Despite weeks of frantic diplomacy, the chances of South Korea and the United States sealing a trade deal before next weeks Apec summit appear to be slim, with strong domestic backing enabling Seoul to resist a compromise seen as perilous to the national economy. Under a framework agreement reached in July, US President Donald Trumps administration offered ...

A unique caf in Japan is charging 4,000 yen (US$25) for customers to experience being a maid by serving members of staff posing as clients. The quirky new trend launched by a creative team dedicated to maid cosplay culture in Japan has attracted much attention from male customers. This spring the group introduced a pop-up concept called the Cafe Where You ...

In a months time, 22-year-old Hongkonger Tony Lam Chun-ho will be graduating from Polytechnic University with a degree in business administration. But instead of following his peers into a professional career, he is choosing to fight for the legacy of his familys six-decade-old grocery store. Lam Kee Grocery Shop is one of only a handful of small businesses ...

Thailands Queen Mother Sirikit, who supervised royal projects to help the rural poor, preserve traditional craft-making and protect the environment, died on Friday. She was 93. The Royal Household Bureau said she died in a hospital in Bangkok. Since October 17, she had been suffering from a blood infection but despite her medical teams efforts, her ...

Wee Ee Cheong leans back in his chair in the boardroom of UOB Plaza and behind him a deep green bonsai peeks into view from a shelf, poised like it is meant to be part of the conversation. Wees minders had told us not to be surprised if he talks about his beloved plants. It is his hobby, after all. A lush bonsai graces the cover of the banks annual report ...

Deep Robotics, a Hangzhou-based start-up, is facing a severe talent shortage, hindering its efforts to commercialise the results of its research and development, according to its chief technology officer (CTO). Li Chao, who is also a co-founder of the robot maker, said at the Bund Summit Financial Forum in Shanghai on Friday that highly skilled ...

A French court on Friday sentenced an Algerian woman to life imprisonment without parole for raping, torturing and murdering a girl in Paris, making her the first woman to receive this maximum sentence. Dahbia Benkired was handed an irreducible life sentence for killing 12-year-old Lola Daviet in the French capital in 2022, in a case that horrified the ...

Hong Kong-based charity GX Foundation is broadening its public health initiatives in belt and road countries, as Chinese enterprises are increasingly expected to consider the social dimension of their operations beyond foreign investment pursuits, its chairman, former city leader Leung Chun-ying, has said. The foundation signed a memorandum of understanding ...

At a conference in December, Wang Xingxing the robotics guru who founded Chinas industry-leading Unitree Robotics had a sharp critique. China is at a disadvantage in terms of talent reserves because its education system has decided that knowledge learned in school is often outdated, whereas overseas students study the worlds most cutting-edge ...

All eight publicly subsidised universities in Hong Kong have secured a place among the worlds top 350 institutions, according to the 2026 World University Rankings released by Times Higher Education earlier this month. This is the first time all Hong Kongs public universities have made the prestigious list. Even more exciting is the fact that six of them ...

Britains justice minister on Friday said he was appalled after an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender whose crimes sparked protests was released from jail in error. The high-profile case earlier this year ignited demonstrations which swiftly spread to other towns where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests. ...

Two people have fallen victim to scammers who impersonated courier workers and sent fake text messages to steal bank account information in Hong Kong, with one person losing more than HK$1 million. Police revealed the cases on their CyberDefender social media account on Friday, warning that the force had recorded more than 60 phishing scams over the past ...

India trialled cloud seeding over its smog-filled capital for the first time, spraying a chemical from an aeroplane to encourage rain and wash deadly particles out of the air. Cloud seeding is the practice of using aeroplanes to fire salt or other chemicals into clouds to induce rain. New Delhi city authorities, working with the governments Indian Institute ...

Hong Kong police will issue summons to 31 minibus passengers after undercover officers discovered that commuters were not wearing their seat belts. The force said that the operation took place on Friday and involved undercover officers from its Kowloon East traffic enforcement and control division checking for anyone not wearing seat belts on minibuses. ...

A diamond brooch owned and abandoned by Napoleon Bonaparte after the Battle of Waterloo will go up for auction for the first time. The brooch, made of nearly 100 diamonds, was left behind after the emperor fled Waterloos battlefield to return to Paris, and was given to the king of Prussia three days later as part of the trophies his armies took back. The ...

Beijing has formally designated October 25 as the day to commemorate Taiwans restoration, as it again asserts its sovereignty over the self-ruled island. The National Peoples Congress Standing Committee, the countrys top legislative body, ratified the decision on Friday. State news agency Xinhua reported that commemorative events would be held on Saturday, ...

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday that the US military conducted its 10th strike on a vessel suspected of carrying drugs overnight, killing six people and bringing the death toll of the campaign against drug cartels to at least 46 people. In a post on social media, he said that the vessel was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang and the ...

In the face of an increasingly turbulent world, China will employ strategic proactiveness as it addresses growing risks and challenges, senior officials said at a Friday press conference detailing the countrys priorities under its next five-year plan. The worlds second-largest economy will shift more attention to the development of its domestic market amid ...

Hong Kong authorities have launched a pilot scheme to install a new smart fire alarm system that can detect and report a blaze in minutes, with a target to install it in 3,600 old buildings that have yet to be fitted with adequate fire fighting facilities. The Fire Services Department said on Friday it started installing a fire detection system that ...

Hopes for peace and reconstruction in Gaza have suffered a deadly blow after US envoys unveiled a plan that analysts say will split the territory in two and set the stage for the prolonged, if not permanent, Israeli occupation of more than half the Strip. With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making any further military withdrawal conditional upon ...

One of Chinas largest producers of rare earth elements has pledged to strictly enforce government guidance on export controls, a show of support from a major industry player as US officials harshly criticise Beijings recent expansion of licensing requirements for the crucial minerals. The statement from China Rare Earth Group a conglomerate of state metals ...

If Elon Musks 2018 battle for a US$56 billion payday seemed surreal to most average people, then the Tesla boards proposal to offer him US$1 trillion over the coming decade is nothing short of eye-popping. But Musks temerity sits at the heart of an unresolved corporate conundrum amplified by the extraordinary stock market bubble inflating in the United ...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Britain on Friday for talks with two dozen European leaders who have pledged military help to protect his country from future Russian aggression if a ceasefire stops the more than three-year war. Before heading to Londons Downing Street to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the host of the London talks, the ...

Hong Kongs health authorities will set aside 30 per cent of public family medicine clinics quota spots for low-income and elderly patients under a pilot scheme starting next month, with the policy expected to benefit more than 200,000 people. The Health Bureau said on Friday that the Hospital Authoritys Family Medicine Outpatient Services Priority Groups ...

Following a reshuffle at a Communist Party conclave that endorsed continuing Chinas military anti-corruption drive, the mouthpiece of the Peoples Liberation Army said on Friday that political loyalty and fighting corruption were crucial for winning wars. At the fourth plenum of the partys Central Committee, which concluded on Thursday, the militarys ...