A taxi driver who endured a six-month lawsuit after overcharging a passenger by six US cents has finally had his name cleared by a Hong Kong court. Tam Hoi-Chi walked free after his case was thrown out Thursday but was left questioning the city’s justice system. “I want to know why the opposite side, for [...]

Two men from Hong Kong were arrested Friday in Australia after methamphetamine with a street value of Aus$43 million (US$42 million) was found in a consignment of hairdressing products, police said. The 72 litres (19 US gallons) of the drug, in liquid form, was intercepted last weekend when officers examined a pallet of shampoo, conditioner [...]

Hong Kong’s security minister came under fire Wednesday for saying that women should “not drink too much” if they wanted to avoid being raped. Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok was presenting figures on crime in the city for the first quarter, which showed that rape cases soared 60 percent, when he made the comments. “All [...]

The giant inflatable rubber duck which has attracted tens of thousands of visitors since it sailed into Hong Kong two weeks ago was reduced to a sad deflated disc on Wednesday in the city’s harbour. Duck mania has gripped Hong Kong since its arrival, with locals and tourists flocking to catch a glimpse of the [...]

Universal suffrage could be achieved in different ways but Hong Kong needed to stay true to its spirit, the United States’ most senior diplomatic representative in the city said yesterday. “The key is [the word] ‘universal’,” said Stephen Young, who is due to step down as the US consul-general. Young also told the media, after [...]

Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency said Tuesday it is to carry out a criminal investigation into its former chief over allegations he spent vast sums on gifts for mainland officials. Timothy Tong is accused of overspending on gifts and overseas visits during his five years as commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). According to [...]

Hong Kong is facing an acute shortage of one the engines of its dynamic economy – cheap domestic help. More than 290,000 foreign domestic helpers – mainly Indonesians, Filipinas and Thais – live and work in the special administrative region of Hong Kong, according to Hong Kong’s Department of Immigration. But fears that Indonesian plans [...]

Residential rents are tumbling as a growing number of home owners balk at falling house prices and choose to lease their flats rather than sell. In the Lohas Park development in Tseung Kwan O, rents dropped by up to 20 per cent last month, taking rates back to the same level as early last year, [...]

There’s expensive and then there’s Hong Kong. The Asian shopping haven in the first quarter kept its crown as having the world’s highest rent for prime retail properties, at nearly 50 percent more than for similar districts such as upper Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Rents were more than four times the rate in similar areas [...]

Taiwan should learn from Hong Kong’s experience in establishing Chinese yuan-denominated businesses as it aims to become one of the world’s largest offshore yuan centers, experts said yesterday. Taiwan needs to accelerate its promotion of yuan services as trade volume increases across the Taiwan Strait, said former Finance minister Christina Liu, now the managing director [...]

A confidential Executive Council memo that requires all future policy proposals to factor in the likely mainland reaction has sparked concern that the government is putting mainland interests ahead of Hong Kong’s. One government administrative officer called the memo “odd”, and said colleagues were stunned when they received it early this month. A ruling that [...]

Hong Kong’s economy saw modest year-on-year growth in the first quarter, with strong demand from mainland China offsetting a weak environment in the West, officials said Friday. Gross domestic product grew by 2.8 percent in the first three months of 2013, compared to the same period last year, a government statement said. Hong Kong registered [...]

The volume of Hong Kong property sales fell 60 percent compared with last year in a sign that recent government policies are cooling one of the world’s most expensive real estate markets. The Hong Kong Lands Registry recorded about 4,400 sale and purchase agreements in April with a valuation of $4 billion – a 48 [...]

As night begins to give way to dawn, 40 high-performance cars pull up on an empty Hong Kong backstreet. While the city sleeps, their revving engines fill the air with a heavy smell of petrol. The drivers huddle together to set the route, always at the last possible minute. One of them spots the red [...]

Today is Europe Day, the anniversary of the declaration by Robert Schuman, the former foreign minister of France, which is seen as the symbolic start of the integration of the formerly divided and war-torn European continent. It is an opportunity to celebrate the European Union’s achievements in promoting democracy, human rights, peace and prosperity on [...]

Facing the same downturn in Hong Kong initial public offerings that their Western peers have been grappling with, Chinese investment banks in Hong Kong are either cutting staff or focusing on bonds to mitigate weakness in their core business. The majority of investment banks in Hong Kong have relied on IPOs and block trades for [...]

Shares in fashion retailer Esprit fell as much as much as 7.0 percent in Hong Kong Wednesday after the company released a third-quarter profit warning, telling shareholders to prepare for a “substantial loss”. The stock was as low as HK$10.12 ($1.30) in morning trade at the city’s stock exchange where it is listed, a day [...]

Nineteen Hong Kong tourists have been injured – two seriously – in a traffic accident in Guangxi province. The injured – eight men and 13 women – remained in a local hospital for treatment on Tuesday. The accident took place on Monday night in Longan county’s Nanning city, capital of the southern Chinese province’s Zhuang [...]

After a lackluster 2012 and slow start this year, Hong Kong’s financiers are hoping to revive interest in initial public offerings. To test investor appetite, many companies are hiring armies of investment bankers in their efforts to market new shares. In the three years through the end of 2011, Hong Kong had ranked as the [...]

Dock workers in Hong Kong have ended a 40-day strike that affected one of the world’s busiest ports. About 450 workers agreed to a pay increase of 9.8 percent, after initially demanding a hike of more than 20 percent. Cargo was delayed at the terminal resulting in a backlog of thousands of containers. The container [...]

Seeking to hedge against rising rents and a shortage of space, banks and insurers are on a record spree of buying office buildings in Hong Kong, where occupancy costs are the second-highest in the world. Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC), Canada’s biggest insurer, and Hang Seng Bank Ltd (11) this year bought office towers in the [...]

A unit of Sinopec Group and brokerage China Galaxy Securities are launching Hong Kong IPOs on Monday seeking to raise up to $3.5 billion in total, injecting life into Asia’s moribund IPO markets where deal values more than halved in the first quarter of the year. The massive initial public offerings (IPOs) have been eagerly [...]

An army of road sweepers and refuse collectors keep the streets clean in the heart of Hong Kong — but on the outskirts, growing mountains of waste are testament to what campaigners say is an environmental crisis. While the city may look well-kept, its three huge outdoor landfill sites are piled high with rubbish and [...]

Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung amassed tens of millions of dollars in unexplained deposits, prosecutors said, after a Hong Kong court rejected an attempt to have his money-laundering case thrown out. Opening the case against Yeung, prosecutor John Reading said around HK$720 million ($93 million) passed through accounts connected to the 53-year-old over a seven-year [...]

Four contractors offered their workers a 9.8 per cent pay rise last night in what they said was their final bid to bring an end to the dockers’ strike, which enters its 38th day today. The contractors – Everbest Port Services, Pui Kee Stevedore Company, Lem Wing Transportation and Comcheung Human Resources – said they [...]

An army of road sweepers and refuse collectors keep the streets clean in the heart of Hong Kong – but on the outskirts, growing mountains of waste are testament to what campaigners say is an environmental crisis. While the city may look well-kept, its three huge outdoor landfill sites are piled high with rubbish and [...]

In a move with implications for Hong Kong, more tax havens are to open their books under pressure from the European Union. At a meeting on May 13, EU finance ministers may reach an agreement on measures to eradicate tax evasion and tax havens, said Finnish Finance minister Jutta Urpilainen at an international seminar on [...]

A “litany of errors” contributed to a Hong Kong ferry disaster in which 39 people were killed, an inquiry found Tuesday, slamming the marine department for “systemic failings” in safety standards. In the city’s worst sea disaster in more than 40 years the pleasure boat Lamma IV, carrying more than 120 people, collided with the [...]

Hong Kong police said Monday they had arrested four people over the killing of an alleged triad boss who was hacked to death outside a public hospital in front of horrified onlookers. The gruesome murder took place shortly after noon on Sunday when the 30-year-old, surnamed Tse, was struck multiple times with an axe and [...]

Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung pleaded not guilty to money-laundering charges in a Hong Kong court, while trying anew to halt the trial at the start of the much-delayed proceedings. The former hairdresser-turned-football tycoon was arrested and charged in June 2011 with five counts of “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of [...]

Hong Kong’s banking regulator said on Thursday it was doubling the size of its anti-money laundering team to strengthen supervision amid intensifying scrutiny of monitoring and compliance systems at global financial institutions. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said it would increase its team to 22, just months after the city’s two largest money-laundering cases drew [...]

Deputy prime minister Teo Chee Hean who’s in Hong Kong has called on Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. During their meeting, both officials reaffirmed bilateral ties and close cooperation between Singapore and the SAR, while also discussing issues of mutual interest. Both expressed a commitment for officials on both sides to continue to visit and learn [...]

Mainland banks are reviving their listing plans to raise money in Hong Kong this year as Beijing continues to keep an indirect hold on onshore initial public offerings. Banks face growing problems raising money on the mainland, partly because the securities regulator has held off on domestic listing approvals over the past few months. But [...]

Anson Chan, the former chief secretary of Hong Kong, said China doesn’t trust residents in the former British colony to vote for a chief executive that will back Beijing’s rule. Chan said yesterday she has formed a group called “Hong Kong 2020″ that will reach out to Beijing and different communities for proposals on constitutional [...]

Hong Kong lawmakers have fiercely opposed a plan to donate money to a Chinese provincial government for earthquake victims, underlining widespread public concerns about corruption. Legislators on Wednesday vigorously debated the proposal to donate 100 million Hong Kong dollars ($13 million) but ran out of time to vote on it. The city’s leader proposed donating [...]

Hong Kong and China shares extended losses on Tuesday, led by cyclical sectors after a preliminary survey of manufacturing activity in April in the world’s second-largest economy came in weaker than expected. China’s flash HSBC Purchasing managers’ Index for April fell to 50.5 from 51.6 in March, as Beijing said Chinese companies are still facing [...]

Hong Kong underwater search teams have recovered three bodies, a day after two boats collided in fog in the city’s busy waterways, with three crew members still missing. Police meanwhile arrested the two captains. The incident Thursday night refocused attention on Hong Kong’s maritime safety, and came after a ferry crash in October claimed 39 [...]

Next Media Ltd (282) shares fell the most in two weeks after the Hong Kong-based publisher and broadcasting company agreed to sell its money-losing Taiwan television unit to a rival at a loss. The company’s shares fell as much as 7.8 percent, headed for the biggest drop since April 2, to HK$0.83, before trading at [...]

Hong Kong dock workers, now into their third week of industrial action, are threatening to escalate their strike if their demands are not met. The issue already puts pressure on Hong Kong as a world leading container terminal. It’s day 20 for the dock workers who have been picketing at the entrance of the Kwai [...]

Conspicuous consumption is a sign of booming times, and a Hong Kong businessperson may have broken records for it after buying a custom-built “iPhone 5 Black Diamond” encrusted in gold and precious stones. The tab? An eye-popping $15.3m (GBP 10m). “This beautiful handset took 9 weeks of detailed intricate work to re-create the original chassis [...]

Hong Kong’s air pollution index reached the “severe” level for the third time this year, triggering a government warning, as pollutants from China were trapped by the lack of air flow. The Air Pollution Index (HKAICEMA) reached 207 in the Central business district and 203 at the Mong Kok roadside-monitoring station as of 2 p.m. [...]

Hong Kong’s air pollution index reached the “severe” level for the third time this year, triggering a government warning, as pollutants from China were trapped by the lack of air flow. The Air Pollution Index (HKAICEMA) reached 207 in the Central business district and 203 at the Mong Kok roadside-monitoring station as of 2 p.m. [...]

Hong Kong was built on entrepreneurism. Its free economy, first-rate infrastructure, low tax rates and legal system are the ideal support for someone with a bright idea wanting to start a business. Our wealthiest citizens, among the richest people in the world, got to where they are because of the opportunities our city and China [...]

The British Virgin Islands has chosen Hong Kong as its headquarters for a new push into the Asian market as it faces a global storm linked to a massive leak of client data and claims of secrecy, tax evasion and hiding assets. Next month, the leader of the British overseas territory – reckoned to be [...]

Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC) has agreed to pay the second-highest price on record for a whole Hong Kong office tower as companies seeking cheaper rents push up demand for space outside the city’s Central business district. Canada’s biggest insurer will pay HK$4.5 billion ($580 million) to the developer, a unit of Wheelock & Co. (20), [...]

Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC) has agreed to pay the second-highest price on record for a whole Hong Kong office tower as companies seeking cheaper rents push up demand for space outside the city’s Central business district. Canada’s biggest insurer will pay HK$4.5 billion ($580 million) to the developer, a unit of Wheelock & Co. (20), [...]

Talks between contractors for a Hong Kong port operator owned by tycoon Li Ka-shing and striking workers failed to resolve a wage dispute Wednesday, with no end in sight to the two-week-long protest. As many as 400 workers from Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) have been camping at the container port to seek a pay rise [...]

Hong Kong home prices, the highest among major global cities, are close to peaking after more than doubling since early 2009, said John Swire & Sons Ltd Chair James Hughes-Hallett. Continued price gains will lead to a “competitive disadvantage,” and property curbs taken by Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying make sense, said Hughes-Hallett in [...]

Striking dockworkers at Hongkong International Terminals Ltd, the port operator backed by billionaire Li Ka-shing, will hold talks with their employers today amid signs that the stoppage may be losing support. Union negotiators will join the talks, Wong Yu-loy, a representative of the Union of Hong Kong Dockers, said by phone yesterday. Hongkong International Terminals [...]

It’s 2 p.m. on a Saturday. A crowd of people swarms Gloucester Road as a racket emanates from the windows of a Hong Kong police station. I’m in a 2-by-2 1/2-metre concrete cell along with five other people. At one end is a latrine; at the other, scripted on the wall above Chinese characters, a [...]