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US President Donald Trump said his administration’s negotiations with Iran were “in the final stages” on Wednesday, while simultaneously warning of further attacks, as a fragile ceasefire concluded its sixth week with no sign of an end to the war. The US launched “Operation Epic Fury” close to three months ago, in a war that began with strikes inside Iran alongside key ally Israel, which has since...
The US special envoy to Greenland, the Arctic island coveted by President Donald Trump, said on Wednesday that Washington needs to rebuild its presence in the Danish autonomous territory. At the height of the Cold War, Washington had 17 military facilities in Greenland, but closed them over the years and currently has just one – the Pituffik base in the north of the island. Trump has repeatedly ar...
When it comes to tourism, Hong Kong is recovering footfall faster than spending and officials need to realise that the two are not the same. The city’s economy grew by 5.9 per cent year on year in the first three months, its strongest quarterly performance in almost five years, according to the Census and Statistics Department’s advance estimate. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po pointed to a 17...
We have put together stories from our coverage of Xi and Putin’s meeting in Beijing. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Xi and Putin’s united front – from tigers to trade: the summit takeaways Putin’s trip to Beijing came only days after US President Donald Trump’s closely watched visit to the Chinese capital, the back-to-back summits highlighting the s...
A former federal prosecutor in Florida sent to her personal email account a special counsel report from the investigation into US President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents despite a judge’s order that it remain sealed, according to an indictment made public on Wednesday. Carmen Lineberger, who worked in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and managed its F...
A former British pirate radio station on Wednesday apologised “for any distress caused” after accidentally announcing the death of King Charles. The erroneous announcement was made on Tuesday afternoon due to a computer error at its main studio in Maldon in eastern Essex, Radio Caroline said in a post on social media. The error had triggered the so-called death of a monarch procedure “which all UK...
The United States announced on Wednesday criminal charges against former Cuban leader Raul Castro over his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, an incident that killed four people. The indictment, unsealed by Acting US Attorney Todd Blanche in Miami, includes charges of conspiracy to kill US nationals, destruction...
More than two-thirds of Harvard University faculty voted to cap the proportion of A-grades in undergraduate courses, instituting one of the strongest policies against grade inflation in US higher education in decades. Starting in the fall of 2027, no more than 20 per cent of a class, plus four additional students, can receive an A. Just under 70 per cent of the votes were in favour of the policy i...
More than two-thirds of Harvard University faculty voted to cap the proportion of A-grades in undergraduate courses, instituting one of the strongest policies against grade inflation in US higher education in decades. Starting in the fall of 2027, no more than 20 per cent of a class, plus four additional students, can receive an A. Just under 70 per cent of the votes were in favour of the policy i...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Hong Kong’s construction sector stands at a decisive inflection point. A wave of public investment—anchored by the Northern Metropolis, major transport, healthcare and education projects and flagship initiatives such as Skytopia—has sustained demand even as skilled labour shortages and rising input costs squeeze schedules ...
Days after US President Donald Trump’s visit framed around managing risks, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached a raft of agreements and pledged deeper cooperation as they met in Beijing. An analyst in China captured the stark contrast between the two visits as a clear choice between pomp and pragmatism. “Over these 30 years, our relations, tempered by wind and...
Hong Kong’s northern districts were drenched in a downpour on Wednesday night when the Observatory issued an amber rainstorm warning, with multiple flooding reports received across the area. The warning, issued at 9pm, signalled heavy rain exceeding 30mm (1.2 inches) in an hour that was likely to continue, and cautioned of flooding in low-lying and poorly drained areas. At 9.45pm, a flooding alert...
Israel’s national security minister drew a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and triggered a backlash abroad, after releasing videos taunting detained flotilla activists who tried to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza, telling them they should be imprisoned for a long time. Netanyahu said that although Israel has every right to stop “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist support...
Detained activists from a flotilla of boats that tried to get past Israel’s blockade of Gaza arrived in the port city of Ashdod aboard Israeli naval ships on Wednesday, as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told them that they should remain in prison for a “long, long time.” Video released by Ben-Gvir showed the minister walking among some of the around 430 detained activists flanked by po...
The administrator of the blaze-hit Wang Fuk Court has reassured residents that the Hong Kong government will assume responsibility for pursuing claims on insurance policies bought by the estate on behalf of owners who sell their flats to authorities under a buy-back plan. But some residents of the Tai Po estate who attended Wednesday’s Zoom briefing by Hop On Management found some of their questio...
The administrator of the fire-damaged Wang Fuk Court has reassured residents that the Hong Kong government will assume responsibility for pursuing insurance claims on policies bought by the estate on behalf of owners who sell their flats to authorities under a buy-back plan. But some residents of the Tai Po estate who attended Wednesday’s Zoom briefing by Hop On Management found some of their ques...
China and Russia issued strong warnings over the US Golden Dome missile defence system and military deployments in the region in their latest joint statement, just days after a summit between Beijing and Washington aimed at stabilising Sino-American ties. The two countries accused the United States of posing “a clear threat to strategic stability” through its Golden Dome project in a joint stateme...
Singapore’s push to prepare workers for artificial intelligence is facing a stern test after Meta and Standard Chartered announced lay-offs this week, fuelling debate over how far AI is already reshaping jobs in the city state. The cuts have made one question more urgent for Singapore: can its goal to train workers to take on new or redesigned roles keep pace with increased use of AI and automatio...
Hong Kong accounted for the largest share of losses uncovered in a cross-border scam crackdown spanning 10 jurisdictions, making up more than 40 per cent of the US$752 million total. The single largest loss involved a Singaporean firm whose funds were transferred to multiple bank accounts in the city and Hong Kong. Hong Kong police said on Wednesday that it worked with law enforcement agencies in ...
Hong Kong’s top court has been asked to abolish an “extraordinary” and “inexplicable” law prohibiting calls to boycott the city’s “patriots-only” elections on the grounds that it violates residents’ rights to express disapproval of the political system and to make informed decisions before voting. A government senior counsel opposed the challenge by former Chinese University of Hong Kong student u...
China and Europe on Tuesday launched their first jointly developed satellite, a space mission that will explore the precise mechanism of the Earth’s defence against solar wind. The successful collaboration on the Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) comes as Beijing and Brussels are locked in escalating trade and geopolitical tensions, largely driven by the European Union’s ma...
In New Delhi’s chaotic traffic, where the backs of autorickshaws sometimes double as mobile billboards, some commuters are now being greeted by an unlikely face: US President Donald Trump. Splashed beneath his portrait is the slogan: “Happy Birthday America!” About 100 autorickshaws carrying large images of Trump and the Statue of Liberty have appeared across the Indian capital in recent weeks. In...
In the wake of the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, the China-US relationship is, in one critical respect, more dangerous than at any time since Tiananmen Square. The reason is not trade friction, tariffs, Taiwan or geopolitical competition – significant as those are. It is the competition over artificial intelligence supremacy, which will reshape every as...
Iranian Revolutionary Guard members now regularly show the public in Tehran how to handle Kalashnikov-style assault rifles. Parades through the capital feature military vehicles mounted with belt-fed Soviet-era machine guns. And at one mass wedding, a ballistic missile, like the one that rained down cluster munitions on Israel, adorned the stage. Weapons are now regularly brandished in Tehran, an ...
Germany has been warned that a “China shock” to its trade economy is the biggest driver of its industrial slump, in a new report that urges Berlin to throw its weight behind stronger EU measures against Beijing. Much soul-searching has been under way in Berlin over recent years, with the German government focusing on deregulation in an effort to kick-start a sputtering economy. According to the re...
Washington would not raise future tariffs on Chinese goods above the level stipulated in a trade truce the two countries hammered out late last year, Beijing said, a commitment arising from talks in South Korea held hours before US President Donald Trump’s arrival in the Chinese capital last week. Analysts said the pledge signals a shift in relations between the world’s two largest economies – fro...
The UK moved to loosen its Russian sanctions in a controversial move aimed at preventing shortages of diesel and jet fuel, as the war in Iran eats into global oil buffers. The move highlights how Britain has become more reliant on fuel imports than other major European nations, and has prompted political backlash over the government’s commitment to support Ukraine. The European Union is not curren...
The UK moved to loosen its Russian sanctions in a controversial move aimed at preventing shortages of diesel and jet fuel, as the war in Iran eats into global oil buffers. The move highlights how Britain has become more reliant on fuel imports than other major European nations, and has prompted political backlash over the government’s commitment to support Ukraine. The European Union is not curren...
Indonesia will require exports of key commodities to pass through a state-appointed enterprise in a sweeping effort to curb revenue leaks, tighten oversight of natural resources and keep more foreign exchange earnings at home. The policy, announced by President Prabowo Subianto in a rare address to parliament on Wednesday, would apply to palm oil, coal and ferroalloys – three major export earners ...
Beijing on Wednesday accused Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te of “destroying cross-strait peace”, shortly after he delivered a speech to mark his second anniversary in office. The row comes in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s remarks on Taiwan independence following his state visit to Beijing. Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office condemned Lai’s anniversary speech and his subsequent remarks...
