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India and New Zealand on Monday signed a free-trade agreement to deepen economic ties and expand market access, as both countries navigate mounting global trade disruptions. The deal comes as New Delhi moves to diversify export markets to offset the impact of steep tariffs imposed by the United States and instability in shipping and energy routes due to the Iran war. For New Zealand, the agreement...
Hong Kong police have arrested nine men in a crackdown on child pornography linked to a seven-jurisdiction operation in which more than 300 suspects were detained across Asia. Police said on Monday the city had joined a coordinated international operation involving Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Brunei, targeting offences related to the production, distribution and possessio...
Japan’s first female prime minister is facing a growing backlash from women new to political activism, as alarm spreads over her government’s push to revise the country’s pacifist constitution and expand its role in arms exports. The women are part of a protest wave that has grown from a few thousand people in late February to tens of thousands outside the National Diet in Tokyo, where demonstrato...
Europe’s territorial integrity is a “red line” in Finland’s relations with the United States and other powers, according to Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen. “I can only say that certainly territorial integrity is the red line. “We defend the UN Charter, the territorial integrity of nations and sovereignty, and if need be, then we have to react through the means which we have at hand,” she told the...
A former Hong Kong prison officer has admitted severely wounding an inmate by repeatedly thrusting a stick into the man’s rectum after being sprinkled with baby powder during a game. Tam Lik-chung, an ex-assistant officer in the Correctional Services Department, pleaded guilty in the District Court on Monday along with an inmate, Ho Lik-wun, who had helped hold down the victim. Tam, 33, had been o...
A French teenager has been charged with mischief and public nuisance in Singapore for licking a straw and putting it back in an orange juice vending machine, court documents showed on Monday. Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 18, allegedly filmed himself “licking a straw and placing it back at the vending machine”, uploaded the video on Instagram knowing that it “would or would probably cause annoya...
Grieving families of domestic helpers killed in the Tai Po fire struggled to break the news to the victims’ children while fending off scammers targeting their compensation from Hong Kong authorities, according to a workers’ rights NGO, after it made a trip to Indonesia. Esther Tse Yan-yin, an organiser from the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, travelled to Indonesia in J...
Profit growth at China’s industrial firms accelerated to a six-month high in March, as long-suppressed factory-gate prices turned positive amid disruptions from the Iran war. Total profits for China’s major industrial enterprises – those with annual revenues greater than 20 million yuan (US$2.93 million) – grew by 15.8 per cent last month, the fastest rate since September, according to data releas...
It is not an exaggeration to say that chilli peppers and spicy food are available on pretty much every street in China. The pungent, heat-infused foodstuff is so ubiquitous people joke that if a person does not indulge, they will starve, or at best lose friends, because eating spicy things fosters social bonding. However, the popular ingredient has only been around in China for a relatively short ...
The sole restaurant on Hong Kong’s southernmost Po Toi Island may close after a half-century serving visiting hikers and boaters lured by the untouched coastline and placid bays. The owner of Ming Kee Seafood Restaurant, who gave his surname as Leung, said business had declined and he might be forced to close at the end of next month if he could not find a partner. “Running a restaurant is hard wo...
An entertainment company and an arts curator have unveiled a life-size statue of the late kung fu legend Bruce Lee at his childhood home in Hong Kong to mark the 85th anniversary of his arrival in the city. Organisers hmvod Limited and curator Heiman Ng said the statue, unveiled on Monday, has been permanently installed at the Prudential Centre on Nathan Road, where the Lee family lived after retu...
Questions over Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s health, amplified by supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte, have reached the Supreme Court, turning a dispute over presidential fitness into a rare test of constitutional disclosure. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court gave Marcos 10 days, or until early May, to disclose his state of health. The court was reacting to an “urgent petiti...
Hong Kong police have arrested 120 people, including 14 minors, and seized worth HK$26 million (US$3.31 million) in a month-long operation targeting multiple online sales of illegal narcotics and related products. Chan Lik-ho, a senior inspector with the force’s narcotics bureau, said on Monday that 53.7kg (118lbs) of dangerous drugs and Part 1 poisons were seized during an operation codenamed Amb...
Hong Kong police have arrested 120 people, including 14 minors, and seized substances worth HK$26 million (US$3.31 million) in a month-long operation targeting the sale of narcotics and related products online. Chan Lik-ho, a senior inspector with the force’s narcotics bureau, said on Monday that 53.7kg (118lbs) of dangerous drugs and Part 1 poisons were seized during operation Amberflock, carried...
China has officially blocked the proposed purchase of domestic artificial intelligence firm Manus by Meta Platforms. The National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, announced the ruling in a statement on Monday. More to follow...
Hongkongers and visitors will be able to enjoy large-scale events such as beer and barbecue festivals at three public beaches under a pilot scheme that will allow private-sector operators to upgrade facilities, a district councillor has suggested, with a top administrator saying fees must be kept affordable. Director of Leisure and Cultural Services Manda Chan Wing-man told a radio programme on Mo...
China has delivered its largest-ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, bringing the number of domestic shipyards capable of designing and building the advanced vessels to five, as the country steps up its challenge to South Korea’s dominance in the high-value sector. The milestone was marked by China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu), a subsidiary of China Merchants Group, which delivered the ...
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has dropped his legal bid to serve the remainder of his corruption sentence under house arrest, closing off a closely watched appeal tied to his 2024 royal pardon. Najib, 72, is serving a six-year jail sentence in Kajang Prison after his original 12-year term for the misappropriation of 42 million ringgit (US$10.6 million) from SRC International was halv...
At least 14 people were killed after lightning strikes hit several parts of Bangladesh, officials said on Monday, as seasonal thunderstorms swept across the country. The deaths were reported from several districts after sudden storms brought heavy rain and intense lightning on Sunday. Most of the victims were farmers working in open fields and labourers caught in exposed areas, local authorit...
Customers of Ikesu Onsen, a traditional Japanese bathhouse in Tsushima in Aichi prefecture, have had to delay their daily dips due to the Iran war. The sento, or public bathhouse, has been forced to push back its opening time by an hour since late March because of an unstable supply of fuel oil, according to Kyodo. Monthly delivery has been halved from about a tonne, leading the number of customer...
Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested on Sunday at the main international airport with 110kg (242lbs) of powerful cannabis, officials said. A Sri Lanka Customs spokesman said the group, returning home after a four-day holiday in the Thai capital, had kush – a potent, plant-based strain of cannabis – hidden in their luggage. “Each carried about five kilos of the narcotic...
US law enforcement officials are reassessing security arrangements after a gunman opened fire near the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, raising questions about how he was able to get so close to an event attended by President Donald Trump, cabinet members and lawmakers. Two former Secret Service agents and three senior US officials told Reuters on Sunday that federal agents appear...
North Korea and Russia are moving to consolidate their military ties at a time of deepening global instability, with both sides using the Ukraine war as a symbol of their unwavering alliance. Sunday’s unveiling of a memorial museum in Pyongyang for North Korean soldiers killed in the war is also a move by the two countries to be in lockstep over their anti-West stance, according to observers. The ...
A large ice chunk is blocking the climbing route to Everest’s summit, risking delays in the summit season at the world’s highest peak, according to officials. A team of highly skilled mountaineers, known in Nepal as “icefall doctors”, began fixing ropes and ladders on Mount Everest last month to prepare for the coming spring climbing season. But a dangerous serac – a block of glacial ice – above t...
In a tragic and mysterious ancient custom in China, unmarried girls were chosen as brides by a legendary “Cave God” and sent to live in caves, where they would fast to death as a form of sacrifice. The practice, known as Luo Hua Dong Nv is a folk legend from the Miao communities in Xiangxi, located in western Hunan province in southern China. It is an ancient practice which no longer exists and it...
The ruling administration of Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan state is at the brink of collapse after a key ally withdrew support on Monday in a spat that has shone the spotlight on increasingly fragile ties within Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition government. Anwar has been facing growing pushback from allies and critics alike in recent months, ahead of national polls due in less than two years....
The appreciating yuan and ongoing Sino-Japanese tensions have given Hong Kong tourism a boost ahead of mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week” holiday, with hotel prices rising by as much as 8 per cent, an industry representative has said. Lawmaker Alan Chan Chung-yee, who is also the chief operating officer of Miramar Group, expressed optimism on Monday that the city would welcome more mainland...
The appreciating yuan and ongoing Sino-Japanese tensions have given Hong Kong tourism a boost ahead of mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week” holiday, with hotel prices rising by as much as 8 per cent, an industry representative has said. Lawmaker Alan Chan Chung-yee, who is also the chief operating officer of Miramar Group, expressed optimism on Monday that the city would welcome more mainland...
Malaysian immigration authorities say they have uncovered an Indonesian migrant-smuggling syndicate that moved people from sea crossings to a more elaborate route through Singapore and southern Thailand. The raid, carried out before dawn on Saturday at two major transport terminals in Kuala Lumpur, led to the arrest of 11 Indonesians, including a suspected transporter, and the seizure of a Mazda C...
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. As DJI duels Insta360, China sharpens global hardware edge amid US scrutiny 2. Did China just hint that its next aircraft carrier will be nuclear-powered? 3. Reverend Derek Li, father of injured Ho...
