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Hong Kong authorities are investigating the abrupt shutdown of sports chain Hotstone Yoga on Thursday, while customer losses of about HK$430,000 (US$54,800) have already been reported to the consumer watchdog. The Consumer Council said that by 5pm on Thursday, it had received 27 complaints involving losses of HK$429,326 related to the closure of Hotstone Yoga. The Customs and Excise Department als...
Hong Kong yoga chain Hotstone has suddenly ceased operations, sparking anger among members who claimed the company continued selling class packages just days before the shutdown. A resident who identified herself as Chan told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that she received the closure notice from Hotstone Yoga’s WhatsApp number only an hour before her scheduled class at the Kwun Tong st...
The abrupt closure of a Hong Kong yoga chain has dealt losses to hundreds of members, with some customers claiming the company lured them into buying discount packages as recently as the past few days. A resident who identified herself as Chan told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that she received the closure notice from Hotstone Yoga’s WhatsApp number just an hour before her scheduled cl...
Hong Kong can attract more global biotech investments if the city builds up a new healthcare financial model, according to AstraZeneca, a Cambridge-based multinational pharmaceutical giant. While global drug makers have been doubling down on investments in mainland China in recent years, AstraZeneca brought over 60 clinical trials to the city and invested over HK$200 million (US$25.5 million) over...
Hongkongers have come out in droves to take advantage of widespread restaurant and transport perks on National Day, while visitors have said the offers are a happy surprise. Businesses rolled out bargains and freebies to celebrate the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, which falls on October 1, ranging from restaurant discounts to free MTR rides. Residents were see...
Hongkongers have come out in droves to take advantage of widespread restaurant and transport perks on National Day, while visitors have said the offers are a happy surprise. Businesses rolled out bargains and freebies to celebrate the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, which falls on October 1, ranging from restaurant discounts to free MTR rides. Residents were see...
Half of the visitors who registered to visit the volcanic rock columns in Hong Kong’s Sai Kung failed to show up on the first day of the National Day break. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said on Thursday night it had received bookings for 2,420 people, exceeding the official maximum capacity of 2,000, yet only 1,160 people showed up, a tally that included walk-in re...
More than 400 hikers visited one of Hong Kong’s best-known geological attractions on Thursday morning as some tourists chose outdoor activities on the first day of the National Day “golden week”. Some visitors also arrived at Po Pin Chau – where the city’s first countryside real-name reservation system was introduced in late August to manage crowd sizes – ahead of their afternoon booking slots to ...
Just under a third of Singaporeans, or 31.4 per cent, believe that nuclear energy promises a clean power source with the greatest potential in the city state, representing the highest acceptance rate in Southeast Asia, a new study has found. The approval rate represented an 11.1 per cent increase from 2024, the Southeast Asia Climate Outlook 2026 Survey found, even as solar energy continued to be ...
Russia’s new class of jet-powered drones rip across the night sky in Kyiv at hundreds of kilometres per hour, leaving Ukrainian air-defence units only moments to intercept them. It’s rarely enough time. With many of the drones getting through to the capital, defence manufacturers are scrambling to develop a new generation of interceptors to counter the deadly threat. They are building their own je...
For Ajay Kumar Chutani, whose family has run a sari shop in the north Indian market town of Karnal since the 1970s, the months after the monsoon are always his busiest. During these cool weeks, he sells enough lengths of silk and embroidered cotton to tide him over the leaner seasons, as farming families prepare for weddings and the frenetic festival season. This year, after erratic rains through ...
A new embodied AI model known as Maxwell – developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Artificial Intelligence for Industries – has shot to first place on the Meta-World benchmark for robot physical tasks. Maxwell scored 91.9 – the highest ever recorded on the simulation benchmark. Meta-World was set up by researchers from Stanford University, UC Berkeley and other institutions to e...
Hong Kong’s health minister has warned that the city will need to “bear the consequences” of exaggerating concerns over the employment prospects of nurses, as such remarks could deter new blood from joining the profession. “I do not want recent comments, such as claims that ‘[nursing] graduation equals unemployment’, to dampen the interest of our younger generation in joining the nursing professio...
Chinese automotive groups have cause to celebrate their go-global strategy amid breakneck export growth in recent years, with deliveries in 2026 expected to beat expectations already buoyed by an international energy shock caused by conflict in the Middle East. Leading carmakers from BYD to Chery Automobile have doubled down on overseas expansion, with some evolving into powerful contenders in mar...
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has expressed concern over reports of high “no-show” rates among medical officers assigned to permanent postings in Sabah and Sarawak. The medical body urged the government to take action by reverting to a percentage-based allowance and introducing incentives to attract and retain healthcare workers in East Malaysia. MMA president Sivanaesan Letchumanan poin...
An Indian pilot’s extraordinary bravery during an apparent mid-air hijack attempt has ignited a wave of national pride, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailing the pilot as a hero for saving 174 lives on a flydubai plane – adding a dramatic chapter to a career that began almost by chance. Captain Smit Machchhar was critically injured after taking the brunt of a knife attack on Wednesday, but man...
China’s ruling Communist Party is marking 90 years since the end of the Long March with exhibitions, tours, film and television productions as it tries to mobilise the nation to contribute to its vision for the future. Ahead of the October 22 anniversary, commemorative activities are under way to promote the history of the Long March and revive its “spirit”. The Long March was an epic retreat betw...
Hong Kong police have arrested an Australian man at a bar in Yau Ma Tei on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm. The 36-year-old was arrested a second time on Wednesday night for criminal damage after he allegedly vandalised the detention facility while in police custody. Police were first alerted at 10.14pm on Wednesday when a passer-by reported a person behaving suspiciously near an alle...
Danish jewellery maker Pandora opened a US$150 million factory in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, its largest manufacturing facility and its first production site outside Thailand as it bids to diversify its manufacturing footprint and bolster supply-chain resilience. The Vietnam factory, Pandora’s fourth worldwide, will increase the company’s overall manufacturing capacity by around 50 per cent and...
Two power outages hit Hong Kong’s Ho Man Tin, the first lasting more than four hours overnight into Thursday, disrupting hotel operations and about 1,000 households. CLP Power, which supplies electricity to Kowloon and the New Territories, said equipment near Waterloo Road in Kowloon first malfunctioned at 11.18pm on Wednesday, affecting about 1,000 customers. “After CLP Power’s engineering person...
Tennessee officials were unable to put Christa Pike to death on Wednesday for a 1995 murder after administering two doses of a lethal drug. A death penalty expert said it was an unprecedented failure, and Tennessee’s governor halted the remaining execution for the rest of the year. Pike, 50, was alive and loudly snoring after the attempted lethal injection and taken by ambulance from the prison, h...
Tennessee officials were unable to put Christa Pike to death on Wednesday for a 1995 murder after administering two doses of a lethal drug. A death penalty expert said it was an unprecedented failure, and Tennessee’s governor halted the remaining execution for the rest of the year. Pike, 50, was alive and loudly snoring after the attempted lethal injection and taken by ambulance from the prison, h...
Tennessee officials were unable to put Christa Pike to death on Wednesday for a 1995 murder after administering two doses of a lethal drug. A death penalty expert said it was an unprecedented failure. Pike was alive and loudly snoring after the attempted lethal injection and was taken by ambulance from the prison, her lawyers said. “We have not been informed as to her condition,” Pike’s lawyers sa...
Tennessee officials were unable to put Christa Pike to death Wednesday for a 1995 murder after administering two doses of a lethal drug. A death penalty expert said it was an unprecedented failure. Pike was alive and loudly snoring after the attempted lethal injection and was taken by ambulance from the prison, her lawyers said. Neither the lawyers nor the Tennessee Department of Corrections offic...
Hong Kong marked National Day on Thursday with discounts, free rides and a fireworks display that drew huge crowds to Victoria Harbour, while the chief executive emphasised the city’s international role and its first five-year plan. About 380,000 spectators packed both sides of the harbour for the 23-minute fireworks show in the evening, as businesses dished out dining discounts and shopping deals...
Hong Kong’s inaugural five-year plan highlighted its DNA as an international city while emphasising the market economy, the chief executive has said. Speaking at a National Day reception on Thursday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the city needed a blueprint with strategic vision amid the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape and accelerated growth of AI, as he highlighted three features ...
Hong Kong’s inaugural five-year plan highlighted its DNA as an international city while emphasising the market economy, the chief executive has said. Speaking at a National Day reception on Thursday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the city needed a blueprint with strategic vision amid the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape and accelerated growth of AI, as he highlighted three features ...
China and the Philippines have launched a war of words after their coastguards challenged each other in the waters off the Batanes Islands, an area that has become the latest maritime flashpoint as Beijing ramps up pressure against Manila-Tokyo delimitation efforts. The Philippine coastguard said on Thursday it had sent one of its biggest vessels and an aircraft to “disrupt and drive away” a Chine...
China and the Philippines have challenged each other in the waters off the Batanes Islands, marking the latest maritime flashpoint as Beijing ramps up pressure against Manila-Tokyo delimitation efforts. On Thursday, the Philippine coastguard said it had sent one of its largest vessels and an aircraft to “disrupt and drive away” a Chinese research ship – the Jia Hai Ke 7 – which has been operating ...
A Chinese civilian research vessel has spent more than a week conducting operations in waters off the Philippines’ Batanes Islands, an area that has become a new geopolitical battleground as Beijing ramps up pressure against Manila-Tokyo delimitation efforts. Data recorded via the vessel’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) for September, tracked by MarineTraffic, revealed that the Jia Hai Ke 7...
