Focus on the big picture

Piece by piece, the tools for an alleged Iranian-directed murder team were smuggled into Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea. A sniper rifle with silencer. Pistols. Sixteen pieces of plastic ex...

The Court of Appeal yesterday extended the prison sentence of a former PhD student at Chinese University jailed for attempting to blackmail a senior religious figure.

Fans of Lady Gaga are turning into little monsters as they scramble for tickets to the Grammy Award-winner's Hong Kong debut - as even the city's well-connected insiders struggle to secur...

More than 100 mainland women who gave birth here were arrested for breach of stay in just three months late last year, the security minister disclosed yesterday.

Experienced nannies' salaries have jumped 10 to 20 per cent after the Lunar New Year with many women wanting to give birth this year, the Year of the Dragon, believing it symbolises poten...

Hong Kong stocks opened 0.97 percent lower after Fitch ratings warned debt-hit Greece was close to default despite being bolstered by a huge rescue p...

Hong Kong stocks opened 0.69 percent lower after small gains a day earlier following approval of a new bailout for Greece. The benchmark Hang Seng...

Hong Kong stocks opened flat, as investors waited for finance ministers in Brussels to come to a resolution on Greeces second bailout package. T...

Hong Kong stocks opened 0.96 percent higher, sustained by hopes of a resolution on the Greek debt crisis. The benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 207....

Hong Kong stocks rose 0.7 percent by the break after a jump on Wall Street sparked by stronger US economic data. The benchmark Hang Seng Index add...

Auto-liquefied petroleum gas ceiling prices for dedicated filling stations will range from $5.28 to $5.72 a litre in March, an increase of 59 cents a litre, the Electrical & Mechanic...

Allow me to thank you once again - our business community - for your hard work and your optimism during the ups and downs of the past few years. With our collective experience, with soun...

Provisions in the system of declaration of interest for the Executive Council will be made clearer to avoid misunderstandings, Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Raymond...

The Labour Department has approved 18,566 Work Incentive Transport Subsidy Scheme applications, with a total subsidy payment of $63 million.

Two residential sites in the 2011-12 Land Sale Programme will be disposed of by public tender, the Lands Department announces.

The former President of the Philippines, Gloria Arroyo, has pleaded not guilty to charges of electoral fraud at a Manila court. Mrs Arroyo, who was president for nine years, is accused of...

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced a ballot for the leadership of the Labor Party amid a bitter tussle with Kevin Rudd. The move comes hours after Mr Rudd, who was oust...

Chief Executive hopeful, C Y Leung, will submit his nomination papers this afternoon, to officially enter the race for Hong Kong's top job. He will be the third candidate to formally ente...

An experimental obesity drug has won the backing of US health advisors, raising hopes for approval of the first prescription weight-loss pill in 13 years. The drug, Qnexa, was developed b...

Football: Olympique Marseille and FC Basel earned dramatic late victories in home legs of their last 16 tie in the Champions League. Basel produced another shock by beating Bayern Munich ...

Space-starved Hong Kong has long been plagued by high rents and steep hotel rates, vexing university students and tourists alike. But help may be at hand, thanks to one Hong Kong firm: t...

Earlier this month, security staff at Dolce & Gabbana's Hong Kong boutique reportedly barred Hong Kong natives from taking photos of the store — while not enforcing similar rules on tour...

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has published a list of frequently asked questions on its website to help investors understand the key features and risks specific to ...

Hong Kong is now the top tourist destination worldwide trumping London, which held the leading seat in previous rankings, according to Euromonitor International's latest Top 100 City Des...

Hong Kong will help London develop as the next offshore yuan trading centre, shrugging off traditional competition between the two cities as part of a broader plan to boost international...

The Hong Kong International Deaf Film Festival returns this weekend. The festival off ers audiences a look into the tribulations facing Deaf communities and filmmakers. Doug Meigs reports.

Bloomberg reports on the race among the world’s luxury car makers to bring their SUV lines to China’s nouveau riche: “Luxury cars are at the top of the consumption desires of ...

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In Footnotes, a publication of the American Sociological Association, Leta Hong Fincher, an American doctoral student at Tsinghua University, writes about the restraints placed on social ...

Wednesday, February 22 marks Losar, the traditional Tibetan New Year. The 15-day holiday is usually celebrated with meals, family gatherings, prayer services and other festivities. This y...

 With the recent uproar about the inhumane practices of harvesting bear bile, celebrities, such as Yao Ming, have begun to speak out against animal cruelty. Animal welfare groups claim th...

Portman Holdings Ltd., an Atlanta- based developer expanding in the Asia-Pacific region, plans to use its recently set up Hong Kong operation to tap international investors to fund proper...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A political storm that has rocked the candidacy of the frontrunner to become Hong Kong's next leader poses a delicate challenge for Beijing, and in particular for th...

Parents travel to Hong Kong for better maternal care and lifelong residency benefits for their child, but residents of the city are outraged.

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong stocks opened solidly lower Thursday, with the Hang Seng Index down 0.8% at 21,378.88, and Hang Seng China Enterprises Index losing 0.7%. The Shangh...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Umberto Bombana's distinctive flair for refined, regional Italian cuisine has taken him around the world and earned his Hong Kong restaurant three Michelin stars in ...

As Southeast Asian countries lined up against China in the South China Sea sign pacts with extra-territorial powers like Russia and India to redress the strategic balance, Beijing can onl...

India is resisting pressure from the United States and Israel to stop buying oil from Iran, despite Delhi signing on to various United Nations sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program...

Whether there is any substance in allegations about a plot to kill the pope cannot be established, but China's name has been dragged into the conspiracy whirlpool. That's a leap of imagin...

As Iran and Azerbaijan trade barbs over allegations of assassination plots, many worry that these and other incidents mean the countries in the South Caucasus region - American-backed Geo...

As the "Friends of Syria" coalition lays an international path for ending a conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives, debate is raging over whether the United States should arm Syr...

Someone has to do it and Flipkart did it. There were rumors, leaks and citings of Flipkart’s music service for quite some time. Rumor and speculation mills started since Flipkart’s acquis...

Even as we see a growing number of uses of smartphones, inevitably taking up greater data usage, I am not convinced subscribers should go with unlimited data plans. For a city whose cost ...

By The Isaan Record UDON THANI  – From a stage outside Udon Thani’s Provincial Hall, the Red Village movement grew rapidly Sunday evening as it welcomed 1,000 new Isaan villages as ...

In one of its kind development judicial commission, formed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to probe the memo case, recorded statement of a main witness through a video link on Wednesday....

Sustainable energy students at Humber had a special guest looking over their shoulders in the classroom last week. Ontario Minister of Energy Chris Bentley toured the Sustainable Energy a...

The Alibaba Group offers up to $2.5 billion to take its Hong Kong-listed B2B trading platform private, four years after the company went public.

We talk to Michel Tosto, director and head of equities and fixed income for Viet Capital Securities, about his outlook for Vietnam.

Submissions for KNOC's bond are due this week. Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motors and Hyundai Capital are also eyeing dollar bonds.

Meanwhile Olam International taps the Singapore dollar market via a S$275 million perpetual.

Swire Pacific, Sun Hung Kai Properties and DBS rush to issue as Greek rescue package buoys credit markets.

While sympathetic to concerns over swaps-based ETFs, Kelvin Blacklock of Eastspring says fear of complexity is more to blame and explains why synthetics can sometimes work better than cas...

More hedge funds are managing less than $20 million as the billion-dollar club shrinks, says data provider Eurekahedge.

The firm may apply for up to Rmb300 million to provide an A-share strategy in a QIF structure out of Dublin. It also plans to apply for a type-1 licence in Hong Kong, where it is eager to...

The social security fund selects eFront to provide automated support for its alternative investments, with its domestic PE portfolio tipped to become increasingly important in 2012.

The firm creates a unit based on a basket of developed and EM currencies and commodities as a systematic hedging tool to safeguard against currency and inflation risks.

To end her relaxing vacation in Hainan, Cherry Wang, 29, decided to take a leisurely stroll at one of the island's hottest tourist attractions - a sprawling 7,000 sq m duty-free store in ...

Korean companies, think tanks and universities will team up with Boeing to jointly develop advanced materials and parts for aircraft as part of a government programme to boost their compe...

The Lao Securities Exchange (LSX) and Enterprise of Telecommunications Lao (ETL) Public Company have signed an agreement to introduce a Home Trade System, which will allow investors to tr...

Residents of Shaanxi province's Guanzhong thought Wang Yongchao was crazy. The former billionaire has sold all his seven companies and spent all his money on old daily-use items and shabb...

Zang Toi has done it again, winning a standing ovation from the audience with his red carpet looks at the recent New York Fashion Week. With Grammy-winner Adele’s "Set Fire To The Rain"...

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday called for a leadership vote within her ruling Labor Party, a day after bitter rival Kevin Rudd resigned as foreign minister, extending...

Asian companies are tapping bond markets at a record pace, worried that the euro-zone crisis may deepen and make it impossible for them to secure funds later in the year, say bankers who ...

China could face an economic crisis unless it implements deep reforms, including scaling back its state-owned enterprises and making them operate more like commercial firms, a report says...

Geely and an Egyptian car-assembly company plan to start assembling cars this year for sale across North Africa. Geely also will establish a 50-50 joint venture with its Volvo unit in Chi...

China's central bank suspended its regular open market operation for the second straight week, in Beijing's latest effort to keep money market liquidity conditions loose and provide suppo...

Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Angela Merkel, insisted that Berlin saw no need to increase the size of the €500bn European Stability Mechanism

The two plans show that there is strong support for reforms to the bafflingly complicated US tax system but division about how much revenue the system should raise

China, opening a significant gap with Russia, has yet to decide whether to attend an international ‘Friends of Syria’ gathering in Tunis

Restrictions on US banks could hit sovereign debt market at key moment in recovery, say UK and Japanese finance ministers

Australian prime minister calls leadership vote after Rudd resigns and says she cannot win election

MESA, Arizona (Reuters) - Rivals heaped criticism on surprise front-runner Rick Santorum in a debate among Republican presidential candidates on Wednesday, hoping to stall his surge at a ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama made an opening offer in what could be a long negotiation with corporate America on Wednesday, putting forward his first detailed plan to cut...

AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces rained rockets and bombs down on opposition-held neighborhoods of the city of Homs, reducing buildings to rubble and kil...

ATHENS (Reuters) - Fitch cut Greece's long-term ratings on Wednesday to its lowest rating above a default, becoming the first ratings agency to make the widely expected downgrade after th...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several members of the Congress received mail threatening a biological attack and containing a suspicious powder later found to be harmless as law enforcement offic...

A girl who was swept away in the Indian Ocean tsunami seven years ago said Friday she broke down in tears this week after tracking down her parents, who had long lost hope of finding her...

If North Korea's new leader is looking for advice on how to carry on his family's dynasty, he could turn to Rahul Gandhi, who is on a quest to become the fourth generation of h...

Protesters gathered Saturday outside a town hall in southern China to appeal for the release of people detained during demonstrations over a planned power plant expansion, a witness said.

A new survey shows people in poorer countries send text messages more often than those in wealthier countries. Men in Spain and Germany access the Internet on their phones twice as much ...

The National Center on Family Homelessness said 1.6 million children were living on the streets of the United States in 2010 or in shelters, motels and doubled-up with other families. Th...

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd resigned Wednesday, his office said, amid speculation he might mount a leadership challenge to Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

A series of blasts last week in Thailand that set off accusations between Iran and Israel involved bombs disguised as radio sets, police said Wednesday.

Hundreds of Indonesian police officers charged into a prison in Bali on Wednesday to subdue rioting inmates who had set a building on fire and thrown stones at firefighters.

Demonstrators burned tires and threw rocks outside a NATO military base in Kabul on Wednesday, as protests continued for a second day after troops burned copies of the Quran.

One year on, reminders of the massive earthquake that ripped through Christchurch, New Zealand, are never too far away, from the broken buildings to frequent aftershocks that rattle the c...

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard calls a ballot for the leadership of the Labor Party on Monday to end a tussle with Kevin Rudd.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai urges Afghans "not to resort to violence" after protests over the burning of the Koran at a US airbase near Kabul.

An international research cruise off Japan detects radioactivity in sampled seawater and marine organisms, but well within safe levels.

Former Philippine President Gloria Arroyo pleads not guilty to electoral fraud before a court in the capital, Manila.

US and North Korean officials are meeting in Beijing for the first talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme since the death of Kim Jong-il.

Afghan protesters threw rocks near an American military base in Kabul on Wednesday.A day after NATO officials apologized for the burning of Korans, American Embassy officials were on lock...

Despite official quotas, nearly 4 in 10 births in Hong Kong last year were to mainland parents.Parents go to Hong Kong for better medical care and lifelong residency benefits for their ch...

The Chinese city of Nanjing suspended its sister-city relationship with Nagoya after the Japanese city’s mayor expressed doubts over whether the 1937 Nanjing Massacre happened.

Rajni, a severely malnourished 2-year-old girl, is weighed by health workers at the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre, Shivpuri district, Madhya Pradesh, Feb. 1, 2012.India's progress on ...

India celebrates Ash Wednesday.

A smiling ex-Philippine president Gloria Arroyo pleaded not guilty Thursday in her first court appearance since being charged with rigging an election, an offence that could see her jail...

Indonesian forces backed by water cannons and armoured vehicles were locked in a tense stand-off outside a prison on Bali island Thursday after rioting inmates took control for a second ...

Indian army officials say two avalanches in snowbound regions of Indian-controlled Kashmir have killed at least three soldiers. Several more are feared trapped in a military camp that was...

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday called a ballot on the leadership of the ruling Labor party, bringing to a head an increasingly bitter and ugly row with predecessor K...

Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pleaded not guilty to an electoral fraud charge Thursday at the opening of a landmark trial that is seen as a key test of her reformis...