‘Net advantage for India’? What US sanctions mean for Pakistan’s relevance in Washington
By Junaid Kathju
The United States’ latest sanctions targeting Pakistan-based entities for their involvement in the country’s ballistic missile programme have bolstered India’s strategic position and underscored Islamabad’s fading relevance in Washington, analysts say.
The US sanctioned four entities on Wednesday, including the state-owned National Development Complex, that it said were contributing to the programme. A statement by the US Department of State said the entities were “proliferators of weapons of mass destruction”.
“Today, the United States is designating four entities that are contributing to Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme. We have been clear and consistent about our concerns, and we will continue to engage constructively with Pakistan on these issues,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller posted on X.
Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, said the sanctions would benefit India by effectively limiting Pakistan’s ability to expand its ballistic missile arsenal, a development that New Delhi viewed as a strategic gain.
“Any attempt to weaken the growth of Pakistan’s missile development programme or any step to diminish the growth of any aspect of Pakistani proliferation programmes would be seen as a good thing in India, given its deep rivalry with Pakistan,” Kugelman said.
“From the zero-sum perspective, seeing its rival getting sanctioned is going to be a net advantage for India.”
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By Junaid Kathju
The United States’ latest sanctions targeting Pakistan-based entities for their involvement in the country’s ballistic missile programme have bolstered India’s strategic position and underscored Islamabad’s fading relevance in Washington, analysts say.
The US sanctioned four entities on Wednesday, including the state-owned National Development Complex, that it said were contributing to the programme. A statement by the US Department of State said the entities were “proliferators of weapons of mass destruction”.
“Today, the United States is designating four entities that are contributing to Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme. We have been clear and consistent about our concerns, and we will continue to engage constructively with Pakistan on these issues,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller posted on X.
Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, said the sanctions would benefit India by effectively limiting Pakistan’s ability to expand its ballistic missile arsenal, a development that New Delhi viewed as a strategic gain.
“Any attempt to weaken the growth of Pakistan’s missile development programme or any step to diminish the growth of any aspect of Pakistani proliferation programmes would be seen as a good thing in India, given its deep rivalry with Pakistan,” Kugelman said.
“From the zero-sum perspective, seeing its rival getting sanctioned is going to be a net advantage for India.”
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Hong Kong tutoring centre owner slapped with 240 hours of community service
By Brian Wong
A Hong Kong private tutoring chain director has been sentenced to 240 hours of community service for selling HK$70,000 (US$9,000) worth of prepaid programmes to eight parents before the company’s abrupt closure last year.
Eastern Court on Monday also ordered Margaret Pang Tse-tung, 52, to pay back the eight customers after she decided to accept prepayments for courses at her company, Brilliant Education, despite plans to close down the business after accumulating a HK$6.4 million debt.
Pang, who was the education centre’s sole director, was arrested by customs officers days after she closed all of its five branches without prior notice on July 29 last year, sparking a wave of complaints from parents.
She earlier pleaded guilty to eight counts of wrongly accepting payment in breach of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.
The court heard Brilliant Education had received from the eight parents tutorial fees ranging from HK$3,150 to HK$12,880 between July 9 and 24, 2023.
An investigation revealed the chain had defaulted on wage payments in excess of HK$2.7 million since April that year.
The company also failed to settle rents for its branches from as early as February 2023, with the outstanding sum snowballing to HK$3.7 million by the time of its closure.
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By Brian Wong
A Hong Kong private tutoring chain director has been sentenced to 240 hours of community service for selling HK$70,000 (US$9,000) worth of prepaid programmes to eight parents before the company’s abrupt closure last year.
Eastern Court on Monday also ordered Margaret Pang Tse-tung, 52, to pay back the eight customers after she decided to accept prepayments for courses at her company, Brilliant Education, despite plans to close down the business after accumulating a HK$6.4 million debt.
Pang, who was the education centre’s sole director, was arrested by customs officers days after she closed all of its five branches without prior notice on July 29 last year, sparking a wave of complaints from parents.
She earlier pleaded guilty to eight counts of wrongly accepting payment in breach of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.
The court heard Brilliant Education had received from the eight parents tutorial fees ranging from HK$3,150 to HK$12,880 between July 9 and 24, 2023.
An investigation revealed the chain had defaulted on wage payments in excess of HK$2.7 million since April that year.
The company also failed to settle rents for its branches from as early as February 2023, with the outstanding sum snowballing to HK$3.7 million by the time of its closure.
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Seek empathy over revenge, Hong Kong cardinal says in Christmas message
By Emily Hung
Hong Kong’s top Catholic priest has called for the pursuit of justice through empathy instead of vengeance, while urging for renewed hope in the local and global economy in his Christmas message.
Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, head of the Catholic diocese of Hong Kong, on Monday invited the faithful to await the “promise of joy and hope of Christmas”, despite the “depressive and anxiety-provoking realities”.
He acknowledged the challenges facing Hong Kong and the world, including the slower-than-expected economic recovery, increasingly tense geopolitics and rising mental health problems among the younger and elderly.
But Chow said with “hope and love in our consciousness”, love could be brought to marginalised communities, who were struggling with feeling unwanted and abandoned.
They included prisoners waiting for a new life, married couples who cannot see a sufficiently stable future for childbearing, young people who fail to identify convincing reasons to envisage a hopeful future, and the elderly who are lonely and abandoned, among others.
“It is in our best interest, and that of future generations, when we can help the weaker parties to become stronger so that together we can have a better present and a hope-filled future,” he said.
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By Emily Hung
Hong Kong’s top Catholic priest has called for the pursuit of justice through empathy instead of vengeance, while urging for renewed hope in the local and global economy in his Christmas message.
Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, head of the Catholic diocese of Hong Kong, on Monday invited the faithful to await the “promise of joy and hope of Christmas”, despite the “depressive and anxiety-provoking realities”.
He acknowledged the challenges facing Hong Kong and the world, including the slower-than-expected economic recovery, increasingly tense geopolitics and rising mental health problems among the younger and elderly.
But Chow said with “hope and love in our consciousness”, love could be brought to marginalised communities, who were struggling with feeling unwanted and abandoned.
They included prisoners waiting for a new life, married couples who cannot see a sufficiently stable future for childbearing, young people who fail to identify convincing reasons to envisage a hopeful future, and the elderly who are lonely and abandoned, among others.
“It is in our best interest, and that of future generations, when we can help the weaker parties to become stronger so that together we can have a better present and a hope-filled future,” he said.
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Hong Kong fans of Jay Chou swindled out of HK$180,000 from fake concert tickets
By Ng Kang-chung
Hong Kong fans of star singer Jay Chou have reported losses reaching HK$180,000 (US$23,140) after being scammed into buying fake tickets to see the “King of Mandopop” perform at Kai Tak Sports Park next year.
Police said on Monday they had received eight reports of scams between Wednesday last week and Sunday, with six involving orders placed through mainland Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.
“The scammers claimed they had priority tickets to re-sell and asked victims to transfer the money to personal bank accounts. In the end, the ‘seller’ lost contact,” the force said.
The fans spent a combined HK$180,000 on the bogus tickets.
Police said organisers had clarified that the public sale date for tickets was yet to be announced. Priority bookings had closed and presale tickets were reportedly sold out.
The force warned fans to stay alert and only purchase tickets through official channels.
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By Ng Kang-chung
Hong Kong fans of star singer Jay Chou have reported losses reaching HK$180,000 (US$23,140) after being scammed into buying fake tickets to see the “King of Mandopop” perform at Kai Tak Sports Park next year.
Police said on Monday they had received eight reports of scams between Wednesday last week and Sunday, with six involving orders placed through mainland Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.
“The scammers claimed they had priority tickets to re-sell and asked victims to transfer the money to personal bank accounts. In the end, the ‘seller’ lost contact,” the force said.
The fans spent a combined HK$180,000 on the bogus tickets.
Police said organisers had clarified that the public sale date for tickets was yet to be announced. Priority bookings had closed and presale tickets were reportedly sold out.
The force warned fans to stay alert and only purchase tickets through official channels.
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Japan’s Honda and Nissan merge to form world’s third-largest carmaker, amid EV transition
By Associated Press
Japanese carmakers Honda and Nissan have announced plans to join forces, forming the world’s third-largest carmaker by sales, as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels, and aggressive competition from China forces legacy carmakers to rethink their business models.
The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday, and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses.
“We anticipate that if this integration comes to fruition, we will be able to deliver even greater value to a wider customer base,” Nissan’s CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement.
Carmakers in Japan have lagged behind their big rivals in electric vehicles and are trying to cut costs and make up for lost time.
In China, the soaring popularity of locally made EVs has foreign brands fighting for survival, and Japanese carmakers there are stuck with too much capacity.
News of a possible merger surfaced earlier this month, with unconfirmed reports saying that the talks on closer collaboration partly were driven by aspirations of Taiwan iPhone maker Foxconn to tie up with Nissan, which has an alliance with Renault SA of France and Mitsubishi.
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By Associated Press
Japanese carmakers Honda and Nissan have announced plans to join forces, forming the world’s third-largest carmaker by sales, as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels, and aggressive competition from China forces legacy carmakers to rethink their business models.
The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday, and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses.
“We anticipate that if this integration comes to fruition, we will be able to deliver even greater value to a wider customer base,” Nissan’s CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement.
Carmakers in Japan have lagged behind their big rivals in electric vehicles and are trying to cut costs and make up for lost time.
In China, the soaring popularity of locally made EVs has foreign brands fighting for survival, and Japanese carmakers there are stuck with too much capacity.
News of a possible merger surfaced earlier this month, with unconfirmed reports saying that the talks on closer collaboration partly were driven by aspirations of Taiwan iPhone maker Foxconn to tie up with Nissan, which has an alliance with Renault SA of France and Mitsubishi.
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Australia’s South Asians hail inclusion of caste discrimination in anti-racism framework
By Sonia Sarkar
When Sydney-based IT professional Devi asked someone from her company for another colleague’s phone number last year, she was told that the colleague was from an upper-caste family, implying she should be mindful of his status before approaching him.
“The response was uncalled for because I was not concerned about other people’s caste,” Devi, who goes by one name and originally hails from India’s Tamil Nadu state, told This Week In Asia. “It was specifically told to me because I belong to a caste-oppressed community.”
Such taunts based on caste – a rigid social stratification system in South Asia that assigns individuals their social standing at birth – now face greater scrutiny in Australia due to new measures aimed at curbing them.
Australia’s Human Rights Commission (AHRC) included caste discrimination in the national anti-racism framework for the first time last month. This enables the government, police, public institutions, businesses and community organisations to introduce measures against faith and caste-based discrimination and avenues for legal protections in areas such as housing, education and culture.
Devi believes including caste discrimination in the anti-racism framework will encourage companies to address the issue in their human resource policies and empower employees facing discrimination to make formal complaints.
“This framework will raise awareness, and those flaunting their caste at workplaces will stop doing it,” said Devi, who also sits on the executive committee of the Canberra-based advocacy organisation Periyar Ambedkar Thoughts Circle of Australia (PATCA), which aims to eradicate caste-based discrimination.
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By Sonia Sarkar
When Sydney-based IT professional Devi asked someone from her company for another colleague’s phone number last year, she was told that the colleague was from an upper-caste family, implying she should be mindful of his status before approaching him.
“The response was uncalled for because I was not concerned about other people’s caste,” Devi, who goes by one name and originally hails from India’s Tamil Nadu state, told This Week In Asia. “It was specifically told to me because I belong to a caste-oppressed community.”
Such taunts based on caste – a rigid social stratification system in South Asia that assigns individuals their social standing at birth – now face greater scrutiny in Australia due to new measures aimed at curbing them.
Australia’s Human Rights Commission (AHRC) included caste discrimination in the national anti-racism framework for the first time last month. This enables the government, police, public institutions, businesses and community organisations to introduce measures against faith and caste-based discrimination and avenues for legal protections in areas such as housing, education and culture.
Devi believes including caste discrimination in the anti-racism framework will encourage companies to address the issue in their human resource policies and empower employees facing discrimination to make formal complaints.
“This framework will raise awareness, and those flaunting their caste at workplaces will stop doing it,” said Devi, who also sits on the executive committee of the Canberra-based advocacy organisation Periyar Ambedkar Thoughts Circle of Australia (PATCA), which aims to eradicate caste-based discrimination.
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Malaysian police hunt for football hooligans after attack on Singapore fans
By Joseph Sipalan
Malaysia’s police are searching for up to 30 people believed to have been involved in a brawl between supporters of the Malaysian and Singaporean national football teams after a match last week, which resulted in damage to a train at an LRT stop in Kuala Lumpur.
Footage of the incident went viral on Saturday after a group of people believed to be supporters of Malaysia’s national team attacked the train at the Bandar Tasek Selatan station, just a few stops from the Bukit Jalil stadium where the match was held the previous night.
Police on Sunday said they have identified the suspects believed to have been involved in the brawl through CCTV footage from LRT stations, trains and the stadium.
“We have identified the suspects and will be arresting and interrogating them in the next couple of days,” Cheras police chief Aidil Bolhassan was quoted as saying by local news portal Scoop. “It took some time due to the large crowd that attended the game.”
Police are investigating the case for rioting and committing public mischief, Aidil said.
While the incident caused some damage to the train no injuries were reported.
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By Joseph Sipalan
Malaysia’s police are searching for up to 30 people believed to have been involved in a brawl between supporters of the Malaysian and Singaporean national football teams after a match last week, which resulted in damage to a train at an LRT stop in Kuala Lumpur.
Footage of the incident went viral on Saturday after a group of people believed to be supporters of Malaysia’s national team attacked the train at the Bandar Tasek Selatan station, just a few stops from the Bukit Jalil stadium where the match was held the previous night.
Police on Sunday said they have identified the suspects believed to have been involved in the brawl through CCTV footage from LRT stations, trains and the stadium.
“We have identified the suspects and will be arresting and interrogating them in the next couple of days,” Cheras police chief Aidil Bolhassan was quoted as saying by local news portal Scoop. “It took some time due to the large crowd that attended the game.”
Police are investigating the case for rioting and committing public mischief, Aidil said.
While the incident caused some damage to the train no injuries were reported.
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China’s security ministry says foreign spies are slandering revolutionary heroes online
By Yuanyue Dang
China’s leading anti-spy agency has blamed foreign agents for comments on social media that it says distort history and “slander” revolutionary heroes.
“There are foreign spy agencies flooding online comment sections with unofficial and fake history about our country’s historical heroes, trying to discredit and slander our historical culture and heroic role models, and dispel people’s admiration for heroes and their identification with our historical culture,” the Ministry of State Security said in a social media post on Monday.
The post on the ministry’s official WeChat account warned that “some foreign spy agencies” are “stealing state secrets, disrupting online order and posing a threat to national security”.
Foreign spies pretend to be interested in politics, military matters, economics or science and technology and try to steal information by interacting with social media users, the ministry said.
It said officers had discovered that spies were using “manual screening or algorithmic capture” to entice people to post sensitive information such as the “parameters, serial numbers and developers of our research equipment” in the comments under a video about a “certain Chinese technology project”.
The spies also recruit trolls or use bots to “recklessly fabricate and spread false statements that discredit our government and policies”, the ministry added.
The security ministry has become increasingly active on social media with warnings about the risk posed by foreigners.
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By Yuanyue Dang
China’s leading anti-spy agency has blamed foreign agents for comments on social media that it says distort history and “slander” revolutionary heroes.
“There are foreign spy agencies flooding online comment sections with unofficial and fake history about our country’s historical heroes, trying to discredit and slander our historical culture and heroic role models, and dispel people’s admiration for heroes and their identification with our historical culture,” the Ministry of State Security said in a social media post on Monday.
The post on the ministry’s official WeChat account warned that “some foreign spy agencies” are “stealing state secrets, disrupting online order and posing a threat to national security”.
Foreign spies pretend to be interested in politics, military matters, economics or science and technology and try to steal information by interacting with social media users, the ministry said.
It said officers had discovered that spies were using “manual screening or algorithmic capture” to entice people to post sensitive information such as the “parameters, serial numbers and developers of our research equipment” in the comments under a video about a “certain Chinese technology project”.
The spies also recruit trolls or use bots to “recklessly fabricate and spread false statements that discredit our government and policies”, the ministry added.
The security ministry has become increasingly active on social media with warnings about the risk posed by foreigners.
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Why there’s no end in sight to Singapore’s property cooling measures
By Nicholas Spiro
In Hong Kong, long-standing measures to dampen speculative demand in the city’s residential property market were belatedly scrapped in February in an effort to help reverse a prolonged slump in prices and transactions. Yet since the beginning of this year, second-hand house prices have fallen a further 6.1 per cent.
Singapore has the opposite problem. Successive rounds of cooling measures since the Covid-19 pandemic erupted have failed to take the heat out of parts of its housing market. This is fuelling speculation over when the next round of restrictions – the first set of cooling measures was introduced in 1996 – is likely to be imposed.
Last month, sales of new private homes surged to their highest level since March 2013. Developers sold 2,557 units, more than in the previous six months combined and an increase of 226 per cent compared with November 2023. While the remarkable sales performance was driven largely by the launch of six new projects, it was enough to prompt renewed talk of another round of cooling measures.
Although speculation over the timing of new curbs is a national fixation in Singapore, previous spikes in transactions were often followed by sharp rises in prices, triggering government intervention. Prices of private properties, while having slowed significantly this year, still stand at a record high. “Everyone’s a bit edgy about how prices are staying at these levels despite all the cooling measures,” said Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at OrangeTee Group.
This has focused attention on the effectiveness of the regulations, which include tighter restrictions on mortgage lending, higher taxes (especially for non-residents and those buying their second, third and subsequent properties) and measures to discourage property flipping.
One of the problems is diminishing returns. Singaporean citizens have grown accustomed to the government’s repeated attempts to cool the housing market and have found ways to circumvent some of the restrictions.
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By Nicholas Spiro
In Hong Kong, long-standing measures to dampen speculative demand in the city’s residential property market were belatedly scrapped in February in an effort to help reverse a prolonged slump in prices and transactions. Yet since the beginning of this year, second-hand house prices have fallen a further 6.1 per cent.
Singapore has the opposite problem. Successive rounds of cooling measures since the Covid-19 pandemic erupted have failed to take the heat out of parts of its housing market. This is fuelling speculation over when the next round of restrictions – the first set of cooling measures was introduced in 1996 – is likely to be imposed.
Last month, sales of new private homes surged to their highest level since March 2013. Developers sold 2,557 units, more than in the previous six months combined and an increase of 226 per cent compared with November 2023. While the remarkable sales performance was driven largely by the launch of six new projects, it was enough to prompt renewed talk of another round of cooling measures.
Although speculation over the timing of new curbs is a national fixation in Singapore, previous spikes in transactions were often followed by sharp rises in prices, triggering government intervention. Prices of private properties, while having slowed significantly this year, still stand at a record high. “Everyone’s a bit edgy about how prices are staying at these levels despite all the cooling measures,” said Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at OrangeTee Group.
This has focused attention on the effectiveness of the regulations, which include tighter restrictions on mortgage lending, higher taxes (especially for non-residents and those buying their second, third and subsequent properties) and measures to discourage property flipping.
One of the problems is diminishing returns. Singaporean citizens have grown accustomed to the government’s repeated attempts to cool the housing market and have found ways to circumvent some of the restrictions.
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Builder Jinke Property reveals details of court-supervised debt restructuring plan
By Bloomberg
Chinese developer Jinke Property Group has revealed details of its court-supervised onshore debt restructuring programme to some of its creditors, people familiar with the matter said.
Under the plan, the Chongqing-based company would make cash payments of as much as 50,000 yuan ($6,851) to each bondholder, the people said. Those payments would come after it receives 1.8 billion yuan from a group of two local firms serving as a white knight for the restructuring, the people said, which is still subject to creditor and court approval.
The remainder of the debt would be repaid via a debt-to-equity swap and a trust product, the people said. Each bondholder would receive about 2.5 shares of Jinke and an expected 1.9 yuan in the trust for every 100 yuan of debt principal, the people said. Jinke shares were trading at 1.64 yuan Monday morning, according to Bloomberg data.
If the plan is successful, Jinke, which was once China’s 25th largest developer by contracted sales, could offer a restructuring road map for other companies struggling to repay debt. But if creditors do not give their backing, the company’s risk of liquidation could rise.
Under the plan, Jinke would set up an eight-year trust for debt payment backed by shares in 20 subsidiaries. The 20 subsidiaries manage more than 200 Jinke projects across the country, one of the people said.
There could also be a second round of repayment via shares and the trust, but details are unclear, the people said.
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By Bloomberg
Chinese developer Jinke Property Group has revealed details of its court-supervised onshore debt restructuring programme to some of its creditors, people familiar with the matter said.
Under the plan, the Chongqing-based company would make cash payments of as much as 50,000 yuan ($6,851) to each bondholder, the people said. Those payments would come after it receives 1.8 billion yuan from a group of two local firms serving as a white knight for the restructuring, the people said, which is still subject to creditor and court approval.
The remainder of the debt would be repaid via a debt-to-equity swap and a trust product, the people said. Each bondholder would receive about 2.5 shares of Jinke and an expected 1.9 yuan in the trust for every 100 yuan of debt principal, the people said. Jinke shares were trading at 1.64 yuan Monday morning, according to Bloomberg data.
If the plan is successful, Jinke, which was once China’s 25th largest developer by contracted sales, could offer a restructuring road map for other companies struggling to repay debt. But if creditors do not give their backing, the company’s risk of liquidation could rise.
Under the plan, Jinke would set up an eight-year trust for debt payment backed by shares in 20 subsidiaries. The 20 subsidiaries manage more than 200 Jinke projects across the country, one of the people said.
There could also be a second round of repayment via shares and the trust, but details are unclear, the people said.
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Gruesome deaths of cats at Malaysian campus spark outrage from animal lovers
By Hadi Azmi
Malaysian animal lovers are questioning a police claim that wild dogs were responsible for the gruesome deaths of six cats on the campus of Universiti Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur, with a scramble over the weekend to rescue other strays from further attacks.
Public outrage erupted last week after social media users shared disturbing images of the dead cats, some severely mutilated and missing limbs.
Animal rights activists and members of the public have descended upon the campus over the weekend and rescued 22 other cats out of fear they could be targeted next.
Responding to several complaints about the incident, the Royal Malaysian Police said the matter had been referred to the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS), which indicated it was the work of wild dogs.
“Based on security footage in the area where the incident took place, it was shown there were a pack of wild dogs who attacked the cats,” police said on Sunday.
However, many questioned this explanation, arguing the injuries appeared too precise to be caused by dogs.
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By Hadi Azmi
Malaysian animal lovers are questioning a police claim that wild dogs were responsible for the gruesome deaths of six cats on the campus of Universiti Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur, with a scramble over the weekend to rescue other strays from further attacks.
Public outrage erupted last week after social media users shared disturbing images of the dead cats, some severely mutilated and missing limbs.
Animal rights activists and members of the public have descended upon the campus over the weekend and rescued 22 other cats out of fear they could be targeted next.
Responding to several complaints about the incident, the Royal Malaysian Police said the matter had been referred to the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS), which indicated it was the work of wild dogs.
“Based on security footage in the area where the incident took place, it was shown there were a pack of wild dogs who attacked the cats,” police said on Sunday.
However, many questioned this explanation, arguing the injuries appeared too precise to be caused by dogs.
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Nearly 400,000 Hongkongers leave city on December 22, up 15% from last year
By Edith Lin
Hong Kong residents embarked on nearly 400,000 outbound trips on Sunday ahead of the Christmas holiday, an increase of 15 per cent from the same day last year, with short-haul trips to Taiwan, Japan and Thailand remaining popular destinations.
Meanwhile, the travel industry is gearing up for the coming year by developing packages to new mainland Chinese destinations, with Hong Kong set to launch direct high-speed rail routes to certain locations from January 5.
“High-speed rail trips are gaining popularity. The fixed ticket prices on weekdays and holidays also make it easier for travel agencies to plan their products,” Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, told a radio show on Monday.
According to figures released by the Immigration Department on Monday, Hong Kong recorded a total of 595,119 outbound trips on the previous day, of which 396,849, or 67 per cent, were Hongkongers. The number of outbound trips by locals was a 15 per cent increase from the 344,836 recorded on December 22 last year.
On Sunday, the city also logged a total of 544,593 inbound passenger trips comprising 369,328 Hong Kong residents and 135,515 mainland ones.
Starting from January 5 next year, the city’s high-speed rail service will launch a new long-haul route to Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province, and introduce new destinations including Suzhou in Jiangsu province and Meizhou in Guangdong province.
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By Edith Lin
Hong Kong residents embarked on nearly 400,000 outbound trips on Sunday ahead of the Christmas holiday, an increase of 15 per cent from the same day last year, with short-haul trips to Taiwan, Japan and Thailand remaining popular destinations.
Meanwhile, the travel industry is gearing up for the coming year by developing packages to new mainland Chinese destinations, with Hong Kong set to launch direct high-speed rail routes to certain locations from January 5.
“High-speed rail trips are gaining popularity. The fixed ticket prices on weekdays and holidays also make it easier for travel agencies to plan their products,” Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, told a radio show on Monday.
According to figures released by the Immigration Department on Monday, Hong Kong recorded a total of 595,119 outbound trips on the previous day, of which 396,849, or 67 per cent, were Hongkongers. The number of outbound trips by locals was a 15 per cent increase from the 344,836 recorded on December 22 last year.
On Sunday, the city also logged a total of 544,593 inbound passenger trips comprising 369,328 Hong Kong residents and 135,515 mainland ones.
Starting from January 5 next year, the city’s high-speed rail service will launch a new long-haul route to Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province, and introduce new destinations including Suzhou in Jiangsu province and Meizhou in Guangdong province.
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HSBC’s PayMe now accepted by 27,000 Hong Kong taxi drivers
By Willa Wu
About 27,000 Hong Kong taxi drivers will be able to receive payments through the PayMe service on their mobile devices via the Octopus app.
Octopus said the new channel, operated by HSBC, was launched after it saw “a significant uptick” in electronic payment adoption through its network by both riders and drivers since it began accepting different e-payment options for taxi fares this year. These payment channels included UnionPay, AlipayHK, Alipay and WeChat Pay.
“The number of active taxi drivers accepting electronic payment has increased by 40 per cent, with the average monthly transaction volume rising by nearly 60 per cent since launch,” the company said.
According to the company, seven in 10 taxi drivers in Hong Kong have registered to use the device paired with drivers’ Octopus Business app, while Octopus does not charge any transaction fee.
Hong Kong is home to 18,163 taxis, of which 15,250 are red urban taxis, 2,838 are green New Territories taxis and 75 are blue Lantau taxis. The average daily taxi patronage is near one million.
PayMe currently covers over 100,000 local and online merchants across Hong Kong.
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By Willa Wu
About 27,000 Hong Kong taxi drivers will be able to receive payments through the PayMe service on their mobile devices via the Octopus app.
Octopus said the new channel, operated by HSBC, was launched after it saw “a significant uptick” in electronic payment adoption through its network by both riders and drivers since it began accepting different e-payment options for taxi fares this year. These payment channels included UnionPay, AlipayHK, Alipay and WeChat Pay.
“The number of active taxi drivers accepting electronic payment has increased by 40 per cent, with the average monthly transaction volume rising by nearly 60 per cent since launch,” the company said.
According to the company, seven in 10 taxi drivers in Hong Kong have registered to use the device paired with drivers’ Octopus Business app, while Octopus does not charge any transaction fee.
Hong Kong is home to 18,163 taxis, of which 15,250 are red urban taxis, 2,838 are green New Territories taxis and 75 are blue Lantau taxis. The average daily taxi patronage is near one million.
PayMe currently covers over 100,000 local and online merchants across Hong Kong.
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By Bloomberg
Bitcoin marked its first weekly decline since Donald Trump’s election victory, as the US Federal Reserve’s cautious policy outlook tempered optimism over the president-elect’s embrace of the cryptocurrency sector.
The largest digital asset was down more than 7 per cent for the seven-day period through 9:27am on Monday in Singapore, the biggest such drop since September.
A wider cryptocurrency market gauge, encompassing smaller tokens such as ether and meme-crowd favourite dogecoin, suffered a sharper decline of about 10 per cent.
The Fed on Wednesday delivered a third straight interest-rate cut, while signalling a slower pace of monetary easing next year to keep inflation in check, sending global stocks into a tailspin.
The hawkish pivot also dampened the speculative spirits unleashed in the cryptocurrency market by Trump’s pledge of friendly regulations and his backing for a national bitcoin stockpile.
A record outflow from US exchange traded funds investing directly in bitcoin last week will weigh on prices in the near term, said Sean McNulty, director of trading at liquidity provider Arbelos Markets.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
Bitcoin marked its first weekly decline since Donald Trump’s election victory, as the US Federal Reserve’s cautious policy outlook tempered optimism over the president-elect’s embrace of the cryptocurrency sector.
The largest digital asset was down more than 7 per cent for the seven-day period through 9:27am on Monday in Singapore, the biggest such drop since September.
A wider cryptocurrency market gauge, encompassing smaller tokens such as ether and meme-crowd favourite dogecoin, suffered a sharper decline of about 10 per cent.
The Fed on Wednesday delivered a third straight interest-rate cut, while signalling a slower pace of monetary easing next year to keep inflation in check, sending global stocks into a tailspin.
The hawkish pivot also dampened the speculative spirits unleashed in the cryptocurrency market by Trump’s pledge of friendly regulations and his backing for a national bitcoin stockpile.
A record outflow from US exchange traded funds investing directly in bitcoin last week will weigh on prices in the near term, said Sean McNulty, director of trading at liquidity provider Arbelos Markets.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
Hong Kong court jails businessman for 49 months over 2019 Yuen Long MTR riot
By Brian Wong
A Hong Kong businessman has been sentenced to four years and one month in prison for taking part in a riot with a stick-wielding white-clad mob outside a railway station during the 2019 anti-government protests.
West Kowloon Court on Monday jailed Tang Ka-man, 46, for participating in the assault against protesters and commuters during the overnight violence at Yuen Long MTR station between July 21 and 22, 2019.
Tang, a Yuen Long villager who runs a car park business, was earlier found guilty of rioting and conspiracy to wound with intent for brandishing a rattan stick to threaten a group of black-clad protesters gathering outside Ying Lung Wai village in the early hours of July 22.
He also hurled a wooden stick and a lamp he stole from a construction site at the opposition group, but missed his targets.
Deputy district judge Amy Chan Wai-mun sought to draw distinctions between the present case and other violent episodes of the social unrest, saying there was no evidence that anybody was injured during the clashes in Yuen Long, nor was any public facility vandalised.
“So this case was not one which involved the digging of the bricks, the attack of the police, arsons on the shops, on the MTR, the damage on the traffic lights, throwing of the petrol bombs,” she told the court.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
By Brian Wong
A Hong Kong businessman has been sentenced to four years and one month in prison for taking part in a riot with a stick-wielding white-clad mob outside a railway station during the 2019 anti-government protests.
West Kowloon Court on Monday jailed Tang Ka-man, 46, for participating in the assault against protesters and commuters during the overnight violence at Yuen Long MTR station between July 21 and 22, 2019.
Tang, a Yuen Long villager who runs a car park business, was earlier found guilty of rioting and conspiracy to wound with intent for brandishing a rattan stick to threaten a group of black-clad protesters gathering outside Ying Lung Wai village in the early hours of July 22.
He also hurled a wooden stick and a lamp he stole from a construction site at the opposition group, but missed his targets.
Deputy district judge Amy Chan Wai-mun sought to draw distinctions between the present case and other violent episodes of the social unrest, saying there was no evidence that anybody was injured during the clashes in Yuen Long, nor was any public facility vandalised.
“So this case was not one which involved the digging of the bricks, the attack of the police, arsons on the shops, on the MTR, the damage on the traffic lights, throwing of the petrol bombs,” she told the court.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
