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1. Indian author Arundhati Roy quits Berlinale after ‘stay out of politics’ Gaza comments

   Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy has said she is withdrawing from the Berlin Film Festival over jury president Wim Wenders’ comments that cinema should “stay out of politics” when asked about Gaza. Roy said in a statement on Friday that she was “shocked and disgusted” by responses from Wenders and other jury members to a question about the Palestinian territory at a press conference the...

2. ‘Unforgivable’: police chief slams lawyer, doctors linked to crash-for-cash scams

   Hong Kong’s police chief has slammed the alleged involvement of a lawyer and doctors in a spate of so-called crash-for-cash scams as “unforgivable and unacceptable”. Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming said on Saturday that the force would speed up its investigation into such cases, and expected a fresh wave of arrests as part of efforts to get to the bottom of the scams. He said police...

3. UAE ‘surpassing Hong Kong’, challenging Singapore for global trade crown

   The United Arab Emirates is rapidly eclipsing Hong Kong and emerging as a credible rival to Singapore as Asia’s most dynamic trading hub, thanks to an ambitious post-pandemic campaign of economic diplomacy. Defying global headwinds from war and instability across its own region, the UAE’s non-oil trade almost doubled between 2021 and 2025 to reach 3.8 trillion dirhams (US$1.03 trillion), Prime...

4. Taiwan defence budget delays may push island down US priority list, William Lai warns

   Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te has appealed for public support amid a dispute about a special military budget, warning that the deadlock could delay key weapons deliveries and risks the island slipping down the US arms supply priority list. The NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special budget has been repeatedly blocked by opposition parties, even as Taipei comes under increasing US...

5. Savvy Hongkongers book 9-day Lunar New Year break for festive trips across Asia

   Hongkongers began departing the city in droves on Saturday, with many opting to take a nine-day Lunar New Year break to destinations across the rest of Asia. Travellers, including families with children and elderly relatives, gathered at check-in counters in Hong Kong International Airport in the morning as the city marked Valentine’s Day and prepared to ring in the Year of the Horse. Long...

6. Top Japanese school faces backlash over Palestinian poetry in entrance exam

   During an entrance exam for a top middle school in Japan in January, students were asked to read two poems depicting life in Palestine and write responses to key passages. Controversy soon followed on Japanese social media over the use of the material related to war and displacement. Some criticised the test section as politically one-sided for lacking Israeli views, while others praised the...

7. Partial US government shutdown throws Congress into turmoil again

   The US Government experienced its second shutdown in four months on Saturday, as funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) halted, underscoring Washington’s growing partisanship and dysfunction. But in an ironic twist, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, at the centre of the Congressional showdown, will continue to operate despite being part of DHS, given its independent...

8. Hong Kong police probe death of man, 80, allegedly knocked down by taxi driver

   Hong Kong police are investigating the death of an 80-year-old man allegedly knocked down by a taxi driver in a traffic accident in Kwun Tong. The force said on Saturday that the cab driver, a 46-year-old man, was travelling along Kwun Tong Road on Friday night when he was believed to have struck the pedestrian near Ngau Tau Kok Road. The elderly man was reportedly crossing the road at the...

9. How ‘policy convergence’ could pave the way for US-China cooperation on AI

   Artificial intelligence (AI) is a battleground for the United States and China, but it can also be an area for dialogue and cooperation on regulation and global governance, according to researchers in Hong Kong and Singapore. The team highlighted “policy convergence” on AI at the local level and challenged the “conventional and stereotypical” expectations of policy models in China and the United...

10. Malaysian police smash sex ring charging US$900 a session in posh KL area

    The posh, three-storey house in Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur was occupied by foreign prostitutes who provide their services for fees of up to 3,500 ringgit (US$900). The “romps”, which were either a 45-minute or 90-minute session, were offered by a syndicate that supplied women from countries such as China and Japan. The syndicate had been operating from the detached house in the upscale...