Chinese President Xi Jinping is heading to India for the first time since 2019 and finalising plans for a US trip as he works through his busiest month of international travel in years. Xi will attend the annual Brics summit in New Delhi over the wee...

Turkey has unveiled plans to more than triple its defence spending over the next three years, driven by regional conflicts and a desire for a greater security footprint across Europe and the Middle East. Rather than ramping up its purchases from West...

Battle-testing modern weapon systems can come at a steep price: a country must send its forces to war. But for China’s 4.5-generation J-10CE fighter aircraft, exports have opened another route. Pakistan provided the aircraft’s first major combat ...

The Hong Kong government will not cap the number of admissions under its talent schemes, with the labour minister saying “the more, the better” amid a global race for skilled workers, despite rising concerns over whether the city can absorb the i...

On September 1, former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced that Alex Karp, CEO of artificial intelligence and data analytics firm Palantir Technologies, would become the lead investor in a new defence technology company he is buildi...

A flurry of cybersecurity breaches, internal whistle-blowing, and declining visibility into model safety has sparked fresh alarm over the US artificial intelligence boom, igniting calls from some experts to slow down development – even as critics w...

Tokyo police arrested two American women for allegedly smuggling US$1 million worth of cannabis, with one suspect claiming she was motivated by a free trip to Japan, an official and media reports said on Friday. The pair, both 25, arrived at Tokyo’...

In the windswept village of Doonbeg on Ireland’s Atlantic coast, Donald Trump is less polarising US president and more golf resort owner credited with bringing jobs and money to a remote corner of the country. Trump arrives in Ireland on Saturday f...

This article was published on September 12, 2011. Veteran Ip wins best actress in Venice by Adrian Wan Veteran Hong Kong movie star Deanie Ip Tak-han was named best actress at the Venice Film Festival for her portrayal of an ageing domestic servant i...

Malaysia’s Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Friday called for the general election to be held immediately, in the once-dominant Malay party’s clearest indication yet that it was looking beyond the country’s current governing alliance ahead ...

The United States is leaning on its coastguard to reinforce its presence in the western Pacific as its navy comes under increasing strain in the Middle East. Although this move may be seen as a lower-risk way of countering Beijing’s growing presenc...

China’s buoyant stock market lifted brokers’ earnings in the first half, while Hong Kong saw continued growth in retirement assets. Beyond China, a strengthening yen and Washington’s Treasury buy-back programme highlighted shifting dynamics in ...

In a cramped workshop near the front ⁠in northeastern Ukraine, military mechanic “Chimera” is helping prepare his unit’s robot forces for battle. Lined up in a row, the four-wheeled unmanned vehicles known as “Hyenas” will crawl towards R...

Indonesian authorities are working to repatriate five baby orangutans allegedly trafficked to India, where they were found motherless in a forest, Jakarta’s forestry ministry said on Friday. The critically endangered animals were found on Tuesday b...

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has come under intense social media scrutiny after photos resurfaced showing him wearing a high-value amulet created by a senior monk now at the centre of a fraud and sex scandal. The photos were taken in Octob...

Alibaba Group Holding has mourned the death of Tung Chee-hwa, who served as an independent director, saying the global perspective of Hong Kong’s first leader helped the e-commerce giant to remain rooted in the country while expanding international...

A secondary school in southern China has faced significant backlash since implementing a quota that restricts students to using the toilet only once during class for the entire term. This toilet policy was highlighted in a photo reportedly taken by a...

Malaysia’s Pardons Board has postponed discussions on disgraced former leader Najib Razak’s pardon application, days after widespread public outrage over the possibility that he could walk free from his corruption conviction. The country has been...

Any sign of domestic violence must never be dismissed, with families, friends and neighbours urged to step in and help without judging victims, Malaysia’s Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Lim Hui Ying said on Thursday. Lim sa...

US President Donald Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance wrapped up the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention on Thursday night with promises of an America “greater than ever before”, aiming to secure crucial swing voters ahead of Nov...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please conside...

The Chinese military appeared to fire flares near a Philippine aircraft operating close to the Subi and Mischief reefs, according to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), as tensions continue to spread to other South China Sea hotspots. The coastguard re...

Hong Kong police have arrested two tourists at the airport on suspicion of criminal damage after they allegedly broke into an MTR Corporation depot in Chai Wan and spray-painted graffiti on the exterior of two carriages. The force said on Thursday ev...

India’s proposal to put ⁠health warning labels on some food products has sparked a nationwide debate over how the country came to rely on cheap packaged food while companies sold more nutritious versions of the same brands in other markets. With ...

Kazakhstan’s businesses should prioritise long-term fundraising ambitions rather than quick wins in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets, a managing director of the Central Asian country’s sovereign wealth fund has said. Saltanat Satzhan, manag...

At a market in Bangkok, stallholders say they had no idea initially about a boxy structure covered in gunmetal grey panels that was quickly built and installed opposite their stalls. According to them, nauseating oil began to waft through the area, w...

Israel said Thursday it demolished key tunnels built by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group beneath the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, triggering a 4.1 magnitude tremor. Agence France-Presse journalists in the area heard several explos...

Yuen Kee Food Group, the owner of well-known restaurant brand Yuen Kee Dumpling, has cleared its listing hearing with the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), aiming to raise between HK$300 million (US$38.3 million) and HK$400 million, according ...

A chilling new documentary about Israel’s AI-powered mass killing of civilians in Gaza from two Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers received a 25-minute ovation at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday. The audience clapped continuously...

Three former leaders of the now-disbanded alliance behind Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil have been sentenced to up to seven years and three months in jail under the national security law for inciting subversion by calling for an end to �...

In the second of our series of previews on the five-year plan and policy address, to be announced on September 16, Elizabeth Cheung and Vivian Au drill down on what’s holding back the Northern Metropolis. Read part one here. For employees of surgic...

This article was first published on September 12, 2001. America’s nightmare by Greg Torode in Washington President George W. Bush this morning (September 12, 2001) told the United States that thousands had lost their lives after two hijacked airlin...

A survey of potential Chinese-American voters suggests a significant gender gap in party affiliation as well as a high level of willingness to vote across party lines, according to results released on Thursday. The data – from the Committee of 100 ...

Japan’s hugely popular Sapporo Snow Festival is shifting its focus towards protecting the environment and sustainability, with a climate expert warning that global warming and reduced snowfall across Hokkaido will make it increasingly difficult to ...

Enflame Technology, one of the major challengers to Nvidia in China, saw its share price surge 179 per cent in its Shanghai trading debut on Friday, giving the Tencent Holdings-backed artificial intelligence chipmaker a market capitalisation of 170.9...

Foreign carmakers have been slashing the prices of petrol-powered cars they make in China by more than 20 per cent to survive in a cutthroat market amid weakening consumer demand. Last month, big international marques including Volkswagen and Toyota ...

A 106-year-old man in eastern China has inspired many online with his unconventional lifestyle and enduring marriage. Wang Dinggao, from Rui’an in Zhejiang province, remains remarkably independent despite experiencing some hearing loss, according t...

A fraying global economic order could push South Korea and Japan towards deeper trade integration, with business leaders and analysts saying the two neighbours stand to benefit from such a partnership despite lingering historical wounds. The two coun...

Deep in the southern border zone of Johor, Malaysia, separated from Singapore by a narrow strait, a steady flow of commuters moves seamlessly between the two sovereign neighbours. Beyond the immediate checkpoints, a short 30-minute train ride connect...

American artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic has accused its Chinese AI rivals DeepSeek and Moonshot on Thursday of covertly routing customer requests to its Claude models, then showing users the responses as if they were from their own mode...

Police say five people have died and 40 others were injured after a Dutch tour bus slammed into a roadside crash barrier and overturned in eastern Switzerland. The bus, with 45 people on board, overturned Thursday afternoon in a construction zone bet...

Hong Kong’s home prices will end the year 15 per cent higher than a year earlier, but still 16 per cent below their high-water mark in 2021, according to local property agency Midland Realty. Underpinning the positive forecast, the city’s banks w...

The “revenge dress” worn by the late Princess Diana in 1994 is up for auction at Sotheby’s for the first time in nearly three decades. The black silk evening dress by Greek designer Christina Stambolian is estimated to fetch as much as £220,00...

Venezuela’s former first lady wants to be let out of jail while she and her husband await trial on US drug-trafficking charges. Cilia Flores, the wife of ex-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, “deserves the opportunity to await her trial while o...

Beijing is weighing plans to send a group of top tech, electric vehicle and aerospace executives to accompany Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington later this month, as the two sides race to finalise details for the closely watched visit. The So...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks in Peru on Thursday on countering Beijing’s growing footprint around the strategic Chancay megaport, drawing a sharp response from China’s embassy in Lima, which defended its investments and took aim a...

The ocean looks like peace from afar and truth up close, they say. But beneath the waves, the map of the world’s oceans is far less settled than it looks. Today, dozens of sea borders remain unresolved. Like so many conflicts, they owe their origin...

The Swiss federal intelligence service on Thursday published a 200-page dossier on the notorious Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele, the German doctor known as the “Angel of Death” for conducting horrific medical experiments on prisoners at Auschwit...

Canada ⁠has agreed to a C$350 million (US$254 million) aid package for Kyiv to acquire air defence interceptors, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday, after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Kyiv is ‌running critically low on...

Chinese scientists have developed a way to generate a fourfold increase in power output of hydrogen fuel cells, an advance that could broaden their use from road vehicles to space missions. Hydrogen is widely viewed as a promising clean energy source...