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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
PoliticsAug 5To lead Greater Bay Area integration, Hong Kong can look to San FranciscoHong Kong’s first-ever five-year plan for economic and social development (2026-2030) is out for public consultation. The section on the “development of regional cooperation” stands out for its call to “advance the development of key cooperation platforms, and strengthen collaboration with other areas, provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in the mainland”. Similarly, Shenzhen has set out an agenda for the high-level development of major cooperation platforms in its 15th five-year...South China Morning Post
Sci & TechAug 5Hong Kong tests thermal drones to catch illegal smoking at construction sitesHong Kong labour authorities have begun testing an infrared thermal-imaging drone to detect heat sources and illegal smoking at construction sites, with plans to add artificial intelligence (AI) to identify offenders. Since the total construction site smoking ban took effect on July 17, about 1,400 have been inspected as of Tuesday, according to Wan Chi-ping, assistant commissioner for labour. Authorities issued 39 fixed-penalty notices and 11 improvement notices to contractors, while two cases...South China Morning Post
BusinessAug 5China’s X Square Robot submits confidential filing for Hong Kong IPO, sources sayChinese start-up X Square Robot has filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, according to two sources familiar with the matter, joining a growing wave of domestic robot makers flocking to capital markets, despite new US trade restrictions. The Shenzhen-based firm has tapped Huatai Securities and Morgan Stanley as sponsors for the prospective float, one of the sources said. Besides X Square, AgiBot and Galbot have also filed confidentially for Hong Kong IPOs, the...South China Morning Post
BusinessAug 5Mastercard elevates premium travel with Asia Pacific first Taste by Priceless dining club at Hong Kong International AirportMastercard is enhancing premium travel experiences by launching its first Asia Pacific "Taste by Priceless" dining club at Hong Kong International Airport. This initiative aims to provide exclusive dining options for travelers.chinanationalnews.com · China
WorldAug 5Hong Kong ship crews stranded in Strait of Hormuz ‘safe and offered counselling’Crew members aboard about 80 Hong Kong-owned ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz for five months have enough supplies and access to video counselling, an industry representative said, adding that the seafarers face little immediate danger despite the stand-off. Kenneth Lam Sze-kin, deputy chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, said on Wednesday that the roughly 1,600 crew members would remain safe on ships owned by Hong Kong companies as long as shipowners were willing to pay for...South China Morning Post
DisasterAug 5Typhoon signal unlikely in Hong Kong over weekend but at least 18 flights to Japan axedThe likelihood of a typhoon warning signal being issued in Hong Kong over the weekend is low, as tropical cyclone Kujira is set to weaken under the influence of Dolphin. The latter, though downgraded from a super typhoon to a severe typhoon, has nonetheless prompted airlines to cancel at least 18 flights between the city and Japan. The Observatory said early on Wednesday that tropical cyclone Kujira, meaning “whale” in Japanese, would linger over the central part of the South China Sea near the...South China Morning Post
WorldAug 534% of Hong Kong students win university, diploma spots under admissions systemAbout 34 per cent of students who applied through Hong Kong’s university admissions system have secured tertiary education places this year, marking a slight drop from last year amid stiffer competition. When the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (Jupas) results were shared on Wednesday, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the University of Hong Kong (HKU) each said they had offered places to half of the 24 top scorers in this year’s Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE)...South China Morning Post
BusinessAug 5Why China’s new sovereign bond sale in Hong Kong is drawing global interestChina’s Ministry of Finance is set to raise 15 billion yuan (US$2.22 billion) through a sovereign bond auction in Hong Kong, tapping international capital just days after the city launched a long-awaited tool designed to help global investors hedge against mainland bond market risks. The sale marks the fourth tranche of Beijing’s 84 billion yuan sovereign bond programme for the year approved by the State Council, China’s cabinet. The exact tenors and yields would be announced by the Hong Kong...South China Morning Post
HealthAug 4Water dispenser linked to legionnaires’ disease case in private Hong Kong hospitalAn 89-year-old patient at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital is highly likely to have contracted legionnaires’ disease after drinking water from a contaminated dispenser, health authorities have said. The Centre for Health Protection confirmed on Tuesday that samples from devices dispensing cooled boiled water at the private hospital in Happy Valley tested positive for Legionella pneumophila at levels far above the safety threshold for high‑risk areas of hospitals. Genetic testing found that...South China Morning Post
DisasterAug 4Lucky escape for boy, 7, after wheel comes off KMB double-decker bus in Hong KongA seven-year-old boy escaped with minor injuries on Tuesday after a rear wheel came off a double-decker bus travelling on a busy road in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district. Police received a report at 3.25pm that the KMB route 86 bus was travelling along Cheung Sha Wan Road towards Kwai Chung when its rear-left wheel became detached, just outside Cheung Sha Wan Plaza. The wheel struck and dented a metal railing, which in turn hit the boy as he waited for a bus. The boy was conscious and complained of...South China Morning Post
HealthAug 4Boy, 7, dies in Hong Kong’s first fatal paediatric flu case of 2026Hong Kong recorded the first fatal paediatric case of influenza this year after a seven-year-old boy died on Tuesday, nine days after displaying symptoms. The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said that the boy, who had been in good health, developed a cough and runny nose on July 27 and a fever on Saturday, before his condition deteriorated on Monday when he became less responsive. He was admitted in critical condition to the paediatric intensive care unit at Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai...South China Morning Post
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