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South China Morning Post

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Xi Jinping’s ‘chief of staff’ Cai Qi takes Central Party School helm

Cai Qi, the fifth-ranked member in the Communist Party’s hierarchy, has been picked to head the Central Party School, the top training ground for cadres. Cai, 70, sits on the elite Politburo Standing Committee and is secretary of the party’s secretariat as well as director of the party’s general office. Responsible for daily operations of the party’s nerve centre, Cai is often referred to as President Xi Jinping’s chief of staff. His new post at the party school means that he will also oversee...

RTHK News (Hong Kong)

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Govt will not implement HK$2 scheme journey cap

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun said on Friday that the government will not implement a cap on the number of trips under the HK$2 transport subsidy scheme, citing the travel needs of people with disabilities. Starting from April 3, people aged 60 and above, as well as those with disabilities, pay a flat HK$2 fare for trips costing HK$10 or less. For more expensive journeys, they pay 20 percent of the fare. The government had planned to cap subsidised trips at 240 per person each month. On the Labour and Welfare Bureau Facebook page, Sun said some people with disabilities had voiced concern about the proposed cap because they need to transfer more often than other residents in order to reach the same destination. He said the latest figures show that on average, only about 450 people make more than 240 trips per month – a tiny number among the 2.7 million users of the transport subsidy. However about a fifth of those 450 people are people with disabilities. He said this proves that some disabled people do need more trips. "If we go ahead with the trip cap, it will inevitably affect some people with disabilities – including their need to see a doctor, attend rehabilitation services, go to work, and other daily necessities," he wrote. He added the cap could cause worry among some commuters – especially the elderly – about going over the limit, and would create unnecessary stress. Sun also said a cap would not be cost-effective, as limiting the subsidised trips would save only a few hundred thousand dollars, but updating the subsidy system to accommodate a limit would cost an estimated HK$30 million. He concluded that the government decided not to go ahead with the cap – hoping everyone can travel happily and integrate into society. Edited by Thomas McAlinden

South China Morning Post

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Putin says Trump ideas could bring peace in Ukraine, urges Kyiv to compromise

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s proposals for peace in Ukraine could end the fighting, but said Kyiv needed to compromise – and that he saw no signs of that, so was ready to fight on to victory. Speaking to foreign media editors on the sidelines of Russia’s annual economic forum in what is the fifth ‌year of Europe’s deadliest land war since World War II, Putin said Russia would defeat Ukraine on the battlefield if necessary. But he said it was also...

RTHK News (Hong Kong)

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Same result for pupils despite school place SMS error

Some parents on Wednesday said they received the same result for their children who applied for a school place through the primary one central allocation system, even though a text message was mistakenly sent a day ahead of schedule due to a system error. According to the Education Bureau, a total of 16,345 pupils took part in this year’s primary one central allocation – about 86.2 percent, or more than 14,000 of them, were given their top three choices. Combined with discretionary places, the overall satisfaction rate stood at 93.6 percent. Some parents, including a man surnamed Chung, decided to go door-knocking at their preferred school even though his daughter was allocated the top choice in the school net they live, consistent with the text message mistakenly sent earlier. He said the text message that the bureau sent out a day ago did not affect his plan at all. “When I got the text message, I was shocked. But the Education Bureau sent another message to tell us to disregard it," Chung said. "But it didn't make a difference to my plans because I had already planned to go door-knocking at another school net." A mother surnamed Choi said she decided to try her luck by door-knocking, as her child was given the fifth choice – the same as the text message she received a day ago, only in a different language. "I was mentally prepared, as I expected the result to be the same," she said. "Getting the result a day earlier – or a day later – made no difference to my preparatory work, as I had prepared in advance." Polly Chan, principal of Yaumati Catholic Primary School (Hoi Wang Road), said only a few parents contacted her school earlier over the text message (SMS) error. “Just a few families asked about the earlier SMS notification. They wanted to know whether the result was [an] official confirmation or just a false message,” she said. “I don’t think we have any chaos and confusion on the ground because our frontline staff were well-prepared.” She added the school had a quota of 10 to 13 spots for door-knocking parents, meaning that about 30 pupils will compete for a place. The bureau reminded parents to register their child with the school allocated during school hours on June 9 or 10. “If they are unable to complete the registration procedures on the above dates due to important matters, they should contact the person-in-charge of registration at the school allocated in advance to make alternative arrangements. Otherwise, they will be considered to have given up the school place allocated,” a spokesman added. Edited by Tony Sabine

RTHK News (Hong Kong)

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HK, Kazakhstan forge 'hub-to-hub' partnership: CE

Chief Executive John Lee has proposed a strategic “hub-to-hub” cooperation model with Kazakhstan, aiming to link the Central Asian nation’s regional reach with Hong Kong’s access to Asian markets. The proposal came during the second day of Lee’s visit to the country. Meeting with Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, Lee highlighted the growing economic weight between the two sides. He noted that Hong Kong was Kazakhstan’s 10th-largest net investor globally and the fourth-biggest in Asia at the start of this year. Lee said Hong Kong enjoys the unique advantages of having strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world under the "one country, two systems" principle. He proposed that Kazakhstan serve as Hong Kong’s gateway to the Central Asian market, while Hong Kong would act as Kazakhstan’s springboard into East and Southeast Asia. The visit has already yielded significant commercial and diplomatic momentum, with Lee announcing that Hong Kong and Kazakhstan have agreed to accelerate exploratory discussions on a Comprehensive Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement and an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. During a meeting with Nurlan Zhakupov, CEO of Kazakhstan’s national sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, Lee described Hong Kong as a stable and secure investment haven. He noted that the city ranked first globally in funds raised through initial public offerings in the first quarter of this year, positioning it as an ideal listing destination for the fund’s diverse portfolio of assets. He encouraged projects under the fund to list in the city to diversify investment risk. Earlier on Tuesday, the CE visited Baiterek National Investment Holding, a key financial operator of the Kazakh government. He encouraged the company to leverage Hong Kong’s financial system and professional services for cooperation in infrastructure financing, bonds and green finance. Lee extended an invitation for the firm to explore development potential in the Northern Metropolis. He also held talks with Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev on deepening bilateral trade, logistics and financial technology cooperation. Lee emphasised Hong Kong’s status as the world’s fifth-largest merchandise trading entity and its commitment to free trade and multilateralism. He suggested that as Kazakhstan works to expand its role as a regional trading hub through digital commerce and market modernisation, the SAR could serve as a critical gateway for Kazakh enterprises looking to enter the mainland and broader Asian markets. The chief executive is scheduled to continue his visit in Kazakhstan on Wednesday before heading to Uzbekistan on the second leg of his tour. Edited by Edmond Fong

South China Morning Post

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China urges Brazil to jointly repel ‘external challenges’ as ties deepen in Beijing

China’s top diplomat said on Monday that Beijing and Brasilia should “jointly repel external challenges”, as the two countries opened a high-level strategic dialogue in Beijing. Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remark during a visit by his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, who arrived in the Chinese capital this weekend for the fifth Global Strategic Dialogue between the two governments. “Practical cooperation in all areas has been steadily enhanced, and the two peoples have never been so...

South China Morning Post

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Trump ‘personally called for China’s help’ to end Ukraine war in summit with Xi

US leader Donald Trump personally urged President Xi Jinping to help end the Ukraine war, as he sought to lean on Beijing’s sway over Moscow to resolve a conflict that is now in its fifth year, multiple sources have said. According to people familiar with the discussions at last month’s leaders’ summit in Beijing, Trump told Xi that Russia-Ukraine negotiations were stalled and pressed him to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin back to the table to negotiate with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr...

South China Morning Post

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Alibaba AI voice model cracks top 5 globally, outperforming US rivals in regional accents

A new artificial intelligence voice model from Alibaba Group Holding has beaten out Western rivals OpenAI and xAI on a major global benchmark, underscoring its technical edge in capturing complex Chinese dialects and accents. Fun-Realtime-TTS-Preview, developed by Alibaba’s Tongyi Lab, has secured the fifth spot on the Artificial Analysis Speech Arena leaderboard with a score of 1,190. It was the only Chinese-engineered voice system in the global top five. Alibaba owns the South China Morning...

South China Morning Post

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Mainland brands power Hong Kong retail recovery as F&B is joined by fashion and beauty

Hong Kong is likely to attract more mainland Chinese retail brands, but unlike the previous wave, non food and beverage (F&B) retailers are the ones ramping up their presence, according to analysts. The change in profile of mainland brands coming to Hong Kong is helping the city’s landlords fill vacant spaces amid an uneven recovery in the retail property market, according to JLL. In the first four months of the year, more than one fifth of new entrants in the city’s retail market were mainland...

South China Morning Post

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Nearly 10,000 Hongkongers granted permanent UK residence under BN(O) scheme

Nearly 10,000 Hongkongers have been granted permanent residence in the UK under a bespoke British immigration pathway launched in January 2021, making them eligible to apply for citizenship next year. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the British National (Overseas) visa pathway, which allows successful applicants and their dependants to live, work and study in the United Kingdom for up to five years. “Since the scheme began, there have been a total of 9,804 grants of settlement to...

뉴스

타임라인 키워드

Xi Jinping’s ‘chief of staff’ Cai Qi takes Central Party School helm

Govt will not implement HK$2 scheme journey cap

Putin says Trump ideas could bring peace in Ukraine, urges Kyiv to compromise

Same result for pupils despite school place SMS error

HK, Kazakhstan forge 'hub-to-hub' partnership: CE

China urges Brazil to jointly repel ‘external challenges’ as ties deepen in Beijing

Trump ‘personally called for China’s help’ to end Ukraine war in summit with Xi

Alibaba AI voice model cracks top 5 globally, outperforming US rivals in regional accents

Mainland brands power Hong Kong retail recovery as F&B is joined by fashion and beauty

Nearly 10,000 Hongkongers granted permanent UK residence under BN(O) scheme