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The right to own a small car in Singapore climbed to a record high of S$129,000 ($99,700), with analysts saying premiums could rise further as rebates for electric vehicles come to an end. The price of a Category A certificate of entitlement (COE) meant for smaller cars and EVs advanced by 4.2 per cent in Wednesday’s bidding exercise from the previous round on June 17. Premiums for larger and more...
A senior Malaysian lawmaker on Thursday denied that fugitive businessman Jho Low had entered the country for talks linked to the theft of billions of dollars from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Low, whose full name is Low Taek Jho, faces multiple charges, including corruption and money laundering, in the United States and Malaysia for the central role he allegedly played in th...
Hong Kong stocks retreated on Thursday morning, surrendering recent gains as ongoing volatility across Asian markets and a brutal tech sell-off in neighbouring bourses weighed on local sentiment. At the lunchtime break, the benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 0.78 per cent to 24,011, erasing its initial upwards momentum. The Hang Seng Tech Index edged down 0.06 per cent, as the broader regional dra...
Chinese geologists have determined that an active fault line directly beneath the world’s largest hydropower project poses a threat to the mega dam now being built on Tibet’s Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River. The scientists said a fracture in the Earth’s crust in the eastern Himalayan region would significantly affect the integrity of the massive hydropower project’s infrastructure. In a paper ...
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said “the Islamic Republic of Japan” fired missiles at a US aircraft carrier, apparently confusing long-time ally Japan with Iran. Trump made the remark during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Turkish capital Ankara on the sidelines of a Nato summit. “We had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan,” Trump said. He went o...
A former Hong Kong Polytechnic University student has been arrested for allegedly using forged academic documents at his alma mater, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said a university staff member filed a police report on Wednesday afternoon, alleging that the 22-year-old man had submitted one fake certificate and two fake transcripts. “The man enrolled in an electrical engineeri...
The World Bank recently upgraded the Philippines to an upper-middle-income country, but that classification makes little difference to many Filipinos grappling with rising cost of living, debt and stagnant wages. Manila resident Ann Michelle Federez-Abato, 35, said her entire salary goes towards her parents’ mortgage, while she and her two-year-old daughter subsist on a monthly remittance of 20,00...
The World Bank recently upgraded the Philippines to an upper-middle-income country, but that classification makes little difference to many Filipinos grappling with rising cost of living, debt and stagnant wages. “I laughed actually. Like, for real? Where did the data come from?” Ann Michelle Federez-Abato said of the July 1 announcement that her country’s gross national income (GNI) per capita ha...
Worried residents in China are preparing for Super Typhoon Bavi to land, stocking up on supplies and rethinking travel plans. Satellite imagery from China’s official weather forecaster shows Bavi covering nearly 940,000 sq km (363,000 square miles) – an area about nine times the size of the eastern province of Zhejiang or 850 times that of Hong Kong. Hui Xinyi, a high school English tutor in the Z...
Unsettled residents in China are preparing for Super Typhoon Bavi to land, stocking up on supplies and reconsidering their travel plans. Satellite imagery from China’s official weather forecaster shows Bavi covers nearly 940,000 sq km (363,000 square miles) – an area about nine times the size of the eastern province of Zhejiang or 850 times the land size of Hong Kong. In recent days, Hui Xinyi, a ...
Unsettled residents in eastern China are preparing for Super Typhoon Bavi to land, stocking up on supplies and reconsidering their travel plans. Satellite imagery from China’s official weather forecaster shows Bavi covers nearly 940,000 sq km (363,000 square miles) – an area about nine times the size of the eastern province of Zhejiang or 850 times the size of Hong Kong. In recent days, Hui Xinyi,...
A zoo in Guangxi Zhang autonomous region has lost more than 100 animals in the flooding that is affecting southern China, with the zookeeper calling for help from the public on social media. According to an official notice on Wednesday, two zebras, 30 peacocks, two ostriches, nine deer and multiple parrots were among the animals lost when some of the cages at the Guigang Zoo were damaged. “To ensu...
Graham Platner, a scandal-plagued Democratic Senate nominee whose insurgent rise had drawn comparisons to Donald Trump, ended his campaign on Wednesday after a rape allegation threatened to derail one of his party’s best chances of flipping a Republican-held seat. Platner, a Marine veteran, oysterman and political newcomer, won last month’s Democratic primary in the northeastern state of Maine to ...
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited (CATL) will see 50 per cent growth in its share price to a record high over the next 12 months, as it benefits from rising demand for energy independence, according to Goldman Sachs. The Wall Street investment bank expected CATL’s battery energy storage system business to be its next value-creation engine, though the market is viewing the business more fo...
Hong Kong police have charged a 50-year-old woman with murder after a scuffle with another female passenger on board a minibus escalated into a fatal brawl when they alighted. Officers received a report at 10.30pm on Tuesday that two women were fighting at the minibus stop outside Wah Chui House at Wah Fu (II) Estate in Aberdeen, Senior Superintendent Hui Hong-kit, assistant Western district comma...
Hong Kong police have arrested a 50-year-old woman after she became involved in a brawl at a minibus station with another woman who later died. A police spokesman said officers received a report at 10.31pm on Wednesday that the two women were fighting at the minibus stop outside Wah Chui House at Wah Fu (II) Estate in Aberdeen. When officers arrived at the scene, a 53-year-old woman was found lyin...
China made its largest daily purchase of soybeans from the United States since November on Wednesday, the latest sign of improving trade ties as Beijing moves towards fulfilling commitments announced after US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The US Department of Agriculture said private exporters reported sales of 472,000 tonnes of soybeans for delivery to China, the...
Jack Yu wants to vote in Saturday’s crucial election in his home state of Johor, Malaysia, but being based in Hong Kong has left him frozen out after he missed the short window to register for a postal vote. Hong Kong is home to an estimated 15,000 Malaysians working across finance to hospitality. Many remain closely engaged with politics back home – more so when the result could reshape the balan...
When a tourist tried to pay for a burger in cash at a Tsim Sha Tsui restaurant in 2023, staff refused. The outlet accepted only cards and electronic wallets. The episode went viral, with debate raging over whether or not this is legal. After all, Hong Kong bank notes and coins constitute legal tender in Hong Kong under the Legal Tender Notes Issue Ordinance and the Coinage Ordinance, and the conce...
In recent years, Hong Kong society has repeatedly confronted the realities of sexual violence, sexual harassment and online sexual exploitation. Survivors’ experiences have made it clear that our sexual offences law is no longer adequate for the world we live in today. Against this backdrop, the government has issued a consultation paper on improving the laws on sexual offences in Hong Kong. It ai...
A woman in central China has captured the hearts of many online after helping her husband emerge from a years-long vegetative state by biting his toes to stimulate his nerves. Song Mei, 45, a former kindergarten art teacher from Henan province, and her husband Zhao Jinqian, a waterproofing worker, had lived modestly with their two children before tragedy upended their lives. Local reports describe...
A Saudi Arabian tech giant has made Hong Kong its first stop on its maiden visit to Asia, expressing strong interest in partnering with local authorities to co-develop a smart city and establish a strategic gateway to the broader regional market. The remarks on Wednesday followed the opening of LEAP East 2026, the inaugural Hong Kong edition of the global tech event, where Financial Secretary Paul...
Myanmar’s dream of achieving 2 million tourist arrivals annually – seen to be an effort by the junta-led government to secure global legitimacy – is fraught with hurdles, analysts warn. Authorities have been ramping up efforts to bolster Myanmar’s tourism sector, which fell following the 2021 coup that led to widespread civil unrest across the country. Over 100,000 deaths have been logged since th...
Hong Kong’s retail leasing market remained under pressure with rental rates far below the pre-pandemic levels, while Beijing’s crackdown on capital flight and a potential rate hike in the second half of the year by the US Federal Reserve would add to sector uncertainties, according to analysts. The food and beverage sector has seen numerous closures of both casual eateries and high-end restaurants...
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to rehear a case challenging his executive order curtailing birthright citizenship, a long-shot bid to reverse the court’s rejection of one of his signature policies. The court last month rejected Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in the US, ruling that his directive violated language in the US Consti...
Washington criticised China on Wednesday for providing only a few hours’ notice ahead of its launch of a submarine-fired ballistic missile into the Pacific, saying Beijing’s actions fell short of standards followed by other major nuclear powers. The US State Department said China failed to provide sufficient information ahead of Sunday’s test, which it said took place amid Beijing’s “rapid and opa...
The US share of Brazilian exports fell to its lowest level since 1997 in the first half of 2026, while China widened its lead as the country’s top trading partner, according to the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil, whose report landed as Washington held public hearings on a proposed new round of tariffs against Brazilian goods. American buyers took 9.4 per cent of Brazilian exports between ...
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte defended US President Donald Trump’s criticism of the transatlantic security alliance, while saying this year’s summit showed “a huge sense of unity” and produced procurement plans worth tens of billions of dollars. During a press conference after the North Atlantic Council meeting of leaders at the Nato summit hosted by Turkey in Ankara on Wednesday, Rutte said t...
As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, it confronts a new world order dominated by its relationship with China. In this wide-ranging series, we examine the pressure points and possibilities in those ties, from hard tech to soft power. Here, Dannie Peng looks at what is at stake amid the countries’ historic low in scientific collaboration. In late May, Zhang Ning, founder...
China’s labour practices came under scrutiny on Wednesday during a US government hearing on a proposal to impose tariffs on goods linked to forced labour, with participants divided over whether higher tariffs would effectively improve workers’ rights. The Office of the United States Trade Representative is holding a three-day public hearing from July 7 to 9 as part of its Section 301 investigation...
