All coverage of Hong Kong, ranked by recency.
Online claims that archaeologists have identified the source of mercury in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang – China’s first emperor, who unified the country more than 2,000 years ago – have revived interest in ancient cinnabar sites in northwestern China’s Shaanxi province. The claims, which sent related hashtags trending on social media late last month, centred on three sites in Xunyang where ar...
Reggie Manlapig, 46, has been driving jeepneys for nearly 25 years and has weathered rising fuel prices – but with costs spiking amid the global energy crunch, he is now wrestling bigger demons. “The impact has been huge. Before, in a 16-hour shift of driving, I could take home 400 to 500 pesos [US$6.30 to US$8] – now there’s a big cut to that income,” said Manlapig, who plies a two-hour daily ...
The farewell to former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa was moving because it marked the passing of a figure who stood at the beginning of a wholly new chapter for Hong Kong, a city to which he devoted so much of himself. For many, Tung will always be associated with the formidable demands of the early years after the return to the motherland – the Asian financial crisis, the bursting of the prope...
The abrupt closure of a Hong Kong yoga chain has dealt losses to hundreds of members, with some customers claiming the company lured them into buying discount packages as recently as the past few days. A resident who identified herself as Chan told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that she received the closure notice from Hotstone Yoga’s WhatsApp number just an hour before her scheduled...
Hong Kong can attract more global biotech investments if the city builds up a new healthcare financial model, according to AstraZeneca, a Cambridge-based multinational pharmaceutical giant. While global drug makers have been doubling down on investments in mainland China in recent years, AstraZeneca brought over 60 clinical trials to the city and invested over HK$200 million (US$25.5 million) o...
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has expressed concern over reports of high “no-show” rates among medical officers assigned to permanent postings in Sabah and Sarawak. The medical body urged the government to take action by reverting to a percentage-based allowance and introducing incentives to attract and retain healthcare workers in East Malaysia. MMA president Sivanaesan Letchumanan p...
An Indian pilot’s extraordinary bravery during an apparent mid-air hijack attempt has ignited a wave of national pride, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailing the pilot as a hero for saving 174 lives on a flydubai plane – adding a dramatic chapter to a career that began almost by chance. Captain Smit Machchhar was critically injured after taking the brunt of a knife attack on Wednesday, but ...
A woman who filed a lawsuit saying she was sexually assaulted by seven men at a Cornell University fraternity house told police weeks after the incident that she could “say with 100 per cent confidence I was raped”, according to a report by CBS New York, which said it obtained a transcript of her interview with investigators. The transcript, which has not been publicly released, raises new ques...
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that the United States has slashed the number of its generals and admirals by 20 per cent, in a move he said is aimed at “accountability”. Hegseth suggested the cuts targeted officers who failed to get on board with his efforts to ensure the military is focused on war-fighting rather than the “woke” policies of previous administrations, d...
A pilot programme between the UK and France that aimed to curb the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has been scrapped, Britain’s government said on Wednesday. In a statement, the Home Office said the so-called “one in, one out” deal is “no longer processing new cases”. Under the plan, people who arrived in the UK after making the dangerous crossing across the Chann...
The European Union would embrace the UK if it ever decided to rejoin the bloc, the leaders of Spain and France said shortly after new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham floated the possibility. “Welcome back,” French President Emmanuel Macron quipped in English, speaking Wednesday in Madrid alongside Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who is hosting the leader on a two-day visit. “This prime minister is...
Russia has warned Nato it would be ready to resort to nuclear weapons if the Western alliance attempted to cut off Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave that borders the Baltic Sea. In a document sent to Nato and seen by Reuters, Moscow accused the alliance of a “dangerous and reckless course” that entailed “high risks of the outbreak of a direct armed conflict”. The document said this included the p...
Pansy Ho Chiu-king, daughter of the late Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho Hung-sun, has won a lawsuit to permanently bar a woman from contacting her after the defendant repeatedly harassed her and her companies with emails and hand-delivered letters containing false allegations. The defendant was also ordered to pay Ho HK$1.8 million (US$229,000) in compensation for damages. A judgment handed do...
A mainland Chinese tourist who won a HK$10,000 (US$1,275) McDonald’s voucher in Hong Kong has turned her last 24 hours in the city into a whirlwind giveaway to the elderly, cleaners and the homeless. The woman, who shared her spree on Chinese social media platform RedNote, said she won the “Hong Kong McDonald’s HK$10,000 subsidy” through Alipay on Saturday. According to a screenshot of her post...
The Hong Kong government’s plan to extend a baby bonus scheme for another three years in a bid to boost fertility and assist young families amid record-low births will cost some HK$2.3 billion, according to official estimates. A pregnant woman stands in front of a Hong Kong hospital. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The cost of extending the scheme, this time with a larger cash handout for families having...
While travelling in Kunming, southwestern China’s Yunnan province, a Chinese-Malaysian woman unexpectedly came across photos of her late grandfather showcased in a public exhibit. The display celebrated the historical contributions of overseas Chinese machinists who played a vital role in supporting the nation during World War II. The woman’s Chinese name is Zhang Huiqing, although she uses the...
Shivanjali Singh has worked hard to raise two healthy, athletic children in India, but worries about their ability to resist the lure of junk food constantly surrounding them. Her children, aged 14 and 10, are national-level skaters and have grown up on home-cooked food and drinks such as coconut water rather than fizzy drinks and crisps. Yet Singh, who lives in Noida in the National Capital Re...
A man became angry after a four-year-old boy pointed his middle finger at him while he was picking up his son from preschool in Singapore. He pursued the boy to a nearby bus stop that was crowded with other young kids, grabbed the boy by the arm and slapped him hard on both cheeks. The boy, who was his son’s schoolmate, suffered bruises on his face and ringing in his ear, on top of emotional tr...
The sprawling online hunt for information about Winston Lee, a Korean student who is among seven defendants in a Cornell University sexual assault lawsuit, is increasingly crossing borders, with English-speaking social media users calling on their Korean counterparts to help uncover more information about him. As the “Cornell 7” case continues to draw intense attention across the United States,...
China’s corporate sector remains considerably weaker than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the country is emerging as a key beneficiary of the global artificial intelligence boom thanks to its ample power capacity, according to a Natixis survey of thousands of firms and a separate research report. Profit margins at Chinese firms had stabilised at about 4.5 per cent for the first half of...
Hong Kong’s national security police have reportedly arrested an independent journalist behind an online news outlet on suspicion of publishing fake news. Tang Ho-wing in a YouTube video. Photo: Screenshot via Boom News. According to a report by Sing Tao Headline on Wednesday, the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force carried out the arrest of journalist Tang Ho-wing , who ...
Malaysia’s two-time prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has been admitted to hospital for observation, his office confirmed on Wednesday, in the latest health scare involving the 101-year-old. Mahathir was admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) on Tuesday night, barely a day after his wife of 70 years, Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, died at the same hospital. It is unclear why the former leader w...
Japanese BitTorrent users who thought they were simply downloading adult videos for free are increasingly receiving court notices and demands for hundreds of thousands of yen, as copyright holders step up efforts to identify users through their IP addresses. One self-employed man in his 40s living in Tokyo began using the file-sharing software after reading about it online. He would start downl...
A family of four was sent to hospital on Wednesday morning after a fire broke out at a public housing estate in Sha Tin, prompting the evacuation of around 140 residents. Police received a report at 6.48am as thick smoke poured from a mid-rise flat in Yan Chuen House at Shui Chuen O Estate. The family tried to put out the fire, which started at their TV stand, but failed to do so, and subsequen...
A former Ohio music pastor who once appeared on American Idol was convicted of murder on Tuesday in the killing of his wife while he was having an affair. Prosecutors said Caleb Flynn, 40, staged a home invasion in February after shooting his wife, Ashley Flynn, a 37-year-old teacher and volleyball coach. Flynn, who claimed his wife was killed by a burglar, could get up to life in prison withou...
Hong Kong authorities have defended its policies on hiring non-locally trained nurses, saying that they are “very small” in number following complaints about the import of non-local workers causing unemployment. The government said in a statement on Tuesday that Hong Kong’s public hospitals have always prioritised the hiring of locally trained professionals. Nurses at the Children’s Hospital. P...
The operating company that runs the Eiffel Tower said on Tuesday its chief would step down at the end of this year in the wake of a controversy over the removal of women staff during a visit by a Hindu religious group. Patrick Branco Ruivo, who has been director general of the Paris landmark since 2018, would leave his job at the end of the year after an internal probe revealed that “operationa...
A young cyclist who died after a suspected canine attack in Hong Kong earlier this month was likely bitten on the neck by several dogs, but government forensic pathologists fear it may ultimately be impossible to determine which exact animals were involved, the South China Morning Post has learned. The SCMP has learned that the victim was Fairview Park resident Eva Chu, who was found on Pok Wai...
