The Chinese and American defence chiefs held talks in Singapore on Friday, offering hopes for more military dialogue that could help prevent disputes. Defence Minister Dong Jun met with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore. It was the first meeting between the defence chiefs of the two countr…

Licence applications for taxi fleets ended on Friday, with an industry representative saying his group would invest more than HK$100 million in a squad of cabs. The licensed taxi fleet system is part of wider efforts to improve the service quality of point-to-point transport. According to the government, fleets operating in urban areas should have …

The court ruling on a subversion trial showed that national security risks exist in Hong Kong, Chief Secretary Eric Chan said on Friday. On Thursday, three national security judges convicted 14 people of conspiring to commit subversion, relating to an opposition plot to take control of the Legislative Council to disrupt government operations. Prose…

The Observatory on Friday said it would issue the strong wind signal number three between 4pm and 6pm, as a tropical depression moves north towards the coast of western Guangdong. The Observatory said the cyclone would make landfall tonight, or early tomorrow morning, before moving inland, and that Hong Kong would see heavy showers on Saturday. The…

The observatory on Thursday issued the Standby Signal Number 1 and said it would remain in effect until at least 6am on Friday. The forecaster said a tropical cyclone located about 800 kilometres from Hong Kong could affect the city. The broad area of low pressure in the South China Sea has become a tropical depression, it said. The observatory sai…

Electronic queuing systems for taxis have been brought in at the arrival hall to reduce queues during extreme weather, the Airport Authority said on Thursday. Steven Yiu, the executive director of airport operations, said the system was introduced in March this year after people had to queue for hours last year during a typhoon. He said a mobile ph…

Financial Secretary Paul Chan has told the business community in Berkeley, California that he hopes there will be further financial and technological exchanges between the state's bay area and the Greater Bay Area. His remark came after the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau and the University of Hong Kong both signed a memorandum of understand…

President Xi Jinping on Thursday announced that China would host the second China-Arab States Summit in 2026, adding it would be another milestone in Beijing's relations with the Middle East region. Xi made the announcement as he delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 10th ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation …

The group in charge of promoting patriotic education under the Constitution and Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee on Thursday said it is going to hold design contests in which participants create mascots and logos that reflect the theme of "love our country, love Hong Kong, and love our community." The competitions would be held in separate pr…

A new volcano erupted on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland on Wednesday, spewing red-hot lava into the air shortly after authorities evacuated the nearby town of Grindavik. A large white cloud of smoke could be seen, with orange lava fountains bubbling out of a crack in the ground near Sundhnukagigar, north of Grindavik. The eruption …

South Africans began voting on Wednesday in the most competitive election since the end of apartheid, with opinion polls suggesting the African National Congress (ANC) would lose its parliamentary majority after 30 years in government. Then led by Nelson Mandela, the ANC swept to power in South Africa's first multi-racial election in 1994 and won a…

Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Tuesday told business leaders in San Francisco that the SAR is a “natural launching pad” for them to enter the Asian and China markets, as he promoted collaboration between the China-US bay areas on a five-day trip. Speaking at a business luncheon, Chan said there were many commonalities between the San Francisco Ba…

Hong Kong football head coach Jørn Andersen announced on Wednesday that he has resigned with immediate effect. Andersen said he had received an offer "he couldn't refuse", without disclosing which club it came from. He told reporters that the local football association "had made every effort to retain" him, offering him a new three-year contract be…

Temperatures in India's capital soared to a record-high 49.9 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, the government's weather bureau said. The India Meteorological Department, which reported "severe heat-wave conditions", recorded the temperatures at two New Delhi suburb stations at Narela and Mungeshpur. Forecasters predict similar temperatures on Wednesday. …

Local star footballer Philip Chan won the Hong Kong Footballer of the Year award on Tuesday, the first player from the SAR to do so since goalkeeper Edmond Yapp in 2016. The Tai Po midfielder scooped three further trophies at the Top Football Awards Ceremony, including Fan's Favourite, with over 4,500 votes. He took home a total of HK$60,000 in pri…

Defence lawyers in Donald Trump's hush money trial made their final pitch to the jury on Tuesday, insisting the first ever criminal prosecution of a former US president was based on "lies." Less than six months before American voters choose whether to return Trump to the White House, the stakes riding on the verdict are hard to overstate -- for the…