Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his South Korean counterpart Ahn Gyu Back decided on Friday to step up personnel exchanges between their forces amid mounting regional security challenges. At the Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF) base in Koizumis hometown of Yokosuka, near Tokyo, the two agreed to hold annual reciprocal visits, as ties ...

Several signals from this years World Economic Forum in Davos revealed a fundamental transformation in international politics. The forum laid bare the conclusion of a long era, yet provided little clarity about the coming one. The first signal is the collapse of the post-World War II order shaped by the West and the Wests own unravelling with it. The West ...

Remarks by a prominent economist about Indias air quality have raised a debate on whether New Delhi should prioritise tackling pollution over tariff talks, as the country continues to transition towards a green economy. Former International Monetary Fund chief economist Gita Gopinath made the comments at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, arguing ...

ByteDance and Alibaba Group Holding are poised to ratchet up their artificial intelligence infrastructure initiatives, as the global AI arms race continues to intensify. The two companies latest moves lend weight to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huangs recent remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the world was witnessing the biggest ...

China and the United Kingdom are expected to sign more business deals as the British delegation, which comprises 54 companies, heads to Shanghai from Beijing as part of Keir Starmers visit, the first by a UK prime minister since 2018. The UK delegation will attend a reception in Shanghai on Friday evening, according to Peter Burnett, chief executive of the ...

US Agency for International Development staffers in early 2024 drafted a warning to senior officials in Joe Bidens administration: Northern Gaza had turned into an Apocalyptic Wasteland with dire shortages of food and medical aid. Three months after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Israels incursion into the Gaza Strip, the internal message laid out in ...

Alibaba Group Holding has delivered more than 100,000 units of its most advanced artificial intelligence chip, the Zhenwu 810E, whose performance is said to be comparable to Nvidias H20, according to people familiar with the matter a milestone that highlights the companys growing role in Chinas race to build domestic alternatives to US processors. The ...

Hong Kong developer Hang Lung Properties is pinning its medium-term outlook on a recovery in mainland Chinese consumption, even as it warned that both the citys and Chinas property markets remain under strain. The commercial landlord, residential developer and hotel owner said it expected a tough slog for the broader sector despite signs of improvement in ...

Chinese scientists are planting high-value alternative rubber trees in the Gobi Desert. China is the worlds largest consumer and importer of natural rubber, mainly to support its massive car sector. Consumption last year is expected to have exceeded 7 million tonnes, over 85 per cent of it imported. However, the unique Chinese medicinal plant Duzhong ...

More than 110,000 patients secured fee waivers within a month since Hong Kongs public medical fee reform took effect this year, a jump from 14,000 for a whole year previously, the health minister said while defending the new regime. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said on Friday that among the more than 110,000 people with approved waivers, about 53,000 ...

Shanghai residents have been flocking to sell gold as the price of the precious metal surges to record highs. The latest jump in gold prices was fuelled by ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainties, but prices slumped by 4 per cent on Friday, January 30.

Chinas Bulang people have an unusual rite of passage known as ranchi in which they dye their teeth black to mark adulthood and social rights. The ethnic group, with a history spanning more than a thousand years, is mainly found in Yunnan province, southwestern China. According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2021, there are around 127,000 Bulang people ...

The southern Guangdong province has been the largest engine powering Chinas economic rise for decades. But the region is now in danger of losing its status as the countrys top regional economy, as a rival to the east outpaces its growth. Jiangsu, home to a wide range of multinationals and hi-tech enterprises, has long been Guangdongs closest competitor: ...

China has emerged as the brightest spot in Apples quarterly earnings, as the US tech giant achieved record iPhone revenue in the worlds largest smartphone market. Revenue in Apples Greater China region, which comprises mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, surged 38 per cent from a year earlier in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, which ended December 27, ...

Wang Gungwu is widely regarded as a pre-eminent expert on the ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia and the history of China, but at 95, he writes in his latest memoir that he is no longer able to call himself a historian. In No Borders: Journeys Across Islands and Continents, launched in Singapore on Thursday, Wang writes that while a historian today has the ...

Hong Kongs economy expanded by 3.5 per cent in 2025, marking the citys third consecutive year of growth and surpassing an earlier forecast of 3.2 per cent. Advance estimates released by the Census and Statistics Department on Friday also showed gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter increased by 3.8 per cent compared with the previous year. Hong ...

Although the war in Gaza has clearly cooled diplomatic ties and sparked disputes between China and Israel, science and technology cooperation at a civil level between the two countries has continued. I have a feeling that we have a lot of common ground and plenty of opportunities for cooperation in sectors such as energy and agriculture, said Yaroslav ...

Hong Kongs transport chief has said the government will suspend a mandatory seat belt requirement for bus passengers and later revise the legislation, after the law was found to be only applicable to new buses registered from January 25. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan on Friday conceded there were deficiencies in the law, saying it had ...

Assemble! someone bellowed in the prison corridor, cutting through the silence. Murmurs began echoing off the white walls, and the stairwells filled with people from all over the world: Egyptians, Chinese, Cameroonians, Kenyans, an Italian - all soldiers captured fighting for Russia, now held in a Ukrainian jail. Some joined the Russian military in search ...

China significantly intensified its South China Sea patrols in 2025, maintaining an unprecedented nearly year-round presence at contested sites like Scarborough Shoal to assert maritime claims, according to a new US-based think tank report. An analysis published on Thursday by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) a research programme affiliated ...

South Koreas Ministry of Employment and Labour has apologised to the family of a Cambodian migrant worker who died after living in a makeshift greenhouse dormitory and vowed to reinforce protections for foreign workers, following a Supreme Court ruling that found the government liable. In a statement issued on Thursday after the decision, the ministry said ...

Malaysias football leadership resigned en masse this week in what it called a governance move to protect the sport, but critics say any reset will count only if the association explains how allegedly forged eligibility documents were submitted and who will be held responsible. The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) late on Thursday said it had formally ...

Hong Kong authorities have arrested two men and two women in an undercover operation for allegedly working in the city illegally as cleaners and renovation workers, after mainland Chinese firms advertised the services online ahead of Lunar New Year. Immigration Department Task Force Deputy Commander Chan Yan-kit said on Friday that the operation was ...

Singapores ban against undesirable visitors began on Friday, with airlines flying to the city state required to bar passengers flagged as risks from boarding. The new directive is aimed at preventing undesirable or prohibited immigrants, and those who do not meet Singapores entry requirements, from boarding flights bound for Singapore, according to an ...

HSBC, Hong Kongs biggest bank with a customer base of 6.2 million, saw a system breakdown on Friday afternoon. The banks mobile banking app could not be accessed, instead showing a message stating the system was under maintenance and would be available at a later time. A staff member at the banks Mong Kok branch said HSBCs computer network across the city ...