World News by Wild Rose

Hong Kong police have arrested a man and recovered uncut gemstones worth nearly HK$1 million (US$127,500) that were allegedly snatched from an overseas businessman as he slept in a hotel lobby. The force said on Monday that the suspected theft happened a day earlier while the businessman, a 29-year-old jeweller from Sri Lanka, was in the city for the “Jewellery & Gem World Hong Kong September” trade fair. The jewellery was allegedly taken from the victim as he slept in the lobby, where he was...

Hong Kong has recorded its highest monthly number of visitors since the Covid-19 pandemic, provisional official figures show, with authorities attributing August’s total to a series of international conferences and mega-events. The Hong Kong Tourism Board said on Tuesday that the city received 5.46 million visitors across the month, up 6 per cent from a year earlier and the highest monthly total since the pandemic. Tourist numbers in the first eight months of the year also rose 11 per cent year...

Two brothers in their fifties have been found dead in their Hong Kong flat, police have said, with a source noting that they had social avoidance tendencies and had been financially supported by their parents. The exact causes of the deaths have yet to be confirmed by postmortem examinations. No suspicious circumstances had been identified at this stage, the force said on Tuesday. The bodies were discovered after the elder sister of the two men made a police report on Monday, an insider...

Hong Kong authorities will hold construction firms and government personnel accountable for faulty lift installation work at Queen Mary Hospital’s new block, the city’s leader has said, as he tasked the Development Bureau with submitting a report within a month. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that he had instructed the bureau, which had given him a preliminary briefing, to “thoroughly investigate the matter and report within a month”. “We will pursue accountability, including...

A man has been arrested for allegedly defrauding an education consultant of nearly HK$3 million (US$382,500) by claiming he could secure dozens of places at a Hong Kong school, the South China Morning Post has learned. A police source said on Monday that the suspect, a 51-year-old Hongkonger, who claimed to be a businessman, signed a contract with a woman education consultant, 45, on March 1, 2024, promising to provide dozens of places at a school called “Kiangsu-Chekiang College”. Believing the...

Hong Kong should overhaul its ecotourism planning and allow visitors to book ahead at more of its popular countryside attractions, a lawmaker has said, after a survey found most residents believed the city had strong potential for nature-focused experiences but lacked enough quality options. A poll of 651 residents commissioned by lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung’s office and think tank New Youth Forum found 71.8 per cent agreed Hong Kong’s countryside resources could be developed into high-quality...

A group of 14 government employees can only recover their shares of a HK$30 million (US$3.8 million) Mark Six windfall through civil legal proceedings after a colleague allegedly refused to split the prize and disappeared, a lawyer has said. Vitus Lawyers principal partner Vitus Leung Wing-hang told the South China Morning Post on Monday that retrieving the money would not be easy for the victims, who work at the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department office. Leung added that the 36-year-old...

More than 700 Hongkongers were shocked to discover that their credit cards had been used to place unauthorised orders for Apple’s new iPhone 18 Pro series handsets over the weekend. Although banks reassured victims they would not be charged as long as the cards were used with due care and the transactions were proven to be unauthorised, the incident still caused widespread concern over credit card security. The South China Morning Post asked information technology experts for practical tips on...

Hong Kong police are investigating the discovery of the bodies of two men at a public housing estate flat in Ap Lei Chau. The force said a security guard alerted authorities after detecting a foul smell coming from the flat at Lei Tung Estate’s Tung Yip House at around 2pm on Monday. Rescue personnel forced their way into the flat and discovered the bodies of the two men. Paramedics confirmed their deaths at the scene. One of the men was believed to be in his fifties. Police have sealed off the...

A woman convicted of using a forged reference letter to gain admission to a Hong Kong doctoral programme has been spared jail and ordered to perform 160 hours of community service. Fanling Magistrate Kenneth Chan Ping-chau said on Monday that he had decided to “make an exception” for 31-year-old Li Zuer, who earlier admitted falsely claiming that a former teaching staff member at the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) had written a reference letter for her in March 2024. The letter...

Disposable sanitary pads sold in Hong Kong show wide discrepancies in absorption speed, with more than half of tested products also lacking adequate labelling, the consumer watchdog has found. The Consumer Council on Monday revealed the results of a survey of 36 winged sanitary towels, in which one sample took 73 seconds to fully absorb simulated menstrual blood – exceeding the mainland China national standard recommendation of no more than 60 seconds. “The council calls on suppliers to...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Brics members find common ground on AI, trade and de-dollarisation push 2. China urges US to ‘stop all’ spying activities, slams ‘gangster logic’ 3. Police freeze HK$30 million in account of man who refused to share Mark Six prize 4. India-Pakistan water row deepens after Hague court ruling 5....

The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results are out and unfortunately for the Education Bureau, Hong Kong’s performance looks bad. Is this the outcome of not learning from the last assessment? In the 2022 Pisa assessment, a metric for creative thinking was introduced to measure the ability to generate, evaluate, improve and communicate ideas, as well as social and scientific problem-solving. Hong Kong scored below the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and...

A lunch supplier will stop portioning meals in classrooms at a Hong Kong primary school following a suspected food poisoning outbreak that hit 39 pupils and staff members last week. Danny Catering Service said in a statement on Sunday to its school partners, parents and teachers that the incident was “isolated” and linked to the school’s portioning arrangement, and did not affect its services at other locations. “To ensure student food safety and avoid potential cross-contamination or...

A growing number of South Korean beauticians are providing illegal eyebrow or lip microblading treatments in Hong Kong, with the country’s consulate issuing a warning to its citizens that practising without a proper permit breaches local laws, following an arrest earlier this year. Hong Kong immigration authorities made two arrests this year, including one last week witnessed by the South China Morning Post in which a South Korean make-up artist was apprehended while performing a treatment on a...

The US church group that co-founded Hong Kong International School (HKIS) accepted an out-of-court payment to end a “bad marriage”, a source has told the South China Morning Post, saying their differences would have led to more litigation if the partnership had continued. The source familiar with the settlement said the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), which sued the school for allegedly breaching its operating agreement last September, decided to part ways with the institution after...

A mainland Chinese university student in Hong Kong has lost about HK$1 million (US$127,500) in a scam, in which the fraudster claimed she was involved in a criminal case and demanded “guarantees” from her. Police said they received a report from a 19-year-old mainland woman who was student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) at 1.07am on Sunday. The force said the victim had earlier received calls from someone posing as a government officer, accusing her of being...

This article was first published on September 10, 1976. Sense of grief in Hongkong A deep sense of grief was felt by great numbers of the people in Hongkong yesterday (September 9, 1976) when radio and television stations flashed the news of the Chairman’s passing. The news brought a cloud of gloom over celebrations of the mid-autumn festivities. Flags at a number of major building and hotels, – including the Bank of China – were flown at half-mast within an hour of the announcement. Hongkong...

The quality of concrete used in three blocks of a public housing estate under construction in Tung Chung requires further testing and review, Hong Kong’s Housing Authority has revealed. According to official documents, the main contractor on the project is Able Engineering. The same company is also involved in a scandal over defective lift installation work at an expansion project at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam. The authority said on Saturday that regular checks had uncovered issues with...

A rescue operation was launched in Hung Hom in Hong Kong on Saturday afternoon after a recreational vessel began taking on water and sinking. Emergency services were alerted at around 1.36pm when a man fishing nearby spotted the pleasure boat gradually submerging off the Hung Hom Promenade. Police and firefighters rushed to the scene, and fire service divers swept the vessel. Following a search of the submerged hull, rescue personnel confirmed that no one was on board. It is understood that the...

Hong Kong police are investigating the deaths of a couple in their seventies after their bodies were discovered inside their home in Ma On Shan. Police said officers were alerted at around 8pm on Friday to a strange odour emanating from a flat in Heng Yat House at Heng On Estate. Firefighters forced entry to the flat, discovering a 72-year-old man and his 74-year-old wife lying in the living room, police said, adding the couple were pronounced dead at the scene. No suicide note was found, and...

There has been much hyperventilating over two recent controversies at M+, Hong Kong’s museum of visual culture. The first was a series of mahjong social nights charging museum members and patrons up to HK$2,500 (US$319) for a package including an exhibition tour, a meal and social tile-shuffling in the members’ lounge. Mahjong may have had a Chinamaxxing makeover in the West, but in Hong Kong, the game is still considered a tad unwholesome for a museum even when no money changed hands. Frankly,...

Unvaccinated children and elderly people are four to five times more likely to face serious complications or mortality from flu infections than those who receive vaccinations, a Hong Kong health official has warned, as influenza cases in the city continued to rise. Director of Health Ronald Lam Man-kin issued the warning on Saturday as he pointed out that Hong Kong’s influenza infections had been increasing since June. “Up until last week, the number of flu infections still remained at a high...

Hong Kong police have arrested a 36-year-old man suspected of having fled with a Mark Six jackpot worth around HK$30 million that he should have shared with 14 colleagues. A source said on Friday that a 53-year-old man had reported to police on Wednesday that he was one of 15 colleagues who had chipped in to buy a Mark Six ticket for the draw on Saturday. The group reportedly comprised some staff members of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). His colleague, a 36-year-old man,...

Veteran Hong Kong actor and filmmaker Simon Loui Yu-yeung, better known to fans as the “King of Ghosts” for his prolific work in horror films, has died at the age of 62. Long-time friend and fellow actor Frankie Ng Chi-hung revealed the news to reporters on Friday. He said Loui’s wife, TV and radio personality Ma Li, had confirmed the filmmaker had died in a hospital in Guangzhou on Monday after losing his battle with gastric cancer. “The family hoped to stay low profile. There was no big...

This article was published on September 12, 2011. Veteran Ip wins best actress in Venice by Adrian Wan Veteran Hong Kong movie star Deanie Ip Tak-han was named best actress at the Venice Film Festival for her portrayal of an ageing domestic servant in Ann Hui On-wah’s film A Simple Life (Tao Jie). The award, a first for a Hongkonger, was a crowning achievement for the 63-year-old Ip, who returned to the big screen for the first time in a decade to take the film’s leading role. The movie also...

Hong Kong police have arrested two tourists at the airport on suspicion of criminal damage after they allegedly broke into an MTR Corporation depot in Chai Wan and spray-painted graffiti on the exterior of two carriages. The force said on Thursday evening that it had received a report at about 2pm the previous day that the two men had forced their way into the depot by cutting sections of barbed wire at the top of its walls. They allegedly spray-painted each of the carriages with a...

Hong Kong’s policy address next week will continue with measures to help local news outlets expand overseas and build global networks, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said on Thursday that Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s “go global” initiative would assist local media, which report in Chinese and English, in reaching readers beyond the city. The industry could offer media services particularly in countries that came under the umbrella of the Belt and Road Initiative, the...

Hong Kong will introduce standardised cigarette packaging from March next year, with a nine-month transition period before full enforcement in December, as the city strips all branding and decorative design from packs and updates health warnings to reduce smoking rates. The Department of Health announced on Thursday that the new rules for smoking products will require all retail packs of cigarettes, long cigarette boxes and specified cigars to drop brand logos and advertising elements. Only...

The educational ethos of “cultivating values and nurturing people” is based on a classic Chinese saying that emphasises building good morals and a sense of social responsibility alongside academic and technical knowledge. At the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), this ethos drives the institution’s approach to its growth strategy, from the way its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes are designed to its research work and the partnerships it is building around the world to share...