Some tenants of a government-subsidised youth hostel in Hong Kong fear having to return to shoebox homes and are scrambling to find alternatives after a private operator announced its shutdown last week. A resident of the BeLIVING Youth Hub in Causeway Bay told the Post on Friday that the hostel’s operator, the Hong Kong United…
A Hong Kong travel blogger whose brief disappearance during a solo trip to protest-hit Iran has triggered a heated online debate over the safety of women travelling alone to politically volatile nations. More female solo travellers took to the internet on Sunday to share their experiences and feelings on visiting Iran for leisure, as the…
Immigration authorities have confirmed receiving a plea for help concerning a Hong Kong resident reported missing “for many days” in Iran, as the country faces a nationwide internet shutdown amid protests against the government. A spokesman for the Immigration Department told the Post on Friday that it had received “a relevant inquiry” and was in…
A small fire triggered by a power bank broke out aboard an Asiana Airlines flight from Incheon to Hong Kong on Thursday night, injuring a passenger. Cabin crew put out the fire with an extinguisher within two minutes, while the passenger carrying the power bank suffered burns to their hand, according to a report by…
More than 650 Hongkongers on group tours to Taiwan have been confirmed safe following a 6.7-magnitude earthquake late on Saturday, while other travellers from the city have recalled feeling frightened as buildings swayed “from side to side”. The Hong Kong Observatory said the earthquake occurred at 11.05pm in Taiwan, with the epicentre located about 70km…
Firefighters have described the gruelling conditions they faced in their search for survivors of Hong Kong’s worst fire in more than seven decades, with rescuers climbing dozens of flights of stairs as they conserved oxygen to look for anyone alive on the higher floors. For some firefighters, the operation has left them with feelings of…
Hong Kong education authorities have urged schools to seek a consensus with pupils and parents on whether to cancel Christmas celebrations following the Tai Po inferno, with some students expressing disappointment on social media about parties being called off. The Education Bureau’s clarification on Thursday followed a letter it sent last week asking schools to…
A worker’s rights organisation and other concern groups in Hong Kong have warned the public to be vigilant against fraudulent appeals for donations by those exploiting the deaths of foreign domestic helpers in the Tai Po fire. In a joint statement on Tuesday, the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, the Indonesian Migrant…
With the rise of social media and generative AI, how much of what we see online is true? In this new series, SCMP Fact-Check, the Post investigates claims circulating online and debunks viral misinformation impacting the daily lives of Hongkongers. A 16-second clip was shared on Facebook on Thursday and has amassed more than 200,000…
As despair draped the air and hopes dimmed for the scores still unaccounted for, one scene stood out on the second night after Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades: volunteers forming long human chains next to the charred buildings in Tai Po, passing on supplies hand to hand. These volunteers – mobilised mostly through social…