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A coalition of Hong Kong employers has called on the government to freeze the pay of foreign domestic workers this year, warning that any wage increases may result in mass sackings. They also proposed a new pay-for-performance mechanism to allow employers to reward high-performing helpers more than poor performers. Two employers’ groups – the International Domestic Service Industry Development Fed...
Global pharmaceutical giants are doubling down on investing in China’s fast-growing biotech companies given the sector’s huge room for valuation growth, according to speakers at the Global Health Summit, which concluded in Hong Kong on Saturday. “Multinational pharmaceutical companies are shifting their business strategies in China away from asset-heavy operations,” said Xu Chenming, head of the h...
Overwhelmed by a high volume of inquiries, a 17-member Hong Kong charity offering pro bono help to migrant workers has turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to scale up its operations. David Bishop, co-founder and director of local non-governmental organisation Migrasia, described the systemic abuse embedded in global labour migration as an existential “climate change-level” crisis, as ageing pop...
Four people, including a child, were killed in Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the surrounding region, local officials said on Saturday, as Ukraine hit another oil refinery in Russia. Residents endure regular drone and missile barrages that Kyiv’s depleted air defences are struggling to counter amid Moscow’s four-year-old full-scale invasion, while repeated Ukrainian strikes on...
Though the relationship between the Chinese and Indian governments has been thawing, Beijing has yet to win over the Indian public as it lacked a long-term strategy and communication channels, according to Chinese researchers. Beijing needed to find common ground by expanding its bottom-up strategies as “a matter of urgency”, Zhou Qingan, dean of Tsinghua University’s school of journalism, and Li ...
Amazon has confirmed it is financing a massive, private gas power plant in Texas that could become the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. It is the latest example of tech giants going off the grid to get their AI operations online faster. The news was first reported by market intelligence company Cleanview, which reviewed satellite imagery to connect three data...
Hong Kong parents should have their children vaccinated against respiratory infections as the city faces a triple threat from influenza, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a medical expert has said. Dr Mike Kwan Yat-wah, an honorary clinical associate professor in the University of Hong Kong’s department of paediatrics and adolescent medicine, warned on Saturday that the current summe...
The world might be dividing into rival camps and competing trade blocs, but international capital flows remain footloose and fancy free. In so doing, they pose a threat to what remains of stability in the real economy. A good example of this growing potential for international contagion is the influence of the weak yen on global stock prices. The Japanese currency is expected to remain weak for th...
Hong Kong should follow international peers in legislating to bar children under 16 from social media to combat cyberbullying and addiction, education experts and lawmakers have said, while stressing the need for broad social consensus. At a panel discussion on Saturday to examine proposals to restrict social media access for under-16s, educators and lawmakers argued that legislation was needed to...
An artificial intelligence (AI)-generated actress has amassed 400,000 followers on a leading social media platform in China within just two months, with a miniseries she stars in garnering an astonishing 250 million views. The success of the virtual star Fang Taozi, who is claimed to be 20 years old, has sparked intense discussion and widespread anxiety within the industry regarding the potential ...
South Korea’s national football association apologised on Saturday after a media report alleged it had provided “sexual services” to foreign referees when they were in the country for international matches more than a decade ago. South Korean broadcaster JTBC reported on Thursday that the Korea Football Association (KFA) had provided such services to foreign referees on multiple occasions in 2...
Hong Kong’s commerce chief is set to lead a delegation of mainland Chinese and local firms to Malaysia next week, noting that about 200 enterprises from across the border have already set up offices in the city since last year, using it as a stepping stone to go global. Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah also said on Saturday that the city was eyeing emerging mar...
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis launched ballistic missiles and drones at displacement camps and residential neighbourhoods in the city of Marib on Friday, killing two people and wounding 14, state news agency SABA reported, citing local authorities. Yemen’s army said early on Saturday it had responded against Houthi forces on several fronts. The army did not give details of the operations or say whe...
Two hikers, including a seven-year-old girl, were airlifted to hospital after falling ill on Saturday as Hong Kong experienced its hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures exceeding 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit). At about 2.30pm, police received a report that a 28-year-old man surnamed Wen had begun feeling unwell while hiking near Po Pin Chau in Sai Kung. He was airlifted by helico...
Hong Kong’s weather forecaster recorded its highest temperature of the year at its headquarters as parts of the city exceeded 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) on Saturday. The Hong Kong Observatory said Severe Typhoon Dolphin’s outer subsiding airflow was driving extremely hot conditions across Guangdong and Hong Kong, with the heat expected to persist into early next week. “As of 4pm, the maxi...
Hong Kong’s weather forecaster recorded its highest temperature of the year at its headquarters as parts of the city exceeded 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) on Saturday. The Hong Kong Observatory said Severe Typhoon Dolphin’s outer subsiding airflow was driving extremely hot conditions across Guangdong and Hong Kong, with the heat expected to persist into early next week. “As of 4pm, the maxi...
Temperatures exceeded 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) in parts of Hong Kong on Saturday as the city’s forecaster warned that extremely hot weather would persist over the coming days. The Hong Kong Observatory said Severe Typhoon Dolphin was bringing high temperatures to the region, with the heat expected to continue into early next week. “With [Severe Typhoon] Dolphin moving towards the vicini...
The president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has said “the path is open” for the revival of the institution’s main student union, so long as it registers with authorities in accordance with the law. Dennis Lo Yuk-ming also pushed back on claims that the university was overreliant on intake from mainland China, arguing that it was making strides in diversification. In an interview wi...
Flights serving eastern China were disrupted on Saturday as Typhoon Dolphin approached the coast, with some services cancelled and airlines offering flexible rebooking and refund options for affected passengers. Most of the typhoon-related flight disruptions have been reported at airports in the cities of Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai, according to Chinese media. Some travellers ...
India’s first test of its Kusha long-range surface-to-air missile system is seen as a milestone that could pave the way for New Delhi to bolster its home-grown air defence network and meet the challenges of future conflicts. Developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation, the system is expected to become a key part of the two-phase Mission Sudarshan Chakra, Prime Minister...
Hong Kong police are investigating an attempted murder and suicide case after a man allegedly attacked his upstairs neighbour with a cleaver in a lift before falling to his death at a public housing block in Wong Tai Sin. Police said they received a report from a security guard at 7.19am on Saturday that a man was attacking another man inside a lift in Chiu Sin House at Upper Wong Tai Sin Estate. ...
Hong Kong police are investigating after a man with multiple knife wounds was found in a lift at a public housing block in Wong Tai Sin, seven minutes before another man was discovered to have fallen to his death at the same building. Police received the first report at 7.19am on Saturday after the injured man was found inside a lift at Chiu Sin House in Upper Wong Tai Sin Estate. The man, who had...
The Hong Kong Bar Association has said it “broadly supports” a dedicated offence for persistent child sexual abuse, after concerns over evidential issues in such cases were resolved in other jurisdictions in the past two decades. Vice-chairman Martin Hui Siu-ting said that while the association had reversed previous reservations it expressed when the city last discussed such a proposal in 2001, th...
In recent years, Thailand’s capital has discovered a surprising new attraction to add to its temples, shopping malls and street food: urban greenery. Unlike the others, which took decades to develop, Bangkok’s green credentials are a more recent phenomenon, emerging only during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite their novelty, the city’s greening efforts are already bearing fruit. Visitors returning t...
For centuries, the Yangtze River has been China’s vital lifeblood, yet its floods have claimed countless lives. To tame its waters, flood-control systems have evolved from ancient dykes to the engineering marvel of the Three Gorges Dam. But a new study has uncovered a paradox: some human interventions may have inadvertently worsened the very flood risks they were built to mitigate. “We show that f...
Palestinian Christians call themselves “living stones” and say they have lived continuously in the Holy Land for the last 2,000 years. Maybe not for much longer, believes Reverend Mitri Raheb. “If the current conditions continue, there will not be a single Palestinian Christian left by 2050,” said Raheb, founder and president of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jes...
Sensing frustration among many Russians towards the Ukraine war, Russia’s liberal Yabloko party is hoping to use parliamentary elections this September to raise its profile, casting itself as the only opposition group in favour of a ceasefire. Elections in Russia are tightly controlled – every parliamentary vote since 2003 has been won by the ruling “United Russia” party, which supports President ...
China’s high-stakes race to build next-generation artificial intelligence models is entering a critical new phase, where a less visible yet far more existential threat is coming into view: a severe shortage of high-quality training data. While the US chokehold on advanced computing chips has dominated headlines, Chinese AI experts increasingly warn that running out of quality data could prove to b...
Thailand launched its Siam Silica framework last week, a national road map that stamps the Southeast Asian country’s stake in the semiconductor race by building a domestic ecosystem and positioning it as a key hub within an integrated supply chain among Asean member states. However, analysts say that the country will have much ground to cover as it trails behind neighbours Malaysia and Singapore. ...
The leader of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has called for greater financial support to develop a proposed 300-hectare (741 acres) university town near the border with mainland China, including funding for local institutions to build campuses, arguing that expansion will help navigate future challenges. In a wide-ranging interview with the South China Morning Post, CUHK president Denn...
