China

Hong Kong will hold the Legislative Council election as scheduled on Sunday, the chief executive has announced, arguing that it is important to elect new lawmakers who will be his key partners in launching reforms as the city reels from the deadly fire in Tai Po. City leader John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that lawmakers were needed to help scrutinise […]

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. Hong Kong’s leader has ordered the establishment of an independent committee, chaired by a judge, to investigate the cause of the deadly fire in […]

Victims of Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades have called for a unified platform to access funds and resources, as some elderly people say they feel “exhausted” having to travel around and repeatedly provide their personal information to different parties for support. Several people who lost their homes in the Tai Po fire, which had claimed 151 lives […]

Last month, the first university jointly established by Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University (BNBU), celebrated its 20th birthday. When the mainland opened up its education sector in 2003 with its new Regulations on Sino-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, Baptist University was the only Hong Kong university […]

A global property management giant that was engaged to oversee the tender for fire safety and serve as the interface between residents and renovation contractors at Hong Kong’s ill-fated Wang Fuk Court estate broke its silence on Monday to offer condolences but declined to comment on its involvement. ISS EastPoint, a subsidiary of Denmark-based ISS, was […]

1 in 5 women live with a disabilityThat represents 20 per cent of all women, compared to 12 per cent of men.

There was a time when landing in Hong Kong felt like arriving in the future. In 1998, the sleek Airport Express glided out of Chek Lap Kok, whisking passengers directly to the heart of the city. It was a symbol of modernity and efficiency, placing Hong Kong among a handful of global cities with a dedicated airport rail link. We were pioneers and justifiably […]

Students, workers and domestic helpers affected by the deadly Hong Kong blaze that claimed 151 lives will each receive a payout of HK$20,000 (US$2,570) as part of government relief efforts. And donations to the government’s relief fund have reached HK$1.6 billion, reflecting strong public support for the victims. The authorities on Monday also announced […]

More than 2,000 people left homeless last week by Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades have been settled in temporary housing and hotels, while some residents are choosing to stay with friends and relatives after deeming the offered locations too remote. Undersecretary for Home and Youth Affairs Clarence Leung Wang-ching said on Monday that 2,000 […]

PARIS: The Louvre is moving ahead with higher ticket prices for visitors from outside the European Union, introducing a 10-euro increase as part of efforts to finance a sweeping overhaul of the famed Paris museum. The price for non-EU nationals will rise from 22 euros to 32 euros (US$25 to $37) starting January 14, a measure approved this week by the […]

A retired Hong Kong star tutor has been spared jail for taking upskirt footage of a woman at a railway station last year. Sha Tin Court on Monday placed Kenneth Kwong Si-san, 64, on probation for a year in light of his timely guilty plea and lack of a criminal record before the offence on February 14, 2024. The court heard that the defendant, better known […]

A district councillor facing public scrutiny amid Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades has said she will personally file reports with both police and the corruption watchdog to request an investigation. Peggy Wong Pik-kiu, a directly elected district councillor from the Tai Po South constituency, announced her decision via social media on Monday, saying […]

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. Investigators have found substandard protective nets that were not flame retardant, deliberately concealed by the contractors responsible for […]

The measure mirrors Beijing's recent decision to grant the same privilege to Russian nationals President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing visa-free entry to Russia for Chinese citizens, granting them stays of up to 30 days. The move mirrors Beijing's recent decision to extend the same visa-free […]

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], December 1 (ANI): Palestine ended their AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 Qualifiers campaign on a positive note as they defeated Chinese Taipei 3-1 in an inconsequential Group D clash, despite being reduced to 10 men, as per the offical website of the All India Football Federation (AIFF).For Palestine, Yazan Khalifah (33rd […]

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], December 1 (ANI): On reports claiming a delay in an Indian missile test due to the presence of a Chinese spy vessel, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi on Sunday said he was not fully aware of the specifics of the matter, adding that such claims could also be 'somebody's figment of imagination.''I am not fully aware […]

New Delhi [India], November 30 (ANI): Centuries from Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and back-to-back tons from Ayush Mhatre were the highlights of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy action on Sunday. Opening the innings with Prabhsimran Singh, Abhishek tore into a Bengal attack led by Mohammed Shami and Akash Deep. He scored at more than 15 runs per over against […]

Hong Kong, November 30 (ANI): Authorities in Hong Kong said they have discovered 18 more human remains in the aftermath of the massive fire that tore through the Wang Fuk Court housing estate, raising the death toll to 146, Al Jazeera reported.The blaze, Hong Kong's deadliest in more than 75 years, engulfed seven of the complex's residential towers over two […]

Geneva [Switzerland], November 30 (ANI): Fifteen countries have issued a joint statement at the 80th United Nations General Assembly's Third Committee, openly condemning China's grave and systematic human rights violations within its borders and beyond.The declaration marked a rare moment of unified global defiance against China's increasingly authoritarian […]

New Delhi [India], November 30 (ANI): The Delhi Police Special Cell on Sunday busted an international and interstate Pakistan-backed gangster-turned-terror module and arrested three terrorists, officials said.More details are awaited.Meanwhile, in a separate operation, the Delhi Police Crime Branch on Friday arrested gangster Bandhu Man Singh, the […]

Geneva [Switzerland], November 30 (ANI): In a powerful intervention at the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva, Dolkun Isa, President of the Uyghur Center for Democracy and Human Rights, delivered an impassioned statement highlighting China's systematic repression of Uyghur people despite an attempt by the Chinese delegation to interrupt and […]

New Delhi [India], November 30 (ANI): Abhishek Sharma smashed a 12-ball half-century for Punjab against Bengal in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Hyderabad on Sunday. His whirlwind knock is now the joint third-fastest fifty in men's T20 cricket and the joint second-fastest by an Indian, as per ESPNcricinfo.Opening the innings with Prabhsimran Singh, Abhishek […]

With the rise of social media and generative AI, how much of what we see online is true? In this new series, SCMP Fact-Check, the Post investigates claims circulating online and debunks viral misinformation impacting the daily lives of Hongkongers. A 16-second clip was shared on Facebook on Thursday and has amassed more than 200,000 views. […]

This article was originally published on December 2, 2000 By Felix Chan Warning for MPF-dodging bosses Employers were warned on Friday (December 1, 2000), the day the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) was launched, that they could not escape paying their fair share. Only about 135,000 employers, 54 per cent of those required to do so, had signed up by the […]

Hong Kong’s Legislative Council election will be held as scheduled on December 7, as recovery and rebuilding work from the city’s deadliest blaze in decades is proceeding largely smoothly, a source has told the Post. The insider said the decision to proceed with the poll as planned was also based on legal considerations, as postponing it could risk […]

The death toll among Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades has increased to nine after two more were confirmed dead, with 36 others remaining unaccounted for, according to the country’s consulate. The announcement came as the government revealed on Monday that more than 1,700 households affected by the Wang Fuk Court inferno […]

Hong Kong’s property market is expected to extend its gradual recovery into the end of the year, supported by improving sentiment, rising rental yields and firmer demand in the mass-market segment, according to property analysts. The latest mortgage and resale data suggest that buyers are returning following rate cuts and stamp-duty adjustments earlier […]

Hong Kong is going through one of its most difficult times in recent history. From what we have seen of the communities coming together for Tai Po, where the worst fire in decades ripped through a residential block leaving devastation that is almost unimaginable, there is hope that we will come out of this stronger. The loss of lives, including that of a […]

NEW DELHI, India: India has lodged a protest with China over what it called an "arbitrary detention" of an Indian citizen at the Shanghai airport after the traveler from a northeastern state said she was held for hours because Chinese authorities refused to recognize her passport. Chinese authorities stopped the woman during a layover in Shanghai en route […]

BEIJING: China: Chinese technology companies are increasingly shifting the training of artificial intelligence models to overseas data centres as U.S. export controls tighten access to Nvidia chips, the Financial Times reported. Alibaba and ByteDance are among the firms training new large language models in Southeast Asia, the report said, citing two people […]

For 17 odd years as a pastor, Reverend Jenny Lam Yat-kwan witnessed life and death and helped those in despair, but after losing three members of her family in the devastating Tai Po fire in Hong Kong, she needed all the courage and strength she could draw from God. Lam, the pastor of ELCHK Diamond Lutheran Church, told the Post on Sunday night that the […]

An increase in office leasing activity in Hong Kong, coupled with a moderate amount of new space coming onto the market, translates to improved prospects for the battered commercial property sector next year, according to analysts. The supply of new grade A office space in 2026 and 2027 was likely to be less than the amount completed in the last two years, […]

(Photo credit: Nick Oza/The Republic via Imagn Content Services, LLC)OG, Natus Vincere, MOUZ and Team Yandex rounded out the six-team playoff field at the BLAST Slam V event by advancing through the play-in round on Sunday.Team Falcons and Tundra Esports grabbed the top two group-play seeds by finishing top-two in the group stage, which concluded Saturday. […]

The recent flurry of sporting events has thrown up a number of aspects which I found particularly inspiring. With much of the media focus on China’s 15th National Games naturally on the sporting contests, less attention was paid to the fact that the event could only have been successfully organised with the support of local volunteers. The Agency for […]

Thousands of mourners poured into Tai Po on Sunday, forming a solemn river of remembrance for the 146 lives lost in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in more than seven decades, while Beijing called for unity and healing as a massive rescue and recovery operation continued amid the charred ruins. The scale of the calamity was evident, as the Disaster Victim […]

A Filipino domestic worker who fled Hong Kong’s deadly inferno with her employers’ three-year-old daughter in her arms has expressed regret that she was unable to persuade a neighbour who perished in the blaze to also try to escape. Reinalyn Niere, who arrived in the city last year, said she was asleep with the child in the family’s third-floor flat […]

Hong Kong’s deadly fire in Tai Po has prompted an outpouring of generosity from the public, with donations already surpassing the total raised in the initial aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. By noon on Sunday, the government’s support fund had grown to HK$1.2 billion (US$153 million), with HK$900 million in public donations and HK$300 million […]

Police have issued warnings for a second day in a row about scammers preying on grieving Hongkongers under the guise of donations and relief efforts, with aid pouring in for victims of Wednesday’s deadly inferno at a Tai Po housing estate. Police said in an online post on Sunday that officers had noticed a fraudulent “Tai Po Wang Fuk Court victims […]

HONG KONG: Bamboo scaffolding and mesh, a centuries-old building tradition carried over from mainland China, have come under sharp scrutiny after Hong Kong's deadliest fire in three decades. While the origin of the blaze was unclear, there was no hiding the ease with which the fire rapidly spread across the green netting and sent bamboo lattices crashing to […]

Hong Kong’s “top priority” is to resettle residents displaced by the Tai Po fire so they can get through the winter, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has said, pointing to measures rolled out by the banking industry to ease their immediate financial burden. Chan highlighted on Sunday the banking industry’s emergency support measures that came […]

Hong Kong’s financial identity is entering a new chapter, shaped as much by strategic alignment as capital flows. By co-launching a US$1 billion investment fund with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the city is taking one of its most assertive steps yet to redefine Hong Kong’s financial identity in a rapidly changing global economy. The […]

Beijing’s state media has praised the swift rescue and relief efforts by the Hong Kong government after the city’s worst fire in decades, commending its leadership and pledging support in its first editorial commentary on the tragedy. Published on Sunday, the commentary by Xinhua, which typically reflects the stance of the central government, focused on […]

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. What we know so far: 146 people, including a firefighter, confirmed dead 79 injured, including 12 firefighters Around 40 people deemed to be […]

(251130) -- XIAPU, Nov. 30, 2025 (Xinhua) -- Guests view large yellow croaker products at the ninth Ningde (Xiapu) large yellow croaker industry innovation and development conference in Xiapu County, southeast China's Fujian Province, Nov. 29, 2025. The ninth Ningde (Xiapu) large yellow croaker industry innovation and development conference kicked off here […]

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], November 30 (ANI): It all boils down to this. India's AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 qualifiers encounter against Iran at the EKA Arena will decide who makes the trip to the Gulf next year. The match will kick off on Sunday, as per the official website of the All India Football Federation (AIFF).The Blue Colts currently […]