南華早報

Fownes hopes injury-plagued Megastar can ‘go quite high’ af…

He’s been “one of the hardest horses for me to train in my career”, but Caspar Fownes has high hopes for Megastar Heart finally fulfilling his potential after a stunning return at Sha Tin on Sunday. Restricted to three local starts after battling ongoing problems, the Australian import rewarded Fownes and the Good Time Syndicate’s patience with a dominant two-length win in the Class Three San Tin Handicap (1,200m). The performance was not a surprise to Fownes, who said Megastar Heart could...

Hall rings up 700th Hong Kong win as Ka Ying Attack spearhe…

David Hall rang up his 700th Hong Kong win at Sha Tin on Sunday after Ka Ying Attack capped his double with a barnstorming win the Class Two Yuen Long Handicap (1,200m). Ending last season with a pair of smashing front-running successes, the Too Darn Hot galloper made his return needing to overcome barrier 10 with a huge amount of pace drawn to his inside. Despite that, he was well backed into $5.5 behind fellow hat-trick seeker and favourite Jumbo Treasure and Turquoise Velocity, and was...

• #Hong Kong
• #Double

Leading Chinese mathematicians unite behind use of AI in re…

Leading China’s mathematicians joined forces in Beijing on Sunday to launch an alliance aimed at integrating artificial intelligence into mathematical research. The Yau Laboratory Alliance for Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence is being spearheaded by Fields medallist Shing-Tung Yau, who warned that China was lagging behind the United States in using AI to advance frontier science. It will bring together eight leading institutions and aims to create a network of more than 1,000...

• #AI
• #Chinese

Poland probes suspected assassination attempts on PM, defen…

Poland’s interior ministry said on Sunday that the country’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz may have been targeted by assassination attempts. A “report about a potential assassination attempt on Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as well as on Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, was transmitted to the police via the State Protection Service (SOP)”, interior spokeswoman Karolina Galecka said at a press...

• #Defence
• #Diplomacy
• #Poland
• #Ukraine war
• #Nato
• #War and conflict

Hong Kong Cyclothon: furious riders call city ‘capital of f…

Furious riders branded The Sun Hung Kai Properties Hong Kong Cyclothon a “bike-pushing festival” and the city “the international capital of embarrassing fails”, after Sunday’s event descended into chaos and confusion. Chief among myriad complaints was the unexpected closure of Ting Kau Bridge during the 32km (19.9-mile) ride, along with a bottleneck finish that caused gridlock and forced riders to complete the course on foot. The safety of the route was also called into question, after one...

• #Hong Kong society
• #Vincent Lau Wan-yau
• #Hong Kong Tourism Board
• #Sun Hung Kai Properties

Inside Hong Kong’s Chinese Medicine Hospital: a reporter’s…

In the last instalment of a four-part Health Matters series on traditional Chinese medicine, Chloe Loung experiences the patient journey at Hong Kong’s new Chinese medicine hospital, where Western doctors and TCM practitioners work side by side to streamline holistic healthcare. There are no receptionists barking ticket numbers in chaotic waiting rooms at the new Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong. In fact, stepping into the complex’s sunlit atrium, you can barely hear a footstep. Hong...

• #Hong Kong
• #Chinese
• #Inside
• #Medicine

Hong Kong hiker dies, Singaporean teen discharged after 2 t…

At least two people were airlifted to hospital in the past two days after falling ill while hiking in Hong Kong, with a 17-year-old Singaporean girl discharged and the other dying. The teenager was flown to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai on Saturday morning after vomiting and experiencing chills while hiking on Lion Rock, a 495-metre peak. In a separate incident, a middle-aged man suddenly felt unwell and collapsed while hiking with a friend of a similar age near Ha Miu Tin, Wu Kau Tang, in...

• #Hong Kong

Pope Leo to undergo surgery for small growth on lung

Pope Leo said ⁠on Sunday that doctors had detected a small growth on his lung during a recent health check and he would be undergoing surgery this ‌week to remove it, in the first health scare of the 71-year-old pontiff’s tenure. Leo told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly Sunday prayer that the growth was “well-contained” and caught at an early stage. “Recently, during ⁠some medical examinations, doctors found a localised nodule in my ‌lung,” said the pontiff. “It was detected at a...

• #Pope Leo XIV
• #Religion
• #Holy See
• #Pope Francis

The EU’s China dilemma: how to counter Beijing without alie…

In September, the Jaecoo 7 – a budget SUV from China’s Chery Automobile – made headlines when it shifted more than 10,000 units to become Britain’s bestselling car. Christened the “Temu Range Rover” online, a nod to the cheap goods available on the Chinese online marketplace and the luxury 4X4 made by Jaguar Land Rover that it resembles, its success showed British drivers’ new-found taste for cut-price Chinese cars. Overall, 23 per cent of new cars bought in Britain last month were Chinese...

• #China
• #Brussels
• #Anna Cavazzini
• #European Parliament
• #Ignacio Garcia Bercero
• #Jacques Delors Centre

Who is Archie Renaux? Meet the British actor playing Johnny…

Archie Renaux stars as the ambitious lawyer Johnny Warren in HBO’s latest legal drama War. Starring Renaux, Sienna Miller and Dominic West, the anthology premiered on October 1. Its first season follows the high-profile and multimillion dollar divorce between social media mogul Morgan Henderson (West) and his film star wife Carla Duval (Miller). The show also follows the estranged couple’s attorneys from rival law firms Cathcarts & Sons and Taylor & Byrne. Renaux’s character, Johnny, becomes...

• #Get to Know
• #Fame and celebrity
• #TV shows and streaming video
• #Hollywood
• #HBO and Max
• #American cinema

How Taiwan’s military manpower shortage is undermining its…

Taiwan’s military is grappling with a worsening manpower shortage, with its volunteer staffing rate remaining below the 80 per cent target for a third consecutive year and concerns mounting over the impact on combat readiness, according to the island’s legislature. The shortages extend deep into frontline formations – including infantry, artillery, missile and air defence units – raising questions over whether Taiwan will have enough trained personnel to operate and maintain the vast quantities...

• #Taiwan

‘Special-forces’ travel: Chinese woman wins admiration afte…

A woman from southwestern China has climbed five famous mountains in five provinces in five days, earning widespread admiration on social media. The climber, surnamed Peng, began her journey in her hometown of Guiyang, Guizhou province, on September 23, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported. She climbed Mount Hua in northwestern Shaanxi province the following day, then Mount Heng in neighbouring Shanxi province on September 25, Mount Tai in eastern Shandong province on September 26, Mount Song...

• #China
• #Chinese
• #climb
• #adventure
• #peaks
• #mountains

4 cafes that serve Hong Kong-style milk tea in Tokyo

Hong Kong milk tea – a mainstay of cha chaan teng, or Hong Kong-style diners – is taking on a new role in Tokyo’s cafe culture. According to the Japan Tea Association, the country is in the midst of a “third black tea boom” and more cafes are offering black tea menus. Even convenience stores are revamping their takeaway drink options, with 7-Eleven, for example, expanding its Seven Cafe tea machines to around 2,000 stores in early 2026. Suntory also released a Hong Kong-style milk tea under its...

• #Hong Kong
• #tokyo

Is Hong Kong’s MPF an ‘offshore trust’? Shanghai tax offici…

For the past few months, this newspaper has extensively covered China’s ongoing clampdown on tax avoidance, especially its push to tax the income of super-rich families held in offshore trusts. We never expected to become targets of the campaign ourselves. But there have been signs in recent weeks that officials are starting to take an interest even in the incomes of South China Morning Post journalists, with several of us being contacted by the tax man. First, a colleague with our Beijing...

• #Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF)
• #Chinese offshore investment
• #Hong Kong
• #China
• #Banking & finance
• #Hong Kong economy

From Abby Choi to the ‘Hello Kitty’ killing: Hong Kong’s mo…

The alleged murder and dismemberment of Abby Choi Tin-fung in 2023, which prosecutors say was linked to a dispute over a luxury flat, has once again gripped Hong Kong as the trial over the 28-year-old socialite’s death entered its second week. Choi’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 31, and his elder brother, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, have pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful burial of her body. Their father, Kwong Kau, 68, has pleaded not guilty to the same charge. All three men deny...

• #Crime in Hong Kong
• #Hong Kong
• #Indonesia
• #Abby Choi Tin-fung
• #Rurik Jutting
• #Kwong Kau

Man arrested after 23,000 bogus customer service scam calls…

Hong Kong police have arrested a 24-year-old man over an alleged scam operation that made more than 23,000 fraudulent calls in over a week by impersonating e-commerce customer service representatives, with one victim losing more than HK$100,000 (US$12,741). The force said on Sunday that the man was suspected of operating a call centre for a syndicate that posed as online shopping platform staff and tricked victims into transferring money for a variety of reasons. Senior Inspector of the...

• #Crime in Hong Kong
• #Hong Kong

Opinion | If Hongkongers’ support for Legco is waning, it i…

Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, Hong Kong’s first post-handover Legislative Council president, recently dropped a political bomb. She revealed that one of her friends had been telling her that a legislature with 90 seats costs a lot more than one with 60 and that “I kind of agree with that”. The basic maths behind the statement cannot be refuted: 60 is two-thirds of 90. Even though Fan didn’t bring up the topic herself – she was asked the question by the host during a radio show – it was shocking that a...

• #John Lee
• #Rita Fan
• #electoral reform
• #PoD Research Institute
• #Legislative Council
• #Mark Six

China cinemas tap into Zheng tennis fever gripping country…

Cinemas across China will throw open their doors for a special showing on Sunday, but it isn’t the latest blockbuster fans are flocking to see – it’s tennis star Zheng Qinwen. The Olympic champion has finally broken her country’s China Open curse, and will be the first home player to compete in a singles final, men’s or women’s, since Chen Li lost to Chinese Taipei’s Wang Shi-ting in 1996. With the National Tennis Centre in Beijing selling out, cinemas across the mainland have opted to show the...

• #China
• #Chinese Taipei
• #China Open
• #Katerina Siniakova
• #Luisa Stefani
• #National Tennis Centre

China’s rich coastal cities to see sea-level rise 20% highe…

International scientists warn that rising sea levels driven by melting Antarctic ice will be 15 to 20 per cent higher in cities such as Hong Kong and Shanghai compared with the global average. They said gravitational shifts caused by shrinking Antarctic ice would redistribute water across the globe, causing higher ocean levels along China’s densely populated coastlines. “Even if we limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius [2.7 degrees Fahrenheit], the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious goal,...

• #Science
• #Hong Kong
• #Shanghai
• #China
• #Antarctica
• #City University of Hong Kong

Can Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup survive the Middle East’s…

When 60,000 football fans gathered in Jeddah for the Arabian Gulf Cup on Tuesday, they inadvertently highlighted the vulnerability of major sports events hosted by Gulf monarchies to the wars raging across the region. The previous day, Saudi Arabia resumed strikes on Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebels after a four-year ceasefire collapsed. That truce had originally followed a Houthi attack on an oil facility near Jeddah’s Formula One track during a practice session. While the two-week football...

• #Qatar
• #United States
• #Bahrain
• #Saudi Arabia
• #Yemen
• #France

Merry Berry Love: Ji Chang-wook goes to Japan in hollow rom…

Lead cast: Ji Chang-wook, Mio Imada Cross-cultural media ties between Japan and South Korea continue to blossom with Merry Berry Love, a rural romance starring Ji Chang-wook (The Worst of Evil) and Mio Imada (Trillion Game). Co-produced by South Korea’s CJ ENM and Japan’s Nippon Television, the show airs locally on Nippon TV and streams globally on Disney+. Although written and directed by South Korean creatives, the story unfolds largely on Charo Island, in rural Japan. Imada plays Karin...

• #Korean drama reviews
• #K-drama news
• #What's hot in Korea
• #South Korean celebrities
• #Fame and celebrity
• #TV shows and streaming video

What’s in a name? Trump calls it ‘SI’. China calls it ‘huma…

US President Donald Trump wants to banish the word “artificial” from artificial intelligence, saying it makes one of the world’s most consequential technologies sound “fake”. Across the Pacific, however, China’s name for the technology has long carried a different connotation – one that places humans, rather than artificiality, at its centre. Trump last week signed an executive order directing US federal agencies to replace “artificial intelligence”, or AI, with “Super Intelligence”, or SI, in...

• #china
• #SI
• #IT

NBA China and Shanghai Jiushi sign deal to drive developmen…

A new deal signed by NBA China and Shanghai Jiushi will see the league help the Chinese Basketball Association side with the development of its players, coaches and front office. The collaboration with the reigning CBA champions is the first of its kind, and comes as the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets clash in two pre-season friendlies in Macau. According to a statement released by the NBA, the agreement will cover four key areas: elite player development, competition opportunities, coach...

• #NBA
• #Shanghai Jiushi
• #China
• #Troy Justice
• #Dallas Mavericks
• #CBA

Trump’s new spokeswoman is a ‘devoted fan’ who lived in Bei…

Before she addresses the world from behind the White House briefing room podium this week, 42-year-old Katie Zacharia has a story that stretches far beyond Washington’s power corridors. Years before US President Donald Trump appointed her as his new press secretary, she lived in Beijing, worked at one of China’s leading law firms, and learned enough Chinese to occasionally surprise people. Her reported experience in China spans international law and a communications role with a non-profit...

• #WHO
• #Beijing
• #Chinese

Tariffs, millions in extra costs, Iran war: Trump’s policie…

For Doug Rende, who runs an aluminium product manufacturer in the US state of Ohio, President Donald Trump’s tariffs have meant millions of dollars more in annual costs – and recently, the Iran war has made shipments even more expensive. Rende is CEO at Shapes Unlimited, one of many American producers smarting from Trump’s economic policies as the midterm election approaches. “Frustrating would be one word,” Rende said. “And I think that we’re sensing a lack of trust in not only the...

• #United States
• #US-Israel war on Iran
• #Donald Trump
• #US-ally trade wars
• #US midterm elections 2026
• #US Politics

Urn with Anita Mui’s ashes missing from Lantau temple as fa…

The urn containing the ashes of late Hong Kong Cantopop star Anita Mui Yim-fong went missing from a monastery three months ago, the singer’s family has revealed, saying police had made “no progress” in their investigation, causing them distress. A police spokesman said on Sunday that the force received a report on July 18 that an item stored in a Lantau monastery was suspected to have gone missing. The case has been classified as “request for police help” and is being investigated by Lantau...

• #Crime in Hong Kong
• #Anita Mui
• #Hong Kong
• #Hong Kong society

Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: Gaza nurse’s obstacle-laden roa…

On six occasions, Hammoda Abu-Odah, a Gaza nurse-turned Hong Kong scholar was offered an opportunity to study overseas. But each time, border closures and travel restrictions prevented him from taking them up. Abu-Odah had obtained a nursing degree in his native Gaza but set his sights on an academic career abroad. He kept working, teaching and conducting research, despite the many challenges that prevented him from leaving. Finally, on the seventh attempt, he made it to Hong Kong, where he...

• #Hong Kong society
• #Spirit of Hong Kong
• #Spirit of Hong Kong Awards
• #Palestinian Territories
• #Hong Kong
• #Sino Group

Huanggang Port a milestone for integrating Hong Kong, Great…

The revamped Huanggang checkpoint is a “critical milestone” for the connectivity of the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong’s leader has said, as the city and Shenzhen count down to its launch on Monday. Speaking at a ceremony on Sunday, Chief Executive John Lee-Ka Chiu said the Huanggang control point was a “landmark project” built and shared through the joint efforts of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. “Hong Kong unveiled its first five-year plan last month to proactively align with the national 15th five-year...

• #Hong Kong economy
• #Hong Kong
• #Greater Bay Area
• #Shenzhen
• #John Lee
• #China

India’s cockroach party leaders freed as election chief pro…

A New Delhi court ordered on Sunday the release of three leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), including its founder Abhijeet Dipke, their lawyer said, a day after they were detained. “Executive Magistrate court releases Abhijeet, Saurav (Das) and Ashutosh (Ranka),” lawyer Ratna Singh said in a social media post. The trio were detained on Saturday ahead of a major protest against the country’s chief election commissioner. The protests are the culmination of weeks of opposition mobilisation...

• #India
• #Protests around the world
• #Narendra Modi
• #Rahul Gandhi
• #Bharatiya Janata Party

He nearly left fashion. Now, he is redefining handcrafted l…

“I’m not a fashion person,” says Kenneth Chow, founder of independent fashion label Chow Chow. During our interview, he wears a simple striped shirt and answers without pretension. “I barely buy new clothes,” he says, laughing. Despite his simple approach to fashion, Chow’s business focuses on refined craftsmanship, intricate designs and handcrafted luxury. His designs, embellished with crystals and pearls hand-stitched on dark-coloured silks, play with perceptions of geometry and linear...

• #Fashion
• #Gen Z

Hong Kong finance chief highlights 4 priorities ahead of Ap…

The Apec finance ministers’ meeting in Hong Kong this month will focus on fiscal policies that support livelihoods, digital infrastructure financing, inclusive finance and young financial talent, underlining the city’s role as an international financial centre, the finance chief said. “These four priorities are areas of strength for Hong Kong and fields in which we can make an active contribution,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po wrote in his weekly blog on Sunday. “Hosting the finance...

• #finance
• #Hong Kong
• #APEC

New vs old: why new-builds are far outselling used homes in…

A clear divide has opened up in Hong Kong’s property market in recent months: sales of new-build homes have surged, but the recovery in the secondary market has remained far more modest. The contrast between the two segments is not a coincidence – and is likely to persist for some time, according to analysts. The trend is largely being driven by developers slashing prices on new-builds to clear their inventories ahead of expected interest rate rises in the coming months. This is making new homes...

• #Hong Kong property
• #Hong Kong
• #Property investment
• #Hong Kong economy
• #Hong Kong housing
• #Derek Chan

Nanotechnology expert Antonio Facchetti joins HKUST from Ge…

Materials scientist and chemist Antonio Facchetti, formerly of the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, has joined the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as a chair professor in its newly established department of materials. Facchetti, who was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering last year for his “contributions to the engineering of commercially viable electronic materials and devices”, researches semiconductors, dielectrics for thin-film and...

• #Georgia

Denuclearising North Korea would ‘defy history’ as US, alli…

The denuclearisation of North Korea has become an “increasingly improbable” goal and the United States and its allies should move beyond it to devote their diplomatic efforts to talks on arms limitations and crisis communication, the director of the US-based North Korean analysis website 38 North said. Recalling the 20 years since North Korea carried out its first nuclear test on October 9, 2006, Jenny Town said in a written interview that “a pivotal moment” in Pyongyang’s weapons development...

• #North Korea
• #North Korea nuclear crisis
• #South Korea
• #Korean peninsula
• #United States
• #Kim Jong-un

Admission scores fall for Hong Kong physiotherapy courses a…

Admission scores for physiotherapy degree programmes at three Hong Kong tertiary institutions fell by as much as 10 per cent this year compared with 2025, amid gloomy career prospects in the sector, the latest data shows. The decline prompted the professional body for physiotherapists to call on the government to halt healthcare funding cuts in the next budget, saying they had contributed to a jobs crunch in the sector. Across four institutions, 23 per cent of students admitted to physiotherapy...

• #Hong Kong
• #Jobs

Unsung turtle conservation heroes in Malaysia’s Sabah unite…

Roziah Jelali has a tip or two on catching a turtle poacher: carrying a pair of binoculars and having patience in spades are key to doing the job well. The 36-year-old Malaysian volunteer ranger once spent three months in Sabah tracking a man whom she suspected of illegally capturing protected turtles. Once thriving off the azure seas of Omadal Island in the Malaysian state, many turtles had been hunted down, killed and sold for their meat, according to conservation experts. Recounting the 2023...

• #Malaysia
• #Environment
• #Conservation
• #The Philippines
• #Indonesia
• #Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Letters | 5-year plan must preserve what makes Hong Kong di…

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words. Hong Kong’s first five-year plan should not be judged simply by its resemblance to mainland planning, nor by the number of targets it contains. Its real test is whether long-term policy coordination can strengthen the qualities that make Hong Kong internationally...

• #Hong Kong’s first 5-year plan
• #Hong Kong
• #Northern Metropolis
• #China

Japanese giant expands China chip packaging materials outpu…

Japanese semiconductor materials giant Sumitomo Bakelite plans to expand production of advanced chip packaging materials in China and Singapore, marking the second such announcement for its Chinese operations in less than four months as artificial intelligence drives demand for more sophisticated semiconductors. The Tokyo-based company said on Friday that it would add production lines for mould underfill (MUF) materials and compression-moulding granules at its facilities in Suzhou, eastern...

• #Semiconductors
• #Japan
• #China technology
• #China
• #Singapore
• #Taiwan

China retiree devotes life to photography after tumour shri…

After spending all her savings on a month-long trip to Antarctica following a cancer diagnosis, a woman from southwestern China discovered that her tumour had shrunk. Wang Ying, 67, is an amateur wildlife photographer who has photographed more than 1,200 bird species. In 2013, as she was preparing to retire from her job as an administrator at a school in Kunming, the capital of southwestern China’s Yunnan province, Wang was diagnosed with a form of thyroid cancer. Doctors urged her to undergo...

• #China
• #Chinese
• #retire
• #retiree
• #retirement
• #cancer

New HK$122m lifeguard outsourcing contract sparks public sp…

A controversial decision by Hong Kong authorities to award a lifeguard and first aid services contract worth more than HK$122 million (US$15.6 million) to a company previously found to have failed to provide the required staffing at swimming pools has sparked concerns over whether public funds are being used prudently. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department on Saturday defended the decision, saying it was satisfied with Spotlight Enterprises’ performance over the past two years and that it...

Could Thai durian export duty mean higher prices, higher qu…

A Thai government proposal to charge export duties on durians, a major cash crop, could raise prices for the fruit in China – its primary market – along with the quality, analysts said. Thailand’s draft bill to establish a fund for research and “sustainable” development of the durian sector would include the collection of fees, the government’s public relations department said last month. Southeast Asian media outlets and agricultural publications have tipped the export duty to be as high as 2...

• #China trade
• #China-Asean relations
• #Thailand
• #Durians in China
• #China
• #Chulalongkorn University

Why Malaysian doctors are turning down permanent posts in B…

On Facebook, public hospitals in Malaysia’s Bornean states have been rolling out “Selamat Datang” [welcome] banner posts to embrace medical staff reporting for duty. Tawau Hospital on Sabah’s east coast recently published a group photograph welcoming newly arrived medical officers. Kinabatangan Hospital posted similar banners hailing arrivals across various departments, while in neighbouring Sarawak, Kapit Hospital accompanied its greeting with a portrait of a newly arrived doctor. But behind...

• #Malaysia
• #Health & Fitness
• #S. Iswaran

More support needed for ethnic minority children with speci…

A non-profit children’s education organisation in Hong Kong has urged the government to expand support services for preschool-aged ethnic minority children with special needs to more districts, after a pilot project found that 95 per cent of participants showed improvement. Heep Hong Society said on Sunday that many ethnic minority families faced multiple barriers when seeking support for children with special educational needs (SEN), including language difficulties, financial constraints and...

• #Education in Hong Kong
• #Ethnic minorities in Hong Kong
• #Hong Kong society
• #Education
• #Hong Kong youth
• #Hong Kong culture

Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: biotech firm eyes cervical canc…

Hong Kong biotech entrepreneur Ricky Chiu Yin-to is seeking to make cervical cancer screening easier through urine-based HPV testing, using sample-concentration technology developed by his company. His company, Phase Scientific, made its name during the Covid-19 pandemic through its rapid antigen test, Indicaid. The product received US emergency-use authorisation in July 2021, was used in Hong Kong community testing and sold in more than 30 countries. At the start of the pandemic, the firm...

• #Hong Kong society
• #Spirit of Hong Kong Awards
• #Spirit of Hong Kong
• #Hong Kong
• #Cancer
• #Technology

Opinion | Hangzhou is doubling down on tech – minus the vir…

A year ago, a Unitree robot kickboxing could light up social media. When DeepSeek released its latest open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model, developers around the world rushed to test it. This year, however, Hangzhou’s latest technology bets have barely made a ripple. The city’s “New Eight Steeds” – eight deep-tech companies in fields ranging from smart glasses and inference graphic processing units (GPUs) to compute-in-memory chips and space computing – are a very different proposition...

• #China technology
• #Hangzhou
• #Artificial intelligence (AI)
• #China
• #Unitree Robotics
• #Alibaba

Cities release renewal plans as clock ticks on China’s comm…

Groundbreaking land-renewal policies recently announced in Guangzhou and Shanghai represent a step forward in stabilising China’s commercial property market and shoring up investors’ confidence amid Beijing’s efforts to revive the real estate industry, according to officials and industry analysts. The new rules governing the leasing of land for commercial and industrial use will also facilitate the issuance of exchange-traded real estate investment trusts (Reits), a financing tool that...

• #land-renewal policies
• #property market
• #land-use rights
• #land lease agreements
• #Reits
• #China

Bar Association urges proxy cap, electronic voting to curb…

The Hong Kong Bar Association has suggested capping the number of proxies a person can hold at homeowners’ meetings, without restricting who may act as a proxy, stressing that improving transparency and introducing an electronic voting system could help to deter abuse in large-scale maintenance procurement. Speaking to the South China Morning Post, association chairman Jose-Antonio Maurellet expressed reservations about a government proposal to restrict an owner’s representative to a relative or...

• #Lands Tribunal
• #owners' corporation
• #proxy
• #Hong Kong Bar Association
• #Wang Fuk Court
• #Jose-Antonio Maurellet

How Manchester City could repeat Uefa victory and hit back…

Manchester City have a puncher’s chance of successfully contesting the ruling that they were guilty of all charges relating to flagrant breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules, but should their argument fall flat, the 10-time English champions can expect to be clobbered with swingeing penalties. Those are the views of Luca Ferrari and Daniel Gore, specialists in sports and litigation law, respectively, after City were found guilty by a three-person independent commission of 80 charges...

• #English Premier League
• #Uefa
• #Court of Arbitration for Sport

Who rules Negeri Sembilan? Royal row tests Malaysia’s const…

The dust has yet to settle in Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan, where a royal row has led to the fall of a state government and left the public wondering who, exactly, is in charge. Observers warn that the months-long constitutional crisis could create ripple effects well beyond the state’s borders, testing the entire nation’s systems of monarchy and government. The dispute centres on which of two men: the incumbent, Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, or his intended replacement, Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku...

• #Malaysia
• #Malaysian politics
• #Royalty
• #Anwar Ibrahim
• #Pakatan Harapan
• #Umno (Malaysia)

Editorial | Cooling-off period bill should protect more con…

Yet another high-profile business collapse has exposed how vulnerable Hong Kong consumers remain when they pay large sums upfront for service contracts stretching over a long period. The abrupt closure of Hotstone Yoga, after a decade in business, has left hundreds of customers facing potentially millions of dollars in losses. The incident has once again highlighted the risks for consumers paying hefty prices upfront for discounted services over a long period. It also renews calls on the...

• #high-pressure sales tactics
• #business collapse
• #statutory cooling-off period
• #Trade Descriptions Ordinance
• #consumer protection
• #wellness market

The plague isn’t history. Where it still exists, how it spr…

To most, the plague is an ancient nightmare, a scourge that wiped out tens of millions in medieval Europe and killed more than 20,000 people in colonial Hong Kong between 1894 and 1929. A recent death at a plague research facility in Siberia is a stark reminder that the bacterium that causes it, Yersinia pestis, was never eradicated. While modern medicine has transformed the former “Black Death” into an easily treatable bacterial infection, the disease continues to circulate quietly across the...

• #IT
• #History

Tiger kills man who entered big cat enclosure at UK wildlif…

A man died on Saturday after he entered the tiger enclosure at a wildlife park in northern England and was attacked by one of the animals, police said. Emergency medical personnel responded to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park near the city of Doncaster after the incident was reported at about 1.35pm, but the victim died at the scene, South Yorkshire Police said in a statement. The tiger was not injured and remained inside the enclosure during the incident, the force said. The wildlife park was...

• #Animals
• #Britain

Meet Thomas Eisenhood, the ‘low-key guy’ rumoured to be Jes…

Jessica Simpson seems to be cosying up to her rumoured new beau. On October 5, TMZ reported that the 46-year-old singer and actress was spotted enjoying a Sunday morning walk at Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta Park with 33-year-old musician Thomas Eisenhood, whom she was first linked to in April. According to TMZ, the pair had been dating for roughly three months when the outlet broke the news in April. A source confirmed the relationship to People, adding, “[Simpson is] happy. She’s in a great...

• #Get to Know
• #Fame and celebrity
• #Sex and relationships
• #Music
• #Hollywood
• #Icons and Influencers

This week in PostMag: the collectors preserving art, design…

What drives the urge to collect? Does collecting ever become a habit, rather than a passion? Ultimately, what brings more fulfilment: amassing quantity or curating quality? A torrent of questions floods the mind when it comes to understanding the raison d’être of collecting. But rather than hear from me, a non-collector – all I accumulate is white hairs, at an astonishing speed – our dedicated Collecting issue happens to be the perfect stage for PostMag’s managing director, Eugene Tang, to share...

• #Editor's Letter
• #China
• #Hong Kong

How a museum masterpiece’s life-size replica sparked rare U…

For anyone who has visited the Chinese galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, there is one work that stops them in their tracks. Stepping into Gallery 206, home to Chinese Buddhist art, visitors are met by a monumental wall – over 15 metres wide and 7.5 metres tall (nearly 50 feet by 25 feet) – covered in a Buddhist assembly so vast and majestic that it momentarily erases the Manhattan bustle outside. Here stands the Medicine Buddha, a 14th century Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)...

• #US-China relations
• #Chinese artifacts
• #China
• #United States
• #Tim Cook
• #Xi Jinping

9 dead, including kids and pregnant woman, in shooting in E…

A shooting in a residential area of Erie, Pennsylvania, left nine dead including two children, a pregnant woman and the suspected shooter, authorities said. Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said the 45-year-old male gunman was related to seven of the victims in Friday’s shooting, while the eighth was a friend of the pregnant woman. Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators showed two “distressed” women arriving at the home shortly before 5pm and pounding on the door, he said. The gunman...

• #Gun violence in the US
• #Crime
• #United States

Opinion | In AI, India’s choice needn’t be between a US lea…

On June 12, two of the world’s most capable artificial intelligence models went dark. An American export directive barred foreigners from using Anthropic’s two flagship AI models, and because the company could not check every user’s nationality, it switched them off. Access returned on July 1 but the warning is clear: India’s AI future can be switched off from Washington. In September, Beijing came calling. At the Brics summit in New Delhi, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised China would “be a...

• #India
• #Artificial intelligence (AI)
• #AI: Companies
• #AI: Geopolitics
• #AI: Policy
• #Semiconductors

Isaias kills 4 in US, leaves 670,000 without power

Four people died after Hurricane Isaias made landfall early on Saturday, and about 670,000 residents in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi were still without power as the storm weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, according to local authorities and electricity monitoring services. Two of the deaths resulted ‌from trees falling on homes, according to local media and authorities. Authorities in Florida had received no search and rescue requests shortly after landfall in a sign of limited...

• #Natural disasters
• #United States
• #Florida
• #Georgia
• #Donald Trump
• #Ron DeSantis

Freaky footwear – why subversive shoes divide opinion

There is something quite deliciously subversive about a freaky shoe. Feet of course already hold a hint of perversion – some people are really into them, while others find them repellent. But shod those feet in a shoe that people can find both compelling and strange? Well actually, that’s fashion catnip. Visceral proof can be found in those who have made the freaky shoe their signature, such as the aristocratic, enigmatic and entirely iconic Daphne Guinness, who always wears a pair of...

• #Fashion
• #Luxury brands
• #Saint Laurent
• #Chanel
• #Dior
• #Loewe

Trump demands Ukraine get new president, lashes out at Zele…

US President Donald Trump has called for Ukraine to replace President Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of rejecting multiple opportunities to end the war with Russia. “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday. “Zelensky could have settled this war many times, many many times, and he chooses not to,” Trump said. The US president suggested that Ukrainians should choose a new leader capable of negotiating an agreement to end the...

• #Ukraine war
• #Donald Trump
• #Volodymyr Zelensky
• #Ukraine
• #Energy
• #Russia