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...

Hundreds of Thais, led by a veteran political activist, rallied outside the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok on Thursday in a rare public protest against a group of foreign nationals. The protest follows months of complaints about illegal landholding, disrespect towards local culture and proliferation of religious houses for Israelis, echoing those made by some locals in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Israelis have been flocking to Thailand since the war on Gaza that followed the October 7 Hamas...

Every climate summit now runs on the same illusion: the next pledge will be the one that finally saves us. It will not. The money the rich world has promised the poor world is not coming at anything like the scale advertised, and pretending otherwise has become the main business of climate diplomacy. Barely nine weeks before the UN climate summit Cop31 opens in Antalya, Turkey, the honest task is not a bigger pledge. It is to make the finance that already exists reach the people drowning in the...

Hong Kong signed two milestone memorandums of understanding with partners in the Greater Bay Area to harmonise standards and commercialise advanced aerial technology as the city accelerated its integration into national development plans. Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said on Thursday the cross-border pacts would combine the production and testing capabilities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau bay area with Hong Kong’s strengths in research and standards setting. “These...

While German companies operating in China increasingly view the global expansion of local firms as a chance to collaborate, the window of opportunity is narrowing as Chinese firms quickly adapt, according to a new report. The internalisation of Chinese companies has emerged as the most frequently cited business opportunity for German firms in China, selected by 36 per cent of survey respondents and up from 20 per cent in 2022, according to a report published on Thursday by the German Chamber of...

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...

Indonesia is demanding that Netflix pay an estimated 75 billion rupiah (US$4.3 million) in royalties accumulated since its launch in the country or risk being shut down. The National Collective Management Organisation (LMKN), a government-supported agency overseeing the country’s royalty system, said the streaming platform had not paid music royalties since entering the Indonesian market 10 years ago, the Jakarta Globe reported. “The amount is estimated at around 75 billion rupiah, which Netflix...