The Hong Kong government has launched a public consultation on the city’s first five-year development plan, a blueprint aimed at aligning with China’s newly approved 15th five-year plan. Officials have promised a “macroscopic, strategic and forward-looking” road map that will guide Hong Kong’s economic and social development for the rest of this decade. That invitation…
By Francois Murphy and John Irish VIENNA/PARIS, June 5 (Reuters) – The United States is preparing a draft resolution condemning Iran ahead of next week’s meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors, diplomats said on Friday, a step that could complicate wider talks between the U.S. and Iran. Washington and Tehran are negotiating…
Slowly but surely, Hong Kong is undergoing various scales of transformation. From the mixed-use development around Kai Tak to the revamped waterfronts on both sides of Victoria Harbour, the new railway extensions to the vehicular bypass tunnels below our busy streets, the adaptive reuse of underutilised spaces and the infusion of art and culture into…
Geopolitical tensions and a funding crisis are jeopardising peacekeeping missions, particularly those under the auspices of the United Nations, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute warned on Monday. Global tension, funding woes threaten peacekeeping missions: SIPRI Just under 79,000 international personnel were deployed in international peacekeeping operations at the end of 2025, the lowest number…
China will actively participate in settling international conflicts and improve mechanisms for resolving them, a former Chinese diplomat has said, stressing that Hong Kong could serve as an “important bridge” for exchanges and that a recently established mediation body in the city would bolster international rule of law. At the Global Prosperity Summit in Hong…
In February, a landmark study in the journal Science delivered rare good news for conservation: a five-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River had halted seven decades of biodiversity near-collapse. Fish biomass has surged, and the critically endangered finless porpoise has begun to rebound. Researchers showed that sustained, collective action can revive an ecosystem. The…
WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – Iraqi officials have approached the International Monetary Fund about securing financial assistance as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, a source close to the IMF said on Thursday. Initial conversations took place last month during the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, and…
TAIPEI, May 14 (Reuters) – China’s Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump on Thursday that disagreement over Taiwan could send relations down a dangerous path and that “Taiwan independence” and cross-Taiwan Strait peace are as “irreconcilable as fire and water”. Below are some questions and answers about what is meant by the term “Taiwan independence”…
In an unprecedented act of defiance, Beijing has ordered Chinese businesses to ignore the United States’ sanctions against Iran. Chairman Xi Jinping is due to meet President Donald Trump for personal talks in the coming days. And a lot has changed since their last Beijing soiree in 2017. Trade is a deeply entrenched battleground between…
A new intergovernmental mediation body headquartered in Hong Kong has resolved a maritime dispute between parties from mainland China and Singapore this month, as more states have joined the organisation since its launch last year. Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, secretary general of the International Organisation for Mediation (IOMed), revealed the achievement on Friday at a summit,…