Drumming, powerful paddling and the cheers of thousands of competitors and revellers electrified Hong Kongs shores on Friday as dragon boat races went ahead during the Tuen Ng Festival despite unsettled weather. Just a day after a black rainstorm warning was issued twice, competitors and spectators were in high spirits. Beaches and waterfront areas across ...

Ghost nets and plastic pollution plague Indonesias Anambas Islands, harming marine life and exposing the gap between regional pledges and enforcement. This environmental crisis is further worsened by rapidly surging growth-driven consumption, campaigners say. Devina Mariskova, head of Yayasan Anambas, said the nets are often thrown from vessels off the ...

Malaysian police arrested 58 people and seized more than half a million ringgit (US124,000) in illicit proceeds in a World Cup gambling sweep as authorities in Southeast Asia crack down on illegal football betting during the tournament. Malaysia, where unlicensed betting is a criminal offence, has been bracing for a rise in illegal sports wagers, with the ...

Foreign trawlers slip into waters off the Malaysian state of Terengganu under cover of darkness, local fishermen say, working near Pulau Redang and Pulau Bidong before leaving by dawn to avoid detection. The incursions have become a recurring problem for fishermen along the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia, where the South China Sea separates Malaysia ...

Labour mayor Andy Burnham cleared a path to be able to attempt to oust British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after winning a parliamentary seat in northern England on Friday in what could be the most consequential local election in more than six decades. Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor nicknamed the King of the North, won the contest in Makerfield in ...

Plans for US Vice-President J.D. Vance to travel to Switzerland for a new round of talks with Iran have been delayed, the White House said on Thursday. In a statement, the White House said plans for the technical talks had not yet been finalised and that the US delegation remained prepared to depart at the first available opportunity. The logistics of these ...

Hong Kong homebuyers showed interest in 130 flats put on sale by developers on Thursday evening, but the pace of buying was more measured after an interest-rate increase later this year became more likely. Agents said 30 of the 75 units put on sale at Phase 4B of La Montagne at the Southside project at Wong Chuk Hang MTR station sold on Thursday. The ...

Yusran first learned about the danger facing his teenage cousin, Elmi Febrianti, at an Indonesian tourist attraction in South Sulawesi when he got a phone call from a family member who sounded frantic. Elmi, a 17-year-old Indonesian student, had been at a popular photo spot in Apparalang, Bulukumba Regency, and had fallen into the sea in the afternoon on ...

A Hong Kong surgeon who operated on the wrong organ of an elderly patient had shown confirmation bias in identifying structures in the abdominal cavity, an investigation into the blunder has found, prompting a former lawmaker to call for his dismissal. Tseung Kwan O Hospital on Thursday released a cause analysis report on the February 7 incident involving ...

As a cultural strategist, my work takes me across the region as I explore new markets, mine local insights and connect with new consumers. Most recently I was in Seoul, a city voted for four consecutive years by millennial and Gen Z readers of a US-based travel media outlet as their favourite place to visit. Walking the streets of cool-kid neighbourhoods ...

A Chinese health centre scammed more than 100 elderly people out of a total of over 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) by putting soy sauce in an intestinal cleaning liquid to dupe them into thinking they had toxins in their bodies. The Beijing police have arrested more than 30 people involved on suspicion of fraud. They cracked the case after the family of a ...

An artificial intelligence model recently deployed at the Hong Kong Observatory and mainland Chinas National Meteorological Centre can solve one of the toughest challenges in weather forecasting: predicting when a typhoon will rapidly intensify. Li Qinglan, a professor at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) who is leading the project, said ...

Using a few mirrors, solar panels and a microwave transmitter, Fan Guanheng and his team can send power over 100 metres (330 feet) through the air. But they are dreaming much bigger 36,000km (23,460 miles) bigger. The team at Xidian University in Xian, capital of northwest Chinas Shaanxi province, are testing hardware that could one day be used to generate ...

South Korean police have taken the rare step of placing three 12-year-old boys in juvenile facilities after they allegedly stole cars and drove without licences in two separate incidents within a week, underscoring growing concern over serious offences committed by children too young to face criminal prosecution. Police in Cheonan, a city about 90km south ...

Nie Huihua, a professor of economics at Renmin University, discusses how an effective understanding of Chinas development requires a shift from Western-centric frameworks to an integrated perspective that recognises how formal institutions, informal grass-roots mechanisms and cultural collectivism couple together to create a self-consistent and adaptive ...

In the first of a two-part series tracing the new trends of illegal betting in Hong Kong amid excitement over the World Cup 2026, Edith Lin looks at how social media has become a new channel pushing the youth to engage in unlawful bookmaking activities. Ken Chan* started betting on football matches when he was 18. He started betting through legalised ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ruled out a withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon for the foreseeable future. In a speech, Netanyahu described the security zone established by the Israeli military as a barrier between the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and civilians and communities in northern Israel. Israel would not ...

A recent survey in Japan and South Korea has revealed that strategic elites in both countries remain sceptical about developing nuclear weapons. However, should one of the two countries take the lead in acquiring nuclear weapons, support for such a move in the other country could rise rapidly, according to the survey published on Thursday by ...

Cuba on Thursday unveiled nearly 200 historic free-market reforms aimed at rescuing the communist island from a severe crisis aggravated by a US oil blockade. In a landmark speech to the National Assembly, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero detailed 176 measures aimed at rolling back the states role in the economy and attracting investment in everything from ...

A China-led team of researchers has developed a powerful brain implant electrode array that is as soft as brain tissue, thinner than a strand of hair and more durable than anything before it. In animal trials, a new flexible brain implant recorded neural activity with unprecedented long-term clarity and remained safely functional inside the body for 18 ...

A top US trade official took a veiled swipe at China on Thursday for a range of unfair trade practices, but also criticised the United States for being asleep at the wheel for far too long. They subsidised, they dumped, they erected regulatory barriers, they supported state-owned enterprises, they used every tool available to build their industries and ...

Under Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chius leadership, Hong Kong is drawing up its first five-year plan to complement Beijings 2026-30 blueprint. A two-month public consultation exercise has just started. But what is the nations 15th five-year plan, why is it important and whats Hong Kongs role? Chinas five-year plan responds to great changes unseen in a ...

Alex Doran, a 28-year-old corporate strategist, is cheering for the US national team and was pleasantly surprised by the size of its initial win against Paraguay last week, while acknowledging that his team is unlikely to go all the way. While he does not expect to attend a match in person involving tickets costing thousands of US dollars, he has been ...

An autopsy has shown that an 11-year-old girl who went missing in France was raped before she died, an informed source said on Thursday, confirming suspicions in a case that has sparked public outrage. The girl, named as Lyhanna, went missing on May 29 in the southwestern town of Fleurance and her body was found in an abandoned silo almost a week later. ...

SpaceXs bankers are preparing to meet investors as early as next week to discuss a bond offering of at least US$20 billion, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, as Elon Musks newly public company seeks funding for an ambitious and capital-intensive AI expansion. SpaceXs AI ambitions come with a steep price tag, requiring tens of billions ...