News

The Hong Kong Observatory issued an amber rainstorm warning on Saturday morning as thundery showers and strong gusts swept across the city, following the hottest day of the year so far. The amber alert, the lowest in a three-tier rainstorm warning system, was issued at 10am. It indicates that more than 30mm (1.2 inches) of rain has fallen or is expected to fall within an hour across Hong Kong. “A broad trough of low pressure is bringing showers and thunderstorms to the coast of Guangdong,” the...

Weeks before mainland Chinese student Carol Chen graduated from Baptist University in Hong Kong in July, the 22-year-old did the math and weighed the cost of living in the city against returning home. Renting a room in the city would consume around half of the HK$20,000 (US$2,552) starting salary she expected as a junior data analyst. “If I go back to Shanghai, I will only need to worry about daily expenses,” said Chen, a maths and statistics graduate. Language barriers compounded the problem....

The Hong Kong parents of undocumented baby Danny have expressed confidence that they can obtain legal guardianship of their son, who is now in a care home, as immigration authorities could process his birth certificate as early as Saturday. The unmarried couple also said they saw a “glimmer of hope” in resolving the custody case of their four-year-old daughter Lily, whom Swedish authorities have taken into care over child welfare concerns. “We believe the social workers will handle the matter in...

Hong Kong police have arrested a 65-year-old man in connection with a suspected indecent assault case in Mong Kok hours after footage appeared online showing a passenger harassing a schoolgirl sitting in front of him on a bus. Police said officers intercepted the suspect at the boundary checkpoint of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. The victim, 17, is understood to be a Form Three student. The incident took place at around noon on Friday as the KMB bus was stopping near an intersection of Mong...

Hong Kong serves as an ideal platform to help Uzbek enterprises expand through its world-class professional services and international business environment, the city’s leader has told the Central Asian country’s prime minister as he wrapped up a five-day regional tour. Sources said Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Friday also invited Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov to be a keynote speaker at the coming Belt and Road Summit to be held in Hong Kong in September. It was understood that during a...

A Hong Kong private tutor found guilty of orchestrating a failed plot to murder his business partner eight years ago has secured a three-year reduction to his 27-year jail sentence, but lost an appeal against his conviction. In a written judgment on Friday, the Court of Appeal found that the sentence imposed on Stephen So Hon-to was too high, despite the egregious nature of the offence and the need to ensure a “continuing danger to society” would be removed from society for “a very considerable...

A Hong Kong tour guide who coerced visitors into shopping has been struck off for damaging the sector’s reputation and breaching professional conduct, in the second disciplinary action of its kind in less than two months. The Travel Industry Authority said on Friday it revoked Siu Man-chung’s tour guide licence after investigating complaints that Siu made “inappropriate remarks” to pressure mainland Chinese visitors into shopping during tours between February and April. The authority said on...

Hong Kong’s de facto central bank has formed a group of industry experts to help remove legal and regulatory hurdles to tokenized bonds, as authorities seek to move beyond pilot projects and encourage wider adoption from private issuers. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Friday it had established a Tokenised Bond Expert Group comprising 21 institutions spanning banks, law firms, market infrastructure providers and digital asset companies to support the development of the city’s...

An Australian man, who claimed to be a lawyer, has been fined HK$2,000 (US$255) and given a suspended sentence by a Hong Kong court for repeatedly leaving restaurants without paying. Samuel Anthony Monkivitch, 50, was also ordered to pay HK$2,039 in compensation to two Shangri-La hotels in Admiralty and Tsim Sha Tsui, as well as a Japanese restaurant, after skipping out on bills on four occasions between April 24 and May 5. Eastern Court heard on Friday that Monkivitch used various excuses to...

Hong Kong authorities will not cap the monthly number of subsidised trips that eligible elderly residents and people with disabilities can take under a revamped transport fare scheme, largely because implementation costs would exceed the savings. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han revealed the decision on Friday, as data showed that an average of only about 450 people took more than 240 trips a month under the scheme between May last year and April this year, out of about 2.7...

Hong Kong police have arrested a 50-year-old man on suspicion of repeatedly throwing glass bottles from the windows of his Ma On Shan flat over more than two years, injuring two pedestrians. Officers from the Sha Tin district crime unit arrested the man on Friday at his home on Sai Sha Road following an investigation into multiple reports of glass bottles being thrown from flats at the high-rise estate. The man allegedly threw bottles from his flat on eight occasions between 2024 and May 2026....

Hong Kong sweltered through its hottest day of the year so far on Friday as temperatures hit 34.6 degrees Celsius (94.3 Fahrenheit) in the afternoon, with the city’s weather forecaster warning of hail. The Hong Kong Observatory said that this marked the highest temperature recorded on Grain in Ear, the Chinese summer solar term, since records began. By 4.20pm, temperatures had reached 34.4 degrees in Yuen Long Park and 34.1 degrees in Tuen Mun and Wetland Park. The forecaster issued the “very...