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1. Hong Kong housing estate flat owners drop contractor linked to deadly Tai Po blaze

   Owners of a private housing estate in Tuen Mun have voted overwhelmingly to terminate their renovation contract with Prestige Construction and Engineering Company – the same contractor responsible for works at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court, in the aftermath of the deadly blaze At a general meeting held on Friday night at Elegance Gardens, 96.45 per cent of 1,655 effective undivided shares held by flat...

2. All aboard the cat train as Japan railway gets new feline stationmaster

   A calico cat named Yontama was formally appointed stationmaster at Kishi Station in western Japan this week, stepping into a role that is at once whimsical and ceremonial but also important to the survival of a rural railway line. The appointment ceremony on Wednesday drew fans, photographers and local officials to the station in Kinokawa, Wakayama prefecture, where Wakayama Electric Railway...

3. What does HSBC’s buyout of Hang Seng Bank mean for its future and investors?

   Following the January 8 shareholder vote that overwhelmingly approved the largest privatisation deal in Hong Kong’s history, many questions remain about the future of Hang Seng Bank, its stakeholders and the broader financial landscape. For Hang Seng Bank’s shareholders, the immediate question is what to do with the HK$106.16 billion (US$13.6 billion) windfall from HSBC Holdings for acquiring...

4. Will X be banned in the UK? Elon Musk hits back at shutdown warnings

   Critics of X “want any excuse for censorship”, Elon Musk has claimed, as his website faces the threat of being shut down in Britain over deepfake pornography and child abuse images. The billionaire appeared defiant on Friday night despite the outcry over reports X’s AI chatbot Grok was creating sexualised images of people, including children, at users’ request. Pointing to claims other AI...

5. Body, capsized boat found in Japan waters raise spectre of North Korean ‘ghost ships’

   A lone body discovered on a cold Japanese beach and a shattered wooden boat coated in black tar have stirred memories of the “ghost ships” that in past winters drifted across to Japan from North Korea. The body washed ashore on Wednesday in Ishikawa prefecture, while a Japan Coast Guard vessel later recovered the capsized boat nearby, local media reported. Authorities have yet to identify the...

6. Where do lonely hearts in China go now? Late-night live streams

   For two weeks recently, most of my evenings were spent in Douyin’s live-stream section. On Douyin, TikTok’s sibling platform in China, shopping, entertainment and conversation blur into an endlessly scrollable feed. The most prominent virtual rooms here are for shopping: live-streaming hosts talking at high speed, shouting out discounts. Then come the talent rooms, where people sing, dance, play...

7. China tutoring school’s promotion links civil service exam success to higher bride prices

   A Chinese civil service exam tutoring company has sparked controversy by claiming that they can help clients pass the test and then demand an additional 200,000 yuan (US$29,000) in bride price. On December 28, a netizen posted a video claiming that a civil service exam tutoring institution in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, northern China, had used a controversial banner to promote its business. The...

8. Housing anxiety impeding Hong Kong fire trauma recovery: mental health experts

   Anxiety over housing has hindered the psychological healing of residents affected by the deadly Tai Po fire, mental health professionals have said, as Hong Kong authorities begin polling flat owners on their preferences for long-term resettlement. The inferno that broke out on November 26 at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court claimed 161 lives, injured 79, and displaced almost 5,000 residents, most of whom...

9. As India overtakes Japan in economic size, prosperity lags far behind

   India ushered in the new year with a symbolic triumph as its economy edged past Japan’s to become the world’s fourth largest by nominal gross domestic product. The achievement unleashed a wave of national pride in New Delhi and among business leaders, but behind the celebrations lingers a question: can the world’s fastest-growing economy turn rapid growth into widespread prosperity? Economists...

10. Trump says protest-hit Iran in ‘big trouble’, again threatens military strike

    US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran, faced with major protests, was in “big trouble” and again warned he could order military strikes. “Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump said. Protests have taken place across Iran for 13 days in a movement sparked by anger over...