South Korea is inching closer to a potentially risky military role in the Strait of Hormuz after sending a fact-finding team to the Middle East, with Seoul weighing US pressure to contribute against the threat of Iranian retaliation. The mission unde...

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A gunman shot and killed a kindergarten teacher on Wednesday inside a school building in eastern Thailand, where 44 children and three other teachers were evacuated safely, authorities said. The shooting took place about 11am inside a building at the...

Dissent voiced in an ongoing inquiry into Australia’s most ambitious nuclear submarine pact has laid bare growing uncertainty over US commitment, amid questions about the clarity of Canberra’s explanation of the Aukus deal to citizens. Under the ...

US cybersecurity researchers have demonstrated how artificial intelligence could help hijack WeChat accounts via unanswered voice calls, intensifying concerns about AI-driven cyber threats and prompting renewed calls for bilateral cooperation between...

Malaysian politicians have slammed a Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) party leader for claiming that those who join the Islamist party would “certainly” go to heaven. Among them, Amanah vice-president Mahfuz Omar, said in a social media post on ...

Nagoya in central Japan said on Wednesday that it has decided to provide emergency relief across the city where at least 41 people sustained minor injuries after a linear rain band formed, pounding the Tokai region with record rainfall the previous d...

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 radar satellites capture sharp images of glacier co...

A second pilot has been arrested in the ongoing investigation of a drug trafficking case involving a Malaysia Airlines pilot arrested in Indonesia for allegedly smuggling drugs worth 45 million ringgit (US$11 million). Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Inve...

Urgent priorities for advancing China’s philanthropy sector include fostering a favourable legal environment and overhauling the nation’s social service industry, according to leading policy experts at a forum in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Mainland ch...

Thai authorities said on Wednesday they are investigating a Bangkok clinic where a Nigerian-born British businessman and influencer underwent a penis enlargement procedure that led to his death. A coroner in London last month ruled that the March 6 d...

Pharmaceutical companies have embraced artificial intelligence in drug research almost universally, yet few company executives expect AI to actually make drugs succeed, according to a Citi survey released on Tuesday. “The biggest risk to the AI-pow...

An elderly Chinese couple reported their granddaughter to the police after she took 20,000 yuan (US$3,000) and a gold bracelet from their home without permission, igniting intense discussions online. The woman, identified by her surname Chen and hail...

Former Malaysian pilgrimage fund chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to abusing his position to secure a lucrative corporate post and influence a 193.5 million ringgit (US$47.5 million) investment by the fund. Azeez, 60, ...

Former Hong Kong lawmaker William Wong Kam-fai, who resigned after an alleged drink-driving incident, has been given two months to consider his plea on four traffic offences. Wong, 66, was not required to enter a plea during his first appearance at S...

China’s biotechnology market has “significantly” driven up the demand for primate experimental models as the market recovers, tightening the supply of laboratory monkeys, according to a leading biotech firm. The continued recovery of fundraisin...

US President Donald Trump has condemned Australia’s recent moves to clamp down on social media – predominantly run by American tech companies – as “a form of extortion”, hinting at more threats to come. “President Trump has unequivocally ...

Hong Kong will continue to serve as a gateway linking belt and road economies with mainland China and global markets, the chief executive has said, underscoring the city’s role in bringing together capital, talent and businesses to advance the nati...

The first two F-16 Block 70 fighters bought by Taipei from the United States have yet to reach Taiwan, after spending more than two weeks in Hawaii for reasons that remain unclear. The aircraft, which were expected to arrive at Taiwan’s Chihhang Ai...

The police have identified and interviewed five people over online comments relating to the Nepal floods and discussions surrounding Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) investment in Air India. Senior Minister K Shanmugam said on Saturday that the police wer...

Travellers in the UK faced more misery on Wednesday with more than 150 flights scrapped across the country, as Britain’s air traffic control service scrambled to recover from a technical glitch that sparked chaos. Aircraft tracking website FlightRa...

Imagine swapping your daily cholesterol pill for a single injection that keeps “bad” cholesterol under control for a year, a decade – or even a lifetime. Two clinical trials, one in the United States and another in China, suggest that this one-...

Hong Kong’s first astronaut, Lai Ka-ying, will deliver a live lesson from space to students and teachers at her alma mater on Wednesday morning, with the 90-minute event broadcast to campuses across the city and streamed live on television. Lai and...

Five people, including medical ⁠staff, died after a “flying ⁠doctor” service helicopter crashed in Malaysia on Tuesday, authorities and state news agency reports said, as haze from wildfires complicated search efforts. Health Minister Dzulkef...

China’s factory-gate price growth accelerated in August, while consumer inflation picked up again, amid volatile energy and commodity costs linked to the US-Israel war on Iran. The producer price index rose 3.8 per cent year on year last month, up ...

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday it had captured a ‌US uncrewed submarine at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, offering a rare glimpse into how underwater drones are being used in military operations. Iranian state media said the v...

Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong’s first chief executive who oversaw the city’s 1997 return to Chinese rule, has died. According to a statement from his office issued in the early hours on Wednesday, he died on Tuesday at the age of 89, surrounded by his...

Sohar International Bank, Oman’s second-largest bank by total assets, will open a local representative office in Hong Kong this week, according to sources, underlining the city’s role as a stable financial hub amid Middle East conflicts. CEO Abdu...

When you are denied a pay rise, when you feel anxious about your children’s education, or when you are alienated by colleagues, Chairman Mao can help. At least, that is what China’s online influencers and their hundreds of thousands of followers ...

Argentine President Javier Milei has every right to reassert his country’s territorial claims over the Falkland Islands. His proposal to use the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration as a template for resolving the Falkland Islands dispute merits ser...

A pair of Chinese sisters, aged 20 and 15, have exposed a decade-long affair between their father, a former professor at the prestigious Wuhan University, and his student, who is now a professor at the same institution. Recently, they published an 86...

Some Hong Kong employment and travel companies have warned that air traffic in Jakarta could continue to face disruptions even after the Indonesian capital’s international airport reopened following a volcanic eruption that spewed ash into the sky,...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated his trade war against Canada, banning imports of alcohol and various products and raising tariffs on others, with the conflict showing no sign of abating. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stood firm, ...

By 2045, Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF) could shrink to 130,000 personnel – nearly half today’s strength. But Tokyo has already ruled out one think tank’s controversial fix: recruiting foreign nationals. The proposal formed part of a repor...

The Trump administration on Tuesday blasted Ford Motor’s business partnerships with Chinese companies, saying they posed national security concerns. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a letter ‌to Ford CEO Jim Farley sent on Tuesday said t...

The risk of a conflict over Taiwan is shaping Japanese defence planning, with Tokyo shoring up security at home and abroad for a potentially prolonged fight. But there are economic, demographic and political constraints on how far its military transf...

Police in Albania blocked protesters from reaching parliament on Tuesday as the latest rally against a luxury development linked to US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, turned violent The march was staged as parliament resumed fro...

The US military said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday in response to the latest attacks on its warships and Tehran hit back at American targets in Jordan, the latest burst of back-and-forth strikes that have lurched the sides back tow...

Nicaragua has granted a Chinese-owned company linked to one sanctioned by Washington the right to prospect and dig for gold across 262 sq km (101 sq miles) of rainforest, about a quarter the size of Hong Kong. The 25-year concession over the block, n...

When US President Donald Trump announced on August 28 that the United States had secured majority control over some 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil through a private company, the North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), he called it “the b...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed that China “can never get ahead” of America in artificial intelligence, in part due to its “central planning”, as three government agencies accused Beijing of maliciously copying technology from its...

The White House on Tuesday pulled a Tetris-style game called Build the Wall from its new online arcade, four days after a warning by the classic game maker that it takes copyright infringement seriously. The block-stacking game, subtitled Zombie Bord...

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Colombia on Tuesday to meet President Abelardo de la Espriella, sign agreements on critical minerals and civil nuclear cooperation and take up the country’s ties to China, in the first visit b...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday discussed the Ukraine conflict in an “extremely frank” and constructive hour-long phone call, the Kremlin said. It came after US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushn...

Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies went on trial on Tuesday in Brooklyn, New York, on criminal charges after eight years of legal wrangling with the US government. The Shenzhen-based company has pleaded not guilty to all 14 counts, including bank...

A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to teaming up with friends to steal nearly a quarter-billion dollars in bitcoin from a Washington resident – one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in US history – and then embarking on a wild spendin...

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Tuesday the release of tens of thousands of documents showing the city did not disclose all it knew about air toxicity after 9/11. The release comes ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, a...

The US on Tuesday issued 36 ⁠fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector and other companies as part of a broad push to escalate economic pressure on Tehran as the war in the Middle East entered a seventh month. The US Treasury ...

Tung Chee-hwa, who served as Hong Kong’s first chief executive and oversaw the 1997 return of the city to Chinese rule, has died. The former vice-chairman of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Confe...

Singapore remains open to considering chemical castration as a measure to tackle sex crimes if there is clear evidence that it is effective in reducing crime, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam has said. However, the evidence so far was inconclusive,...