https://www.scmp.com/rss/322789/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com [First published on 08 July, 2016] For a student who has achieved all A*’s in his GCSE’s, getting a perfect score on the International Baccalaureate Diploma is the next step – but it comes at a price. “That perfectionism broke me because it made me obsessed with being perfect. I felt a lot of pressure because I feel like a lot of people expected me to get perfect scores,” Garrick Wan, a student from South Island School said. He describes having suffered through continuous years of neck pain, a... https://www.scmp.com/presented/news/topics/esf-first-50-years-news/article/2101700/city-students-get-perfect-marks-2016?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/presented/news/topics/esf-first-50-years-news/article/2101700/city-students-get-perfect-marks-2016?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Jul 2017 07:20:06 +0000 Thapa was only 16 when he first started abusing ‘brown sugar’ - an adulterated form of heroin - in Nepal. He came to Hong Kong in 2004 to reunite with family, but pressured by peers and feeling disenfranchised by his experience as a member of an ethnic minority in the city, Thapa turned to heroin. He was only 18. “Before, I had no meaning to my life,” he said. Thapa’s story is not unique in the Nepalese community. Drug abuse among ethnic minorities in the city has been on the rise since... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2047341/hong-kongs-lack-rehabilitation-services-leave?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2047341/hong-kongs-lack-rehabilitation-services-leave?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Nov 2016 02:02:43 +0000 A different kind of sport has come to Hong Kong. One that you’re more likely to see down at your local tavern than at the Olympics. Professional thumb wrestling. The three-week-long World Thumb Wrestling Championships, created in a UK pub in 2009, arrived in Hong Kong for the first time last month and has since attracted more than 200 local participants. Organisers are hoping the event, which concludes on Friday, will encourage Hongkongers to pull their eyes and thumbs away from their smartphone... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2002886/thumbs-hong-kong-hosts-hundreds-competitors-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2002886/thumbs-hong-kong-hosts-hundreds-competitors-world?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Aug 2016 08:38:15 +0000 One would think only a superhero could pull something that weighs about 100 times one’s own weight. And if so, Gary Manwaring and Santina Philips both became superheroes on Friday as they performed the impossible feat as part of a curtain-raiser for the Arnold Classic Asia Multi-Sport Festival, to be held at the Asia-World Expo from August 20 to 21. Showcasing their strength ahead of the sports extravaganza ­– which has gone global since Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger founded it in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1999698/strongmen-pull-heavy-duty-feat-curtain-raiser?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1999698/strongmen-pull-heavy-duty-feat-curtain-raiser?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Aug 2016 11:00:30 +0000 Biologists have discovered a new ant species native to Hong Kong believed to have been hiding in nearby trees for years. The ant was found by University of Hong Kong researchers Benoit Guenard and Ying Luo on an evening excursion in September last year, just a few hundred metres from the campus in Lung Fu Shan Country Park. The Hong Kong University researchers named the species Paratopula bauhinia, in reference to the bauhinia flower, which is a symbol of Hong Kong. The common name for the ant... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1997725/chance-sighting-leads-discovery-ant-sized-proportions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1997725/chance-sighting-leads-discovery-ant-sized-proportions?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Aug 2016 08:56:52 +0000 Ikea is widening its recall of consumable products to include four more chocolate items, again over inadequate labelling - this time of almonds and hazelnuts. They include ChokladLjus Utz 100g, Choklad Not Utz 100g, Godis Chokladkrokant 450g and Chokladkrokant Bredbar 400g. The home accessories company has confirmed the chocolates do not properly declare ingredients that are not suitable for those with nut allergies. The labels currently only state they “may contain” almonds or hazelnuts, which... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1996106/another-ikea-recall-4-more-chocolate-products?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1996106/another-ikea-recall-4-more-chocolate-products?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Jul 2016 09:48:31 +0000 Hong Kong’s women and men enjoy the longest life expectancy in the world, according to data released by Japan’s health and welfare ministry on Wednesday. The average lifespan for women in Hong Kong is 87.32 years, and local men on average can expect to live to 81.24. Japanese women took second place at 87.05, while Icelandic and Swiss men shared the second position in the men’s category at 81 years. The overall life expectancy gap between women and men fell by 0.07 year last year, compared with... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1995947/hong-kong-women-and-men-enjoy-worlds-longest-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1995947/hong-kong-women-and-men-enjoy-worlds-longest-life?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Jul 2016 05:00:30 +0000 Health officials were urged on Wednesday to encourage the prescription of a new antiviral treatment which was found in recent studies to be effective in reducing the risk of mother-to-child hepatitis B transmission. According to the non-profit organisation Asiahep, two separate studies conducted in Taiwan and China found that pregnant mothers who were administered antiviral treatment for 12 to 16 weeks reduced the transmission rate of hepatitis B to as low as 0 per cent. The antiviral treatment,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1995650/hong-kongs-public-hospitals-urged-offer-pregnant?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1995650/hong-kongs-public-hospitals-urged-offer-pregnant?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Jul 2016 00:02:07 +0000 It’s only 10pm on a Wednesday night and there are already people loitering outside 7-Eleven in Lan Kwai Fong, tossing their empty beer cans onto an ever growing pile of discarded leftovers. Three German tourists, who did not want to be named, summed up the general thinking of everyone who has ever bought a drink at 7-Eleven: “It’s fast, there’s no service tax and most importantly it’s cheap.” While partygoers may revel in the low cost of inebriation that the convenience store offers, bar owners... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1993345/hong-kongs-lan-kwai-fong-operators-claim-cheap-7?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1993345/hong-kongs-lan-kwai-fong-operators-claim-cheap-7?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Jul 2016 03:00:00 +0000 A campaign to collect 1,000 used iPhones to help improve the mobility of the visually impaired is struggling to get off the ground, with just one collected so far. Organiser Edward Yip Bing-chiu, chairman of the Jabbok Charitable Foundation, said a lot of people were astonished that visually impaired people could use a smartphone. But smartphones can be navigational tools, with readback functions such as VoiceOver for the iPhone and TalkBack for Android devices encouraging the visually impaired... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1992616/hong-kong-campaign-collect-1000-old-iphones-blind?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1992616/hong-kong-campaign-collect-1000-old-iphones-blind?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Jul 2016 02:12:55 +0000 Two monumental artefacts were recovered over the weekend by a local diving group, marking a maritime heritage milestone for Hong Kong . A diving team from the Hong Kong Underwater Heritage Group recovered an anchor stock - the upper part of an anchor - around Basalt Island, and a cannon off the coast of High Island. The anchor stock is believed to date back to the Song Dynasty, making it over 1,000 years old - Hong Kong’s oldest marine artefact. “It’s important for Hong Kong’s [maritime] history... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1991821/hong-kongs-sunken-treasure-ancient-anchor-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1991821/hong-kongs-sunken-treasure-ancient-anchor-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jul 2016 08:50:07 +0000 Hongkongers who are required to apply for additional electronic authorisation when travelling to Canada have been warned to stay away from fake websites which scam travellers into paying additional fees costing up to 17 times the official charge. The warning from the Canadian government was issued after it reportedly received about 500 complaints from victims who had paid unnecessary fees or from people reporting suspicious websites. A statement from the Canadian government issued on Monday said... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1991658/hongkongers-warned-avoid-fake-websites-charging-high-fees?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1991658/hongkongers-warned-avoid-fake-websites-charging-high-fees?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jul 2016 02:30:30 +0000 Half of the 23 protected green turtles sent to Ocean Park after being rescued from sea in the past five years had their intestines blocked by marine debris. The theme park revealed this Thursday, and also said one of the rescued animals received the first ever advanced intestinal surgery for a turtle in December. The juvenile turtle, nicknamed ‘Elmo’, was found on Silverstrand Beach last November in critical condition. Campaigners hand government medical waste washed ashore in Hong Kong, in call... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1989808/dont-eat-trash-marine-debris-human-pollution?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1989808/dont-eat-trash-marine-debris-human-pollution?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Jul 2016 09:30:30 +0000 For a student who has achieved all A*’s in his GCSE’s, getting a perfect score on the International Baccalaureate Diploma is the next step – but it comes at a price. “That perfectionism broke me because it made me obsessed with being perfect. I felt a lot of pressure because I feel like a lot of people expected me to get perfect scores,” Garrick Wan, a student from South Island School said. He describes having suffered through continuous years of neck pain, a physical manifestation of the stress... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1986781/hong-kong-students-get-top-marks-international?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1986781/hong-kong-students-get-top-marks-international?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Jul 2016 12:13:25 +0000 Most Hong Kong people would rather buy a plastic water bottle every day for convenience rather than refill their own, a survey revealed. Green Earth found that at least 60 per cent of the population buy a bottled drink daily. More than 90 per cent said they preferred plastic bottles because they were easy to carry. Other reasons included convenience and hygiene. The last straw: brothers battle to rid Hong Kong of plastic drinking straws which pollute city’s waters The survey also found that... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1986220/wasteful-hongkongers-prefer-buying-water-bottles?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1986220/wasteful-hongkongers-prefer-buying-water-bottles?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Jul 2016 09:06:15 +0000 Hong Kong will play host to five valuable Olympic torches for the very first time, exhibiting them among 30 others at the Pioneer Centre in Mong Kok. The torches are on loan from Olympic memorabilia collector Chow Kim-hung, who owns 60 of them and more than one million items collected from past Olympic Games. The five torches, which have never been displayed in Hong Kong until now, are from 1980 (Moscow), 2000 (Sydney), 2008 (Beijing), 2012 (London) and 2014 (Sochi). Chow, who has been... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1985216/olympic-spirit-hong-kong-rare-torches-show-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1985216/olympic-spirit-hong-kong-rare-torches-show-city?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Jul 2016 09:36:52 +0000 A few of the people who joined this year’s march explained what motivated them. Carman Lai, 33, a service industry employee, said anger over what happened to Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee – who vanished in October upon crossing the mainland border at Shenzhen and returned last month to the city claiming he had been abducted – propelled her to march. “I was really angry,” she said of Lam’s fears over his personal safety at the march Friday, leading him not to attend. “This is not the Hong... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1984152/voices-july-1-protesters-explain-why-they-marched?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1984152/voices-july-1-protesters-explain-why-they-marched?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Jul 2016 12:58:30 +0000 This was the Post’s real-time coverage of the July 1 march. 7.17pm: Organiser announces turnout Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, announced that 110,000 people attended today. He thanked Hongkongers for attending the protest despite the hot weather. He also urged protesters to continue to pay attention to the case of bookseller Lam Wing-kee to ensure his safety. Police, however, estimated turnout was only 19,300 at its peak – down from the 19,650 participants the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1984006/july-1-march-organiser-claims-turnout-110000-far-above?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1984006/july-1-march-organiser-claims-turnout-110000-far-above?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Jul 2016 07:15:00 +0000 Ikea is recalling two of its chocolate products because of allergy concerns over milk and hazelnut ingredients that were not properly declared on the packaging. The dark chocolate bars – Choklad Mork 60% and Choklad Mork 70% – “insufficiently declared” the presence of milk and hazelnuts, according to the home accessories company. All products indicating “best before dates” were being recalled. The company said on Monday it had offered to fully refund customers who are allergic to milk or... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1982220/ikea-recalls-two-chocolate-products-over-inadequate-milk-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1982220/ikea-recalls-two-chocolate-products-over-inadequate-milk-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Jun 2016 10:57:39 +0000 Consumers should choose a registered medical practitioner and ensure they understand the risks of beauty treatment microinjections as the city’s watchdog is receiving more complaints. Nine beauty injection-related complaints were received in the first five months of this year compared with none for the same period last year, the Consumer Council said on Wednesday. Last year, the total number of such complaints was five, compared with none in 2014. Council chief executive Gilly Wong Fung-han said... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1975556/seek-beauty-injections-care-hong-kong-watchdog-urges?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1975556/seek-beauty-injections-care-hong-kong-watchdog-urges?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Jun 2016 08:49:35 +0000 The first batch of rubbish bins with smaller openings and bigger warning notices was introduced to the busier districts of Hong Kong on Monday morning. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department hopes these new bins will reduce the problem of people placing oversized rubbish in, around and on top of them. About 800 bins will be replaced in the first phase. But people the Post spoke to on Monday around Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai and along Nathan Road were not particularly thrilled. “It’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1974447/trash-talk-new-rubbish-bins-smaller-openings-get?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1974447/trash-talk-new-rubbish-bins-smaller-openings-get?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 08:45:30 +0000