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A Hong Kong coach has appeared in court over allegations she slapped an eight-year-old boy and forced him to stand under the hot sun at a summer training camp for children. Eastern Court on Wednesday heard that Zhao Yiqun, 51, allegedly mistreated the boy during a training programme at the Jockey Club Ming Fai Camp on Cheung Chau on August 8, 2024. She was charged with one count of ill-treatment o...
A Hong Kong coach has been accused of assaulting and abusing an eight-year-old boy, slapping his face and forcing him to stand outside in the blazing sun at a training camp for children. Eastern Court on Wednesday heard that Zhao Yiqun allegedly ill-treated and assaulted the boy during a training programme at the Jockey Club Ming Fai Camp in Cheung Chau. The incident, which occurred in August 2024...
Singapore has signalled stability in the public housing market by scrapping a 15-month waiting period that barred private property owners from buying resale HDB flats – even as other curbs remain in place. National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat announced the change on Tuesday, saying the government recognised that the rule had caused inconvenience and disrupted the plans of those with genuine...
Bangladesh’s fugitive ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina said she was determined to return to her country by December despite fearing for her life. “I may be killed. I may be arrested. I may be sent to prison,” Hasina, 78, said in an email. “I am fully aware of my fate. Still, I want to go back because my people are calling me.” Toppled in August 2024 by a student-led uprising that ended her 15-year,...
Hongkongers travelling in the quake-hit Japanese city of Kumamoto are offering rides to fellow visitors stranded in the area. A travel operator also said on Wednesday that one of its tour groups from Hong Kong had initially thought their coach had crashed when the 7.1 magnitude quake shook Kyushu island on Tuesday, but they safely headed to their next destination. The quake left at least 13 people...
Hongkongers visiting the earthquake-hit Japanese city of Kumamoto are offering rides to fellow travellers stranded in the area. A travel operator also revealed on Wednesday that a tour group from Hong Kong was safe and departing for their next destination. Travellers from Hong Kong have taken to social media platform Threads to seek help, with some sharing how they were offered assistance by other...
International students once saw US colleges as a gateway to a world-class education and career head start but shifting United States immigration policies, tightening visa conditions and high-profile ICE raids are causing them to reconsider. Dulue Mbachu looks at how African students are altering their education plans during the second Trump administration. The first instalment in our series is her...
International students once saw US colleges as a gateway to a world-class education and career head start but shifting United States immigration policies, tightening visa conditions and high-profile ICE raids are causing them to reconsider. Dulue Mbachu looks at how African students are altering their education plans during the second Trump administration. The first instalment in our series is her...
A former customer services officer with Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific has been jailed for one year and eight months for accepting at least HK$18,000 (US$2,295) in bribes to help smuggle mainland Chinese travellers overseas 17 years ago. Tsui Ying-kit, 45, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to four counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept advantages at Tsuen Wan Court, which now handles District Court cas...
In an affluent neighbourhood in New Delhi, electric vehicle charging stations near a popular shopping area were busy with drivers powering up their scooters, trucks and cars. India’s capital city is in dire need of more charging facilities, EV drivers say, to implement an ambitious plan to phase out petrol vehicles in one of the world’s most polluted cities. “Charging facilities are not up to the ...
This article was first published on July 30, 1996. Our golden girl by Nazvi Careem and Scott McKenzie Cheers and tears swept Hong Kong yesterday (July 29, 1996) on the back of the golden victory for Olympic windsurfer Lee Lai-shan. The 25-year-old from Cheung Chau won a gold medal for herself and glory for Hong Kong after 44 years of fruitless Olympic competition when she crossed the finish line a...
When a ride-hailing driver suddenly experienced severe stomach pain and requested his passenger to take over the wheel to exit the highway, she instead drove him directly to the hospital. On July 14, He Shimin, a blogger, arranged a ride-sharing service as she planned to travel from Guangzhou to Shunde, both located in southern Guangdong province. While on the highway, the driver, surnamed Wang, s...
Chinese toymaker Pop Mart International ramped up its global expansion on Wednesday by opening a new store on Singapore’s Sentosa Island – alongside its first overseas Pop Bakery dessert store in the same venue – with observers predicting that more overseas locations would help drive growth, especially those in underpenetrated markets. The launch comes amid softer domestic sales and normalising de...
Malaysia is finding it increasingly difficult to stay neutral in the US-China rivalry as the superpowers lock horns over trade, investment and the security of advanced technology, according to a top government adviser. “They don’t make us take sides when it comes to foreign policy,” Tengku Zafrul Aziz, senior political adviser to Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, told This Week in Asia. “Th...
Malaysia is finding it increasingly difficult to stay neutral in the US-China rivalry as the superpowers lock horns over trade, investment and the security of advanced technology, according to a top government adviser. “They don’t make us take sides when it comes to foreign policy,” Tengku Zafrul Aziz, senior political adviser to Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, told This Week in Asia. “Th...
Malaysia is finding it increasingly difficult to stay neutral in the US-China rivalry as the superpowers lock horns over trade, investment and the security of advanced technology, according to a top government adviser. “They don’t make us take sides when it comes to foreign policy,” Tengku Zafrul Aziz, senior political adviser to Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, told This Week in Asia. “Th...
A Hong Kong ophthalmologist has been cleared of professional misconduct after the city’s medical watchdog decided to offer no evidence against him, 15 years after a complaint was lodged over his handling of laser eye surgery procedures. The three disciplinary charges against Dr Yiu Man-kit stemmed from a complaint submitted in 2011 by a patient, Chan Man-chi, over a bilateral Lasik surgery perform...
A senior Pentagon official on Tuesday said US-China military communication was “stronger than it has been in years”, marking a rare bright spot in the broader strategic rivalry between the world’s two most powerful countries. “Under the leadership of Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, we are actively repairing a once broken military-to-military channel and making clear, steady progress,” said Alvaro Smith,...
A senior Pentagon official on Tuesday said US-China military communication was “stronger than it has been in years”, marking a rare bright spot in the broader strategic rivalry between the world’s two most powerful countries. “Under the leadership of Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, we are actively repairing a once broken military-to-military channel and making clear, steady progress,” said Alvaro Smith,...
The UN’s migration agency is warning that criminal networks have been trafficking hundreds of thousands of people – many of them educated English speakers – to work in online scam centres, and the caseload is growing. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says victims are often lured by fake job advertisements – mostly through social media – promising work abroad, only to get locked u...
Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping centre and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors on Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people in southwestern Japan. The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit a day earlier in the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu, also left at least 62 people injured, six of them seriously, the...
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said 13 people have been found dead after a powerful quake shook part of southwestern Japan and rescue work was continuing Wednesday morning for the missing. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu late on Tuesday afternoon. “There are people who are still waiting to be rescued, and it’s a race against time,” ...
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said 13 people have been found dead after a powerful quake shook part of southwestern Japan and rescue work was continuing Wednesday morning for the missing. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu late on Tuesday afternoon. “There are people who are still waiting to be rescued, and it’s a race against time,” ...
A 50-year-old independent bookshop has announced it will close when its lease ends, following a raid by Hong Kong national security police earlier this month. Greenfield Book Store, located on Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kok, took to social media during the early hours of Wednesday morning to announce its plans to close. “The shop will close down after the end of the lease. Thank you, everyone, ...
A 50-year-old independent bookshop has announced it will close when its lease ends, following a raid by Hong Kong national security police earlier this month. Greenfield Book Store, located on Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kok, took to social media during the early hours of Wednesday morning to announce its plans to close. “The shop will close down after the end of the lease. Thank you, everyone, ...
The US Senate confirmed Jay Clayton as Donald Trump’s top intelligence official Tuesday, putting a permanent chief in charge of the country’s spy agencies as the president revives unsupported election fraud claims ahead of the midterms. Senators voted 51-47 to confirm Clayton’s appointment, with all Democrats in the upper chamber voting against it. “Jay is outstanding in every way, and will do a s...
The European Union’s upgraded partnership with the Philippines signals the bloc’s aim to diversify its Indo-Pacific strategy beyond trade into the security arena. Such a move shows Brussels is seeking a larger role in a region where maritime disputes and challenges to the rules-based order could damage its extensive interests, according to analysts. On Friday, Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Th...
China is widening its lead over the United States in the race to develop humanoid robots, with Chinese firms accounting for six of the world’s 10 most innovative start-ups in the sector, according to a new report tracking global patent data, as Washington moves to restrict imports of robots, including those made in China. Firms from China dominated the ranking released by legal research platform L...
A man was killed and nearly 80 people were forced to evacuate after a fire broke out at a village house in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Authorities said they were alerted at around 4.30am to a blaze at a metal house in Ling Shan Tsuen in Fanling. Police said some electrical wires were spotted burning when rescuers arrived at the scene. Seventy-eight people, in addition to four dogs and cats, were evacu...
HSBC Holdings will relocate its group chief people and governance officer, Aileen Taylor, from London to Hong Kong later this year, as the lender doubles down on expanding its Hong Kong and Asia operations, according to sources at the bank. A source told the South China Morning Post that an internal decision to relocate Taylor to Hong Kong had already been made, as part of a push to strengthen the...
