Hong Kong to end mandatory hotel quarantine for incoming travelers after nearly 2 years in bid to stay competitive

Sep 23, 2022

Hong Kong to end mandatory hotel quarantine for incoming travelers after nearly 2 years in bid to stay competitive

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong to end mandatory hotel quarantine for incoming travelers after nearly 2 years in bid to stay competitive.

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Comedy takes root in Korea's Russian-speaking community

Lyazzat Khan, a proud resident of Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, has quietly been building an empire of laughter. Originally from Kazakhstan, she is the mastermind behind Event Max, a business that brings Russian-speaking comedians to Korea. For Korea’s Russian-speaking population of nearly 200,000, there is a growing market for entertainment services. Most of these residents are Koryo-saram, or ethnic Koreans from former Soviet Union countries. Many are employed in the country’s light and heavy industry factories, working grueling hours. Leisure services for this group of workers remain underdeveloped, mostly because of the language barrier to accessing Korean entertainment. Over half of Korea’s Russian-speaking population lives in Ansan and Incheon, where in some neighborhoods, it is common to hear Russian spoken on the street. Restaurants and lounges catering specifically to Russian-speakers have sprung up in these neighborhoods since the early 2000s. However, a demand for more community-centered entertainment is on the rise as many businesses were shuttered during the pandemic. Ent

Comedy takes root in Korea's Russian-speaking community

After interviewing 42 death row inmates, researcher believes capital punishment should end

Every weekday before 1997, death row inmates in Korea braced themselves between 6 and 9 a.m. — the hours when executions could happen. If 9 a.m. passed uneventfully, they felt relief. Then they went to sleep wondering if the next morning would be their last. No one has been executed since Dec. 30, 1997, but 56 people remain on death row — 52 in Ministry of Justice correctional facilities and four in military prisons. Kim Dae-keun, a research fellow at the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, interviewed 42 of them. "Most of them were ashamed, distressed or regretful about what they did," Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times. "I imagine they were brutal and frightening when they committed their crimes. But many I met in prison now were older, frail men." Oct. 10 marks World Day Against the Death Penalty, an annual international observance calling for the abolition of executions as judicial punishment. In Korea, the day arrives with the death penalty still on the books but widely regarded as unenforceable. Most inmates now believe executions will not resume — a beli

After interviewing 42 death row inmates, researcher believes capital punishment should end

What are the concerns and priorities behind the new language used to define China-US ties?

When China and the United States agreed in May to frame their relationship as a “constructive relationship of strategic stability”, the phrase left many observers trying to guess what it actually meant. Four months on, they have added an elaboration that offers further insight into the two sides’ respective priorities. After presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in Washington last month, the two sides pledged to build a “constructive relationship of strategic stability on the basis of...

What are the concerns and priorities behind the new language used to define China-US ties?

Port of LA, key US point for China imports, has best-ever quarter despite trade uncertainty

The Port of Los Angeles, the largest container port in the United States and the country’s leading gateway for imports from China and other Asian countries, had its busiest three-month period on record from July through to September, despite persistent uncertainty over tariffs and shifting global trade supply chains. “If there was ever a time for a drum roll, this is it,” said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, during a media briefing on Friday. “July through September...

Port of LA, key US point for China imports, has best-ever quarter despite trade uncertainty

Hong Kong lawmakers back 5-year plan as firms urged to align with blueprint

Hong Kong’s legislature has passed motions supporting the city’s first five-year plan and thanking Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu for his latest policy address, while Beijing’s top representative in the city urged mainland Chinese enterprises to align themselves with the government’s blueprint. At the close of a three-day Legislative Council debate on Friday, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki thanked lawmakers for their suggestions, saying they would help improve governance. “The process of...

Hong Kong lawmakers back 5-year plan as firms urged to align with blueprint

Developer of One Stanley pledges 6-year warranty and checks amid steel bar probe

The developer of One Stanley has offered flat owners a six-year structural warranty and free independent property inspections amid an investigation into suspected steel reinforcement deficiencies at the seaside luxury residential development in southern Hong Kong. K Wise, a subsidiary of One Stanley developer K&K Property, addressed the brewing scandal on Friday, a week after allegations of substandard work were reported by a local property media outlet, issuing a statement outlining remedial...

Developer of One Stanley pledges 6-year warranty and checks amid steel bar probe

Travel agencies tout Huanggang Port tours, but security chief urges later visits

Hong Kong travel agencies are offering tours featuring “five-minute clearance” at the revamped Huanggang Port when it opens on Monday, but the security chief has urged those who do not need to use the crossing immediately to delay their visits. Three days before the port’s official opening, the South China Morning Post on Friday found a number of tour packages advertised on social media that promoted the redeveloped border checkpoint as a new attraction for trips to mainland China. An...

Travel agencies tout Huanggang Port tours, but security chief urges later visits

China’s Pacific ties not part of ‘geopolitical rivalry’, Wang Yi tells island leaders

China’s cooperation with the Pacific islands is not part of a geopolitical competition, top diplomat Wang Yi told a delegation of politicians from the region on Friday. The comments come as Beijing and Washington vie for influence in the South Pacific. “China’s engagement with Pacific island countries is a form of South-South cooperation based on mutual assistance and support,” Wang said, according to a statement from the Communist Party’s International Department. “This cooperation does not...

China’s Pacific ties not part of ‘geopolitical rivalry’, Wang Yi tells island leaders

Why a ‘confrontational posture’ won’t help China in the Arctic

China should avoid taking a “confrontational posture” over a new security pact between the United States, Denmark and Greenland as it might end up being excluded from engagement on the emerging Arctic order. That was the warning from Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s National Institute of Strategic Studies (NISS), a Chinese think tank, in a report released on Wednesday. It also said the US was unlikely to turn the northern polar region into its “exclusive strategic backyard”. The report noted that...

Why a ‘confrontational posture’ won’t help China in the Arctic

US lawmakers push green card bill for Hongkongers, but observers doubt success

Two US lawmakers are pushing for a bill that would allow Hongkongers in the country to apply for permanent residency, but authorities and observers have dismissed it as a political move unlikely to succeed. Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, and Representative James McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, announced the Hong Konger Promise of Refuge Act, seeking to provide a pathway to green cards and ultimately citizenship for Hong Kong residents in the US currently protected under the...

US lawmakers push green card bill for Hongkongers, but observers doubt success

Chinese researchers make Arctic-to-Antarctic call using rival to Musk’s Starlink

Polar researchers have used a would-be Chinese rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink to make a satellite video call between the Arctic and Antarctic – the first publicly reported test of the Guowang constellation. The call highlights the growing capabilities of the country’s satellite constellations, according to state media. Beijing has been accelerating the development of its low-Earth-orbit constellations in recent years, particularly as the US-based Starlink showed its wartime value by helping...

Chinese researchers make Arctic-to-Antarctic call using rival to Musk’s Starlink

China agrees to slash EU hybrid car exports in half, putting brake on trade war

The European Union and China have “reached an understanding” that will cut Chinese hybrid car shipments to the bloc by “more than a half”, in a temporary salve to trade tensions that have threatened to boil over into a full-blown trade war. Speaking after marathon trade talks in Beijing, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the deal would see China slash its hybrid car exports “by several million cars” over a four-year period. “This is the first time that China has accepted to moderate its exports...

China agrees to slash EU hybrid car exports in half, putting brake on trade war

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