The father of Mo Li Kai-yin, the dancer paralysed by a falling giant screen during a 2022 concert by popular Hong Kong boy band Mirror, has died. The Christian Ministry Institute on Saturday announced the death of Reverend Derek Li Shing-lam, who spent years advocating for his 31-year-old son after the accident shocked the city. “Reverend Li devoted his life to loving the Lord,” the institute said of its former president. “The beautiful traces of his life will live on in the hearts of his...

To Ian Chu, capturing one last image of the sea view from his home before it disappears was a final wish as he returned on Saturday to the scene of the deadly Hong Kong blaze to collect his belongings. Chu lived in Wang Cheong House, one of eight residential blocks at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, where 81 of the 168 deaths occurred in the inferno that shocked the city in November. His flat faces the Tolo Harbour. “Since the renovations I have not seen the ocean, the sunlight … so I just tried to...

From Taiwan to Tibet, French President Emmanuel Macron has touched Beijing’s nerves on a range of sensitive issues over the past few weeks. On a trip to Japan earlier this month, he and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi “emphasised the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and urged a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues through constructive dialogue”. The irritation for Beijing was less about the language and more about the timing, with the joint statement coming...

Taiwanese-American actor Peter Ho has gained renewed fame in mainland China for a warlord role he played 14 years ago, after another actor was mocked for playing a similar role with flawless makeup in a new drama. Chinese actor Zhang Linghe was widely mocked as the “foundation general”, after a video clip of him playing a warlord in the recent romance costume drama Pursuit of Jade went viral. The video was reportedly made by Zhang’s fans to promote their idol, but received public ridicule, as...

Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine overnight, killing at least five and injuring more than 30, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday. Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia launched 47 ballistic and cruise missiles as well as 619 drones of various types. Ukraine has been warding off a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022. Air raid sirens sounded across the country with residents urged to seek shelter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that...

Hong Kong developers released nearly 300 new flats to the market amid enthusiastic demand from potential homebuyers as the latest official data show completion of private residential units is set to decline this year and next. By 6pm, all 218 units at the One Victoria Cove Phase I in Hung Hom, jointly developed by Henderson Land Development, Hysan Development and Empire Group, were sold, while at the Pavilia Farm III atop Tai Wai station in Sha Tin by New World Development (NWD) and MTR...

DeepSeek’s long-awaited flagship V4 model has fallen short of its domestic and US rivals, according to a new analysis, as the Chinese artificial intelligence firm struggles to replicate the market-shaking success of its earlier R1 release. The company’s most advanced system, V4 Pro, ranked second among the world’s leading open-source models, behind Beijing-based Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2.6, benchmark firm Artificial Analysis said in a report on Friday. While V4 Pro marked a clear improvement on its...