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India has signed a deal with Vietnam under which it will supply BrahMos missiles which it has jointly developed with Russia and is in “final stages” for a similar deal with Indonesia, India’s Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said on Saturday. India has a strong commitment to Asean nations, Singh said, without disclosing more details of the deals related to BrahMos. Singh was speaking a...
Hongkonger Susan Tam, 70, used to wake in the middle of the night, desperate for relief from an unbearable, relentless itch caused by her cancer medication. Tam, diagnosed with lung cancer a few months ago, tried applying regular moisturiser to soothe severe skin rashes, but in vain. She also used aqueous cream, a staple from her time working in a care home for the elderly, and even turned to hot ...
Washington’s plans to work with allies on warship design and construction face steep opposition at home, but analysts warn that the US must outsource shipbuilding to South Korea and Japan if it wants to close its gap in fleet size with China. The US budget submission for the next financial year includes US$1.85 billion for a study on outsourcing parts of the design and construction of frigates and...
Mass media commonly portrays Southeast Asia as an exciting, adventure-fuelled and culturally rich region – if often an exoticised one – for inhabitants and visitors alike. The final section of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute’s State of Southeast Asia 2026 Survey, based on respondents’ “relocation preference and travel choices”, adds to the already abundant evidence of the “soft power” of regiona...
South Korea and the United States are heading into talks in Seoul next week with different priorities over the implementation of last year’s summit agreement, with President Lee Jae Myung pushing for the supply of nuclear-powered submarines and Washington seeking progress on a major investment pledge by the Lee administration. US approval on the use of nuclear fuel for South Korea’s submarines is ...
Hong Kong families in the United Kingdom and Canada are facing deep uncertainty due to shifting immigration policies and the rising cost of living, and some are looking for alternative destinations to settle. Property agents said Spain’s Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV), designed for retirees and anyone who can support themselves without employment, had become one of their top choices. The NLV provides a ...
Across East Asia, societies are becoming richer, healthier and more educated, yet fewer people feel able or willing to have families and raise children. Low fertility plagues high-income societies, particularly in East Asia, where the total fertility rate (TFR) has fallen below one birth per woman, well under the replacement level of 2.1 births. While many countries have dedicated considerable res...
New Zealand does not have the fiscal headroom to increase defence spending to the levels the US might expect, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told delegates at an Asia security forum in Singapore on Saturday that New Zealand’s target of raising defence spending to 2 per cent of the economy is not enough and was an example of “freeloading”. He hinted that nati...
The mystique of Central Asia and its deepening business ties with mainland China have prompted more Hongkongers to choose the region for holidays, according to travel agency heads. They were also optimistic that Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s high-level visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan this week would further promote Central Asia, encouraging residents to step off the beaten path and explore...
A woman in eastern China has been left unable to sleep with her eyes shut and is constantly crying because of a bungled double eyelid operation she underwent six years ago. The woman, surnamed Wang, drew wide attention on mainland social media after she shared her legal disputes with the cosmetic clinic in late May. In June 2020, Wang went to Meixi Cosmetic Surgery Clinic in Suzhou, Jiangsu provin...
The Trump administration has walked back its announcement that non-citizens seeking permanent US residency, commonly called a green card, would need to return to their home country to apply, The New York Times reported. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told the newspaper on Friday that its policy announcement last week was not a requirement for all applicants, but would rather be implemen...
The Philippines is no stranger to politically weaponised memes and internet trolls. What has changed is the way information warfare is waged, now requiring nothing more than a smartphone and a well-crafted prompt. Supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte helped pioneer the industrialised use of social media to spread disinformation, rewarding loyalists and destroying opponents through the ru...
The world is not “well prepared” for the next pandemic, Tom Frieden, the former head of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said, citing the current response to the Ebola outbreak and cuts to US public health efforts. “This Ebola outbreak is not going to cause a pandemic, it’s not going to cause a significant risk to large numbers of Americans,” Frieden, the CEO of Resolve to Save Lives...
When China broke out one of its “big guns” in last year’s trade war with the US – an array of export controls on rare earth elements – it helped spur a temporary truce in the pitched conflict between the two economic superpowers. After Beijing’s announcement, many around the world expressed shock at the size and scope of China’s response to Washington’s sky-high tariffs. But for Japan, a squeeze o...
Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom said on Saturday that a Ukrainian drone had struck the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, causing no damage to key equipment, but the Kyiv military denied it. Rosatom’s head Alexei Likhachev called the incident “deliberate” and said it left a hole in the wall of a turbine hall. “This afternoon, a Ukrainian kamikaze comba...
Think of Hong Kong as a living dictionary. Every old arcade, footbridge and mixed-use tong lau, or tenement building, is an entry worth studying. As the city embarks on another redevelopment cycle, we should be leafing more carefully – not erasing the dictionary’s words but learning how to write new ones in the same spirit. Here are five key words that should be at the centre of any sensitive, for...
US President Donald Trump will headline an event commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary on the National Mall next month after several musical performers scheduled to appear in the celebration cancelled, citing concerns about its association with him Danielle Alvarez, an adviser to Freedom 250, told The Washington Post that “Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wedn...
US President Donald Trump will headline an event commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary on the National Mall next month after several musical performers scheduled to appear in the celebration canceled, citing concerns about its association with him Danielle Alvarez, an adviser to Freedom 250, told The Washington Post that “Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wedne...
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he was considering cancelling a planned series of concerts on Washington’s National Mall commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary after a string of artists withdrew from the event, and replacing them with a speech and political-style rally instead. The concerts were planned as part of the larger Great American State Fair, a 16-day event runni...
Pop culture fans packed the inaugural Hong Kong edition of Comic Con, an exhibition featuring international and local animated figures and products, fuelling hopes among digital entertainment vendors that business will be strong over the three-day event that ends on Sunday. Giant statues of characters from Japanese hits such as Dragon Ball and One Piece dominated the crowded show floor at the Conv...
The world can learn diplomatic lessons from Asean, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has said in a strongly worded rebuke to existing global power structures. At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday, Ramos-Horta, who leads the newest and 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, argued that the bloc epitomised how dialogue could prevent conflict and yield dividends...
Hong Kong should urgently address its bottlenecks in developing a yacht economy by improving immigration procedures, upgrading mooring facilities and curating niche tourism itineraries following Beijing’s policy relaxation on yachts from the city sailing to mainland China, industry leaders have said. Their calls came on Saturday after Beijing allowed Hong Kong and Macau yachts to enter designated ...
The world faces challenges from “hegemonism” and “bloc confrontation” driven by “certain countries”, China’s delegation to Asia’s premier security conference said on Saturday, without directly naming the United States. Major General Meng Xiangqing, the head of the Chinese delegation to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, sent the warning during a special session on managing threats to strategic ...
Sri Lanka’s Buddhist hierarchy suspended on Saturday a senior monk accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl, in a high-profile case that has shocked the religiously conservative nation. In a rare disciplinary move, 71-year-old Pallegama Hemarathana was stripped of his responsibilities as the chief custodian of a highly venerated ficus grown from a sapling of a tree believed to have sheltere...
Hundreds of vulnerable children in Hong Kong are waiting for temporary homes, with a local charity urging more households from diverse backgrounds to step forward as demand for foster placements continues to outstrip supply. Mother’s Choice said 222 children remained on the official waiting list for placement, adding that single carers now make up nearly 10 per cent of foster parents in its Projec...
The US agency set up to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative is blending national security with development finance to try to secure a critical minerals supply chain, according to analysts and officials. Created in 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first administration, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) puts its money into private-led projects rather than those led ...
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Saturday expressed her determination to achieve a “breakthrough” in resolving the long-standing issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, vowing to weigh all options, including summit talks. At a rally in Tokyo calling for the return of Japanese abductees, Takaichi urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to take a “courageous step” together for the benefit...
Five villagers trapped deep in a flooded cave in Laos have been freed, ending a 10-day underground ordeal that relied on expert cave rescuers racing against time to dive the group through flooded passages before fresh rains further complicated the mission. Hugs, cheers and tears met four of the group who emerged thin and muddied on Saturday afternoon to be quickly wrapped in foil blankets to regul...
The popular scheme allowing Hong Kong vehicles to travel north to Guangdong province has been extended by five years, mainland Chinese authorities have announced, as the initial three-year period is set to expire. Under the Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles scheme, eligible private car owners in Hong Kong can drive into Guangdong via the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge without a mainland numb...
The popular northbound cross-border scheme allowing Hong Kong vehicles to travel to Guangdong province has been extended by five years, mainland authorities have announced, as the initial three-year implementation period is set to expire. Under the “Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles” scheme, eligible private car owners in Hong Kong can drive into Guangdong via the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bri...
