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Little more than six months since Hong Kong passed new security legislation, known locally as Article 23, the courts heard the first legal challenge brought against it by an inmate who was denied early release from prison under its provisions. Also in October, the 52nd month since Beijing’s national security law took effect in Hong […]

The tax cuts on “premium liquor” have some claim to be the most inconsequential part of the recent policy speech by Hong Kong’s leader. Liquor in this context means the hard stuff: whisky, gin, etc. Premium means the most expensive versions of the hard stuff. Even the government announcement admitted that this would only be […]

Beijing hopes the US will maintain “consistency” in its climate policy and continue bilateral cooperation regardless of next week’s election result, a Chinese official said Friday. The two countries have expanded climate policy cooperation since Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden met in San Francisco nearly a year ago. But the US […]

Most Hong Kong restaurants have made the switch to green alternatives since a ban on single-use plastics came into force last month. And while some have complained of extra costs, others have found unexpected savings in ditching disposable tableware. Under the first phase of the ban, which officially took effect on October 22 after a […]

By Jing Xuan Teng Dressed in a pristine white knit top, Robyn Qiu cut an incongruous figure in her parents’ dusty, hangar-like metal hardware factory in eastern China as she gestured excitedly while an assistant filmed her on a smartphone. The 29-year-old is one of many second-generation factory owners fighting to elevate the country’s manufacturing […]

Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris in Taiwan on Friday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the island in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing wind speeds of 184 kilometres an hour (114 miles per hour) when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting […]

Hongkongers who do not want children cited the city’s education system and political situation as among the main reasons behind their decision, a survey has found, as the government seeks to raise the fertility rate. According to World Bank data in 2022, each Hong Kong couple had 0.7 children on average, making its birth rate […]

A Hong Kong man has been jailed for two years for inciting violence against the police by leaving anonymous comments online following the stabbing of a police officer on the city’s Handover anniversary in 2021. Deputy District Judge Amy Chan put Yung Cheong-ming, 25, behind bars on Friday, after convicting him at an earlier hearing […]

The Hong Kong government has been urged to consider suspending a migrant worker scheme a year after it was expanded to more job sectors. Six members of the Labour Advisory Board, a non-statutory body that advises authorities on labour issues, urged the labour and welfare chief Chris Sun to introduce a mechanism that would allow the […]

China on Friday insisted that growing ties between Pyongyang and Moscow were not its concern, after the United States warned up to 8,000 North Korean troops have reached Russia’s border region trained and ready for combat with Ukraine. “North Korea and Russia are two independent sovereign states. How they develop bilateral relations is their own […]

By Akio Wang with Amber Wang and Joy Chiang in Taipei Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris in Taiwan on Friday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the island in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing wind speeds of 184 kilometres an hour (114 miles […]

A total of 34 passengers were injured after a ferry bumped into a pier in Hong Kong’s financial district. The vessel was carrying workers to construction sites at Lamma Island’s power station. At around 7.10 am on Friday, a Tsui Wah Ferry Service vessel carrying 120 people hit the pier when it was docking at […]

A coalition of migrant worker associations and unions in Hong Kong has expressed its “sorrow and anger” at the suspected murder of an Indonesian domestic worker in the city. In an emailed statement on Thursday, the Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body (AMBC) said it expressed its “deepest sorrow and anger over the tragic death of a […]

Four Hong Kong men, including 19-year-old twins, have been sentenced to up to three years in prison for rioting in 2019 during the extradition bill unrest, after the judge cut their sentences because of the long delay in bringing them to justice. Deputy District Judge David Cheung on Thursday jailed Chow Chi-wan and Yuen Yan-lam […]

Six members of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats (LSD) have been fined up to HK$1,000 for raising funds and displaying banners without a permit, with one alleging the case was a “political prosecution.” Four others pleaded not guilty. LSD chair Chan Po-ying was among the four who pleaded not guilty at the Eastern Magistrates’ […]

Snooker star Ronnie O’Sullivan has obtained Hong Kong residency under a talent scheme known as the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, citing the city’s tax system, food and the popularity of snooker as attractions, the Immigration Department has announced. Talking to immigration director Benson Kwok in a video released on Thursday, O’Sullivan said he had spent […]

China’s manufacturing output expanded this month for the first time since April, official data showed Thursday, rare good news for leaders struggling to boost activity in the world’s second-largest economy. The country is battling sluggish domestic consumption, a persistent crisis in the property sector and soaring government debt — all of which threaten Beijing’s official […]

By Akio Wang with Amber Wang in Taipei Super Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall in Taiwan on Thursday as one of the most powerful storms to hit the island in years, whipping up 10-metre waves and forcing thousands of people to flee their homes. Packing maximum wind speeds of 184 kilometres per hour (114 miles per […]

A Hong Kong police crime unit has taken over an investigation into reported online and offline harassment and intimidation of journalists from at least 13 media outlets, a press group has said. In a newsletter to members on Wednesday, Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) Chairperson Selina Cheng said she had made a statement at a […]

Thousands of residents of Hong Kong’s rainbow-coloured Choi Hung Estate will begin moving out of their homes in 2028 to make way for its redevelopment, the city’s housing authorities have said. The project is expected to be completed in 2049 and will provide 9,200 flats in three phases over a period of 15 years. The […]

Hong Kong police handled more than 1,200 criminal cases of domestic violence in 2023, the highest number since 2019, official data submitted to the legislature has shown. The number of child protection cases managed by social welfare authorities also reached a five-year high last year. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) handled 1,457 child protection cases […]

An elderly activist who took banners to a Hong Kong park did not breach the law because his act of displaying them was not permanent, his lawyer has argued. Chan Ki-kau, 78, appeared at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday morning to hear the closing arguments from the prosecution and the defence. He is […]

A Hong Kong woman has been denied bail after allegedly damaging 55 National Day banners and posters put up by two pro-establishment parties across Tsuen Wan. Lam Ho-yan, a 64-year-old retiree, appeared before Magistrate Ivy Chui at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday. She has faces eight charges of criminal damage to property and one […]

By Peter Catterall with Raziye Akkoc in Brussels Beijing said Wednesday it had lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the European Union’s decision to impose hefty tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars. The extra taxes of up to 35 percent were announced Tuesday after an EU probe found Chinese state subsidies were undercutting […]