A taxi trade representative on Wednesday said cabbies are expected to earn thousands of dollars more every month when fares go up, but the sector is experiencing high operating costs and a change in passenger habits. From July 14, there will be a HK$2 increase in flagfalls, meaning the starting fares will be HK$29 for urban taxis, HK$25.5 for New T…

Children dressed up as Hong Kong celebrities, star athletes, deities and even government officials on Wednesday as thousands of people flocked to Cheung Chau for the island's annual bun festival. Queues formed from the morning at shops offering buns stamped with peace messages, with sellers pleasantly surprised by the turnout. "We expected that the…

The chairman of the Social Workers Registration Board has stressed that the statutory body reviews every application on a case-by-case basis, after the government suggested the board might have erred in renewing and approving licences from people who had committed serious crimes. On Tuesday, the Executive Council approved a plan to reform the statu…

Thousands of people took part on Tuesday in an annual march through the ruins of villages that Palestinians were expelled from during the 1948 war that led to Israel's creation. Wrapped in keffiyeh scarves and waving Palestinian flags, men and women rallied through the abandoned villages of Al-Kassayer and Al-Husha – many holding signs with the nam…

People are divided over the authorities' move to approve an increase in taxi fares, with some saying the rise is affordable and others complaining about poor taxi services. The Executive Council has approved a HK$2 increase in flagfalls, meaning from July 14, the starting fares will be HK$29 for urban taxis, HK$25.5 for New Territories cabs, and HK…

The Executive Council on Tuesday approved a plan to reform the statutory body overseeing social workers that will change the composition so that appointed members outnumber those elected. Speaking on the revamp, Labour and Welfare Secretary Chris Sun said the sector doesn't need to worry about the autonomy of the Social Workers Registration Board. …

Executive Council convenor Regina Ip on Tuesday said that Hong Kong is well-positioned to promote global collaboration and contribute to world prosperity, as the city kicked off its first-ever conference with a focus on geopolitics. Speaking at the inaugural “Global Prosperity Summit 2024”, Ip warned that Hong Kong faces a “high degree of global ge…

Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday warned that any attempt to interfere with the legitimate operations of Hong Kong’s Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs) would only end up harming the economies of the countries that take such action. He was speaking after a manager of the government’s ETO in London, Bill Yuen, was arrested with two others on suspici…

Tourists hailing from eight mainland cities will be welcomed with HK$200 vouchers for restaurants and shops, Chief Executive John Lee said on Tuesday. Last week, the central government added eight new cities, including Urumqi, Hohhot and Heilongjiang to the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), allowing residents to travel to the SAR without joining a tou…

The culture, sports and tourism minister, Kevin Yeung, on Monday said it was unacceptable that repeated mistakes were made by the chairwoman of the city's weightlifting and powerlifting body. He also called on Josephine Ip of the Hong Kong, China Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association to publicly address her mistakes. "It is unacceptable for th…

Police on Monday said they arrested 34 people for allegedly operating electric bikes and scooters without a licence. The suspects, aged between 19 and 69, were also charged with offences such as driving unlicensed vehicles and using them on pavements. Officers added that they seized 34 electric bikes and scooters in various areas in the New Territo…

Hong Kong's tourism industry should learn to be more accommodating to ethnic minority travellers from the mainland, DAB lawmakers said on Monday, after the central government announced it was adding eight more cities to the individual visit scheme. From May 27, residents from eight more cities – including Hohhot of Inner Mongolia, Lhasa of Tibet, a…

Labour and welfare minister Chris Sun said on Monday there was "nothing political" about him saying the governance of the statutory body overseeing social workers must be improved, and that the motivation was about raising the sector's professional standards. Last Friday, he wrote on social media accusing the Social Workers Registration Board of ig…

Labour and welfare minister Chris Sun on Monday said he hopes the community living rooms in To Kwa Wan, Hung Hom and Nam Cheong would open by the end of the summer holidays, as part of efforts to help the newly identified 950,000 people for targeted poverty alleviation. Speaking at a Legco panel meeting, Sun hoped the three facilities, aimed at pro…

Dozens of students walked out of Duke University's commencement ceremony on Sunday to protest its guest speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who has supported Israel throughout the war in Gaza. About 30 of the 7,000 students present left their seats, chanting “free Palestine” amid a mix of boos and cheers. Some waved the red, green, black and white Pa…

Representatives of the retail and hotel industries on Monday praised the move to boost Hong Kong's tourism sector by adding eight mainland cities to the individual visit scheme, but views were divided on whether direct flights from those cities were necessary. From May 27, travellers from Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Hohhot of the Inner Mongolia aut…

The Hospital Authority (HA) said it is seeking to streamline the process for adding new drugs to its registry, with a view to cut half the time needed to obtain the medicines. Currently, drug companies write to clinical doctors directly in the application, and it takes around 10 months before a drug could be added to the HA's formulary. The authori…

Mainland students studying in Hong Kong have been urged to be vigilant as more of them are being targeted by phone scammers. Senior inspector Eddie Lam said there were 39 cases of mainland students falling victim to fake-official ruses in the first quarter of this year, up from 29 cases during the same period last year. "We discovered that scammers…