China issues guidelines to integrate sci-tech, industry innovation
Hong Kong lawmakers have raised concerns about the hefty cost of developing a flagship tech hub and a neighbouring wetland park near the city’s border with mainland China, as the government seeks to secure a fresh HK$27 billion for the second round of works. During a Legislative Council development panel meeting on Tuesday, government officials explained the HK$27.2 billion proposal. It covers forming 175 hectares (432 acres) of land at the San Tin Technopole, establishing more than one-third of...
Warning: graphic content follows. Slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung’s dismembered remains were found inside a rural village flat that reeked of disinfectant when police arrived at the scene three days after the model’s alleged murder, a court has heard. A police detective involved in the investigation said on Tuesday that officers cordoned off the 600 square foot rental flat in Tai Po’s Lung Mei village on the evening of February 24, 2023, after he found human remains and an array of...
US-based Delta Air Lines has expressed confidence that the quality of its service will help it win a share of Hong Kong’s fiercely competitive aviation market, saying demand for its recently relaunched route to Los Angeles has exceeded expectations, driven by corporate bookings. Jeff Moomaw, the airline’s vice-president for Asia-Pacific, said on Tuesday that demand for premium travel was helping drive its growth in the region. “Hong Kong is [a] highly competitive market with premium carriers,...
China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun will skip this week’s meeting of Southeast Asian defence chiefs and their dialogue partners in Cebu, with Beijing instead sending its defence attache in the Philippines. Dong has attended the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) for the past two years. This year’s ADMM and ADMM-Plus, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, coincide with a major Communist Party meeting known as the fifth plenum, which is running in Beijing from Monday to...
A Hong Kong beautician has been sentenced to four years in jail for tricking two friends into forced labour and confinement in Myanmar’s notorious “KK Park” scam farm, with a judge slamming her actions as “vicious and inhumane”. District Court Judge Adriana Noelle Tse Ching on Tuesday said the 33-year-old defendant, Poon Sum-yi, had premeditated the fraudulent scheme to lure the two victims into travelling to Thailand, before selling them to the Chinese-run scam compound in neighbouring Myanmar...
US and Japanese forces have rehearsed coordinated anti-ship strikes and mobile missile deployments across Kyushu and Japan’s southwestern islands, testing tactics designed to challenge Beijing’s ability to control surrounding waters in a conflict over Taiwan. Now in its second week, the 11-day Keen Sword 27 exercise has tested how the allies could threaten Chinese warships from multiple directions while keeping their own forces harder to target. They have also practised repairing runways and...
Washington has suspended visa-free entry for Chinese visitors to the Northern Mariana Islands amid allegations of birth tourism and people smuggling in the US territory. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday the suspension of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Economic Vitality and Security Travel Authorisation Programme. US Senator Mike Lee hailed the move on social media, calling the programme a “Biden-era loophole for Chinese birth tourism” and...
A former Deliveroo rider who suffered severe brain injuries in a traffic accident has taken the platform to a Hong Kong court to seek compensation, arguing that resolving the legal question of his employment status at the time of the accident warrants a full trial. In the District Court on Tuesday, Deliveroo’s Hong Kong liquidator applied to strike out the lawsuit, contending that the injured worker, Lok Sze-chun, offered only a “bare assertion” to support his claim of being entitled to...
The abrupt suspension of Hong Kong’s first waste-to-energy incinerator after a fire is a stark warning against relying too heavily on the HK$31.3 billion (US$4 billion) plant, environmentalists have said, while a former lawmaker has urged the government to keep its landfill-free timetable on track. Monday’s blaze broke out on the roof of the third incineration module at the Integrated Waste Management Facilities Phase 1, or I·PARK1, on an artificial island off Shek Kwu Chau. More than 900 people...
A fragile rapprochement between China and India is facing a renewed test following reports of military face-offs along their hotly contested border. Shatrujeet Kapur, director general of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), said last week that confrontations with Chinese troops were “continuing at multiple locations along the Arunachal Pradesh border”. “In the past few days, a situation arose where face-off[s] happened at several locations in Arunachal and it still continues,” Kapur said at a...
Earlier this month, simmering trade tensions between the EU and China ease as the two sides reached an agreement in Beijing limiting hybrid car exports from China to an annual quota of 350,000 units. After the European Union imposed tariffs on fully electric cars from China in 2024, hybrid imports surged. The quota would result in more than a halving of the 800,000 hybrid cars expected to be sold this year, a figure which may soon exceed a million if unchecked. The quota would likely shift...
A Chinese H-6K strategic bomber has been sighted with two new electronic warfare pods used for jamming, according to images circulating on social media, potentially indicating an expansion of the aircraft’s capabilities. The photos – which have not been independently verified – emerged on Saturday and show an H6-K in flight with the pods on two of its six pylons. They appear to be similar to the RKZ930 pods carried by China’s J-16D electronic warfare aircraft. The location and date of the photos...
