The expanded second passenger terminal at Hong Kong International Airport is set to open its doors to travellers on Wednesday, offering 25 new shopping and dining options. While travellers must still take an autonomous people mover to Terminal 1 for ...

Last year, China’s outward direct investment climbed 7 per cent to US$174 billion while overseas mergers and acquisitions rebounded to over US$43 billion, up nearly 40 per cent, according to EY data. Clearly, China’s appetite for global deal-maki...

Archaeologists in central China have directly challenged the long-held belief that humanity’s earliest ancestors reached their creative peak during warm and hospitable climates. For more than a decade, a team of researchers in Henan province has st...

Hong Kong’s annual Cheung Chau Bun Festival drew more than 10,000 visitors by noon on Sunday, including tourists who had travelled specially to witness the signature parade featuring “floating” children dressed as Middle Eastern oil moguls and ...

Zimbabwe is betting that its move into lithium processing will finally break the cycle of digging and shipping ore that has defined its mining sector for decades. This follows the export of the continent’s first consignment of lithium sulphate by P...

Japan’s immigration authorities plan to crack down on visa overstayers and illegal foreign workers by monitoring social media and other platforms for information or leads. The initiative is part of the country’s efforts to reduce the number of ov...

Firefighters warned on Saturday that a tank of toxic chemicals in California is heating up, adding to fears of a catastrophic explosion that has already forced tens of thousands of Californians to evacuate. About 40,000 residents were ordered to leav...

Chinese robovans could generate twice as much revenue in Southeast Asia and the Middle East than in the domestic market, making overseas expansion a must for profitability, according to autonomous driving leader Zelos Technology. The company claims t...

As the US-Israel war on Iran stretches past its 80th day and continues to upend global naval shipping, a growing number of Chinese investors in Iran are turning to railway and overland transport routes to keep their businesses afloat. While disruptio...

Russia pounded Kyiv with a massive missile and drone attack that killed four people early on Sunday, authorities said, after President Vladimir Putin threatened retaliation for strikes in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Multiple rounds of explosion...

The leader of Hong Kong offered his praise and blessings to the first local astronaut, Lai Ka-ying, in a video call ahead of the launch of the Shenzhou-23 mission on Sunday, calling her participation a reflection of the country’s support for the ci...

The owners of a Chinese coal mine where at least 82 people were killed have been accused of “serious violations of the law” by the local government. As search and rescue operations continued through the night, Chen Xiangyang, the deputy party sec...

Ken Mak’s greatest wish before leaving his village in Hong Kong this month is to save the fruit trees planted by his grandfather before the bulldozers arrive. To give the trees in Yick Yuen Tsuen in Tuen Mun a second chance, he hit on an idea: tree...

Population ageing is fast becoming a global phenomenon. Even regions currently enjoying youthful demographics will eventually undergo demographic transition – and this is increasingly relevant for developing countries too. Some Southeast Asian econ...

Hong Kong is likely to attract more mainland Chinese retail brands, but unlike the previous wave, non food and beverage (F&B) retailers are the ones ramping up their presence, according to analysts. The change in profile of mainland brands coming to ...

As I return to China, I do so with an abiding sense of respect for a nation that has become one of Serbia’s most indispensable partners and a defining force of our century. In Europe, discussions about China are too often clouded by suspicion and s...

Hong Kong’s technology infrastructure is undergoing a major transformation as local government and businesses replace Western products with domestic alternatives, driven by closer integration with mainland China and rising geopolitical risks, accor...

Two people feared trapped after a building collapse in the ‌Philippines were alive and communicating with rescuers on Sunday, an official said, as rescue efforts continued. “They are in constant communication. We are awaiting more details, but ou...

A US plan to build an “AI-native” industrial hub in the Philippines has highlighted the political sensitivities around Washington’s push to secure critical technology supply chains, after Manila rejected proposals for the zone to be governed by...

For the first time in a decade, a Hong Kong government task force did not conduct any publicity campaign covering gender identity and sexual orientation in the latest financial year, triggering concerns that authorities are taking a lukewarm attitude...

A boy in central China dreamed of making his own silk quilt, prompting his parents to buy 10,000 silkworm eggs to nurture his curiosity. In May, a mother surnamed Ruan from Wuhan, Hubei province, revealed online that her family was raising silkworms ...

Thailand’s navy has to watch two seas at once. To the east lies the Gulf of Thailand, with its busy shipping lanes, offshore energy interests and long coastal frontier with Cambodia. To the west is the Andaman Sea, a gateway to the Indian Ocean wit...

A gunman opened fire near the White House on Saturday evening, with US Secret Service agents killing the assailant in a shoot-out during which a bystander was also struck, authorities said. US President Donald Trump was at the White House at the time...

Bangladesh’s potential purchase of a Sino-Pakistani fighter jet could raise tensions in India’s sensitive northeast, as relations between Dhaka and New Delhi remain tense, analysts said. According to Pakistani media reports, the country has trans...

More than a decade ago, I argued that Hung Shui Kiu should be conceived as the “northwest stronghold” of Hong Kong, a geographic centre of the New Territories and a hinge point between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Today, that vision is beginning to ma...

Cristian Mungiu’s Norway-set drama about political polarisation Fjord has won the Palme d’Or, handing the Cannes Film Festival’s top honour for the second time to Mungiu, the Romanian director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. At a 79th Cannes F...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called India a natural partner and invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, turning the page at least rhetorically on friction despite new-found US warmth towards China. One week after joining ...

Lai Ka-ying suffers from motion sickness, cannot stand hot weather, was not a top student and did not speak Mandarin – all of which made the 43-year-old mother of three an unlikely pick as Hong Kong’s first astronaut. But the Hong Kong-born paylo...

The United States and Iran sought on Sunday to finalise an agreement to formally end the Middle East war after Donald Trump said a proposal that included opening the blockaded Strait of Hormuz was “largely negotiated”. However, the US president e...

France has ⁠decided to ban Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from French territory, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Saturday, adding that this reflected ‌growing anger among governments around the world over the treat...

An early glimpse of the battle to succeed US President Donald Trump atop the Republican ticket played out last week in classic Trumpian fashion when Vice-President J.D. Vance was temporarily demoted to play press secretary. His hour-long spell fieldi...

India’s state-run refiners raised retail prices again of diesel and petrol on Saturday to help processors cut losses on discounted sales and to control a spike in demand. Prices of both fuels rose by nearly one per cent, or less than 1 rupee, with ...

China appears to be close to launching the world’s largest naval support ship. On Thursday, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation released a picture of one of its shipyards on social media as part of a message marking a new Chinese solar term, w...

New Zealand intends to spend about NZ$1.6 billion (US$936 million) on drones, ship maintenance and naval upgrades to bolster the island nation’s maritime security at a time of increasing concern about supply routes. Defence Minister Chris Penk said...

Hong Kong’s first astronaut will operate a locally developed observatory that monitors key sources of greenhouse gas emissions on Earth during her time aboard the Tiangong space station, the research team behind the project has said. The imaging eq...

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is visiting China as the country seeks support for its efforts to mediate in the conflict between Iran and the United States. The visit also coincides with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of formal di...

Ebola is spreading faster than responders can track it in eastern Congo, where health workers managed to follow up with barely one in five identified contacts in a single day. Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reported 83 confirme...

China is turning coal waste into a source of critical metals including lithium, gallium and germanium, leveraging its advantages in extraction technology and industrial infrastructure. Coal mining and burning produce large amounts of waste, including...

Hong Kong’s justice department has rejected online accusations about the newly promoted public prosecutions director and a colleague, labelling the allegations “despicable behaviour” and an attempt to “defame public officers”. In a statemen...

Nearly 10,000 Hongkongers have been granted permanent residence in the UK under a bespoke British immigration pathway launched in January 2021, making them eligible to apply for citizenship next year. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Brit...

Pope Leo on Saturday called out companies who seek “dizzying” profits at the cost of environmental pollution, on a visit to an area in Italy known as a hotbed for illegal dumping of toxic waste. On a visit to Acerra, ‌about 220 km (137 miles) s...

An association representing native English-speaking teachers (NETs) in Hong Kong has warned that less-attractive pay offered under a new hiring scheme risks lowering the quality of recruits and standards, with the contracts of some experienced educat...

A US and Philippine-led military drill seen as targeting China grew this year into the largest yet, prompting Chinese experts to warn that the annual event will exacerbate regional instability amid heightened tensions in the Indo-Pacific. The decades...

China’s decision to ease residency restrictions on social insurance applicants will help unleash positive, long-term economic growth, according to analysts. The new measures announced on Friday by the State Council are part of China’s broader pus...

A group of Hongkongers have started the city’s first corpse restoration team, aiming to provide affordable reconstruction services for badly disfigured bodies so the dead can be buried with dignity and their families can find some comfort. The six-...

In ancient China, women were largely denied formal education and confined to the roles of dutiful wives and mothers. Against this restrictive social order, two women pushed beyond the limits and left notable marks on medicine, astronomy and mathemati...

War is now a possibility in Norway, by the prime minister’s own admission. The country, which borders Russia, has gone into “total defence” mode, preparing its population for the worst in light of the fighting in Ukraine. Dug beneath a peaceful...

A fatal fire at a subdivided flat on Thursday has highlighted the need to eradicate substandard housing in Hong Kong, the housing minister has said, noting that affected residents had a living space of just five square metres (54 sq ft) on average. S...

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has twice in recent weeks urged the country’s armed forces to defend its sovereignty, in a carefully calibrated attempt to sound more assertive on the South China Sea issue without directly challenging ...

France has committed €23 billion (US$26.7 billion) to Africa’s private sector in a bid to counter Chinese dominance and rebuild its influence on the continent. Speaking at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi earlier this month, President Emmanue...