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A 10-year-old girl has told a Hong Kong court that a domestic helper inappropriately touched her when waking her up one morning. Standing trial at Kowloon City Court on Wednesday, helper Lady Jay Santos Flores denied four counts of indecent assault for allegedly molesting the daughters of her former employer. The younger daughter, who was not named in court and testified via video conference, said...
Senior officials from China and the United States concluded their latest round of trade talks in Seoul after less than four hours on Wednesday, the briefest session since the two countries began holding talks last year. The seventh round of negotiations – led by Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent – wrapped up just hours ahead of US President Donald Trump’s sched...
Taiwan staged a large-scale live-fire drill on a frontline island near mainland China on Wednesday, hours before President Donald Trump was due to land in Beijing for high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The exercise on Kinmen, also known as Quemoy, simulated a People’s Liberation Army amphibious assault on the coastline. The coming Xi-Trump summit has triggered renewed anxiety in Tai...
Taiwan staged a large-scale live-fire drill on a frontline island near mainland China on Wednesday, hours before President Donald Trump was due to land in Beijing for high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The exercise on Kinmen, also known as Quemoy, simulated a People’s Liberation Army amphibious assault on the coastline. The coming Xi-Trump summit has triggered renewed anxiety in Tai...
US President Donald Trump said he would urge China’s Xi Jinping to “open up” to American business, and belatedly added Nvidia’s Jensen Huang to the list of executives accompanying him on a trip to Beijing. “I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic,” Trump said on social media. “I will make that my v...
Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s state visit, China’s state-controlled media has framed the summit with President Xi Jinping as an opportunity to steer relations towards greater stability and mutual respect, despite grievances and tensions. Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the US, echoed that message in a wide-ranging Newsweek interview published on the eve of the visit, voicing hope the Beijin...
The G7 economists’ memo from March and the IMF’s April report on global imbalances arrived at the same prescription: China’s current account surplus is excessive and should be cut by boosting consumption. The diagnosis is wrong. The world economy, especially emerging markets and developing economies, benefits from China’s high saving. A current account surplus is the excess of national saving over...
Hong Kong police have arrested a 70-year-old taxi driver after he lost control of his cab and drove onto a pavement in Ngau Tau Kok, killing a woman and badly injuring another. A police spokesman said on Wednesday evening that the driver was arrested for dangerous driving causing death and detained for inquiry. The force earlier said the cabbie and his two passengers were also hurt when the taxi v...
A woman was killed and another badly injured after a 70-year-old Hong Kong taxi driver lost control of his vehicle and drove onto a pavement in Ngau Tau Kok on Wednesday, police said. The driver and his two passengers were also hurt. Police said the taxi veered onto a pedestrian walkway at about 1.50pm on Choi Ha Road near Chun Wah Road before crashing into a concrete flower planter in a nearby si...
A woman was killed and another left unconscious after a Hong Kong taxi driver in his seventies lost control of his vehicle and drove onto a pavement in Ngau Tau Kok on Wednesday, police said. The driver and his two passengers were also hurt. Police said the taxi veered onto a pedestrian walkway at about 1.50pm on Choi Ha Road near Chun Wah Road before crashing into a concrete planter in a nearby s...
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure to resign after more than 80 lawmakers in his Labour Party said he was not the right person to lead the country and win the next national election. He has vowed to stay on as no formal leadership challenge has yet been triggered. If Labour were to choose a new leader, here is a list of those in the frame to replace Starmer: Wes Streeting, 43...
We have put together stories from our coverage on electric and new energy vehicles from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. From Beijing to Berlin: Chinese EVs turn heads as brands eye European markets For German consumer Erik Böhme, a first visit to the Beijing auto show was an eye-opener – the world’s large...
For decades, the arrival of summer in South Korea was heralded by the rhythmic hum of cicadas and the predictable onset of monsoon season. But as climate change rewrites the country’s seasonal script, the government is bracing for a new reality. On Wednesday, the Korea Meteorological Administration announced a sweeping overhaul of its national weather warning system, the first major restructuring ...
Hong Kong customs officers have arrested three people in a months-long operation against a money laundering and illicit goods syndicate that led to the discovery of about 2.2 million untaxed cigarettes and HK$11.3 million (US$1.4 million) in alleged criminal proceeds. The Customs and Excise Department said on Wednesday that officers raided five residential flats a day earlier, arresting two men, a...
Hong Kong customs has arrested three members of a local syndicate suspected of selling illicit cigarettes and laundering money, seizing about 2.2 million untaxed products and alleged criminal proceeds of HK$11.3 million (US$1.4 million). The Customs and Excise Department said on Wednesday that officers raided five residential flats a day earlier, arresting two men aged 31 and 37, and a 35-year-old...
Hong Kong customs has arrested three members of a local syndicate suspected of selling illicit cigarettes and laundering money, seizing about 2.2 million untaxed products and alleged criminal proceeds of HK$11.3 million. The Customs and Excise Department said on Wednesday that officers raided five residential flats a day earlier, arresting two men aged 31 and 37, and a 35-year-old woman on suspici...
The FBI and Chinese police have taken part in a joint operation targeting scam networks in Dubai, in a rare show of cooperation ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China. Dubai Police – which led the operation dubbed Tri-Force Sentinel – said at least nine scam hubs were dismantled and 276 suspects arrested, most of them from Southeast Asia. “The operation delivered a decisive strike aga...
Singapore will be directly hit by weakened principles in international sea laws as the city state depends on open and secure waterways to maintain its status as a trade hub, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has warned. He urged cooperation among like-minded countries to uphold and strengthen the framework of international legislation. “As a trading nation, Singapore depends on open and secure sea lane...
South Korea was reviewing a phased contribution to efforts to ensure safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back said on Wednesday, signalling support steps short of military participation. Ahn told a press conference with South Korean reporters in Washington that he had conveyed Seoul’s position at a meeting with US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Monday. “We ...
A proposal unveiled by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr for a new Southeast Asian maritime centre has raised questions about its most glaring obstacle: Manila’s long-standing South China Sea dispute with Beijing. Analysts warn such a centre would not only have to avoid appearance of being an instrument of Philippine interests in disputed waters, but also risks simply duplicating the work ...
Bangladesh’s once-praised family planning system is buckling under severe contraceptive shortages, raising fears of a rise in unplanned pregnancies in one of the world’s most densely populated countries. For decades, the South Asian nation was hailed as a success for slashing birth rates through an expansive state-backed family planning programme that sent field workers door to door with pills, co...
China has sent artificial embryos to its space station to study whether humans could reproduce in zero gravity. The experiment was reported on Tuesday by state broadcaster CCTV. Project leader Yu Leqian said the main goal was to study the impact of gravity – and its absence – on early development, in preparation for eventual human settlement off Earth. Once the impact of the force on embryos was u...
Two small counties in China have put in place reciprocal arrangements for their residents to visit tourist spots following a moving story involving people in one place buying the apples of a sick farmer from the other. The story began on May 2 when Ji Yaozhong, a farmer from Yangxian county of northwestern Shaanxi province, drove a truck carrying 4,000kg of apples to sell in Xianfeng county in Hub...
French President Emmanuel Macron is facing backlash after he interrupted a panel at the Africa Forward Summit in Kenya to demand silence from the audience. Macron stormed the stage to rebuke audience members for what he called a “total lack of respect”, accusing them of disrupting speakers during a presentation by artists and young entrepreneurs. He had earlier described himself as a “Pan-Africani...
Guy Bradley has assumed the role of chairman of Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways and Swire Coca-Cola, succeeding Patrick Healy, who will retire from the group after more than three decades of service. Bradley, 60, is also chairman of Swire Pacific, John Swire & Sons (H.K.) and Swire Properties. He was appointed chairman of the conglomerate’s airline and bottling operations last Decemb...
India’s travel industry fears that an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to avoid unnecessary foreign travel will squeeze new bookings after inflationary pressure knocked down summer overseas inquiries by as much as 15 per cent, industry and analysts say. The pullback is set to hit the peak season for outbound tourism, when affluent families seek cooler locations in Europe and Australia, duri...
Canvas, the education platform hit by a global data breach affecting 72,571 Hongkongers, has reached an agreement with the hackers to return all compromised data. Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, has said it would hold a webinar for its leadership on Wednesday to provide details of the attack and discuss measures to “harden the system”. The breach, which has been unfolding since last Thu...
Argentina’s city “at the end of the world” Ushuaia, the jump-off point for expeditions to the Antarctic, has been labouring under suspicion of being the source of the deadly hantavirus outbreak that killed three cruise ship passengers. The MV Hondius set sail from this spectacular Patagonian port, sandwiched between snow-capped mountains and the South Atlantic, on April 1. Five days later, a Dutch...
Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency got a new chief on Wednesday with the arrival of Abdul Halim Aman, a former High Court judge handed the task of steadying an institution that has spent years chasing political heavyweights while struggling to shake questions over its own independence. The 69-year-old took over as chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after Azam Baki...
Residents of the only block left largely unscathed in Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire have brought large suitcases, trolleys and cardboard boxes as they return home for a second time to collect their belongings. Homeowners on Wednesday also said they felt they had played a passive role and still had many questions about the government’s voluntary buy-back scheme for their flats after the November 26 fire ...
