Two Hong Kong students secured championship titles on Saturday in the first storytelling competition for global youth, delivering impassioned speeches on education and AI before an audience of about 100 people. Vanessa Jane Wong, a Form Four pupil from the Independent Schools Foundation Academy, won the top award in the senior category, while Wan Ruixi,…
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…
Hongkongers hold the world’s 15th most powerful passport, up three places from last year, according to an index measuring visa-free access. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport offers visa-free access to 171 destinations, according to this year’s Henley Passport Index released last week. Singapore retained the top ranking for the third consecutive year, granting…
HSBC Holdings’ exploration of options for its insurance business in Singapore may lead to a sale of the unit as the group reallocates resources to its insurance business in Hong Kong and mainland China, according to analysts. “It makes sense for HSBC to consider an exit from Singapore’s insurance market to focus on Hong Kong…
Hong Kong’s young adults are being pushed off the housing ladder, with the proportion of subsidised homeowners aged 30 to 39 nearly halving to 16 per cent over the past two decades, and a mid-sized private flat now costing more than 18 years of an average household’s combined income, a study shows. The “Hong Kong…
Nearly three-quarters of enterprises from Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area cities will speed up their expansion into the Asean market as a primary strategy to mitigate risks from international trade frictions and shifting global supply chains, according to a survey. The survey and research findings, co-published by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and…
Hong Kong has taken a significant stride towards cross-border drone flights by teaming up with Nansha in mainland China to develop unified standards, policies and validation pathways through joint tests and trials – an effort that could set a global benchmark. The collaboration follows an accord signed on December 25 between the Hong Kong Productivity…
Hong Kong political heavyweights and former leaders gathered on Friday to pay tribute to the late ex-commerce minister Gregory So Kam-leung, as family and friends honoured his devotion to public service. Among those who attended the memorial service for So, who died on December 13, were former chief executives Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and Leung Chun-ying,…
Extreme weather brought about by the El Nino phenomenon could cost Hong Kong as much as US$300 billion over the 21st century, according to a joint study by local and Singapore universities. The study also painted a bleak picture for public health, finding that Hongkongers born during the two strong El Nino events in 1982-83…
Alongside death and taxes, there are few things more universally certain than corruption in public procurement. That is a reality worth keeping front of mind in Hong Kong as we home in on those we want to blame for the tragic Wang Fuk Court fire that in November killed at least 161 people and left…