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The haze is back in Malaysia – with at least two states registering unhealthy air readings on Monday as raging forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia send clouds of smoke northwards. Transboundary haze is a long-standing problem in Southeast Asia, particularly affecting Malaysia and Singapore due to their proximity to Indonesia, where vast tracts of forests and agricultural land become fire hotspo...
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. Why Beijing struggles to win Indian hearts and minds despite diplomatic thaw Though the relationship between the Chinese and Indian governments has been thawing, Beijing has yet to win over the India...
Residents in Beijing have been warned not to go outside unless it is absolutely necessary as the capital and multiple other cities are on high alert for the arrival of Typhoon Dolphin, which is travelling north. In Beijing, a red rainstorm alert – the second highest – was issued on Monday for a number of districts, with rain expected to continue over the next three days. According to the city’s fo...
Shanghai airports cancelled nearly 40 per cent of all flights on Monday as heavy rain continued after Typhoon Dolphin made landfall in eastern China on Sunday evening and continued to move north. According to a notice from the Shanghai government on Monday morning, there were 642 cancellations at Pudong airport and 301 at Hongqiao. Passengers were urged to check their airlines for updates. Some tr...
For people navigating rare diseases, which are mostly genetic in origin, the search for answers is a gruelling marathon often called the “diagnostic odyssey”. Patients can spend years visiting specialists and undergoing inconclusive tests, while the underlying cause of their condition remains hidden within three billion base pairs of DNA in the human genome. But Artificial intelligence is emerging...
More frequent showers expected later this week should bring relief from Hong Kong’s extreme heat, the city’s weather forecaster has said, although scorching conditions will persist in the coming days, with temperatures in some areas forecast to reach at least 37 degrees Celsius (99 Fahrenheit). The Hong Kong Observatory said on Monday that outer subsiding airflow associated with Tropical Cyclone D...
A fire in Indonesia’s Mount Bromo National Park in East Java that burnt 550 hectares (1,360 acres) has been extinguished, according to an official on Monday, but there are new hotspots near the caldera. Gatot Soebroto, head of the local disaster mitigation agency, said authorities had found new fires in areas around the caldera covering some 20 hectares. Mount Bromo is an active volcano, and ...
A man wielding a knife has been arrested in Hong Kong after allegedly injuring two people in a housing estate in Pok Fu Lam. The force received multiple reports at around 9.20am on Monday that a man in his 20s was attacking residents at Baguio Villa, located at 550 Victoria Road. A domestic helper was injured in the back while a doorman was grazed on the elbow. The helper was sent to Queen Mary Ho...
With its first scheduled international route launching this month, the maiden flight of a high-altitude variant newly completed and a thumbs-up from European test pilots, China’s flagship C919 airliner is hitting new heights. China’s dream of a home-grown civil aviation fleet to rival Boeing and Airbus is coming closer with a national push to speed up certification of a domestically designed jet e...
For decades, Hong Kong has been a magnet for the rich. From wealthy Chinese setting up family trusts to millionaires migrating from across Southeast Asia, all of them have been sucked in by the city’s promise of free capital flows, a trustworthy legal system and extensive financial expertise. It is a winning combination that helped Hong Kong leapfrog Switzerland as the world’s biggest cross-border...
For decades, Hong Kong has been a magnet for the rich. From wealthy Chinese setting up family trusts to millionaires migrating from across Southeast Asia, all of them have been sucked in by the city’s promise of free capital flows, a trustworthy legal system and extensive financial expertise. It is a winning combination that helped Hong Kong leapfrog Switzerland as the world’s biggest cross-border...
China is using an artificial intelligence-driven fish identification system to conduct round-the-clock tracking of species passing along a fishway on a dam on Tibet’s largest river. Monitoring the route once relied on labour-intensive manual counts, but it now uses an AI-based “fish facial recognition” system to identify species unique to the Tibet autonomous region, according to a report publishe...
Pakistan’s foreign minister said a new defence agreement his country signed with Saudi Arabia and Turkey was not directed against any country and remained open to other nations in the region. The landmark Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed on Friday by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as the three c...
Something unexpected happened at the town hall meeting held a week ago to gather public opinion on Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and the coming policy address. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu spoke about the need to upgrade the city’s urban management systems. Our results-oriented, reform-focused chief executive seems to be ready for another colossal task. Lee began his term with pla...
While many people have embraced the trend of hugging a giant winter melon to sleep as a means of cooling down during summer, some have shared their “painful” experiences, recounting instances where the fruit exploded, releasing a foul-smelling and putrid liquid that soiled their beds and floors. They detailed this “disastrous scene” on social media, noting that the winter melons exploded after sev...
Youth membership in Hong Kong’s uniformed groups has declined by 8 per cent over the past five years despite steady government funding, the South China Morning Post has found, a trend attributed to persistently low birth rates and a wider array of extracurricular activities for students. While several lawmakers have called for introducing key performance indicators (KPIs) for uniformed groups to e...
Indonesia’s faster-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter has offered a ray of hope for a sustainable turnaround after months of negative news over the rupiah, investor confidence and global uncertainties. Analysts, however, urged caution about the country’s economic outlook in the coming quarters, saying the latest data also revealed uneven sectoral performance and a reliance on gove...
US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that his new White House counsel will be Will Scharf, the staff secretary who as the Trump-appointed head of the National Capital Planning Commission helped secure approval for the US$400 million ballroom project. Trump said that, beginning September 1, Scharf will be replacing David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the privat...
US President Donald Trump announced Sunday that his new White House counsel will be Will Scharf, the staff secretary who as the Trump-appointed head of the National Capital Planning Commission helped secure approval for the US$400 million ballroom project. Trump said that, beginning on September 1, Scharf will be replacing David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the privat...
The Canadian federal government said on Sunday it would help British Columbia as raging wildfires forced thousands of people to evacuate by providing shelter and accommodation for residents displaced in regions around Summerland and Peachland. The Bald Range wildfire, which prompted British Columbia to declare a provincial state of emergency and evacuate about 18,000 people, had spread to more...
The Canadian federal government said on Sunday it would help British Columbia as raging wildfires forced thousands of people to evacuate by providing shelter and accommodation for residents displaced in regions around Summerland and Peachland. The Bald Range wildfire, which prompted British Columbia to declare a provincial state of emergency and evacuate about 18,000 people, had spread to more...
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has vowed to crack down on hard-to-cancel subscriptions and fake discounts as part of measures to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, Downing Street said on Sunday. The announcement came as the new Labour leader was set to return to work after a holiday and begin a tour of the country to talk to people about their financial pressures, his office said. Burnham said...
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has vowed to crack down on hard-to-cancel subscriptions and fake discounts as part of measures to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, Downing Street said on Sunday. The announcement came as the new Labour leader was set to return to work after a holiday and begin a tour of the country to talk to people about their financial pressures, his office said. Burnham said...
Professor Wang Gungwu is regarded internationally as an authority on Chinese history. The 95-year-old is best known for his explorations of Chinese history in the long view, and for his writings on the Chinese diaspora. He has been a professor at the National University of Singapore since 2007 and emeritus professor at the Australian National University since 1988. He was vice-chancellor of the Un...
As China seeks to reshape the global order, Malaysia’s political instability offers a cautionary tale about the challenges Beijing may face abroad. A recent Pew Research Centre survey found that global perceptions of China have improved relative to those of the US, driven partly by the view among some respondents that China under President Xi Jinping is more reliable than a US led by President Don...
Russia and Ukraine exchanged strikes overnight that killed civilians and injured many others on both sides, local authorities reported on Sunday. Large-scale Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities have become almost routine in recent weeks, with Moscow exploiting Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptors for the US-made Patriot systems – the sole air defence weapon in its arsenal able to sh...
Russia and Ukraine exchanged strikes overnight that killed civilians and injured many others on both sides, local authorities reported. Large-scale Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities have become almost routine in recent weeks, with Moscow exploiting Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptors for the US-made Patriot systems – the sole air defence weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down b...
US President Donald Trump signalled on Sunday he is prepared to let economic pressure mount against Iran, apparently backing away from ordering more military strikes even as Tehran issues tough demands. “We are low-keying it,” Trump said, according to the news outlet Axios, which said it spoke to him in a brief phone call. Only a week ago Trump made the latest of his series of threats to hit Iran ...
US President Donald Trump signalled on Sunday he is prepared to let economic pressure mount against Iran, apparently backing away from ordering more military strikes even as Tehran issues tough demands. “We are low-keying it,” Trump said, according to the news outlet Axios, which said it spoke to him in a brief phone call. Only a week ago Trump made the latest of his series of threats to hit Iran ...
Alleged Irish crime gang boss Daniel Kinahan was charged with directing a criminal organisation by prosecutors in Dublin on Sunday amid tight security at a special court sitting following his extradition from the United Arab Emirates. Kinahan, who was arrested in Dubai in April, was named by the United States in 2022 as one of three leaders of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group. US authorities off...
