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The risk of a conflict over Taiwan is shaping Japanese defence planning, with Tokyo shoring up security at home and abroad for a potentially prolonged fight. But there are economic, demographic and political constraints on how far its military transformation can go. In the first of a three-part series, Gabriel Dominguez examines how Japan is building a network of partnerships to strengthen its str...
Japan will substantially raise its fees for residence permits next month. Depending on the period of stay applied for, renewing or changing one’s residency status could cost as much as ¥75,000 (US$480). The application fee for permanent residency will rise to ¥200,000 from ¥10,000. The government is also tightening the requirements for permanent residency. Applicants are already expected to be abl...
Gadi Eisenkot, the main challenger to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused the sitting premier of looking merely after his own political survival and not the country’s security at a rally in central Israel on Monday. Unveiling the candidates of the Yashar party for the October 27 election, the former military commander said nothing about how he would handle the Palestinian question o...
Gadi Eisenkot, the main challenger to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused the sitting premier of looking merely after his own political survival and not the country’s security, at a rally in central Israel on Monday. Unveiling the candidates of the Yashar party for the October 27 election, the former military commander said nothing about how he would handle the Palestinian question ...
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars in US products took effect Tuesday, as a trade war between the North American neighbours heats up. The announced duties of 15 per cent, 25 per cent and 50 per cent apply to C$27.6 billion (US$20 billion) in imports from the United States, covering steel and aluminium products as well as dairy goods like cheese. But Canada removed some seafood pro...
Canada is poised to impose tariffs of 15 per cent to 50 per cent on hundreds of products from the US on Tuesday, as Prime Minister Mark Carney bets that standing up to US President Donald Trump will eventually help Ottawa’s negotiating position with its biggest trading partner. Barring a last-minute reprieve, Carney’s government will increase the import tax on many US steel items to 50 per cent fr...
The number of ships sailing through the Panama Canal could be cut further due to drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern, the new administrator of the waterway said on Monday. Panama has declared a nationwide emergency over El Nino, a phenomenon developing over the Pacific Ocean that is affecting worldwide weather patterns and pushing up global temperatures. This year’s El Nino is expected t...
The number of ships sailing through the Panama Canal could be cut further due to drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern, the new administrator of the waterway told Agence France-Presse on Monday. Panama has declared a nationwide emergency over El Nino, a phenomenon developing over the Pacific Ocean that is affecting worldwide weather patterns and pushing up global temperatures. This year’s ...
The suspected murderers of two Australian surfers and an American at a Mexican surfing hotspot went on trial Monday, two years after their killings in a suspected robbery. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33, respectively, and 30-year-old American friend Jack Carter Rhoad were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast when they were shot dead in Baja California state. Th...
The suspected murderers of two Australian surfers and an American at a Mexican surfing hotspot went on trial on Monday, two years after their killings in a suspected robbery. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33, respectively, and 30-year-old American friend Jack Carter Rhoad were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast when they were shot dead in Baja California state....
The United Nations rights chief on Monday demanded accountability for swelling numbers of deaths in US immigration custody, and urged Washington to halt deportations to places where people face “irreparable harm”. Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, Volker Turk highlighted that “four more people have died in US immigration custody since my last update to this council” in June. That meant ...
The United Nations rights chief on Monday demanded accountability for swelling numbers of deaths in US immigration custody, and urged Washington to halt deportations to places where people face “irreparable harm”. Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, Volker Turk highlighted that “four more people have died in US immigration custody since my last update to this council” in June. That meant ...
Britain’s King Charles has reiterated that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, remain non-working members of the royal family following their return to the United Kingdom. A letter sent on behalf of the king to senior government officials said the couple will continue to refrain from using their royal titles as they have done since stepping back from official royal duties in 2020. Any charity work ...
Britain’s King Charles has reiterated that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, remain non-working members of the royal family following their return to the United Kingdom. A letter sent on behalf of the king to senior government officials said the couple will continue to refrain from using their royal titles as they have done since stepping back from official royal duties in 2020. Any charity work ...
Sweden’s government said on Monday that the country would spend 7 billion kronor (US$730 million) to buy US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars) rocket artillery for its military. The government said in a statement that the acquisition would “enable the Swedish Armed Forces to operate over larger areas, and with greater long-range capacity than with current systems”. Defence Minist...
Sweden’s government said on Monday that the country would spend seven billion kronor (US$730 million) to buy US-made igh Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars) rocket artillery for it military. The government said in a statement that the acquisition would “enable the Swedish Armed Forces to operate over larger areas, and with greater long-range capacity than with current systems”. Defence Mini...
Sweden’s government said on Monday that the country would spend seven billion kronor (US$730 million) to buy US-made HIMARS rocket artillery for it military. The government said in a statement that the acquisition would “enable the Swedish Armed Forces to operate over larger areas, and with greater long-range capacity than with current systems.” Defence Minister Pal Jonson told reporters that the ...
Kazakhstan is aiming to become an education powerhouse in Central Asia but efforts must also ensure young people have sufficient access to opportunities that match their skill sets amid the country’s rapid economic transformation, experts have said. Educators and advocates added that further collaboration with Hong Kong and mainland Chinese universities was in the pipeline, with growing demand for...
Kazakhstan and Hong Kong could partner to build biotech unicorns – private start-ups valued at US$1 billion or more – by linking the Central Asian country’s strong tech workforce with the city’s global financial network, a top academic has said. Huck-Hui Ng, dean of the school of medicine at Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev University, said the nascent biotech sector in the country has already produced sev...
A UN expert has warned that large-scale rubble removal in parts of Gaza under Israeli control risks erasing traces of “atrocity crimes”, and preventing the recovery and identification of human remains. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, warned in a statement on Monday that the implications of Israel’s “ongoing removal, crushing and relocation ...
About three months after Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu visited Central Asia, momentum is building for closer economic ties between the city and the region, with potential cooperation extending beyond finance to tourism, professional services, mining, agriculture and digital infrastructure. Government officials and senior figures from the industrial, investment and financial sectors di...
About three months after Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu visited Central Asia, momentum is building for closer economic ties between the city and the region, with potential cooperation extending beyond finance to tourism, professional services, mining, agriculture and digital infrastructure. Government officials and senior figures from the industrial, investment and financial sectors di...
North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge on Monday in a carefully choreographed display of friendship, a structure which spans the Tumen river and which both sides cast as an important milestone in their deepening strategic partnership. The first flag-adorned trucks trundled across the 1 km (0.6-mile) long two-lane bridge as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and North Korea’s ...
His summit with Donald Trump is just over two weeks away, but already this month Xi Jinping has had one of his busiest stretches of diplomatic travel in recent years. First he wrapped up the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and then he made a state visit to Egypt. Xi is expected to head off again later this week to visit New Delhi for the Brics summit before h...
Hong Kong food safety authorities have prosecuted a restaurant after an investigation into claims that a newborn rat was found wriggling inside one of its takeaway lunchboxes uncovered unsatisfactory hygiene conditions. The lunchbox came from Wa Jer Restaurant, located in the Wah Sing Industrial Building on Wah Sing Street. A customer reportedly bought a HK$44 (US$5.60) set meal that included sata...
Hundreds of Nepalis in Hong Kong gathered on Monday to pay tribute to thousands of victims of the flash flood in their homeland, marking the traditional 13th day of mourning since the disaster struck. The hour-long programme, organised by local community groups with support from the Nepalese consulate, coincided with a national day of mourning in Nepal on September 7. Addressing the crowd, Satish ...
Xiaomi unveiled a series of new products on Monday – from a flagship foldable phone featuring proprietary chips to new models of its premium Skynomad SUV – underscoring the Chinese giant’s intensified push to compete against rivals including Tesla, Apple and Huawei Technologies. Beijing-based Xiaomi launched the 18 Fold, a foldable phone featuring a 7.58-inch inner display, a proprietary Xring O3 ...
Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander who died while serving a life sentence for war crimes, was buried on Monday with military honours and crowds attending as Serbia defied European Union warnings against allowing public homage to the man found guilty of the continent’s first case of genocide since World War II. Thousands of mourners started arriving early at the small Serbian Orthodox Church ...
Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander who died while serving a life sentence for war crimes, was buried on Monday with military honours and crowds attending as Serbia defied European Union warnings against allowing public homage to the man found guilty of the continent’s first case of genocide since World War II. Thousands of mourners started arriving early at the small Serbian Orthodox Church ...
Chinese cities must brace for a potential nuclear attack, a new study has warned, singling out Japan for “sending a major danger signal” to the world. The report, from a People’s Liberation Army medical team, said the likelihood of a large-scale global nuclear war was relatively low. “However, the possibility cannot be ruled out that small or medium-sized nuclear-armed or potentially nuclear-armed...
