The route to challenging China’s supremacy in rare earth minerals lies in using artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing to create synthetic substitutes or alloys, according to a prominent American expert in AI. Jack Hidary, CEO of Sandbo...

Russia’s army chief Valery Gerasimov visited Moscow’s troops in Ukraine and said the Kremlin’s forces seized a dozen eastern villages in February, the defence ministry said on Sunday. Gerasimov’s visit comes days before US-mediated talks with...

Hong Kong has begun 2026 with a surge in inbound tourism, welcoming 7.23 million visitors to date, marking an increase of 9.6 per cent compared with the previous year. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also said that 1.43 million mainland Chinese v...

ByteDance’s latest video generation model Seedance 2.0 has blown people away for its ability to rapidly generate lifelike videos, but is also receiving blowback globally for alleged intellectual property (IP) violations. The controversy focuses on ...

China has expanded its list of domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) – institutions subject to tighter regulatory standards – as authorities step up macroprudential oversight to safeguard financial stability amid high exposure to propert...

Hong Kong will usher in the Year of the Horse with a string of events starting on February 17 and welcome an estimated 1.43 million mainland Chinese for the festivities. The mainland’s holiday runs from February 15 to 23, while the local one extend...

Hong Kong police have arrested a passenger for allegedly stealing HK$25,000 (US$3,200) in foreign currency from carry-on luggage on an inbound flight from Kuala Lumpur. Airport police said on Sunday that a male passenger had reported the previous day...

Malaysia has drawn a hard line against becoming a dumping ground for the world’s toxic scrap, but enforcing that pledge means sifting through millions of shipping containers each year – a daunting challenge shared by ports across Southeast Asia. ...

Amid the firecrackers and festive cheer, China’s young generation is redefining the Chinese Spring Festival with a “Cyber Lunar New Year”, blending hi-tech with spiritual pragmatism. From burning digital incense on their smartphones to exchangi...

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has filed a court order to forfeit overseas assets belonging to Prince Turki Abdullah Al Saud. The application to forfeit assets was filed under Sections 56(1), 59 and 61(2) of the Anti-Money-Laundering...

Hong Kong police have arrested a driver after his coach crashed on the Shenzhen Bay Bridge, leaving 17 people with minor injuries. Police said the bus ran into railings at 1.50pm on Sunday while heading to the city in the slow lane of the cross-borde...

Hong Kong’s surveillance cameras are expected to incorporate facial recognition technology as early as this year, pending the resolution of legal and technical issues, according to the city’s police chief. Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming...

China’s top market regulator has summoned the country’s leading tech companies to demand an end to “involutionary” competition, at the time when the companies are pouring billions of yuan into a Lunar New Year promotional blitz to win over us...

As a first-year computer science student in Hanoi, Hoang Le started trading cryptocurrency from his university dorm room, egged on by his gamer friends who were making a killing. At one point his digital holdings jumped to US$200,000 – around 50 ti...

As Hong Kong, mainland China and several other Asian markets usher in the Year of the Horse on Tuesday, the region’s commercial real estate sector is expected to draw increased cross-border capital, with certain segments set to outperform as mega-d...

Indonesia’s capital is now officially the world’s most populous city, but for many among the 42 million people who call the greater Jakarta metropolitan area their home, the ranking is less a badge of honour than a symbol of endurance. Jakarta ov...

Hong Kong’s transport chief has pledged to fully review the ill-fated mandatory seat belt rule for bus passengers, including improving strap designs and examining possible exemptions, before relaunching the policy. Secretary for Transport and Logis...

The US military is preparing for the possibility ⁠of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, according to two US officials, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen betw...

As France’s influence fades and with Russian weapons in limited supply, a “military vacuum” has been created in West and Central Africa that China is uniquely positioned to fill, according to analysts. In a January report in the official journa...

The highest-paid independent non-executive director (INED) of a Hong Kong-listed company in 2024 made US$1.67 million, nearly 2,000 times what the lowest-paid INED received, drawing attention to a potential disconnect between pay and the responsibili...

Hong Kong police have arrested a 79-year-old cabby on suspicion of knocking down an elderly woman with his vehicle in North Point in the early hours of Sunday. The force said the taxi driver was driving along Java Road when he allegedly struck the 74...

New Zealand’s government has come under fire for keeping its talks with the United States over critical minerals under wraps, as opposition parties level accusations of secrecy amid mounting concern about environmental damage and foreign influence....

Former US president Barack Obama criticised a lack of shame and decorum in the country’s political discourse, responding on Saturday for the first time to a post on Donald Trump’s social media account that depicted him and his wife Michelle as mo...

China’s box office presales topped 200 million yuan (US$28.9 million) by Saturday ahead of the coming Lunar New Year holiday, led exclusively by domestic productions – a decline of more than 60 per cent from about 600 million yuan over the same p...

US President Donald Trump on Saturday celebrated Valentine’s Day by sharing a series of cards that praised his accomplishments while predictably slamming Democrats and even poking fun at his own secretary of state. The cards, posted by the White Ho...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is eroding the very capabilities young professionals need to remain valuable in a machine-automated era. That is the real challenge facing graduates entering the workforce. It is not simply a case of AI destroying jobs �...

A Hong Kong court has granted a local married couple a parental order for two boys born following a verbal surrogacy agreement in mainland China, ruling that the applicants were merely ignorant that the arrangement was illegal. But a lawyer said the ...

A new type of partner is heading towards becoming the next big thing in China’s dating market – so-called hunter-style lovers. This does not mean they work as hunters or see their dates as prey, but instead bring their lovers “prey” in the fo...

For a moment, Kim Seon-ho’s return looked complete: a Netflix hit, overseas buzz and a career seemingly past the scandal that forced him into an indefinite hiatus in 2021. Then a new controversy hit – this time, over taxes. Kim’s agency, Fantag...

The International Space Station returned to full strength with Saturday’s arrival of four new astronauts to replace colleagues who bailed early because of health concerns. SpaceX delivered the US, French and Russian astronauts a day after launching...

One of China’s most anticipated Lunar New Year holiday films features a renowned director, a cast of stars and an unusual creative consultant: the country’s top counter-espionage agency. Scare Out, which will debut in cinemas in mainland China on...

The United Nations is broke. According to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the institution can’t pay its bills. Members, such as the US, haven’t paid their dues. The UN doesn’t just face a liquidity crisis. An old rule obliges it to pay m...

Switzerland said on Saturday that Oman would host talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva next week, with Washington pushing Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear programme. “Switzerland stands ready at all times to offer its good o...

In early 2013, Jeffrey Epstein’s girlfriend, Karyna Shuliak, was stressed about her US visa status. Later that year, she married an American citizen and her worries were gone. A Green Card followed, and in 2018, citizenship. Then Shuliak divorced h...

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with a rare and lethal toxin found in the skin of poison dart frogs, five European countries said on Saturday. The foreign ministries of the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Neth...

A Hong Kong dancer paralysed in an accident 3½ years ago during a concert by popular boy band Mirror has had a breakthrough in his rehabilitation, regaining some mobility in his right arm and sensation when answering the call of nature, with the hel...

Over a hundred top figures from the world of entertainment signed an open letter on Saturday in support of UN Palestinian human rights expert Francesca Albanese, who faces calls to resign over comments about the war in Gaza. France and Germany have c...

The US and China sought to manage their great power competition at Europe’s premier defence summit on Saturday, even as their top diplomats traded thinly veiled barbs at their respective roles in the current global tumult. In back-to-back speeches ...

Last week, US ambassador to Poland Tom Rose cut off contact with his host country’s parliamentary speaker over what he described as “outrageous and unprovoked insults” against President Donald Trump. Washington would “not permit anyone to har...

Bahrain and Egypt are attempting to mend ties between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, two sources said, weeks into a diplomatic rift between the Arab world’s most powerful countries. Saudi Arabia and the UAE had a public falling out in D...

Transport authorities have warned of heavier traffic on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge from Sunday because of the combined effect of a key link’s suspension in Zhuhai and increased travel over Lunar New Year. A temporary link between the mega br...

The Chinese foreign ministry’s arm in Hong Kong has lodged “solemn representations” with local envoys for Britain, the US, Australia and the EU over remarks made by their officials and politicians about the sentencing of former media boss Jimmy...

Japan has released the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that Tokyo says tried to flee an inspection while in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Japan’s fisheries agency said the captain was released before 8pm on Friday after China submitted docum...

People across China are buying up gold in large volumes ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, as surging prices for the precious metal fuel its popularity as both a festive gift and an investment. From migrant workers splashing out on gold-coated jewe...

More Taiwanese are visiting mainland China but the numbers have yet to cross pre-Covid levels, data from the island’s tourism body shows. Taiwanese media attributed the slow recovery to continued cross-strait tensions and partial travel restriction...

Bangladesh’s prime minister-in-waiting Tarique Rahman on Saturday dedicated his landslide election win to those who “sacrificed for democracy”, calling for unity after the first polls since a deadly 2024 uprising. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (...

Safeguarding national security is crucial for Hong Kong to fully implement the “one country, two systems” governing principle and ensure the city’s stability, which will aid its development and attract foreign investors. That was the key takeaw...

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping industries and markets, even though artificial general intelligence (AGI) – a still theoretical form of AI capable of humanlike reasoning across many tasks rather than single specialised functions – ha...

Africa’s top regional body is hosting its annual summit in Ethiopia this weekend to discuss the future of the continent of some 1.4 billion people, as the organisation faces widespread discontent. Set up to “promote the unity and solidarity of th...

China and the US could get along well but whether that goal is reached would ultimately depend on the United States, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference. Wang said China sought to find the right way for...