GLOBEALERT
Sign in

Feed

Open sources, classified and cross-checked. 601+ stories.

AllConflictMilitaryPoliticsBusinessSci & TechCyberDisasterHealthWorld
24h3 days7 days30 daysAll·All regionsNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeBalticsMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaSouth AsiaEast AsiaOceania
BUSINESSAug 7Hong Kong’s US dollar peg faces fresh calls for review – but is change feasible?The Hong Kong dollar’s four-decade-old peg to the US dollar is facing fresh calls for review, after a local financial industry body urged greater use of the yuan and floated the idea of shifting to a basket of major currencies and gold – though financial analysts argue the current system is likely to remain in place. The proposal to revisit the pegged exchange rate system was submitted this week by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Professionals Association (HKSFPA), as the government gathers...South China Morning Post
CYBERAug 7Hong Kong woman loses HK$69m to scammers posing as mainland Chinese officialsA Hong Kong woman has been conned out of nearly HK$69 million (US$8.8 million) in a month-long scam involving fraudsters posing as mainland Chinese officials. Police said on Friday that the 43-year-old woman received calls from people claiming to be mainland law enforcement officers, who accused her of committing a crime and demanded money to prove her innocence. The victim transferred about HK$68.9 million to designated bank accounts in multiple transactions between July 2 and August 1. She...South China Morning Post
POLITICSAug 7Hong Kong’s Lingnan University student union ceases operations after 6 decadesThe student union of Hong Kong’s Lingnan University has announced it will dissolve after nearly six decades in operation due to “changes in the situation both on and off campus”, marking the latest in a spate of closures among such organisations in recent years. In a social media post on Thursday, the student union said it had passed a resolution to dissolve after holding a recent joint meeting. Its decision means that only two of Hong Kong’s public universities still have active student unions,...South China Morning Post
BUSINESSAug 7Hong Kong tourism sector urges action with visitor spending 44% below 2018 levelHong Kong’s tourism industry has called for more experiential events, enhanced transport measures and closer cross-border cooperation to draw overnight visitors, after tourist spending fell to HK$197.5 billion (US$25.2 billion) last year, 44 per cent below its 2018 level. Lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung, chairman of China Travel Service (Hong Kong), said on Friday that the fall reflected changing travel patterns, with tourists placing greater value on experiences and in-depth exploration than on...South China Morning Post
DISASTERBREAKINGAug 7Temperatures could hit 36 degrees Celsius in Hong Kong over extremely hot weekendTemperatures in some parts of Hong Kong could hit 37 degrees Celsius (99 Fahrenheit) or above over the coming weekend under the influence of Tropical Cyclone Dolphin, according to the city’s forecaster, which warned residents to take precautions against heatstroke. The Hong Kong Observatory said weak winds would linger over the city on Friday, with hot weather persisting over the next few days and pushing temperatures to 37 degrees or higher in some areas. “Under the influence of the outer...South China Morning Post
BUSINESSAug 7Hong Kong preferred base as Chinese SOEs consolidate overseas accounts in treasury hubsChina’s central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are consolidating scattered overseas accounts into unified treasury hubs, with Hong Kong emerging as the preferred base amid a broader crackdown on outflows of state cash. Decades of overseas expansion had seen many SOEs build up assets in multiple jurisdictions, leaving cash management fragmented and making it harder for regulators and company headquarters to track liquidity, foreign-exchange risk and cross-border financing, analysts said. Central...South China Morning Post
BUSINESSAug 7Hong Kong aims to be a global tech hub, but can it hold on to its young talent?At just 18, Hong Kong tech enthusiasts Rexan Wong Chak-chi and Ken Mochizuki are both rushing to deliver their business ideas. However, their choices of launch pad could not be further apart. While Wong is eyeing Silicon Valley in the United States for better support, Mochizuki is keen to stay in the city and contribute to the local community. Their contrasting approaches highlight Hong Kong’s advantages and challenges as it strives to become a global innovation and talent hub under China’s...South China Morning Post
BUSINESSAug 7Gold’s price potential still ‘explosive’ amid Beijing hoarding, Hong Kong trading pushGold prices have “explosive” upside potential, according to analysts, boding well for Hong Kong’s ambitions as a trading hub as Asian central banks continue to have a voracious appetite for stockpiling bullion. Supporting the outlook, Beijing – which has added to its gold reserve for 20 straight months – wants to better connect the Shanghai Gold Exchange to Hong Kong, and the South Korean central bank plans to buy gold for the first time in 13 years. “Gold remains in an explosive phase of the...South China Morning Post
POLITICSAug 6Criticism of Hong Kong’s economy and rule of law is baselessRecent criticism of aspects of Hong Kong’s economic development and work on safeguarding national security, by a so-called expert on Hong Kong, is factually baseless. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government rightly rejects the allegations. We must set the record straight. Since the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, Hong Kong residents’ livelihoods and Hong Kong’s business environment have steadily improved,...South China Morning Post
SCI & TECHAug 6Coded for glamour and glory, AI make-up arm steals the show in Hong Kong hackathonImagine a woman sitting at her vanity as a robotic arm reaches across the table, picks up her lipstick, and applies it to her lips while running through her morning schedule. Meet Iron Bestie, a personalised make-up assistant that just snatched top honours at what organisers billed as Hong Kong’s first physical artificial intelligence hackathon, beating more than 160 global competitors in an intense 48-hour hardware-meets-software sprint this week. Powered by vision-language models and voice...South China Morning Post
POLITICSAug 6Hong Kong must be realistic and flexible in re-engaging with the USThe recent decision by the US government not to extend its Hong Kong-related state of emergency saw the effective lifting of sanctions on nine mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials. At a Ministry of Commerce press briefing, a spokesman called it “an important step in fulfilling the consensus” reached in negotiations. Some view the move as a part of the wider attempt at stabilising bilateral relations after US President Donald Trump’s visit to China in May and ahead of Chinese President Xi...South China Morning Post
WORLDAug 6Passengers all at sea as Hong Kong airport’s Terminal 2 train breaks downScores of travellers at Hong Kong International Airport faced delays and were forced to take alternative routes to their boarding gates after an automated train serving Terminal 2 broke down on Thursday. Photos circulating on social media on Thursday morning showed crowds gathered outside the platform doors, while signs erected at the terminal said the train was “temporarily not in service”. Passengers heading to gates 10 to 230 were directed to use walkways on the departures level. One Threads...South China Morning Post
POLITICSAug 6Hong Kong urged to boost public housing space and speed up flat allocationHong Kong authorities should set targets in the city’s first five-year development plan to increase the average living space for public housing tenants and raise the minimum size of subsidised sale flats as supply grows, a concern group has urged. The Federation of Public Housing Estates also said on Thursday that the government should make clear it aims to reduce the average waiting time for public rental housing to three years in the long run, rather than setting a time frame as a key...South China Morning Post
POLITICSAug 6Hong Kong police to merge Tin Sum division with Sha Tin and Ma On ShanHong Kong police will merge the Tin Sum division into the Sha Tin and Ma On Shan ones from August 30 to improve operational efficiency amid population changes and infrastructure development. A briefing was held at Ma On Shan police station on Thursday morning for members of the Sha Tin district Council, the Fight Crime Committee and area committees, as well as representatives of government departments and community partners. “The Police Force regularly reviews resource deployment based on local...South China Morning Post
DISASTERAug 6MTR passengers face up to 30-minute delays after Hong Kong signal faultPassengers travelling between Hung Hom and Tuen Mun faced delays of 25 to 30 minutes on Thursday afternoon after a signalling fault at Kam Sheung Road station, Hong Kong’s rail operator said. The MTR Corporation said at around 2.23pm on Thursday that the glitch had been repaired and train services on the Tuen Ma line were “gradually returning to normal”. At around 1pm, the MTR said it was repairing the faulty equipment near the tracks and urged passengers to allow extra time for their...South China Morning Post
DISASTERAug 6Man found dead in waters off Hong Kong’s Stonecutters Island, probe under wayHong Kong police have found the body of a man in the waters off Stonecutters Island and believe he drowned while swimming. The force received a report at 8.24am on Thursday that a person was floating in the water about 20 metres from a pier near Stonecutters Island in Tsing Yi. Emergency personnel recovered the man from the sea, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. No identification documents were found on him. The man was believed to be about 40 years old. He was around 1.7 metres tall and...South China Morning Post
WORLDAug 625 arrested as Hong Kong police bust loan shark ring charging up to 282% interest rateHong Kong police have arrested 25 people, some as young as 13, in a crackdown on a loan shark syndicate that charged victims annual interest rates of up to 282 per cent. Police said on Thursday that the crime ring had provided a total of HK$200 million (US$25.5 million) in loans to about 2,000 residents over the past year, with at least HK$8 million in criminal proceeds funnelled into the core members’ personal accounts. During operations on Tuesday and Wednesday, officers raided three operating...South China Morning Post
BUSINESSAug 6Hong Kong stock regulator flags more companies for share concentrationHong Kong’s securities regulator has put a spotlight on highly concentrated shareholding this year, a move interpreted by market analysts as a warning about sharp price swings on small-cap stocks. As of August, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) had mentioned 13 cases of high shareholding concentration on the Hong Kong stock exchange, compared with 15 for the whole of last year. The figures marked a 30 per cent rise from 2024 and a twelvefold jump from 2023. For example, the controlling...South China Morning Post
POLITICSAug 6Heaps of documents, endless trials: the herculean workload of Hong Kong’s judgesMy 18-year-old summer intern is very scared of me. She spent the entire week watching me sit in front of my computer, in complete silence, motionless except for the occasional click of the mouse to move to the next electronic document, and barely breathing. She told me this could not be further from what she imagined a barrister’s life to be. And there was one thing she was particularly puzzled by: why were there so many documents? There were, indeed, many documents – over 40,000 pages of them,...South China Morning Post
POLITICSAug 6Hong Kong needs regenerated districts, not piecemeal renewalHong Kong’s redevelopment policy is approaching an institutional turning point. Recent government proposals – pilot schemes for additional plot ratios and cross-district plot ratio transfers – are presented as new instruments to stimulate redevelopment in ageing districts. Yet they extend the same paradigm that shaped policy for decades: incentivising redevelopment through floor-area bonuses, relying on land premium as the financial logic and assuming more buildable area will automatically...South China Morning Post
BUSINESSAug 6How a Hong Kong luxury estate saved HK$1b in renovation cost with tech solutionsHong Kong homeowners could adopt technology-led preventive maintenance of older buildings to avoid costly large-scale renovation, with the upmarket Residence Bel-Air serving as a viable example that saved residents more than HK$1 billion (US$127.5 million). Allen Ha Wing-on, convenor of the Residence Bel-Air owners’ committee, said while the Wang Fuk Court tragedy was a wake-up call to transform the city’s decades-old practice of conducting major renovation works for ageing estates, the private...South China Morning Post
WORLDAug 5Singapore court jails Hong Kong mother, adult son for violent Changi clashA Singaporean court has jailed a Hong Kong mother and her adult son for up to six months following a chaotic clash at Changi Airport, during which the pair attacked a police officer and a bystander. Chan Sui-kwan, 65, was reportedly sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on Monday for voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty, while her son, Chan Wing-kwan, 42, was handed a 10-day jail term for voluntarily causing hurt. The incident occurred on the...South China Morning Post
CYBERAug 5Hong Kong woman swindles landlords out of HK$4.3m in crypto investment scamHong Kong police have arrested a 67-year-old woman who posed as a prospective tenant to swindle two property owners out of HK$4.3 million (US$510,008) in a virtual currency investment scam. Investigators from the Western district crime squad said on Wednesday that the suspect had contacted two victims — who were separately advertising a flat and a parking space for rent — and offered to pay in advance to win their trust. She then persuaded them to join a supposed high-return investment...South China Morning Post
DISASTERAug 5Hong Kong fatal traffic accidents rise 44% in first half of 2026, with 63 deadHong Kong recorded a 44 per cent year-on-year increase in fatal traffic accidents in the first half of 2026, with many cases involving elderly victims and older drivers, police said, adding that they supported tighter health check requirements for motorists. Police said on Wednesday that the city recorded 59 fatal traffic accidents in the first half of this year, up from 41 in the same period in 2025, while the number of victims rose from 43 to 63. This rise in deaths stood in contrast to the...South China Morning Post
← NewerOlder →