2 prisoners found guilty of helping correctional officer attack fellow inmate

The attack took place at Pik Uk Prison in Clear Water Bay. Photo: Dickson Lee

A Hong Kong court found two prisoners guilty of helping a correctional officer attack a fellow inmate who was left severely wounded after a stick was repeatedly thrust into his rectum.

The District Court on Wednesday convicted Bosco Lee, 21, and Brian Lam Shing-wai, 22, of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm for their involvement in a brutal assault


Hong Kong airport profit falls 16.8% to HK$2b as expenses, salvage operation bite

Hong Kong’s airport has reported a 16.8 per cent decline in net profit to HK$2 billion (US$255.16 million) for the 2025-26 financial year, with the management citing a significant rise in expenses driven by the third runway’s operating costs and last year’s aircraft salvage operation.

In its annual report released on Wednesday, the operator of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) said revenue grew 11 per cent year on


Don’t buy brides, China’s Bangladesh embassy warns as trafficking surges

The black market for brides has boomed in part due to China's gender imbalance, which has left the country with millions more men than women. Photo: Shutterstock

China’s embassy in Bangladesh has joined a number of Chinese diplomatic missions warning the country’s citizens about using illegal matchmaking services to find brides.

Anyone who goes to the South Asian country to find a wife using brokers or agencies could face arrest on suspicion of human trafficking, the embassy said in a social media post on Tuesday.

Under Bangladeshi law, a


Cathay Pacific to add 4 Latin American destinations via Madrid code-share with Iberia

Cathay passengers will have four more destinations to choose from. Photo: Elson Li

Hong Kong’s flag carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways , will expand its network by including four new destinations in Latin America via Madrid through code-share flights with Spanish airline Iberia.

Passengers from Hong Kong will be able to travel to Fortaleza and Recife in Brazil, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic under the new arrangement.

Cathay will also increase the frequency of non-stop flights from Hong Kong to Madrid from


Is artificial intelligence causing a rise in natural human stupidity?

Recent studies suggest memory, decision-making and critical thinking are at risk if people rely too much on AI for cognitive tasks

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An advertisement for ChatGPT Images hangs on a building in San Francisco on Sunday. Photo: Getty Images

Generative AI chatbots capable of writing emails and computer code, translating, organising a trip or coming up with gift ideas are now readily available – prompting some to ask whether human brainpower could suffer for lack of use.

A simple natural-language prompt is usually enough to draw a usable

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Malaysia’s Anwar deals with another split with BN in Melaka after Johor poll rout

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim attends an event on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Cebu in May. Anwar has urged the DAP to delay its exit from the Melaka government until the state election. Photo: Reuters

Malaysia ’s unity government is holding firm in Putrajaya, but its uneasy alliance is fraying at the state level after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim ’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) moved into opposition in Melaka, even as it reels from a rout by federal partner Barisan Nasional (BN) in Johor.

The split followed a constitutional amendment allowing Melaka’s government to appoint


Connect scheme for gold shines light on China’s financial liberalisation

Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, delivers a keynote speech at the Hong Kong FIC & Bond Connect Summit at JW Marriott Hotel in Admiralty on July 7. Photo: Sun Yeung

Matteo Giovannini is a finance professional with extensive experience in private and state-owned enterprises, specialising in Asian markets and cross-border project financing.

When Hong Kong launched its latest Connect programme on July 7, most of the attention focused on gold. That misses the bigger story. Delivery Connect , part of the city’s new gold clearing and settlement system, is not simply another financial initiative but the latest evidence that Beijing has settled on

Philippines starts active school shooter drills after deadly attack in Tacloban City

June’s fatal shooting at a school in the Visayas region shocked the nation, where mass violence in educational settings is very rare

Philippine police officers enter San Jose National High School in Tacloban City after a shooting on June 22. Photo: EPA

The Philippines has begun holding active school shooter drills after a rare act of violence in Tacloban City last month during which two teenage students opened fire, killing three schoolmates and injuring 20 others.

On Wednesday, at one educational campus in Manila, hundreds of students and teachers practised barricading classrooms with desks and chairs and


Will diversification restore Hong Kong’s IPO title? Think tank maps out plan

The Exchange Square in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hong Kong needs to diversify the source of its listed companies and investors if it is to reclaim its recently lost crown as the world’s top initial public offering (IPO) venue, according to a government think tank.

“Hong Kong should continue to find ways to diversify both its listing issuers as well as potential future investors,” said Benjamin Hung Pi-cheng, chairman of the Financial Services Development Council (FSDC), at a

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‘China’s real-life transformer’: new rescue tech used in dramatic flood evacuation

A foldable, self-propelled pontoon barge helped Chinese rescuers ferry 6,000 students and teachers to safety after Guangxi Logistics Vocational and Technical College in Guigang was flooded. Photo: X@SpoxCHN_MaoNing

It is part-boat, part-bridge and part-life raft – and in the massive floods in southern China, it has been all rescue vehicle.

One of the biggest rescue operations took place last week at the Guangxi Logistics Vocational and Technical College in Guigang, where more than 6,000 staff and students were cut off by floodwaters nearly 5

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