Three years after some Chinese youngsters chose to become “full-time children”, some said it was not a cure-all for their plight in China’s tense job market. The title “full-time children” went viral in 2023 in China, when some young people became a “full-time employee” of their parents. They received monthly salaries from their parents, ranging from 1,000 yuan (US$150) to over 5,000 yuan, depending on their parents’ pensions. In exchange, they kept their parents’ company and helped them manage...

Prime Minister ⁠Keir Starmer vowed on Friday to fight on to deliver on his promise to bring “change” to Britain after his Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local election that deepened doubts over his ability to govern. Just under two years after winning a landslide national election, Starmer saw voters punish his Labour government, dealing it a blow in some of its traditional strongholds in former industrial regions in central and northern England. The main beneficiary was the populist...

The Hong Kong government has appointed veteran politician Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung to chair the board of directors of the Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Company – the first entity established to accelerate the development of the Northern Metropolis project. The Development Bureau said on Friday that the board of directors comprises five bureau chiefs and five non-official members, tasked with formulating a “forward-looking development positioning and strategy” for the 23-hectare logistics park, the...

Malaysia’s nascent electric vehicle market may be decimated before it gets up to speed, as business experts warn of a sharp drop in demand and delay in the renewable energy transition if the government imposes strict price curbs on imported units from July, in a move to protect the country’s vehicle makers. The ministry of investment, trade and industry (Miti) on Wednesday announced that from July 1, it will only allow the sale of imported EVs that have a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value...

China’s coastal aquaculture ponds are shrinking due to environmental policies while India’s are expanding at the fastest rate of any country, according to a new bird’s-eye view of fish farms worldwide. The conclusions are based on a fresh dataset compiled from millions of satellite snapshots of coastal aquaculture around the world in 2022. From 1990 to 2016, the global pond area for aquaculture expanded rapidly. After 2017, the overall area declined, but changes varied between countries. The...

US President Donald Trump will bring a scaled-back group of chief executive officers with him on a trip to Beijing next week, reflecting limited expectations for a summit that may be overshadowed by the war on Iran. The White House considered inviting about a dozen business leaders on the May 14-15 trip, compared with the 29 high-profile executives on Trump’s last visit in 2017, Reuters said, citing unidentified people briefed on preparations. Nvidia, Apple and Boeing are among the companies...

An Australian man has been remanded in custody and hit with fresh charges in Hong Kong for fleeing restaurants without paying more than HK$2,000 (US$255) in bills, just a day after being fined for similar offences. Samuel Anthony Monkivitch, 50, was detained soon after pleading guilty at Eastern Court on Thursday to three charges – two of failing to pay HK$1,200 in bills at a restaurant and a massage parlour, and one of common assault. He was fined HK$3,000 and ordered to use his bail money to...