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Hong Kong families have paid tribute to their ancestors on the final day of the Chung Yeung Festival long weekend, with rituals ranging from full traditional rites to a simple bunch of flowers, despite pricier offerings. More than a dozen people queued outside Chai Wan MTR station on Monday morning, a public holiday, for the special tomb-sweeping bus to Cape Collinson Chinese Permanent Cemetery. C...
An investigation into work carried out by a lift contractor in Hong Kong has found another 186 buildings lacking crucial components designed to prevent flames and smoke from entering the shaft in the event of a fire. The checks pushed the number of buildings with substandard lifts installed by Taizoom Elevator to 338 on Monday. According to the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD),...
Hong Kong authorities should look beyond reports signed off by registered engineers when assessing lift safety and review accreditation requirements to help prevent contractors from cutting corners, a lawmaker and an expert have urged, after more lifts were found missing a crucial door frame component. Lawmaker Scott Leung Man-kwong on Monday called on the Electrical and Mechanical Services Depart...
A deputy mayor in western Japan died after being crushed under a giant float during a local parade, officials said on Monday, a week after two others were reportedly killed at separate traditional festivals. Akihiro Nabae, deputy mayor of the city of Saijo in the Ehime region, was carrying a giant float with other participants on Saturday before becoming trapped beneath it, city and police officia...
About 300km (186 miles) south of Dar es Salaam and near the ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani, the fishing town of Kilwa Masoko has a new port designed to accommodate fishing vessels far larger than the boats that have long worked this stretch of Tanzania’s coast. The fishing port had passed its completion inspection, China’s ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian said last week, while hailing it Tanzania’s f...
We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China cuts US Treasury holdings to 18-year low in August as debt fears mount 2. China warns EU not to ‘fantasise’ on trade approach after ‘kill switch’ threat 3. Landmark China trial achieves 84% e...
Hong Kong police have received nearly 20 more reports of unauthorised credit card transactions for iPhone Duo pre-orders over the weekend, bringing the total amount involved to HK$5 million (US$637,100). A police spokesman said that, as of 9am on Monday, the force had received 130 reports of unauthorised credit card transactions for smartphones amounting to HK$5 million. The cases were temporarily...
Inbound crossings at Hong Kong’s revamped Huanggang Port surged by 366 per cent on Monday afternoon over comparable periods in September, as the first long weekend since its reopening came to a close, with authorities expecting an even greater rush later in the evening. A steady stream of travellers returned to Hong Kong through the checkpoint on Monday, with crowds growing noticeably by 5pm, peak...
Hong Kong’s revamped Huanggang Port handled more than 152,000 crossings on Sunday, with some travellers waiting up to two hours amid congestion that lawmakers attributed to unfamiliarity with new clearance procedures, a surge in traffic and computer system reboots. Immigration Department figures showed the port handled 152,068 crossings, the highest daily total since it opened on October 12. These...
Giant pandas, open-top bus rides, a Chinese cooking class, traditional opera, a harbour cruise, the Big Buddha, and The Peak are among the highlights of a packed social programme for VIPs attending this week’s meeting of Apec finance ministers in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. According to official itineraries obtained by the SCMP, about 500 delegates and guests from the Asia...
After more than half a century of political procrastination, environmental protests and funding shortfalls, Sydney finally has a second airport. But the new A$5.6 billion (US$4 billion) site’s commercial prospects are already in question. Western Sydney International, 50km (31 miles) inland from the city centre, will handle its first passenger flight on Sunday - a Jetstar service to the Gold Coast...
Hong Kong Polytechnic University professor Shara Lee Wee-yee has been using a mixed reality programme to reduce the fear and uncertainty children face before radiotherapy, with personalised rehearsals that allow families to experience the treatment journey before entering hospital. The simulation programme, HEROCARE, was also a tool that helped carers understand what to expect and for future radio...
Brazil’s Senator Flavio Bolsonaro and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva traded barbs in their first face-to-face presidential debate on Sunday in a contentious back-and-forth just one week before the election’s run-off. Polls before the debate suggested Bolsonaro, the son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, would enter the October 25 vote as the favourite after finishing nearly two po...
After a traffic accident on a delivery run for Keeta left courier Joe* paralysed, his world has shrunk to the view of the ceiling above his hospital bed in Hong Kong. The tragedy took place in May when the 54-year-old motorcyclist was momentarily distracted on the road by a notification from the Keeta app reminding him to accept an order, and he collided with a car in front. Despite undergoing maj...
A Johns Hopkins University scientist whose award-winning work suggests that a brief stomach bug could raise the risk of colon cancer has moved to China full time. Wan Fengyi, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has joined Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, according to his new profile on the Chinese university’s website. Wan returned to China this month and now holds ...
Years of volunteering to serve elderly people and disadvantaged communities have informed medical student Alfred Lam’s approach to medicine, teaching the University of Hong Kong undergraduate to look beyond symptoms and understand the people he may one day treat. Lam is a finalist in the youth category of this year’s Spirit of Hong Kong Awards, which recognise the city’s unsung heroes and organisa...
Searches of an Austrian Airlines aircraft, its passengers and crew in Sofia found no danger after a bomb threat forced the Tel Aviv–Vienna service to make an emergency diversion on Sunday, the airline said on Monday. The crew decided to make an emergency landing in the Bulgarian capital after receiving a bomb threat as the aircraft neared Romania, Bulgaria’s transport ministry said in a statement ...
A bomb threat against an Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna on Sunday forced the plane to divert to Bulgaria, according to Bulgarian authorities and the airline. The Austrian Airlines crew decided to make an emergency landing in Sofia after reportedly receiving a bomb threat as they neared Romania, Bulgaria’s transport ministry said in a statement, adding that the passengers were eva...
A young couple in eastern China have gone viral on social media for skipping elaborate wedding traditions and instead holding simple nuptials, spending money only on banquets and cash gifts for their guests. The bride, surnamed Zhu, is from Ningbo in Zhejiang province, while the groom, Wang, is from Taizhou, also in Zhejiang. The couple, both in their early 30s, held wedding celebrations in their ...
Almost a year after a catastrophic fire tore through Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court, 11-year-old Jackey* still remembers the home he lost. “I sometimes think of Wang Fuk Court and the things I left behind there,” the Primary Six pupil said. “I wanted to go back and get them, including the gifts my mum gave me.” Now living with his parents in a transitional housing flat, Jackey turns to the two calm-do...
While celebrating the Chung Yeung Festival, we are reminded of the harvest, family reunions and the need to pay our respects to those who have departed. Spooky season is upon us, too, and Halloween is about more than just trick-or-treating. It also reminds us of the autumn harvests and those who have recently passed. The victims of the Tai Po fire – the city’s worst disaster in recent memory – are...
India has a soaring ambition to modernise its air force, built around a fleet of domestically developed fighter jets. Yet production of these aircraft has been hampered by engine delays and other bottlenecks that defence analysts say could limit its ability to fight future air wars. On October 11 at an airbase in Jodhpur, Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh strapped into a Tejas jet for the last time. It...
Albanian police fired water cannon and tear gas Sunday as violent anti-government protests entered a sixth day and Prime Minister Edi Rama rejected demonstrators’ demands that he resign. Violent demonstrations have rocked Tirana since Tuesday with protesters calling for action over poor university conditions, high tuition fees and corruption. Hundreds of protesters gathered again at noon in front ...
Albanian police fired water cannon and tear gas on Sunday as violent anti-government protests entered a sixth day and Prime Minister Edi Rama rejected demonstrators’ demands that he resign. Violent demonstrations have rocked Tirana since Tuesday with protesters calling for action over poor university conditions, high tuition fees and corruption. Hundreds of protesters gathered again at noon in fro...
Robin Xing is chief China economist at Morgan Stanley. A famed economist and Peking University graduate, Xing has a PhD in economics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and previously worked at Goldman Sachs and China International Capital Corp. In his second Open Questions interview, Xing dissects China’s K-shaped economic divergence and why he remains convinced that the “top half of the ...
The war in the Middle East has disrupted oil and gas supplies, leaving governments to confront energy pressures as they prepare for next month’s Cop31 UN climate conference in Antalya, Turkey. The crisis raises an enduring question: how can climate action strengthen the resilience of an economy? China offers a useful case. Its factories supply technologically advanced products essential to the gre...
A Catholic priest died on Saturday when a wooden crucifix fell from a wall and crushed him against the pulpit as he celebrated mass in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil. “Father, Father! Call an ambulance!” people at Our Lady of Perpetual Help church could be heard shouting just before a live-streamed broadcast cuts out. The footage of the service shows a heavy crucifix detaching from the wall abov...
A woman who drove a pickup truck onto a soccer field during a weekend youth game in Kansas, killing two people and injuring 10 others, has been released without charges as the investigation continues, police said Sunday. The 34-year-old woman was released pending results of toxicology tests and a mechanical examination of the vehicle in the aftermath of Saturday’s crash. Her name hasn’t been made ...
A woman who drove a truck on to a football field during a weekend youth game in Kansas, killing two people and injuring 10 others, has been released without charges as the investigation continues, police said on Sunday. The 34-year-old woman was released pending results of toxicology tests and a mechanical examination of the vehicle in the aftermath of Saturday’s crash. Her name has not been made ...
