Live headlines from trusted global sources. Click any story to open it on the original website.
Singapore’s ministers are among the world’s highest paid, a system its leaders have defended as necessary to attract capable people into public service and reduce the temptation of corruption. Its latest salary review has once again put the spotlight on that approach, while highlighting a wider regional divide over how Asian governments value political leadership and public service. Under the city...
Southeast Asian investors have emerged as the largest non-local buyers of Hong Kong commercial property, led by Singapore-based capital, according to Savills. As of Tuesday, local and non-local investors – including those from mainland China – were behind an estimated HK$30.36 billion (US$3.87 billion) in transactions involving commercial property deals above HK$50 million in Hong Kong so far this...
Prime Minister Mark Carney pitched Canada as an investment haven on Tuesday at a gathering of global financial elite but conceded ties with the US remained crucial despite an escalating trade war. Carney convened the Canada Investment Summit as part of his push to diversify an economy he insists had grown too reliant on an increasingly protectionist US. The guest list for the event in Toronto incl...
The US military said on Tuesday that it opened fire and destroyed two small Iranian boats this week that were trying to steal a drone ship in the waters off Iran, the latest back-and-forth fire in the stalemated war. Captain Tim Hawkins, US Central Command spokesman, said the Iranian boats “recently attempted to take possession of a US unmanned surface vessel” but failed after the military “forcef...
The US military said on Tuesday that it opened fire and destroyed two small Iranian boats this week that were trying to steal a drone ship in the waters off Iran, the latest back-and-forth fire in the stalemated war. Captain Tim Hawkins, US Central Command spokesman, said the Iranian boats “recently attempted to take possession of a US unmanned surface vessel” but failed after the military “forcef...
The first vice-chairman of the nation’s top political advisory body is overseeing an 87-member committee of political and business heavyweights to arrange the state funeral for Hong Kong’s first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa. A vigil will be held from 3pm to 10pm on Saturday at the Hong Kong Funeral Home in North Point and a public memorial service will start at 9am on Sunday, according to an obi...
The son of Hollywood icon Rob Reiner will not face the death penalty when he stands trial over the killings of his parents, Los Angeles County’s top prosecutor said on Tuesday. Nick Reiner, who turned 33 on Monday, was arrested in December 2025 after his parents’ bloodied bodies were discovered at their home in the affluent Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles. He has pleaded not guilty to two c...
Ed Sheeran’s tour of North and South America was plunged into chaos Tuesday when four of his supporting acts abruptly quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who was dropped for making pro-Palestinian comments on stage. Hours after Sheeran posted on social media about Macklemore’s ousting and attributed the decision to the tour’s promoters, Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga, the Danish band L...
Ed Sheeran’s tour of North and South America was plunged into chaos Tuesday when four of his supporting acts abruptly quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who was dropped for making pro-Palestinian comments on stage. Hours after Sheeran posted on social media about Macklemore’s ousting and attributed the decision to the tour’s promoters, Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga, the Danish band L...
When Chinese President Xi Jinping met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi last week on the sidelines of the Brics summit, another country loomed large in the background, even in its absence: the United States. After the meeting, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintain peace at the disputed border and strengthen economic ties. Beijing’s readout, however, offered a pointed re...
I remember 2011 well. Indonesia was chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and I was serving as deputy foreign minister for Asean cooperation. I learned a great deal, although if I had to summarise the experience in one word, I would say: meetings. Asean members meet. They talk. They disagree. They issue statements. Then, quite remarkably, they meet again. We meet in conference rooms...
US President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to keep the Kennedy Centre closed for good after a judge ruled his name cannot be added onto the famed arts institution’s facade. Trump said his hand-picked board voted “almost unanimously” to shut the venue immediately for emergency renovations, just a few hours after the federal judge’s decision. But he warned the “very large and complex” repairs at t...
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the Kennedy Centre will close down – possibly for good – after a judge ruled his name cannot be added to the famed arts institution’s exterior. Trump said the Washington cultural venue’s trustees voted to shut down for what it says are vital emergency renovations, and that it will not reopen unless the judgment is overruled. “The Board of The Kennedy ...
The board of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Centre for the Performing Arts voted on Tuesday to shut down the venue for repairs, a source familiar with the matter said, shortly after a federal judge blocked the centre from adding US President Donald Trump’s name to the building facade for a second time. The centre’s board of trustees, which is made up of Trump appointees with Trump himself serving a...
Progressive US Senator Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, a close ally of President Donald Trump, both called on Tuesday for stronger oversight of artificial intelligence, uniting two political adversaries around concerns that the technology will harm humans. The rare display of bipartisan concern at the same Washington gathering reflects deepening anxiety over unregulated AI, with lawmakers in bot...
Progressive US Senator Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, called on Tuesday for restrictions on AI systems, uniting two political adversaries around concerns that the technology will harm humans. The two appeared at the same Washington gathering and warned of the potentially catastrophic consequences AI poses to humanity, as concern about its risks spreads...
Rail travel in large parts of the Netherlands ground to a standstill on Tuesday, after what authorities suspect were coordinated acts of sabotage with tubes attached to train tracks in multiple locations. Transport by train in most of the central and eastern parts of the country was virtually impossible after authorities discovered items on the tracks in around 30 separate places. “Materials were ...
A Paris court on Tuesday awarded €1 (US$1.15) to Kim Kardashian for having been the victim of an armed robbery in the French capital in 2016, the amount of compensation she had asked for, according to a lawyer involved in the case. Kardashian has sought to move on since the court last year found eight people guilty for their roles in what the celebrity described as “the most terrifying experience ...
A Paris court on Tuesday awarded €1 (US$1.15) to Kim Kardashian for having been the victim of an armed robbery in the French capital in 2016, the amount of compensation she had asked for, according to a lawyer involved in the case. Kardashian has sought to move on since the court last year found eight people guilty for their roles in what the US celebrity described as “the most terrifying experien...
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday confirmed that he will meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng this weekend for the final preparatory talks between the two sides, less than a week before Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to Washington for a bilateral summit with US President Donald Trump. “With China, we have had some very good private discussions, and I look forward to those continu...
A Paris court on Tuesday sentenced a man to one year under house arrest with an ankle tag for sexually assaulting primary schoolchildren in his care. The sentence is the heaviest imposed since multiple allegations of sexual or physical violence emerged in recent months against monitors the city employs to look after children at school outside the classroom. Michael M., 38, admitted during his tria...
A Japanese court on Tuesday sentenced a 52-year-old man to five years in prison and fined him 1 million yen (US$6,500) for forcing a 12-year-old Thai girl to provide sexual services at his private-room massage parlour in Tokyo. The Tokyo District Court found Masayuki Hosono guilty of violating the child welfare law, saying the owner of the establishment had created a disorderly workplace environme...
Hong Kong’s finance chief has called on Cathay Pacific Airways to offer attractive fares and expand its route network, as China’s national development plan reinforces the city’s status as a global aviation hub. Speaking at Cathay’s 80th anniversary celebration on Tuesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po described the flag carrier as more than just a transport provider, calling it an ambassador...
Okinawa’s election on Sunday of a governor backed by Japan’s ruling party ended 12 years of local leadership opposed to the relocation of a US airbase and elements of Tokyo’s defence build-up plans. While experts say that Genta Koja’s victory will not give Tokyo any new military authority in the region, it could lead to closer integration of civilian infrastructure into Japan’s defence network in ...
Canada’s exports to China jumped by 30.1 per cent in the first half of 2026, led by crude oil, copper and other energy and mineral products, as Ottawa stepped up efforts to diversify trade ties amid growing tensions with its largest trading partner, the United States. Exports to China reached C$21.74 billion (US$15.63 billion) over the period, marking the highest first-half value since 1997, accor...
We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Another Chinese national dies in US immigration custody, raising profiling fears The Chinese-American community expressed anger and concern on September 3 over the death of a Chinese national ...
A lack of mutual trust and confidence haunts Sino-US relations, a major security conference in Beijing has heard, just a week before Xi Jinping travels to America for his first state visit there in over a decade. “[While] we have the agreement on this constructive strategic stability, we don’t have the illusion that things will be easy going ahead. There are always problems, sometimes very big pro...
A lack of mutual trust and confidence haunts Sino-US relations, a major security conference in Beijing heard, just a week before Xi Jinping travels to America for his first state visit in over a decade. “When we have the agreement on this constructive strategic stability, we don’t have the illusion that things will be easy going ahead. There are always problems, sometimes very big problems,” said ...
A woman’s body was found on Tuesday in the same area east of Johannesburg in South Africa where the discovery of several other victims in the past two months has sparked fear of a potential serial killer at large and led to a public warning by the police. According to South African authorities, the cases appear to be linked, though they did not confirm whether they are the work of the same killer....
A woman’s body was found on Tuesday in the same area east of Johannesburg in South Africa where the discovery of several other victims in the past two months has sparked fear of a potential serial killer at large and led to a public warning by the police. According to South African authorities, the cases appear to be linked, though they did not confirm whether they are the work of the same killer....
