Taiwan’s government on Thursday proposed an extra NT$210 billion (US$7.5 billion) in spending to help the economy deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, as it reported 13 new domestic cases amid a rare spike in infections that has spooked the stock marke...

Asian cities face the greatest risk from environmental issues including air pollution and natural disasters, according to a report by research firm Verisk Maplecroft.Of the 100 most vulnerable cities, 99 are in Asia, according to the report release...

Myanmar’s Buddhist monkhood led an earlier struggle against military rule but is split on the coup that ended the country’s nascent democracy, with some prominent religious leaders defending the new junta.Three months of turmoil have followed the...

An employee at a convenience store fought off a bottle-wielding assailant but was slashed in the arms and bitten on the torso in a bungled predawn hold-up in northern Hong Kong on Thursday.As of midday, police were still searching for the robber, who...

China has moved to shore up ties in Central Asia through pledges for vaccines and connectivity under its Belt and Road Initiative, amid growing criticism in the West of Beijing’s repression in the neighbouring Xinjiang region.Foreign Minister Wang ...

Muslims across Asia celebrated Eid ul-Fitr in a subdued mood for a second year on Thursday as the Covid-19 pandemic again forced mosque closures and family separations on the holiday marking the end of Islam’s holiest month of Ramadan.Worshippers w...

Hong Kong’s coronavirus situation showed signs of further easing on Thursday as the city recorded its sixth straight day without an untraceable local infection.The city confirmed three new infections on Thursday – two imported, and one involving ...

A Chinese teacher who gained notoriety for leaving his students behind during the deadly 2008 Sichuan earthquake is in the news again for controversial comments about the incident.Fan Meizhong, referred to online as Fan Run Run after his escape, was ...

Prosecutors have charged seven people after the mummified body of the leader of a spiritual group called Love Has Won was found decorated with Christmas lights and glitter in what appeared to be a shrine in a southern Colorado home.Amy Carlson, 45, w...

India has recorded the world’s sharpest spike in coronavirus infections this month, with political and financial capitals New Delhi and Mumbai running out of hospital beds, oxygen and medicines.Scientists are studying what led to the unexpected sur...

Brazil’s production of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines will halt on Friday, as an expected shipment of raw materials waits for Chinese export clearance.Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria blamed the delay – the second China export clearance to hit production...

Weeks of violent clashes in East Jerusalem have ignited the heaviest fighting in years between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.As both sides appear to be digging in for more prolonged fighting, here are some of the factors that tri...

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has issued an apology for flouting Covid-19 rules when he attended an event at his parliamentary constituency in the northern island of Langkawi.A video of 95-year old Mahathir entering a mosque withou...

Britain-born East and South East Asians (ESEA) are speaking out against racism after violent anti-Asian hate attacks in the UK.Among the latest to do so was Crazy Rich Asians actor Gemma Chan, who along with other celebrities is helping promote the #...

Mixing doses of two leading Covid-19 vaccines increased patients’ side effects such as fatigue and headaches in early findings from a study that has yet to show how well such a cocktail defends against the virus.People who got a first dose of Astra...

This is the first of a two-part series looking into whether Hong Kong’s vaccination programme against Covid-19 is on the right path and how the city can boost the vaccination rate to create herd immunity.Hong Kong has succeeded in containing wave a...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported on politico.com on May 12, 2021.Special presidential climate envoy John Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that China has “moved som...

Newlywed Nguyen Phuong Anh had been dreaming of starting a family in a virus-free Vietnam until she was jolted back to reality last week.One of her tenants, a medical student living a few floors beneath Anh, was told to isolate after visiting a publi...

A person’s living environment plays a pivotal role in their physical and mental well-being. In Hong Kong, despite the economic prosperity the city has enjoyed over the past few decades, a segment of society may feel they have not benefited, especia...

The largest petrol pipeline in America is returning to service, recovering from a cyberattack late on Friday that raised pump prices and choked fuel supplies across the eastern US.The Colonial Pipeline – a critical source of petrol and diesel for t...

Chinese policymakers have revived efforts to roll out a much-anticipated property tax as part of a drive to tame soaring home prices which are beyond the affordability of the young generation.The Ministry of Finance said it had attended a high-level ...

The US State Department released its annual report on the state of religious freedom around the world on Wednesday, slamming Beijing for suppressing Christians, Uygur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists and sanctioning a senior Communist Party official.In ...

This is the fourth in a series of stories about China’s once-a-decade census conducted in 2020. The world’s most populous nation released its national demographic data on Tuesday, and the figures will have far-reaching social policy and economic ...

Footage of a far-right Israeli mob attacking a man near Tel Aviv they believed to be an Arab was aired live on television Wednesday night, as the Israel-Palestinian conflict raged on.The shocking images show a man being forcibly removed from his car ...

International pressure against China over its Xinjiang policies has gained traction in recent months, with China criticised over the treatment of Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. China has denied allegations of forced labour and det...

Israel faced an escalating conflict on two fronts Thursday, scrambling to quell riots between Arabs and Jews on its own streets after days of exchanging deadly fire with Palestinian militants in Gaza.Despite diplomatic efforts to ease the crisis, whi...

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai came under pressure in Senate negotiations aimed at bringing America into the Asia-Pacific trade pact that Washington withdrew from in 2017 and faced backlash for her backing of a proposal to waive coronavirus va...

Australian miners have continued shipping small amounts of coal to China since the start of the year despite an unofficial ban on their coal imports, and those shipments have not been cleared by Chinese customs to enter the country.Some analysts said...

Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano has been erupting since February, keeping local communities and authorities on high alert.But for David Garcia, the streams of molten lava oozing down the mountainside have become his kitchen.Garcia, a 34-year-old account...

A group of United Nations members has demanded that China grant “immediate, meaningful and unfettered access” to Xinjiang for the group‘s human rights chief to inspect alleged abuses of Uygurs and other Muslim minorities there.In a virtual hear...

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday warned Americans to not fill plastic bags with petrol as fuel shortages worsened on the sixth day of a pipeline outage and consumers raced to secure supplies.“Do not fill plastic bags with gaso...

Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou will open another front in her marathon extradition battle next month, when they seek to admit new evidence from HSBC that they believe will bolster their contention that the Huawei Technologies executive is the victim of an ...

It’s the end of an era: Ellen DeGeneres will end her daytime chat show next year.“When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge any more,�...

A mysterious protester embarrassed International Olympic Committee officials on Wednesday when he managed to gatecrash an official online press conference to display an anti-Tokyo Olympics banner while uttering “f*** the Olympics”.A man going by ...

Britain’s rule of Hong Kong was an “occupation which violated international conventions” according to draft teaching materials for revamped liberal studies courses that a major publisher has sent to teachers throughout the city.The learning mat...

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for the country to foster an environment that respects science and cherishes talent, while improving the education system and allowing greater autonomy for research teams.“Talent training should focus on basic ...

[Sponsored Article] Sustainable and healthy living for all ages in Hong Kong seems no longer a pipe dream as progress has been made towards this goal in the collective efforts of the government, developers, academics and various organisations. Well-...

US House of Representatives Republicans on Wednesday removed Liz Cheney from their leadership, punishing her for rejecting what she called former President Donald Trump’s “big lie” that last year’s election was stolen from him through electio...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Co (TSMC), the world’s biggest chip foundry, has joined a new lobbying group dominated by top American chip developers and users, in a move that may make it harder for China to wean itself off a US-led glo...

Nearly 2,000 civil servants quit working for the Hong Kong government in 2020-21, according to the latest figures, the most in at least 15 years.That also accounted for about a fifth of those who left the service for various reasons in the past finan...

A full, independent public inquiry into the British government’s handling of its response to the coronavirus pandemic will be held early next year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.The country had “found itself in the teeth of the g...

The debate over how to get enough supplies to vaccinate the world has pitted the Pope and the head of the World Health Organization against pharmaceutical executives, and seen developing countries resist the policies of wealthy nations.The issue is w...

On being told, on a recent sultry morning in Mumbai, that both her eyes would need to be removed, Neelam Bakshi, 47, could not cry. Her eyes were too stiff, dry, and swollen from the ‘black fungus’, mucormycosis.“It took a while for my words to...

The coronavirus is testing Taiwan’s relations with its formal allies as Taipei struggles to help them with urgently needed vaccines and medical supplies, observers say.Several of Taipei’s allies had been poached before the pandemic by Beijing, wh...

Jewel Changi Airport and all the airport’s passenger terminal buildings will be closed to the public for 14 days from Thursday until May 27, amid a growing Covid-19 cluster linked to a cleaner who had been deployed to Terminal 3.In a joint media re...

China on Wednesday expressed regret that the UN Security Council had not passed a proposed statement on tensions between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem and called for it to push for de-escalation.“China and other countries have drafted an...

Hong Kong online retailer HKTVmall has teamed up with a logistics firm to make inroads into the city’s fast-growing quick-commerce grocery delivery market.HKTVexpress, the new wing of HKTVmall set up by businessman Ricky Wong Wai-kay, aims to deliv...

At least five people died in Bangladesh on Wednesday on an overcrowded ferry carrying more than a thousand passengers, officials said, as millions defied a coronavirus lockdown to head home for the Muslim holiday of Eid.Tens of millions of Bangladesh...

More than three-quarters of transgender people in Hong Kong have contemplated suicide, while nearly one in 10 report being subjected to physical violence when visiting public toilets, according to the largest survey of its type conducted in the city....

A joint bid by Hysan Development and Chinachem Group has won the first commercial site to be offered by the government in Causeway Bay for 24 years, for HK$19.778 billion (US$2.55 billion).The price is much higher than expected, analysts said, showin...