Asia

Is there trouble in paradise for Hong Kong couple Faye Wong and Nicholas Tse? It’s a question that is often asked about the celebrity couple who had an on-off relationship since they began their high-profile romance in 2000. The good news is they have been going strong since they rekindled their romance in 2014. The […]

by Jerome TAYLOR Donald Trump has urged China to “humanely” resolve the violent stand-off with pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong, on the back of growing concerns that Beijing is considering direct intervention in the crisis. Images taken by AFP on Thursday showed thousands of Chinese military personnel waving red flags and parading at a sports […]

by Daphne ROUSSEAU Watching the Hong Kong protests from afar, Chinese dissident-artist Ai Weiwei fears the worst, warning of a repeat of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. “I don’t think any prediction is too big,” the 61-year-old told AFP in an interview in his Berlin studio. China “is a society which sacrifices anything […]

Hong Kong’s government unveiled HK$19.1 billion (US$2.44 billion) worth of economic relief measures and downgraded its growth forecasts on Thursday as the international hub reels from simmering pro-democracy protests and the US-China trade war. Last week city leader Carrie Lam warned that 10-weeks of anti-government protests were hitting businesses like a “tsunami”. On Thursday, financial […]

Taiwaness actress Puff Kuo is becoming very popular lately among Korean netizens due to her similarity to a number of popular Korean celebs. A viral Korean community post is circling around the web, pointing out the popular star’s similarity to multiple Korean celebrities including Park Shin Hye, IZ*ONE’s Sakura, Son Dambi and Lee Chae Young. […]

Hong Kong TVB actress has just recently passed away. According to Mingpao, the news of her passing was announced 13 August by Leung’s grandson Nicholas Yuen. He shared that she passed away in the hospital accompanied by her family. “I would like to thank the medical staff for their careful care. I am also grateful […]

President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to link a trade deal with Beijing to the “humane” resolution of a standoff with Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters while seeming to suggest a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. “Millions of jobs are being lost in China to other non-Tariffed countries. Thousands of companies are leaving. Of […]

After Versace, Givenchy and Coach, Swarovski is the latest luxury brand that caused outrage in China for its labelling of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Swarovski also lost the support of its brand ambassador, Chinese actress Jiang Shuying. The Austrian jewellery company apologised on Tuesday for “hurting the feelings” of the Chinese people after calling Hong Kong […]

Cathay Pacific said Wednesday two pilots had been sacked, as the Hong Kong carrier comes under huge pressure from Beijing to clamp down on staff supportive of anti-government rallies. “One is currently involved in legal proceedings. The other misused company information on Flight CX216/12 August,” the airline said in a statement. Hong Kong has been gripped […]

by M. Jegathesan Malaysian authorities Wednesday conducted a post-mortem examination on the body of a Franco-Irish teen found in the jungle after she disappeared from a resort, as her family mourned the “unbearable” loss. The unclothed body of Nora Quoirin, 15, was discovered Tuesday in a ravine in dense rainforest after a 10-day hunt involving […]

Facebook has paid hundreds of contractors to listen to and transcribe snippets of users’ conversations, US media reported on Tuesday, amid heightened scrutiny of the social network’s data collection practices. Facebook acknowledged the transcriptions, which were first reported by Bloomberg, telling the news agency in a statement that they were made with users’ permission, but […]

Operations resumed at Hong Kong airport on Tuesday morning, authorities said, with flights due to start departing and arriving a day after protests shut down the major travel hub. “We have resumed check-ins,” a spokesman for the airport told AFP, confirming flights would be resuming within the next hour at one of the world’s busiest […]

Versace’s Chinese brand ambassador have just called it quits. Chinese actress Yang Mi said she will end her cooperation with the designer label after a controversy erupted online over claims that its T-shirt design defied the ‘One China’ policy. She is Versace’s first Chinese brand ambassador and she issued a notice to Versace to end […]

Tensions in Hong Kong have rippled across Australian universities, as supporters of the pro-democracy protests have been targeted and harassed by “patriotic” mainland students — with the tacit backing of Beijing. Public rallies and other acts of solidarity have been staged at several campuses during the Asian financial hub’s two months of civil unrest, including the emergence of […]

Armed with balloons and strollers, several hundred families took to the streets in Hong Kong on Saturday to show support for pro-democracy protests that are now in their third month. The colourful and calm atmosphere at the rally was a far cry from the increasingly violent confrontations that have marked recent demonstrations by activists calling for […]