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Hong Kong authorities will consider requiring claw machine operators to display the odds of winning, while remaining open to increasing prize values and maximum payouts under proposed changes to the regulatory regime, the home affairs minister has said. “The most important thing is to protect players and consumers, ensure they play in a safe environment, and prevent addiction,” Secretary for Home ...
Hong Kong authorities will consider requiring claw machine operators to display the odds of winning, while remaining open to increasing the prize value and maximum payout per game under proposed changes to the regulatory regime, the home affairs minister has said. “The most important thing is to protect players and consumers, ensure they play in a safe environment, and prevent addiction,” Secretar...
Hong Kong authorities will consider requiring operators to display the odds of winning on claw machines, while remaining open to increasing the prize value and maximum payout per game under a proposed regulatory regime, the home affairs minister has said. “The most important thing is to protect players and consumers, ensure they play in a safe environment, and prevent addiction. These are our prio...
For many Indonesians who have built careers abroad, Nadiem Makarim once represented a particular kind of homecoming success story. The Brown and Harvard University-educated co-founder of Gojek had walked away from the start-up world to serve in government, bringing with him the aura of Indonesia’s technology boom and the promise that private-sector talent could help modernise the state. Now, with ...
For months, the United Arab Emirates had denied Iran’s accusations that it was in league with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or hosting his country’s military personnel. Then, US ambassador to Israel Mick Huckabee handed Tehran a propaganda gift and Abu Dhabi a diplomatic headache all in a single sentence. Israel sent Iron Dome air defence batteries to the UAE amid the ongoing war on Ir...
At least 90 people have been killed in a blast at a coal mine in the central Chinese province of Shanxi. State news agency Xinhua reported that the gas explosion happened in Qinyuan county, about 520km (320 miles) southwest of Beijing, on Friday after the mine issued a carbon monoxide alert late in the day. There were 247 workers underground at the time of the blast. It was unclear whether other w...
At least 82 people have been killed in a blast at a coal mine in the central Chinese province of Shanxi. State news agency Xinhua reported that the gas explosion happened in Qinyuan county, about 520km (320 miles) southwest of Beijing, on Friday after the mine issued a carbon monoxide alert late on Friday. There were 247 workers underground at the time of the blast. It was unclear whether other wo...
At least 82 people have been killed in a blast at a coal mine in the central Chinese province of Shanxi that trapped dozens more. State news agency Xinhua reported that the gas explosion happened in Qinyuan county, about 520km (320 miles) southwest of Beijing, on Friday after the mine issued a carbon monoxide alert late on Friday. There were 247 workers underground at the time of the blast. It was...
More than 50 people have been killed in a blast at a coal mine in the central Chinese province of Shanxi that trapped dozens more. State news agency Xinhua reported that the gas explosion happened in Qinyuan county, about 520km (320 miles) southwest of Beijing, on Friday after the mine issued a carbon monoxide alert late on Friday. There were 247 workers underground at the time of the blast. It wa...
Ten passengers and crew members were injured when a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Brisbane to Hong Kong was hit by severe turbulence on Saturday, with one traveller saying it felt like “free-falling from a drop tower” as everyone screamed and items flew through the air. The passenger said the sudden drop in altitude lasted about two seconds and occurred two hours before the expected landing t...
Ten passengers and crew members were injured when a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Brisbane to Hong Kong was hit by severe turbulence on Saturday morning, as one traveller recalled how the impact felt like “free-falling from a drop tower”, with everyone screaming and items flying in the air. The passenger told the South China Morning Post that the sudden dip in altitude lasted about two second...
Ten passengers and crew members were injured when a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Brisbane to Hong Kong encountered turbulence early on Saturday morning, with one traveller describing the terrifying experience as similar to “free-falling from a drop tower”. Cathay Pacific confirmed on Saturday that flight CX156 from Brisbane to Hong Kong encountered turbulence, and 10 people, including two Au...
For Hongkonger Annyee Chan, the decision to stop breastfeeding her son at eight months was a pragmatic response to a city that often feels at odds with the needs of nursing mothers. Returning to work just one month after childbirth, the self-employed wealth management professional faced a gruelling logistical challenge, navigating a city with sparse nursing facilities while lugging heavy pumps, bo...
Donald Trump’s blunt warning that he was not looking to have “somebody go independent” after his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping has reignited debate in Taiwan over whether Washington is hardening its message on the island. For many in Taipei, the US president’s remarks evoked memories of the George W. Bush administration, when Washington publicly checked Taiwan over moves seen as edging tow...
A rare albino buffalo with flowing blond hair has become an unlikely celebrity in Bangladesh ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival, drawing crowds of curious visitors who say the animal bears a striking resemblance to US President Donald Trump. The nearly 700kg (1,540lbs) buffalo, raised at a farm in Narayanganj district near the capital Dhaka, has been nicknamed “Donald Trump” because of the tuft...
Hong Kong’s first astronaut has encouraged the city’s young people to chase their dreams, declaring that “there must be a better tomorrow” if everyone works hard and bears the country in mind when pursuing one’s goals. Payload specialist Lai Ka-ying, one of three astronauts on the Shenzhou-23’s mission to China’s Tiangong space station scheduled to launch on Sunday evening, told Hongkongers in a p...
The unprecedented participation of a Hong Kong researcher in the nation’s space flight mission is testament to the country’s high regard for the city’s innovation and technology talent and accomplishments, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has said. Lee congratulated payload specialist Lai Ka-ying, who is also a police superintendent, after she was named on Saturday morning as one of three astronau...
When Xi Jinping and Donald Trump concluded their Beijing summit, the most consequential outcome – for China at least – may prove not material, but conceptual: the adoption of “constructive strategic stability” (CSS) as the guiding framework for managing their intensifying competition. For Southeast Asia, a region often caught in the rivalry between the two powers, understanding what this means wil...
A mock political party erupted across Indian social media this week, becoming a symbol of Gen Z disillusionment with the country’s political establishment and anger over a worsening jobs crisis in the world’s most populous nation. The Cockroach Janta Party, as the satirical movement is known, has already overtaken the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Instagram, racking up nearly 20 million followe...
Embattled Chinese developers have turned to a new strategy to resuscitate their ailing businesses: diversifying into semiconductor production. Certain listed property companies have seen their shares skyrocket – some by hundreds of per cent – after announcing investments in “chipmaking”. Such strategic diversification efforts have sparked a buying frenzy among retail investors in the mainland’s A-...
If you are working on a space station orbiting hundreds of kilometres above the Earth, the woman set to become Hong Kong’s first astronaut when the mission launches this weekend is exactly the type of person you want by your side, according to the professor who supervised her postgraduate studies. Lai Ka-ying was meticulous, patient and a skilled communicator who could break down highly technical ...
A four-week United Nations conference reviewing the treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons ended on Friday without agreement as the United States and Iran sparred over Iran’s nuclear programme. Vietnam’s UN Ambassador Do Hung Viet, who chaired the conference, announced that there was no consensus among the 191 parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on even a watered-down final doc...
Scientists in Shanghai have used stem cells to create the world’s first laboratory-grown sinoatrial node – the tiny structure that acts as the heart’s natural pacemaker. Capable of beating autonomously, the organoid is a breakthrough that researchers say could transform cardiac disease research and drug screening. The heart’s ability to beat continuously and rhythmically depends on the sinoatrial ...
Twenty-seven countries have moved since the Iran war started to put in place crisis instruments that could quickly access funding from existing World Bank programmes, according to an internal document viewed by Reuters. The World Bank document did not name the countries or the total amount of funds potentially being sought. The World Bank declined to comment. The document showed that three countr...
Seated in a wheelchair, an elderly woman bends silently as her wrinkled fingers move with surprising speed to fold pieces of coloured origami paper into intricate shapes. Beside her, another woman does the same, both adding their finished pieces to a pile on the table without looking up or exchanging a word. Inside Tochigi Prison, where talking during work is forbidden, elderly women folding paper...
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing in a much weaker position than he did more than four years ago, when he launched his invasion of Ukraine shortly after his last visit. US President Donald Trump left Beijing after much fanfare. However, he was criticised back at home for failing to deliver on any key aspect of American interests, such as committing China to pressuring Iran to end...
Hong Kong will send its first astronaut to the Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Saturday. Lai Ka-ying, a police chief inspector and tech expert with a doctorate in computer science, will join the Shenzhou-23 mission as a payload specialist. She will become the fourth female astronaut to enter the Chinese space station. According to the agency, she will work alongs...
In 1957, the Soviet Union kicked off the Cold War’s space race, shocking the world by sending Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, into orbit. Four years later, it did the same to cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, making him the first human in space. In 1969, the US provided another image that defined the era: Neil Armstrong leaving the Eagle lunar lander and planting the American flag on the mo...
Ancient China dreamed of future technology long before the modern age, conjuring visions of magic mirrors, ingenious machines and even lifelike wooden puppets. In the Tang dynasty (618–907) text Duyang Miscellaneous Records, a mysterious stone called the “immortal mirror” appears as a precursor to the CT scan. Found in the southwest of an unnamed land, the polished stone was said to span hundreds ...
Ancient China dreamed of future technology long before the modern age, conjuring visions of magic mirrors, ingenious machines and even lifelike wooden puppets. In the Tang dynasty (618–907) text Duyang Miscellaneous Records, a mysterious stone called the “immortal mirror” appears as a precursor to the CT scan. Found in the southwest of an unnamed land, the polished stone was said to span hundreds ...
