UK PM Starmer arrives in Japan for last leg of East Asia visit

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has landed in Tokyo ahead of a meeting with his Japanese counterpart at the conclusion of his visit to East Asia.
Speaking to reporters on the flight from Shanghai to Tokyo, the prime minister said he looked forward to discussing both defence and security issues and trade and the economy with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Describing the visit to the Group of Seven (G7) and G20 ally as “really important”, Starmer said: “Outside of Europe and the US, Japan…

Full pivot or anxious hedge? Europe’s leaders flock to China

Flight routes between Europe and China are suddenly crowded with prime ministers and presidents, giving the impression of a continent pivoting eastward.
A flurry that began late last year with visits to Beijing by the Spanish king and French president has continued with leaders of Britain, Ireland and Finland, with Germany’s chancellor to follow next month.
The frenzied outreach comes with the transatlantic relationship on the rocks. US President Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland have even…

Chinese man dies after intensive work week, receives office text 8 hours posthumously

A 32-year-old Chinese programmer who died suddenly after working intensively for years received a new work task message eight hours after his death.
News of his overwork and death trended online and struck a chord with many people.
Gao Guanghui died on a Saturday in November 2025. His wife, who used the pseudonym Li, said that he woke up early that day saying he felt unwell, needed to sit down and “do some work while he was at it”.
Soon he felt more unwell, convulsed and passed out en route to…

New generation of Hong Kong police will need ‘iron bones’, security chief says

The new generation of Hong Kong police officers will need “iron bones” in the face of unrelenting “oppression by hostile foreign forces”, the security minister has said.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung, speaking at the force’s passing-out parade on Saturday, was also moved to tears when he recalled the force’s efforts to recover the human remains of those killed in the Wang Fuk Court blaze last November.
“The oppression by hostile foreign forces will not stop. Those who are…

Over 200 die in DR Congo after landslide causes mines to collapse: rebel authorities

A landslide earlier this week collapsed several mines at a major coltan mining site in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), leaving at least 200 people dead, rebel authorities said on Saturday.
The collapse took place on Wednesday at the Rubaya mines, which are controlled by the M23 rebels, said Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, spokesman for the rebel-appointed governor of North Kivu province.
He said the landslide was caused by heavy rains.
“For now, there are more than 200 dead, some of whom…

How one election in Japan could upend bond markets and global finance

Compared with the turmoil threatened by US President Donald Trump’s actions in everything from geopolitics to trade, the outcome of Japan’s parliamentary lower house election, set for February 8, may seem like small beer. Yet it could presage a great upheaval in global finance.
The election outcome is widely expected to strengthen the political power base of the fiscally expansionist Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, and increase borrowing when government debt almost everywhere is already…

Will India warm to Russia’s bid to revive troika with China?

Russia’s call to revive a troika with China and India is unlikely to be greeted with enthusiasm by New Delhi, with critics pointing to tense border stand-offs and India’s reluctance to be seen as part of an “anti-West” grouping.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this month lauded Moscow’s bilateral ties with Delhi and Beijing, calling for the revival of the Russia-India-China (RIC) trialogue.
First mooted in 1998 by then Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov, the RIC has not taken…

Japan eateries limit entry based on age to ensure younger patrons can enjoy, make noise freely

Some restaurants in Tokyo have ignited controversy for reportedly enforcing age restrictions on their patrons, with some allowing entry only for people over 25 and others permitting those under 40.
In Japan, certain eateries in the capital have begun to adopt these age limitations. For instance, some izakaya, or Japanese pubs, explicitly state, “No entry for customers over 40,” while others only admit those aged 25 and above.
One particular izakaya in Shibuya, whose name has not been disclosed,…

China slaps US$3.7 million fine on Kuaishou over live-streaming e-commerce violation

Chinese regulators have slapped a 26 million yuan (US$3.7 million) fine on a unit of Kuaishou Technology, operator of the country’s No 2 short video platform, over multiple violations and misconduct in its live-streaming e-commerce operations, signalling tighter oversight of this market segment.
Chengdu Kuaigou Technology, a unit of Beijing-based Kuaishou, was found to have committed seven breaches including failure to disclose information in accordance with the law, charging unreasonable fees…

Singaporean convict returns to jail voluntarily 4 days after being freed by accident

A man who was sentenced to jail in Singapore over an altercation with the police was released on the same day he was sentenced due to an error in calculating the jail term.
Muhammad Fathurrahman Mohd Adzlan was contacted and returned to jail four days later to complete his sentence.
In a statement on Friday, a judiciary spokeswoman said Muhammad was sentenced to 32 weeks’ jail on October 27, last year. However, this was erroneously reflected as 20 weeks.
According to court papers, Muhammad, then…

Hong Kong health chief seeks to speed up Medical Council’s complaint handling

Hong Kong’s health minister is seeking to amend legislation to reform and speed up the complaint system of a medical watchdog, but has warned against “arbitrarily” adding more non-professionals to the body.
Lo Chung-mau said on Saturday that the Health Bureau would table an amendment to the Medical Registration Ordinance at a meeting of the Legislative Council’s health services panel in February, with the aim of implementing the new measures in April.
The amendment would review the Medical…

China’s Wingtech, owner of Nexperia, expects wider loss amid row over Dutch chipmaker

Wingtech Technology, the Chinese owner of chipmaker Nexperia, is expected to post a loss of between 9 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) and 13.5 billion yuan in 2025, owing to the Dutch government’s takeover of the semiconductor firm, the Shanghai-listed company said in a statement on Friday.
Wingtech said that its authority over the chipmaker continues to be “temporarily restricted” since the October 7 ruling of the Dutch Enterprise Chamber, a special division of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal,…

‘Dances With Wolves’ actor convicted for sexually abusing indigenous girls

A Nevada jury on Friday convicted Dances With Wolves actor Nathan Chasing Horse of sexually assaulting indigenous women and girls in a case that sent shock waves through Indian Country.
The jurors in Las Vegas found Chasing Horse guilty of 13 of the 21 charges he faced. Most of the guilty verdicts centred on Chasing Horse’s conduct with a victim who was 14 years old when he began assaulting her. He was acquitted of some sexual assault charges when the main victim was older and lived with him and…

China’s semiconductor firms post hefty 2025 profits amid AI boom, tech self-reliance drive

Enterprises across China’s semiconductor industry recorded hefty profit growth last year, according to their unaudited financial results, driven by the country’s artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout and Beijing’s push for tech self-reliance.
Graphics processing unit (GPU) designer Cambricon Technologies on Friday reported a net profit of 2.2 billion yuan (US$316 million) in 2025, its first profitable year, on the back of “the continuous rise in computing power demand within the AI…

Hong Kong film producer plans to work till 100, criticised for urging youth to retire late

Hong Kong film producer Tiffany Chen has announced her intention to work until the age of 100, encouraging young people not to rush into retirement.
Chen, 67, is the wife of Hong Kong film mogul Charles Heung Wah-keung and is well-known on mainland social media as Madam Heung. She is also the mother of actor Jacky Heung.
As vice-chairman of China Star Entertainment, Chen has been instrumental in launching the careers of superstars such as Andy Lau Tak-wah.

On January 13, she released a video…

6 arrested over 58 million yen theft in Hong Kong, including mole among victims

Hong Kong police have arrested six suspects in connection with a 58 million yen (US$376,600) robbery outside a currency exchange shop, including a victim who allegedly acted as a mole in the plot.
Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming said on Saturday that three Japanese men, two mainland Chinese residents, including a woman, and a local man were detained.
“Two Japanese men reported to police that they were robbed [on Friday]. Upon investigation, we found that one of them was a mole who had…

Search continues in frigid Atlantic for 6 crew after ‘Nor’Easter Men’ fishing boat sinks

There was no mayday call from the commercial fishing vessel Lily Jean as it navigated the frigid Atlantic Ocean on Friday morning on its way home to Gloucester, Massachusetts, America’s oldest fishing port. The US Coast Guard was notified by the boat’s beacon that alerts when it hits the water.
When rescuers arrived they found one person dead, floating in the water, along with a debris field and an empty lifeboat. Six people remain missing.
The fate of the Lily Jean, a 22-metre (72-foot) fishing…

Hong Kong must keep cash buffer amid complicated geopolitics: Paul Chan

Hong Kong must maintain cash reserves to cope with geopolitical shocks and support long-term growth, even with a surplus expected in the government’s operating account this year, the financial secretary has said.
Paul Chan Mo-po also said on Saturday that the city’s economy outperformed forecasts last year, lifted by strong exports to Southeast Asia and a booming financial market.
On Friday, the government announced a surplus of HK$43.9 billion (US$5.6 billion) in its operating account, which…

China’s factory activity contracts in January on weak domestic demand

China’s factory activity faltered in January as weak domestic demand dragged down production at the start of the new ‍year, an official survey showed on Saturday.
The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped to 49.3 in January, from 50.1 in December, below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction. It missed a forecast of 50 in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Sub-indexes of new orders and new export orders also saw declines, respectively, down to 49.2 from 50.8 ⁠in December and 47.8…

India’s rich splash out as luxury water becomes latest status symbol

At an Indian gourmet food store, Avanti Mehta is organising a blind tasting of drinks sourced from France, Italy and India. No, this is not wine, it is water.
Participants use tiny shot glasses to check the minerality, carbonation and salinity in samples of Evian from the French Alps, Perrier from southern France, San Pellegrino from Italy and India’s Aava from the foothills of the Aravalli mountains.
“They will all taste different … you should be choosing a water that can give you some sort of…