China appears to be giving more priority to vaccine diplomacy than its domestic inoculation programme, with Chinese pharmaceutical makers now exporting more Covid-19 doses than have been administered in the country.Figures compiled by the South China...

It took just three months for the rumour that Covid-19 was engineered as a bioweapon to spread from the fringes of the Chinese internet and take root in millions of people’s minds.By March 2020, belief that the virus had been human-made and possibl...

A plane carrying Zimbabwe’s first coronavirus vaccines, 200,000 doses donated by China, arrived in the capital Harare on Monday.A further 600,000 doses from China are set to arrive in early March, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said last we...

If it weren’t for the face masks, one would never guess that a pandemic had started here.Jianghan Street, a famous pedestrian shopping avenue lined with colonial buildings, was bursting with Lunar New Year cheer. Red lanterns hung from street lamps...

Japan has announced that it will build three transport ships designed to supply ammunition, fuel and provisions to troops stationed on its outlying islands, as part of its efforts to deal with China’s military build-up in the region. The ships wil...

Japan’s airlines and bus operators on Monday increased services as the high-speed railway connection between the Tokyo region and the northeastern part of the country remained disrupted in the wake of a powerful earthquake that struck the country l...

Cryptocurrency exchanges are on tenterhooks as they await the outcome of a proposal by Hong Kong’s government to ban retail investors from trading in the city, at a time when digital assets are winning acceptance as mainstream forms of payment and ...

In the wake of the Capitol siege, some US lawmakers have called for former president Donald Trump, and some of their congressional colleagues, to be removed from office or prevented from ever holding office again in the future – and they may invoke...

Hong Kong has “nothing to fear” from a potential influx of doctors from mainland China, a top government adviser has said, as he proposed further lowering the threshold for entering the city to practise medicine.Lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, a lo...

Global stocks began the week with gains amid signs the reflation trade has further to run and as the pace of coronavirus outbreaks slowed. WTI crude breached US$60 dollars a barrel as an arctic freeze gripped parts of the US.South Korean and Japanese...

One of Australia’s biggest casino groups has seen a boardroom exodus after being declared unsuitable to hold a gambling licence, with the CEO of Crown Resorts becoming the latest executive to resign on Monday.A public inquiry last week recommended ...

The US Senate acquitted Donald Trump of the charge of inciting the January 6 assault on the US Capitol in an unprecedented second impeachment trial.Trump’s acquittal raises questions about what’s next for the 74-year-old former president, the Rep...

Average daily new coronavirus cases in the United States dipped below 100,000 in recent days for the first time in months, but experts cautioned that infections remained high and precautions to slow the pandemic must remain in place.The seven-day rol...

Two coronavirus infections that prompted a snap lockdown of New Zealand’s largest city on Monday have been revealed as the country’s first cases of the UK strain.New Zealand’s health ministry said tests had identified that the infections in Auc...

Peru’s Foreign Minister Elizabeth Astete on Sunday resigned amid an uproar over government officials being secretly vaccinated against the coronavirus before the country recently received doses from China’s Sinopharm for health workers facing a r...

Coronavirus screening slots at Hong Kong’s community testing centres were filling up rapidly on Monday, as nine new infections – a near three-month low – were recorded on the final day of the Lunar New Year holiday. The daily figure, the lowes...

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will this week reaffirm Washington’s commitment to Nato and reassure allies they will be consulted on important decisions, hoping to turn the page on four years of withering criticism from former president Donald T...

When US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke last week, both agreed on the need for a “rules-based international order and a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific”’.But the readouts that Washington and New Delhi pro...

Singapore’s economy contracted less than initially estimated in the fourth quarter, putting the country on a path to a gradual recovery in 2021 after it marked its worst ever recession last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Gross domestic product (...

Hong Kong schoolchildren stuck at home after months of having classes suspended because of the Covid-19 pandemic are learning to open up about their feelings to friends, teachers and parents.Just Feel, a non-profit organisation started by a group of ...

For many former Hong Kong flight attendants who were laid off as Covid-19 brought the airline industry to a standstill, the start of the Year of the Ox has been very different to what they are used to during the annual festive period.Because Lunar Ne...

The United Arab Emirates has published the first image for its Mars probe now circling the red planet.The picture, taken Wednesday, shows sunlight just coming across the surface of Mars. It shows Mars’ north pole, as well as Mars’ largest volcano...

Singaporean Sue-Anne Chng used to wear a different outfit on all 15 days of the Lunar New Year, when it is customary to don new clothes to symbolise a fresh start.But this year she will wear second-hand items exchanged for her old clothes at a store ...

The Lunar New Year is time for family and reflection, when Chinese families look back at the year gone by and speculate on the next cycle. The Gengzi Year of the Rat, historically associated with disaster – the Opium War (1840), Boxer Rebellion (19...

After months of staying home and attending classes online because of the Covid-19 pandemic, siblings May* and Ben* agree on one thing: they prefer going to school.“I don’t like doing homework at home,” said May, nine, a Primary Four pupil in Ho...

Kosovo’s main opposition party appeared headed to a landslide victory in Sunday’s early election of a new parliament held amid the coronavirus pandemic, an economic downturn and stalled negotiations with wartime foe Serbia.With 65 per cent of the...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Matthew Choi on politico.com on February 14, 2021.US senators may disagree on the validity of former president Donald Trump's impeachment, but they seem on ...

If it were not for the coronavirus, Samuel Karanja and the members of the association he represents, would be travelling to and from China to source products to sell in Nairobi.Several times a year, Karanja, a trader and head of the Importers and Sma...

Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle are expecting their second child, their spokesman said in a Valentine’s Day announcement on Sunday.The couple released a black and white image of them under a tree, all smiles, with Markle, 39, sh...

A new law in China that makes it harder for couples to divorce has sent husbands and wives rushing to file applications to dissolve their marriages.Under the law, which was implemented on January 1 after being passed by the National People’s Congre...

Someone’s sick idea of a Valentine’s Day card has been circulating around the Los Angeles Police Department, officials said late on Saturday night.The twisted image includes a photo of George Floyd, who died in May when Minneapolis Police Officer...

Supporters of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny held candlelit gatherings in residential courtyards across Russia on Sunday despite warnings that they could be arrested.Navalny’s allies have declared a moratorium on street rallies until the spring afte...

Myanmar’s junta deployed extra troops around the country and choked the internet on Monday as it intensified a crackdown on anti-coup protests, but defiant demonstrators again took to the streets.The military has steadily escalated efforts to quell...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed a “significant milestone” on Sunday as data showed 15 million first doses of Covid-19 vaccinations had been delivered, fuelling calls for the government to start relaxing far-reaching lockdown measures....

TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance shelved a deal to sell the video-sharing app’s US operations to a group led by Oracle following Donald Trump’s exit from the White House, according to a source who has been briefed on the situation.“The deal w...

The Covid-19 pandemic forced 88 Hong Kong travel agents to close last year, while others downsized or began sharing premises to cut costs and carry on.“We never imagined business for the whole of 2020 would stop like that. It’s hard to endure,”...

A year ago, Huanxi Media sent shock waves through the industry when it suddenly decided to cancel theatre screenings and debut the hotly anticipated flick Lost in Russia free online instead, as the onset of the deadly coronavirus forced Chinese cinem...

Dozens of languages and dialects in China are in danger of disappearing, a new study has found.According to the study by website WordFinder, based on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Atlas of the World’s Language...

Beijing’s drive to get a major investment deal ratified with Europe may get some additional help from its ties to Portugal, which on January 1 took on the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council.The council includes leaders from the 2...

Sixteen people have been injured, three seriously, after a fairground ride collapsed in central China.The accident occurred at an amusement park in Shaoyang county in Hunan province on Saturday afternoon. Footage published online showed how the “fl...

Moviegoers are out in force but travellers have stayed put this Lunar New Year as China tries to keep a grip on coronavirus transmissions.In a shot in the arm for the world’s biggest movie market, a mystery-comedy adventure set in Tokyo broke China...

Deteriorating local government finances and concerns about mounting public debts are likely to result in China gradually curbing local government infrastructure projects this year, analysts said, although the top five approved last year are still set...

Cross-border families on low incomes who are separated by Covid-19 travel restrictions have urged the Hong Kong and central governments to lift the 14-day quarantine requirement and provide cheaper coronavirus tests so they can return to mainland Chi...

Hong Kong’s welfare chief has rejected fresh calls for a temporary unemployment fund to support those out of work, after predicting the city’s jobless rate would soon surpass 7 per cent.Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said it would...

China and the South China Sea will be in sharp focus when the US military reviews its missions around the world, according to the Pentagon.US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin announced earlier this month that US President Joe Biden had instructed th...

Hong Kong police have arrested a 72-year-old woman over suspected cruelty to animals after receiving a tip-off about a video in which a dog was seen tied to a tree branch and being swung around.The woman, surnamed Yeung, was arrested in Ma On Shan at...

A two-metre-high bronze statue memorialising the Filipino women forced to become sex slaves by Japan’s military during World War II has gone missing in Manila, underscoring the country’s challenges in balancing diplomatic relations with its large...

Hong Kong’s finance minister has dropped the biggest hint yet that residents will not get another cash handout in the coming budget, despite a surge in stamp duty revenue alleviating what is still expected to be the city’s largest-ever budget def...

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Myanmar’s major cities for a ninth day of anti-coup demonstrations on Sunday, after a fearful night as residents formed patrols and the army rolled back laws protecting freedoms.Engineering...

Four people have died of Ebola in the West African country of Guinea in the first resurgence of the disease in five years, according to the country’s health minister.Remy Lamah said officials were “really concerned” about the deaths, the first ...