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A Hong Kong court has awarded HK$6.29 million (US$802,698) in damages to a dancer left paralysed after being struck by a falling giant screen during a concert by Cantopop boy band Mirror four years ago. In a written judgment on Monday, the District Court ruled that Mo Li Kai-yin was entitled to substantial damages from his employer, Studiodanz, under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance after suf...
A Hong Kong court has awarded HK$6.29 million (US$802,698) in damages to a dancer left paralysed after being struck by a falling giant screen during a concert by Cantopop boy band Mirror four years ago. In a written judgment on Monday, the District Court ruled that Mo Li Kai-yin was entitled to substantial damages from his employer, Studiodanz, under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance after suf...
A Hong Kong court has awarded HK$6.29 million (US$802,698) in damages to a dancer left paralysed after being struck by a falling giant screen during a concert by Cantopop boy band Mirror four years ago. In a written judgment on Monday, the District Court ruled that Mo Li Kai-yin was entitled to substantial damages from his employer, Studiodanz, under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance after suf...
Two men were convicted on Monday of a plot last year to set fire to property linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The fires in May 2025 damaged the home Starmer moved out of when he became prime minister, as well as an apartment building he once owned a share of and destroyed his former Toyota SUV. Nobody was injured in the blazes. Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Stanislav ...
The announcement of an impending Iran deal could not have been a better birthday gift for President Donald Trump – but celebrations could be short-lived if fragile details of the agreement fail to hold. Obstacles will not be easy to overcome, Chinese observers say. Any lasting framework must navigate uncertainties around the fate of Iran’s nuclear programme under its new regime, the mechanisms of ...
China has achieved a breakthrough in production of an ultra-pure form of silicon, a critical material needed to build silicon-based quantum computers, as Beijing accelerates its drive to cut reliance on foreign technology in strategic areas. State-owned nuclear giant China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said on Monday that one of its research institutes had successfully mass-produced a high-p...
China’s official military newspaper has warned of an arms race over low-earth satellites, citing developments such as SpaceX’s latest contract with the US Space Force. Low-earth orbit (LEO) constellations typically operate at 300km to 1,500km (185-930 miles) above the Earth and are becoming increasingly important in areas such as communications and satellite navigation. But in a series of articles...
US President Donald Trump threatened to slap a 100 per cent tariff on French wine and champagne unless Paris removes a digital services tax on tech firms, the New York Post reported on Monday. France imposed in 2019 a three per cent levy on the revenues earned by technology firms – including American giants such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google parent Alphabet – within the country’s borders. ...
Britain will ban children under 16 from using a range of social media apps including Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube to protect young people from harmful content and excessive screen time, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday. Starmer told a news conference that he will fight back if technology companies resist the move, and acknowledged some teens would try to find their way around a ban. But ...
A domestic helper who admitted to slapping her employer’s eight-year-old daughter while serving dinner was given a three-year bind-over order by a Hong Kong court on condition of good behaviour after an assault charge against her was dropped. Eastern Court on Monday heard that Linne Pramis Pesimo, 48, slapped the girl once as she refused to eat her meal on March 20. The girl’s mother, a single par...
Hong Kong transport authorities will “actively explore” the secure storage of ride-hailing data ahead of new regulations for the industry due to take effect in August, as part of efforts to ensure compliance with national security. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan on Monday stopped short of revealing whether data about users collected by ride-hailing platforms in Hong Kong would be...
A Chinese ban on German chip giant Infineon Technologies selling gallium nitride (GaN) products in mainland China triggered a spike in domestic semiconductor stocks on Monday, as the landmark patent dispute was expected to reshape the country’s “third-generation” chip sector. A decision by China’s Supreme People’s Court on Friday upheld a lower court’s injunction issued against the German company ...
Chen Ailian, who has been dubbed as China’s Wheel Queen with a net worth of 11 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion), has trended on mainland social media as an encouraging role model. Four decades ago, she defied gender stereotypes by driving a tractor. As her enterprise in the east of the country grew into a success, Chen rewarded her key employees with 100 BMW cars, the news portal Sina.com reported. T...
The Hong Kong government has appointed a former deputy commissioner of the city’s police force to lead the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). Albert Yuen Yuk-kin, a former deputy commissioner of operations with the Hong Kong police, will lead the FEHD after retiring from his 37-year police career, the government said on Monday. The post is among two high-level official positions fil...
The United States and Iran are set to sign an interim peace deal on Friday that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and potentially end a nearly four-month-long conflict that has killed thousands and upended the global economy. “The deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” US President Donald Trump said on social media on Sunday, which was also his 80th birthday. “I hereby fully autho...
Three years after its maiden commercial flight as China’s flagship civilian airliner, the C919 is entering a pivotal maintenance phase, with jets across the series being progressively grounded for rigorous inspections. The results of these safety-focused “C-checks” are expected to play a role in convincing European aviation regulators of the aircraft’s long-term airworthiness. State-owned carrier ...
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr did not dwell on warships or water cannons when he rose to speak at the country’s Independence Day celebrations on Friday. Instead, he signalled a new strategy in broaching the topic of the South China Sea: recasting the waterway not as an arena of territorial disputes, but rather as a shared vulnerability. In doing so, analysts say he may have found a way...
A Hong Kong court has issued an arrest warrant for a British tourist who allegedly jumped bail after being charged with vandalising self-check-in kiosks at the city’s airport earlier this year. Youcef Bennoui, 35, failed to appear at West Kowloon Court on Monday to answer charges of criminal damage and possession of a Part 1 poison in connection with the ruckus that he allegedly caused at Hong Kon...
Why do some governments consistently turn long-term goals into visible results while others struggle to move beyond policy announcements? The answer often lies not in ideology and planning but in governance: the ability to identify priorities, coordinate action and sustain implementation. As the Hong Kong government begins a public consultation on its first five-year plan, that question deserves c...
The Hong Kong government has said it is open to making a controversial labour importation scheme permanent, with tighter hiring rules for the catering industry and stiffer penalties for non-compliant employers to take effect on Tuesday. Commissioner for Labour Sam Hui Chark-shum said on Monday that the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS), launched in September 2023 for 26 low-skilled job c...
Hong Kong authorities will tighten the regulations governing a labour importation scheme by introducing a two-tier vetting system and raising the maximum penalty for non-compliant employers, with the new arrangements taking effect on Tuesday. Following a review of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS), the Labour Department announced on Monday that the system would distinguish between ge...
By many historical accounts, the Ming dynasty’s doom was sealed when Li Zicheng, the leader of a peasant rebel army, invaded Beijing in 1644. Less than 24 hours after the rebel forces breached Beijing’s inner defences, Chongzhen, the Ming dynasty’s emperor, hanged himself on Jing Hill behind the Forbidden City. The moment marked the end of 276 years of Ming rule. The Ming dynasty’s eunuch dictator...
Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has urged hotels and online booking platforms to clearly outline their responsibilities in cases of reservation changes or refunds, after general complaints neared an annual average of 1,000 over the past three years. The Consumer Council also said on Monday that it had received 3,346 complaints about lodgings in the city since 2023, with 2,670 coming from non-local t...
Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has urged hotels and online booking platforms to clearly outline their responsibilities in cases of reservation changes or refunds, after general complaints reached up to 1,050 annually over the past three years. The Consumer Council also said on Monday that it had received 3,346 complaints about lodgings in the city since 2023, with 2,670 coming from non-local travel...
Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has urged hotels and online booking platforms to clearly outline their responsibilities in cases of booking changes or refunds, after general complaints reached up to 1,050 annually over the past three years. The Consumer Council also said on Monday that it had received 3,346 complaints about lodgings in the city since 2023, with 2,670 coming from non-local travellers...
A new shelter for distressed Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong is ready but awaiting official approval to open, with the Philippines’ top labour minister describing the Tai Po villa as “bigger, better and more comfortable” than its predecessor. Hans Leo J. Cacdac, Secretary of the Department of Migrant Workers, told the South China Morning Post that the new shelter was ready, while the labour...
A Tai Po villa serving as a new shelter for distressed Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong is ready but must receive the green light from local authorities before it can open, with the Philippines’ top labour minister saying the facility is bigger, better and more comfortable. Hans Leo J. Cacdac, Secretary of the Department of Migrant Workers, told the South China Morning Post that the new shel...
A stone’s throw from the barbed wire and minefields that separate the two Koreas, thousands gathered for a music festival this weekend to sing about peace in a place synonymous with conflict. The DMZ Peace Train Music Festival, named after the demilitarised zone that has separated the neighbours for seven decades, gathered artists and fans from around the world. It was the seventh instalment since...
The stepson of Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon was found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of domestic violence and other crimes and sentenced to four years in prison, an Oslo court ruled on Monday. Marius Borg Hoiby, 29, who joined the royal family when his mother Mette-Marit married Haakon in 2001, was acquitted on two other accounts of rape. He had pleaded not guilty to the most severe ac...
A Mexican man who led an engineering guild has apologised after losing his position over a video showing him making a racist gesture at a South Korean fan during a World Cup match in Guadalajara. Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes came under fire after he was seen pulling at the corners of his eyes – a gesture derogatory towards people of Asian descent – in a video posted by South Korean influencer...
