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By Danny Kemp President Donald Trump said Friday that Elon Musk should not be allowed to see top secret US plans for any war with China, in a rare admission that his billionaire ally’s business links raised potential conflicts of interest. Trump strongly denied media reports that the world’s richest man, who is now leading […]

Hong Kong is among the last remaining cities that use bamboo scaffolding in modern construction and maintenance projects. High-rises across Hong Kong are often seen encased in bamboo poles, strapped together with nylon fasteners. Skilled scaffolders – nicknamed “spiders” – lash the poles together, creating platforms. But such sights may become less common, with the […]

Having its roots in Hong Kong’s underground music scene, An Id Signal has never adhered to any mainstream playbook. Since their emergence from the depths of Hong Kong’s industrial spaces in 2006, the four-piece band has maintained a memorable presence by performing in live houses and throwing guerrilla gigs. It has never been a household […]

By Jiaxin Lu At first glance, the office desk could belong to any Chinese executive — an ashtray, mini-flags, a golden sculpture inscribed with the character for “integrity”, and a picture of a local celebrity. Instead, it is part of a defiant art show challenging Hong Kong’s stuffy power structures, held in an office tower […]

Taiwan will give pay rises to some service members in a bid to tackle manpower shortages, officials said on Friday, as the island faces intensifying military pressure from China. Beijing claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the self-ruled island under control. It regularly deploys fighter […]

A Hong Kong man has been found guilty of murdering his three-year-old daughter by violently shaking her to death. Lau Ka-ping appeared at the High Court on Thursday to hear his verdict after a trial that lasted over 20 days. The seven-member jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict after deliberating for less than three hours. […]

Hong Kong has maintained third place in the Global Financial Centres Index, while occupying the top spot in Asia. The ranking, published on Thursday, placed the city just behind New York and London – and ahead of Singapore, its regional rival. A government spokesperson welcomed the ranking in a Thursday press release. “The report fully […]

The Hong Kong government has said it will hike rents for “well-off” public housing tenants by up to 4.5 times the nominal level and evict the highest-earning tenants in four years. Under a three-tier system approved by the Housing Authority on Friday, public housing tenants earning above the income limit will have to pay up […]

Two boys, aged three and five, were rescued by police and firefighters on Friday after they were seen sitting dangerously on the external walls of a high-rise residential estate in Fanling. Police arrested the parents on suspicion of child neglect. The police and firefighters were called to the scene at Queen’s Hill Estat after they […]

A Hong Kong court has rejected the government’s appeal against the acquittal of Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei in a 2019 protest case, saying the original trial judge’s ruling in 2022 was not “irrational.” Three Court of Appeal justices upheld Lo’s acquittal on Friday, after prosecutors argued last November that District Judge Ernest Lin made […]

Hong Kong has fallen to its lowest-ever position on the World Happiness Report, falling down the index for the fifth consecutive year. The study was released on Thursday to coincide with the UN’s International Day of Happiness. The city dropped from 86th last year to 88th, sitting between Albania and Armenia. China ranked 68th, Taiwan 27th and […]

Canada has warned that it is battling a backlog of applications from Hongkongers seeking permanent residency. Most applications under the Hong Kong Permanent Residence Pathway will be processed after 2027, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). It said the backlog was due to a “high volume of applications and limited admission spaces.” “As […]

Embattled Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings, caught in a US-China spat over control of the Panama Canal, said on Thursday that profits fell 27 percent in 2024. CK Hutchison offloaded its global ports business outside China — including operations in the vital Central American canal — this month to a group led by giant […]

The Hong Kong government should issue more licenses for vehicles for hire and conduct background checks on drivers using online ride-hailing platforms, a legislator has proposed. The current taxi industry lacked variety in service options and failed to meet the diverse needs of the market in terms of comfort and passenger capacity, lawmaker Simon Lee […]

Most low-income new immigrants from mainland China earned less last year than in 2019, a survey has found, reflecting the prolonged impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Hong Kong’s poorest. The Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) published the results of the survey on Thursday. The survey – commissioned by the Society for Community Organization (SoCO), […]

China said on Thursday it acted “in accordance with the law” despite condemnation from Canada over the execution of four Canadian citizens in recent weeks. Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday that China had executed four Canadian citizens in recent weeks, defying pleas from Ottawa for leniency. “We strongly condemn […]

Hong Kong will see drones in the air as early as next month in a pilot scheme for developing a “low-altitude economy,” the city’s transport chief has said. The government announced on Thursday that it had approved 38 out of 72 applications for employing drones in a variety of commercial activities and public services, ranging […]

A New York businessman was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Wednesday for his role in a plot to force a US resident to return to China. Quanzhong An, 58, was one of seven people charged in October 2022 for involvement in a Chinese government repatriation scheme known as “Operation Fox Hunt.” An, who […]

A Hong Kong man who emigrated to Japan after his arrest during the 2019 unrest has been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for rioting. Defendant Chan Wai-yiu, 27, was put behind bars on Thursday by District Judge Kathie Cheung after he pleaded guilty last week to rioting on August 31, 2019. […]

Hong Kong has passed a law meant to enhance safeguards for the city’s key infrastructure systems against cyberattacks, imposing fines of up to HK$5 million for cybersecurity lapses. At the Legislative Council on Wednesday, security minister Chris Tang said that the purpose of the law was to “establish legal requirements for organisations designated as critical […]

Hong Kong’s security chief has refused to disclose information about national security investigations following a lawmaker’s questions about whether the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had provided funding to organisations in the city. Hong Kong’s homegrown security law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, also known as Article 23, has regulations regarding local organisations’ acceptance […]

A total of 66 Hong Kong taxi drivers have incurred points under a new penalty system enacted last September to combat offences such as refusing hire and overcharging passengers. The offences committed included overcharging, refusing to accept a hire, and not driving the most direct route, Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said on […]

By Lam Nguyen Seething international tensions over the South China Sea have struck an unlikely victim in Vietnam: popular children’s dolls pulled from shops over a facial mark supposedly resembling Beijing’s claims in the flashpoint waterway. Small and fluffy, with large eyes and rabbit ears, Chinese-made “Baby Three” dolls became a must-have among Vietnamese kids […]

The first government survey on delivery workers has been criticised by a concern group for neglecting ethnic minority workers. According to the Census and Statistics Department’s survey on food delivery workers published on Tuesday, around 65 per cent – or nearly two-thirds – of the respondents said delivering food and goods ordered on digital platforms […]