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All the latest breaking news from Hong Kong, China and around the world
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Iranians striving to maintain a semblance of normal life after weeks of US and Israeli bombing and a deadly crackdown on protesters in January remain daunted by the future, as damage from air strikes and internet cuts take a toll.
With talks expected on extending a truce and agreeing an end to the conflict, shops, restaurants and government offices have stayed open. On sunny spring mornings,...
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On Monday afternoon, amid the heat and chaos of Thailand’s Songkran festival, Gavin Chow was crowned Mr Bear International 2026 – the first Malaysian to win the title at a pageant that has quickly become part of Thailand’s growing queer festival circuit.
Back in Chow’s home country, the climate is very different.
Malaysia criminalises same-sex intimacy under federal law, LGBTQ gatherings have...
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The US-Israeli war on Iran has unleashed sharp swings across global energy and financial markets, fuelling demand for safe-haven assets, with Hong Kong emerging as a potential beneficiary across gold, property and capital markets. In the first of a three-part series, we examine Hong Kong’s bid to position itself as Asia’s bullion hub.
War in the Middle East has intensified global demand to...
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Chinese scientists have created a diving suit that could help users glide through the sea with ease.
In tests, the exoskeleton reduced the diver’s oxygen consumption by nearly 40 per cent.
The flexible suit not only provides physical assistance but also syncs precisely with the swimmer’s own rhythm, dramatically boosting underwater agility.
In tasks ranging from seabed surveys and pipeline...
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A Chinese noodle restaurant has come under fire for displaying a slogan that appears to condone domestic violence.
The restaurant in Xining, northwestern China’s Qinghai province put up a banner which read “beaten wife, kneaded dough”.
The slogan refers to an old saying from the Guanzhong plain region, which goes “the more a dough is kneaded the better the noodles taste, the more a wife is...
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Hong Kong authorities will take public opinion into account when deciding whether to trigger a new investigation mechanism to hold senior officials accountable, the city’s civil service minister has said.
Permanent secretaries of bureaus, who are not covered by the proposed “Heads of Department Accountability System”, will also face scrutiny if they are found to be involved in management...
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An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 struck the northern part of Nagano prefecture in central Japan on Saturday, the country’s weather agency said.
The 1.20pm quake in Omachi registered an upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7, strong enough to make movement difficult without support.
It occurred at a depth of 10km (six miles), according to the Japan Meteorological...
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Hong Kong’s investments in the Middle East will not be derailed by ongoing conflicts, the commerce minister has said, expressing confidence in the region’s economic prospects and urging businesses to take a long-term view.
“The geopolitical situation has a temporary impact, but in the long term, we remain hopeful about development in the Middle East,” Secretary for Commerce and Economic...
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A US appeals court allowed President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday night to continue construction of a US$400 million ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing, setting a June hearing to review a Washington judge’s order halting the project.
An order by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit put the lower court’s...
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The sound of tinkling bells drifts through an alley in central Seoul, an unmistakable sign that a shaman is near – although in this case the mystic is a robot powered by artificial intelligence.
Many South Koreans still place great value in shamanic traditions, which purport to divine a person’s future based on the day and time they were born.
Practitioners, known as mudang, wear long, colourful...