Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s MTR faces $3.5m fine for 10-hour train delay
Hundreds of thousands of commuters left stranded by system breakdown HONG KONG • Rail service provider Mass Transit Railway (MTR) faces a fine of over HK$20 million (S$3.5 million) after a service disruption of over 10 hours, reportedly due to a computer glitch, left hundreds of thousands of commuters stranded. The disruption along the Kwun Tong line began shortly after 11am last Saturday, when trains between Lam Tin and Ngau Tau Kok Stations were forced to travel slowly because of a signalling fault, Hong Kong daily Sing Tao reported onRead More
New scheme to allow Singapore, HK visitors to use automated gates at Bangkok airports
Visitors from Singapore and Hong Kong will be able to access the automated gates now reserved for Thai nationals at both of Bangkok’s airports by the end of this month or next month.PHOTO: WWW.SUVARNABHUMIAIRPORT.COM BANGKOK (THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Visitors from Singapore and Hong Kong will soon be breezing through immigration at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang international airports as authorities implement a new scheme to allow them to use automatic passport scanners currently reserved for Thai nationals. Immigration bureau commissioner Pol Lt-General Nathathorn Prousoontorn said the move would reduceRead More
Why is Hong Kong’s cross-border rail link causing such a fuss?
Everything you need to know about the furore around joint border checkpoints at the terminal of the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou, The plan to have mainland immigration officials working, and enforcing mainland laws, at the West Kowloon terminus of the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou is set to be unveiled in the coming days, Authorities have said the HK$84 billion line’s efficiency will take a big hit if those officials aren’t allowed to work on Hong Kong soil, alongside their local counterparts. So what’s at stake, why is theRead More
Patience pays off for lucky Ronaldo fans
Clad in a white Real Madrid jersey, Jonathan Cheong waited for more than two hours at the Thomson Medical Centre yesterday morning, hoping to catch Cristiano Ronaldo and secure an autograph on his top. The 16-year-old did manage to catch a glimpse of the 32-year-old superstar among a crowd of around 100 fans, but failed to get the Real Madrid and Portugal captain’s signature as Ronaldo left hurriedly after visiting local billionaire Peter Lim’s daughter Kim, who gave birth to a boy days ago. Jonathan did not give up andRead More
Funding boFunding boost for Hong Kong education hits a snag as pan-democrats stage silent protestost for Hong Kong education hits a snag as pan-democrats stage silent protest
A Hong Kong committee looking at an application for an education funding boost of HK$3.6 billion was suspended twice on Wednesday morning, with the city’s opposition camp warning that it could no longer be business as usual in the legislature following the disqualification of four lawmaker Eight items in total – which include the funding applications for education as well as hospital redevelopment, and a pay rise for civil servants – were awaiting the approval of lawmakers. The meeting on Wednesday would be the last for the finance committee beforeRead More
Drug mule who transited in Singapore with 43 pellets of Ice gets 25 years’ jail and caning
Adri Anton Kalangie was sentenced to 25 years’ jail and 15 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to importing not less than 249.99g of methamphetamine on Monday, July 17 2017 SINGAPORE – A 42-year-old Indonesian drug mule who swallowed 29 pellets of methamphetamine, inserted 10 pellets into his rectum and hid four pellets in his shorts and shoe, took a flight from China to Singapore, intending to transit to Indonesia on the same day. But at Changi Airport, Adri Anton Kalangie missed his connecting Singapore Airlines flight andRead More
Hong Kong brain surgeon drills hole in wrong side of patient’s head: Report
HONG KONG – A doctor at a Hong Kong public hospital performed surgery on the wrong side of an 86-year-old man’s skull – the second brain surgery blunder in the city in just four months, South China Morning Post reported on Friday (July 14). The surgeon opened the right side of the patient’s head rather than the left side during the botched surgery to remove blood clots on Wednesday, the report said. He realised his blunder upon discovering few clots after opening a thick part of the membrane outside theRead More
The World’s Biggest Whisky Festival ‘Whisky Live’ Returns to Hong Kong
HONG KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach – 12 July 2017 – Whisky Live Hong Kong2017, organized in conjunction with Whisky Magazine, is set to begin ticket sales on 1 August for its one-day whisky celebration. Whisky Live 2017 will be held at Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre (KITEC ) on the 3rd of September 2017 from 1:30-9:30 pm. This occasion is a prime opportunity where whisky enthusiasts can mingle with world-renowned whisky makers, master blenders and brand ambassadors. The event will showcase more than 200 whiskies and offer master classes,Read More
Typhoon Merbok moves away as Hong Kong escapes major damage
HONG KONG (REUTERS) – Typhoon Merbok spared Hong Kong any major damage as it pounded the financial hub with heavy rain and strong winds before moving further inland on Tuesday (June 13) towards southern China. Financial markets, schools, businesses all resumed normal operations on Tuesday, a day after hundreds of thousands of workers scurried home early as authorities hoisted the No. 8 typhoon signal. The No. 8 storm signal means that winds with mean speeds of 63kmh or above are expected, with gusts possibly topping 180kmh. The Airport Authority saidRead More
Hong Kong arrests 29 in corruption probe linked to four banks
Hong Kong arrested 29 current and former staff of five financial institutions, including four banks, for alleged bribery connected with obtaining confidential customer information to market personal loans, the city’s anti-graft agency said. Operation “Mirabilis” began last Tuesday and led to the arrests of three managers and 18 serving and former direct sales representatives of a bank, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said in a statement on Monday. A manager and five current and former employees of three other banks, and two employees of a finance company were also detained,Read More
British banker accused of Hong Kong murders ‘turned from superman to depraved addict,’ court told
A Hong Kong jury was told on Friday about the rapid descent of a “superman” British investment banker to a “depraved drug and alcohol addict” when he killed two Indonesian women in his upmarket flat. Rurik George Caton Jutting, a former Bank of America Merrill Lynch employee, pleaded not guilty to the murders of 23-year-old Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih, 26 on account of “diminished responsibility” resulting from multiple mental disorders of narcissism, sexual sadism, cocaine and alcohol abuse. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter – which wasRead More
British banker Rurik Jutting denies murder of two women in Hong Kong
The financier accused of the killings of two Indonesian women admitted only to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility Rurik Jutting, the Cambridge-educated financier accused of murdering two Indonesian women in his apartment. A Cambridge-educated British banker has pleaded not guilty to the murder of two young Indonesian women found dead at his luxury Hong Kong home almost two years ago, blaming a “personality disorder” for the killings. Rurik Jutting, 31, was arrested in the early hours of 1 November 2014 after he called police to his 31st floor flatRead More
Cost of land to build prime homes in Asia still rising
Prices of residential sites in Asia increased by 1.9% in the first half of 2016, down from 2.8% in the preceding six months, put office land increased from 1.9% to 2.2%. Overall development land investment volumes in Asia matched the level registered in the corresponding period last year, according to the Prime Asia Development Land Index from international real estate firm Knight Frank. As compared to the preceding six months, however, they were 40.4% lower and the index report explains that land markets tend to be more active in theRead More
Roof collapses at Hong Kong’s City University sports hall
The roof of a sports hall at a university in Hong Kong collapsed on Friday, injuring three people. The top of the hall at City University caved in at around 14:30 local time (06:30 GMT) over an area of 900 sq m (320 sq ft), police say. Eyewitnesses say the collapse, which occurred above the hall’s badminton facilities, sounded like an explosion. Such accidents are unusual in Hong Kong, where safety standards are generally high. Venkat Saraenji, a student at the university, told the South China Morning Post the collapseRead More
Hong Kong glues bricks to pavements as top Beijing official makes visit
Thousands of police drafted in as authorities take extraordinary step in bid to prevent repeat of violent Chinese New Year protests Authorities in Hong Kong have been busy glueing hundreds of bricks to the pavements ahead of a visit by one of China’s top political leaders. BBC World Service staff say Hong Kong move risks editorial freedom The move is designed to avoid a repeat of the Chinese New Year’s violent confrontations between protesters and police, nicknamed the fishball revolution”, during which bricks were hurled at officers. Protests have beenRead More