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 ...

The United States has urged China to allow the yuan to appreciate, accusing Beijing of a lack of transparency and describing the currency as substantially undervalued. It is important that the Chinese authorities allow the RMB exchange rate to strengthen in a timely and orderly manner in line with market pressure and macroeconomic fundamentals, the US ...

A visit by a United States warship to a Cambodian port built with major Chinese backing has underscored Phnom Penhs superpower balancing act, but observers say American concerns will linger over the facilitys usage being dominated by Beijing. The USS Cincinnati arrived on Saturday at Ream Naval Base as part of a mission to strengthen cooperation between ...

Hong Kong police are investigating an alleged robbery in which 58 million Japanese yen (US$376,600) was stolen outside a currency exchange shop in Sheung Wan. The force said a passerby reported the case at 9.47am on Friday, with initial investigations suggesting two men made off with the money worth HK$2.94 million near 272 Des Voeux Road Central. The pair, ...

Former Chinese actor and businessman Li Yapeng, who is also the ex-husband of Cantopop diva Faye Wong, hit the headlines recently after he admitted that a charity hospital he founded was in serious debt. Li, 54, announced on January 14 that the Beijing Smile Angel Hospital, which he and his ex-wife Wong founded in 2012 to help children born with a cleft lip ...

A former party chief of the resource-rich Inner Mongolia autonomous region, who was also Chinas first veterans affairs minister, is under investigation amid the countrys continuing anti-corruption campaign. Sun Shaocheng, 65, is being investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for suspected serious violations of discipline and law, a ...

Plain clothes Iranian security forces have rounded up thousands of people in a campaign of mass arrests and intimidation to deter further protests after crushing the bloodiest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, sources told Reuters. Modest protests that began last month in Tehrans Grand Bazaar over economic hardship unleashed long-suppressed wider ...

China suspended trading of five commodity funds on Friday to curb investment mania in gold, silver and oil and reduce underlying risks amid geopolitical tensions. The only public fund investing in silver futures in mainland China, UBS SDIC Silver Futures Fund, a listed open-ended fund (LOF), will be suspended for the whole day on Friday, the second such ...

From his newly built three-storey home outside Hanoi, Trinh Tat Thang has watched the surging global gold price with mounting dread. The Vietnamese have a long tradition of holding their wealth in gold, and a parallel practice of borrowing the asset from relatives to build homes rather than cash from a bank. But the debt must be repaid in gold. Family ...

Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, risks losing its rights to operate major ports at both ends of the Panama Canal after the countrys Supreme Court ruled its subsidiarys contract unconstitutional. The decision was announced in a statement posted on the official social media account of the Panama Judiciary on ...

Teslas falling car deliveries and declining profitability on the mainland have not stopped its Chinese electric-car rivals from imitating the US firms transition into an artificial intelligence entity. Xpeng, Li Auto and Nio, dubbed as Tesla challengers over the past decade, have taken similar steps to diversify into emerging technologies and position ...

The UK and mainland China are considering a new cross-border asset-management link and upgrades to their existing stock connect scheme, as both sides seek closer capital-market cooperation, according to Ashley Alder, chairman of the UKs Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We are looking at enhancing market connectivity between China and the UK, particularly ...

Nigers military ruler Abdourahamane Tiani on Thursday blamed the French, Benin and Ivory Coast presidents for sponsoring the attack on Niamey international airport, an accusation he made without offering any evidence. Gunfire and loud explosions echoed around Nigers international airport in Niamey shortly before midnight in what two security sources ...

We have selected seven stories from this weeks news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China close to opening US$10 billion canal linking heartlands to Southeast Asia China is ...

The controversy over mandatory seat belts in Hong Kong has intensified after a former lawmaker said a government statement failed to specify that the rule only applied to new buses registered from January 25 this year, and called on authorities to clarify their approach to enforcement as passengers worried about unwittingly breaking the law. Doreen Kong ...

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Asia is scaling renewable power, electrification and clean manufacturing faster than any other part of the world. Yet the pace is outstripping the availability of skilled workers, creating a bottleneck that could slow progress towards net zero. Global renewable energy jobs reached ...

Remote surgery conducted over thousands of kilometres can be just as reliable as robot-assisted operations done by a medical team in the same room as the patient, according to a new study led by Chinese military researchers and carried out in five cities. The researchers said telesurgery could be a feasible way to overcome the lack of medical services in ...

Subdued Chinese demand was a key contributor to a decline in Australias wine exports last year, according to the Australian government agency that promotes the industry. With consumer sentiment and evolving tastes reshaping the Chinese market, shipments to mainland China fell 17 per cent year on year to A$755 million (US$532.10 million) the biggest single ...