Hong Kong has established new “partner port” relationships with key maritime centres in mainland China and South America, the city’s leader has said, with shipping experts calling it a strategic move to enlarge market catchment areas and strengthen supply chains amid global trade volatility. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced on Monday that partnerships had been formed with Guangxi and Dalian ports on the mainland and Port San Antonio in Chile. “These ports are of strategic importance,...

Worried residents at a major private housing estate in Hong Kong lined up to have their water meters cleaned on Monday after bitumen particles were found in their drinking supply, with many also complaining that their hot taps had run dry. People queued at a service counter set up by the Water Supplies Department at Taikoo Shing in Quarry Bay in the afternoon after laboratory tests confirmed that the black particles found in the drinking water of 14 blocks the night before were bitumen. Bitumen,...

China’s market regulator has moved to tackle the hidden risks of algorithm-driven price manipulation with newly proposed anti-monopoly guidelines for online shopping, food delivery and travel platforms. A draft of the “Anti-Monopoly Compliance Guidelines for Internet Platforms”, published over the weekend by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), focused heavily on the sophisticated, often opaque ways in which online platforms with significant market power can exploit...

A Hong Kong lawyer who admitted having sex with a 12-year-old girl has maintained that they were in a genuinely loving relationship. Kelvin Luk Kin-ting’s legal counsel on Monday sought to convince the District Court that the defendant, 40, had not groomed his victim to satisfy his sexual desires or taken naked photos of her for financial benefit. The defence also contended that the Form One pupil had taken active steps to engage the accused as her sexual partner by lying about her age and...

The most important outcome of the Communist Party of China’s fourth plenum, held last month in Beijing, was the review and adoption of the “Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development”. Leading the drafting team in person, Communist Party General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping played a decisive role in formulating the recommendations by setting the overall vision and providing guidance throughout the...

Three workers at a public hospital in Hong Kong fell ill and more than 180 people were evacuated after a chemical leaked from a waste container during a delivery on Monday. The formaldehyde spill was reported at the clinical pathology department in Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin at around noon. The Fire Services Department and police were alerted. Hospitals mainly use formaldehyde as a preservative and disinfectant, especially in laboratories and pathology units. The chemical, which is...

A tram accident in Hong Kong that led to the death of a three-year-old girl and injuries to three others was “inevitable”, as the driver only had 0.9 seconds to react upon realising the danger, a court heard. Li Yaodong, 49, was tried in Eastern Court on Monday for alleged unsafe driving outside Kennedy Town Swimming Pool on the morning of August 15, 2024. According to security camera footage, the girl and her six-year-old sister, their grandfather, 66, and the family’s domestic helper were...