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Hong Kong authorities have hit out at what they called “baseless slander and smearing” by Western countries over the conviction of the now-disbanded alliance behind the annual Tiananmen Square vigil and its leaders for inciting subversion, stressing the court’s verdict is “well-reasoned and sound”. The government issued a strongly worded statement on Saturday after the closely-watched verdict on t...
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged US counterpart Donald Trump in a phone call on Friday to resolve their countries’ trade dispute, saying US tariffs were imposed on “baseless” grounds. Washington imposed two new sets of tariffs on the Latin American giant in July, a move that has become a key campaign issue ahead of Brazil’s presidential election in October. Lula – who is seeking...
Why is the idea of a planned economy anathema to so many people despite China’s success? And why do so many retain faith in market economies given the economic chaos much of the Western world is descending into? These questions have acquired a particular piquancy as Hong Kong embraces long-term planning for the first time, attracting criticism from some that it is falling into Chinese-style error....
Less than two years before the Philippines chooses its next president, Ferdinand Marcos Jnr still has no candidate to carry his banner. Sara Duterte-Carpio, his estranged vice-president and fiercest political rival, has already declared her intention to run and remains the early front runner, despite an impeachment trial that could bar her from politics. Marcos said on August 14 that he would “cer...
About 280,000 patients have secured full fee waivers since Hong Kong’s public healthcare fee reform took effect at the start of the year — a 20-fold increase from the previous figure of 14,000, the health minister has said. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau revealed the figures on Saturday as he defended the reform, which raised user fees for non-urgent and less serious services to reduce the gove...
The sharp clatter of spinning metal tops, cheers, sighs of frustration and shouts of “Three, two, one … Go shoot!” echo across a shopping centre in Hong Kong’s New Territories on a weekday. Dish-shaped plastic battle arenas known as “Beystadiums” have been set up not only in Tuen Mun Town Plaza, but also across the mall in different shops, where some players challenge shop staff to collect stamps ...
Near the heavily fortified frontier dividing the Korean peninsula, the abandoned Woljeong-ri station is being recast as a symbol of South Korea’s hopes to reconcile with the North. But plans to reconnect South Korea’s northernmost station to the rail network come at an awkward moment, as Pyongyang ignores Seoul’s overtures while the South’s old ally Washington pursues its own talks with Pyongyang....
Climate change and conflict are conspiring to open up the Arctic to Asian commercial shipping, with China, South Korea and India all eyeing the icy short cut to Europe. Last Saturday, Chinese shipping company Sea Legend launched the first scheduled weekly container service across the top of the world, marking the realisation of Beijing’s long-held ambition to build a “Polar Silk Road”. It will not...
Chinese smart vehicle makers have been hit by another setback as a global components shortage collides with surging prices of raw materials, driven by the artificial intelligence boom. It would take at least a year for the global supply chain to ramp up production of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) – two key parts that make vehicles intelligent – to meet ris...
A US judge has struck down a Trump administration policy suspending the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, saying that the policy exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statutory authority. US District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan said on Friday that the policy that the State Department announced in January was “patently unlawful” and ran afoul of federal im...
Hong Kong labour unionists have called for employers to be required to provide outdoor workers with heatstroke-prevention equipment during extreme temperatures. They also said on Saturday that heatstroke should be added to the list of statutory occupational diseases, making it easier for workers to claim compensation in work-related cases. The calls for better protection for workers in extreme hea...
The United States imposed 50 per cent tariffs on US$20 billion worth of Canadian products early on Saturday and Canada immediately said it would retaliate, after last-ditch negotiations failed to resolve the latest strain in already tense relations between the historic allies. US President Donald Trump’s import taxes will hit about 5 per cent of what Canada ships to the United States every year, i...
Japan’s Crown Prince Fumihito and his wife Crown Princess Kiko attended a ceremony on Friday marking 90 years of Japanese immigration to Paraguay, with the prince praising in a speech the contributions made by the immigrants and their descendants to the South American country. In an address at the event near the Paraguayan capital Asuncion, the crown prince, the younger brother of Emperor Naruhito...
For materials scientist and chemist Liu Jiawei, moving to Hong Kong supported her pivot into launching her own research group. After a decade immersed in Singapore’s research ecosystem, Liu sought a transition that would keep her closer to family in mainland China while maintaining an international, high-standard research environment. Now establishing her laboratory at City University of Hong Kong...
Hong Kong’s weather forecaster will assess next week whether to issue a typhoon warning as Tropical Storm Narra is expected to edge closer to the western Guangdong coast. The Hong Kong Observatory said on Saturday morning that the storm was expected to linger over the vicinity of Beibu Wan, also known as the Gulf of Tonkin, before having a higher chance to turn east to northeast gradually early ne...
Hong Kong’s weather forecaster will assess next week whether to issue a tropical cyclone warning as Tropical Storm Narra is expected to edge closer to the western Guangdong coast. The Hong Kong Observatory said on Saturday morning that the storm was expected to linger over the vicinity of Beibu Wan, also known as the Gulf of Tonkin, before having a higher chance to turn east to northeast gradually...
Hong Kong’s weather forecaster will assess next week whether to issue a tropical cyclone warning as Tropical Storm Narra is expected to edge closer to the western Guangdong coast. The Hong Kong Observatory said on Saturday morning that the storm was expected to linger over the vicinity of Beibu Wan, also known as the Gulf of Tonkin, before having a higher chance to turn east to northeast gradually...
Dengue infections in Malaysia have surged 56.2 per cent this year, with 58,079 cases and 55 deaths recorded so far, even as take-up of the dengue vaccine remains low. Dr Shanmuganathan TV Ganeson, president of the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations, Malaysia, said cost was one factor behind the low vaccine uptake. A two-dose regime could cost between 420 and 500 ringgit (US$...
Three months after leaving an inland port far up the Congo River, a consignment of timber arrived in Vietnam this summer concealing a secret it would take customs officials three weeks to uncover: nearly 1.2 tonnes of elephant ivory, smuggled halfway across the world. Tracking data reviewed by This Week in Asia shows the shipment travelled some 9,000 nautical miles (16,700km) – with stops in Sri L...
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, concluded his visit to South Korea on Friday, but declined to back Seoul’s push for multiparty peace talks involving the North. His two‑day trip, which followed President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Pyongyang in seven years in June, coincided with US President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea and call for further talks w...
At least 16 people were killed and more than 130 wounded on Friday when several Russian drones struck a shopping centre in central Ukraine, authorities said, with President Volodymyr Zelensky promising a response to what he called an “act of barbarism”. Regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said that 22 children were among the wounded in the daytime attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih, which is Zelen...
Some young women in China are dyeing their armpit hair, transforming a once-stigmatised trait into both a fashion statement and an assertion of bodily autonomy. The trend is not without precedent. Lady Gaga made headlines with green underarm hair in 2011, while brightly dyed armpit hair and “glitter pits” – underarms embellished with glitter – have since surfaced on social media worldwide. In rece...
Hong Kong physiotherapy graduates are facing a job crunch amid ongoing healthcare budget cuts and a surge in new practitioners entering the industry, with one representative saying 60 applicants had competed for one position in a remote care facility for elderly residents. Data also showed that the proportion of applicants admitted to Polytechnic University’s (PolyU) prestigious physiotherapy prog...
South Korean investor Carol Kim thought Hong Kong-based CSOP Asset Management’s new flexible leverage structure would cushion losses in its SK Hynix leveraged product, only to take a 77.2 per cent hit after the fund maintained its maximum exposure every day following the revised rules. “I expected the flexible leverage structure to soften the blow, but it actually felt like it was dropping even ha...
The roar from thousands of People’s Justice Party (PKR) delegates gathered at a grand convention centre in Melaka last weekend exuded all the confidence expected of a party leading Malaysia’s government. The past three years have been the culmination of more than two decades of struggle for PKR, with it finally achieving its long-held goal of installing leader Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister and w...
A punishing drought is draining Europe’s great rivers, pushing the Loire, the Danube and the Rhine towards record lows. At the Kaub gauging station, the reference point for shipping on the Rhine – Germany’s economic artery – the water level fell to 17cm (6.7 inches) this month, a low unseen since measurements began in 1880. Meanwhile, wildfires are burning across southern Europe, forcing the evacu...
TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance have agreed to pay US$400 million to settle a US Justice Department lawsuit accusing the video-sharing app of violating children’s online privacy laws, resolving a major federal case as the platform’s American operations remain under intense political scrutiny. The settlement, announced on Friday, resolves allegations brought by the Justice Department and th...
It is not the most enticing reading material: “Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States.” But this 59-page report, issued last month by the US Treasury Department, reveals much about contemporary America. Remember the joint intervention by Japan and the United States in the international currency market to prop up the yen at the end of July? By now...
The US Supreme Court on Friday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to continue construction of his White House ballroom project for now, temporarily pausing a judicial order that would halt much of the development. The court’s action, known as an administrative stay, gives the justices additional time to consider the administration’s formal request to let it continue working on the US$...
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday it was time to end the months-long Middle East war with the US because Tehran appeared to be in a stronger position than Washington. Talks between the long-time foes remain on hold, and the war started by the US and Israel in February has been locked in a stalemate. Tehran is keeping the key Strait of Hormuz partially shut, and Washington is persi...
