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A Philippine senator said he will surrender to authorities after a special anti-corruption court ordered his arrest on Monday on a non-bailable charge of plunder after he allegedly pocketed a huge kickback in a flood-control project in the latest crisis to hit the upper chamber. The special Sandiganbayan anti-corruption court had initially issued a warrant for Senator Jinggoy Estrada’s arrest on F...
Unitree Robotics, one of the leading forces in mainland China’s booming humanoid robot sector, has cleared a major hurdle for its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) after passing a listing committee hearing on Monday. The Hangzhou-based company filed to list on Shanghai’s Star Market on March 20. Following two rounds of regulatory inquiries and an on-site inspection, the hearing appr...
Malaysia is unlikely to come close to a US call for Asian partners to spend 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence, analysts have said, as Putrajaya tries to modernise an ageing military without overwhelming public finances or appearing to align with Washington’s China strategy. Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the US had “every right” to ask allies to raise defence expenditu...
Since the Iran war began in late February, Turkey has positioned itself as a key regional power, an economic bridge and a neutral mediator, condemning both the US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Gulf nations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his country’s support for peace talks in separate phone calls with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Pakistan...
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth told Asia’s biggest military conference that his country’s relations with China were “better than they’ve been in many years”, as he adopted a much less strident tone than at the same event 12 months ago. “President Trump and this administration seek a stable peace, fair trade and respectful relations with China,” Hegseth said on Saturday at the Shangri-La Dial...
_ Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing’s first trip to India since being sworn in as president signals New Delhi’s recognition of the strongman’s political status as it seeks to counter mounting Chinese influence, according to analysts. The five-day visit, which began on Saturday at the personal invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is aimed at strengthening ties with one of Myanmar’s key regional...
_ Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing’s first trip to India since being sworn in as president signals New Delhi’s recognition of the strongman’s political status as it seeks to counter mounting Chinese influence, according to analysts. The five-day visit, which began on Saturday at the personal invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is aimed at strengthening ties with one of Myanmar’s key regional...
Hong Kong lawmakers have demanded urgent government intervention for a two-month-old infant left in legal and medical limbo after his parents refused DNA testing on religious grounds following a home birth. The legislators also said on Monday that the parents’ actions clearly deviate from standard behaviour and border on child neglect, emphasising that child protection must take priority over indi...
Beijing has strongly condemned Czech senate president Milos Vystrcil’s visit to Taiwan this week, demanding “immediate and effective” measures to eliminate its negative impact. Vystrcil, who is leading a delegation of some 40 representatives from the Czech business, academic and cultural sectors, arrived in Taiwan on Monday morning. He is set to meet the island’s leader, William Lai Ching-te, and ...
Beijing has strongly condemned Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil’s visit to Taiwan this week, and demanded “immediate and effective” measures to curb the impact of his trip. Vystrcil, who is leading a delegation of some 40 representatives from Czech business, academic and cultural sectors, arrived in Taiwan on Monday morning. He is set to meet the island’s leader, William Lai Ching-te, and oth...
Beijing has appointed Yuan Gujie, a former senior Guangdong official who vowed to advance rules and mechanisms connectivity within the Greater Bay Area, as deputy director of its liaison office in Hong Kong. State news agency Xinhua announced the appointment on Monday. Yuan, 58, will succeed diplomat Liu Guangyuan, who is expected to retire at 61. The liaison office’s top leadership includes direc...
Hong Kong’s transport sector has called for faster cross-border immigration clearance and an expansion of a popular scheme allowing local vehicles to enter Guangdong province to include other mainland Chinese cities. The call was made on Monday after the Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles scheme, which took effect in 2023, was extended by five years to June 1, 2031. The scheme allows eligibl...
Hong Kong’s transport sector has called for faster cross-border immigration clearance procedures and an expansion of a popular scheme allowing local vehicles to enter Guangdong to include other mainland Chinese cities. The call was made on Monday after the Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles scheme, which took effect in 2023, was extended by five years to June 1, 2031. The scheme allows eligi...
The leaders of Vietnam and the Philippines upheld the importance of keeping the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea amid tensions in the strategic waterway where Beijing lays expansive claim. “As fellow claimant states, we reaffirm that maintaining peace, stability and the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea remains non-negotiable,” Philippine President Ferdinand M...
The government’s investment arm achieved a double-digit internal rate of return last year, greater than many newly established venture capital funds, according to its CEO. “Many overseas funds have a J-curve performance, as they tend to suffer an initial loss before a gain,” said Clara Chan Ka-chai, CEO of Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC). “But we have already bypassed the J-curve, as we ha...
External shocks from the war in the Middle East have had only a limited impact on Hong Kong’s inflation, the finance chief has said, despite an upwards revision to forecasts, citing the city’s service-based economy and stable energy and food supplies from mainland China. Briefing the Legislative Council’s panel on financial affairs on Monday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the surge in g...
External shocks from the war in the Middle East have had only a limited impact on Hong Kong’s inflation, the finance chief has said, despite an upwards revision to forecasts, citing the city’s service-based economy and stable energy and food supplies from mainland China. Briefing the Legislative Council’s Panel on Financial Affairs on Monday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the surge in g...
The Chinese soldier who went viral for remaining completely still as the US presidential aircraft, Air Force One, taxied nearby during a recent visit to China by Donald Trump, has spoken about the rigours of his job. Liu Zhencheng, 23, who serves in the Beijing Armed Police Corps, was on duty when the US delegation touched down in Beijing. The armed police follow the rules of the People’s Liberati...
Beijing has strongly condemned Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil’s visit to Taiwan this week, and demanded “immediate and effective” measures to curb the impact of his trip. Vystrcil, who is leading a delegation of some 40 representatives from Czech business, academic and cultural sectors, arrived in Taiwan on Monday morning. He is set to meet the island’s leader, William Lai Ching-te, and oth...
Nvidia has partnered with Chinese robotics champion Unitree Robotics and Singapore robotic hand maker Sharpa to release a new humanoid robot reference design to accelerate innovation in the global humanoid industry, the US chip giant’s CEO, Jensen Huang, announced on Monday. The new design, called H2+, will support industry-wide humanoid robotics research by streamlining the full development workf...
Five people have died and two others were injured in a fire at a factory operated by South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace in the city of Daejeon, authorities said on Monday. The two survivors, including one who was badly burned, had escaped from the facility themselves, a fire official told a briefing. “Authorities have yet to identify the victims because their bodies were severely damaged,” a health o...
Five people have died and two others were injured in a fire at a factory operated by South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace in the city of Daejeon, authorities said on Monday. The two survivors, including one who was badly burned, had escaped from the facility themselves, a fire official told a briefing. “Authorities have yet to identify the victims because their bodies were severely damaged,” a health o...
The US said it struck Iranian military sites at the weekend and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday it had targeted a US base in response, the latest in a series of exchanges amid negotiations to end the three-month-old war. The strikes on Iran’s Gulf coast were in response to “aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a US MQ-1 drone that was operating over international w...
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. Chinese archaeologist who discovered 5,000-year-old city pleads guilty to corruption 2. Hong Kong body took action after teacher carried female student like bride 3. ‘Clear-eyed’ on China: the take...
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth praised stabilised ties with China at the recently concluded Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, as Chinese delegate Major General Meng Xiangqing warned against hegemonism and Japanese military expansion, while Japan’s Defence Minister dismissed claims of a “new militarism”. Read the full text of all three speeches below. Major General Meng Xiangqing: Remarks by Pr...
Beijing has revealed the sweeping scale of a year-long campaign targeting irregular law enforcement against businesses as the country intensified its efforts to discipline local bureaucracies and improve governance. The Information Office of the State Council, China’s cabinet, said in a press briefing on May 21 that the campaign uncovered more than 66,000 problematic administrative law enforcement...
A Malaysian state chief minister is under police investigation after a viral video showed him shooting a sacrificial cow with a shotgun at an Eid ul-Adha event, triggering public anger and questions over gun use, animal welfare and Islamic slaughter rules. Police in Perlis, a small northern state bordering Thailand, said they had seized the shotgun believed to have been used by Chief Minister Abu ...
Former US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell used one of his first major public appearances since leaving office to defend independent institutions while accepting an award Sunday honouring his efforts to preserve the central bank’s independence. Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Powell called universities, courts, Congress and the central bank “the foundation and the embodime...
An eminent clinical scientist born in Hong Kong has returned to the city to lead its third medical school after serving as a founding dean of medicine in the United States, vowing to nurture future leaders of the “healthcare revolution”. King Li King-chuen, dean emeritus of Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI Med), on Monday assumed the role of dean of medicine at the Hong Kong University of Sc...
A Hongkonger who specialises in biomedical imaging and was the founding dean of a US university medical school has been selected to lead the city’s third medical school. In a statement released by the University of Science and Technology on Monday, physician-scientist King Li King-chuen, dean emeritus of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, said he would draw on his experience to work closely w...
