Theme park performer Bernice Yuen Sze-hang outshone 11 other contenders to take the Miss Hong Kong 2026 title on Sunday night. The 26-year-old, one of the heavy favourites, dazzled both judges and the audience to claim the tiara in the beauty pageant final at TVB City in Tseung Kwan O. “We went through two or three hou
Andy Burnham has enjoyed a honeymoon first month as UK prime minister, but the hard trade-offs involved in governing are about to get real as parliament returns from its summer break in the coming days. Since succeeding Keir Starmer on July 20, Burnham has pleased voters with several low-cost sweeteners, including cutt
The People’s Liberation Army is increasingly embracing broader “systems-oriented warfare” rather than relying on individual weapons platforms – a shift Taiwanese analysts say could pose new challenges to the island’s defences. Instead of focusing on individual weapons, the PLA has progressively emphasised integrating i
Some of the world’s biggest music publishers have launched a fresh lawsuit against Anthropic, accusing the artificial intelligence giant of conducting “one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history”. The case adds to the legal challenges facing Anthropic as the firm eyes a poten
On Sunday morning, Jais, a farmer in Ketapang, West Kalimantan on Borneo island – the province hardest-hit by raging forest fires – was en route to his farm when he found an orangutan writhing on the ground in a weak state on a palm-oil plantation near the fire site. “It was very weak, then I gave it water,” said J
Hong Kong police have arrested 321 people, including a 13-year-old, and seized HK$130 million (US$16.5 million) worth of suspected illegal drugs during a seven-week citywide crackdown. Code-named “Tailbacker”, the operation ran from July 12 to August 29, and uncovered 234 drug-related cases, police said on Sunday. The
Earlier this month, when US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened sanctions against any nation continuing to purchase Iranian crude oil, he did not name China. He did not need to. China, the Islamic Republic’s largest oil customer, is squarely in Washington’s crosshairs. The US has already unveiled new sanctions
Hong Kong authorities are facing a growing backlash after seizing a “fighting dog” from its owner following a neighbour’s complaint and detaining it for behavioural evaluation. It was the second dog with pit bull lineage that the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department had seized in a week. The department’s
For many, losing hair isn’t just a cosmetic worry – it is a deeply personal struggle that can chip away at confidence, social life and mental health. Now, a surprising candidate is offering new hope: a pill originally designed to treat arthritis. The condition is called alopecia areata. It is an autoimmune disease wher
An independent Hong Kong bookstore has shut its doors six weeks after a national security police raid, drawing long queues of customers on its final day following four years in business. Readers wound down the dim staircase of a Prince Edward tenement building on Sunday afternoon, with some waiting up to 45 minutes to
Shanghai has named career finance official Zhu Zhongming as the municipal government’s new party chief, a role that puts him in line to become the city’s next mayor. His appointment as secretary of the Shanghai government’s Party Leadership Group was announced on Saturday in an official social media post that said he h
In the third instalment of a five-part Health Matters wellness series on Hong Kong’s growing wellness trends, Victor Ting examines how wearable devices are reshaping personal healthcare in the city, as experts caution that they should not replace professional medical advice. Alice Wong had little idea how seriously ill