Hong Kong’s retail sales soared 54.9 per cent year on year in the first half of 2021 as the local Covid-19 situation stabilised, with the government’s consumption voucher scheme expected to fuel further improvements in the coming months.Provision...

Full-day classes at Hong Kong’s secondary schools are expected to resume as early as next month if enough students and teachers have been vaccinated against Covid-19.A source told the Post that education minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung was set to ann...

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani blamed the country’s deteriorating security Monday on Washington deciding “abruptly” to withdraw its troops.“The reason for our current situation is that the decision was taken abruptly,” he told parliamen...

A widely used travel history tracking app jointly developed by the Chinese government and the country’s three mobile network operators crashed on Monday morning, as the country grapples with its most widespread Covid-19 outbreak in months.Users of ...

Glitches have racked one of the payment platforms for Hong Kong’s HK$5,000 e-voucher scheme, preventing some shoppers from using their coupons since the initiative’s weekend launch.Mobile wallet Tap & Go, part of Richard Li Tzar-kai’s telecoms ...

Some flights, trains and buses to Beijing have been cancelled and other control measures stepped up in a bid to stop an outbreak of the Covid-19 Delta variant from spreading through the Chinese capital.More than 350 people in 27 mainland cities have ...

India is likely to see a rise in Covid-19 infections building into a new – though smaller – virus wave that may peak in October, according to a mathematical model by researchers who accurately predicted the tapering of a brutal surge of cases ear...

The High Court has ordered a music licensing company in Hong Kong to wind up over its failure to repay HK$63 million (US$8.1 million) in debt.Neway Music, which had been responsible for obtaining music licences for Neway Group’s karaoke outlets, ha...

A young Hongkonger who returned from the United States caused a stir earlier this month when he not only tested positive for Covid-19, but was also found to be highly infectious.What made the case unusual was that the 27-year-old man was fully vaccin...

Hong Kong graft-busters have charged the singer and opposition supporter Anthony Wong Yiu-ming with inducing others to vote for a candidate through live performances on the campaign trail for Legislative Council by-elections in 2018.Wong, 59, from th...

Kim Jong-un’s sister warned that upcoming US-South Korea military drills could jeopardise talks with Seoul, raising doubts about a diplomatic breakthrough less than a week after both sides announced a resumption of communications.Kim Yo-jong on Sun...

US senators have finalised details of a sweeping US$1 trillion plan to invest in roads, bridges, ports, high-speed internet and other infrastructure, with some predicting the chamber would pass the bipartisan legislation this week.The massive infrast...

A director at the artificial intelligence (AI) laboratory at Beijing-based ByteDance, the company behind global sensation TikTok, is leaving to take a position at the University of California, following other prominent AI scientists like Fei-Fei Li a...

For Wang Li, not her real name, the Chinese government crackdown on private tutoring was like watching an avalanche from a nearby mountain; her livelihood was not yet in danger, but she could see the force of change crashing through the industry.“I...

China is taking hog biosecurity to new levels – 13 stories in fact. That is the height of a building in southern China where more than 10,000 pigs are kept in a condominium-style complex, complete with restricted access, security cameras, in-house ...

Former British ambassador Craig Murray handed himself in to UK police to serve an eight-month prison term for contempt of court after his appeal was rejected.Murray, formerly ambassador to Uzbekistan, was convicted in May over blogs and tweets about ...

Eviction protections expired on Sunday for millions of Americans who could face homelessness within days, triggering a scramble to unlock billions in stalled rental aid and recriminations in Washington.Renters had been shielded from eviction for near...

China’s factory activity growth slipped sharply in July as demand contracted for the first time in over a year in part on high product prices, a business survey showed on Monday, underscoring challenges facing the world’s manufacturing hub.The Ca...

Huan Huan, a giant panda on loan to France, gave birth to twin cubs very early Monday, according to the Beauval zoo.The twins, born around 1am, are Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi’s third cubs after the first panda ever born in France, Yuan Meng,...

Hong Kong business leaders have stepped up their financial support for Henan after it was devastated by deadly floods last month, while city authorities are pledging more cash for local relief agencies planning to head to the province.But analysts sa...

In Japanese, karaoke literally means “empty orchestras”. Peculiar yet evocative, this name brings to mind an imagined “orchestra” providing the backup instrumentals for a performance that often takes place in a boozy bar setting, with variabl...

At least four of Hong Kong’s 18 district councils have come to a standstill with a wave of disqualifications looming and remaining opposition members barred from holding committee meetings or electing new chairmen to fill vacant seats.The trend amo...

Every Covid-19 vaccine that has been cleared for use so far is meant to be injected into the upper arm, but scientists are exploring a different method of delivery – through the nose and mouth.Of the more than 100 Covid-19 vaccines undergoing clini...

In 2009, during the tail end of the global financial crisis, most airline chiefs were reducing capacity and cutting routes as they bemoaned the industry’s biggest slump since the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) crisis.AirAsia’s maverick ...

The late founder of the Professional Teachers’ Union (PTU), Szeto Wah, was once one of Beijing’s most trusted dissenting voices having been invited to sit on an exclusive committee to draft Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in the mid-1980s.Althoug...

The Tokyo Olympics may have none of the cosmopolitan excitement usually brought to a games by people from all over the world cheering in different languages and waving colourful flags, but superfan Kyoko Ishikawa has made plans to build the buzz rega...

Cryptocurrency crimes and the scale of losses in Hong Kong soared to record levels in the first six months of this year, with one victim conned out of HK$124 million (US$15.9 million).Police logged 496 such cases involving victims losing a total of H...

Mexicans voted on Sunday in a national referendum promoted by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on whether to investigate and prosecute his predecessors for alleged corruption.Lopez Obrador, a self-styled anti-corruption crusader, said the public...

Thousands turned out in Berlin on Sunday to protest against the German government’s anti-coronavirus measures despite a ban on the gatherings, leading to clashes with police and the detention of some 600 protesters.Local authorities had banned seve...

China’s swimmers have shot off the blocks like rockets at the Tokyo Olympics and, along with hard work and talent, the success is in part thanks to missile-related technology, according to the country’s biggest state-owned space company.China Aer...

The top Republican in the US House of Representatives faced calls to apologise or resign on Sunday after joking about hitting speaker Nancy Pelosi with a gavel.It marked a sharp escalation in a nasty spat between the Republican minority leader Kevin ...

Lewis Hamilton revealed he is suffering with symptoms of long Covid after he required medical attention following Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.The seven-time world champion, 36, drove superbly to race from last to third and take the lead of the Fo...

Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia on Sunday to support far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in protest against the country’s electronic voting system.In Rio, some 3,000 people marched on Copacabana beach, many...

The death toll from fires on Turkey’s southern coast rose to eight on Sunday as firefighters battled for a fifth day to contain blazes still raging in coastal resort towns.Two more people died on Sunday due to fires in the southern town of Manavgat...

Britain joined Israel on Sunday in alleging Iran carried out a fatal drone strike on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea, putting further pressure on Tehran as it denied being involved in the assault.Calling it a “unlawful and ca...

A Belarusian Olympic athlete who claimed her team was forcing her to return home spent the night under protection and may be seeking asylum, officials said on Monday.Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, missed her chance of competing in Tokyo when t...

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern issued a sombre state apology on Sunday to the Pacific community for racially targeted immigration raids in the 1970s that resulted in deportations and prosecutions.During the economic boom of the 1950s, ...

No sooner had US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman left Tianjin after tense talks with Chinese officials last week, than a Taliban delegation arrived at the same hotel from Afghanistan.It was a clear message that Beijing will forge its own stra...

The powerful sister of North Korea’s leader on Sunday warned that next month’s annual military drills between South Korean and US troops would undermine prospects for better inter-Korean ties, just days after they reopened their communication cha...

In many ways, Jalue Dorje is a typical American teenager – he grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis, loving American football, Pokémon and rap music.Yet a few years from now, he’s expecting to say goodbye to his family and homeland and join a monas...

China’s securities watchdog is seeking greater communication with its US counterpart over listing requirements for Chinese companies amid fresh disclosure demands from the United States for China-based firms.“The securities regulators of the two ...

There were large crowds out in Hong Kong last week, disregarding social-distancing measures and filling the air with their loud chants.“We are Hong Kong!”“Hong Kong add oil!”The anti-government protests of 2019 had not returned. Instead, peop...

Zabi Astanikzai has tried several times in the past month to register himself and his family of five to receive Covid-19 vaccine jabs, but every hospital in New Delhi he visited turned him away. “Our Afghan passports have expired,” the 44-year-o...

Cambodia will begin offering a booster shot against Covid-19, switching between the AstraZeneca and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in an effort to fight the spread of the coronavirus in the Southeast Asian country.Prime Minister Hun Sen, launching the vac...

Social workers have urged the Hong Kong government to provide more dental subsidies for the elderly after a survey found toothache affected the sleep of those living below the poverty line three times more than the average old person.The survey, cond...

Tokyo’s alliance with Washington must not undermine Beijing’s interests and Japan should take practical steps to show goodwill towards China, the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo has warned.The warning from Chinese envoy Kong Xuanyou comes after Japan...

Hong Kong’s finance chief has welcomed China’s anti-sanctions law as a “necessary and reasonable” response to punitive actions from the United States, as he raised the prospect of lawmakers adjusting the national legislation locally rather th...

More than 260 Indonesians have been vaccinated through the Hong Kong government’s latest outreach programme targeting domestic helpers, while the city on Sunday confirmed three new imported Covid-19 cases.Civil service chief Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, w...

The recent US announcement that it will pull combat troops out of Iraq continues its shift of focus towards the Asia-Pacific as China becomes its top priority.US President Joe Biden and visiting Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi agreed on Monda...

China is considering plans to give vulnerable people a booster shot of Covid-19 vaccine as the Delta variant causes a surge of cases around the world.Shao Yiming, an infectious diseases researcher with the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Preve...