Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek is finalising its first external fundraising round, securing over 50 billion yuan (US$7.4 billion) at a valuation of just under US$60 billion, according to people familiar with the matter – marking ...

China is one of the world’s largest buyers of gold as central banks shift towards the precious metal, which has overtaken US Treasuries to become the world’s top reserve asset amid higher valuations and its appeal as a geopolitical hedge, the Eur...

South Korea has made peaceful coexistence the central objective of its North Korea policy. As outlined in a recent white paper, Seoul has not formally abandoned reunification but has chosen to prioritise the more immediate and achievable objective of...

Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory recorded its strongest monthly deliveries of the year in May as a broader recovery in China’s electric vehicle market gathered pace, although the US carmaker is likely to face intensifying competition from domestic ri...

Disciplinary authorities in central China are investigating a county-level Communist Party chief following a coal mine gas blast that killed 82 people and left two missing. Zhao Yongjin, party secretary of Qinyuan county in Changzhi, was “suspected...

Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has met the conditions for a royal pardon as part of clemency measure marking the queen’s birthday, the justice minister said on Wednesday. Thaksin, 76, served eight months of a one-year sentenc...

More Hong Kong carriers including Cathay Pacific Airways and Hong Kong Airlines cancelled or rescheduled flights to Japan on Wednesday as Typhoon Jangmi headed towards Tokyo. Cathay, the city’s flag carrier, cancelled six scheduled flights between ...

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. Chinese archaeologist who discovered 5,000-year-old city plea...

Ukrainian drones hit energy and military sites in St Petersburg early Wednesday morning as officials gathered for a flagship economic forum in the city, Russian and Ukrainian authorities said. Some 20,000 guests from 130 countries are set to attend t...

Britain’s Sikh community has rejected calls to strip them of the rights to carry a ceremonial knife – known as the kirpan – as outrage snowballs over the murder of an 18-year-old student by a Sikh man. Vickrum Singh Digwa, 23, was handed a life...

Unassisted home births and vaccine refusal put mothers and newborns at life-threatening risks, a Hong Kong doctor and a children’s rights group have said, stressing that parental choice must not come at the expense of an infant’s well-being. Thei...

Japan is positioning itself as a partner for Pacific Island nations struggling with rising seas and caught between the US-China rivalry, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledging on Wednesday to help fight climate change and boost maritime cooperat...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally received the country’s AFC Women’s Champions League winners in Pyongyang earlier this week, embracing the players and posing for photographs with them as they wept with joy and leapt in celebration. Naeg...

Veteran Hong Kong theatre figure “King Sir” Chung King-fai has died at the age of 89. Chung’s nephew confirmed the actor’s death on Wednesday, saying he had died peacefully in his sleep at home in the morning. “My uncle dedicated his entire...

A celebrity dog in central China was stolen and slaughtered, leaving its owner seeking justice but confronting gaps in the country’s legal protections for pets. Guo, a travel influencer from Henan province, raised Chutou, an eight-year-old Border C...

An administrator appointed to oversee the affairs of Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court has said it will arrange an extraordinary general meeting at the request of displaced owners, but stopped short of providing a time frame. In a written sta...

Li Xiaohong, a former senior disciplinary official in charge of national inspection, has been placed under investigation for suspected severe disciplinary and legal violations, China’s top anti-corruption authorities said on Tuesday. The downfall o...

CBS News has terminated the ⁠contract of 60 Minutes correspondent ⁠Scott Pelley, two sources at ⁠the network said on Tuesday, joining more than half a dozen departures in recent weeks. “Your antipathy to the future of the show has come throug...

Two siblings allegedly racing each other in luxury cars have sparked fresh outrage in Malaysia after a multivehicle crash in Johor state killed five people – including four members of the same family – reigniting debate over what the government i...

South Korea has emerged as a rare bright spot among East Asian economies trading with China, as booming demand for memory chips pushes its balance with its largest trading partner back into a surplus. The country’s trade position with China had str...

Video of a dying student who was handcuffed by British police after being stabbed by a Sikh man and falsely accused of racially abusing his murderer sparked outrage on Tuesday, with protesters throwing bricks at police. Eighteen-year-old Henry Nowak ...

Beijing has condemned remarks by Philippine defence chief Gilberto Teodoro Jnr, saying the comments seriously damaged bilateral trust and showed a lack of gratitude for Chinese aid. China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday called on Manila to take actio...

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Hong Kong is stepping up efforts to position the Northern Metropolis as a platform connecting ASEAN businesses with opportunities across the Greater Bay Area, as diplomats, c...

For years, Hong Kong’s obituary has been repeatedly written by international commentators. Geopolitical tensions, pandemic isolation, concerns over capital flight and questions surrounding the city’s future contributed to a narrative of irreversi...

Gulf hostilities flared again on ⁠Wednesday, with an Iranian missile attack damaging Kuwait’s airport and the US military carrying out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz, as diplomacy between Washington and Tehran showed little progress. The lates...

Despite repeated directives to ease the burden on local officials and curb formalism, many of China’s cadres still find themselves trapped in a frustrating cycle of working harder yet achieving fewer tangible results, according to state-linked medi...

A woman in China with no formal training in the arts has used 60kg of chocolate to make a 3D miniature copy of the famous painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival. A video showing the chocolate version of ancient Bianjing city released b...

Hong Kong social welfare authorities are expected to take over the care of an undocumented baby for at least a year and may arrange foster care after his parents were arrested over suspected child neglect, a lawmaker has revealed. Legislator Reverend...

Three men have been arrested after they allegedly robbed a woman and locked her and her child on a balcony at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) in Singapore. The police said on Tuesday that they were alerted at about 7pm the day before to a case of robbery with...

Domestic workers in Hong Kong are routinely banned from switching on air conditioning when working at home alone, union leaders have said, urging employers to allow helpers to use it during very hot weather. The issue surfaced last week after an empl...

A Japanese lawmaker’s claim that China has its eyes on “a treasure trove” of resource wealth hidden beneath the Antarctic ice sheet has been dismissed by a polar law expert as a misreading of international obligations. But the claims made in pa...

The Trump administration on Tuesday formally appealed against a judge’s order for refunds of the US president’s global tariffs after they were struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. At stake is some US$166 billion in revenue. A refun...

At least one company under Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund will list on the Hong Kong stock exchange this year, the head of the city’s Trade Development Council has said. Council chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang on Tuesday also underscored the co...

Canada and Mexico on Tuesday called for a 16-year renewal of the North American free trade agreement with the United States, in hopes of binding the three countries to a pact that US President Donald Trump has openly questioned. The agreement is vita...

During mainland China’s recent May Day holiday, a 2,500-year-old sword went viral on Chinese social media – but not for the reason you might think. Lasting from May 1 to 5, the May Day holiday – also known as “Golden Week” – sees large nu...

China’s domestically made regional jet, the C909, has struggled to compete with market leaders Airbus and Boeing since it launched a decade ago. But there is one place where it is thriving: the far-western Chinese region of Xinjiang. Chinese airlin...

The US Justice Department on Tuesday dropped a contentious plan to create a US$1.8 billion compensation programme that critics had denounced as a “slush fund” for President Donald Trump’s political allies. “We are not moving forward with the ...

Vanuatu had a clear goal at last month’s annual assembly of the World Health Organization in Geneva – securing new international aid for the Pacific island nation. “I’m here to lobby for support,” said Jenny Stephens, Vanuatu’s director o...

They went to war together against Iran, but Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s relationship is under strain after the US president reportedly called the Israeli premier “crazy”. Trump unleashed a profane tirade over the phone at Netanyahu ov...

In a move that could rattle global grain markets, China and neighbouring Kazakhstan – Central Asia’s largest grain producer and a key Belt and Road Initiative partner – agreed last week to establish a joint grain-trading platform during talks i...

Brazil has won wider access to the world’s biggest beef market after China recognised the entire country as free of foot-and-mouth disease, though a new quota will still cap prices. The decision was announced on Tuesday by China’s General Adminis...

US President Donald Trump signed a long-awaited executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) on Tuesday, which asked technology companies to voluntarily share advanced models before they are released, signalling a shift in the administration’s l...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “significant irritants” remained in the US-China relationship but that Washington and Beijing needed to keep talking to stop flashpoints from erupting. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tues...

US President Donald Trump will attend ⁠the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on July 24, he said in a social media post on Tuesday, after the annual event was postponed following a shooting. The black-tie gathering of jou...

There is an 80 per cent chance of the warming El Nino phenomenon developing between June and August, increasing the risk of extreme weather events, the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday. “Fuelled by unusually warm ocean waters in th...

US President Donald Trump has named federal housing regulator Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, entrusting oversight of America’s intelligence agencies to a close political ally whose career has been rooted in housing finance ...

Hong Kong authorities have vowed to develop a long-term road map for the city’s struggling self-financing postal operator and keep an “open-mind” on all options, including privatisation or turning it into a traditional department. Acting Secret...

The Trump administration has proposed a new punitive tariff of 25 per cent on many imports from Brazil, after deciding its practices were unfair on a range of issues from digital trade to illegal deforestation, top trade official Jamieson Greer said ...

The measles outbreak in Bangladesh is one of its deadliest health crises in decades, and experts are warning that the lack of measures to increase vaccinations and enhance immunisation across the country could lead to a further spike in cases. There ...

Chinese researchers have developed an environmentally friendly method to extract caesium from brine, a process they say could boost China’s supply of the strategic resource. Caesium, a rare metal, is a critical strategic resource used in satellite ...