Daily Asia briefing

In recent years, warnings about Hong Kong’s rapidly ageing population have become increasingly urgent. Long hospital waits, chronic shortages in long-term care and a shrinking working-age population have led many policym...

France and Britain said on Friday that they would lead a multinational mission to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, while emphasising the force would be entirely defensive and only deployed once lasti...

Sentenced to life in prison for buying a video drone, Shin Daewe urged others to pray for those still in prison.

Sunita Williams, NASA astronaut and former US Navy captain, will run the 2026 Boston Marathon, returning to a race she first attempted as a teenager and later completed in space. The 26.2-mile event on April 20 will feat...

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday urged the United States and Iran to guard against any provocations by Israel and use their current ceasefire to push for lasting peace. “We must not allow weapons to again repla...

Even before Donald Trump returned to the White House, Vietnam’s military planners were already busy preparing for a possible second invasion by the United States and its allies. In the “Second US Invasion Plan”, secretly...

Spain and Brazil signed a flurry of agreements at Pedro Sanchez and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s first bilateral summit, as the Spanish leader seeks to build an alliance to counter US President Donald Trump. “The relation...

Congress passed a short extension to a high-profile surveillance law on Friday after failing to secure the long-term reauthorisation pushed by US President Donald Trump. The brief pause comes after a late-night attempt t...

The arrest of fugitive former congressman Zaldy Co has revived a long-stalled Philippine corruption investigation and sharpened political pressure on President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, whom the wanted lawmaker has accused o...

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday that the war in Iran had laid bare the urgency of long-delayed UN reforms, arguing that the world body must be strengthened if multilateral diplomacy is to help...

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is usually seen in carefully choreographed meetings with presidents, kings and regional leaders in Putrajaya. So it was striking to see him instead riding through the city on a cas...

Iran's state media has dismissed US President Donald Trump's claims of a negotiation breakthrough as "building castles in the air." Trump stated that Iran is close to a deal and has agreed to hand over its enriched urani...

With domestic profits narrowing and production capacity expanding, China’s firms are continuing to widen their overseas footprints in search of new, more lucrative markets. In this series, we examine China Inc.’s next ph...

Braden Peters, known as Clavicular, posted a bloodied photo after a suspected overdose during a livestream. Perez Hilton reacted, saying things “spiraled fast,” as reported on his website. According to People magazine, t...

Times of India World is tracking Economy & Trade developments tied to Florida man kills dog owner while trying to shoot his pet animal that was attacking a woman.

Times of India World is tracking Economy & Trade developments tied to Coldplay kiss cam scandal executive says lead singer did not reach out to her: 'Nope. Never did'.

Times of India World is tracking Economy & Trade developments tied to Why didn’t Erika Kirk attend Vance’s event? Source says it was more than just ‘security concerns’.

Times of India World is tracking Economy & Trade developments tied to Quote of the day by Queen Elizabeth II: “It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasti...

A Pakistan-flagged tanker that entered the Persian Gulf over the weekend has become the first carrier to exit through the Strait of Hormuz with a crude cargo since a US blockade began on Monday, underscoring just how lim...

–

Floating hospital Silk Road Ark’s 220-day goodwill humanitarian mission ends with Port Moresby port call

The Trump administration and Anthropic’s CEO on Friday discussed working together for the first time since a dispute earlier this year between the Pentagon and the artificial intelligence firm over how that company’s mod...

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have re-entered Spanish football as club owners, reviving echoes of their La Liga rivalry in a new form. Messi has taken full control of fifth-tier UE Cornellà, while Ronaldo holds a st...

Braden Peters, known as Clavicular, refused to meet his father after a suspected overdose in Miami. His father, Ken Peters, flew in from New Jersey to help but left without seeing him, as reported by TMZ. Despite promisi...

Felix xQc Lengyel ended his Twitch stream early after falling sick during training for the Sidemen Charity Match 2026. He admitted to vomiting and feeling unwell, while Nicholas Jynxzi tried to help him recover. During t...

Following Operation Epic Fury, Donald Trump announced significant breakthroughs, claiming Iran's nuclear program has been suspended and the Strait of Hormuz reopened. He stated the US will secure "nuclear dust" without f...

China’s leading LED chipmaker and its Malaysian partner have abandoned their US$239 million cash offer to purchase Dutch technology company Lumileds Holding after opposition from US authorities, marking the latest setbac...

In response to allegations of an assault near a local church in Epsom, police are diligently working to gather facts, yet their investigation has yielded no supporting evidence so far. Despite growing rumors and protests...

Scores of Chinese women were brought to Germany without valid residency permits for sex work across the country, prosecutors in Frankfurt alleged on Friday. Five suspects are accused of organised smuggling of foreigners...

Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip killed more than 38,000 women and girls between October 2023 and the end of 2025, a UN report published on Friday showed. Palestinian health authorities put the estimated total death tol...

The news of Shin Daewe’s release from detention comes as a welcome relief.

The owners’ corporation of a Hong Kong housing complex devastated in the city’s deadliest fire in decades failed to convince renovation workers to use fire-resistant materials due to the absence of statutory requirements...

As divorce rates continue to rise in Indonesia, more single mothers are bearing the brunt of financial hardship due to the challenges of collecting money for child support from their former spouses. For some women, they...