Hong Kong authorities will set up a collaborative mechanism with the legislature to craft the citys first five-year plan to align with national development, according to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who says the blueprint will be released by the end of this year. Lee also stressed on Tuesday that the new platform would reflect the citys executive-led ...

Settling in Japan as a foreign national is about to become much more expensive after the government passed legislation to sharply increase visa application fees. Critics argue the policy is short-sighted amid a worsening labour shortage, but conservatives have dismissed such concerns, insisting that robots and artificial intelligence will soon replace ...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Tuesday security and safety must be a top priority for a concert by K-pop band BTS on Saturday in Seoul, including readiness for any possible acts of terror, according to a live TV broadcast of a cabinet meeting. The free comeback concert for the boy band in central Seoul is expected to draw up to 260,000 people, ...

Spains monarch said on Monday the Spanish conquest of the Americas included much abuse and ethical controversies, striking a conciliatory tone amid a years-long row between Spain and Mexico over colonial-era abuses committed by the Spanish crown centuries ago. King Felipe made the remarks while speaking with Mexicos ambassador to Spain, Quirino Ordaz, ...

President Xi Jinping has vowed to advance the creation of an international port alliance under the Belt and Road Initiative, at a time when the worlds top merchandise exporter confronts mounting challenges to global shipping routes from the Strait of Hormuz to Panama. An excerpt of his speech, initially given at a closed-door meeting on July 1, 2025, was ...

This article was first published on March 18, 2006 by Benjamin Wong and Clifford Lo Officers shot with stolen police gun An off-duty policeman shot two uniformed constables, killing one of them, with a gun stolen from and used to kill an officer five years ago, police sources said yesterday (March 17, 2006). The off-duty constable, Tsui Po-ko, 35, was also ...

Hong Kong travel agencies have suspended all tours to the Middle East this month, including those requiring flight transfers through the region, citing safety concerns amid the ongoing war. The announcement was issued on Monday evening, after renewed Iranian drone strikes targeted Dubai International Airport and other infrastructure in the United Arab ...

A Malaysian woman has accused her husband of choking, slapping and threatening her with a knife in an alleged case of domestic violence after she asked him to buy ayam gepuk (pounded fried chicken). Cheras Assistant Commissioner Mohd Rosdi Daud said police received a report from a 33-year-old housewife about the incident at a flat in Sri Sabah, Cheras, last ...

On February 10, Chinas State Council Information Office released a white paper titled Hong Kong: Safeguarding Chinas National Security Under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems. This is the third white paper issued by the Chinese central government on Hong Kong-related affairs since 2014. It reviews Hong Kongs efforts in safeguarding national ...

Japan has identified nearly 1,500 additional facilities that could serve as shelters in the event of missile or bomb attacks, amid mounting fears over the worsening security situation in northeast Asia. The government began a study in 2024 to expand the existing list of facilities where the population could take cover during an attack and has confirmed ...

A 12-year-old girl from central China showed her business acumen by using her savings to buy a stationery shop and hiring her mother for 3,000 yuan (US$440) a month. Li Yue, who lived in Jiangxi province and received over 44,000 yuan (US$6,400) in lai see during the Spring Festival, decided to invest the money in a business. She believed that depositing the ...

Hong Kong lawmakers have said Andrew and Tristan Tate cannot be extradited to the UK or Romania where they face prosecution without formal requests from those governments, as the infamous influencer brothers continued their visit to the city on Monday. The legislators also rejected claims that the city had become a haven for fugitives following the ...

Vietnamese authorities have warned the countrys aviation industry to prepare for potential flight reductions from April after China and Thailand halted exports of jet fuel due to the Iran war, increasing the likelihood of shortages. Vietnam imports more than two-thirds of its jet fuel needs, with 60 per cent coming from China and Thailand, according to ...

A drone sparked a fire on Monday at a luxury hotel frequented by foreign diplomats in Baghdads fortified Green Zone shortly before air defences foiled a rocket attack at the US embassy. The attacks came soon after the powerful Tehran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah group announced that its senior security commander Abu Ali al-Askari had been killed, without ...

South Korea and Japan have led declines in global stock markets amid the oil shock, underscoring how supply disruptions in the Middle East are weighing on growth in economies heavily reliant on fuel imports. The Kospi index in Seoul has slumped 12 per cent since the US-Israel war with Iran broke out on February 28, while Tokyos Nikkei 225 has slid nearly 9 ...

If he had to pick one word, Jean-Claude Van Damme says he would describe his oil paintings as simple. The star of Bloodsport (1988) had swaggered into his art exhibition 40 minutes late, clad in full black, including the sunglasses he wore indoors. At 65 years old, the Muscles from Brussels still has a similar physique to the one at the height of his ...

Hong Kong is poised to launch the worlds first open-source human-AI agent collaboration network this week, along with a series of everyday artificial intelligence products to assist citizens with activities such as applying for schools and analysing horse racing. The Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Centre (HKGAI) said it would soon offer on ...

Large passenger jets and advanced chips, BeiDou satellites and the Tiangong space station: these large-scale science and technology projects could be part of Chinas efforts to mobilise resources nationwide to speed up the development of new weapons, according to a study by researchers with Chinas top defence university. Chinas military modernisation has ...

Cubas national electric grid collapsed on Monday, the countrys grid operator said, leaving around 10 million people without power amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled the islands already obsolete generation system. Grid operator UNE said on social media it is investigating the causes of the island blackout, the latest in a series of widespread ...

The war in Iran, culminating in the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has again exposed the worlds energy and maritime sector to acute vulnerabilities. The spike in oil prices and surging freight rates may grab headlines, but beneath these shocks lie fundamental questions about Asias and Hong Kongs energy security, the resilience of shipping risk ...

The Afghan government on Monday accused Pakistan of killing civilians in fresh air strikes on Kabul, but Islamabad said it had conducted precision strikes on military and terrorist targets. Loud explosions rocked the Afghan capital at 9pm local time, with plumes of smoke visible from the Shahr-e-Naw and Wazir Akbar Khan areas of the city. Anti-aircraft ...

A United States diplomat has told Brazilian port industry executives that Washington does not want a Chinese company to win the concession for a major container terminal in Santos, the largest port in Latin America, in the latest sign that the race for one of Brazils most prized infrastructure assets has become a front in the broader rivalry between ...

The UK will welcome Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, British Defence Secretary John Healey told parliament, with the Ukrainian leader expected to travel to Madrid, Spain the next day. Our total determination to stand with Ukraine remains steadfast and we will welcome President Zelensky to this country tomorrow, Healey said on Monday. Healeys announcement came ...

Sean Penn, who won a best supporting actor Oscar for One Battle After Another on Sunday, was in Ukraine on Monday where he met President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of support for the war-torn country. An Agence France-Presse reporter saw the Mystic River star getting out of a black car in central Kyiv earlier on Monday, wearing sunglasses and carrying a ...

Emirates is operating flights to Dubai that are near-empty in some cases as travellers avoid the Persian Gulf, highlighting the challenges for the worlds largest international airline to restore its network amid a protracted war. Flights from destinations in the US and continental Europe have been hit the hardest, with planes returning from Prague or ...