https://www.scmp.com/rss/2610/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ron Gluckman Ron Gluckman Once the tour buses have finished the spring trips to colourful tulip fields, dazzling in blazes of red, magenta and purple, much of the Netherlands returns to its favourite pastime, arguing over how to save Amsterdam from drunken stag parties, drugs, a surplus of souvenir shops and all the other detritus of tourism overload. This is, of course, not unique to Amsterdam. European cities from Barcelona to Venice also struggle with mass tourism, enacting tourist taxes and other means to limit... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3328387/utrecht-home-miffy-more-great-alternative-amsterdam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3328387/utrecht-home-miffy-more-great-alternative-amsterdam?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Oct 2025 04:45:08 +0000 As the small plane banks, then dives steeply towards rugged hills below, I feel a familiar thrill, seeing rivers loom closer on a scenic descent to one of my favourite destinations, Luang Prabang, the charming old capital of northern Laos. For several decades I’ve been happily revisiting one of Asia’s more unusual places, a Unesco World Heritage site packed with old palaces, French-Indochina architecture and elegant temples, on a peninsula sandwiched picturesquely between two rivers. In the year... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3301453/sleepy-little-luang-prabang-awakens-skyrocketing-tourism-hidden-gem-no-longer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3301453/sleepy-little-luang-prabang-awakens-skyrocketing-tourism-hidden-gem-no-longer?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Mar 2025 04:00:25 +0000 Dinner began just like any other multicourse gastronomic odyssey at a five-star hotel, with an assortment of adorable appetisers. These were followed by a menu of delicacies such as Phuket lobster and prawn linguine, elegantly presented in swirls of foam, sauces and sautés. But then the epicurean express swerved off the tracks. Things got goofy, but exactly where is tough to pinpoint. My notes taper off after the second course. Perhaps the marijuana cocktails should have served as a warning. The... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3212202/will-5-star-cannabis-cuisine-thailand-catch-we-try-first-fine-dining-marijuana-menu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3212202/will-5-star-cannabis-cuisine-thailand-catch-we-try-first-fine-dining-marijuana-menu?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Mar 2023 05:15:09 +0000 We are halfway through a three-hour dinner at the opening night of the Kita Food Festival, held in October in George Town, the colonial capital of Malaysia’s Penang island, when the chefs serve a novel curry. “It’s the first goat curry I’ve ever made,” explains Andrew Martin, the Canadian chef from 80/20, a one-Michelin-star restaurant in Thailand’s capital Bangkok. Martin is collaborating on a six-course feast with Johnson Wong, a Malaysian-Chinese chef whose Gen restaurant is a sensation in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3200512/its-malaysias-time-next-penang-food-festival-good-sign-culinary-travel-how-will-industry-fare-amid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3200512/its-malaysias-time-next-penang-food-festival-good-sign-culinary-travel-how-will-industry-fare-amid?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Nov 2022 23:15:11 +0000 At the age of 72, Jay Fai, who for decades has cooked crab omelettes over a wok while working her way up from a street cart, unexpectedly joined the global craze for fine dining last week when her humble shop in Bangkok’s Chinatown joined the ranks of Michelin-starred restaurants. Actually, she almost gave stardom a pass. “Someone from Michelin kept calling me to invite me to the awards ceremony,” says the diminutive chef, who sports the same ski goggles she has used for years to avoid... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2124278/bangkok-michelin-guide-chinatown-crab-omelette-queen-earning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2124278/bangkok-michelin-guide-chinatown-crab-omelette-queen-earning?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Dec 2017 00:02:29 +0000 Monterey Bay Aquarium in California showcases the repertoire of ocean life that populates a nearby offshore rift the size of the Grand Canyon. Each year two million people visit one of the world's largest indoor oceans three hours south of San Francisco. Monterey Bay is home to life that ranges from sharks, barracuda and giant octopus to thousands of tiny anchovies swirling around an enormous oval tank. The aquarium is a non-profit learning centre, designed to bring people closer to sea... https://www.scmp.com/article/161234/ocean-comes-indoors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/161234/ocean-comes-indoors?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 May 1996 16:00:00 +0000 RACING season arrives in Darwin with a raucous roar. You can smell anticipation in the musky tropical air. It's a wild crowd: women in big hats and tiny dresses, rowdy gents guzzling beer by the gallon, and packs of tikes, oohing and aahing over the contestants. Suddenly, one toddler points to the centre course. It's nearly starting time. All at once, the mob surges forward with mad, uncontrollable excitement. Crab racing has returned to Darwin. After months of relentless rain,... https://www.scmp.com/article/125483/shelling-out-top-ends-crazy-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/125483/shelling-out-top-ends-crazy-race?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Jul 1995 16:00:00 +0000 THE tallest building in Asia, talked about for decades but still just an architect's dream, is set to grow another two storeys, at least on paper, according to new plans filed by Hopewell Holdings. The Mega Tower Hotel was originally designed to be 60 storeys. Hopewell has now received planning approval that will see the $3.5 billion project soar to 93 storeys, up from 91, although the number of rooms has been scaled down from 2,400 to 2,197. However, residents near the Wan Chai site... https://www.scmp.com/article/84702/residents-worried-hopewells-hotel-tower?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/84702/residents-worried-hopewells-hotel-tower?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Aug 1994 16:00:00 +0000 THE ex-lover of a Hong Kong-based Filipina is under arrest for the murder of her American husband who was gunned down in front of her one week after they married. Patrick Burke died last Saturday battling to protect his new bride, Laura Guinoo, while the pair dressed for a wedding celebration in her family's remote and poverty-stricken village. Mrs Burke had lived in Hong Kong for eight years before accepting a marriage proposal from her pen pal in Arlington, Virginia. They found each... https://www.scmp.com/article/84685/ex-lover-blasts-away-happiness?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/84685/ex-lover-blasts-away-happiness?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Aug 1994 16:00:00 +0000 AN EXPENSIVE five-year restoration of the Potala Palace, among the holiest of all Tibetan structures, will be completed within days, when the doors open to the Dalai Lama's former residence on the Rooftop of the World. Chinese authorities plan a gala celebration on Tuesday. Dignitaries, including tourism officials from Hong Kong, have been flown into the reclusive realm. They will land at Gongkar airport, which after a $390 million expansion forms a key plank in the controversial Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/article/83951/tibetan-palace-open-doors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/83951/tibetan-palace-open-doors?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Aug 1994 16:00:00 +0000 DECRIMINALISATION of the soft drug cannabis has been given a resounding rejection by Hong Kong people, according to an exclusive Sunday Morning Post poll. Days after two senior Hong Kong judges provoked heated debate by supporting decriminalisation, more than 96 per cent of 1,063 people questioned dismissed the idea. In fact, 75 per cent backed tougher penalties - not only for dealers, but also for ordinary users caught in possession. The poll, carried out by Hong Kong Polling and Business... https://www.scmp.com/article/83932/survey-gives-thumbsdown-cannabis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/83932/survey-gives-thumbsdown-cannabis?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Aug 1994 16:00:00 +0000 LAMMA Island, traditional home of local fishermen and laid-back expats, hit the real estate big time last week when its first $12 million house went on the market. Contrary to the popular belief that you could buy the island for $12 million, veteran Lamma resident Nigel Stevens is confident he will get that amount for his 2,800-square-feet Mediterranean-style property. Boasting six bedrooms, several balconies, two large kitchens, a guest house and garden picnic grounds among other... https://www.scmp.com/article/83091/big-bucks-buys-life-lap-luxury-lamma?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/83091/big-bucks-buys-life-lap-luxury-lamma?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Jul 1994 16:00:00 +0000 EVERY night the Tuen Mun killer strikes anew; night after night stalking the housing estate's grim hallways; night after night raping, strangling, and murdering Ip Wing-sze . . . night after night returning to drive another stake into her mother's grieving heart. ''Every night, he comes in my sleep and kills her. Over and over and over again,'' said Ip Ng Kei-kit, with tears in her eyes. ''At 1 am, my heart starts pounding, boom, boom, boom. I feel him coming, grabbing her, and I see it... https://www.scmp.com/article/82319/rape-and-murder-plus-two-more-sex-attacks-have-left-tuen-mun-residents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/82319/rape-and-murder-plus-two-more-sex-attacks-have-left-tuen-mun-residents?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Jul 1994 16:00:00 +0000 A WOMAN who claims she was attacked by a taxi driver after he ran over her foot with his car says she was then threatened with arrest by police unless she agreed to drop assault charges against the driver. Therese Necio, the mother of a seven-month-old baby girl, was at the taxi rank outside Admiralty MTR station around noon on July 14, when a taxi rolled on top of her foot. ''I banged on the door with my umbrella, and shouted to the driver to move,'' she said. ''It was painful.'' The... https://www.scmp.com/article/82341/taxi-driver-runs-over-and-attacks-woman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/82341/taxi-driver-runs-over-and-attacks-woman?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Jul 1994 16:00:00 +0000 POLICE yesterday detained a 27-year-old man in connection with two sexual assaults in Tuen Mun last week - but they have ruled out any link between him and the rape and murder of 19-year-old Ip Wing-sze. At the same time, residents of the beleaguered Yau Oi estate, where one of the attacks took place, have decided to set up vigilante groups to protect women from further assaults. The man was detained after he was found loitering in the lobby of Leung Shui House. He allegedly matched the... https://www.scmp.com/article/82311/man-held-over-tuen-mun-assaults?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/82311/man-held-over-tuen-mun-assaults?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Jul 1994 16:00:00 +0000 NEARLY two decades after their sudden and dramatic departure, American troops are preparing to return to Cambodia to help heal the scars left by two decades of warfare. About 60 US troops will arrive in Cambodia in July or August as part of a US$3 million (HK$25.5 million) mine-clearing programme. They will teach mine-clearing techniques to the Cambodian army. ''We will not be going out to clear any mines ourselves,'' said David Miller, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh.... https://www.scmp.com/article/79947/us-troops-prepare-return-cambodia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/79947/us-troops-prepare-return-cambodia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Jul 1994 16:00:00 +0000 CHARITIES sending aid to flood-ravaged southern China are keeping close tabs on relief funding, mindful of tighter aid budgets as well as widespread criticism that money was misused during the last major floods in 1991. Chinese officials, warning any misappropriation of funds will be severely punished, have denied previous relief aid was ever diverted from flood victims. Lu Bingsu, head of the administration and finance department at Xinhua (the New China News Agency), repeated the pledge... https://www.scmp.com/article/79880/charities-keep-close-tabs-flood-relief-donations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/79880/charities-keep-close-tabs-flood-relief-donations?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Jul 1994 16:00:00 +0000 DISGRUNTLED Shek O residents return to court tomorrow, fighting for their homes in a last-gasp battle with bureaucracy and bulldozers. Daniel Yip Wai-lum is down to his last few legal bullets in a five-year feud with the Building Authority. He has spent $500,000 in legal fees to try to save the $2 million homestead he built in 1989 at the seaside village where his ancestors lived for generations before the British arrived. Mr Yip has run afoul of local law by constructing a modern abode in... https://www.scmp.com/article/79926/shek-o-residents-final-court-battle-save-homes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/79926/shek-o-residents-final-court-battle-save-homes?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Jul 1994 16:00:00 +0000 THE controversial reclamation plans for Lamma's main village came under attack at a stormy meeting yesterday when it was learned that government officials plan to instal sewerage facilities for three times the present population. Fears were expressed that proposals were afoot to dramatically increase the number of people housed on the island. In addition, many residents of fishing huts and houses along a stretch of waterfront set for major reclamation could be compensated with housing off... https://www.scmp.com/article/79082/residents-attack-government-lack-consultation-reclamation-scheme?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/79082/residents-attack-government-lack-consultation-reclamation-scheme?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Jun 1994 16:00:00 +0000 ANYONE wandering into the lobby of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre last night might have thought the entire place had suddenly gone daft. Giggling girls were getting their arms autographed by a man with a megaphone claiming to be Steven Spielberg. Nearby, another man conducted an imaginary auction, while another walked an invisible dog and a short Scottish girl played a cheerleader named Candy, waving pom-poms and chattering in an American accent. These were not pranks at... https://www.scmp.com/article/79074/mckenna-keeps-his-audience-entranced?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/79074/mckenna-keeps-his-audience-entranced?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Jun 1994 16:00:00 +0000 HONG KONG gays - hidden in the closet for decades and deemed criminals by local laws until two years ago - still find prejudice grating, perhaps more so when it comes from fellow homosexuals. As thousands of gays gather in New York to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Stonewall, considered the birth of the Gay Power movement, local activists complain that Asian homosexuals have not been invited to the party. Gay pride celebrations scheduled for Hong Kong this month have been cancelled, and... https://www.scmp.com/article/78275/hk-gays-left-fuming-over-us-revelry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/78275/hk-gays-left-fuming-over-us-revelry?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jun 1994 16:00:00 +0000 CHINA has launched a new offensive in the battle to contain a hepatitis epidemic infecting more than two million babies every year, with the opening of an innovative medical facility in Shenzhen last week. The plant will produce up to 20 million units a year of a genetically-engineered vaccine to guard against hepatitis B. One in eight people in China are believed to be chronic carriers of the disease. ''Hepatitis has for years been one of the worst health problems in China,'' a foreign... https://www.scmp.com/article/77561/vaccine-boost-combat-hepatitis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/77561/vaccine-boost-combat-hepatitis?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jun 1994 16:00:00 +0000 A TOP Chinese official angrily denounced Executive Councillor Professor Edward Chen Kwan-yiu yesterday, saying he talked ''nonsense'' when claiming it was better for Hong Kong if paramount leader Deng Xiaoping died ''earlier rather than later''. Xinhua (New China News Agency) deputy director, Zhang Junsheng, said he was furious about remarks made by Professor Chen during a visit to Japan last week. ''It's nonsense for Mr Chen, as an Executive Councillor, to make such frivolous remarks... https://www.scmp.com/article/77584/chen-denounced-over-remark-deng-xiaopings-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/77584/chen-denounced-over-remark-deng-xiaopings-death?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jun 1994 16:00:00 +0000 THE Environmental Protection Department is proposing tough new marine dumping measures - including a 10,000 per cent increase in penalties for violation of the outdated Dumping At Sea Ordinance (DASO). Plans for the new regulations have already been presented to Legislative Councillors, but the EPD has taken a tougher stance, pushing for a record $100,000 fine against a company convicted of illegal dumping. The EPD proposes penalties of up to $500,000 and two years in jail for repeat... https://www.scmp.com/article/76781/tougher-penalties-proposed-illegal-dumping-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/76781/tougher-penalties-proposed-illegal-dumping-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Jun 1994 16:00:00 +0000 QUICK and unusually lenient judgments are expected from the Medan Public Court, where a mass trial begins tomorrow for scores of men accused of participating in riots that swept through Sumatra's largest city in April. The trials have attracted international attention, not only from human rights organisations but also labour officials. Observers say the proceedings are likely to influence critical Indonesian trade negotiations with the United States. Lembaga Bantuan Hukum, the... https://www.scmp.com/article/76746/lenient-penalties-expected-mass-trial-over-riots?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/76746/lenient-penalties-expected-mass-trial-over-riots?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Jun 1994 16:00:00 +0000 THE University of Hong Kong, frustrated by futile attempts to locate former law lecturer Jill Spruce who disappeared from the territory in the middle of a bitter court battle, can only expect a pittance of repayment from royalties by a new book partly written by her. University staff estimate that Mrs Spruce owes about $3 million in back pay and legal fees from a case that went to the Privy Council in London. However, the university may soon be forced to end its fight for the disputed... https://www.scmp.com/article/76747/battle-disputed-funds-proves-futile?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/76747/battle-disputed-funds-proves-futile?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Jun 1994 16:00:00 +0000 TRIBUTES poured in yesterday for former financial secretary and Swire taipan, Sir John Bremridge, who died in England on Friday. Sir John, 69, reportedly suffered heart failure while at London's Cromwell Hospital for a routine checkup. Friends say he died at 4.30 pm. He is survived by his wife, Jacqueline and four children - Charles, a Swire employee in Sydney; Henry, a local employee of Hongkong Bank; and Elizabeth and Anne, both living in England. A funeral service is planned on... https://www.scmp.com/article/73262/tributes-sir-john?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/73262/tributes-sir-john?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 May 1994 16:00:00 +0000 NEGOTIATIONS are believed to be under way to free three kidnap victims - including a former Hong Kong couple - thought to be held by Khmer Rouge guerillas in Cambodia. Australian Kelly Wilkinson, 24, and British-born boyfriend Dominic Chappell, 25 - who used to live on Lamma Island - along with Briton Tina Dominy, 24, have all been seen alive and well since being abducted a fortnight ago. They were taken at gunpoint while travelling in a car from Phnom Penh to the seaside town of... https://www.scmp.com/article/71583/kidnap-victims-alive-and-well?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/71583/kidnap-victims-alive-and-well?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Apr 1994 16:00:00 +0000 DOUBTS have been raised that Khmer Rouge guerillas are behind the abduction of a former Hong Kong couple and a British tourist, snatched in Cambodia last week. While the Cambodian Government maintains the guerillas are to blame, sources close to the Khmer Rouge have told the Sunday Morning Post they are not responsible for the snatch, raising fears independent bandits - possibly rebel government soldiers - may be holding the trio. As negotiations for their release continue, the British... https://www.scmp.com/article/70737/doubts-raised-over-identity-trios-cambodian-kidnappers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/70737/doubts-raised-over-identity-trios-cambodian-kidnappers?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Apr 1994 16:00:00 +0000 THE arrest of several labour leaders last month may well have been a stern message from mainland officials to increasingly brazen worker activists. Many officials are worried widespread strikes pose the greatest threat to stability since the student democracy movement was crushed at Tiananmen Square five years ago. However, the daring escape of one of those activists sends an entirely different set of signals to Chinese dissidents and the world. While Wang Jiaqi remains on the run in... https://www.scmp.com/article/69842/escape-activist-wang-hits-labour-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/69842/escape-activist-wang-hits-labour-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Apr 1994 16:00:00 +0000 FIVE soldiers who cheated death during their month-long ordeal in the Malaysian jungle are preparing for an emotional reunion with their families in Hong Kong today. The men, three Hong Kong soldiers and two British officers, nearly starved to death in a failed attempt to conquer Low's Gully on Mount Kinabalu, in the East Malaysian state of Sabah. The two British officers will be meeting their wives, who arrived in the territory from Britain last night. All five survivors are due to... https://www.scmp.com/article/68428/rescued-five-flight-reunion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/68428/rescued-five-flight-reunion?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Mar 1994 16:00:00 +0000 CHINA'S largest construction project, which forms the backbone to its ambitious energy development programme at the controversial Three Gorges Dam project, was brought to a standstill by a two-week wildcat strike this month at a remote site in Sichuan province. Thousands of workers at the US$3.7 billion (HK$28.5 billion) Ertan Dam project on the lower reaches of the Yalong River in southwestern China were involved in the strike that ended on March 15, the Sunday Morning Post has learned. ... https://www.scmp.com/article/68446/illicit-labour-groups-gain-grassroots-support-defiance-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/68446/illicit-labour-groups-gain-grassroots-support-defiance-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Mar 1994 16:00:00 +0000 LIKE Ahab in the classic quest novel Moby Dick, the expedition leader who followed his personal obsession in Malaysia will be the focus of an upcoming military inquiry. Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Neill has twice tried to descend into Low's Gully - on the northwest face of Mount Kinabalu - and failed. Newspaper reports have described the experienced soldier as ''obsessed'' by the 4,204-metre Mount Kinabalu, among the tallest peaks in Southeast Asia. Both attempts in the early 1980s were... https://www.scmp.com/article/68424/military-board-look-gully-mission?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/68424/military-board-look-gully-mission?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Mar 1994 16:00:00 +0000 The menu is monumental, featuring more than 1,6000 items, from sandwiches to potato skins, to burgers by the score. The bar list is nearly as big. There's Welsh ale, German weizen, or black beer grom Guatemala...... https://www.scmp.com/article/67907/satr-spangled-bangers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/67907/satr-spangled-bangers?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Mar 1994 16:00:00 +0000 THOUSANDS of Tibetans are being systematically expelled from Lhasa as Chinese authorities demolish entire neighbourhoods in an ongoing campaign to eradicate Tibetan culture, an international housing organisation claims. ''Lhasa has been fabricated into a Chinese city,'' concludes a 200-page report from the Dutch-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions. Only two per cent of the historic homes in Tibet's ancient capital have survived the onslaught, says Scott Leckie, a housing and human... https://www.scmp.com/article/67456/demolishing-tibets-culture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/67456/demolishing-tibets-culture?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Mar 1994 16:00:00 +0000 THOUSANDS of tourists scale Malaysia's highest mountain every year, but few dare even glance over the edge into the darkness of Low's Gully. As testimony to the danger, two Sarawak climbers disappeared near here in 1988. Despite a month-long search, park officials did not find either body. From the overnight camp atop Mount Kinabalu at 3,350 metres, it is another 760 metres to the peak, then a dizzying sheer drop into the mysterious Low's Gully. The local name for the mountain camp is Panar... https://www.scmp.com/article/67381/few-dare-glance-edge-sacrifice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/67381/few-dare-glance-edge-sacrifice?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Mar 1994 16:00:00 +0000 Formerly the champion of refugees all over the world, a change of rules in 1989 has given the UNHCR the role of judge and jury over the lives of boat people in Hong Kong. RON GLUCKMAN reports on why aid workers are now asking who will protect the refugees from their all-powerful guardian. AS THE repatriation of Vietnamese boat people reaches a critical phase, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is bristling from a renewed wave of criticism. Propelled back on to the front... https://www.scmp.com/article/66548/guardian-loses-its-human-face?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/66548/guardian-loses-its-human-face?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Mar 1994 16:00:00 +0000 DAYA Bay experienced its first scare last Sunday when a pump failure triggered an alarm at the Guangdong nuclear power plant, 50 kilometres from Hong Kong. The incident was the most serious at the plant since operation began on February 1. Plant officials say the problem was minor, with no safety impact, but strict rules meant the incident had to be reported to the China National Nuclear Safety Administration under the terms of international nuclear safety agreements. Last Sunday's... https://www.scmp.com/article/64572/alarm-fans-daya-bay-safety-fears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/64572/alarm-fans-daya-bay-safety-fears?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Feb 1994 16:00:00 +0000 THE Government has played down reports that the Daya Bay nuclear power station has been plagued by technical problems since it was commissioned. Sources suggest the number of incidents may run into the hundreds. Although the Government and Hong Kong Nuclear Investment Company (HKNIC), which manages the plant, have both admitted there have been problems, neither would give the timing or the exact number. However, an HKNIC spokesman said the power station was ''running smoothly'' and that... https://www.scmp.com/article/63550/daya-bay-plagued-problems?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/63550/daya-bay-plagued-problems?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Feb 1994 16:00:00 +0000 Asia Watch is expected to release tomorrow a report condemning China's penal system and its brutal treatment of detainees. It is believed to contain damning evidence of human rights abuses and comes at a bad time for China as it courts US renewal of its Most Favoured Nation trade status. LAU Shan-ching was locked in a dark, lonely cell for a decade. Qi Dafeng has been left to cough his life away in a coal mine in Anhui province. Wang Miaogen cut off four of his own fingers in protest against... https://www.scmp.com/article/63537/report-shed-more-light-chinese-gulag?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/63537/report-shed-more-light-chinese-gulag?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Feb 1994 16:00:00 +0000 THE mood was merry but understandably subdued as Hong Kong's pioneers of trade in Vietnam gathered to toast the lifting of the US economic embargo. Instead of champagne, there was wine, beer and sighs of relief. Participants could be excused for feeling the celebration was slightly anti-climactic. Given the planning - two decades by many counts - this was a coming out party that should have been held long ago. ''I'm really excited, but also tired. It's been a busy week,'' said Penelope... https://www.scmp.com/article/62226/vietnam-toast-town?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/62226/vietnam-toast-town?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Feb 1994 16:00:00 +0000 A SPATE of dog poisonings in two parts of Hong Kong is terrorising pet owners, who charge that police and authorities have been insensitive to their pleas for action. At least two dozen dogs were poisoned on Lamma Island during October and November, according to island residents. Area veterinarians report treating nearly a dozen other Lamma dogs for suspected poisoning over the Christmas period. Meanwhile, another spate of poisonings has targeted pets on The Peak, where at least half a... https://www.scmp.com/article/61152/police-turn-deaf-ear-dog-poisonings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/61152/police-turn-deaf-ear-dog-poisonings?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jan 1994 16:00:00 +0000 TEDI was among the last murder victims of 1993, but you will not find her name on a police report. She was only nine months old when she expired in my arms at 6.55 pm on December 30. Her cowardly killer has not been found and probably never will be. The weapon was a poison that passed through her system long before the painful symptoms provided any clues to her suffering. And, of course, Tedi could tell us nothing - she was my dog. The poisoning of pets in Hong Kong has become an... https://www.scmp.com/article/61151/time-pull-brake-lammas-cowardly-killers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/61151/time-pull-brake-lammas-cowardly-killers?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jan 1994 16:00:00 +0000 A MAN in a Muscle shirt leaps on stage and gyrates suggestively underneath a huge Tiger Beer banner. The guitar is too twangy, the organ tinny, and the female singer slightly shrill, but the crowd surges forward, full of energy on this sweaty Sunday night. Around the corner, a tall Australian blonde lady pours gin and tonics for a mixed gang of Australians, Americans and Europeans on the rooftop of the Rock Hard Cafe. As they drink, fireworks flare over the Mekong river basin. Party time has... https://www.scmp.com/article/55453/cheers-cambodia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/55453/cheers-cambodia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Dec 1993 16:00:00 +0000 LOOK out Laos, the ugly American tourist is back. And this time, American money may prove more effective than its bombs. At the height of the Vietnam War, US planes flew non-stop over Nong Khai, a northern Thai town on the Laotian border, from their base in Udon Thani, Thailand. Planes still buzz the skies, but these days they are not instruments of war. Raids of destruction have been replaced by a frenzied construction boom that is transforming both shores of Southeast Asia's longest river,... https://www.scmp.com/article/49026/hands-across-river?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/49026/hands-across-river?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Oct 1993 16:00:00 +0000 From Warren Beatty and Marlon Brando, to Marilyn Monroe and Madonna, the biggest bimbos and hottest hunks have all bedded down in Hollywood's love shack. But few have found true love at the Chateau Marmont until now. Philip Truelove is the fitting name for the guiding light behind the renaissance of a randy old lodge where everybody who was anybody hobnobbed with everyone else. Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Princess Grace, Sean Penn and Madonna, Jean Harlow and... https://www.scmp.com/article/48055/love-shack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/48055/love-shack?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Oct 1993 16:00:00 +0000