At the Goodtime Chinese School in the Bethany suburb of Portland, Oregon, an American child stops school director Zhou Yanzhuo, of China, in the hallway to ask a question in English. She requests that he speak in Chinese and the third grader, who has...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday his government would provide free online coaching lessons for competitive exams, weeks after massive youth-led protests forced the education minister to resign. Modi said the initiative was aimed a...

For decades, the three days of summer considered the hottest of the year were among the busiest for South Korea’s dog meat restaurants, as diners sought traditional stamina-boosting foods to endure the heat. The third “boknal”, or hot day, of 2...

It may not be the most majestic creature on our beautiful planet, but the humble silkworm deserves a place alongside horses, cattle, cats, and dogs due to its profound impact on human civilisation. The luxurious fabric spun from the silkworm’s natu...

China’s electric vehicles (EVs) already lead the way in terms of battery and autonomous driving technologies. Now, the country’s auto brands are adding a new dimension to the notion of intelligent cars: turning them into full-scale entertainment ...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he would speed up the pace of reforms and strengthen an anti-corruption drive as he sought to rebuild public support after a string of electoral defeats and party departures. Anwar acknowledged shortcomings...

Hong Kong authorities have suspended the main contractor and lift subcontractor working on Queen Mary Hospital’s new clinical block from public works tenders after serious defects left most lifts unreliable and delayed the launch of services. The A...

China has “strongly condemned” Japanese leaders for visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine and making an offering on the 81st anniversary of Japan’s announcement of surrender in World War II. Beijing lodged a formal protest after Japanese d...

Hongkongers should exercise extreme caution in guarding their personal data, especially during online shopping and membership sign-ups, the city’s privacy watchdog has said after privacy complaints jumped more than 60 per cent year on year in the f...

Hong Kong’s fintech hub Cyberport has added 66,000 square metres of space in its fifth-phase expansion and filled half of its offices with tenants including mainland Chinese tech companies, according to its chairman. Simon Chan Sai-ming also said o...

Russia is confounding expectations that its influence in the Middle East would drastically decline after the downfall of Syria’s Assad regime in 2024. At the time, Moscow operated about 100 military facilities in the war-torn country, following its...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung proposed talks with North Korea to formally end the long-running Korean war, as Pyongyang deepens ties with Russia while asserting its status as an “irreversible” nuclear state. The two Koreas remain technical...

Hong Kong’s lush forests are teeming with more wildlife ranging from birds arriving from neighbouring regions to newly discovered reptile and insect species, experts have found, as they urge authorities to devise a conservation list to protect vuln...

Third plenums are ordinarily the quiet part of Vietnam’s political calendar. Between its five-yearly congresses, the Communist Party of Vietnam governs through numbered plenums of its Central Committee (CC): the first two settle personnel decisions...

A truck driver has fled the scene after his vehicle crashed into roadside barriers and burst into flames on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island, with debris from the collision injuring a taxi driver and passenger travelling behind. The incident occurred at a...

At one of the world’s biggest electronic dance music festivals in Belgium, entranced revellers recently found themselves dancing to sounds more often heard on a Singapore commute than a Tomorrowland stage. They included the MRT warning to “Sila b...

Picture a fisherman hauling in his nets on a calm morning at sea, when his smartwatch suddenly vibrates with an alert: “Magnetic anomaly detected – possible submarine passing 500 metres below.” Far‑fetched as it sounds, Chinese scientists hav...

A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least 20 people, collapsing buildings and homes as well as causing panic in a region prone to deadly quakes. Authorities said six people were injured, an...

For years, the conventional wisdom in Washington was that America’s China policy was moving in one direction: tougher. But walk into a classroom at Georgetown, Rice or another US university where the next generation of diplomats and foreign-policy ...

When Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah recently stripped his daughter-in-law of a royal title, the move drew attention for its unusually public glimpse into discipline inside one of the world’s few remaining absolute monarchies. But it also offere...

Thirty lions and tigers that were kept alive – barely – for years in cramped concrete cages at a closed Argentine zoo began entering jumbo-size transport crates on Friday as they embarked on ambitious journeys to wildlife sanctuaries halfway acro...

More than 86,000 football fans passed through Kai Tak Stadium over two nights recently as Manchester City faced Inter Milan and Chelsea took on Juventus. Supporters filled nearby malls and restaurants, with some merchants reporting foot traffic three...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Saturday sent a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, while the country’s defence chief Shinjiro Koizumi visited the site as Japan marks the 81st anniversary of the end of the secon...

Regional cooperation is a key priority in Hong Kong’s first five-year plan. In the fourth of a five-part series on the plan, we look at how life in the Greater Bay Area can get better, with the right policies. Read part one here, part two here and ...

A young Chinese man who has just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Technology from the prestigious Wuhan University is set to embark on a new life as a doctoral student at the same institution. Peng Wenle is not just anothe...

As Leopold Aschenbrenner’s US hedge fund saw assets wiped off by more than two-thirds in a single month, some of China’s new portfolio managers also felt the shock across the Pacific, learning bitter lessons early in their careers. The 50-day mar...

With its padded leather and gold “CC” lock, Coco Chanel’s instantly recognisable bag is practically part of the uniform for any self-respecting Bangkok property agent – an apt accessory for a city that recently edged into the top 10 anywhere ...

Just months ago, disorganised planning from Washington in the lead-up to US President Donald Trump’s landmark China visit frustrated Chinese officials. Now, Beijing is watching the same story play out on the other side of the world. With less than ...

Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez’s tribute to Fidel Castro has drawn a blistering rebuke from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, highlighting the political tensions surrounding Caracas’ rapprochement with Washington even as China seek...

President Donald Trump on Friday said he would “soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz waterway part of US territory after defeating Iran. “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated – pretty soon I’ll be declaring the H...

UK academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week amid a high-profile plagiarism storm that featured racism claims, was found dead on Friday, the prestigious British institution confirmed. Arday, 41, was found unrespons...

A US appeal court on Friday gave Chinese drone maker DJI another chance to challenge its inclusion on a Pentagon blacklist of companies allegedly linked to the Chinese military. DJI, a Shenzhen-based drone maker, has been engaged in a years-long lega...

President Donald Trump dismissed concerns on Friday over living conditions and the mental health of service members on a US aircraft carrier deployed against Iran, while confirming the ship would soon rotate out. Asked by reporters whether family mem...

Italian authorities recovered three artworks by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth millions of euros that were stolen earlier this year from a private museum near the northern city of Parma, police said on Friday. A statement from the Italian Carabini...

Luigi Mangione admitted in court on Friday to fatally shooting US health insurance executive Brian Thompson and pleaded guilty to two federal charges of stalking the executive with the intent to kill him. “I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and ‌he ...

Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has recorded an operating surplus of HK$338 million (US$43.3 million) for the 2025-26 financial year, after reporting three straight years of losses. At a banquet on Friday to mark the statutory body’s 25...

Li, a woman in her late twenties from southwestern China, is anxious about her coming interview for a 10-year US visa. She has big plans for her travels – a weeks-long stay next year that would be her first visit to the country – followed by a pl...

A helicopter pilot has died after crashing in a forest in eastern Germany while carrying out liming work, the police directorate in the city of Chemnitz said on Friday. Workers managed to pull the man from the helicopter after the impact, police said...

A bomb-disposal team and a unit behind Hong Kong’s light public housing scheme have won this year’s chief executive’s award, praised for embodying civil servants’ professional spirit in “rising to challenges and pursuing excellence”. City...

A woman in Hong Kong who owned multiple properties has lost HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) after being scammed by a fraudster posing as a prospective tenant. The police force revealed on Friday that the 64-year-old retiree, whose properties consisted...

At least eight workers have died following a toxic gas leak at a ship-breaking yard in the southeastern Bangladeshi district of Chattogram, officials said on Friday. The incident occurred at the Ferdaus Steel Shipbreaking Yard in Sitakund subdistrict...

After almost four decades of international cooperation in space affairs, Brazil and China have unveiled details of a new project to launch a powerful meteorological and environmental satellite. It will be capable of monitoring the whole of South Amer...

Vladimir Putin’s unprecedented visit to the disputed southern Kuril Islands signals a broader joint effort by Moscow and Beijing to pressure Japan, according to analysts. They said the coordinated push aimed to target Tokyo over a range of friction...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr on Friday said talks with China on joint oil and gas exploration had “moved forward” – signalling hopes of a deal before he leaves office in mid-2028, despite ongoing tensions in the South China Sea. Ma...

As US-China tech tensions rise ahead of an expected leadership summit next month, analysts argue Washington’s latest restrictions are unlikely to cause a major disruption in China’s AI exports. But they caution that some of the measures – such ...

The United States has sent a team of coastguards to train their Taiwanese counterparts as Beijing steps up its presence east of the island. Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said on Friday that its personnel were taking part in a two-week trainin...

Tariffs of up to 100 per cent that Washington has announced on imported drones would result in a “lose-lose outcome” for the United States and China, analysts said, as the technology is increasingly taking centre stage in the countries’ tech an...

For Indonesian families who lost loved ones in the 2018 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people, the latest development in the US courts has deepened their pain that justice remains out of reach. Keith Griffin, a Californian lawyer who worked with disg...

The cockpit crew of a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Hong Kong to London selected the wrong radio frequency when mistakenly responding to instructions for another aircraft, leading to a loss of communication with air traffic control in Romanian a...

Hong Kong authorities received more than 16,000 public submissions for the city’s inaugural five-year plan by the close of its consultation on Friday, with an official noting general support for more focused integration into national development an...