Several Chinese cloud service providers are “evaluating price increases”, according to analysts, following recent moves by Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS), as the explosive growth of artificial intelligence drives demand. Google on Tuesday a...

A centenarian Chinese couple have gone viral for being born on the exact same day, month and year and revealing their simple secret to longevity. Numerous netizens have been captivated by the 102-year-old couple’s remedy for a long life, which is m...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sparked intense debate with his comments on the “metropolitan visa” policy, aimed at supplying foreign labour to the country’s industrial regions. The controversy escalated after President Lee openly cri...

China should consider following the US’ lead by investing in low-cost guided munitions to counter future mass drone warfare, according to a Chinese military magazine. The suggestion surfaced in an article in Ordnance Science and Technology this mon...

The first documented case of a Filipino man who died fighting alongside Russian forces in the Ukraine war has raised concerns in the Philippines over coerced recruitment and sparked calls for compensation from Moscow. In a report released on Monday, ...

The Exchange Fund posted its best-ever annual gain since the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) began releasing the data in 2003, as solid stock market returns boosted the city’s financial war chest used to defend the local currency. The Exchange ...

The number of cyberattacks in Hong Kong hit a record high in 2025, with detected system vulnerabilities tripling, prompting experts to warn that artificial intelligence (AI) could pose a major risk of further attacks this year. Edmond Lai Shiao-bun, ...

In the global shift towards carbon neutral mobility, a striking role reversal is taking shape. China, often seen as a top-down planner, has emerged as a pragmatic, market-responsive architect of new energy vehicle (NEV) policy. Europe, a champion of ...

With the recent arrival of a US Navy aircraft carrier task force in the Middle East near Iran, President Donald Trump is set to have all the military assets in place needed to launch a war against Tehran by the end of this week. While a last-minute d...

After nearly two decades of efforts, the European Union and India have formally concluded negotiations in New Delhi for a free-trade deal, shoring up the 27-member bloc’s ambitions to diversify trade ties while navigating tariff pressure from Washi...

Hong Kong authorities will consult the public later this year on building a pedestrian walkway for a waterfront selfie hotspot in Kennedy Town, with the options including small-scale reclamation works. Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho...

Hong Kong authorities will launch a pilot scheme to test firefighting drones, with the aim of deploying the equipment in operations once the technology has matured, the security minister has said. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung made the...

A small cluster of Nipah virus infections reported in eastern India has sparked regional anxiety because of the disease’s high fatality rate, prompting countries across Asia to tighten health screening ahead of the Lunar New Year travel rush, even ...

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’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft returns to Earth broken and ...

The Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) is eyeing investments in fintech, aerospace and artificial intelligence, tapping the city’s strengths and a wave of incoming talent and enterprises as geopolitical shifts create new opportunities, accordi...

A South Korean court sentenced former first lady Kim Keon-hee to 20 months in prison for corruption on Wednesday but acquitted her of alleged stock manipulation and other charges. While the ruling marked the first time that both members of a presiden...

Chinese toymaker Pop Mart’s new blind box series, inspired by the Buddhist ritual instrument called muyu, or “wooden fish,” has become the latest sensation in China following the success of Labubu. The series, titled Pucky Knock Knock, was laun...

The entire executive committee of Malaysia’s football association resigned on Wednesday, the latest blow in a damaging eligibility row over forged documents used to field foreign-born players in Asian Cup qualifiers. The move follows Fifa’s inves...

A Malaysian minister has become the butt of jokes for claiming that work stress can turn people gay, as continued government intervention of what it describes as sexually deviant behaviour piles pressure on the country’s LGBTQ community. The enforc...

The dramatic US operation that overthrew Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro this month may have left North Korean leader Kim Jong-un feeling he was also vulnerable to “decapitation”, according to a former Pyongyang envoy to Havana. In a wide-ranging in...

Hong Kong authorities have said they may take legal action against a major bakery chain after a government laboratory confirmed that a foreign object found in its toast was a tooth. The case surfaced in December when a customer reported finding what ...

Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices ended a three-year downturn with a 3.25 per cent increase in 2025, as the property market gallops into the new year buoyed by expectations of more transactions and further price gains, according to analysts. Rents c...

Russia’s grinding invasion of Ukraine has caused nearly 2 million military casualties - killed, wounded or missing - between the two countries, according to a new study by a US think tank. Moscow’s forces have borne the brunt of the losses, suffe...

A group of construction workers has staged a demonstration at an upscale Hong Kong residential estate undergoing renovation to demand that the contractor involved in the Tai Po fire settle their unpaid wages, with two climbing up scaffolding as part ...

Taiwan’s defence ministry on Tuesday pushed back against an opposition party proposal to cut a planned NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special military budget to NT$400 billion and drop plans for the “T-Dome” layered air defence system. It sai...

Hong Kong health authorities have warned parents not to “blindly follow” overseas changes to childhood immunisation schedules, including for the hepatitis B birth dose, after the United States scaled back routine vaccine recommendations for infan...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to end all US support for Iraq if Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister with ties to Iran, returns to the post. Trump, in his latest blatant intervention in another country’s politics, said that Ir...

As Chinese companies accelerate their overseas expansion, industry leaders are urging a more partnership-driven approach rather than simply building factories abroad – a strategy they say could help ease growing concerns about excess capacity. As i...

On a sunny Saturday, 25 employees from the Hong Kong law firm Deacons spent the morning working side by side with 18 elderly volunteers, weeding, tilling the soil, and transplanting seedlings, while sharing laughter and lessons on organic farming and...

A 46-year-old man from Perak in Malaysia sneaked out of the country to visit his pregnant second wife without his first wife’s knowledge. He landed in hot water when he was arrested while returning from Indonesia via an illegal route. His passport ...

A man sprayed an unknown substance on Democratic US congresswoman Ilhan Omar and was tackled to the ground during a town hall on Tuesday. The incident occurred in Minneapolis, where tensions over federal immigration enforcement have come to a head af...

A Chinese drug could help manage outbreaks of Nipah and prevent the spread of the deadly virus that has no vaccine or cure, researchers have said. The virus has a fatality rate of up to 75 per cent and the most recent outbreak in the Indian state of ...

The Philippine military and coastguard have stepped up security around a newly announced natural gas discovery off Palawan, treating the operation as a test case for protecting future offshore energy projects in contested waters, according to officia...

China’s latest outbound investment numbers look underwhelming at first glance. At the commerce ministry’s recently concluded national conference on outbound investment and foreign aid, officials revealed that outward direct investment grew by jus...

A 10-day-old animal nicknamed the “drama queen lamb” has gone viral online for its hilarious ability to play dead, which has attracted so much attention that someone even offered 130,000 yuan (US$19,000) to buy it. On January 13, the lamb from Zh...

Hongkongers should avoid travelling to West Bengal, which is battling an outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus, an infectious diseases expert has warned, with an Indian community leader in the city predicting a short-term impact on family and business t...

Britain is eyeing greater engagement and closer trade ties with China, seeking to steady a relationship long marked by volatility, its ambassador to Beijing said, ahead of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s highly anticipated visit. Peter Wilson told re...

China appears to have sent a message to the market with a recent 67 million yuan (US$9.7 million) fine on an unregistered education firm: the government is not planning to reverse its ban on after-school tutoring any time soon. With Beijing striving ...

China’s instructions to citizens not to visit Japan during the coming Lunar New Year holiday has been welcomed by some Japanese weary of overcrowding at tourist hotspots, while local travel operators say the immediate impact on business is likely t...

A man on trial for bludgeoning four men to death with a metal bar as they slept on the New York streets had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he left jail months earlier and was hearing voices telling him he needed to kill 40 people or he would ...

US President Donald Trump’s border tsar, Tom Homan, met with the Minneapolis mayor and the Minnesota governor on Tuesday in a show of detente, as the ‌White House sought to ease unrest gripping the city after two US citizens were shot dead by fed...

For decades, the US dollar has served as the currency of global reserve, the de facto anchor for the vast majority of international exchanges. Consequently, United States government debt – most commonly in the form of Treasury assets such as bonds,...

Most Americans favour cooperation with China in spite of Washington’s tougher stance on visas, research collaboration and tariffs, according to a new survey by the Committee of 100 (C100) civic group. The results of the polling, conducted in June 2...

A US Border Patrol agent shot and wounded a human trafficking suspect who fired on a federal government helicopter in Arizona ‍on Tuesday and later engaged in a shoot-out with the agent, officials said. The suspect, a fugitive who had escaped from ...

The “Doomsday Clock” representing how near humanity is to catastrophe on Tuesday moved closer than ever to midnight as concerns mount on nuclear weapons, climate change and disinformation. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which set up the m...

One of China’s largest mining companies has taken control of three gold mines in Brazil in a deal worth about US$1 billion, as gold prices hit historic highs amid rising economic and geopolitical uncertainty in the United States and a global flight...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that he told US President Donald Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals. Carney roll...

TikTok said on Tuesday that technical issues caused posting problems after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a probe into the company for allegedly censoring content critical of US President Donald Trump. This came days after the short video...

North Korea fired what appeared to be ballistic missiles off its east coast days after the US released a new defence strategy signalling a reduction in American military support to deter Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. Multiple ballistic missiles we...

China may have led a Stone Age technological race as early as 160,000 years ago, by crafting sophisticated stone tools for cutting, piercing and sawing, according to a new study. An international team of scientists said the discovery of hafted tools ...