Singapore’s openness to chemical castration for sex offenders has cast light on the ethical questions surrounding the treatment, with the discussion centred on whether it would fill any gap left by existing legislation. Experts point to how safegua...

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has sacked the finance minister and appointed the deputy ‌finance minister as his replacement, the president’s office said on Monday. Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara was among the senior ⁠officia...

Anthropic’s discovery of an AI-powered election manipulation platform targeting Malaysia offers a glimpse into how the technology can exploit a country’s political vulnerabilities for sophisticated influence operations. The operation’s use of m...

Beijing has hailed a “one country, two systems” proposal by a Taiwanese scholar in a rare official statement on an issue regarded as politically sensitive on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. “We are pleased to see that more and more Taiwan comp...

Hong Kong’s stock market is facing fresh pressure to accelerate its review of longer trading hours after South Korea’s main bourse extended its session by four hours on Monday, according to an industry player. The Korea Exchange, South Korea’s ...

Scientists have developed a lightweight, battery-free device that could help improve the mobility of people with difficulty walking, such as stroke survivors. Developed by researchers in Hong Kong and mainland China, the neural prosthesis uses energy...

Hong Kong police are investigating the discovery of the bodies of two men at a public housing estate flat in Ap Lei Chau. The force said a security guard alerted authorities after detecting a foul smell coming from the flat at Lei Tung Estate’s Tun...

The Himalayas are approaching a tipping point as glaciers melt faster than a decade ago, threatening water security as the region approaches “peak water” by mid-century, according to a study released this month. The findings come after the collap...

Hong Kong shoppers may be saving less than expected – or nothing at all – with supermarkets’ buy one, get one free and bulk-buy promotions, a watchdog has warned, urging residents to compare unit prices rather than rely on promotional labels. T...

A woman convicted of using a forged reference letter to gain admission to a Hong Kong doctoral programme has been spared jail and ordered to perform 160 hours of community service. Fanling Magistrate Kenneth Chan Ping-chau said on Monday that he had ...

Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the disputed Himalayan region. Sarwar, 25, is one of an estimated half a million migrant workers who ...

Two top executives at Japanese nuclear plant operator Chubu Electric Power would step down following a quake data-tampering scandal, the company said in a statement on Monday. President Kingo Hayashi and Chairman Satoru Katsuno would be replaced, the...

Beijing has introduced stricter drone regulations, banning all uncrewed flights as well as the possession and storage of existing devices, while detailing disposal methods for the first time in an effort to strengthen security in the capital. The new...

A growing number of young Chinese employees are increasingly turning down promotions, challenging the traditional notion that career advancement is the ultimate marker of success. This trend has gained significant traction on mainland social media, w...

Disposable sanitary pads sold in Hong Kong have shown wide discrepancies in absorption speeds, with more than half of tested products also lacking adequate labelling, the consumer watchdog has found. The Consumer Council revealed the test results for...

British pharmaceutical company GSK is turning to patient data gathered from the 88 million residents of the Greater Bay Area’s 11 cities to speed up drug development in vaccines and cancer care, as officials push for closer cross-border medical coo...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s 36-year-old gender minister nominee stepped down before gaining confirmation of her position amid a public backlash over her suitability for the job in the latest negative fallout from the president’s cabine...

A former Malaysian religious affairs minister pleaded not guilty on Monday to three charges involving more than 860 million ringgit (US$211 million) in transactions linked to the country’s state-run haj savings fund and a Saudi property group. Jami...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Brics members find common ground on AI, trade and...

While Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr was pitching the Luzon Economic Corridor to a 600-strong delegation of foreign investors and officials last week, protesters outside were clashing with police, accusing the US-backed initiative of explo...

For generations of Chinese schoolchildren, English textbooks offered a glimpse of an unfamiliar world, from London’s Tower Bridge and Big Ben to American school life and Halloween traditions. Today, students opening an English textbook are more lik...

Apple is reviewing all current orders for suspicious transactions after more than 700 unauthorised credit card charges were reported in Hong Kong involving its latest iPhone models. “All current orders are being reviewed before they are processed, ...

A little cheer rose for 79-year-old Hwang Sun-hee after she managed to place an online order at a training session in South Korea, which has one of the world’s starkest digital divides for seniors. Age gaps in digital literacy are a global concern,...

North Korea said on Monday it conducted a joint live-fire drill involving missiles, artillery and drones that it claimed showed “huge destructive power”. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Saturday’s drill was meant to get fami...

Three people were killed and 15 others wounded as gunfire erupted hours before the polls opened on Monday in a semi-autonomous Muslim region of the Philippines set to choose its first elected parliament. The vote is the culmination of an on-off peace...

China could improve its image in the United States by highlighting areas such as tourism and technology and positioning itself as a responsible major power, a survey has concluded. Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou said that althou...

Hong Kong’s inaugural five-year plan will not change the capitalist system and instead fully exploit its advantages to map the city’s long-term development, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has said. In an opinion piece published in the South Chi...

A report that eight Indonesians were allegedly tricked into fighting for Moscow in its war on Ukraine may be just the tip of the iceberg, analysts warn, cautioning that Southeast Asia’s existing scam networks could already be a hunting ground for R...

This year marks the opening year of the national 15th five-year plan. Faced with accelerating change globally and significant opportunities brought by national development, Hong Kong must better integrate into and serve the overall national developme...

A 75-year-old woman from Shanghai spent three million yuan (US$450,000) on beauty treatments in a salon, completely depleting her retirement savings before her daughter uncovered the situation. The elderly woman’s daughter recently sought assistanc...

In the final instalment of our series of previews on the five-year plan and policy address, to be announced on September 16, Natalie Wong and Matthew Cheng look at how national security spans areas such as finance and technology and what Hong Kong mu...

China’s top intelligence official has warned of rising national security risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI), calling for robust risk prevention frameworks and stronger global governance of the emerging technology. The call from Chen Yixin,...

Richardson Mojica is no stranger to thoughts of ending it all. The 40-year-old university professor and mental health advocate was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and depression in his early 20s. He finds fulfilment in h...

Hong Kong is intensifying efforts to attract technology start-ups and nurture unicorns through expanded financial support via a key government-backed platform, leveraging the city’s booming fundraising activities and world-class financial infrastru...

Over the past three decades, investor Fang Fenglei has had a major role in shaping China’s capital markets. He worked with Morgan Stanley in the early 1990s to help create the country’s first joint venture investment bank – China International ...

Uganda’s King Oyo Nyimba, who was once the world’s youngest monarch, was buried on Saturday amid an acrimonious succession dispute that has rocked the royal family and gripped the nation. The traditional monarch, who ascended the throne of Uganda...

The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results are out and unfortunately for the Education Bureau, Hong Kong’s performance looks bad. Is this the outcome of not learning from the last assessment? In the 2022 Pisa assessmen...

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he will look into requests from families of September 11 victims to release records that could shed light on Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in the attacks 25 years ago. Several families have long alleged that a...

US President Donald Trump on Sunday played down the need for his administration to check the development of artificial intelligence, saying he worried about ceding America’s edge over China in a global competition and that winning would help addres...

Middle East diplomacy appeared to falter heading into Monday with the postponement of a meeting between Iran and other Gulf powers, while attacks around the region’s two most important oil transit routes deepened concern over global energy supplies...

No country should have lower interest rates than the US, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, ‌days before the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting. Speaking to reporters at the Irish Open golf tournament, Trump said he did not know whether Fe...

Poland and Ukraine on Sunday denounced Russian strikes close to the Polish border, including on a Warsaw-bound train and near a frontier checkpoint – as an “escalation” in the war. Ukraine’s rail operator said former British prime minister Bo...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wants a closer ⁠relationship with the European Union and ⁠is exploring whether his country could become ⁠an “associate member” of the bloc, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The EU, which has no...

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, a front runner in the French presidency race, signalled on Sunday that she would favour French citizens over foreigners, defending her long-held principle of “national priority”. Speaking seven months before France...

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Last month, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) released footage showing its H-6N bomber flying with a nuclear-capable Jing Lei-1 (JL-1) air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM), offering a rare look at China’s airborne nuclear strike capability. The...

Z.ai, the Chinese artificial intelligence model developer listed in Hong Kong, is seeking to raise about HK$15.7 billion (US$2 billion) through a placement of roughly 21.97 million new H shares at HK$714 apiece, according to a company filing on Sunda...

A lunch supplier will stop portioning meals in classrooms at a Hong Kong primary school following a suspected food poisoning outbreak that hit 39 pupils and staff members last week. Danny Catering Service said in a statement on Sunday to its school p...

Voters in an autonomous southern Philippine region will cast their ballots on Monday in the region’s first parliamentary elections, seen as a crucial step in the quest for self-determination and lasting peace after decades of insurgency and violenc...

A leading South China Sea analyst has urged Chinese think tanks to recruit AI talent for the “public opinion war” over the disputed waters. Wu Shicun, the founding president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said Chines...