The Taiwanese government has sparked fresh controversy by refusing to enforce amendments passed by the opposition-controlled legislature about local government funding. The move risks deepening a political stand-off and has drawn criticism that the islands leader William Lai Ching-te was bypassing the legislature when you cant win. The dispute centres on ...

Sudan topped a watch list of global humanitarian crises released on Tuesday by an international aid group for the third year in a row as a devastating war grips the northeastern African country. The International Rescue Committee said Sudan was at the top of its annual Emergency Watchlist, which included 20 countries at risk of worsening humanitarian crises ...

Hong Kong police have arrested a man after his car struck a 94-year-old pedestrian, who later died in hospital. The force said the accident took place on Tam Kon Chau Road towards Yuen Long at 4.06am on Wednesday. As the car approached Mai Po near the border, the 32-year-old driver knocked down the pedestrian. The elderly man sustained multiple injuries and ...

The alleged gunman shot dead by police during Sundays attack on Australias Bondi Beach was originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and his family did not know about his radical mindset, Indian police said on Tuesday. Fifteen people were killed in the attack on a Hanukkah event, Australias worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and it is being ...

Hong Kong has launched a public consultation for the 2026-27 budget, which the finance chief says will focus on how the city can expand its economic development and better integrate into Chinas 15th five-year plan. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Wednesday highlighted several key issues for the coming budget, including how the city could further ...

Beijings fresh imperative to invest in people first raised in a proposal for the 15th five-year plan and reaffirmed at an agenda-setting policy meeting last week reflects a rethink in economic strategy designed to stimulate domestic demand and improve social welfare, analysts said. Chinas leaders vowed to fully tap the domestic economys potential at the ...

As tourist numbers climb back towards record highs, Nepal is rolling out a new digital registration system to track every foreign visitor, in a move officials say will boost safety and curb visa misuse. Starting from January 1, all foreign visitors will be required to register detailed accommodation information through the governments new digital platform, ...

Mannings, one of Hong Kongs largest health and beauty chains, will cease all retail operations in mainland China, both online and offline, as it adjusts its strategy in the highly competitive market. In a letter to its members, Mannings China said its physical stores on the mainland will close permanently after January 15, 2026. Its online sales channels ...

An increasing number of South Korean men are looking to Japan not only for employment but also for marriage, drawn by what they see as more stable living conditions compared with South Koreas tough job market and demanding marriage expectations. According to Shueisha Online, a Japanese media outlet, the number of South Koreans seeking work or permanent ...

One of Asias largest philanthropic organisations, the Shaw Foundation, has pledged to continue supporting small charities in Hong Kong and urged the public to do the same, after making a generous donation to victims of last months catastrophic fire in Tai Po. The foundation made a HK$20 million (US$2.6 million) contribution to help victims of the Wang Fuk ...

A top scientist has sharply criticised Chinas increasingly resource-driven research culture, warning that a reliance on vast accumulated funding, manpower and data for scientific output is inefficient and actively undermines genuine innovation. Zhang Hong, a senior cell biologist at the Institute of Biophysics in Beijing and a member of the Chinese Academy ...

Three people were injured and more than 100 others were evacuated after a fire, believed to have been caused by burning incense, broke out in a Hong Kong flat on Wednesday. The fire was reported at around 2.30am in the flat at Prime View Garden on King Fung Path in Tuen Mun and was later put out. According to police, the blaze was suspected to have been ...

MetaX Integrated Circuits soared on its trading debut in Shanghai, as investors piled into the second producer of graphics processing units (GPUs) to go public this month amid optimism about Chinas push for self-sufficiency in semiconductors and artificial intelligence. The shares of the Shanghai-based company began trading at 700 yuan on Wednesday on the ...

An award-winning Hong Kong filmmaker, who previously directed a documentary on the 2019 social unrest, has said that authorities banned the screening of his new campus thriller, citing national security concerns. Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai, whose past works include Revolution of Our Times and Ten Years anthology film, revealed in a social media post on Tuesday that ...

Hong Kongs Democratic Party has announced what many people had been expecting for some time that it would disband. For the party, this is the beginning of the end; for others, the question lingers: is this also the end of the democratic movement in Hong Kong? One thing is certain: the partys demise will mark the end of an era, one when a colonial ...

A man accused of perpetrating Australias deadliest mass shooting in three decades will be charged later on Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as the funerals of the Jewish victims of Sundays attack began. The alleged father-and-son perpetrators opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydneys Bondi Beach on Sunday, in an attack that ...

A 72-year-old grandmother in Taiwan has stunned the internet by donning a bikini and showcasing her toned muscles at a recent bodybuilding competition, demonstrating that age is just a number and igniting a wave of admiration online. Dubbed the bodybuilding grandma, Lin Sui-tzu, 72, from Taipei, took the stage at the 2025 Presidents Cup Bodybuilding and ...

An open court and a detailed ruling in former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-yings closely watched national security trial have demonstrated the strength of Hong Kongs rule of law, legal experts have said. Lawyers, including the Hong Kong Bar Association, on Tuesday urged members of the public to respect the citys judicial process and study the High Courts ...

Indonesias flagship programme to provide millions of schoolchildren with free nutritious meals is back in the spotlight after a delivery van linked to the initiative ploughed into a group of students in Jakarta last week, leaving 21 children and a teacher injured. The accident on Thursday has raised fresh questions about safety and oversight in what critics ...

Mainland Chinas 17 million Alzheimers patients can, for the first time, pay less out of pocket for a costly drug touted as historic and the beginning of the end for the memory-robbing disease after Beijing launched a commercial insurance innovative drug list in an effort to make medicines more accessible and affordable. Leqembi, developed by Japans Eisai ...

Senior US and Chinese defence officials met in Washington this week in the latest sign of renewed military-to-military communication as the two countries seek to stabilise ties. Alvaro Smith, a deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the Pentagon, met with Chinas Major General Ye Jiang, Deputy Director of the Central Military ...

Los Angeles prosecutors said on Tuesday that Rob Reiners son Nick Reiner will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, which stunned their communities in Hollywood and Democratic politics, where both were widely beloved. Nick Reiner, 32, is suspected in the deaths of the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and ...

A doctor who pleaded guilty in a scheme to supply ketamine to actor Matthew Perry before his overdose death was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement. Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence that included three years of supervised release to 55-year-old Mark Chavez in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles. Before the sentence ...

The European Commission unveiled a plan on Tuesday to drop the EUs effective ban on new combustion-engine cars from 2035 after pressure from the regions vehicle sector, marking the blocs biggest retreat from its green policies in recent years. The move, which still needs approval from EU governments and the European Parliament, would allow continued sales ...

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on Tuesday that a racism scandal that saw the countrys Miss Finland being stripped of her crown and several politicians posting derogatory images was damaging his countrys image. Yesterday, during a debate in parliament, I said that this has caused damage to our country. That is certainly the case, Orpo told ...