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Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday presented her new cabinet, which for the first time in Danish history included more women than men. Following months of talks after inconclusive elections in March, incumbent Frederiksen said on Monday she had managed to form a minority government between her Social Democrats, the Socialist People’s Party, the centre-left Radikale Venstre and...
A Malaysian power systems specialist has struck a deal with a Hong Kong battery storage firm to pursue large-scale projects aimed at helping the country prepare its electricity grid for more renewable energy. The two-year agreement between Mikro MSC Berhad and Hong Kong Cospower Technology Co Ltd (HKCT) makes the company HKCT’s exclusive strategic partner in Malaysia for utility-scale battery ener...
At least 21 people were killed when a fire ripped through a hotel in New Delhi on Wednesday, police said, in one of the deadliest blazes in the Indian capital in recent years. Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and routine disregard for safety regulations. The fire broke out in the morning at Flourish Stay, a bed-and-breakfast in a congested neighbourhood in...
A Hong Kong couple has drawn public scrutiny after refusing a DNA test for their baby’s registration following the infant’s birth at home, raising potential gaps in the city’s legal and child welfare system. The father, Tsang Wai-bong, and the mother, Kwan Pui-sin, were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of child neglect, with the Social Welfare Department applying to the court for a protection orde...
The mainland Chinese coastguard’s first independent law enforcement patrol east of Taiwan on Monday – in response to the maritime border talks between Japan and the Philippines – marked an expansion of its patrolled area beyond the traditional focus. Since its launch in 2021, the China Coast Guard (CCG) has routinely patrolled in the South China Sea, East China Sea and Yellow Sea. In recent years,...
Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek is finalising its first external fundraising round, securing over 50 billion yuan (US$7.4 billion) at a valuation of just under US$60 billion, according to people familiar with the matter – marking a six-fold leap from its US$10 billion valuation in April. The blockbuster round highlights intensifying global competition and a shifting strategy for ...
China is one of the world’s largest buyers of gold as central banks shift towards the precious metal, which has overtaken US Treasuries to become the world’s top reserve asset amid higher valuations and its appeal as a geopolitical hedge, the European Central Bank said. The world’s second-largest economy was the fourth-largest per-country buyer of gold in 2025 after Poland, Kazakhstan and Brazil, ...
South Korea has made peaceful coexistence the central objective of its North Korea policy. As outlined in a recent white paper, Seoul has not formally abandoned reunification but has chosen to prioritise the more immediate and achievable objective of establishing a stable framework for coexistence. The document articulates three guiding principles: respect for North Korea’s political system, rejec...
Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory recorded its strongest monthly deliveries of the year in May as a broader recovery in China’s electric vehicle market gathered pace, although the US carmaker is likely to face intensifying competition from domestic rivals launching a wave of new models. The factory in Shanghai’s Lingang free-trade zone delivered 85,982 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles last month, up 39.4 p...
Disciplinary authorities in central China are investigating a county-level Communist Party chief following a coal mine gas blast that killed 82 people and left two missing. Zhao Yongjin, party secretary of Qinyuan county in Changzhi, was “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law”, the Shanxi provincial discipline inspection and supervisory commission, an anti-corruption watchdog, said...
A county-level Communist Party chief in China’s central Shanxi province was put under disciplinary review, 11 days after a deadly gas explosion at a local mine killed 82 people and left two missing. Zhao Yongjin, party secretary of Qinyuan county in Changzhi, Shanxi, was “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law”, the Shanxi provincial discipline inspection and supervisory commission,...
Thailand’s divisive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was freed from parole on Wednesday after receiving a royal pardon from King Maha Vajiralongkorn, as the 76-year-old billionaire businessman’s plans remain unclear. Thaksin, who stood at the heart of a two-decade power struggle with rival sections of the Thai elite, served eight months of a one-year jail term for corruption and abuse of p...
Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has met the conditions for a royal pardon as part of clemency measure marking the queen’s birthday, the justice minister said on Wednesday. Thaksin, 76, served eight months of a one-year sentence for corruption and abuse of power before he was released on parole last month due to his age. The Department of Corrections said the ex-leader was requi...
More Hong Kong carriers including Cathay Pacific Airways and Hong Kong Airlines cancelled or rescheduled flights to Japan on Wednesday as Typhoon Jangmi headed towards Tokyo. Cathay, the city’s flag carrier, cancelled six scheduled flights between Hong Kong and Japan, affecting routes to and from Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya on Wednesday. The airline said it had notified all affected customers and reb...
We have put together stories from our coverage on science from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Chinese archaeologist who discovered 5,000-year-old city pleads guilty to corruption Liu Bin, a Chinese archaeologist credited with discovering a vast 5,000-year-old prehistoric city that rewrote the history of ...
Ukrainian drones hit energy and military sites in St Petersburg early Wednesday morning as officials gathered for a flagship economic forum in the city, Russian and Ukrainian authorities said. Some 20,000 guests from 130 countries are set to attend the three-day annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) – an event once dubbed “Russia’s Davos” – which starts Wednesday. The strikes c...
Ukrainian drones hit energy and military sites in St Petersburg early Wednesday morning as officials gathered for a flagship economic forum in the city, Russian and Ukrainian authorities said. Some 20,000 guests from 130 countries are set to attend the three-day annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum – an event that was once Russia’s premier gathering to court Western investors and busi...
Britain’s Sikh community has rejected calls to strip them of the rights to carry a ceremonial knife – known as the kirpan – as outrage snowballs over the murder of an 18-year-old student by a Sikh man. Vickrum Singh Digwa, 23, was handed a life sentence by a judge on Tuesday for stabbing to death Henry Nowak, an accountancy student, in Southampton in December 2025. The murder case has reopened a d...
Unassisted home births and vaccine refusal put mothers and newborns at life-threatening risks, a Hong Kong doctor and a children’s rights group have said, stressing that parental choice must not come at the expense of an infant’s well-being. Their warnings followed the arrest of a Hong Kong couple on suspicion of child neglect. The pair claimed to have given birth to their third child, Danny, at h...
Japan is positioning itself as a partner for Pacific Island nations struggling with rising seas and caught between the US-China rivalry, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledging on Wednesday to help fight climate change and boost maritime cooperation. Speaking at the inaugural Island States Ocean Summit in Tokyo, Takaichi made a direct pitch to Pacific leaders, presenting Japan as a reliable pa...
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally received the country’s AFC Women’s Champions League winners in Pyongyang earlier this week, embracing the players and posing for photographs with them as they wept with joy and leapt in celebration. Naegohyang Women’s FC clinched Asia’s top club title with a 1-0 defeat of Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan in the final in Suwon on May 23, becoming the first Nort...
Veteran Hong Kong theatre figure “King Sir” Chung King-fai has died at the age of 89. Chung’s nephew confirmed the actor’s death on Wednesday, saying he had died peacefully in his sleep at home in the morning. “My uncle dedicated his entire life to the theatre, leaving behind a lasting legacy through the generations of students he inspired,” the nephew said through the social media page of free-to...
Veteran Hong Kong theatre figure “King Sir” Chung King-fai has died at the age of 89. Chung’s nephew confirmed his death on Wednesday, saying he had died peacefully in his sleep at home in the morning. “My uncle dedicated his entire life to the theatre, leaving behind a lasting legacy through the generations of students he inspired,” the nephew said through the social media page of free-to-air bro...
A celebrity dog in central China was stolen and slaughtered, leaving its owner seeking justice but confronting gaps in the country’s legal protections for pets. Guo, a travel influencer from Henan province, raised Chutou, an eight-year-old Border Collie known for his intelligence, energy and gentle temperament. The dog had amassed more than 1.5 million followers on mainland social media after acco...
An administrator appointed to oversee the affairs of Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court has said it will arrange an extraordinary general meeting at the request of displaced owners, but stopped short of providing a time frame. In a written statement on Wednesday, Hop On Management Company said it was studying the Lands Tribunal’s reasons for dismissing its application to extend the statutory ...
A wanted director of a scandal-hit Hong Kong charity who fled the city is facing a sweeping 14-count civil lawsuit in the United States over an alleged multimillion-dollar property scheme that the plaintiff described as a “shell game”. In a complaint for damages and equitable relief seen by the South China Morning Post, developer Joseph Lee Daniell accused Jacob Lam Hay-sing, the founder and direc...
Li Xiaohong, a former senior disciplinary official in charge of national inspection, has been placed under investigation for suspected severe disciplinary and legal violations, China’s top anti-corruption authorities said on Tuesday. The downfall of the 73-year-old veteran – known for spearheading high-level anti-corruption crackdowns and his top disciplinary roles at the securities regulator – un...
CBS News has terminated the contract of 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, two sources at the network said on Tuesday, joining more than half a dozen departures in recent weeks. “Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you,” the show’s executive producer, Nick Bilton, wrote in a Tuesday email to Pelley that was seen by Reuters. “I therefor...
Two siblings allegedly racing against each other in luxury cars, causing a multivehicle crash in Johor state that killed five people – including four members of a family – have once again put the spotlight on the “serious public health challenge” facing Malaysia’s roads. Police arrested a 19-year-old driver of a Mercedes-Benz, identified by local media as a Singapore university student, over Monda...
South Korea has emerged as a rare bright spot among East Asian economies trading with China, as booming demand for memory chips pushes its balance with its largest trading partner back into a surplus. The country’s trade position with China had strengthened steadily this year, swinging from a US$764 million deficit in December 2025 to a US$1.1 billion surplus in February, before widening further t...
