https://www.scmp.com/rss/14146/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com For decades after the Japanese war, my grandfather, a native of Sanshui, Guangdong, never went back to mainland China. He had left his first wife and family behind and had yearned to return, yet he never did. He set up a textile-dyeing factory at Diamond Hill, married my mother's mother, and settled in Hong Kong. I didn't hear this from him or my grandma, however, but from my mother. My grandparents, like many who had suffered through turmoil, wanted to shield us from their pain. They never... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1766153/denial-hong-kongs-refugee-past-adds-our-blinkered-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1766153/denial-hong-kongs-refugee-past-adds-our-blinkered-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Apr 2015 06:23:04 +0000 NGOs and rights advocates say a new screening mechanism put in place nearly a year ago is not doing enough to help people seeking asylum in Hong Kong, with just a handful of successful claims from the more than 830 applications decided. The Immigration Department confirmed that, as of February 12, only five claims had been successful since the new system was put in place. That means that the total number of successful claims since the United Nations Convention against Torture was extended to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1714243/refugees-hong-kong-see-little-improvement-new-screening-system?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1714243/refugees-hong-kong-see-little-improvement-new-screening-system?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Feb 2015 19:30:00 +0000 For Daria Mykhailova, the story appeared to end as logically as it had begun. Winding down after a day of studying on November 21, 2013, Mykhailova scrolled through her Facebook feed to find, nestled between posts documenting the minutiae of her friends' lives, an unusual note from Hromadske TV reporter Mustafa Nayem, a call to arms of sorts: "Let's meet at 10.30pm near the monument to independence in the middle of the Maidan." Earlier that day, President Viktor Yanukovych had backed down from... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1672668/bloodier-occupy-kiev-protests-sowed-seeds-real-change?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1672668/bloodier-occupy-kiev-protests-sowed-seeds-real-change?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Jan 2015 13:48:58 +0000 In my family, we like to joke and call my father the "insurance man". An insurance consultant for more than 40 years, he goes to extraordinary lengths to minimise risks in any and every situation. As such, he's tried to ensure the family has a soft landing, should anything untoward happen. In 1989, amid uncertainty over the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, my parents took out the ultimate insurance policy: they moved me and my sister with them to Canada, where we obtained citizenship first before... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1584333/it-time-leave-beloved-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1584333/it-time-leave-beloved-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Sep 2014 04:00:30 +0000 It's a sunny afternoon in Berlin's upmarket Zehlendorf district and Carlos Lastras, from Madrid, Spain, is having the time of his life as he and a gaggle of tourists from Hong Kong, Russia, France and Italy trail a guide on a tour of the German city's architecture. They stop at houses designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. "I am fascinated by Bauhaus architecture," says Lastras, looking up from the notes he is taking. Unlike most of the 68.8 million tourists who visited Germany... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1308746/deutsch-courage-how-germany-using-language-courses-attract?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1308746/deutsch-courage-how-germany-using-language-courses-attract?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A group of asylum seekers staged a seven-hour stand-off yesterday at an office in Prince Edward that gives them material aid, calling for better housing conditions. Amid the presence of police, they tried to storm the office of the International Social Service Hong Kong branch, insisting on a group meeting with a director whom they said was scheduled to talk to them at 11am. The stand-off ended at about 6pm after Labour Party legislator Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung helped arrange a meeting in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1293861/police-called-deal-asylum-seeker-protest-kowloon-office?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1293861/police-called-deal-asylum-seeker-protest-kowloon-office?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Aug 2013 08:44:01 +0000 A girl of about five shocked passengers on the MTR on Tuesday night as she squatted and urinated on a train before alighting with her mother, who appeared to do little to stop her. The incident occurred at about 8.15pm on an eastbound train on the Island Line, said one passenger, a Mr R. Dunn, who declined to give his first name. The woman and the girl were travelling with a boy who appeared to be about six years old. The three, who were heard speaking Putonghua, got off the train at Causeway... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1293302/girl-upsets-passengers-urinating-inside-mtr-train?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1293302/girl-upsets-passengers-urinating-inside-mtr-train?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jul 2013 04:07:05 +0000 Since Chengdu native Li Yi made Germany his home 11 years ago he has witnessed a gathering tide of interest among Chinese investors following in his footsteps. Now general manager of machinery and industrial equipment company Likotec, Li is currently in discussions to buy the factory building he has been renting in the town of Oberstenfeld, north of Stuttgart. "German real estate retains its value. Compared to the United States, Germany is more stable," he said. He is not alone in his view, and... https://www.scmp.com/property/international/article/1278859/chinese-buyers-snapping-safe-german-properties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/property/international/article/1278859/chinese-buyers-snapping-safe-german-properties?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000 China's thinking has shifted increasingly towards renewable energy, which is reaching the market faster than nuclear power, a German environment official has said. "If you analyse the last 10 years, the thinking in China has shifted more and more towards renewables. I see that renewables are getting to the markets quicker than expected and nuclear energy is getting to the markets slower than expected," said Karsten Sach, deputy director general for European and international environment policy... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1277560/solar-wind-power-gain-over-nuclear-power-china-says-german-official?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1277560/solar-wind-power-gain-over-nuclear-power-china-says-german-official?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000 I will no longer apologise for my flawed Cantonese and foreign ways. I am that Westernised child who emigrated in the 1990s, returned later, and attended expensive international schools and a foreign university. I speak English fluently and Cantonese with an accent. I am also, if you like, the product of the struggles, hopes and fears of upper-middle-class Hongkongers in the handover era. Out of fear, our parents uprooted us to Canada, Australia, the US and Britain before 1997. Out of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1259275/home-world-and-just-much-hongkonger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1259275/home-world-and-just-much-hongkonger?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Henry Tang Ying-yen pledged support for his wife yesterday as she appeared in court over alleged breaches of buildings regulations in relation to a basement in their Kowloon Tong home. Revelations of the allegedly illegal so-called underground palace were widely blamed for Tang's defeat in last year's chief executive elections. Reports at the time said it was 2,400 sq ft and housed a wine cellar, home theatre, gym and a Japanese bath. Yesterday, Tang and wife Lisa Kuo Yu-chin smiled in front of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1222438/tang-and-wife-court-over-alleged-illegal-basement?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1222438/tang-and-wife-court-over-alleged-illegal-basement?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The city's top court yesterday dismissed an appeal by a widow seeking work-injury compensation from the employer of her late husband, whose body was cremated without undergoing an autopsy in 2007. Sibly Sit Wing-yi lost her claim against Berton Industrial, which had employed her husband, Randie Cheung Ka-wai, who died at the age of 37. The Court of Final Appeal will give reasons for its decision at a later date. Cheung was a merchandiser for Berton, which makes inexpensive products such as... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1220846/court-final-appeal-rejects-widows-claim-work-injury-compensation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1220846/court-final-appeal-rejects-widows-claim-work-injury-compensation?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A judge yesterday handed a 16-month jail term to a man who tried to break out of custody in July, chastising him for the plot which involved several teenagers. Ngan Kwan-yiu, 22, was sentenced in District Court after earlier pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to escape from lawful custody. Ngan was being held on other charges when he planned to break free with the help of his teenage girlfriend and others during a visit to a hospital. Correctional officers discovered the plan and managed... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1218626/inmate-gets-16-months-plotting-escape?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1218626/inmate-gets-16-months-plotting-escape?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The strike by Hong Kong dockers has put labour unions in the spotlight after years spent in the shadows. The public has rallied to the striking workers' cause, with donations of more than HK$5.3 million and shows of support in the form of protests and pledges to boycott ParknShop supermarkets which, like Hongkong International Terminals, is part of tycoon Li Ka-shing's empire. Yet union membership in the city remains low. Labour Department figures show that unions and staff associations claimed... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1216889/labour-unions-hindered-lack-collective-bargaining-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1216889/labour-unions-hindered-lack-collective-bargaining-law?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Striking dockers stepped up their action yesterday, moving base to Li Ka-shing's office building at the Cheung Kong Center to urge Asia's richest man to intervene. A few hours after they set up tents outside the building's main entrance in Central, contractor Global Stevedoring Service said in a statement it "honestly cannot offer [the] 20 per cent rise" demanded by the strikers. The dockers, on their 21st day off the job, moved their base from the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals after they... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1216600/striking-dockers-set-camp-li-ka-shings-doorstep?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1216600/striking-dockers-set-camp-li-ka-shings-doorstep?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:53:20 +0000 A man went on trial yesterday accused of hitting and biting his wife, an attack that allegedly sent her scrambling out of a window in fear and left her with a fractured thumb and lacerated ear. Sammy Wu Wai-hau, 47, has been charged with one count of wounding with intent. He pleaded not guilty at District Court. Wu is accused of injuring his wife of five years, Yeung Man, 42, at their home in Sham Shui Po on November 10 last year. They have two children. In the early hours of the day of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1213334/man-denies-hitting-and-biting-his-wife?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1213334/man-denies-hitting-and-biting-his-wife?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Tourism Australia has received nearly 11,000 applications from Hongkongers eager to nail one of six coveted jobs Down Under. The call for entries to the "Best Jobs in the World" competition ended on Wednesday. Six positions were up for grabs: chief funster in New South Wales, outback adventurer in the Northern Territory, park ranger in Queensland, wildlife caretaker in South Australia, lifestyle photographer in Melbourne, and taste master in Western Australia. Successful candidates get a... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1212482/australias-top-jobs-see-11000-applications-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1212482/australias-top-jobs-see-11000-applications-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Almost all of a group of young women who had become regular drinkers had their first drink when they were underage, a survey found. The survey, conducted by frontline social workers from October last year to January, involved 321 girls and women aged 12 to 24 who had drunk alcohol at least once a week for at least two months at some point prior to questioning. Ninety-seven per cent of those surveyed said they had their first alcoholic drink before they turned 18. The median age at which they did... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1212487/regular-drinkers-had-first-taste-alcohol-early?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1212487/regular-drinkers-had-first-taste-alcohol-early?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A South African tourist who pulled a driver out of a taxi he had hired during the Rugby Sevens and drove off got a two-month suspended sentence yesterday after pleading guilty to drink-driving and other charges. Craig Dixon, who had come to Hong Kong with friends to watch the city's biggest annual rugby event, earlier pleaded guilty in Eastern Court to taking a conveyance without authority, driving a vehicle with excess alcohol in his breath and using a vehicle without third-party insurance. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1208013/tourist-who-drove-taxi-gets-suspended-term?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1208013/tourist-who-drove-taxi-gets-suspended-term?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 An anaesthesiologist said she explained the special risks involved in using anaesthesia on a 13-year-old boy for a neck operation to his mother before the operation. Dr Sham Pui-yee was speaking at the inquest into the death of Medwin Cheung Yui-ting, who died in August 2011, 18 days after the surgery at Tuen Mun Hospital. Sham told the Coroner's Court she had verbally explained the risks involved in using anaesthesia to the boy's mother the day before the operation. This information was written... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1207978/mum-told-anaesthesia-risks-boy-court-hears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1207978/mum-told-anaesthesia-risks-boy-court-hears?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 With more court cases being heard in Chinese, lawyers who know only English say the amount of work available for them has dropped, causing some to earn less, go into early retirement or move abroad. Court cases were first heard in Chinese in the 1990s, followed by the introduction of a series of measures to promote a bilingual legal system. Since then, the use of Chinese in courts has taken off. Judiciary figures show the proportion of criminal cases heard in Chinese has risen in recent years at... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1204277/hard-labour-lawyers-who-speak-only-english?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1204277/hard-labour-lawyers-who-speak-only-english?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A judge asked yesterday why he should accede to TVB's request to intervene in ongoing government deliberations on the issuance of new licences for free-television stations. Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung, sitting in the Court of First Instance, was hearing TVB's arguments in seeking leave to apply for a judicial review over the potential licensing of new entrants to the market. In court filings in January, TVB said the Communications Authority made an "unlawful" recommendation in July when it... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1201070/must-court-step-asks-judge-over-tvbs-judicial-review-plea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1201070/must-court-step-asks-judge-over-tvbs-judicial-review-plea?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:27:15 +0000 A judge yesterday rejected businessman Carson Yeung Ka-sing's legal challenge over the venue of his upcoming money-laundering trial as "frivolous" and an abuse of process. Yeung, the owner of English football club Birmingham City, is due to stand trial in the District Court on April 29 for alleged money laundering of more than HK$720 million. He has sought to have the case moved to the High Court for a jury trial. After the Department of Justice responded in a letter that the District Court... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1200498/carson-yeungs-frivolous-bid-move-case-denied?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1200498/carson-yeungs-frivolous-bid-move-case-denied?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Fung shui master-turned-Christian Peter Chan Chun-chuen was refused permission yesterday to have British Queen's Counsel John McDonnell represent him at his forgery trial next month. Chief Judge Andrew Cheung Kui-nung will give his full reasons later for rejecting the application in the Court of First Instance. Chan is due to stand trial in the same court on April 22 on one count of forgery and one count of using a false document, both of which he denies. Originally called Tony, he recently... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1199657/fung-shui-master-will-have-get-another-qc?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1199657/fung-shui-master-will-have-get-another-qc?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A judge has rejected a statement of allegations against film star and comedian Stephen Chow Sing-chi made by an ex-girlfriend in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over fees she claims he owes for her financial advice. Alice Yu Man-fung, Chow's girlfriend between 1997 and 2010, claims that they agreed he would give her a monthly fee for investment advice plus 10 per cent of any after-tax profits that resulted. She is suing Chow for fees she says are owed for a development on The Peak. Four houses... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1199687/star-wins-legal-round-against-ex-lover?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1199687/star-wins-legal-round-against-ex-lover?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The city has accepted its first torture claim since enhancing its screening system four years ago, a move that advocates of asylum seekers view as good news, yet far from sufficient. The Sri Lankan man's claim is only the second to have been approved in Hong Kong out of more than 12,000 applications the government has received since 1992, when the city began applying the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The first claim was approved in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1197627/hong-kong-grants-torture-claimant-protection-only-second-ever?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1197627/hong-kong-grants-torture-claimant-protection-only-second-ever?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A giant duck reminiscent of a childhood toy is paddling its way round the world, bringing a message of harmony without borders. It "knows no frontiers, doesn't discriminate against people and doesn't have a political connotation", said its creator, Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. And on May 2, the 16.5-metre-high art installation - built to resemble the beloved yellow bath toy of many people's childhoods - is due to make landfall in Hong Kong, where it is expected to bob in the waters of Ocean... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1197454/rubber-duck-waits-wings-hong-kong-trip?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1197454/rubber-duck-waits-wings-hong-kong-trip?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 An amateur model who fell from her boyfriend's 25th-floor flat days after withdrawing allegations of rape committed suicide, an inquest has ruled. A jury of five yesterday gave a unanimous verdict after a four-day inquest into the death of Chan Lai-ping, 24, at the Coroner's Court. Chan's sister and mother wept after the verdict. Chan died after falling from Kwok Wai-keung's 25th-floor apartment in Tin King Estate, Tuen Mun, at around 12.30pm on October 22, 2011. The night school student had... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1196547/models-jump-lovers-tuen-mun-flat-was-suicide-jury?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1196547/models-jump-lovers-tuen-mun-flat-was-suicide-jury?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A woman who died days after withdrawing her allegations of rape had feared the authorities would prosecute her, a former boyfriend said yesterday. Sin Yuk-hang was testifying at an inquest into the death of Chan Lai-ping, who apparently fell from the flat of another boyfriend in Tuen Mun on October 22, 2011. The Coroner's Court heard earlier that Chan, then 24, had been a Form Seven night school student who sometimes posed for private photography shoots. She reported to police alleging that a... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1195641/woman-told-prosecution-fears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1195641/woman-told-prosecution-fears?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 An unemployed man appeared in court yesterday morning charged with murdering his parents, along with another unemployed man, in whose home the killings allegedly occurred. Henry Chau Hoi-leung, 29, and Tse Chun-kei, 35, entered no pleas at Kowloon City Court. Chau and Tse are charged jointly with two counts of murder for allegedly killing Chau's father, Chau Wing-ki, 64, and Chau's mother, Siu Yuet-yee, 63. They are accused of murdering the couple in a room on the third floor of a building at 38... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1193957/son-dismembered-couple-silent-murder-charge-read?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1193957/son-dismembered-couple-silent-murder-charge-read?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Two unemployed men charged with murdering one of the men’s elderly parents appeared in Kowloon City Court on Monday morning. Henry Chau, 29, and Tse Chun-kei, 35, are charged jointly with two counts of murder for allegedly killing Chau’s father, Chau Wing-ki, 64, and Chau’s mother, Siu Yuet-yee, 63. They are accused of murdering the couple in a room on the third floor of a building at 38 Fuk Chak Street in Tai Kok Tsui on March 1 this year. The address where the killing allegedly occurred was... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1193645/elderly-coupless-alleged-killers-appear-court?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1193645/elderly-coupless-alleged-killers-appear-court?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Mar 2013 06:36:36 +0000 The chairman of Agile Property Holdings was placed on a one-year good-behaviour bond yesterday after touching a female employee during a night of drinking. Chen Zhuolin, 50, was bound over for HK$2,000 in Eastern Court after prosecutors decided to offer no evidence on two counts of indecent assault against him. Acting Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai dismissed the charges. In July last year, the woman, aged 28, went to Chen's home to help with a dinner for mainland clients during which wine... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1189388/indecency-case-boss-bound-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1189388/indecency-case-boss-bound-over?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The risk of HIV-positive health care workers infecting patients is "extremely low", a health consultant said yesterday at an inquest into the death of a surgeon who had contracted HIV. Dr Wong Ka-hing, a consultant to the Department of Health's special prevention programme, was speaking at the Coroner's Court inquiry into last year's death of Dr Wong Ho-hing. Tests conducted after his death showed the surgeon, 34, was positive for the human immunodeficiency virus. The body of Wong, who worked at... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1189377/hiv-risk-doctors-extremely-low?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1189377/hiv-risk-doctors-extremely-low?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 An HIV-positive surgeon took part in medical operations up until the day before he was found dead outside his residential building in Wan Chai, an inquest heard yesterday. The death of Wong Ho-hing, 34, on January 12 last year, prompted Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan, where he worked, to ask more than 100 of his patients to be tested for HIV. "On January 11, 2012, he still took part in surgery," Dr Tang Chung-ngai, chief of service at the hospital's surgery department, told... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1188659/hiv-positive-doctor-operated-patients-till-day-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1188659/hiv-positive-doctor-operated-patients-till-day-death?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A company has sought an injunction against international wine auctioneer Acker Merrall & Condit Asia to stop the wine auctioneer from infringing on its trademark for Krug champagne. MHCS SCS filed its claim against the auctioneer through its Hong Kong lawyers at the High Court on Thursday. The firm, based in Epernay, France, was listed as a subsidiary of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton - which owns the celebrated champagne house - in a 2011 document on its website. Krug, based in Reims, France,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1186558/moet-subsidiary-legal-battle-over-krug-trademark?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1186558/moet-subsidiary-legal-battle-over-krug-trademark?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The principle of not sending someone to a place where they may be persecuted has never been part of Hong Kong law, the government said yesterday. Benjamin Yu SC was speaking on behalf of the Immigration Department and the secretary for security at the Court of Final Appeal, where three African men were making a final bid to change how applications for refugee status are handled in the territory. Hong Kong is not a signatory of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1185736/refugees-can-be-sent-persecution-under-hong-kong-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1185736/refugees-can-be-sent-persecution-under-hong-kong-law?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The Buildings Department appears to have done little to improve its inspection system three years after the collapse of a To Kwa Wan tenement that killed four people, critics say. And the department isn't saying what recommendations from the Coroner's Court and its own working group, established after the tragedy, have been executed. This emerged after a 77-year-old building worker, the only person criminally prosecuted after the collapse, was fined yesterday. Kowloon City district councillor... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1183837/no-sign-concrete-action-kwa-wan-tragedy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1183837/no-sign-concrete-action-kwa-wan-tragedy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The principle of not sending a person to a place where he may be persecuted is "beyond doubt" customary international law, the UN refugee agency says. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees weighed in yesterday at the hearing of three African men who were making their last attempt to challenge the way the city vetted refugee claims. The trio argues that the government must assess the applications itself rather than passing the responsibility to the UNHCR. "[The principle] is, at... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1183828/persecuted-protected-customary-international-law-unhcr-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1183828/persecuted-protected-customary-international-law-unhcr-says?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Three African men have taken their challenge against Hong Kong's system for vetting refugee claims to the highest court, arguing that the government must assess the applications itself rather than passing the responsibility to the UNHCR. Lawyers for the men, who have not been identified by name, made their case at the Court of Final Appeal yesterday, after previous rulings against them by the lower courts. Hong Kong is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1180400/africans-appeal-ruling-refugees?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1180400/africans-appeal-ruling-refugees?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Three African men have taken their challenge against Hong Kong’s system for vetting refugee claims to the highest court, arguing that the government must assess the applications itself rather than passing the responsibility on to the UNHCR. Lawyers for the men, who have not been identified by name, are making their case at the Court of Final Appeal on Tuesday, after previous rulings against them by lower courts. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which handles refugee claims in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1179484/africans-take-hong-kongs-refugee-vetting-system-high-court?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1179484/africans-take-hong-kongs-refugee-vetting-system-high-court?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Mar 2013 06:58:04 +0000 The National Day ferry disaster inquiry is investigating when the wires were cut to two lights onboard the Lamma IV. Paul Shieh Wing-tai SC, the counsel for the commission of inquiry, yesterday said wires to a masthead and an anchor light had been found cut. But it was unclear if the wires had been severed during the rescue operation. Johnny Mok Shiu-luen SC said that the police and the Marine Department, which he represents, had confirmed that they and their experts had neither cut nor tampered... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1177236/lamma-ivs-cut-light-wires-pose-questions-inquiry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1177236/lamma-ivs-cut-light-wires-pose-questions-inquiry?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The barrister defending a student accused of indecently assaulting his teacher has questioned a vital omission in a letter the educator's lawyers sent to her pupil. Ho Man-tai, 18, admits punching his teacher, tugging her hair and putting keys into her mouth, causing her to bleed, but he denies touching her breast. Chan Pak-kong, speaking in Tuen Mun Court on the last day of the trial, questioned why the letter demanding compensation failed to mention the indecent assault. He said the omission... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1167076/teachers-vital-omission-casts-doubt-students-indecent-assault?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1167076/teachers-vital-omission-casts-doubt-students-indecent-assault?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) and PCCW-HKT Telephone have mounted a legal challenge to the government's licence fees, saying reductions which take effect today do not go far enough. The companies filed an application for judicial review in the High Court on Wednesday against the secretary for commerce and economic development and the broadcasting and telecommunications regulator, the Communications Authority. They say the "unreasonable" rates they and other licensees have been charged have... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1164308/pccw-hk-telecom-file-lawsuit-against-governments-unreasonable-fees?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1164308/pccw-hk-telecom-file-lawsuit-against-governments-unreasonable-fees?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A witness in a champerty case against a local lawyer has been accused by the prosecution of lying in court under instigation. The defence witness, Chan Chi-cheung, 21, was yesterday testifying at barrister Louie Mui Kwok-keung's trial. Mui, 52, had earlier pleaded not guilty to five counts of champerty - the act of striking an illegal deal with a party in a lawsuit to obtain a share of its proceeds - between 1999 and 2008. Mui allegedly took between HK$90,000 and HK$879,750 as part of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1159292/fallen-lawyers-witness-accused-lying-champerty-case?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1159292/fallen-lawyers-witness-accused-lying-champerty-case?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A woman and her former boyfriend were jailed yesterday for using other people's identity cards - including that of the man's wife - to trick the Social Welfare Services Department into doling out HK$74,000 in welfare payments. Cheung So-ching, 31, was sentenced to two years and three months in jail, and Lui Cheuk-fai, 37, to three years and five months, by the District Court. Cheung, who is unemployed, had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud. Lui, a decoration worker,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1158536/pair-jailed-making-false-welfare-claims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1158536/pair-jailed-making-false-welfare-claims?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong's sea history from piracy to shipbuilding goes on display today in a new waterfront home five times the size of its former premises and with twice the number of exhibits. The Maritime Museum aims to attract at least 500 visitors a day to its premises at Pier 8 in Central where about 2,000 items are on show in 4,400 square metres on four floors, dubbed "decks". "It's a much bigger canvas to show Hong Kong's maritime history," museum director Richard Wesley said, comparing it to the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1158532/maritime-museum-opens-new-home-pier-8-central?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1158532/maritime-museum-opens-new-home-pier-8-central?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A 77-year-old repairman was yesterday found to have breached building regulations for work he did at a To Kwa Wan tenement which collapsed in January 2010, killing four people. Chu Wai-wing faced a summons under the Buildings Ordinance accusing him of carrying out work likely to cause injury to people and damage to property. He was found to be in breach at Kowloon City Court following a trial. He had pleaded not guilty. Magistrate Abu Bakar bin Wahab said Chu had, without using supports,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154862/repairman-guilty-kwa-wan-collapse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154862/repairman-guilty-kwa-wan-collapse?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Three years after a deadly building collapse, the victims of Ma Tau Wai Road are still picking up the pieces. On the afternoon of January 29, 2010, residents in Block J at 45 Ma Tau Wai Road thought an earthquake had struck. Moments later there was a deafening boom and the five-storey building crumbled in a plume of dust. Four people died - student Tong Qingtao, 20, optician Choy Tao-keung, 40, and sex workers Lo Kin-wa, 46, and Li Qunzhen, 37. The lives of the survivors have changed... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154839/some-nightmares-remain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154839/some-nightmares-remain?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Sales of hotel rooms as residential flats will cut the city's supply of accommodation and harm tourism, the Tourism Board has warned. The comment came after property giant Cheung Kong started on Monday to sell rooms in its Apex Horizon suite hotel in Kwai Chung. Buyers do not pay stamp duty on commercial property. "The building of new hotels has yet to catch up with the increase in tourist numbers," board chairman James Tien Pei-chun said onTuesday. "Selling existing hotel rooms would worsen the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154119/sales-hotel-rooms-will-choke-housing-supply-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154119/sales-hotel-rooms-will-choke-housing-supply-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A former Standard Chartered Bank teller who stole over HK$2 million from depositors - after committing similar offences at another bank - was jailed for two years and eight months yesterday. Simon Wong Sai-man, 32, pleaded guilty last month in the District Court to two counts of theft and one of using a false instrument. He stole HK$2.21 million, between May 15 and August 25 last year, from the accounts of a businessman and a woman while he worked at a Whampoa Garden branch. The court had heard... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154123/standard-chartered-bank-clerk-stole-hk2m-accounts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1154123/standard-chartered-bank-clerk-stole-hk2m-accounts?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000