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Malaysia’s biggest Islamist opposition party has used its annual convention to reopen the door to former rival Umno, while signalling that any reunion will come with a new pecking order as the party sets its sights on leading the federal government. The recalibration comes after a partnership involving Umno and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) jointly toppled Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s co...
From low-quality “slop” such as soap operas starring humanlike cats and dating shows featuring anthropomorphic fruit, to increasingly slick productions realistic enough to pass for live action, artificial intelligence-generated video dramas have become almost inescapable on Chinese social media feeds. This week, the format graduated to prime time. A fully AI-generated adaptation of the classic Chi...
Hongkongers’ requests for help from overseas jumped 35 per cent in the first eight months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, the city’s immigration chief has revealed, attributing the rise to the war in the Middle East. Director of Immigration Benson Kwok Joon-fung told reporters on Saturday that his department had received around 3,160 requests for assistance from Hong Kong resident...
US envoys proposed a “number of ideas” on how to end the Ukraine war in “frank” talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin late on Saturday, Moscow said, ahead of their first trip to Kyiv. US President Donald Trump’s business partner Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Putin for more than three hours, the Kremlin said, as Washington tries to revive negotiations to end Europe’s wo...
Russian President Vladimir Putin began talks with US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on ending more than four years of war in Ukraine in the Kremlin on Saturday, ahead of their first visit to Kyiv expected on Sunday. Both Russia and Ukraine vowed not to strike each other’s capitals for three days during the negotiations, as Washington tries to revive US-led talks to end Europe’s worst confl...
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed in Moscow on Saturday to discuss a plan to end more than four years of war between Russia and Ukraine. The move marks Washington’s latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A senior Ukrainian official said the envoys were due in Kyiv...
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he was sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with a plan to end more than four years of war in Ukraine. The move marks Washington’s latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A senior Ukrainian official said the en...
Hundreds of Hong Kong residents and visitors braved the heat on Saturday morning to visit a popular Sai Kung trail overlooking hexagonal rock columns, as a trial reservation system requiring real-name registration came into force, with some calling for the restrictions to be eased. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department announced the arrangement last month, capping visitor numbers ...
Egypt’s expanded currency swap with China may help bring the yuan into wider use in trade and investment, but experts say any reduced reliance on the US dollar will not happen in a hurry. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi this week backed greater use of their currencies, while linking closer financial ties to plans for new factories, energy projects and...
An overhead electronic display was left dangling in the air at Hong Kong airport’s newly reopened Terminal 2, prompting authorities to pledge a detailed investigation. A spokesman said the incident occurred at about 8.30am on Saturday, when a suspended screen “experienced a technical fault”, triggering its fall-arrest safety system. “The Airport Authority takes the incident very seriously and will...
Japan and the United States have confirmed they will advance cooperation on investing in strategic sectors and honour the other terms of a trade deal they reached last year, even though President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have changed significantly over time. “We reaffirmed that last year’s agreement remains unchanged,” Japan’s Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa told reporters in Wash...
Hong Kong’s leader has identified financial services, innovation and technology, and education as three key new growth drivers ahead of the unveiling of the city’s inaugural five-year development blueprint and annual policy address. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Saturday that Hong Kong’s first five-year plan would outline broad strategies, set clear development directions and align with...
Hong Kong’s leader has identified financial services, innovation and technology, and education as three key new growth drivers ahead of the unveiling of the city’s inaugural five-year development blueprint and annual policy address. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Saturday that Hong Kong’s first five-year plan would outline broad strategies, set clear development directions and align with...
At least one person was killed and 11 are missing after they were buried by a landslide in central China as the region continued to battle severe flooding caused by Typhoon Saudel. The landslide hit Gaoping, a town in a mountainous area of Jiangxi province, at around 4am on Saturday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. It said rescue teams were rushing to the disaster site. The accident followed ...
Weeks before President Javier Milei visits France, scrutiny has grown around an Argentina-run university residence in Paris supposed to promote peaceful coexistence but which activists say instead restricts lodger freedoms and hosts European far-right figures. Paris city officials have demanded the foreign ministry investigate Argentina House, one of dozens of homes run by foreign nations or Frenc...
Weeks before President Javier Milei visits France, scrutiny has grown around an Argentina-run university residence in Paris supposed to promote peaceful coexistence but which activists say instead restricts lodger freedoms and hosts European far-right figures. Paris city officials have demanded the foreign ministry investigate Argentina House, one of dozens of homes run by foreign nations or Frenc...
A rupture between Taiwan’s two opposition parties over a mayoral race threatens to spill into November’s elections and erode the fragile trust underpinning their potential 2028 alliance. The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have both registered candidates for mayor of Zhubei, the biggest city in Hsinchu county, after weeks of negotiations failed to produce a...
Bangladesh’s deadliest measles outbreak in decades is nearing the grim milestone of 1,000 child deaths, as a devastating epidemic sweeps through the country and crowded hospital wards fill with struggling babies. Cries of sick children and the hiss of oxygen machines fill the air at Dhaka’s Shishu Hospital, where Rima Akter keeps a vigil beside her nine-month-old son. “Just an hour ago, a child di...
When the day heats up, small business owner Chung Kee Wa, 68, changes how he tends his oil palm plantation in Yong Peng, in Malaysia’s southern Johor state. Oil palms younger than three years offer little shade, so he tends them in the early mornings and evenings, spraying pesticide, applying fertiliser or weeding. “We try our best to avoid going to the plantation around noon,” Chung said. He carr...
Anita Lee Yan-kwan grew up around a traditional business that supplied fish balls to Hong Kong’s street food stalls and eateries. But for decades, Kau Kee Food Factory’s signature product was known only among industry operators until Lee, a second-generation owner, opened the company’s first retail store late last year. Kau Kee has operated as a silent giant in the food industry for 66 years, supp...
At least two people were killed and dozens injured on Friday after an explosion at a military barracks in the Bolivian municipality of Viacha, about 30km (20 miles) from La Paz, Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano said. His ministry said in a statement that 14 people were missing. The blast occurred at around 2.30pm in an area used to store pyrotechnic material, authorities said. While the cause...
At least 10 people were killed and 62 injured on Friday after an explosion at a military barracks in the western Bolivian city of Viacha, local authorities said. The blast took place at around 2.30pm at a military facility used to store pyrotechnic material. While the cause has yet to be established, officials said the blast originated from the defence ministry’s fireworks stockpile. Viacha healt...
In a country consumed by conflict, a sport defined by brutality dominates: Myanmar’s lethwei martial art, where headbutts are encouraged and knockout blows are the aim of the game. “I can’t live without fighting,” said 19-year-old Su Luck, who enters the ring under the paradoxical pseudonym “Peace Prize”. “I have never once considered giving up this passion,” she said. Lethwei is traditional Burme...
India’s largest-ever business delegation, 200 executives strong, touched down in Japan late last month in search of money, machinery and manufacturing know-how. At its head was Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, whose four-day tour from August 24 to 27 not only laid the groundwork for next year’s 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties but also worked to solidify an economic partnership now expanding int...
A Chinese man dressed in a food delivery uniform has sparked widespread curiosity online after he was seen in Singapore buying curry puffs for a customer in China to fulfil a “cross-border food order.” On August 31, Chloe, a Chinese woman living in Singapore, shared a video depicting the man in a Meituan uniform waiting at Hong Lim Curry Puff, a snack shop located in PLQ Mall, about a 17-minute dr...
Inside a tiny self-service laundromat in Quarry Bay in the east of Hong Kong Island, next to a wall of washing machines, stands a waist-high cryptocurrency terminal with signs reading “Elon Musk recommends Dogecoin” and “Buy bitcoin in one minute”. In order to obtain Dogecoin through the ATM, customers feed Hong Kong dollar notes into a slot and scan a QR code. The equivalent amount in cryptocurre...
Helen Fung’s home felt empty. After her husband died last October, she found herself rattling around a house in Singapore with only a domestic helper she could not get along with for company. She turned down her children’s invitations to move to England, put off by London’s grey winters, and instead checked herself into an assisted living facility. On a recent Monday afternoon in St Bernadette Lif...
Tetris said on Friday that it did not give permission for the White House to use the game’s iconic imagery for a controversial online arcade that the Trump administration released on Thursday. “The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of Build the Wall and did not authorise or license the Tetris brand or intellectual property for the game,” Tetris said in a statement. “We are currently ...
One by one, Tesla Model Y Ls roll out of the company’s end-of-line inspection bays, gleaming in black, white and gold. They are a mix of left-hand and right-hand drive – one of many signs the electric vehicles (EVs) produced here are destined for ports around the world. The company touts a total assembly time of less than 40 seconds at its sprawling Gigafactory in Lingang, a coastal area on the fa...
The US government owns 9.9 per cent of Intel, converted out of US Chips Act grants, alongside a golden share in US Steel, US$400 million in the rare earth mining firm MP Materials and stakes in roughly 30 firms worth US$26.7 billion. In 2025, Nvidia and AMD gave up 15 per cent of their China chip sale revenues in exchange for export licences. The country that spent four decades advising its allies...
