–
Firefighters battled a fierce rooftop blaze at a residential building in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district for around an hour on Tuesday before dousing the flames. The Fire Services Department received a report at about 5.20pm that items stored on the rooftop of the 26-storey Block B of Shun King Building on Nelson Street had caught fire. No casualties were reported, while 40 residents fled the building. Firefighters tackled the blaze with one water jet. Strong flames and thick black smoke could be...
Hong Kong’s Generation Y residents – those aged 30 to 45 – are the city’s unhappiest age group, largely because of dissatisfaction with economic and housing conditions, a poll has found. The Hong Kong Happiness Index stood at 5.87 out of 10, according to a survey of 1,039 adults conducted by HK.WeCare, an initiative under non-profit organisation Wofoo Social Enterprises. The score remained below the passing level for a fourth consecutive year, despite an overall upward trend since 2024. More...
A construction worker has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a man who confronted him about smoking while they were waiting for a lift at a private housing estate in Hong Kong. A High Court jury on Tuesday found Tam Yun-chiu, 52, guilty of killing Ho Lok-man after hearing that he repeatedly punched the victim in the face, knocked him to the ground and kicked his head on the podium floor of Amoy Gardens in Kowloon Bay on September 19, 2023. Ho, a 48-year-old bus driver, became...
Hong Kong has retained its status as the world’s freest economy in the latest annual ranking by a top Canadian think tank, although its score has declined in recent years. Switzerland overtook Singapore to claim second place in 2026, pushing the city state down to third in the league table released by the Fraser Institute on Tuesday. The Economic Freedom of the World report, compiled by the Vancouver-based public policy research organisation using data from 2024, ranked Hong Kong first among 165...
Germany and France, the European Union’s two largest economies, jointly called for tougher EU trade defences, as European and Chinese negotiators prepare for crunch talks this week under the shadow of a potential trade war. “The open and rules-based trade system is massively affected by weaponisation of trade, systemic market-distorting practices, and global macroeconomic imbalances,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron said in an open letter. “We need urgent...
The recent US-China summit yielded a narrow, caution-filled outcome for bilateral trade: a two-month extension of the Kuala Lumpur trade truce, which now expires on January 10 next year. This reprieve eases fears of immediate tariff escalation and shows that head-of-state diplomacy can still curb spiralling confrontation. Yet the short timeline exposes the wide gulf separating the two sides’ priorities. China’s position has been unambiguous: removal of all punitive tariffs and restrictive...
Shenzhen Transsion Holdings, the maker of Africa’s bestselling phones, aims to kick off its Hong Kong share offering on Wednesday to raise up to US$500 million ahead of a targeted October 15 listing, according to people familiar with the matter. The company, which already trades in Shanghai and has a market capitalisation of 62 billion yuan (US$9.24 billion), could offer up to 132 million offshore ordinary shares, according to approval documents from the China Securities Regulatory Commission...
The authority managing Hong Kong’s arts hub in West Kowloon recorded a wider deficit in the 2025-26 financial year but expects to generate more income next year by putting a residential development project out to tender. The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority’s deficit ballooned to HK$998 million (US$127 million) in the year to March 31, from HK$769 million in the same period a year earlier. The increase was mainly due to higher operating costs as it prepared the new WestK Performing Arts...
Banking apps from Mox Bank, Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK), ZA Bank and Citibank Hong Kong are among the top 10 in Asia-Pacific, according to a study exclusively previewed by the South China Morning Post. Sia, an international consulting firm, assessed 145 banking apps in 20 markets in Europe, Asia and Australia using 100 criteria, including functionality, user experience and feedback, with each receiving a score from 0 to 100. The app from digital lender Mox Bank – backed by Standard...
Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung called her former father-in-law an “old crook” as she accused her ex-relatives of turning her children against her when she tried sell a HK$72 million (US$9.17 million) flat, a court has heard. Choi’s mother, Cheung Yin-fa, on Tuesday said her daughter had become hostile towards her former parents-in-law, Kwong Kau and Jenny Li Sui-heung, in the months before the influencer’s death in February 2023. Cheung wept in the witness box as she watched footage of...
China tried three times to persuade powerful families in northern Myanmar to shut down scam operations before Myanmar police carried out large-scale arrests in 2023, according to a new documentary broadcast on Chinese state television. The three-part documentary, jointly produced by China’s Ministry of Public Security and state broadcaster CCTV, began airing on Monday. It shows obstacles faced by Chinese authorities in pursuing criminal networks and scam groups operating in northern Myanmar...
Hong Kong’s leader has pledged to provide guests attending this month’s Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting with a “high-quality” experience, as the city works closely with Beijing to assist delegations with the registration process. About 500 guests, including finance ministers and senior officials from the 21 member economies, are expected to attend the annual meeting on October 20 and 21, which will be hosted by Hong Kong for the first time at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan...
