Clear filters Clear Filters
Hong Kong can open a lucrative new frontier as Chinese tech IP hub
SCMP •

Hong Kong can open a lucrative new frontier as Chinese tech IP hub

Since 2021, Hong Kong’s development as a regional intellectual property (IP) trading centre has featured in China’s five-year plans and the policy addresses of chief executives Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and John Lee Ka-chiu. There are good strategic reasons to see considerable potential in developing the city as an IP servicing centre for the Greater Bay Area, and potentially the whole of China a...

How Hong Kong beauty retail tactics echo global Dead Sea sales scams
SCMP •

How Hong Kong beauty retail tactics echo global Dead Sea sales scams

Allegedly aggressive sales tactics and business operations in Hong Kong’s beauty product sector closely mirror the global “Dead Sea sales scams” uncovered years ago, documents on WikiLeaks have shown. The controversy has prompted calls from experts for the city’s government to strengthen regulation by expanding proposed cooling-off period legislation to cover retail beauty goods. A check of the wh...

How Hong Kong beauty sale tactics echo global ‘Dead Sea sales scams’
SCMP •

How Hong Kong beauty sale tactics echo global ‘Dead Sea sales scams’

Allegedly aggressive sales tactics and business operations in Hong Kong’s beauty product sector closely mirror the global “Dead Sea sales scams” uncovered years ago, documents on WikiLeaks have shown. The controversy has prompted calls from experts for the city’s government to strengthen regulation by expanding proposed cooling-off period legislation to cover retail beauty goods. A check of the wh...

How Opatra’s tactics in Hong Kong echo global ‘Dead Sea sales scams’
SCMP •

How Opatra’s tactics in Hong Kong echo global ‘Dead Sea sales scams’

Allegedly aggressive sales tactics and business operations in Hong Kong’s beauty product sector closely mirror the global “Dead Sea sales scams” uncovered years ago, documents on WikiLeaks have shown. The controversy has prompted calls from experts for the city’s government to strengthen regulation by expanding proposed cooling-off period legislation to cover retail beauty goods. A check of the wh...

How Opatra’s ‘coercive’ tactics in Hong Kong echo global ‘Dead Sea sales scams’

How Opatra’s ‘coercive’ tactics in Hong Kong echo global ‘Dead Sea sales scams’

SCMP •

Allegedly aggressive sales tactics and business operations in Hong Kong’s beauty product sector closely mirror the global “Dead Sea sales scams” uncovered years ago, documents on WikiLeaks have shown. The controversy has prompted calls from experts for the city’s government to strengthen regulation by expanding proposed cooling-off period legislation to cover retail beauty goods. A check of the wh...

In Malaysia, voter anger fuels a third force against Anwar

In Malaysia, voter anger fuels a third force against Anwar

SCMP •

Malaysian politics runs on grudges and few illustrate that better than the one nursed by Rafizi Ramli. A year after losing the deputy presidency of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s People’s Justice Party (PKR), he has built a vehicle for the disaffected, aimed squarely at the coalition of which he was once part. Parti Bersama Malaysia – or Bersama, meaning “together” – is barely three months old und...

Panama Canal to reduce shipping over El Nino-fuelled drought

Panama Canal to reduce shipping over El Nino-fuelled drought

SCMP •

The Panama Canal will cut the number of ships passing through it starting next month because of drought caused by the El Nino phenomenon, the operator of the strategic waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific said on Thursday. From September 3, the number of vessels allowed through each day will fall from 36 to 34 due to low water levels in two artificial lakes that feed the canal, the Panama Can...

India rescues 2 Chinese nationals from sunken cargo ship, searches for others

India rescues 2 Chinese nationals from sunken cargo ship, searches for others

SCMP •

⁠India’s coastguard ⁠and navy continued search-and-rescue operations off the eastern coast on Sunday after a Panama-flagged cargo vessel carrying 24 crew sank, with two Chinese nationals rescued, a ‌senior official said. The two rescued Chinese seafarers said the vessel developed a list on Friday and sank within eight minutes, forcing crew to abandon ship, Shyam Jagannathan, director general of In...

India launches rescue mission as Panama-flagged cargo ship sinks off east coast

India launches rescue mission as Panama-flagged cargo ship sinks off east coast

SCMP •

India’s maritime rescue agency lost communication on Saturday with a Panama-flagged cargo vessel that sank off the coast of eastern ‌India, the Indian coastguard said. The vessel had 24 crew on board, including 20 Chinese nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi, according to Commandant Amit Uniyal, a spokesman for the coastguard. The coastguard sent two vessels for the search-and-re...

How Pacific nations walk a tightrope between Western security and Chinese trade

How Pacific nations walk a tightrope between Western security and Chinese trade

SCMP •

On paper, Western countries are rushing to sign defence pacts in the South Pacific, ensuring their influence in a region long neglected as a geopolitical backwater. But on the water, the island nations are playing a very different game. Instead of taking sides, local leaders are leveraging the geopolitical tug of war between China and the West, winning security guarantees from the latter while Bei...

Nvidia customers notified of AI-related price rises above 15%

Nvidia customers notified of AI-related price rises above 15%

SCMP •

Some of Nvidia’s biggest customers have been told that the prices of servers containing its artificial intelligence chips are going up more than 15 per cent in many cases with memory chip costs soaring. The price rises will go into effect on systems shipped early next year and will impact systems including those with the flagship Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell chips, according to people familiar w...

Hong Kong must abandon superiority complex over mainland China

Hong Kong must abandon superiority complex over mainland China

SCMP •

After many years in Hong Kong, with some sadness, I left the city for greener pastures, though my link with it remains an emotional one. When I moved my two dogs across the border to Shenzhen, I was told by agents, officials, even artificial intelligence, that the mainland bureaucracy would be rigid and unhelpful. My experience was the opposite. The young customs officers at Shenzhen Bay answered ...

Iran condemns US plans to announce new sanctions

Iran condemns US plans to announce new sanctions

SCMP •

Iran on Saturday denounced US plans to announce ⁠new sanctions that could put further strain on the Islamic Republic’s economy and have an impact on its most important trading partners including China. Iran on Saturday warned countries against taking part in the United States’ “economic war” against the Islamic Republic, saying they would be considered enemies. “We declare to all countries … do no...

Israel targets ‘terrorist’ in southern Syria; Damascus condemns attack

Israel targets ‘terrorist’ in southern Syria; Damascus condemns attack

SCMP •

Israel said it targeted a “terrorist” ⁠in southern Syria ⁠on Saturday in ⁠what Syria’s foreign ministry said was a drone strike on a civilian vehicle on the outskirts of Damascus in a “blatant” violation of its ‌territory. The Syrian foreign ministry said the drone had hit a vehicle on a road near Beit Jinn village in the countryside west of the capital, which caused injuries among civilians. Syri...

7 dead in UK after vehicle travelling in wrong direction hits police car

7 dead in UK after vehicle travelling in wrong direction hits police car

SCMP •

Seven people, including two police officers, died in a car crash in northeast England on Saturday after a car heading the wrong ‌way down a major road hit a marked police armed response car, the local police force said. Cleveland Police said the incident took place in the early hours of Saturday near the South Bank area east of Middlesbrough and that all occupants of the two cars ⁠died at the scen...

Ukrainian drones kill at least 10, hit warehouse of Russian online retailer Ozon

Ukrainian drones kill at least 10, hit warehouse of Russian online retailer Ozon

SCMP •

Ukrainian drones killed at least 10 people in attacks against targets across Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including a warehouse owned by online retailer Ozon and an industrial facility, Russian officials said on Saturday. Russia and Ukraine are both ramping up drone campaigns ‌aiming to cripple each other’s economic infrastructure, often striking targets far beyond the war’s front...

Canada’s PM hits back with new US tariffs after trade talks fail

Canada’s PM hits back with new US tariffs after trade talks fail

SCMP •

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Saturday he would slap retaliatory tariffs on the United States after walking away from a “bad deal” on trade, deepening the rift between the long-time allies. Negotiations between the neighbouring countries broke down on Friday in Washington, allowing new 50 per cent US tariffs impacting some US$20 billion worth of goods, or 5.5 per cent of Canadian exp...

Sword attack that killed 1 at Sweden high school prompts social media probe

Sword attack that killed 1 at Sweden high school prompts social media probe

SCMP •

Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man who attacked students at a high school with a sword on Friday, killing one, was involved in online communities promoting school violence, a police source said. The attacker struck at a school in the central ‌Swedish town of Fagersta, also severely injuring two teenage boys before being arrested by police. The parents of a 17-year-old girl...

Sword attack in Sweden that killed 1 prompts probe into social media

Sword attack in Sweden that killed 1 prompts probe into social media

SCMP •

Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man who attacked students at a high school with a sword on Friday, killing one, was involved in online communities promoting school violence, a police source said. The attacker struck at a school in the central ‌Swedish town of Fagersta, also severely injuring two teenage boys before being arrested by police. The parents of a 17-year-old girl...

Sword attack in Sweden that killed one prompts probe into social media

Sword attack in Sweden that killed one prompts probe into social media

SCMP •

Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man who attacked students at a high school with a sword on Friday, killing one, was involved in online communities promoting school violence, a police source said. The attacker struck at a school in the central ‌Swedish town of Fagersta, also severely injuring two teenage boys before being arrested by police. The parents of a 17-year-old girl...

Elderly woman allegedly pressured into spending HK$100,000 on beauty products

Elderly woman allegedly pressured into spending HK$100,000 on beauty products

SCMP •

Hong Kong customs is investigating whether an 88-year-old was pressured into spending HK$100,000 (US$12,750) on beauty products at an outlet linked to a company already accused of aggressive sales tactics. In a social media post on Saturday, a woman surnamed Ng wrote that her mother was targeted during a three-hour ordeal in April at the Avinichi booth in the Wing On department store in Sheung Wan...

Hong Kong and Shenzhen test crossings at revamped Huanggang Port ahead of opening

Hong Kong and Shenzhen test crossings at revamped Huanggang Port ahead of opening

SCMP •

Hong Kong has conducted its first test involving Shenzhen authorities of clearance procedures and private car access at the revamped Huanggang border crossing, ahead of a massive exercise next week involving 20,000 people to fully assess the facility’s capacity. No 2 official Eric Chan Kwok-ki said Saturday’s drill went smoothly and passenger flows were orderly, with speedy pickup by public transp...

Why China may have little to lose as ‘weakened’ Trump seeks North Korea talks

Why China may have little to lose as ‘weakened’ Trump seeks North Korea talks

SCMP •

China may have “little to lose” from talks between the United States and North Korea which, analysts say, may lead to Washington watering down its security commitments. US President Donald Trump has already ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the scale of the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with South Korea, criticising the exercise for both its cost and for sending “totally inappr...

1,500 Indonesian soldiers deployed to fight Borneo wildfires

1,500 Indonesian soldiers deployed to fight Borneo wildfires

SCMP •

Indonesia is deploying an additional 1,500 soldiers to Borneo, an official said on Saturday, to help tackle wildfires that have burned through swathes of the island and created thick smog choking some areas. Fires between January and July burned over 200,000 hectares of land – an area three times the size of the capital Jakarta, the government said this week, as dry conditions driven by a powerful...

20 sailors kidnapped by Somali pirates near Yemen on US-sanctioned ship

20 sailors kidnapped by Somali pirates near Yemen on US-sanctioned ship

SCMP •

Somali pirates hijacked an oil products tanker off Yemen, a Somali maritime security official said, the latest in a resurgence of piracy that has seen six commercial vessels seized since April across the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean. Six armed pirates hijacked the Eritrean-flagged M.T. Sibu 1 on Thursday about 136 nautical miles (252 kilometres) east of al-Mukalla, Yemen, and took it towa...

Chinese J-16 fighters arrive in Egypt ahead of Eagles of Civilisation 2026 joint drill

Chinese J-16 fighters arrive in Egypt ahead of Eagles of Civilisation 2026 joint drill

SCMP •

A fleet of Chinese J-16 fighters has arrived in Egypt ahead of a joint exercise that will be the aircraft’s first-ever deployment to Africa. The planes and aviators taking part in the Eagles of Civilisation 2026 exercise arrived at an Egyptian airbase on Friday morning after a 6,000km (3,700-mile) journey that took nine hours and required the planes to refuel in mid-air, according to the People’s ...

Hong Kong-built greenhouse gas tracker device ‘functioning well’ on space station

Hong Kong-built greenhouse gas tracker device ‘functioning well’ on space station

SCMP •

A greenhouse gas monitoring instrument developed by a university in Hong Kong is operating successfully aboard Tiangong space station and is expected to contribute to sustainable development, the city’s technology minister has said. Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industries Sun Dong also revealed more details on Saturday about the life of the city’s first astronaut, Lai Ka-ying, who he s...

Man arrested for driving under influence of drugs after 3-vehicle crash

Man arrested for driving under influence of drugs after 3-vehicle crash

SCMP •

Hong Kong police have arrested a 38-year-old man on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs following a three-vehicle crash that left two people injured. Police said they received a report at 1.48pm on Saturday of a traffic accident along Pok Fu Lam Road involving a large truck and two light goods vehicles. The force said the 38-year-old driver of one of the light goods vehicles failed a...

Man, 38, arrested for driving under the influence of drugs after 3-vehicle crash

Man, 38, arrested for driving under the influence of drugs after 3-vehicle crash

SCMP •

Hong Kong police have arrested a 38-year-old man for driving under the influence of drugs following a three-vehicle crash that led to two people being hospitalised. Police said they received a report at 1.48pm on Saturday of a traffic accident along Pok Fu Lam Road involving a large truck and two light goods vehicles. The force said the 38-year-old driver of one of the light goods vehicles failed ...