiu Kong Mansion on Nathan Road, two freshly painted cats now curl into the bustle of Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei. The mural features a ragdoll and a British shorthair cat, two breeds loved by Hongkongers, bringing a burst...

Hong Kong should move beyond a “city-centred” approach that merely seeks Beijing’s policy support and instead take steps to align with national priorities by advancing the internationalisation of the yuan and supporting mainland Chinese enterpr...

Taiwanese Premier Cho Jung-tai has come under fire over what he said was a private visit to Japan to support the island’s team at the World Baseball Classic last week – a trip that drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing. Cho travelled to Tokyo on March...

Myanmar’s new parliament will convene next week, following an election tightly stage-managed by the junta. The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will enjoy a commanding majority and the party of former generals can be expected to preser...

Two prominent Chinese business leaders have pledged to double down on outbound investment – including in the Middle East and Latin America – even as geopolitical risks intensify following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war with Iran and Washingto...

Explosions rocked Iraq’s capital Baghdad on Saturday after two strikes targeted the powerful Iran-backed group Kataeb Hezbollah, killing two members including a “key figure”, security sources said. The strikes are the first in the heart of Bagh...

Two votes. That was the margin by which Malaysia’s prime minister, a man with a supermajority in the 222-seat lower house, failed to pass a bill his own coalition had spent weeks publicly championing. After the numbers were read out, the cameras cu...

Two men on a motorbike threw acid in the face of an Indonesian rights activist, leaving him badly hurt and prompting calls on Friday for a thorough investigation amid concerns of democratic backsliding in the country. Andrie Yunus, deputy coordinator...

Chinese companies in several sectors – including energy, petrochemicals and agriculture – stand to benefit from surging oil prices and the nation’s easing deflation, which analysts said could help investors find gains amid the negative effects ...

Meta is planning sweeping lay-offs that could affect 20 per cent or more of the company, three sources familiar with the matter said, as it seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought ...

By the second half of the 21st century, the Sino-Indian relationship will become the world’s most significant geopolitical relationship, dislodging even the complex China-US cooperative rivalry. By 2050, the world’s three largest economies are li...

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and US President Donald Trump discussed the possible reopening of talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a meeting in Washington, Yonhap news agency reported on Saturday. Kim told Trump he ...

A game centre in China has come under fire after it used real hamsters as prizes in its claw machines to attract customers. The venue, in a shopping centre in Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong province, was reported to have filled a machine wi...

Keith Li King-wah’s business once thrived during the 2010s. In a crowded field of more than 100 rivals, his programming consultancy, Innopage, easily secured contracts worth hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars to develop basic digital tools,...

Thai rice exports to the Middle East were halted as the escalating war disrupts shipments to the nation’s largest market for the grain, further straining farmers grappling with rising costs and reduced overseas demand. Two ships carrying a combined...

For years, the West’s answer to Chinese dominance of critical minerals was to rally around Washington. Now, some of its most important allies are reaching a different conclusion: that depending too heavily on the United States carries its own risks...

No oil infrastructure was damaged in US strikes on Kharg Island, Iranian media reported on Saturday after President Donald Trump said US bombardment of the island had destroyed military targets. Trump said on Friday that the United ‌States had carr...

A Japanese court on Friday sentenced a man to 14 years in prison for attempting to rape an intoxicated woman after forcing her to take 32 shots of tequila, which resulted in her death from acute alcohol poisoning. The Nagoya District Court ruled 44-y...

By the time software programmer Guo Cancan realised something had gone horribly wrong with OpenClaw – the task-executing AI agent that has ignited a fervour across China – the damage was already done. While on holiday over the Chinese New Year, G...

A declining superpower and an aspiring regional hegemon make a deadly combination. The warmongering duo of the United States and Israel have now given the world an illegal and potentially catastrophic war in Iran. It’s a tragic irony that both coun...

A federal judge on Friday quashed US Justice Department subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve in January, a severe blow to an investigation that has already attracted strong criticism on Capitol Hill. Judge James Boasberg said that a “mountain of...

An alleged cocaine boss with a US$2 million bounty on his head was captured by Bolivian forces as the Andean nation renews cooperation with the US after decades of hostility. Dozens of antinarcotics police raided two houses in Santa Cruz in the early...

A photograph of Britain’s former prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first ...

Iran ⁠has allowed two Indian-flagged liquefied ⁠petroleum gas carriers to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, ⁠four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, a rare exception to the Iranian blockade that has disrupted global energy suppl...

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has pneumonia and is receiving treatment in an intensive care unit, a hospital in the capital, Brasilia, said on Friday. Earlier in the day, Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flavio, said on social media that his fa...

Singapore said it ran a trade deficit with the US in 2024, disputing figures published by Washington that showed the city state posted a surplus and challenging suggestions that it is contributing to global manufacturing overcapacity. The dispute sur...

The Trump administration has sought to minimise the impact of the Strait of Hormuz’s effective closure while offering few details on how it might restore oil flows through the strategic waterway. “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” US Presiden...

Long before the US and Israel ⁠attacked Iran, the Islamic Republic had devised its own weapon: holding the world’s main ⁠oil lifeline hostage to offset its foes’ military superiority, three regional sources familiar with Iranian planning said...

Trade talks between China and the United States in Paris this weekend are likely to focus on setting the scene for the Beijing summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump later this month, analysts said, downplaying the prospect...

The US economy grew at a significantly slower pace than initially estimated for the final months of 2025, government data showed on Friday, a major downgrade that comes as fallout from war in the Middle East looms. US gross domestic product rose at a...

The OpenClaw craze is rapidly driving up prices and depleting stock of Apple’s Mac Mini compact computer across China, according to local sellers, as consumers scramble to secure machines capable of safely running the open-source artificial intelli...

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the US-Israel war on Iran has sparked a legal and ethical debate, as well as condemnation from countries including China after a deadly missile strike on a primary school. To prepare for its operations again...

More than 400 foreign domestic helpers gathered at an international school campus in Hong Kong on Friday as 50 students paid tribute to their contributions as “second mothers” who help shape a multicultural environment at home. The organising stu...

Hong Kong authorities have asked all government units not to install OpenClaw or its variants due to security concerns, days after some mainland Chinese entities were reported to have restricted the use of the AI agent. The government’s Digital Pol...

Hong Kong’s physiotherapy sector has urged the government to expand employment opportunities for locally trained professionals, warning that severe funding cuts will lead to a glut of practitioners, with the surplus projected to exceed 2,000 by 204...

China and Vietnam are to hold their first high-level ministerial talks under a new platform next week. This comes as the neighbours seek to cement their strategic alignment despite heightened tensions over Beijing’s purported new land reclamation w...

Twenty-one people have been injured in a crash involving two double-decker buses, a truck and a car on Yuen Long Highway in Hong Kong. Police said on Friday that the force was alerted to the traffic accident at 6.35pm. As of 8pm, 12 women and nine me...

Ships near the Strait of Hormuz are broadcasting Chinese affiliations in an apparent bid to avoid attack, at a time when Iran’s new supreme leader vows to keep the strategic waterway closed. The crews of at least 11 vessels sitting in the Gulf of O...