Live headlines from trusted global sources. Click any story to open it on the original website.
In the third of a five-part Health Matters wellness series on ageing in Hong Kong, Victor Ting looks at how advances in early screening and new drug therapies are offering fresh hope for Alzheimer’s patients, as experts say the city must expand support efforts to meet rising demand. For years, Hong Kong retiree Mary Chan* lived with a quiet fear that dementia ran in her family. The 65-year-old gra...
Minutes after a Berlin court sentenced a Chinese man to five years in prison for aiding and abetting aggravated rape and sexual coercion, two women who had sat through the trial hugged each other and cried. But the case left one of those women, named Kristina, balancing mixed emotions as she struggled to reconcile her desire to see the perpetrators punished and questions about what justice really ...
Hong Kong restaurateurs have hit out at a scheme requiring permits to be dog-friendly venues, saying they had already been allowing pets in their outdoor seating areas but were now barred from doing so without the new licence. Businesses said they had been forced to turn away dog owners who were previously welcomed, even as the government promoted the scheme to make the city more pet-friendly and ...
When Hongkonger Tara Fung brought her eight-month-old Munchkin cat, Yuen Yuen, to a clinic to get spayed in March 2025, she was told two hours later that her pet had died from an allergic reaction to a sedative. “Who would have thought she would go in and never come out … I never got to see her again,” she told the South China Morning Post. Fung pressed the clinic for explanations and surveillance...
An impending ‘super’ El Nino is likely to inflict a combined US$10 billion to US$20 billion of damage in affected African countries and trigger mass migration from hard-hit areas, the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) top climate expert said. Forecasters are warning that the El Nino weather pattern – which often drives severe droughts, flooding and storms in Africa – could turn into one of the s...
Residents of the Northern Metropolis, Hong Kong’s future mega township near the border with Shenzhen, can expect bigger living spaces and improved access to recreational areas, according to the city’s finance chief. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also said the government would make the border town a place “suitable for living, working, studying and leisure”, as part of a wider effort to devel...
An international journal has said it is looking into concerns raised over a map featured in a paper by an Education University of Hong Kong (EdU) researcher, in which Victoria Harbour was omitted and the Kowloon Peninsula was merged with Hong Kong Island. A spokesman for the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications said on Wednesday that its “assessment is ongoing”, while EdUHK defend...
A secondary school graduate in China, unlike many of her peers who travelled after sitting for the national university entrance exam, chose to work alongside her mother at a construction site. To earn money for her university tuition fees, she carried bricks on her back. The girl, nicknamed Yuanyuan, is the daughter of Wei Yungui, a dedicated labourer at construction sites in southern China’s Guan...
Narrowing profit margins due to higher raw material costs have dealt yet another major blow to China’s carmakers as they face shrinking market demand amid a rollback of purchase subsidies and tax incentives. The dire scenario could also dash Chinese consumers’ hopes for steep discounts, despite carmakers’ efforts to reduce their inventories, according to dealers and analysts. “The crux point is th...
Iran said on Sunday it had made progress in talks with Oman on management of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway crucial for oil and gas trade that both countries border. The latest talks come after the United States resumed attacks on Iran in an effort to end Tehran’s control of the strait, following a June memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war that had briefly eased tensio...
Typhoon Noul, which triggered a No 9 signal on Sunday, made the third-closest approach to Hong Kong by a major storm this century, but it caused relatively minor damage in the city despite violent winds rattling buildings throughout the night. It was the first No 9 signal issued since Super Typhoon Ragasa last September, which came within 100km (62 miles) of the city. Noul came within 80km, making...
Typhoon Noul, which triggered a No 9 signal on Sunday, made the third closest approach to Hong Kong by a major storm this century, but it caused relatively minor damage in the city despite violent winds rattling buildings throughout the night. It was the first No 9 signal issued since Super Typhoon Ragasa last September, which came within 100km (62 miles) of the city. Noul came within 80km, making...
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia has sought an extra 30,000 troops and missile launchers from North Korea to fight his country. Preparations for the extra troops are being made in Russia’s Voronezh region near the frontier with Ukraine, Zelensky said in a social media post late Saturday. North Korea sent thousands of troops to help Russia fight off a Ukrainian counteroff...
About 2,000 passengers were stranded overnight at Hong Kong International Airport as Typhoon Noul battered the city, with some dismayed by their disrupted journeys while others complained about hotel room rates that had risen to HK$2,000 (US$255) to HK$3,000 per night. In the airport’s departure hall, nearly all the chairs were occupied on Sunday morning, with some passengers sitting on luggage tr...
About 2,000 passengers were stranded overnight at Hong Kong International Airport as Typhoon Noul battered the city, with some dismayed by their disrupted journeys while others complained about hotel room rates that had risen from HK$2,000 (US$255) to HK$3,000 per night. In the airport’s departure hall, almost all the chairs were occupied on Sunday morning, with some passengers sitting on luggage ...
One hundred days before the US midterm elections, President Donald Trump’s Republicans are staring down polling that points to the loss of the House of Representatives and a ferocious battle to retain the Senate. Trump will not appear on the ballot on November 3, but the stakes for his presidency could hardly be higher. A Democratic house would give the party control of powerful committees and sub...
India’s ambition to grow its navy past 200 ships within the next decade has taken on fresh urgency as China expands the world’s largest naval fleet and Pakistan adds advanced Chinese-built attack submarines, heightening New Delhi’s anxieties in the Indian Ocean. Analysts see this month’s commissioning of the stealth frigate INS Mahendragiri and submarine hunter INS Malvan this month as a symbol of...
Unesco decided on Sunday to add a group of ancient sites in Nara prefecture that show the formation of Japan’s centralised state to the World Heritage list, marking the country’s 27th such site. The decision on the Asuka-Fujiwara: Archaeological sites of Japan’s Ancient Capitals and Related Properties was made during a meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation...
European holidaymakers worn down by recurrent heatwaves are currently snubbing Mediterranean destinations for northern climes in hopes of cooler temperatures, but it remains to be seen whether it is just a fad or a durable shift in the tourism market. With temperatures in the European summer regularly climbing up towards 40 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit), cool has become cool. This year,...
In recent years, Southeast Asian governments have viewed the “China plus one” strategy as their best chance to escape the middle-income trap. As global manufacturers looked to diversify away from China because of rising costs, trade tensions and supply-chain vulnerabilities, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia seemed perfectly placed to benefit. The promise was simple and compelling: new factories wo...
As India picks up the pieces in the aftermath of a youth protest that deposed an education minister, questions linger over the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) failure to connect with younger generations. Analysts say the scale of youth participation in the protest suggests a loss of faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the real test coming at the ballot box in key state elections next...
High-speed rail services and flights across Guangdong province were cancelled on Sunday after Typhoon Noul made landfall in the province, bringing heavy rainfall to large parts of southern China. Noul – the strongest typhoon to hit China so far this year – made landfall at Huizhou city in Guangdong at around 3.50am on Sunday. The National Meteorological Centre issued its first red typhoon warning ...
High-speed rail services and flights across Guangdong province were cancelled on Sunday after Typhoon Noul made landfall in the province, bringing heavy rainfall to large parts of southern China. Noul – the strongest typhoon to hit China so far this year – made landfall at Huizhou city in Guangdong at around 3.50am on Sunday. The National Meteorological Centre issued its first red typhoon warning ...
High-speed rail services and flights across Guangdong province were cancelled on Sunday after Typhoon Noul made landfall in the province, bringing heavy rainfall to large parts of southern China. Noul – the strongest typhoon to hit China so far this year – made landfall at Huizhou city in Guangdong at around 3.50am on Sunday. The National Meteorological Centre issued its first red typhoon warning ...
Hong Kong’s after-school care scheme has expanded rapidly since the government removed its quota cap this school year, with some operators saying they have sufficient capacity to meet demand, while others are already recruiting more staff to keep pace. While some mothers said the programme had freed them up to return to work after years of full-time caregiving, manpower constraints at some centres...
A new wave of US tariffs that hit seven Southeast Asian countries is set to reinforce perceptions of Washington as an unreliable partner to the region, according to analysts. Citing what it said were forced labour practices uncovered in its latest investigations, the US on Thursday imposed levies ranging from 10 to 12.5 per cent on 60 economies – with the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietn...
A man from central China had long been troubled by a thickening scalp that developed folds resembling the creases of a brain, but he eventually found a plastic surgeon who could address his condition. The 23-year-old man from Hunan province, surnamed Li, recently had his issue resolved at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Hubei. Li first noticed the hardening of his scalp several years ...
A team of Chinese scientists says it has developed an alloy that retains strength at ultra-high temperatures using tantalum – a very hard and flexible metal. For applications in aerospace, hypersonic vehicles and nuclear reactors, materials must endure both extreme heat and heavy loads. But most metals fail above 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,632 degrees Fahrenheit) – they either melt or soften to a pu...
Malaysian police have received a report against Perikatan Nasional election director Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor over remarks allegedly made during a speech while campaigning for the Negeri Sembilan election. Negeri Sembilan police chief Alzafny Ahmad said the report was lodged by a 40-year-old man at the Bandar Seri Jempol police station on Friday. “The complainant was unhappy with a news report publ...
Across Myanmar, the statues are vanishing one by one. Military-backed authorities blame “incorrect proportions and shapes”. Unofficially, analysts see a deliberate attempt to erase the presence of independence hero Aung San from public life – and with it, the legitimacy of the elected government the junta overthrew. Revered as the country’s founding father, Aung San founded its military, united it...
