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Urn with Anita Mui’s ashes missing from Lantau monastery as family appeals for help
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Urn with Anita Mui’s ashes missing from Lantau monastery as family appeals for help

The urn containing the ashes of late Hong Kong Cantopop star Anita Mui Yim-fong went missing from a monastery three months ago, the singer’s family has revealed, saying police had made “no progress” in their investigation, causing them distress. A police spokesman said on Sunday that the force received a report on July 18 that an item stored in a Lantau monastery was suspected to have gone missing...

Tariffs, millions in extra costs, Iran war: Trump’s policies hammer US firms
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Tariffs, millions in extra costs, Iran war: Trump’s policies hammer US firms

For Doug Rende, who runs an aluminium product manufacturer in the US state of Ohio, President Donald Trump’s tariffs have meant millions of dollars more in annual costs – and recently, the Iran war has made shipments even more expensive. Rende is CEO at Shapes Unlimited, one of many American producers smarting from Trump’s economic policies as the midterm election approaches. “Frustrating would be...

Trump’s new spokeswoman is a ‘devoted fan’ who lived in Beijing and speaks Chinese
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Trump’s new spokeswoman is a ‘devoted fan’ who lived in Beijing and speaks Chinese

Before she addresses the world from behind the White House briefing room podium this week, 42-year-old Katie Zacharia has a story that stretches far beyond Washington’s power corridors. Years before US President Donald Trump appointed her as his new press secretary, she lived in Beijing, worked at one of China’s leading law firms, and learned enough Chinese to occasionally surprise people. Her rep...

India’s cockroach party leaders freed as election chief protests mount
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India’s cockroach party leaders freed as election chief protests mount

A New Delhi court ordered on Sunday the release of three leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), including its founder Abhijeet Dipke, their lawyer said, a day after they were detained. “Executive Magistrate court releases Abhijeet, Saurav (Das) and Ashutosh (Ranka),” lawyer Ratna Singh said in a social media post. The trio were detained on Saturday ahead of a major protest against the country...

Huanggang Port a ‘milestone’ for connecting Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area: John Lee

Huanggang Port a ‘milestone’ for connecting Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area: John Lee

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The revamped Huanggang checkpoint is a “critical milestone” for the connectivity of the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong’s leader has said, as the city and Shenzhen count down to its launch on Monday. Speaking at a ceremony on Sunday, Chief Executive John Lee-Ka Chiu said the Huanggang control point was a “landmark project” built and shared through the joint efforts of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. “Hong Kon...

Huanggang Port a ‘milestone’ for integrating Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area: John Lee

Huanggang Port a ‘milestone’ for integrating Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area: John Lee

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The revamped Huanggang checkpoint is a “critical milestone” for the connectivity of the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong’s leader has said, as the city and Shenzhen count down to its launch on Monday. Speaking at a ceremony on Sunday, Chief Executive John Lee-Ka Chiu said the Huanggang control point was a “landmark project” built and shared through the joint efforts of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. “Hong Kon...

Paul Chan highlights 4 priorities ahead of Apec finance ministers’ meeting this month

Paul Chan highlights 4 priorities ahead of Apec finance ministers’ meeting this month

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The Apec finance ministers’ meeting in Hong Kong this month will focus on fiscal policies that support livelihoods, digital infrastructure financing, inclusive finance and young financial talent, underlining the city’s role as an international financial centre, the finance chief said. “These four priorities are areas of strength for Hong Kong and fields in which we can make an active contribution,...

Hong Kong finance chief highlights 4 priorities ahead of Apec meeting this month

Hong Kong finance chief highlights 4 priorities ahead of Apec meeting this month

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The Apec finance ministers’ meeting in Hong Kong this month will focus on fiscal policies that support livelihoods, digital infrastructure financing, inclusive finance and young financial talent, underlining the city’s role as an international financial centre, the finance chief said. “These four priorities are areas of strength for Hong Kong and fields in which we can make an active contribution,...

Unsung turtle conservation heroes in Malaysia’s Sabah unite to fight poachers

Unsung turtle conservation heroes in Malaysia’s Sabah unite to fight poachers

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Roziah Jelali has a tip or two on catching a turtle poacher: carrying a pair of binoculars and having patience in spades are key to doing the job well. The 36-year-old Malaysian volunteer ranger once spent three months in Sabah tracking a man whom she suspected of illegally capturing protected turtles. Once thriving off the azure seas of Omadal Island in the Malaysian state, many turtles had been ...

Admission scores fall for Hong Kong physiotherapy courses amid jobs crunch

Admission scores fall for Hong Kong physiotherapy courses amid jobs crunch

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Admission scores for physiotherapy degree programmes at three Hong Kong tertiary institutions fell by as much as 10 per cent this year compared with 2025, amid gloomy career prospects in the sector, the latest data shows. The decline prompted the professional body for physiotherapists to call on the government to halt healthcare funding cuts in the next budget, saying they had contributed to a job...

Denuclearising North Korea would ‘defy history’ as US, allies missed the boat

Denuclearising North Korea would ‘defy history’ as US, allies missed the boat

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The denuclearisation of North Korea has become an “increasingly improbable” goal and the United States and its allies should move beyond it to devote their diplomatic efforts to talks on arms limitations and crisis communication, the director of the US-based North Korean analysis website 38 North said. Recalling the 20 years since North Korea carried out its first nuclear test on October 9, 2006, ...

Nanotechnology expert Antonio Facchetti joins HKUST from Georgia Tech in the US

Nanotechnology expert Antonio Facchetti joins HKUST from Georgia Tech in the US

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Materials scientist and chemist Antonio Facchetti, formerly of the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, has joined the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as a chair professor in its newly established department of materials. Facchetti, who was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering last year for his “contributions to the engineering of commercially viable el...

Chinese retiree devotes life to photography after tumour shrinks post-bucket-list trip

Chinese retiree devotes life to photography after tumour shrinks post-bucket-list trip

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After spending all her savings on a month-long trip to Antarctica following a cancer diagnosis, a woman from southwestern China discovered that her tumour had shrunk. Wang Ying, 67, is an amateur wildlife photographer who has photographed more than 1,200 bird species. In 2013, as she was preparing to retire from her job as an administrator at a school in Kunming, the capital of southwestern China’...

Japan’s Sumitomo Bakelite expands China chip packaging materials output amid AI boom

Japan’s Sumitomo Bakelite expands China chip packaging materials output amid AI boom

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Japanese semiconductor materials giant Sumitomo Bakelite plans to expand production of advanced chip packaging materials in China and Singapore, marking the second such announcement for its Chinese operations in less than four months as artificial intelligence drives demand for more sophisticated semiconductors. The Tokyo-based company said on Friday that it would add production lines for mould un...

Could Thai durian export duty mean higher prices, higher quality in China?

Could Thai durian export duty mean higher prices, higher quality in China?

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A Thai government proposal to charge export duties on durians, a major cash crop, could raise prices for the fruit in China – its primary market – along with the quality, analysts said. Thailand’s draft bill to establish a fund for research and “sustainable” development of the durian sector would include the collection of fees, the government’s public relations department said last month. Southeas...

New HK$122 million lifeguard outsourcing contract sparks public spending concerns

New HK$122 million lifeguard outsourcing contract sparks public spending concerns

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A controversial decision by Hong Kong authorities to award a HK$122 million (US$15.6 million) lifeguard and first aid services contract to a company previously found to have failed to provide the required staffing at swimming pools has sparked concerns over whether public funds are being used prudently. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department on Saturday defended the decision, saying it was s...

Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: biotech firm eyes cervical cancer test breakthrough

Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: biotech firm eyes cervical cancer test breakthrough

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Hong Kong biotech entrepreneur Ricky Chiu Yin-to is seeking to make cervical cancer screening easier through urine-based HPV testing, using sample-concentration technology developed by his company. His company, Phase Scientific, made its name during the Covid-19 pandemic through its rapid antigen test, Indicaid. The product received US emergency-use authorisation in July 2021, was used in Hong Kon...

More support needed for ethnic minority children with special needs, charity says

More support needed for ethnic minority children with special needs, charity says

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A non-profit children’s education organisation in Hong Kong has urged the government to expand support services for preschool-aged ethnic minority children with special needs to more districts, after a pilot project found that 95 per cent of participants showed improvement. Heep Hong Society said on Sunday that many ethnic minority families faced multiple barriers when seeking support for children...

Why warm welcomes can’t stop Malaysia’s doctor exodus from Borneo

Why warm welcomes can’t stop Malaysia’s doctor exodus from Borneo

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On Facebook, public hospitals in Malaysia’s Bornean states have been rolling out “Selamat Datang” [welcome] banner posts to embrace medical staff reporting for duty. Tawau Hospital on Sabah’s east coast recently published a group photograph welcoming newly arrived medical officers. Kinabatangan Hospital posted similar banners hailing arrivals across various departments, while in neighbouring Saraw...

Hangzhou is doubling down on tech – minus the viral hype

Hangzhou is doubling down on tech – minus the viral hype

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A year ago, a Unitree robot kickboxing could light up social media. When DeepSeek released its latest open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model, developers around the world rushed to test it. This year, however, Hangzhou’s latest technology bets have barely made a ripple. The city’s “New Eight Steeds” – eight deep-tech companies in fields ranging from smart glasses and inference graphic proce...

Bar Association urges proxy cap, electronic voting to curb building bid-rigging

Bar Association urges proxy cap, electronic voting to curb building bid-rigging

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The Hong Kong Bar Association has suggested capping the number of proxies a person can hold at homeowners’ meetings, without restricting who may act as a proxy, stressing that improving transparency and introducing an electronic voting system could help to deter abuse in large-scale maintenance procurement. Speaking to the South China Morning Post, association chairman Jose-Antonio Maurellet expre...

Who rules Negeri Sembilan? Royal row tests Malaysia’s constitutional order

Who rules Negeri Sembilan? Royal row tests Malaysia’s constitutional order

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The dust has yet to settle in Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan, where a royal row has led to the fall of a state government and left the public wondering who, exactly, is in charge. Observers warn that the months-long constitutional crisis could create ripple effects well beyond the state’s borders, testing the entire nation’s systems of monarchy and government. The dispute centres on which of two men: ...

Tiger kills man who entered big cat enclosure at UK wildlife park

Tiger kills man who entered big cat enclosure at UK wildlife park

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A man died on Saturday after he entered the tiger enclosure at a wildlife park in northern England and was attacked by one of the animals, police said. Emergency medical personnel responded to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park near the city of Doncaster after the incident was reported at about 1.35pm, but the victim died at the scene, South Yorkshire Police said in a statement. The tiger was not injured...

How a museum masterpiece’s life-size replica sparked rare US-China collaboration

How a museum masterpiece’s life-size replica sparked rare US-China collaboration

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For anyone who has visited the Chinese galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, there is one work that stops them in their tracks. Stepping into Gallery 206, home to Chinese Buddhist art, visitors are met by a monumental wall – over 15 metres wide and 7.5 metres tall (nearly 50 feet by 25 feet) – covered in a Buddhist assembly so vast and majestic that it momentarily erases the Man...

In AI, India’s choice needn’t be between a US leash or Chinese hook

In AI, India’s choice needn’t be between a US leash or Chinese hook

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On June 12, two of the world’s most capable artificial intelligence models went dark. An American export directive barred foreigners from using Anthropic’s two flagship AI models, and because the company could not check every user’s nationality, it switched them off. Access returned on July 1 but the warning is clear: India’s AI future can be switched off from Washington. In September, Beijing cam...

9 dead, including children and pregnant woman, in shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania

9 dead, including children and pregnant woman, in shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania

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A shooting in a residential area of Erie, Pennsylvania, left nine dead including two children, a pregnant woman and the suspected shooter, authorities said. Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said the 45-year-old male gunman was related to seven of the victims in Friday’s shooting, while the eighth was a friend of the pregnant woman. Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators showed two “distre...

Isaias kills 4 in US, leaves 670,000 without power

Isaias kills 4 in US, leaves 670,000 without power

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Four people died after Hurricane Isaias made landfall early on Saturday, and about 670,000 residents in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi were still without power as the storm weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, according to local authorities and electricity monitoring services. Two of the deaths resulted ‌from trees falling on homes, according to local media and authorities. Authorities ...

Trump demands Ukraine get new president, lashes out at Zelensky

Trump demands Ukraine get new president, lashes out at Zelensky

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US President Donald Trump has called for Ukraine to replace President Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of rejecting multiple opportunities to end the war with Russia. “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday. “Zelensky could have settled this war many times, many many times, and he chooses not to,” Trump said. The US president sugg...

Christa Pike out of hospital and back in prison after surviving US execution attempt

Christa Pike out of hospital and back in prison after surviving US execution attempt

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Christa Pike, who survived Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection, has been moved back to prison, her lawyers said on Saturday. Pike, 50, was discharged from the hospital and is back at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Centre, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her lawyers said in a written statement. “She is grateful to the first responders and her medical te...