Ant Digital promotes blockchain platform as Hong Kong implements stablecoin law Ant Digital, an affiliate of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, is promoting its blockchain platform for asset tokenisation in Hong Kong, a week after the city’s stablecoin law came into effect. Ant is positioning itself as a “portal” that connects Web2 and Web3, “providing more credible assets to Web3 and more compliant capital to Web2”, Bian Zhuoqun, vice-president of Ant Group and president of blockchain business at Ant Digital, said at an event in Hong Kong on Thursday. The company aimed to... image
South China Morning Post
Ant Digital promotes blockchain platform as Hong Kong implements stablecoin law
Ant Group affiliate aims to promote blockchain technology for the tokenisation of real-world assets, executive says.
Did US missiles in Philippines trigger China’s rocket launch? A Chinese rocket launch that triggered loud explosions and panic in the western Philippine province of Palawan has drawn sharp condemnation from Manila, with observers suggesting Beijing may have been sending a geopolitical signal amid growing US missile deployments in the region. The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) confirmed on Monday that China had launched its Long March 12 rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan that afternoon, after residents in Palawan’s capital, Puerto... image
South China Morning Post
Did US missiles in Philippines trigger China’s rocket launch?
Philippine officials slam China’s ‘irresponsible testing’, while the country’s space agency warns of the dangers from the launch aftermath.
Hong Kong lawmakers want pilot schemes aiding high-risk seniors expanded Hong Kong lawmakers are calling for the expansion of pilot schemes to identify and support elderly residents living alone or with a spouse in ageing districts, following two recent cases in which skeletal remains of seniors were found in public flats in Kwai Tsing district. Some legislators on Thursday highlighted existing gaps in the city’s social safety net for high-risk elderly people, calling on the government to expand the support schemes as soon as possible to cover more residents in need,... image
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong urged to use technology to identify, support at-risk elderly residents
Gaps in city’s social safety net highlighted following discovery of elderly woman’s skeletal remains, the second case in three months.
80% of mainland Chinese shoppers bought Hong Kong products online: poll Nearly 80 per cent of mainland Chinese consumers polled said they shopped online for Hong Kong products, according to survey findings by the statutory trade body, which called for the city’s retailers to step up live streaming and influencer marketing to boost market share. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council said on Thursday that its findings were based on a survey of 2,200 middle-to-high-income consumers from various mainland cities during the second and third quarters of 2024. The survey... image
South China Morning Post
80% of mainland Chinese shoppers bought Hong Kong products online: poll
Retailers should step up live streaming and influencer marketing to boost market share, Trade Development Council says.
‘No kill switches and back doors’: Nvidia reasserts security of its AI chips Semiconductor giant Nvidia reasserted the security of its AI processors in a blog post on Tuesday, pointing out that inserting weaknesses into chips would “undermine global digital infrastructure and fracture trust in US technology”. “There are no back doors in Nvidia chips. No kill switches. No spyware,” the post said. “That’s not how trustworthy systems are built – and never will be.” According to the post written by Nvidia chief security officer David Reber Jnr, graphics processing units... image
South China Morning Post
‘No kill switches and back doors’: Nvidia reasserts security of its AI chips
Embedding weaknesses into chips would ‘undermine global digital infrastructure and fracture trust in US technology’, Nvidia says.
China’s property slump may be bottoming, as analysts point to signs China’s slumping property market may finally be reaching a bottom, as credit has resumed flowing to developers while the nationwide inventory of unsold homes has shrunk, analysts said. The decline in China’s new home sales this year may slow to 7 per cent, Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday after revising its forecast from a previous decline of 15 per cent, due to the better-than-expected performance of the property market in the first half. The credit-rating agency also lowered its forecast of the... image
South China Morning Post
China’s property slump may be bottoming, as analysts point to signs
The decline in China’s new home sales this year may slow to 7 per cent, Fitch Ratings says after revising its forecast from a previous slump of 1...
About 50 workers in Hong Kong owed over HK$7 million as another eatery closes About 50 workers in Hong Kong are seeking to recover more than HK$7 million (US$892,000) in unpaid wages and other payments following the shutdown of another restaurant amid a string of closures in the catering industry. Chiu Kwun-chung, head of the Eating Establishment Employees General Union’s labour rights committee, said the group was notified on Friday morning that Glorious Seafood Restaurant at Cheung Sha Wan Plaza had closed permanently. Chiu said the closure affected about 50 employees,... image
South China Morning Post
50 workers in Hong Kong owed over HK$7 million as another eatery closes
Union says workers left with unpaid wages and other claims after Glorious Seafood Restaurant closes permanently.
‘Shop King’ Tang Shing-bor’s family sells Hong Kong hotel at throwaway price Hong Kong developer Wang On Properties and US investment firm Angelo Gordon have jointly acquired a hotel in Mong Kok from the family of the late “Shop King” Tang Shing-bor for around a third of the original price. The 199-room Hotel Ease Mong Kok on 60 Portland Street was bought by a joint venture between Wong On subsidiary Prime Resonance and Angelo Gordon-managed ADPF Oregon, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday. The joint venture would be committing about... image
South China Morning Post
‘Shop King’ Tang Shing-bor’s family sells Hong Kong hotel at throwaway price
A joint venture between Hong Kong developer Wang On and US investment firm Angelo Gordon buys Mong Kok hotel for US$55 million, sources say.
Brave migrant workers rescue woman from Singapore sinkhole Migrant workers in Singapore have been praised for their quick action in saving a woman after her car was swallowed by a sinkhole. Social media videos show a 3-metre (10-foot) deep sinkhole suddenly appearing on Saturday evening along Tanjong Katong Road east of the citystate, causing a black Mazda to topple sideways into the hole. Immediately, nearby construction workers can be seen rushing to her rescue. One worker leans into the sinkhole as two more workers approach the edge. As the driver... image
South China Morning Post
Brave migrant workers rescue woman from Singapore sinkhole
The construction workers rushed to the driver’s aid after a three-metre deep sinkhole opened up in eastern Singapore.
Indonesian ex-minister’s jail term: corruption or ‘politically’ motivated? A recent prison sentence for a former Indonesian trade minister has raised eyebrows over alleged political motivations, given the defendant’s loyalty to an opposition politician. Last Friday, judges at a corruption court in Jakarta sentenced Thomas Trikasih Lembong to 4½ years in jail and a fine of 750 million rupiah (US$46,000) for improperly granting sugar import permits, during what the prosecutor said was a surplus of local production, when he was trade minister in 2015-16. Prosecutors... image
South China Morning Post
Indonesian ex-minister’s jail term: corruption or ‘politically’ motivated?
Analysts question basis of court ruling and whether former trade minister’s close ties to opposition politician Anies Baswedan was a factor in ve...