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Foreign governments, international banks and multinational companies are increasingly tapping China’s domestic bond market, as panda bond issuance hit a record high in the first five months of the year. A total of 11 entities sold 14 panda bonds – yuan-denominated debt instruments issued by foreign entities in mainland China’s onshore market – worth 26.64 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) in May, up 2...
Visiting the popular Po Pin Chau area in Hong Kong’s geopark will require real-name reservations under a pilot scheme aimed at preventing scalping and no-shows, officials have told lawmakers concerned about its effectiveness. Undersecretary for Environment and Ecology Diane Wong Shuk-han told the Legislative Council subcommittee on ecology and tourism on Monday that authorities would not use a fir...
A diplomatic feud between Beijing and Tokyo appears to have spilled over to the arts, with what looks like an unofficial boycott on Japanese film, music and books. China has slapped official restrictions on tourism and trade with Japan since the row erupted in November, but so far there has been no official ban on the cultural sector. However, the Shanghai International Film Festival, which begins...
A Chinese man bought a flat on the 34th floor of a newly developed building only to be told four years later that the building only had 32 floors. The man, surnamed Shen, from northwestern China’s Shaanxi province, bought a new-build flat in a village near the provincial capital city Xian in 2013. He bought a 90-square-metre unit on the 34th floor of a building which cost 2,646 yuan (US$400) per s...
A Chinese man bought a flat on the 34th floor of a newly developed building only to be told four years later that the building only had 32 floors. The man, surnamed Shen, from northwestern China’s Shaanxi province, bought a new-build flat in a village near the provincial capital city Xian in 2013. He bought a 90-square-metre unit on the 34th floor of a building which cost 2,646 yuan (US$400) per s...
A South Korean protest calling for a redo of last Wednesday’s local election over ballot shortages at polling stations has taken an unexpected turn, with some protesters demanding that actress and singer IU send coffee to the rally. The demand appears to stem from IU’s decision in 2024 to provide prepaid food and drinks for demonstrators calling for the impeachment of former president Yoon Suk-yeo...
Peru faced a drawn-out count in its bitterly contested presidential run-off after results showed the race for the ninth head of state in 10 years was too close to call. Figures released by electoral authorities showed conservative politician Keiko Fujimori with a modest lead over nationalist congressman Roberto Sanchez with 58 per cent of ballots tallied in a contest overshadowed by people’s conce...
The head of a Japanese IT firm has said that he created videos criticising rivals of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in last year’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential race, after being asked by one of her aides to help her win the election. Ken Matsui, 33, said in a recent online interview that he was consulted by a secretary of Takaichi on how to “reverse” the lead of Shinjiro Koizu...
We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China is transforming historic African slave port into waterfront tourism magnet 2. The new Panama? Why Nicaragua could be next front in US-China influence battle 3. Is the dream over? Mainland stu...
Malaysia’s human rights groups have warned of rising hostility towards Rohingya refugees after a petition shared widely on social media calling for the community to be “removed” from the country amassed nearly half a million signatures. The petition, launched on Change.org late last month by an account using the name “Aku Anak Malaysia”, urges the Malaysian government to consider resettling the Ro...
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday migration levels were reducing, responding to an opinion poll showing a right-wing populist party ahead of governing Labor. Support for One Nation party was 31 per cent, ahead of Labor on 30 per cent, a Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper on Monday showed. Albanese’s net approval rating has sunk to its lowest level since the 202...
Hong Kong should revive plans for large-scale reclamation off Lantau Island to run in parallel with the Northern Metropolis project, property magnate Gordon Wu Ying-sheung has said, warning that a lack of urban land will hold back the city’s development as the population grows. The 90-year-old founder and chairman of Hopewell Holdings also described it as “too early to say” whether his property em...
Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Pyongyang on Monday for a two-day visit, his first to North Korea since 2019. In an article published by Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, on Monday morning, Xi said the combat friendship “forged in blood” and comradely bond of mutual trust between the two countries stood the test of time and the ch...
Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Pyongyang on Monday for a two-day visit, his first to North Korea since 2019. More to follow...
Cambodia has failed to dismantle much of its online scam industry despite a year-long crackdown that authorities said would eliminate it, according to an Amnesty International report that challenges official claims of success. The London-based rights group said it identified 86 scam compounds operating across Cambodia as of April, up from 53 a year earlier, and found evidence of state intervention...
China has discovered a new source of high-purity quartz in its western Tibet autonomous region, potentially reducing its reliance on imports of the critical material to make solar panels and semiconductors. High-purity quartz is a gold standard manufacturing material for numerous hi-tech items, including some whose global market is dominated by China. China has relied on imports to obtain the impo...
A museum in Japan is facing accusations of “rewriting history” for replacing the Nanking massacre with the word “incident”, drawing criticism and reviving anger over the country’s wartime aggression. The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, which previously resisted revisionist attempts, appeared to have capitulated to a civic group’s pressure campaign, following Thursday’s release of proposed exhibit cha...
Hong Kong has proposed new legislation to clarify the definition of national security offences by setting up a mechanism that vests certification power in the chief executive, in a bid to reduce legal disputes. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung stressed on Monday that the proposed law would not introduce any new offences, penalties or powers and would have no impact on residents’ daily ...
The Hong Kong government has sought to clarify what constitutes national security cases in a new round of proposed subsidiary legislation. Security and justice authorities submitted the proposed amendments under the city’s national security laws to the Legislative Council on Monday. The proposal introduces a classification mechanism for “other offences endangering national security”, under which a...
Educators have received quite a bit of unwanted attention lately. First came a Hong Kong school principal losing his temper during a study trip in Singapore over parking a coach bus. The man was caught on camera hurling abusive language at security guards in the presence of a busload of students. That lapse of judgment was met with a stern response. The principal eventually tendered his resignatio...
The Middle East is bracing for renewed conflict as a fragile ceasefire appears to have collapsed following the resumption of direct strikes between Iran and Israel on Monday. US President Donald Trump appealed for restraint in back-to-back social media posts on Monday, saying both sides “must immediately stop ‘shooting’”. He later announced that Iran and Israel were “looking to do an immediate CEA...
The Middle East is bracing for renewed conflict as a fragile ceasefire appears to have collapsed following the resumption of direct strikes between Iran and Israel on Monday. The latest developments came as US President Donald Trump said Israel would have no choice but to accept a potential deal, following an interview walkout when pressed on his campaign pledge of “no new wars”. He later took to ...
As Monday morning broke over a Middle East bracing for renewed conflict, a fragile regional ceasefire appeared to have collapsed after the resumption of direct strikes between Iran and Israel. The latest developments came as US President Donald Trump said Israel would have no choice but to accept a potential deal, following an interview walkout when pressed on his campaign pledge of “no new wars”....
As Monday morning broke over a Middle East bracing for renewed conflict, a fragile regional ceasefire appeared to have collapsed after an exchange of direct strikes between Iran and Israel. The latest developments came as US President Donald Trump said Israel would have no choice but to accept a potential deal, following an interview walkout when pressed on his campaign pledge of “no new wars”. So...
As Monday morning broke over a Middle East bracing for renewed conflict, a fragile regional ceasefire appeared to have collapsed after an exchange of direct strikes between Iran and Israel. The latest developments came as US President Donald Trump said Israel would have no choice but to accept a potential deal, following an interview walkout when pressed on his campaign pledge of “no new wars”. He...
As Sunday marked 100 days since the United States and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough gave way to renewed violence. Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks and fighting intensified in Lebanon, even as US President Donald Trump remarked that Israel had no choice but to accept a potential deal after walking out of an interview on camera. Here are the key devel...
As Sunday marked 100 days since the United States and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough gave way to renewed violence. Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks and fighting intensified in Lebanon, even as US President Donald Trump remarked that Israel had no choice but to accept a potential deal after walking out of an interview on camera. Here are the key devel...
A university cleaner in southwestern China has secured a place in a master’s programme after a year of self-study while raising two children. Li Jia, 33, from Chengdu in Sichuan province, works full-time as a cleaner at Chengdu University of Technology. She and her husband once ran a restaurant near the campus, but it closed after struggling to stay afloat, according to local reports. Li later too...
Hong Kong property tycoon Gordon Wu Ying-sheung has predicted that China will overtake the US as the world’s largest economy in the next decade or so, propelled by rapid technological advances while Washington is weighed down by massive defence expenditure and national debt. Yet the 90-year-old founder and chairman of Hopewell Holdings, who rarely speaks to the press, said Hong Kong should look pa...
At least 17 people were killed in a southern Philippine province on Monday, mostly due to a landslide set off by a 7.8-magnitude offshore earthquake, bringing the overall death toll in the region to 32, officials said. Rene Punzalan, a disaster-mitigation official of Sarangani province on the island of Mindanao, told the DZBB radio network that 13 villagers were killed when a landslide hit houses ...
