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China sent armed trainer jets to drive away Philippine light aircraft over the disputed Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday, in a potentially more cost-effective tactic for its increasingly frequent air confrontations over the South China Sea. At least three JL-10 trainers carrying PL-5 air-to-air missiles were involved in the incident over the shoal, according to a video clip posted to social media by...
The son of Malaysia’s king has dismissed a report that a potential tax bill of more than S$2 billion (US$1.6 billion) is complicating his plans to sell 16.6 hectares (41 acres) of land in Singapore, saying he was “more than happy” to absorb levies on both sides of the causeway. “As a regular taxpayer, this is normal. No complication and more than happy to contribute to both countries. Should make ...
Hong Kong film actor and director Louis Koo Tin-lok’s production company has defended against allegations that it owes HK$149 million (US$19 million) in outstanding debts to an offshore firm, saying the claim was incomplete and violated confidentiality principles. In a statement published on social media on Friday, One Cool Film Production said the civil lawsuit lodged by Sino Hero Ventures on Wed...
Cross-border disasters along China’s frontiers are putting Beijing’s neighbourhood diplomacy to the test as climate shocks grow and expose strategic vulnerabilities. The stakes were highlighted last week after a sudden glacial collapse in the Himalayas unleashed a torrent of mud and flooding that ravaged nearby villages and the Gyirong Port between China and Nepal, leaving more than 1,250 dead in ...
When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the encounter was short and carefully choreographed while the message was warm. Modi had earlier said that stable and predictable ties between the two largest nations on Earth matter for a multipolar Asia and world. The larger moment will come on Sep...
South Korea is moving towards the possible deployment of naval assets to the Strait of Hormuz under mounting pressure from Washington, potentially making it one of the first US allies to contribute militarily to the strategically vital waterway, observers have said. The government has reportedly drawn up plans to deploy military assets, including a naval logistics support ship and P-8A maritime pa...
Impersonating customer service staff is the “most rampant tactic” used by phone scammers, Hong Kong police have said, revealing the number of such fraud cases rose by 45 per cent to 4,830 in the first half of 2026 compared with a year ago. Despite the increase, deception cases overall fell slightly between January and June, dropping by 0.7 per cent compared with the same period last year, Superint...
Impersonating customer service staff is the “most rampant tactic” used by phone scammers, Hong Kong police have said, with the number of such frauds rising 45 per cent year on year in the first half of 2026 to 4,830 cases amid an overall decline in deception crimes. Superintendent Kwok Ching-yee of the Commercial Crime Bureau said police received a total of 20,613 deception cases in the first half...
A mainland Chinese man has been deemed unfit to stand trial for his alleged involvement in a deadly shooting during a botched robbery in Hong Kong 35 years ago, after he was diagnosed with a cognitive impairment caused by lung cancer. A High Court jury of four men and three women ruled on Friday that Shenzhen resident Wen Wenye, 61, could not be held criminally liable for murder and attempted robb...
A mainland Chinese man has been deemed unfit to stand trial for his alleged involvement in a deadly shooting during a botched robbery in Hong Kong three decades ago, after he was diagnosed with a cognitive impairment caused by lung cancer. A High Court jury of four men and three women ruled on Friday that Shenzhen resident Wen Wenye, 61, could not be held criminally liable for murder and attempted...
A court in the Philippines has issued a warrant of arrest against Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio over death threats she made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. The warrant involves three counts of grave threats, according to a court order that also set bail at 120,000 pesos (US$1,900) for each count. The charges were first filed last month, based on a National Bureau of Investigation crim...
A Philippine court on Friday ordered the arrest of Vice-President Sara Duterte in connection with a criminal case accusing her of making threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, the first lady and a former House speaker. A trial court issued a warrant for Duterte’s arrest in the case involving three counts of grave threats, according to a court order that also set bail at 120,000 pesos ...
Hong Kong’s City University has disciplined students over an orientation event with a disco theme in which a half-naked man was seen carrying a woman wearing only a bra and shorts, two days after the institution said it had “zero tolerance” for improper conduct. The institution said on Friday that all students involved in the orientation camp incident on August 27 had admitted their mistakes, form...
City University of Hong Kong has disciplined students over an orientation event with a disco theme in which a half-naked man was seen carrying a woman wearing only a bra and shorts, two days after the institution said it had “zero tolerance” for improper conduct. The institution said on Friday that all students involved in the orientation camp incident on August 27 had admitted their mistakes, for...
Two sailors from the US aircraft carrier making a port call to Thailand were sent back to the ship after a drunken altercation, Thai police said on Friday. Police were alerted to a “small scuffle” involving the sailors in the early hours of Thursday near Pattaya’s nightlife hotspot Walking Street, city police chief Colonel Anek Srathongyoo said. “The sailors were drunk and they were fighting, maki...
Fifty-two Singaporeans have been arrested and detained in China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region following a law enforcement operation targeting suspected pyramid scheme activities and related offences, according to Singaporean authorities. Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Singapore Police Force revealed the arrests in a joint statement on Friday, noting that Chinese authorities w...
Hong Kong’s leader has urged the banking sector to support financing the city’s new economic engine in innovation and technology while expanding the offshore yuan business, a key area for aligning with national strategies. Speaking at the Hong Kong Association of Banks’ Distinguished Speaker Luncheon on Friday, Chief Executive John Lee called for closer partnership between the government and banki...
The presence of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s youngest son at the opening of detained televangelist Apollo Quiboloy’s 75,000-seat Kingdome stadium this week offered a striking display of how ties between the Duterte family and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) have endured despite the criminal cases surrounding its founder. Observers say the lavish inauguration, attended by an esti...
Chinese tech firm Xiaomi will start selling electric cars in Europe next year, it announced at a consumer electronics trade show in Berlin on Thursday, adding to the growing list of Chinese carmakers expanding into the European market despite EU tariffs on China-made electric vehicles (EVs) and growing wariness across the bloc. Xiaomi Auto, the group’s EV arm, said it would enter several European ...
The enduring mystery of how the ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramid of Giza – with its 2.3 million multi-tonne stone blocks – has puzzled researchers for centuries. Mainstream archaeology holds that the pyramids were constructed from natural limestone or granite blocks precisely cut and hauled into place. An alternative scientific theory suggests the blocks might have been cast from an early...
A sea wall at a popular selfie spot along Kennedy Town’s waterfront could soon gain grade 2 status after authorities proposed listing it as a historic structure, though experts say creative storytelling will be key to bringing the site’s heritage to life. According to a document from the Antiquities and Monuments Office, the Historic Buildings Assessment Panel recommended that the New Praya sea wa...
A “wintry wonderland” on a highway in tropical Malaysia left motorists awestruck – until a police revelation melted away the viral moment and turned it into a road safety warning. Social media videos showed thick white foam carpeting several lanes of the Shah Alam Expressway as vehicles drove through the “snowy” route. The spectacle was extremely unusual in Malaysia, where there is no traditional ...
US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday unveiled a website featuring classic arcade games - but with a “Maga” twist, in which players can deport migrants and build a border wall. Rights groups swiftly criticised the release of the online games, which comes as the Trump administration steps up its mass arrest and deportation programme for undocumented migrants. One game called Rio Run -...
US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday unveiled a website featuring classic arcade games - but with a “Maga” twist, in which players can deport migrants and build a border wall. Rights groups swiftly criticised the release of the online games, which comes as the Trump administration steps up its mass arrest and deportation programme for undocumented migrants. One game called Rio Run -...
US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday unveiled a website featuring classic arcade games - but with a “Maga” twist, in which players can deport migrants and build a border wall. Rights groups swiftly criticised the release of the online games, which comes as the Trump administration steps up its mass arrest and deportation programme for undocumented migrants. One game called Rio Run -...
Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic’s body arrived in Serbia Thursday, where it was received with military honours. The casket, draped in the Serbian flag, was carried from the plane by six soldiers after arriving from The Hague, accompanied by Mladic’s son Darko and Serbia’s Justice Minister Nenad Vujic. The body was then driven from the airport under police escort, reportedly to a Belgrade mi...
Two people were pulled out alive on Friday from a tunnel linked to a hydropower station on the Trishuli River, nine days after an ice, rock and mud slide swept through a valley in Nepal, killing more than 1,200 people and displacing tens of thousands. The two workers pulled from the tunnel at the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station are Sanjay Sah, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, a me...
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said both Washington and Beijing were seeking stability in their relationship and that he remained optimistic about ties ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the United States later this month. “I am optimistic. The Chinese very much want to have a stable relationship. That’s the word they use: stability. We’re in favour of that as well,”...
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Xi, Trump and Putin may hold trilateral meeting at next Apec forum, Kremlin says A senior Russian aide suggested on Tuesday that Chine...
Argentine President Javier Milei escalated his country’s dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands on Thursday, vowing new measures to halt an oil project near the British-controlled archipelago and praising US President Donald Trump for saying Washington could reconsider its neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty. Milei cast Trump’s comments as proof that his close relationship with the ...
