Nepal has ordered private schools to stop double-charging fees, repay illegally collected ones and clearly publish their pricing structures, reopening a debate about education costs that runs across South Asia. From Dhaka to Delhi, parents have long ...

Hong Kong Cantopop singer Hins Cheung, who previously expressed support for the city’s social movements, will lead young people arrested during the 2019 anti-government protests on visits to mainland China to witness the country’s prosperity and ...

Can the collective wisdom or clout of the almost 200 countries that make up the membership of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) prevail against the United States and Israel, whose rash actions of declaring war on Iran have effectiv...

Hong Kong authorities have proposed a legal amendment requiring property owners to attend a mandatory briefing on major renovation projects before voting on procurement resolutions, in a move aimed at curbing bid-rigging following the deadly blaze in...

“I can’t wait to watch the game – it’s Lion’s Head Meatballs versus Hairy Crab!” Liu Jieling, a 42-year-old company executive from Suzhou, joked about a derby clash pitting a side inspired by her city’s signature crustacean cuisine agai...

China’s top intelligence agency has warned university students to be wary of lucrative job postings that may serve as covers for foreign espionage, as they begin searching for work ahead of a record graduation season. Offers such as earning 800 yua...

The head of a civil service union federation in Hong Kong has warned that tighter disciplinary action risks becoming excessive as the government seeks to revise the penalty system to handle underperforming employees this year. Leung Chau-ting, chairm...

Asian digital entrepreneurs that once saw Dubai as a safe, well-connected base for global expansion are now reassessing that view after the US-Israel war on Iran exposed vulnerabilities in the city’s appeal as a financial and technology hub. For ma...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday accused Israel of failing to “reflect” on allegations of rights abuses by its forces, after Israel decried him for amplifying social media “disinformation”. Lee irked Israel’s foreign ministr...

A coffee shop in eastern China has gone viral for its entry rules banning a range of bizarre misbehaviour, from discarding black stockings to stealing tiny turtles from its pond. The café, Yi Nan Ping, is in Qingzhou Ancient City, a popular tourist ...

The gap between rich and poor nations is growing even wider as actions agreed to by many countries last year, including overhauling the major global financial institutions, remain unfulfilled promises, a UN report has concluded. The report assessing ...

Malaysian immigration officers have raided two massage parlours suspected of offering sexual services to clients, detaining 21 foreign workers and a local man believed to be the manager of the premises. The raids in Johor, which began at around 3pm o...

On Tuesday, Vietnam’s National Assembly elected a new prime minister. For once, the appointment looks less like a factional compromise than a deliberate bet on competence. Le Minh Hung, born in 1970, is the country’s youngest prime minister since...

As the Strait of Hormuz reopened and closed again this week, manufacturers across China are navigating a roller coaster of concerns rooted in supply and pricing volatilities. Soaring oil prices have already filtered through to processed fuel and petr...

The developer of Hong Kong’s Discovery Bay is pushing ahead with a plan for unrestricted taxi access and four new ranks in the resort-style seaside community on Lantau Island, despite a backlash from residents. In a paper submitted to the Islands D...

Days before Pakistan had helped to secure a ceasefire in the Iran war this week, the United Arab Emirates was seeking repayment of a US$3.5 billion deposit from Islamabad’s central bank. The withdrawal, brushed off as a “routine financial transac...

A US delegation led by Vice-President J.D. Vance has arrived in Pakistan for peace talks aimed at reinforcing a fragile two-week ceasefire and ending hostilities with Iran after more than five weeks. The US negotiating team also includes Middle East ...

Harvest-ready rice fields are lying idle and farmers are deciding whether to skip planting for the coming season, as spiking fuel and fertiliser costs from the war in the Middle East hit one of the world’s biggest rice-growing regions. Across South...

Fang Liu, a partner at global law firm Clifford Chance, counts among his clients many technology companies that are keen to list in Hong Kong, but find the current requirements cumbersome. Clifford Chance has helped more than a dozen innovative compa...

Penang, the Malaysian state long marketed as the Pearl of the Orient, is better known today for its hawker food, colonial-era streetscapes and the multicultural life of George Town, whose historic core won Unesco World Heritage status in 2008. When F...

China has established a third new county in its Xinjiang region, this time along vital transport routes linking the country to South and Central Asia. Analysts said the move underscored Beijing’s focus on governance and security along its far-flung...

A close mainland relative cried her eyes out while video-calling with my wife and me recently. Like many in China who have bought property since the late 2010s, she is sitting on a big loss with her flat outside downtown Chongqing. The city saw sales...

More than 70 public schools, or nearly 9 per cent, have joined a new scheme in Hong Kong to hire native English-speaking teachers (NETs) that offers lower pay but higher recruitment flexibility. Under the scheme launched this academic year, operators...

Long before social media and camera lenses, ancient China had its own “paparazzi” who wielded ink, paper and a sharp tongue to unsettle the lives of the powerful. In those days, gossip was more than idle chatter; it formed an informal information...

⁠Police in the United States ⁠have arrested a man for allegedly ⁠throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home and for making threats outside the artificial intelligence start-up’s headquarters. In a social media post, the San...

Japan’s energy security has long hinged on Middle Eastern oil. The Iran war simply exposed how breakable that lifeline had become. While a two-week ceasefire agreed on Tuesday promises some relief by reopening the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic...

The Artemis II capsule and its four-member crew streaked through Earth’s ⁠atmosphere and safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday after nearly 10 days in space, capping the first voyage by humans to the vicinity of the moon in over hal...

In classrooms and training centres across China, a growing number of students from Southeast Asia, Africa and beyond are learning not just the Chinese language, but how the country’s factories operate, how supply chains are managed and how products...

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs returned to court on Friday, as a three-judge Court of International Trade panel in New York sharply questioned both sides while weighing the legality of a new set of tariffs he imposed in February, shortly after...

As China enters its 15th five-year plan, policymakers face a structural constraint that cannot be eased with another round of infrastructure spending or property stimulus. The demographic dividend that powered four decades of expansion is fading. Ind...

Importers seeking tariff refunds will be able to begin filing their requests on April 20, US Customs and Border Protection said on Friday. In the first phase, the CBP’s Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries tool, called CAPE, will p...

China and Russia expressed support for Cuba’s embattled government amid mounting pressure from the United States, as Moscow’s deputy foreign minister concluded a visit to Havana and Beijing signalled its willingness to step up diplomatic backing ...

US President Donald Trump on Friday pressed Iran to meet US demands, as Vice-President J.D. Vance travelled to Pakistan to lead high-stakes negotiations seen as a key effort to end the more than month-long Middle East conflict. The talks between the ...

US President Donald Trump’s plans for a new triumphal arch in the capital, unveiled on Friday, include a towering winged figure with a Lady Liberty-like torch and crown, flanked by two eagles and guarded by four lions – all gilded. The 12-page pl...

Jeff Winton, a dairy farmer in upstate New York who grows much of the feed for his own cattle, stopped planting corn in 2022 when fertiliser prices spiked. “We just couldn’t afford the input costs,” he recalled. The surge began after Russia’s...

A charity co-founded by Prince Harry in Africa to honour his late mother, Princess Diana, has sued him for defamation after he stepped down as a patron last year. Sentebale, which supports young people living with HIV in Botswana and Lesotho, filed s...

Ukrainians on Friday were wary of Russia’s pledge to pause fighting for an Orthodox Easter ceasefire – first proposed by Kyiv – this weekend. The Kremlin said it had ordered a temporary truce to be in effect from Saturday afternoon until the en...

A nine-year-old Hong Kong girl has contracted a rare bacterial infection and is fighting for her life in hospital after visiting Japan during the Easter holiday, with health authorities contacting the other tour group members as a precaution. The Cen...

Yang Zhilin, founder of fast-rising start-up Moonshot AI, has become the latest artificial intelligence entrepreneur to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang, as Beijing steps up its push to accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing. The 32-year...

With US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell reported to have held urgent talks over Anthropic’s latest artificial intelligence model, experts are warning that immediate cybersecurity assessments are needed to av...

The latest US restrictions on Chinese telecoms operators could ultimately force them out of the American market, analysts said, marking an escalation in Washington’s multi-year crackdown on Chinese technology. The US Federal Communications Commissi...

Kimberley Milne jumped to her death in Scotland in July 2023, but prosecutors in a landmark case said on Friday that she was driven to do it by her husband’s physical abuse. Lee Milne, 40, was sentenced to eight years in prison following his convic...

Hong Kong authorities did not conduct a fire risk assessment of a HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) renovation project at Wang Fuk Court before the city’s deadliest blaze in decades engulfed the housing estate, a public inquiry has heard. Sam Keung ...

Hong Kong taxi passengers will still have to pay full tunnel tolls despite government relief measures that cut the fee for commercial vehicles by half, transport authorities have said. The Transport and Logistics Bureau said on Friday that the relief...

Tencent Holdings’ super app WeChat has updated its content governance rules to ban non-human automated publishing, including the use of artificial intelligence and scripts, amid a surge in technologies that can replace human creators. “Official a...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said on Friday that relations with Beijing had been elevated to new heights. He was speaking at a meeting in Pyongyang with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, where both sides pledged to deepen strategic coordination an...

Hong Kong students taking the English paper in university entrance exams on Friday were pleasantly surprised by relatable topics such as bubble tea and starting a YouTube channel. But many candidates sitting the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) e...

The high-profile talks between leaders of the Communist Party and the Kuomintang are a step towards cross-strait stability despite the KMT’s opposition status in Taiwan, according to observers. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping and KMT chairwoman Ch...

Singapore and Australia pledged on Friday to keep fuel and gas flowing between them as the Middle East conflict rattled global energy markets, with both sides also working towards a legally binding agreement on essential supplies. At a joint press co...

French President Emmanuel Macron has invited US President ⁠Donald Trump to a ⁠sumptuous dinner at the ornate Palace of ⁠Versailles the day after a G7 summit in mid-June, although it remains unclear if Trump will attend either event, sources sai...