47 m. ago Mainland Chinese buyers pour US$2 billion into Hong Kong super

After several subdued years, 2025 marked a turning point for demand in Hong Kong’s most prestigious housing enclaves, as mainland buyers streamed back into scarce ultra-luxury homes once prices stabilised and transaction momentum rolled into the new year. That shift was most visible in The Peak and Southern district – two low-density, ultra-wealthy neighbourhoods on opposite ends of Hong Kong Island. Mainland purchasers bought about HK$16 billion (US$2.05 billion) worth of homes in the areas in...

Economics

14 h. ago Infrequent yet unforgettable: Hong Kong’s rare cases of police opening fire on duty

Hong Kong police officers rarely fire their guns, but when they do, it grips the city’s attention. On Thursday, officers shot dead a man who had taken a woman hostage while brandishing a 30cm knife at a shopping centre in Tuen Mun. Under police guidelines, officers may open fire to protect anyone – including themselves – from death or serious injury. They may also use lethal force against anyone believed to have committed a serious or violent crime and who is attempting to evade arrest. Firearms...

Events

14 h. ago Hong Kong’s rare cases of police officers opening fire on duty

Hong Kong police officers rarely fire their guns, but when they do, it grips the city’s attention. On Thursday, officers shot dead a man who had taken a woman hostage while brandishing a 30cm knife at a shopping centre in Tuen Mun. Under police guidelines, officers may open fire to protect anyone – including themselves – from death or serious injury. They may also use lethal force against anyone believed to have committed a serious or violent crime and who is attempting to evade arrest. Firearms...

Events

16 h. ago Murder suspect who fled to mainland China handed over to Hong Kong police

A murder suspect who fled across the border late last month after allegedly killing his girlfriend in a public housing flat has been handed over to Hong Kong police following his capture by mainland Chinese law enforcers. The Hong Kong identity card holder, 28, was wanted in the city in connection with the murder of a woman, 35, whose body was hidden in the storage compartment of a bed in his Ngau Tau Kok flat. He was arrested by Hong Kong police on Friday and is expected to be charged with...

Events

22 h. ago Hong Kong police arrest another man with knife, days after earlier case in Tuen Mun

Hong Kong police have arrested a man who brandished a knife in an apparently disoriented state near a McDonald’s in Tsuen Wan, just two days after officers shot dead another blade-wielding attacker elsewhere in the city. Police said they received a report at 8.42am from a passer-by that a man was seen holding a knife in the area near a McDonald’s on Tai Ho Road in Tsuen Wan. On arriving at the scene, officers immediately subdued the man, with no injuries reported. According to local media...

Events

23 h. ago Several Hong Kong lawmakers omit unpaid directorships in Legco declarations

Several newly elected Hong Kong lawmakers have not fully disclosed their unpaid directorships and those held at subsidiaries, the Post has found, prompting calls from the legislature’s House Committee chairman for greater transparency. Andrew Yao Cho-fai and Lothair Lam Ming-fung were among the Legislative Council newcomers who did not register dozens of unpaid directorships, according to a Post check on their declarations of interest, which were cross-referenced with Companies Registry...

Politics

25 h. ago Malaysian reporter arrested for sedition after controversial question at Gaza lecture

Former Free Malaysia Today (FMT) journalist Rex Tan was arrested at about 12.45am on Saturday after being summoned to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. The arrest was confirmed by his lawyer, Rajsurian Pillai, who said Tan was detained under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948 and Section 505(c) of the Penal Code. It followed a sensitive question alleged to contain racial elements that was raised during a public lecture in Kuala Lumpur. At...

Events

31 h. ago Trump thanks Iran for ‘cancelling’ hanging of hundreds of political prisoners

US President Donald Trump took the unusual step on Friday of thanking the Iranian government for not following through on executions of what he said was meant to be hundreds of political prisoners. “Iran cancelled the hanging of over 800 people,” Trump told reporters while leaving the White House to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. He added, “and I greatly respect the fact that they cancelled”. The Republican president also suggested on his social media site...

Politics

35 h. ago Contractors’ botches lead to bans on bidding for Hong Kong public projects

Contractors at the centre of construction botches at three Hong Kong light public housing sites last year have been banned from bidding for public projects for up to a year, the government has said. The firm responsible for overseeing work quality, Able Engineering, has also been ordered to pay the extra costs for fixing the problems. It also faces a disciplinary hearing for alleged “serious negligence or misconduct in the construction works”, and a possible criminal investigation by police. The...

Politics

38 h. ago Uganda election: Bobi Wine under house arrest amid violence claims, Museveni nears 5th term

Uganda’s opposition said its leader Bobi Wine was under house arrest on Friday, after an election that also saw a member of parliament accuse security forces of killing 10 people at his home. President Yoweri Museveni, 81, is seeking to extend his 40-year rule of the east African country and has been accused of “brutal repression” of the opposition. Uganda’s Electoral Commission said on Friday that Museveni was on 75.4 per cent to Wine’s 20.7 with close to 60 per cent of votes counted. Final...

Events

38 h. ago Hong Kong’s latest office landmark nearly full as segment upturn simmers

The newest landmark office tower in Hong Kong’s main business zone is nearing full occupancy a year and a half after it welcomed its first tenants, suggesting improving fortunes in the city’s office property segment. The Henderson – the prime commercial development and namesake tower for one of Hong Kong’s largest developers – reached 90 per cent occupancy recently, Henderson Land said on Friday. The 36-storey building in Central counts among its tenants auction house Christie’s, alternative...

Politics

38 h. ago As families shrink, our primary relationship is increasingly with ourselves

More than 2,300 years ago, Aristotle mused in Politics that to live alone, a man must be a god or a beast, or words to that effect. I wonder what he would have thought of the popularity of China’s “Are You Dead?” app. For Aristotle, we are social animals, thriving in the “polis” in the company of family, friends and fellow citizens. The average mother had at least five children. Many homes housed three, even four, generations. Family life was noisy and crowded, full of companionship, contest and...

Politics

39 h. ago Trump buys Netflix, Boeing, GM bonds in US$51 million spree linked to his own policy agenda

US President Donald Trump’s investments in municipal and corporate debt through December included bonds of some companies affected by his administration’s policies. In all, the issues cost at least US$51 million. The new White House disclosure posted on Thursday shows Trump’s buys included bonds from Netflix, CoreWeave, General Motors, Boeing, Occidental Petroleum and United Rentals. He also bought municipal bonds from American cities and local school districts, utilities and hospitals. The...

Economics

40 h. ago TSMC buys up land in Arizona as Taiwan pledges US$500 billion US tech investment

Taiwan has committed to driving hundreds of billions of dollars of extra investment into America’s chip industry as part of a US trade deal announced on Thursday, with the island’s biggest semiconductor producer already moving to buy more land in the US state of Arizona. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) – the world’s largest contract chipmaker – confirmed on Thursday that it had bought a second tract of land in Arizona. The 365-hectare (901-acre) plot nearly doubles the...

Economics

40 h. ago Attack on Venezuela highlights growing US–China rivalry in Latin America

Attack on Venezuela highlights growing US–China rivalry in Latin America  Chatham House

Events

40 h. ago Why India is losing ground over Bangladesh and Myanmar to regional rivals

India is facing multiple geopolitical challenges in the region as Bangladesh and Myanmar show signs of drifting away from New Delhi’s orbit amid its long-standing disputes with Pakistan and China. Dhaka has been drawing closer to Islamabad following the downfall in 2024 of its former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who had close ties with Delhi during her rule, while China has continued to maintain its influence in Myanmar since the junta in Naypyidaw ousted the elected government in a coup in...

Politics

41 h. ago Malaysia’s Umno chief denies he ‘sidelined’ Najib to secure his own legal freedom

The president of Malaysia’s Umno has denied abandoning disgraced ex-prime minister Najib Razak to save himself, as fissures emerge in the former ruling party over the mixed legal fortunes of two of its top leaders. Umno grass-roots members have urged President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to quit Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government in protest after the High Court blocked Najib’s bid to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest last month. It also handed the one-time party figurehead a...

Politics

44 h. ago Malaysian man arrested for forcing son, 10, to shoplift regularly

A Malaysian man previously convicted of child abuse has been arrested again on suspicion of forcing his son, 10, to shoplift daily necessities. Police in Bahau, in Negeri Sembilan state’s Jempol district, were alerted to what initially appeared to be a simple case of theft on Wednesday, The Sun newspaper reported. Staff from a wholesale supermarket had caught the boy trying to steal a 200-gram pack of instant coffee. But officers soon uncovered a troubling pattern of child exploitation, Jempol...

Events

45 h. ago South Korea’s Yoon gets 5 years in prison for obstructing justice during martial law bid

A South Korean judge sentenced former president Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday to five years in prison for obstructing justice and other charges linked to his disastrous martial law declaration and its chaotic aftermath. It is the first in a series of verdicts for the disgraced ex-leader, whose brief suspension of civilian rule in South Korea on December 3, 2024, prompted massive protests and a showdown in parliament. Now ousted from power, Yoon faces multiple trials for actions taken during that...

Events

45 h. ago South Korea’s Yoon sentenced to 5 years in prison over martial law charges

Impeached former South Korean president Yoon Seok-yeol was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison after being found guilty of resisting arrest and other offences linked to his botched martial law declaration in 2024. The ruling marks the first conviction among eight criminal trials Yoon is facing, including a case in which prosecutors demanded he be sentenced to death for his role as the “ringleader” of an insurrection in imposing the ill-fated decree that plunged the country into political...

Events