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Many rural projects in Hong Kong start with funding, run for a year or two, then disappear when the money runs out. Good Old Soil, a community organisation, is trying to take a different approach on Lantau. Supported by the non-profit Land Education Foundation, the organisation works with farmers, young people, restaurants, craftspeople and businesses to build a local economy that can sustain itse...
China is seeking public comments on draft rules that would streamline procedures for “low-risk” exports of aviation components such as engines and inertial navigation systems to give the industry a competitive boost. Such avionics currently are classified by Chinese authorities as “dual-use” items, which can serve both civilian and military purposes, and are subject to strict export licensing requ...
Haidilao International Holding has agreed to provide its founder, Zhang Yong, with a one-month loan of up to the Hong Kong dollar equivalent of 100 million yuan (US$14.9 million), a move that has raised market speculation as investors closely watch Beijing’s October 22 deadline for offshore trust taxation. The Hong Kong-listed hotpot chain said in a stock exchange filing on Monday night that it wo...
A mysterious glow of high-energy light in our Milky Way galaxy could be the remains of an extremely rare cosmic “gold factory”, according to a new study by Chinese and US researchers. The collision of two orbiting neutron stars – dead stars so dense that a teaspoon of their matter would weigh a billion tonnes – may have shone as brightly as Jupiter in the sky, they wrote in a paper posted last wee...
Hong Kong’s new Huanggang Port handled 79,500 passengers and 8,000 vehicles on its first day of operations, as transport officials prepared for heavier flows over the coming holiday weekend. Statistics from the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection showed 41,300 people entered Hong Kong through the rebuilt checkpoint between Hong Kong and mainland China on Monday, while 38...
Hong Kong’s new Huanggang Port recorded 79,500 passenger movements and 8,000 vehicle movements on its first day of operations, with transport officials preparing for heavier flows expected during the coming holiday weekend. Statistics from the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection showed 41,300 passenger trips entered Hong Kong through the rebuilt checkpoint on Monday, whi...
As missiles and drones take a bigger role in modern warfare, major defence contractors gathered in Washington this week to showcase their latest advances in the technologies – and systems to counter them. The three-day Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition, which opened on Monday, is one of the largest ground-based weapons shows in the US. This year there was a...
The People’s Bank of China on Tuesday gave its approval to Visa to make preparations for a locally registered bank card clearing organisation, calling the move a major step in the country’s financial opening up in an online statement. The US card payment giant will have one year to finish its advance arrangements, after which it may submit an application to begin operations, the central bank added...
Hong Kong police have stepped up their investigation into the disappearance of the ashes of late Cantopop diva Anita Mui Yim-fong by committing more resources and manpower to the case. Mui’s family had revealed over the weekend that the urn containing the singer’s remains was discovered to be missing from Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island three months ago, complaining that police had made “no prog...
It was a detour that saved his life. Malaysian Low Hock Meng, a 71-year-old veteran trekker, had set off on his own in Nepal. He wanted to explore the Tamang trail, Langtang Valley and Gosaikunda. Along his journey, he made the decision to visit the Nagathali viewpoint for a glimpse of Tibet on August 25. Low then made his way down towards Thuman en route to Lingling in Nepal’s Bagmati province on...
A Hong Kong therapy-dog programme run by one staff member and 65 volunteers with their dogs is fully booked until February 2027, as demand from schools, hospitals and elderly homes continues to outstrip the available visiting slots. Animals Asia’s Dr Dog and Professor Paws programmes rely on volunteers who give up their time, shoulder much of the cost of transporting their dogs and return regularl...
A Chinese centenarian leads a happy, healthy life despite a habit generally considered “unhealthy”, prompting curious reactions online. A 101-year-old great-grandfather in eastern China’s Zhejiang province recently went viral for his love of drinking large amounts of Coca-Cola and Sprite. While young people in China embrace healthy lifestyles – eating foods inspired by traditional Chinese medicine...
For Singaporean civil servant Clare*, finding a suitable lifelong partner has been an uphill battle. Swiping on dating apps soon became a chore after multiple unsuccessful first dates, so when the government launched its own platform, the 32-year-old was all for it. “It’s like ‘Why not?’, and I think it does have a few screening procedures so it might save you some trouble like having to deal with...
Ripe mangosteen and rambutan hang unpicked from trees in eastern Thailand, where a shortage of migrant workers is forcing growers to decide which crops are valuable enough to harvest and which will be left to rot. For Jomsak Putirattana, who also grows durian in Chanthaburi province, the departure of his five Cambodian workers after a border dispute disrupted crossings has intensified competition ...
Over the coming weeks, Hong Kong and Shenzhen will host two major gatherings of Asia-Pacific decision-makers. Hong Kong’s first Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting takes place on October 20-21, with around 500 visitors expected, while Shenzhen hosts the Apec Economic Leaders’ Week next month. These Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings will bring international visitors to two neighbouring c...
Shares in Chinese companies present better opportunities today than at other times, a disciple of legendary investor Charlie Munger said in a rare reflection on the world’s second-largest economy amid tensions with the US and the ongoing artificial intelligence race. The comments by Li Lu, Chinese-American founder and chairman of Seattle-based value investment firm Himalaya Capital, came amid dive...
China Mobile, one of the country’s state-backed telecoms giants, has tripled the capacity of its largest intelligent computing hub in northern Inner Mongolia, amid Beijing’s push to boost digital infrastructure to power the country’s artificial intelligence ambitions. The expansion of its data centre in Hohhot was recently completed, with total processing capacity increased to 20,100 petaflops, ac...
Some senior American executives are lukewarm about attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and related business events in Shenzhen next month, according to people familiar with the matter. They cited limited scheduling details, few expected breakthroughs and a lack of opportunity for meaningful engagement. Beijing has invited multiple US business leaders – particularly those who joi...
Hong Kong travel agencies and border shops have capitalised on the opening of the revamped Huanggang Port as thousands of visitors poured through the control point, with special tours on offer and shopkeepers reporting brisk business. Agents said the port’s 24-hour joint clearance arrangements could give cross-border tourism a major boost, although crowd control measures dampened trade at the chec...
Investor Ben Lindsay relocated with his wife, dog in tow, from Sydney to Singapore in March, with his sights set on growing venture capital firm Investible from an Australian outfit into an Asia-Pacific one. Lindsay is among a growing number of investors, businessmen and tech founders from down under who are setting up bases and relocating to Singapore, Dubai and San Francisco to expand their comp...
Nato’s top military commander said the alliance is “ready to fight tonight” if it is attacked, as European officials warn Russia could test Nato’s defences with increased covert attacks or a limited military incursion. European nations have in recent months faced an escalation of covert Russian activity, including an arson attack on an Estonian defence company and a failed attempt to attack a Ukra...
Nato’s top military commander said the alliance is “ready to fight tonight” if it is attacked, as European officials warn Russia could test Nato’s defences with increased covert attacks or a limited military incursion. European nations have in recent months faced an escalation of covert Russian activity, including an arson attack on an Estonian defence company and a failed attempt to attack a Ukra...
China’s finance minister, Lan Foan, will deliver a keynote speech, while presentations by three prominent financial institutions will be among the highlights of next week’s Apec meeting in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. A draft agenda obtained by the SCMP on Monday listed a series of programmes for finance ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s 21 member econo...
China’s finance minister, Lan Foan, will deliver a keynote speech, while presentations by three prominent financial institutions will be among the highlights of next week’s Apec meeting in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. A draft agenda obtained by the SCMP on Monday listed a series of programmes for finance ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s 21 member econo...
RJ Mitte, the young actor best known for playing Walter White Jnr in the award-winning TV series Breaking Bad, has died, his representatives said on Monday. He was 34. The cause of death for the actor, who lived with cerebral palsy, was not immediately revealed. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of beloved actor, philanthropist, and passionate disability rights advocate...
Breaking Bad actor and disability rights advocate R.J. Mitte died on Monday at age 34, authorities and his representatives said. Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told Associated Press she declared Mitte dead at about 1.30pm at what she believed was his home in Brownsville, Texas. She said she was unable to provide a cause but an autopsy will be performed. The actor lived with cer...
Rains and flooding along Mexico’s Pacific Coast from Hurricane Simon and Tropical Storm Rachel have left five people dead, authorities said Monday. The El Nino phenomenon, characterised by rising water temperatures in the Pacific, is fuelling a more intense hurricanes this season in the region. Simon claimed the life of a 71-year-old man who “died when a wall collapsed in Chilpancingo” in the sout...
At least two people have been killed and 10 are missing in Mexico as severe weather linked to a hurricane and a tropical storm battered parts of the country, authorities said on Monday. The incidents are linked to Hurricane Simon, which is moving along the Mexican Pacific coast, and Tropical Storm Rachel, which has reached the northwestern state of Baja California. Simon has weakened to a Category...
A group of Chinese officials are in the middle of a highly sensitive meeting involving critical decisions yet to be made behind closed doors, with documents stamped “classified” spread across the table. Suddenly, an invisible laser beams into the room, sweeping across a glass window and allowing the contents of the meeting to be transmitted elsewhere. China’s Ministry of State Security laid out th...
