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Hong Kong’s younger generation of tycoons is becoming increasingly active in the city’s initial public offering market through family offices and private investments. But their investments extend beyond the property and traditional financial sectors associated with their predecessors, into technology and digital finance. Prominent business leaders Cheng Chi-heng of New World Development and Peter ...
Danish pharmaceuticals giant Novo Nordisk, maker of weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, announced on Monday a name change to just Novo, hoping it will be more “memorable and relevant” for clients. The rebrand comes ahead of a strategic presentation on September 21, when executives are to lay out their plan for “a faster, more competitive and increasingly consumer-driven market”. The company is b...
President Xi Jinping promoted China’s vision for artificial intelligence (AI) at the annual Brics summit, seeking to win support from the Global South amid tech competition with the US. China would spearhead development of an AI Brics “community”, support cooperation in developing large language models and offer training, Xi said on Sunday in New Delhi. The previous day, he invited Brics nations t...
More than 700 Hongkongers were shocked to discover that their credit cards had been used to place unauthorised orders for Apple’s new iPhone 18 Pro series handsets over the weekend. Although banks reassured victims they would not be charged as long as the cards were used with due care and the transactions were proven to be unauthorised, the incident still caused widespread concern over credit card...
A Malaysian teenager was on Monday found not guilty of murdering his 16-year-old schoolmate last year, after a high court ruled that he had been of unsound mind when he attacked the victim in their school, in a case that left the country reeling in shock and horror. The boy, who was 15 at the time of the attack last October, was arrested at his high school in Selangor state on the same morning tha...
Singapore’s openness to chemical castration for sex offenders has cast light on the ethical questions surrounding the treatment, with the discussion centred on whether it would fill any gap left by existing legislation. Experts point to how safeguards would be set regarding who receives the treatment, the duration of the process and if resulting medical consequences would be proportional to the of...
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto abruptly removed Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa on Monday after just over a year in the job, turning to veteran ministry technocrat Suahasil Nazara as his government grapples with mounting fiscal pressure and questions over economic policy coordination. Suahasil, who had served as deputy finance minister since 2019, becomes Prabowo’s third finance minis...
Indonesia’s president sacked his finance minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa on Monday and replaced him with his deputy Suahasil Nazara, as he battles to win back investor confidence amid long-festering concerns about policymaking and fiscal profligacy. Suahasil, a former academic and a deputy finance minister since 2019, is the third person to take the role under President Prabowo Subianto. He was amo...
Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has sacked the finance minister and appointed the deputy finance minister as his replacement, the president’s office said on Monday. Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara was among the senior officials who arrived at the state palace for a swearing-in ceremony. Earlier on Monday, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa had left in the middle of a parlia...
Anthropic’s discovery of an AI-powered election manipulation platform targeting Malaysia offers a glimpse into how the technology can exploit a country’s political vulnerabilities for sophisticated influence operations. The operation’s use of millions of voter records, fake social media accounts, a synthetic news site and fabricated dossiers pointed to a deeper risk, analysts said: weak data safeg...
Beijing has hailed a “one country, two systems” proposal by a Taiwanese scholar in a rare official statement on an issue regarded as politically sensitive on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. “We are pleased to see that more and more Taiwan compatriots are facing up to reunification, beginning to understand and discuss the specific content of a one country, two systems plan for Taiwan, and offering...
Hong Kong’s stock market is facing fresh pressure to accelerate its review of longer trading hours after South Korea’s main bourse extended its session by four hours on Monday, according to an industry player. The Korea Exchange, South Korea’s bourse operator, launched a real-time after-market from 4pm to 8pm in addition to regular trading from 9am to 3.30pm. It also signalled ambitions to expand ...
Scientists have developed a lightweight, battery-free device that could help improve the mobility of people with difficulty walking, such as stroke survivors. Developed by researchers in Hong Kong and mainland China, the neural prosthesis uses energy generated by the wearer’s own movements to electrically stimulate their muscles, helping to flex their ankle and restore their natural walking patter...
Hong Kong police have launched an investigation after two brothers were found dead in a public housing flat in Ap Lei Chau. The police force said a security guard alerted authorities after detecting a foul smell coming from the flat at Lei Tung Estate’s Tung Yip House at around 2pm on Monday. Rescue personnel forced their way into the flat and discovered the bodies of the pair, aged 53 and 55. Par...
Hong Kong police are investigating the discovery of the bodies of two men at a public housing estate flat in Ap Lei Chau. The force said a security guard alerted authorities after detecting a foul smell coming from the flat at Lei Tung Estate’s Tung Yip House at around 2pm on Monday. Rescue personnel forced their way into the flat and discovered the bodies of the two men. Paramedics confirmed thei...
The Himalayas are approaching a tipping point as glaciers melt faster than a decade ago, threatening water security as the region approaches “peak water” by mid-century, according to a study released this month. The findings come after the collapse of a Himalayan glacier in late August along the Nepal-Tibet border, which caused cascading landslides and flash floods in the valleys below. At least ...
Hong Kong shoppers may be saving less than expected – or nothing at all – with supermarkets’ buy one, get one free and bulk-buy promotions, a watchdog has warned, urging residents to compare unit prices rather than rely on promotional labels. The Consumer Council on Monday released the findings of a survey covering 222 products sold by Aeon, ParknShop and Wellcome between September 2025 and July t...
Hong Kong shoppers may have saved less than they expected – or nothing at all – through supermarkets’ “buy-one-get-one-free” and bulk-buy promotions, the city’s consumer watchdog has warned, urging residents to compare unit prices instead of relying on promotional labels. The Consumer Council on Monday released the findings of a survey of 222 products sold by AEON, ParknShop and Wellcome between S...
Hong Kong shoppers may have saved less than they expected – or nothing at all – through supermarkets’ “buy-one-get-one-free” and bulk-buy promotions, the city’s consumer watchdog has warned, urging residents to compare unit prices instead of relying on promotional labels. The Consumer Council on Monday released the findings of a survey of 222 products sold by AEON, ParknShop and Wellcome between S...
A woman convicted of using a forged reference letter to gain admission to a Hong Kong doctoral programme has been spared jail and ordered to perform 160 hours of community service. Fanling Magistrate Kenneth Chan Ping-chau said on Monday that he had decided to “make an exception” for 31-year-old Li Zuer, who earlier admitted falsely claiming that a former teaching staff member at the Education Uni...
Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the disputed Himalayan region. Sarwar, 25, is one of an estimated half a million migrant workers who stream into the Himalayan region each year, forming the backbone of an economy increasingly reliant on labour from some of India’s poorest states. The...
Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the disputed Himalayan region. Sarwar, 25, is one of an estimated half a million migrant workers who stream into the Himalayan region each year, forming the backbone of an economy increasingly reliant on labour from some of India’s poorest states. The...
Two top executives at Japanese nuclear plant operator Chubu Electric Power would step down following a quake data-tampering scandal, the company said in a statement on Monday. President Kingo Hayashi and Chairman Satoru Katsuno would be replaced, the statement said, and the firm would withdraw applications to restart the Nos 3 and 4 reactors at Chubu’s Hamaoka nuclear plant. Japan is moving to rev...
Beijing has introduced stricter drone regulations, banning all uncrewed flights as well as the possession and storage of existing devices, while detailing disposal methods for the first time in an effort to strengthen security in the capital. The new rules, which will take effect on November 15, follow an incident in June, when a small aircraft crashed into Beijing’s tallest building, the Citic To...
Beijing has introduced stricter drone regulations, banning all uncrewed flights as well as the possession and storage of existing devices, while detailing disposal methods for the first time in an effort to strengthen security in the capital. The new rules, which will take effect on November 15, follow an incident in June, when a small aircraft crashed into Beijing’s tallest building, the Citic To...
A growing number of young Chinese employees are increasingly turning down promotions, challenging the traditional notion that career advancement is the ultimate marker of success. This trend has gained significant traction on mainland social media, where related posts have attracted over 40 million views. Workers have shared scripts online that highlight their decisions to decline promotions, ofte...
Disposable sanitary pads sold in Hong Kong have shown wide discrepancies in absorption speeds, with more than half of tested products also lacking adequate labelling, the consumer watchdog has found. The Consumer Council revealed the test results for 36 winged sanitary towels on Monday, including a sample that took 73 seconds to fully absorb simulated menstrual blood – exceeding the mainland China...
Disposable sanitary pads sold in Hong Kong show wide discrepancies in absorption speed, with more than half of tested products also lacking adequate labelling, the consumer watchdog has found. The Consumer Council on Monday revealed the results of a survey of 36 winged sanitary towels, in which one sample took 73 seconds to fully absorb simulated menstrual blood – exceeding the mainland China nati...
British pharmaceutical company GSK is turning to patient data gathered from the 88 million residents of the Greater Bay Area’s 11 cities to speed up drug development in vaccines and cancer care, as officials push for closer cross-border medical cooperation. GSK Hong Kong and Macau general manager Nicholas Teo said patient data was very important because it could form “supplementary evidence” to su...
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s 36-year-old gender minister nominee stepped down before gaining confirmation of her position amid a public backlash over her suitability for the job in the latest negative fallout from the president’s cabinet reshuffle. Yong Hye-in, a lawmaker of the minor Basic Income Party, pulled out of consideration for the position on Sunday after controversy erupted ove...
