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US-based sandwich chain Eggslut is set to pull out of Hong Kong this month, less than two years after opening in Causeway Bay. Its sole outlet in the city’s shopping thoroughfare – opened to much fanfare and long queues in 2022 – will shutter on February 23. “[W]e must say goodbye for the time being. […]

Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices on the advice of security agencies, a top official said Wednesday, citing privacy and malware risks posed by China’s breakout AI program. The DeepSeek chatbot — developed by a China-based startup — has astounded industry insiders and upended financial markets since it was released last month. But […]

Hong Kong’s leisure services department has announced a nearly two-month closure of a football pitch in Happy Valley days before a press union’s scheduled tournament matches. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LSCD) said on Tuesday that a football pitch at Happy Valley Recreation Ground would be temporarily closed from February 7 to March 31 […]

Australia said Wednesday it is concerned for the health of jailed Chinese-Australian dissident writer Yang Jun, who was handed a suspended death sentence a year ago by a Beijing court. “We hold serious concerns about Dr Yang’s health and conditions,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement. “We continue to press to ensure his […]

US President Donald Trump’s new China tariffs, effective Tuesday, also target Hong Kong products, the US government has said. On Saturday, President Trump announced an additional 10 per cent levy on all goods from China, on top of the duties they already endure. The new tariffs include Hong Kong products, according to a note issued […]

A pro-Beijing labour group has called for an expansion of the multiple-entry visa scheme to other mainland Chinese cities to boost Hong Kong’s economy. The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions’ suggestion was one of a list of proposals it made on Monday ahead of Finance Secretary Paul Chan’s budget speech, which will be delivered […]

The US Postal Service (USPS) has temporarily halted acceptance of international packages from Hong Kong and China until further notice. The move comes amid a tit-for-tat trade dispute between Washington and Beijing. A sweeping 10 per cent levy on Chinese products was imposed by US President Donald Trump, effective Tuesday. A “de minimis” allowance – […]

Hong Kong’s former secretary for transport and housing Anthony Cheung has called for a pay freeze for public servants to reduce the city’s huge budget deficit. In an opinion piece published by Ming Pao on Tuesday, Cheung suggested that the government should freeze civil service salaries, instead of adopting a “one-size-fits-all approach” to cutting public […]

Three Hong Kong judges overseeing the national security trial of Jimmy Lai have asked the jailed media tycoon to calm down and restrict himself to answering questions after he issued a fiery criticism against prosecutors in the witness box. High Court Judge Esther Toh told Lai on Tuesday to refrain from making any unnecessary statements […]

Hong Kong’s Education Bureau (EDB) has disqualified 71 teachers last year – the highest number since 2018 – with some cases involving criminal offences like child abuse and “serious professional misconduct.” The number of teachers who lost their licences in 2024 was 1.5 times higher than in 2023, the previous record year, the EDB revealed […]

Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP) has urged the public to get flu jabs as it recorded 122 related deaths in the first four weeks of the influenza season which began in early January. During the period concerned, the CHP recorded 199 adult intensive care unit admissions, including 122 flu-related deaths, it said in […]

China has eased travel curbs on Uyghurs but maintains “severe restrictions” on those seeking to go abroad or visit family in Xinjiang, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report said Monday. Beijing stands accused of detaining more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in its northwestern region, in a campaign that the United Nations has […]

China said Tuesday it would impose tariffs of 15 percent on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas from the United States, in retaliation for Washington’s 10 percent levies on Chinese goods. Beijing’s finance ministry also unveiled 10 percent tariffs on imports from the United States of crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement vehicles and pickup […]

Hong Kong cab-hailing platform HKTaxi has announced it will cease operations in April, asking riders to switch to the Uber app, its parent company. In a notice issued on its app on Monday, HKTaxi said they would be gradually suspending users’ accounts. The platform, founded in 2013 as one of the first taxi-hailing apps in […]

A top government adviser has suggested adjusting the HK$2 elderly transport subsidy scheme by limiting access for those aged 60 to 65 amid the soaring subsidy costs and the city’s budget deficit. Lam Ching-choi, a member of the Executive Council, said in a Commercial Radio interview on Sunday that the government’s lowering of the eligibility […]

Former Hong Kong legislator Chim Pui-chung has been sentenced to 34 months in jail after he and his son were convicted of conspiracy to defraud a listed company and the stock exchange. District Judge Ernest Lin also jailed the son, Ricky Chim for three years and one month for the same offence on Monday, local […]

One more Hongkonger has been rescued from a scam farm in a Myanmar border town, days after a top Beijing official said 36 Chinese-run scam gangs are operating in the area. The 31-year-old Hong Kong woman was rescued on Sunday from Myawaddy, a town in southeastern Myanmar near the Thai border, Bangkok-based English newspaper The […]

Jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai has denied concealing a plan to meet American officials in mid-2020 when he applied to the court to lift a travel ban at that time, as prosecutors raised questions about his credibility during his high-profile national security trial. Lai, 77, told the court on Monday that he thought it was […]

Hong Kong’s economic growth slowed to 2.5 percent in 2024, the city’s government said Monday, adding that the outlook for the year ahead was dimmed by “heightened uncertainties”. The Chinese financial hub saw a post-pandemic rebound in 2023 after the city reopened to international business and travel, but lost some momentum as China’s economic slowdown […]

Taiwanese star Barbie Hsu, who was hugely popular across Asia for her leading role in the 2001 television drama “Meteor Garden”, has died from a respiratory illness, local media reported Monday. She was 48. Hsu passed away after developing pneumonia during a family trip to Japan over the Lunar New Year holiday, the younger of […]

Eleven trail runners have completed an endurance challenge spanning all of Hong Kong’s four major hiking routes, the ultramarathon organisers said. The “four trails” – Maclehose, Wilson, Hong Kong, and Lantau – span a total distance of 298km, starting in Tuen Mun and ending in Mui Wo, marked with a green mailbox. The annual Hong […]

Around one in five social workers at the government’s Social Welfare Department say they may quit within the next five years, citing immense challenges at work and management problems, a survey has found. The General Union of Social Workers in Social Welfare Department surveyed 446 social workers working for the government in September and October […]

Hong Kong authorities have fined six restaurants for not complying with a disposable plastics ban since the policy was officially enacted in October. Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said on Sunday that authorities had received 75 complaints in the three-odd months that the ban has been in effect. Among them, 59 restaurants were […]

Donald Trump’s new tariffs will probably not have a major impact on China’s economy but may herald the opening salvo of another bruising trade war with Beijing, analysts said Sunday. The US President on Saturday announced sweeping measures against major trade partners, with goods from China facing an additional 10 percent tariff on top of […]